Jackie Lennox's, Christy Moore, and other items from Cork

The end of the week finished out much better than the start of the week. I guess I can cease whining for a bit now. I was actually able to get some work done and feel as though I was rather productive. Hopefully things will remain on the upswing next week.

Today (Saturday) I had two goals. One was to eat fish and chips and the second was to successfully navigate myself to the evening's Christy Moore show. I've heard that Jackie Lennox's is the best chipper in Cork, so naturally I had to try it. It was about a 15-20 min walk from where I'm staying, but there was an extra 15-20 minutes spent looking for an ATM before I was able to dine. In the States there's an ATM on every corner and in every convenience store. Not here. Apparently that part of convenience hasn't gotten over here yet. Oh well. I got a piece of cod and some curry chips. Both were very delicious. Like Burdock's in Dublin, I had no need to eat for the rest of the day after scarfing the huge amount of food I was served. Since I've been living off of ramen and pasta it was a nice change of pace to have a filling meal. I happily took a picture of the vestiges of my meal. Mmm.... I spent the rest of the afternoon tooling around the city center and managed to finally have a few pints in Cork. I went for a few Murphy's although I generally prefer Guinness, but when in Cork.... I was so full from Lennox's that I had

only had room for 2 pints, that, and my wallet would only acquiese to 2 pints as well. I had about an hour and a half to get to the gig so I figured I'd take my time walking there. I neglected to bring a map with me because I generally knew where to go. I ended up getting lost of course, so it's good that I left myself ample time. Now The Marquee was the venue where Christy was playing. Apparently there is a whole series of shows there this summer. Eric Clapton and Jay-Z already played there and Paul Simon will be there later this week. What I wouldn't give to see Paul Simon again - one of the best live shows you will ever see. Period. Anyway, I got there and they hadn't opened the doors yet. That included to the parking lot. Now there was no where to go and hang out in the area, so why with 90 minutes to showtime they weren't letting cars park, I have no idea. It seemed a bit overkill to me.

Christy came on at 8:15pm and played until about 10pm. It was a really good show. I haven't been to too many concerts recently and this was defintely worth the price of admission. I tried to take some pictures, but I was far enough back that I had to use the digital zoom so they didn't come out too well. C'est la vie. I ended up walking back to the apartment from the venue, which took about 50 minutes and was clear on the other side of the city. But it was a decent night out and the walk wasn't too bad. All-in-all, it was a good day. So things are looking up in Cork: good work getting done, good music, good brew. All for now.

Don't Mess With... Cork?

Cork is rebel country. The People's Republic of Cork. I gotta get me one of them t-shirts. It should come as no surprise that a large number of men from Cork enlisted in the British Army during the First World War given Cork's role as Ireland's "second city." Furthermore, it is also not surprising that there is little information here on the men who served in the British Army. At least little that I've found so far. The strength of Republicanism in Cork would probably prevent veterans with weak political allegiances from vocalizing their past service for fear of reprisal, especially in the early 1920s.

Oh well. Such is life. I spent two days at the Cork City and County Archive and have about 7 pages worth of typed notes to show for it. None of which is very meaty. I did get an idea for another project based on one of the sources there, but that does me little good for the current undertaking. Instead of wasting more time at the CCCA, I'm moving on and by moving on I mean going back to newspapers. This time I'll head to the Cork County Library because I can get more time on the microfilm readers. It's about a 15-20 minute walk from where I'm staying, so it's probably a little bit closer than the city library. Plus you don't have to pay to use their computers there. What library makes people pay to use their computers? Isn't that the point of the library, to get those basic services for free? (Ok, so libraries serve a much broader and significant purpose, but you know what I mean.)

On the bright side, the weather here in Cork was much improved over yesterday when all it did was rain whenever I set foot outside with 20mph winds to boot. I think tomorrow is going to be crappy too, but I believe things should shape up a bit on Saturday when I go see Christy Moore perform. Now THAT will definitely be a good time.

I've got the remainder of this week to do research here and next week as well. I have a feeling that unless I find a real gold mine next week when I go to the Boole Library, I won't need to come back to Cork in the future - at least for research purposes. It's a shame. It's a nice city. I like it much better than Dublin. I'd rather work here, but the sources, or lack thereof I should say, makes such a proposition unrealistic.


