Posted in Uncategorized on Jul 7th, 2011
The term “recreational rioting” had been thrown around a lot, both before Belfast and since I arrived. As I understood, it was a form of intense anti-social behaviour where groups of young men from both sides of the community gathered to throw rocks, petrol-bombs, and, at times, shoot guns at one another, often resulting in [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jul 7th, 2011
I celebrated my 21st birthday on last Wednesday, June 29!! It was great spending it with the group but what made it truly special was the love from the locals, something I was not expecting. On Wednesdays as a part of our work at Falls Women’s Centre, we attend a community music project with and [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jul 6th, 2011
Famous Duke professor Dan Ariely wrote in his book about the importance of remembering the past not just as an exercise of respect, but as a way to create the present and future. Basically, he says that we make decisions not so much based on what we think is the right thing to do but [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jul 6th, 2011
When you think Northern Ireland and sports, if you ever think about Northern Irish sports, you’re first thought probably isn’t basketball. Nor should it be. Globally, Rory McElroy, Darren Clarke, and Graham McDowell are the nation’s most famous sporting exports, three of the finest golfers in the world. For the culturally Irish, there are the [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jul 1st, 2011
Yesterday was my second Dublin disaster. The first time my trip to Dublin with Intercomm fell through, it wasn’t so much of a disaster as a fortunate change of plans, as that was the day that I got to meet the Secretary of State. Wednesday, though, was actually a bit of a disaster. My Intercomm [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 30th, 2011
June 21st 2011, the 5th annual Day of Reflection The cross-community organization with whom I work, Healing Through Remembering, hosted a special event honoring the Day of Reflection in the Linen Hall Library in downtown Belfast. The event was organized by Kate Turner, Aongus O’Keeffe, and myself. HTR describes the annual event as: a day [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 27th, 2011
One of the most surprising aspects of daily life in Belfast is that finding friendly people is not too difficult. I thought I might jot down a few interesting people and moments that I have experienced here. So here it goes in particular or coherent order: I met Joe while I was waiting at a [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 23rd, 2011
Northern Ireland’s great sporting hero right now is 22-year old Rory McIlroy, a golfer from Holywood, a suburb of Belfast located five miles east of the city centre. Rory has always had a lot of potential, as evidenced by his television appearance at age 9, setting a course record at Royal Portrush at the age [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 16th, 2011
Yesterday, my Intercomm co-workers picked me up at Farset at 9am to go on an official visit to Stormont with them. Liam and John had an appointment to talk with the British Secretary of State Owen Patterson about a current grant project they were co-heading called the Joint Area Ardoyne Project. I was actually very [...]
Posted in Uncategorized on Jun 13th, 2011
I wanted to write a blog post discussing the acclimation process, and the way this city has gone from something entirely unknown to something that, while still constantly challenging, is in its own way familiar. I wanted to write about how I walked confidently down the Springfield now into City Centre, how I didn’t feel [...]