Dingle Library and Catholic Church

Irish Potato Famine

I have been on a trek to learn more about Ireland's famines, particularly the one Jonathan Swift referenced in A Modest Proposal and the last famine, known as the Irish Potato Famine. I traveled to Skibbereen yesterday and learned there were a total of 13 famines in Ireland's modern history. However, the potato famine stands out because it led to a mass emigration from Ireland. At one time Ireland's population was over 8 million and now it is down to 3-4 million. The truth is an island the size of Ireland cannot support a large population. The population will most likely not fully recover.  The complexities of this is in relation to families and connectedness within and without families. In Oklahoma many people claim Irish heritage and most likely their ancestors came to America during the Irish Potato Famine. Another point I learned yesterday is that Ireland was actually exporting food during this famine. It probably would not have been enough to sustain the hungry Irish but it did send a message of lack of priorities to the common man.  I am researching stories as well and read an interesting story yesterday about how some people were mistaken for dead during the famine and buried alive.  One three year old boy was buried and found alive three days later. He remained crippled his whole life, most likely from his mother breaking his legs to fit inside the small coffin. I have his name in my notes but can't recall it at the moment. Today, I traveled on to Dingle to visit the library and the Catholic Church. The library has many, many books documenting stories from the famines. I was able to spend time there making notes and learning.  The interesting tie to the Catholic Church is that this particular church in Dingle (probably most for that matter) served as a soup kitchen of sorts for the people. They served soups and breads to the hungry. Mothers brought children in the morning for breakfast before sending them off to school. As a sude note, even today in Ireland, students rarely are served lunch at school. I will post pictures as I switch from my iPad to my phone.  

Clonakilty and Skibbereen

This beach is very near the launching point for Irish immigration to America, many leaving after the Great Potato Famine. I will write more about the Famine and these locations as I have time. 

James Joyce Museum and the Writers Museum

After Bloom's Day at Liz's, we went to a fundraiser and had a Joyce breakfast of egg, tomato, bacon, black and white pudding (nope-I didn't eat either), kidney and onions and toast. We left there and went to Dublin to the Joyce museum and the Dublin Writer's Museum. I did not realize how many reknown authors hail from Ireland. I took pictures in both places. The Joyce Center was great, allowing photos, but I took several pictures in the Writer's museum before I saw the sign about no photographs.  I learned so much about Joyce's book Ulysses while in Dublin. The following include a sketch of Oscar Wilde and a first edition of Bram Stoker's Dracula. 

Bloom's Day--Celebrating James Joyce around the world

June 16th Dublin is the setting for James Joyce's masterpiece Ulysses. One reason I am in Ireland is to learn about Joyce and his writing, which is why staying in his childhood home in Bray was such a delight. We woke on June 16th and had Victorian ladies coming to our door for a visit before the morning activities started. Each lady sang a song and shared their background with me. One lady was in a creative writing class with my host Liz and also performs in a show at the various festivals in Ireland.

At 10:30 we moved to the front lawn where quite a group of people met to celebrate Ulysses. They read or performed passages from the novel or shared their own personal connections to Joyce. It was inspiring to see young and old alike celebrating.

Trim

Today, after landing in Dublin and getting my bearings, my husband drove us to Trim where we toured Trim Castle, largest Norman castle in Ireland) also the setting for Mel Gibson's Braveheart). But for me the highlight will be tomorrow going to discover where Jonathan Swift lived and worked. His love, Stella, had a cottage here too. My students read A Modest Proposal about the Irish potato famine. I will look for ways to bring true stories from Ireland back to use in that unit. They also might read Gulliver's Travels as well. Speaking of Gulliver's Travels, I heard a program on NPR related to sleep, the mind, little people, and Jonathan Swift. Seems he believed little people emerged into a world he could observe during his sleep. He would fall asleep in a certain position in order to rouse them. These nightly events led to Gulliver's Travels.