On to another subject: sports. I've never really been a soccer fan. It's been growing on me since the last World Cup, but I can only get into "good" games. Some soccer games are like watching the 1995 New Jersey Devils, and that's just plain painful. Yes they won the Cup, but they set the NHL back 10 years in the process. See, nothing good comes from New Jersey. Anyway, like I mentioned before the European Cup, or Euro 2008, or whatever it's called is going on now. I've watched a handful of games and the number one thing that stick out to me are the announcers. It's no secret that I hate most sports announcers in the States. Outside of Mickey Redmond, I'm hard pressed to find someone I actually like. CBC is good for hockey because the commentators don't talk over the entire game. The same is true of soccer in Europe. The commentators basically tell you who has the ball. That's it. There is NO discussion of players' personal history, trade history, or any other hogwash your typical American commentator spouts off. There are no stupid graphics or sound clips of the player shown simultaneously with the game. No. It's just the game. The commentators respect the audience enough to let them watch in peace. It's a welcome change to the CONSTANT banter of sports commentary in the States. Since I watch a lot of hockey, I can say that the various teams on Versus are atrocious. The same is true of ESPN's coverage of lacrosse - professional and college. Most of that is due to the verbal vomiting of Quint Kessenich. For lax, I understand why they do it - not a lot of people are familiar with the sport and the players. But for those that ARE familiar, it's like running your ears over a cheese grater. Sportscasters pandering to the lowest common denominator gets really old, really quickly.

Cork, Ireland

So I finally made it to Cork on Sunday. Not much happening here. The ride down was uneventful. I spent most of the time reading "Back To The Front" by Stephen O'Shea. A good read. The scenery driving through Tipperary and Cork was very nice. They're the sort of places you'd imagine retiring to if you wanted to retire in the Irish countryside. The most random thing I saw on the way to Cork was an Aldi. Who knew they had Aldi in Ireland? I didn't. I should have asked the bus driver if he'd pull over so I can get some cheap Ramen noodles (there's no 10 for $1 here, it's about 0.85Euro per pack. Oy!). The place I'm staying is much nicer than UCD. However, there is one key element missing from the residence at UCC. There is no internet access in the apartment. Apparently, they turned off the internet for the summer and have four computers (three of which currently function properly) for everyone staying here to use. Needless to say, it's ridiculously inefficient. I'm trying to see what I can get done about possibly getting something in my room, but I'm not holding my breath.

In terms of research, today was somewhat productive. I went to the City Library and went through some newspapers. They put limits on how long people can use the microfilm readers, which sucks, but they only have two of them so it's somewhat understandable. Regardless, today was a relatively slow day there so I got to use the machines longer than the allotted time. I also spent some time in the morning calling a few places in Northern Ireland to make sure everything was in place for my visits there. There is still more work to be done in that regard, but at least it's a step in the right direction. Tomorrow I'll go to the city and county archive and hopefully get some good stuff done. They're not open Mondays, which is why I didn't go today.

This trip has been very trying in a number of respects already. It's hard to focus when there are so many little things getting in the way and distracting me, all of which are beyond my control. But, one of the main goals of this trip, in addition to collecting materials, obviously, is to learn the lay of the land, so to speak, and I think that aim is certainly being reached for better or for worse. In general, I like Cork a lot better than Dublin. I just wish I had internet access in my room, and not the inconsistent wireless network that randomly pops up. That's about it for the moment. More developments as they happen.

5 Singles for a Rainy Day

Today was laundry day and since everything (archive-wise) is closed on Saturday there's not much to do today. It's also pouring rain outside. So here are 5 tracks for a rainy day. Since I certainly have my d'ruthers I'll try to keep it to songs you might not know, even if you know the artist.

Christy Moore - "Little Musgrave." Whether solo, or with Irish supergroup Planxty this is a soft, mellow song that has a great melody. A song about infidelity and retribution. Timeless themes, which is evident that the lyrics come from a 17th or 18th century poem (or something along those lines). The story is in the clip. Check it out.

Wake The Dead - "Sugaree." Originally a Hunter-Garcia song, this band plays Dead tunes with Celtic arrangements and instruments. Very cool.

Paul Pena - "Center of Asia." Paul Pena was an amazing individual and songwriter. He wrote the original "Jet Airliner," the song made famous by The Steve Miller Band. Pena was blind and taught himself Tuvan throat-singing. The documentary Ghengis Blues documents his trip to Tuva, where Paul wrote and performed this song.

Eric Clapton - "Over The Rainbow." Sure, I know what you're thinking - the Lunchbox has gone soft. But Clapton does a great version of this classic. I remember seeing him on the Reptile tour at the Palace of Auburn Hills. He finished his set with a blistering "Sunshine For Your Love" then came back for an encore, pulled out a stool, grabbed an acoustic guitar [at least I thought at the time. Looking at the above clip it's actually a hollow body electric, but that's a mere formality], and played this jazzy version of "Over The Rainbow." I was floored. It was pure genius. A version is available on the live album "One More Car, One More Rider."

