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Dr. Ada English

Dr. Ada English was a strong woman, a fervent Nationalist, a prominent member of Cumann na mBan, and one of the first female psychiatrists in Ireland. Like her peer Dr. Kathleen Lynn, Dr. English devoted her spare time to politics and to healing and aiding the Irish Volunteers who were fighting for a free Ireland. Her story is not as well known as Dr Lynn’s however, since Ada was not in Dublin during the Easter Rising. Many political women of Ireland’s revolutionary periods have slowly vanished throughout the years, and Dr. Ada English has not been an exception to that unfortunate trend, though she should be.

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Let’s remember them all

This little tidbit comes to you from Moore Street. The lyrics of this song kind of sum up my goals with this blog too.

Hope you enjoy this lovely woman’s song, and please, remember them all. Also, don’t forget to keep an eye out on what is happening on Moore Street, and join any protest to protect it that you can.

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Helena Molony

Today in honor of Ms. Helena Molony’s birthday, I give you the bit I wrote about her in my new book; Petticoats, Patriots, and Partition.  She was a pretty awesome lady, and one of many that I celebrate in the first section of the book. I hope it tempts your curiosity about the rest of them too. If it does, the book is available worldwide through Amazon and nationally through Barnes and Noble, other bookstores, Amazon, and Blurb. Enjoy!!

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Save Moore Street (again)

I seem to have written a piece about Moore Street in Dublin every four to six months or so, since my last visit there. As the (de)construction looms ever closer, it has happened a bit more frequently. The protection of Moore Street is one of my favorite Irish causes, and I spend a good deal of time reading through mind-numbing transcripts and watching videos and news from afar as the government tries to weasel a new mall or hotel into what should be a sacred and protected space.

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Extra-Curricular Activities

It’s not that I haven’t been writing. It’s that I haven’t been writing as often here. This is a problem for me, until I look at where that writing is. I wrote a book! (Holy Crap) The paperback version is now available on most international Amazon markets. You can order it from Barnes & Noble bookstores and nearly any other bookstore too.  It’s pretty damn exciting I must say – but trying to keep up with the promotion stuff is hard work. I now understand why people wait for that elusive ‘contract’ and a real publishing house.

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A Constitution is Born

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…

playboy2

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.

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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.

 

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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.

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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.

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