On December 29, 1937, a new Ireland emerged, under a new Constitution. Eamon De Valera drafted a new Constitution that came into its own on this day seventy-eight years ago and the island was known thereafter as Eire or Ireland, as it remains to this day.
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Irish Porn…
Ireland has a really interesting religious past – and a history of being both totally progressive and completely conservative. Prior to the emergence of its massive religious influence, women enjoyed the same rights and privileges as their male counterparts and the freedoms that included. However, over the years that equality vanished and so did a lot of personal freedoms, no matter which gender you claimed. These lost choices included perusing even the least controversial nudie magazines. Thousands of books and magazines were officially banned in Ireland and it wasn’t until 1995, that Ireland officially allowed the buying and selling of Playboy magazine for the first time in thirty-six years. Millions of “article” readers rejoiced.
Fast forward a mere twenty years and Ireland became the first country to allow gay marriage by popular vote – which is an amazing and historic feat that is quite progressive and ahead of the times. However, well over two hundred other magazines are still banned in Ireland, and so are a lot of books about sex. One of the prohibited publications that is still (and permanently) banned is Playgirl. Go figure.
Petticoats, Patriots, and Partition paperback edition
There’s a lot to learn with this whole writing and publishing a book thing. One thing to learn is that if you set a book up to be sold through Ingram, it disappears until Ingram gets around to distributing it. For me, that meant the paperback edition of my book was out of commission, which is a surprising and disappointing discovery.
However, I found a work around, so it is back. (Whew) If you’d like your own you can now find it here. The other links that have been posted before, and those in the Celtic Thoughts interview yesterday will only get you to the hardback edition, which is nice but more expensive.
In a few weeks, you’ll be able to order the paperback from any bookstore, anywhere – which is super neat. In the meantime though, the place to get it is the link above.
It won’t make it by Christmas anymore, but it would be a great book to start 2016 with.
Celtic Thoughts Interview
This book writing business is a lot (a lot a lot a lot) of work and there is a ton to learn and think about when you’re doing it yourself. Luckily I have a lot of really great people out there who are a great source of encouragement and inspiration – otherwise I think I’d be quite insane by now.
Sweet Revenge, the burning of Cork
Whoever first said that revenge is best served cold did not live in Ireland in 1920. In Cork city, revenge was a burning hot firestorm and it left many homes, businesses, and lives in its disastrous wake.
Battlefield Bonds
There’s a fight raging in Dublin over the few historic, urban battleground sites that still remain. These locations have dwindled drastically over the last hundred years as big industry takes hold in Ireland. There are plaques all over the city, noting the historical significance of what used to exist on that spot – but many of the buildings and businesses are gone and they’ve been replaced by something new, or worse – they’ve been removed altogether.
Petticoats, Patriots, and Partition (take 1)
So I probably just did the scariest thing I have ever done ever. I published a book. One that people can buy, and that has my name on it. It’s terrifying and wonderful and I kind of feel like an impostor.
Shameless Self-Promotion
It’s so very close to being finished and I just can’t keep it to myself anymore. I hope you’ll forgive the teasing since it is not available yet, but by December 1st, it will be.
It’s written. It exists. It’s a collection of short histories, and mini-biographies – many that started as blog posts here. In fact, there are only a few that I’ve held back for the book only, but in this form the entries are expanded, edited, and written slightly differently. It’s taken forever and I’m super excited about it – or I would be if I could just stop editing. But now there’s a single, real-life, (albeit marked up) copy in the world and the rest are so very close.
Now you know the title. And my real name for that matter. Hopefully some of you will love this book – and will be OK with me promoting you in it too. I can’t believe it. Coming so very, very soon!
#holycrapIwroteabook
Louise Gavan Duffy
Not too many women would have the nerve to wander through a war zone, and precious few have the nerve to join right in and fight. Almost none would march right up to one of the leaders so she could tell him to his face that the whole thing was a bad idea. But Louise Gavan Duffy did exactly that on the day the Easter Rising began in Ireland, and she had no qualms about it.
Troubled Times Ahead For Sinn Fein?
When a bubble bursts it usually does so with a loud noise and a rapid discharge of gas. But sometimes all you get is a gentle hissing sound, so measured it can be hard to detect.
Sinn Fein’s performance in last week’s British general election probably falls in the latter category. With the exception of the dramatic loss of the iconic Fermanagh and South Tyrone seat – first won by Bobby Sands thirty-four years ago – its vote hissed softly outwards, declining overall by a just single percentage point. Not the end of the world but not good either.
With the exception of West Belfast, where the vote slumped by nearly 17 per cent, most of which went to the left-wing People Before Profit candidate, the losses were tiny in most areas. But the bad news was that the losses were across the board, in fifteen of the eighteen seats.
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Choosing the Green 
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