Pearl Jam - "Thumbing My Way." I'm most familiar with the version from "Live at Benaroyal Hall" but the original is on "Riot Act," which I understand might not be one of their best records. I think it's fine though. Regardless, this is a great song.

So there you have it. By no means a "Top 5" a la High Fidelity, but a good list for what it's worth (not the Buffalo Springfield song, of course).

...and then it hit the fan.

Wednesday was a bit better at the NLI. I was able to get through more films, I talked to the librarians and they cleared the hogs off the printing machines, and I met Diarmaid Ferriter. He wrote The Transformation of Ireland, a mammoth tome that's basically a survey of twentieth century Ireland through a social and cultural lens rather than the standard political narrative. So I got to speak with him briefly and tell him that I really enjoyed his book. He gave me his email and told me to keep in touch in regards to my project. Very cool. I ended up leaving the NLI about an hour earlier than I planned because I was dying after looking at microfilm for 3 days straight. I came home and went through the Irish Times online to make up for the time lost.

Thursday I spent at the UCD archive, just a short jaunt across campus. The bonus was that I got to sleep in an extra hour. In terms of how the archive is setup and run, it was hands-down the best archive I've been to over here. Unfortunately, they don't have much material that is useful for my project. So I went through what I could, which took up the bulk of the day, and decided I'd work on a gameplan for Friday later in the evening. On my way back I stopped at one of the bookstores on campus to pick up something. This is where things started to go downhill. I knew that two productive days wouldn't come without repercussions, at least with the way this trip is going.

So I get what I want and go to the register to pay. The guy runs my card twice and it's not going through. One of the other folks there says maybe the credit card company (USAA) saw a bunch of charges in Ireland, figured it was stolen, and turned it off. That sounds feasible so I ask them to hold the materials so I can come back and get them once I get credit card this straightened out. I came back to my room and went about trying to contact USAA. The toll-free number they listed on their website for folks calling from Ireland did not work and wasn't toll-free. Since my credit card is my primary form of financial support here, I decided to bit the bullet and use my cell phone. To my surprise, the call won't go through. So I send them an email and get a response a few hours later. Here's what happened: In May I signed up for new card in an effort to upgrade my current credit card. I called USAA before I left and told them I only wanted one card and they said they wanted me to cancel the one I already had and use the new one. I told them that was fine, but I was leaving the country in a few days and if the new one didn't show up in time I'd have no choice but to use the old one. The guy at USAA told me that it'd be fine to use the old one until I started using the new one. Ok. Good. I'm set for Europe. Fast forward to yesterday evening, and I get a response from USAA saying that the old card automatically shuts off 20 days after the new card is sent. This is contradictory to what the representative told me earlier. So now I'm stuck in Ireland without a credit card. It wouldn't be a huge deal if I weren't packing up and moving to Cork on Sunday. That means I have to put an $800 housing charge on my debit card, which is exactly what I'm trying to avoid at present. So most of today was wasted trying to get this situation resolved, which it still is not. This is really aggravating because 1) I'm in Ireland and can't do anything about it, 2) USAA has, in the past, been nothing but an amazing company, and 3) they don't appear willing to help the situation in an amenable way despite the extraordinary circumstances that were explained to them. Needless to say I'm pretty pissed at the moment. If it's not one thing on this trip it's another. As my Dad said in an email, it's two-steps forward and one-step back on this trip. Well that's exactly the kind of bullshit I don't need. I've got little time here, it's expensive as hell, and I can't afford (in more ways than one) these types of setbacks. Ireland seems to hate me at the moment and that just plain sucks.

Learning to Deal, or Tales from the National Library of Ireland

When I first arrived in Dublin the first place I went to get a reader's card was the National Library. They have the best newspaper collection in the Republic, if not the whole island so I knew I'd have to spend at least a few days there. They issued me a temporary reader's card, which, although it wouldn't allow me to access the manuscripts, should do the trick. I found out today that wasn't the case. I tried to request some books and the gentleman behind the desk told me had to see my reader's ticket. When I produced the temporary ticket I was issued he informed me that the books I requested were deemed rare and thus could only be accessed by someone with a permanent readers ticket (this is the one that you need to bring 2 passport size photos for - completely ridiculous). Since I only planned to be there the duration of today and tomorrow I didn't think it was worth it to get the full readers ticket because I didn't know how long it was good for, when, or if I'd be back, how much the photos cost, etc., since I had a lot of newspapers to go through anyway. The librarian was very friendly and I could tell he empathized with my position, but I've come to the conclusion that Irish archives in general are behind the times, especially with what I've heard about the British National Archive and some places on the Continent and in the States. The whole scam of "licensing" in regard to making copies of newspapers is aggravating, especially when I could just snap a digital photo, get a better quality reproduction (still within my licensed limit of one copy per document) and get through the materials faster. No wonder it takes people forever to finish this degree. [Note: The British Library has similar policies, but it's more expensive because of the dollar:pound conversion, but they have an even better collection than the NLI. I just can't win!] I plan to go back to the National Library tomorrow before spending two days at the UCD archive just down the sidewalk from my place of residence. I think I'll be glad to get out of Dublin. I love the country, but Dublin is not for me.