Telling the story

Today, I am at the airport in Tulsa waiting for a delayed flight. Fortunately, I learned through my other travels to have two hour layovers for international flights. So the delay should not be a problem. 

I have thought and thought about this trip. How do I find the story, my story? There certainly will be things to write about but my purpose is to write creatively. Learn to write fiction. I am still nervous about writing short stories. But this opportunity will definitely help me with this weakness and make me stronger in the classroom. My workshop will be with a woman who just published her ninth novel. My host is also published. I will be in great hands. 

Story writing...story telling

I will be posting my essential questions in the next few days. These will guide me during my Ireland experience so that I accomplish what I set out to do...bringing writing and storytelling skills back to my school and students. I've been thinking about story telling quite a bit lately. I think our community can learn from Irish culture to create storytelling groups within our own community. That is something I must think about as I ponder my essential questions. In the meantime, here is a link to short story writing tips...



http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2gVUuZ

Fund for Teachers

Fund for Teachers, the foundation providing me with this opportunity, enriches the personal and professional growth of teachers by recognizing and supporting them as they identify and pursue opportunities around the globe that will have the greatest impact on their practice, the academic lives of their students and on their school communities.

Visit  the Fund for Teachers website to see how teachers are making an impact on classrooms around the globe.

Fund for Teachers: Meeting and Guidelines

Tomorrow, I go to Tulsa to learn how to successfully fulfill my grant obligations. I will also receive partial funding so I can begin making my arrangements. I have already ordered my airline ticket and reserved a rental car. The auto insurance company just called to say they do not offer insurance in Ireland. That is a problem I must figure out. I cannot drive a car around on the wrong side of the road with no insurance. Ugh I will call my credit card company and see if they have insurance I can use.

The meeting will cover accounts and receipts and how to record information. I love FFT. They want to make our experiences the absolute best we can have so we really do return to school invigorated and ready to teach. I bought two books on writing fiction today. My grant proposal was based on the idea that I never have written a fictional story. One of my goals is to accomplish this through the workshop. I hope the workshop is effective because right now I feel like it is going to be such a chore! Ugh again.

All in all, tomorrow's meeting will infuse me with determination and anticipation. I am looking forward to going.

I am in the planning stages for my fellowship to Ireland. I plan on spending a week around the Dublin area as I attend a creative writing workshop, but the lectures are mornings only, so I will have lots of time for learning about the stories and history of the Irish people.

My husband is traveling along with me, so that will make my trip even more exciting. We will arrive a couple of days early and I am trying to decide how we should spend those days. We will spend several afternoons in Dublin, so I think we will venture around the countryside prior to the workshop. The airport is north of Dublin so we will probably head around the northeast area of Ireland first.

In this area is an ancient site called Bru na Boinne. Here is the link:

http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/midlandseastcoast/brunaboinnevisitorcentrenewgrangeandknowth/


It has what appears to be burial mounds older than the pyramids of Egypt. It is also a perfect place to witness the summer and winter solstice. Those viewings are made available through a lottery. That is how popular they are. Anyway, I think we can sleep near Trim, Ireland, as a base and explore the surrounding countryside. 

Trim has a castle built during the Anglo-Norman time period.  Think of all the history those walls hold. http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/midlandseastcoast/TrimCastle/

 

Receiving the blessing of travel

I love the Fund for Teachers program. They support the idea that teachers know what they need to learn.  They recognize that not one size fits all. They encourage creative thinking. And because of this support, recognition and encouragement, I am traveling to Ireland this summer. I am blessed--this is the second Fund for Teachers grant I have received. My first FFT grant allowed me to travel to Austria to study journalism education. That was an exciting opportunity and it introduced me to international travel and global citizenship. And I am quite sure I never would have traveled beyond my known world had it not been for FFT. And last year, I traveled to Indonesia--wow--a place I KNOW I never would have visited if I had not been introduced to international travel. And now Ireland! I am still pinching myself because I am very blessed to receive these opportunities. The whole world is out there--let's go find it!