Notes · from · the · Poitin · Still

I have to say yay for people. People like AF-ers who engage in debate, and answer even obscure rambling questions with gusto. Hurrah for all the poets who have entered the PPP yule competition already. Hurrah for friends scattered worldwide who send a card, or a token of friendship, or text/email to wish you a happy midwinter solstice.A special Hurrah for People like my friend Sara who is out campaigning for flood victims in Cork, despite her own house being fine. Or another mate John who is fasting until christmas morning for the homeless in Dublin.
Hurrah - for everyone who is doing something to make their lives, someone else's life, or just the whole damn world a bit better. Kudos, one and all :)

We had a lovely one, I hope you all had as nice a day. It ended with mead, homemade soup, a fire and candles. It was freezing out but a lovely clear, starlit night, and even Jupiter was visisble clearly in the sky. And this morning one of the candles was still burning which was lovely.
Today is the start of a new part of the year and I for one am glad of it :)

Well the sinus infection turned into hell - one side of my face swelled out and the pain was unbelievable. I was introduced to the joys of nasal sprays - sorry, but seriously, it was horrible and I pretty much spent from thursday to monday in a heap. Back in work now and pretty much recovered, yay! I managed to squeeze out my nanowrmo story as I went and I am proud to announce I crossed the finish line. Considering the state of me I am bigging myself up over it :)
The weather is still awful and those wondering where saramacha is - she's up to her knees in flood water and doing great work in her area trying to help stem the damage. So spare her a thought and wish her luck!

Hope everyone is dry and well !

I've been doing this over at my poetry blog; not every day as Nanowrimo is taking up a lot of time, but every couple of days at least. Come good poetry from it too. if you fancy trying them, look at
http://blog.writersdigest.com/poeticasides/2009/11/25/2009NovemberPADChapbookChallengeDay25.aspx

there's different prompts for each day of November

I have been pondering a conversation I had at the weekend and wanted to share...

I personally believe that all subjects are open to debate. I believe that debating thorny issues and delicate subjects is one of the best ways of exploring both what one believes and what others think.
If they happen to think something that opposes my view or offends my sensibilities I have the right to challenge it and vice versa.
In the course of any debate especially online (involving, as that tends to, more than two persons) then opinions will be aired on difficult subjects that will cause offence or annoyance to someone on that thread.

But recently I've come across a body of opinion that claims that if any such opinions are expressed then the thread is automatically a negative and prejudicial thread. That the debate itself is now inherently "racist" or "sectarian" - that allowing the expression of negative opinion is untenable in itself.

Yet, there are many reasons for negative expressions on these issues. Some of them are actually correct. No religion or society is perfect and none should be above comment or above criticism. Especially when the needs and agendas of these religions or societies impinges on the status quo. For example as a woman I believe I have every right to be critical of the treatment of women and the view of women in certain societies and religions, especially when those views threaten hard won freedom and equality for women in Ireland.
Equally the negative opinion may simply be incorrect and based on misconceptions. How can these misconceptions be challenged unless by well informed debate?
Or the person may simply be expressing disquiet, eg "How can we sustain this level of immigration?" without necessarily having a positive or negative attachment to that statement. It's a request for debate, for information, for opinion - based on their own fears or observations.

To react to expressions of disquiet or even outright illinformed prejudice by simply banning debate to my mind is ridiculous. To label every negative reaction to a religion or society prejudicial is even worse. There is a world of difference between the statement "All X are bad" and "This aspect of X's culture is bad" - and we are all and should be all open to the same criticism of our own culture or religion or society.

I've watched the wholesale dumbing down of debate on many fora and in many media both online and in real life and it's a terrible pity.
And it's generally neither welcomed nor pushed as an agenda by the very people most closley concerned with the debate. I have had the best and most informative discussions about Islam with islamic friends; the worst with woolly headed, confused middle class catholic irish people :)

I had the loveliest week - after recent months it was better than a holiday to have such a nice week. Apart from our lovely trip to west Cork for Samhain, on Thursday I went with a friend to the GRR Martin (grrm ) book signing in Eason's on O'Connell St., Dublin. We had a very lively hour and half queuing to get our books signed, (there was a massive turnout) chatting away to each other and various fellow afficionados and then got to say hello, take a quick photo and have our books signed by one of my all time favourite authors. Mr Martin is Himself's all time favourite alongside Jack Vance so I got Himself a copy of Jack Vance "Songs of the Dying Earth" edited by grrm. Literally covering all the bases! Himself met us after work and we all went for coffee - great chat and lots of plans to meet up again soon.

And then on Friday I was extremely lucky and got to meet GRR Martin and his lovely wife Parris and that was just a brilliant moment. They say "never meet your heroes" but Martin definitely disproves the rule. My poor darling husband is still puking with jealousy but he is also delighted that one of us met him properly, because his first ever present to me, in an attempt to get me to go out with him, was Game of Thrones bby GRR Martin. Some people have "their" song, we have "our" poem and "our" book :) So our signed copies now have added meaning, and it was just one of those days where the stars align and fortune smiles on you.

And then another lovely friend called into town this morning and took me for coffee and a bun for my birthday - a great chat, and lovely company.

In other news....I'm trying to write some poems for the November Pad challenge, and there are a few other new poems up at www.geraldinemoorkensbyrne.com

and I'm doing Nanowrimo again and this year's bit of froth is up at  http://www.nanowrimo.org/eng/user/91696 

Have a good one, chickens !

Good morning chickens! I have a couple of good books for ye.
The first is Marian Keyes "66 Star Street" which marks a return to form for the Queen of fiction. It's a magical, thoughtful, genuinely sweet book with a real heart. It's very funny, sometimes sad and very interesting. Her last one This Charming Man didn't float everyone's boat - I quite liked it - but I think Star Street is a really good offering. It's very different in style from her early stuff but it has that sharp wit and warmth. I love the magic realism that pervades it, she juggles several storylines with aplomb and Grudge the Dog is my hero. It has a touch of Celtic mysticism but so lightly applied it twinkles on the surface.
Secondly The Girl who Kicked the Hornets Nest - the third and final part of the Millenium series from Steig Larsson. I loved the first two books and now half way through the Hornet's Nest I can say they are superb. I've rarely enjoyed a thriller series so much. The action picks up from the end of the Played with Fire book, Lisbeth Salander has landed herself in hospital with a bullet in her brain and a few more in her body. As the forces of secret Government move against her, Blumkvist and others wade in on her side to fight whether she likes it or not. It's so well written, and the characters are fresh and original (Lisbeth is my heroine!) it is a tragedy there will never be another.

I also read A S Byatt The Children's Book - I have very mixed feelings about this one. It's well written but it has a schizophrenic feel to it. On the one hand when the story touches on the private lives of the children it's excellent, but it then adopts the tone of a biography or historical tome, reciting dry facts and detailing laboriously the various movements in Edwardian society from Fabian to Arts&Crafts. Both sections are well written - but they jar horribly on each other. There are flashes of brilliance - the mother's manipulation of her abused son, a literary betrayal that causes real harm or the dysfunctional family on the Marsh- but too often the style is detached and unengaging and affected and the characterization is ridiculous at times. I am surprised it found it's way onto the Booker list although it's not as bad as the Quickening Maze (Adam Foulds) which was appalling. It's not the worst book I've ever read but it was a bit of a chore and - terrible thing to say about a book - it seemed to me an utterly pointless offering.
The only thing redeeming the Booker for me is that Hilary Mantle's brilliant Wolf Hall won :)