That said, today's work was a combination of aggravation and productivity. For about 2-3 hours during the middle of the day there were three people using the Microfilm Printing machines that would not relinquish them. Let me explain to clarify. The NLI has two rooms filled with microfilm readers. Most of the readers simply allow you to view the microfilm and don't have printing capabilities. There are three machines that can print. Now, the policy - that is not at all enforced even though the printing machines are visible from the librarian's desk - is that patrons are to use the non-printing machines to view their films and then use the printing machines when they need to print. This is actually a good policy because then the printing machines are continually free and no one is just sitting at the same printing machine all day. Everyone gets an opportunity to print when they need to. Of course, it doesn't work like this. There were three gentlemen, and I use that term loosely as the policy is clearly posted, sat the the printing machines all afternoon. I finally just gave up and took notes on what I wanted to print and tomorrow I'll recall the reels and print them out. What a pain in the ass though. People can be so rude.

Also, the National Library is one of the largest (in terms of collection) and most important research institutions in Ireland, but they seem to be unawares that people might want to do large scale research there. The printing card for the microfilm machines come with either 2 or 4 copies on them (costing 1 or 2 Euro, respectively) and they have no way to sell bulk copy cards. One has to go down to the book store and buy multiple 1Euro cards, unless you have a healthy supply of 2Euro coins to put in the card machine upstairs. For example, if you want 40 copies, like I did today, you have to go to the book store and buy 20 cards for 1 Euro each that hold 2 copies per card. Ridiculous.

Can you tell I'm less than thrilled with the National Library of Ireland? To their credit though, the staff there is nothing but great. I think their directors need to rethink some of their policies though. I mean Jesus Christ. I'd rather use my digital camera and pay the library for each picture I take - that way they still get their 50cents per copy and I get work done faster. The money is only part of the problem. Time and copy quality are even more significant for me at this point.

Did I mention that when I got off the bus to come home it started to rain. Naturally, it stopped by the time I got to my apartment. Thanks Ireland. You made my day today.

On the bright side, since I had time to go through some more papers today with the printing machines being hogged, I found some decent material. And by the end of the day (9 hours total) when the printing machines were free I was able to print some stuff out. Needless to say, I'll be glad at the end of the day tomorrow when I'm done at the NLI for this trip. Chalk this one up to a learning experience.

Ironically, I'm finding that the Irish Times is probably the best source for news anywhere in Ireland and it's completely digital and searchable. I think if you have an Irish IP address you can access their archival content free. It might be worth the price to subscribe to their digital archive once I get back to the States though. Thanks to the Irish Times archive I'm finding a lot of information about veterans activities post-WWI. I can conceivably see this project shifting the emphasis of memory to the wings and focusing more on the British ex-servicemen. I'd want to have some stuff, probably a chapter or two on commemoration and memory, unless I can convincingly put a memory spin the material on veterans. Of course that's all to be seen once I get home and actually go through all this material I'm collecting.

A final note: I found out yesterday that I received a Summer Research Grant from Loyola. The money will be a made help in offsetting the cost of this trip which is all coming out of my savings. I'll have to take a few days this fall when I get home to dedicate to looking for grants to help fund me next year once my fellowship is up in '09.

Futbol, not football (Otherwise known as soccer)

This weekend I decided to take it easy. The National Library was only open from 9:30-1pm, so I figured by the time I got there an got settled it'd be time for me to go anyway. Tomorrow will bring a full day there regardless. So I went into the city to knock a few things off of my To Do list. Namely, I went to Leo Burdock's Fish & Chips. I got a huge piece of fish and fries. It was amazing and was the first filling meal I've had in a week. Living off Peanut Butter & Jelly gets a bit old. (Even the Ramen noodles here are a rip off - almost $2US for a single package! Are you kidding me? $2 will get 20 in the States!!! But I digress.) Having gone to the city with my Finnish roommate, she wanted to get a pint after the Fish & Chips since Burdocks is a take-out only place. So we walked around Grafton St. and got a pint. Then we found our way to what is the closest thing to a sports bar in Dublin (I would assume) to watch the European Cup or whatever the current soccer (futbol, not football) tournament is called. Sweden was playing Spain and it was actually a pretty entertaining game. We had gone to watch The Netherlands vs. France on Friday evening and that game wasn't very exciting. But it was definitely an experience to watch soccer at a crowded bar in Europe. The people here really love their football. By the time the game was over we had spent enough time in the city and headed back to UCD. I spent the remainder of the evening looking through the Irish Times online archive and found some useful articles. So the day wasn't a complete academic waste!

Sunday looks like it will be pretty lazy. No real plans for the day, just taking it easy. We'll see.

Week 1 in the books

The last couple of days have been pretty productive. I think I've got some good material, but only time will tell if my time in Dublin has been worthwhile. Mine is a difficult topic to get at, so hopefully some of my tangential approaches will pay off. That's to be seen though.

Thursday morning I went back to the National Archive and took some pictures in the morning. By the time I had finished that and gone through a few more files it was time for me to go. I had an appointment at the Guinness Storehouse at 1pm. I walked over to Guinness where I had a huge amount of files to go through. Most of them pertained to the actual war years with very little discussing the long-term effects of the war or the company's attitude toward it. There was, however, some very good material on the creation of the company's Roll of Honour, which I'm sure I will be able to use.

Earlier in the week I went to the grocery store and bought some granola bars to serve as a lunch substitute. Of course, I forgot to bring any on Thursday. Needless to say I was exhausted by the time I was done at Guinness (probably 4:30-4:45). Since it was still kind of early I decided it would be prudent to go to the main bus station to get a bus ticket for Cork next week. So I walked to the main bus station from Guinness, which is clear on the other side of the city. When I got to the bus station the person at the ticket window tickets had to be bought the day of your trip. Poop and pee. Then I walked from the main bus station to my bus stop, which was probably another 15-20 minutes.

Today was much simpler. I made sure to pack a granola bar and went to the National Archive. I think I've looked at pretty much everything I need to see there, at least for the time being. The National Library is open tomorrow, but I'm not sure if I'm going to go there or not. I need to go through some of my materials and see how things stand. Perhaps I'll do a half day and allow myself to sleep in a bit. Regardless, I'll probably be there on Monday.

I'm not really sure what I'll do this weekend otherwise. I'm sure I can find some cost-effective entertainment. I was talking to a couple of the guys who work at the desk at the National Archive today and they were saying how expensive Dublin is, and that I might even be able to afford a pint when I go to Cork. Let's hope so!

Train kept a rollin'

Not a whole lot to report today. Another productive day at the archive. I was able to finish photographing everything I needed from the first box of ex-servicemen records. I'll try to move on to the second box tomorrow. Tomorrow I'll actually be splitting time between the National Archive and the Guinness Archive. I had an email when I got home from the Guinness archivist stating that they wouldn't be open at 9:30am as previously communicated, but tomorrow would open at 1pm. That kind of messes up my plan, but oh well. I'm sure I'll manage. I was able to look at some Taoiseach files, some of which might be of use and I'll plan to photograph them tomorrow. That way, in the very least, I'll get most, if not all of the small files out of the way, and can concentrate on the big boxes of ex-servicemen records. For not having very much on WWI, the National Archive has proved to be a worthwhile stop for me, at least it seems that way at the moment. I think I was told there are something around 12-13 boxes of the ex-servicemen records, which I doubt I'll get through on this trip. One of the archivists also told me they have a collection of WWI ex-servicemen's wills, but like the Defense Forces archive, they were temporarily unavailable. Apparently they plan to put them on CD and make them available to people. That would be a cost effective alternative than a return trip. So I'll keep my eyes out for those. All-in-all, it was a good day. Going through archives makes one feel more like an historian than going through newspapers on microfilm, which is more of a needle-in-a-haystack way of doing history. Someday, decades from now, everything will be fully digitized and searchable, until then we have microfilm apparently.

After the archives I decided to lay low for the evening. Now extra work tonight. I watched "The Commitments" which I brought with me - always a good flick. I also spent a good part of the evening talking with Carlo, my roommate from Italy. Interesting guy. I got an email from Katie, my fiancee, this morning that really made my day a few times over. She said that she went running with the dog, and when he stopped to relieve himself, instead of doing that he simply plopped down on the ground. The thought of this, and the look I know was on his face, made me laugh to myself a few times today. Oh Buca. I'm also trying to find a convenient time to go to Burdock's Fish & Chips. I was going to go tomorrow, but the time change at Guinness threw my timetables off. Perhaps I will go this weekend with Carlo. All for now. More tomorrow?

A good research day

Today I went back to the National Archive of Ireland. I got there right as it opened and had a pretty productive day. I talked with the archivist a bit when I first got there to try to orient myself. She was really helpful while at the same time admitting that there was probably very little there of direct relevance to my dissertation. This is a common thing, and I'm becoming used to this as an initial response. Upon doing some digging, I think that there will be at least 3-4 sources that will be very useful, but that is still to be determined. What probably saved me was a purchase I made at the National Museum on Sunday, a book by Brian Hanley called A Guide To Irish Military Heritage. I had been informed of the existence of the book before I left, but was fortunate to find it when I did. The files I was hoping would pan out - the Bureau of Military History - will probably have scant relevance for my diss, but one of the sources suggested in Hanley's book proved quite useful and interesting today. There was a committee put together in 1927-1928 to determine the grievances of British ex-servicemen in Ireland; it was called the Committee on Claims of British Ex-servicemen. The files give a good picture of the types of problems many former British soldiers experienced in post-Independence Ireland as well as what efforts the British Legion took to try to help these men. Since my focus is on the memory of the Great War in Ireland I began to think about how relevant these sources were. It seems to me that to read the position of ex-servicement as a "site" (a la Pierre Nora, not necessarily a physical site, but one that provides a common understanding for a group) of memory/remembrance would be one way to make use of these sources. In essence, the status of veterans constitutes an access point into assessing the legacy of the war in Ireland. Even better, the National Archive allows limited use of digital cameras and I was able to photograph 3 full jackets of files in the allotted half hour. Hopefully tomorrow will be just as productive. I believe there is a different archivist on duty tomorrow, so perhaps I can talk them into letting me use the camera all day. That would make things go faster and allow me to get more done. The federal government also kept records of the British Legion's annual request to use the city's parks for their Remembrance Day ceremonies. These files contain some interesting pieces of information as well. Hopefully I'll be able to get that stuff photographed this week as well. Toward the end of the day, I was looking for more stuff and found some references for the Connaught Rangers that may be helpful. Tomorrow I'll look at the rest of the list (I only got through "C") and perhaps some more stuff will turn up. All-in-all it was a productive day. I felt like a real historian today. Today's investigations have provoked more questions that I may or may not find answers to. We'll see.

On a separate note, I need to say that I hate phones. I bought a calling card that supposedly allows me to call the States from Ireland. Since the apartment I'm staying in lacks a landline phone, I've had to try to use it on pay phones. It has not worked yet. This annoys me. I think it might be the pay phone and if I had a regular land line it would be fine, but this is an unanticipated headache.

New York Blackout: Dublin Style

Saturday and Sunday were a busy couple of days. I got up on time Saturday, no thanks to my alarm clock, and got to the Dublin City Archive about 15 minutes after it opened. Not bad. I continued going through their online newspaper collections, but that hit a snag when I lost the use of my email. I forgot that Loyola was doing maintenance to their servers on Saturday, and so the process of emailing files to myself came to a halt for the day since I couldn't access email. Once I realized what happened, I spent some time going through city council minute books. There really wasn't much there and I was hoping for more. Oh well. By the end of the day I had begun to go through some newspapers on microfilm. On Monday, I'll finishing emailing myself the documents I have left and hit the microfilm hard. Luckily the library is open until 8pm during the week so I should be able to get a good deal done. We'll see. The whole process is over-whelming because I have so much to see, so little time, copies are so expensive, and the use of my digital camera is prohibited.

When I finally got home from the archive I started going through the Irish Times website on my laptop. Now having American appliances in Europe can be a challenge. Most expensive items have power come with power converters (the box on the cable). I bought a separate converter for the trip as well, and have a number of different plug adapters that do not convert current. So because of all this, I have a Ireland:UK adapter followed by a UK:US adapter, which I plug my laptop into. The plug on my laptop is a little loose so for added stability, I removed the UK:US adapter and plugged my UK:US converter into the IE/UK adapter. Sound confusing?
It is. I figure that the two converters back to back shouldn't be a problem, right? Wrong. After a while I heard a big pop and the lights go out. My converter had blown. Fortunately, the fuse in the IE:UK adapter didn't blow (that happened on Friday to my first adapter. The second one is much higher quality), but the surge completely knocked out the power in the entire apartment. This was probably around 7-8pm. We try to flip the circuit breakers and nothing happens. After several trips to reception and an offer to switch apartments, we all decide to stay the night without power. Everyone I'm sharing with is here for at least two weeks and had no interest in packing in the dark. Reception said they'd have someone come out and fix the power today (Sunday). In the meantime, the lack of power provided everyone an opportunity to talk and we did so until the wee hours of the morning.

apartment. The proposed solution didn't work. So I decided to go be a tourist for a bit instead of sitting around all day waiting for a fix. I got onCome Sunday morning, the folks from reception come and fidget with the buttons in the the bus and went downtown. I planned to buy an alarm clock - the time delay issue was related to current variations, my engineer roommate speculated - which I did. Then I set out down the River Liffey (picture above) to the National Museum of Ireland. There was an exhibit about Irish militarism I wanted to see. The exhibit was interesting and had some displays I could probably use for my diss. I bought some books at the museum bookstore as well as the official literature on the Soldier Chiefs exhibit. From the national museum I set out for the Irish National War Memorial at Islandbridge.

After a 15-20 minute walk I finally arrived at the park. It consists of a number of open spaces, a few sports pitches, and the main memorial area. The center of the memorial area had a large stone monument with two poppy wreathes laid on it. To the east and west of the main area were fountains and additional stone work that led into a memorial garden at each end. Straight ahead was the main cenotaph. The stone work on the wall behind the cenotaph bore an inscription dedicating the memorial to those who died in the war. I've included pictures of the center monument with the cenotaph in the back ground as well as an image of the western memorial garden. The park in general was very relaxing and pleasant, quite the antithesis of the conflict it commemorates. I'm sure that was the idea. It was nice to see that there were a fair number of people using the park. I'm sure it would be an even greater destination for families and other events if it were more centrally located.


When I left the park I made my way back through Dublin. I went past Kilmainhaim Jail, where the '16 rebels were shot, but I didn't go in or take any pictures. I made my way past the Guinness Storehouse on the way across town to the bus stop. It wasn't too long before a bus came and I was back to UCD. Upon entering the apartment I tried the light switch and the power had, in fact, not been restored. My walking for the day was not done yet. Poop. I went down to reception and was given a key for a new apartment. Fortunately, it was in the same building on the ground floor so it wasn't a laborious move. I got myself re-settled in the new place and had some dinner consisting of Peanut Butter & Jelly - my first food since breakfast - and some carrots. All things considered it was a busy day, but I got a lot done and saw a lot of the city. The sore knees and ankles are a small price to pay in the end. Tomorrow I'll head back to the Dublin City Archive, and perhaps try to persuade them to let me use my camera. We'll see. More to come.

Getting a foothold in Dublin

After a five year sabbatical, I'm finally back in Ireland. I got in yesterday and was completely wiped out. I only slept for an hour or two on the plane. So what did I do? I went to UCD to check in to my room. I think I arrived around 9am. It might have been earlier, since my flight got in early and that was at 7:35am. Naturally, check-in wasn't until 3pm. So I dropped off some of my stuff at reception and figured I'd go get my readers tickets from the three major archives I'd be using in Dublin.

First I went to the National Library. It's a really nice building, right next to Leinster house on Kildare Street. So I went there and poked around a bit. I found out that if I want to look at the manuscripts collection I'd need a passport photo because they make a real-deal badge for you. I had kicked around looking at some of their manuscripts, but honestly, I hadn't hoped to find much there. I might still go back and do so, but we'll see what I have time to do. I'm more interested in their newspaper collection anyway.

Next, I went to the Dublin City Library and Archives; probably a 5-10 minute walk from the National Library. The folks there were very friendly and I talked at length with one of their archivists, Andrew O'Brien, who is interested in the First World War in Ireland. He gave me some good ideas for places to look. I also saw they had access to a number of Irish newspapers online, which is very helpful, especially for the larger-run, national papers.

So after spending sometime at the city library, I went off to find the National Archive. Street signs in Ireland are few and far between, and many streets change names in the course of a block or two. Needless to say I probably didn't take the most direct route to the National Archives. I got my readers ticket there and looked through some of their finding aids briefly, but I was really too tired to do any real work. I figured I'd leave it for another day.

Then I set off to find my way back to UCD. I wandered through one of the trendier parts of town and found a restaurant to grab a bite to eat. This was probably about 2pm local time and I hadn't eaten since breakfast on the plan. I scarfed some fish and chips and then went to find a bus to take me back to UCD. The problem with streets signs reared it's ugly head again. This, however, was exacerbated by the lack of route maps for the buses. Everything in Ireland seems to be intuitive and if you're not familiar with the system it takes a bit of trying, luck, and common sense to get it down. Since I wasn't sure what route the bus took to UCD I set off to find out. Needless to say, I walked most of the way to UCD before finding a bus. The college is about 2.5miles south of the city. By the time I found a bus (or did the bus find me?) and got back to the reception it was past three and acceptable to check-in. After unpacking a bit, and trying to get the internet to work, which was a trying ordeal (iChat and Mail still don't work, neither will Skype - this is some kind of hackneyed network here) and fruitless at the time, I went out to get a bite to eat. This was probably around 5:15pm. So I go to what is apparently the closest bar for a pint and some food. It's not the best place, but it's the best place around. I go there, and order a Smithwickes, and drain a glass for the World Champion Detroit Red Wings. The bartender informs me that food isn't served until 6pm. Poop and pee. Since it was a bit past 5:30 at that point I decided to wait it out. I got another pint and some food before going back to UCD (the exchange rate is killing me here - almost $7US for a pint!). I mill around for a bit before falling asleep. I get up, shower, and fall right back asleep.

This morning, I got up and the clock said 7:35am, or thereabouts. In fact, the time was 10:30ish and I had intended to wake up at 8:30 to be back to the Dublin City Archive by 10. I have no idea how a clock can loose 3 hours over night. Perhaps it was jet-lagged too? I got to the archive about 11:15am and spent the day going through the online newspapers. When I went to plug in the power adapter (not the converter, mind you, just the adapter) I was greeted with a pop and a green spark. Now aside from the fact that green is my favorite color, nothing good came of the spark. The adapter has a fuse, which clearly had blown, and was rendered useless. Hooray for me. So I spent the next 6 hours traversing Irish periodicals of yore. At closing time I inquired about a hardware store to get a new fuse, and there happened to be one just down the street. At the hardware store, the guy told me he didn't have any, but informed me of a place up in Parnell Square that could help me out. Having a vague recollection of where Parnell Square was, I set out to find the store. Once I got to O'Connell Street I couldn't find the store I was told to use as a landmark (Penney's) until I had already given up and gotten on a no. 10 bus back home. Naturally, I had gone much further than I needed to go to find the store. Upon my return to UCD, I deemed it necessary to procure some groceries because based on the accounting of the previous days two meals, I couldn't even afford those. I inquired about a real grocery store, since they always referred me to the little stop-and-shop here on campus. I told them I wanted a big grocery store, one that their parents would go to. They kindly gave me directions to Tescos where I was able to procure milk, cereal, PB&J fixin's, cutlery, plates, a bowl, and some decent TP. About $35 worth of food should be enough to feed me for a 3-5 days at least. Victory for me. I might head back there Saturday or Sunday to procure some beer and quesadilla fixin's. Now that's diverse cuisine! After meeting one of my suitemates, who was kind enough to help me get my internet configured - nice folks the Austrians, I spent the rest of the evening in my room going through the Irish Times' website, which helped ease the defeat felt this morning because of the alarm issues.

Salary for Mom

An interesting article on CNN about the would-be salary of stay-at-home mom's was very interesting. The concept behind the article and the study it's based on, monetizing and placing value on the work women do in their own homes, is not foreign to me. In courses that focus on women and gender (one of my advisers specializes in this area) the meaning and impact of moving women from the workplace is not uncommon. Joanna Bourke's Husbandry to Housewifery: Women, Economic Change, and Housework in Ireland, 1890-1914 directly focuses on this topic in an Irish context, yet Bourke's findings can be applied to other places as well. All of this begs the question of what do we make of these findings? If you ask the average parent, it's unlikely they would be surprised by the study. But what, if any thing, can be done to actually compensate parents for their time spent tending to their families? At the crux of my thinking about this issue is class. Bourke's work looks at what would be best classified as middle class (which for 19th Century Irish society was much different from what we think of as middle class today). I can't help but think that if there were some sort of renumeration for stay-at-home parents that as a society, we would see an improvement in America. I recently watched the Michael Moore film, "Sicko" and while I am by no means a supporter of Mr. Moore and the way he presents his views, some of the facts he presents are indisputable. While presenting information about France's health care system, Moore reveals that the government pays individuals to help out mothers with infants at home. It seems to me, perhaps indirectly, that the French government emphasizes the value of parenting. By having individuals help new mothers, the new mothers are able to be even more productive, and the domestic service industry, under the control of the government becomes more standardized and regulated. Of course, these are ideals, but still interesting concepts to think about. Nothing like this would ever fly in America because of our vast fear of "socialism," but it certainly seems like a step in the right direction to me in acknowledging the importance and value of stay-at-home parents.