Day 11: Belfast on the 4th of July

The U.S. and the Irish, nationality and ideas

The conservative columnist George F. Will once said that America is different from other countries because it's based on ideas rather than nationality.

Americans are English and French and African and Hispanic and hundreds of other ethnicities, often in multi-ethnic mixes. I am Irish, Russian and English myself.

In Belfast, they're Catholic and Protestant, of course, and they have been fighting about that for centuries. And though Northern Ireland is run by the UK, and subsidized by the dominant nation a few miles across the sea, it's essentially Irish in its national character.

I learned (or "learnt" as they say here) that from the Hughes family of Shankill Road, the dividing line between Catholics and Protestants  in Belfast. They overheard us talking as my wife and I dined at Laverty's, a traditional English-style pub down the street from our hostel. It's dark there, yet festive. It's a family place where parents take their children. And since it's gay pride weekend here, the place was festooned with rainbow flags. An "alternative" crowd with day-glo hair and Edwardian frock coats mixed with the middle-class crowd. Eileen Hughes, the talkative petite blonde mum, overheard us talking and proudly identified her neighborhood and her unionist, protestant background.

To this point, we have mostly been exposed to "Republicans," mostly Catholic, who's allegiance is with the Irish Republic. Unionists, like the Hugheses, support the union with England. It's easy for the Republicans to portray them as bad guys. There is separation and discrimination. But that's not the fault of Eileen and Morris Hughes or their banker son, Gary, with whom they were celebrating his 28th birthday.

They were a normal, friendly family. "Oh, it's real,"Gary said, referring to the "Troubles," the deadly conflict between Protestants and Catholics. "But we have normal lives."

"We tell the tourists and the British, especially the British, we wear bulletproof vests all the time. We love to scare 'em," Gary said, as he smiled.

He also joked that his best friend Mark, a family guest at dinner, was from "the Falls," on the Catholic side of the line. "Really?" I asked. Mark said no, he wasn't from that side of the wall; it was a joke.

I then asked if  any  of them have Catholic or Republican friends. "No, we never talk to them," Mark said.

In my second week here, I have seen and heard the Irish be sweet, funny, romantic, lyrical, and creative. But also hard and self-righteous. And these are national and ethnic characteristics shared north and south, Catholic and protestant.

Yes, we have that in the states, too. We have deep divisions and distrust. There are a lot of kinds of "us," and more kinds of "them." But that doesn't define us. We are defined by our principles of freedom, of moving forward, of making a better life.

On this July 4, in a place without fireworks or flags, I am proud to be an American

Days 9, 10: Classes and a visit from a (former) IRA commander

Hero? Terrorist? Or something different?

Tommy McKearney, a former IRA commander, discusses Irish history and his perspective on it with Kate Zibluk, Jonathan King and Sara E. McNeil.

McKearney and Ieimedia instructor Joan Weber.

When I looked at Tommy McKearney's website http://www.tommymckearney.com/  I expected a wild man. At 18, he joined the Irish Republican Army provisionals or "provos," the Catholic paramilitary/guerilla organization. They called themselves freedom-fighters; others called them terrorists. He was arrested for killing a member of a protestant paramilitary group and he spent seven years on the run, and 13 years in prison, where he became one of the "blanket men" who refused to wear the jailhouse uniform of a common prisoner. The British who imprisoned him at first allowed him and his compatriots to wear the street clothes of a political prisoner. But Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher changed their status and called them common criminals. To an Irishman, Catholic or Protestant, it's one thing to be a criminal, but it's far worse to be pushed back in status, even in prison.

So they refused to wear the uniforms, and they went on a hunger strike. Their leader, Bobby Sands, died, but McKearney gave up the strike when some privileges were restored. He was eventually freed, and he married. He worked a variety of jobs, and he is currently a conflict-resolution consultant, of all things, hired by the European Union as an arbitrator to help resolved disputes between factions in a still-tense country.

McKearney is also a proud socialist who aims to to try to fight the evils, as he perceives them, of capitalism.

But he wasn't what I expected. He is soft-spoken and thoughtful. He doesn't hate the English or the protestants, though his two brothers died amid the "Troubles."

At 61, he sees that the fighters, such as himself, are aging, and he has hopes for the next generations. While there don't seem to be any chips on his small shoulders, he doesn't make any apologies. "We were at war and in war you do things you wouldn't otherwise do," he said.

But he doesn't admit to any crimes either. He carefully says he was arrested "for" a murder, or "in connection" with one.

Maybe he's trying to justify his own deeds or those of the organization in which he participated that killed innocent people in bombings and shootings for 30 years.

All I know is that one person's war may be another person's crime spree. He freely discusses comparisons with the IRA, Hamas, the Black Panthers and others.

Though Northern Ireland is officially at peace, the men and women of McKierney's generation are still active. Some hold grudges, some have moved on.

Tommy McKearney and many like him, scarred by war, crime or whatever you want to call it, walk among us.

Noble freedom-fighter who sacrificed his youth for principal? Violent, angry terrorist? Sociopath?

I honestly don't know. But I do know that meeting him is part of the experience of the Armagh Project, and it's an education you can't get in books.

See him and listen to him yourself, and see what you think:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1KMDSqr9fZ0&feature=youtu.be

Day 8: Getting to work

A learning experience

You can't sum up Irish history in an hour. We allocated a class period for a quick overview of Northern Irish history. We didn't get far as students wanted to talk about spirituality, politics and the status of the arts through time.

Instructor Joan Webber works with Jonathan King, left and
James Koblenz in a discussion of Irish  history
at the  Amma center education complex in Armagh, Northern Ireland.

The group also went to the Irish history library adjacent to St. Patrick's Cathedral, which, according to legend, was founded by the Irish patron saint himself. The creative writers looked at literature and the student journalists researched their projects on travels, cultural differences and, of course, the troubles.

The troubles are inescapable, as we're finding out. Even on on a casual walk through suburban Armagh, the flags fly. They're sometimes red, sometimes tri-color, orange, white and green. As we approach the height of the marching season, different neighborhoods fly the colors of their respective affiliations: orange or red flags, or the Union Jack in protestant neighborhoods, and the tri-color of the Irish Republic of the south in the Catholic neighborhoods. Officially, it's illegal to fly provocative sectarian flags and banners in Armagh, but officials fear it would be even more provocative to raise the issue of removing them. 

As I walked by the Republican flags in the Catholic neighborhood,  man walked up and asked me what  I was doing. I explained I was an American educator. "Well, have a good holiday," he said.

A family walks by an illegal Irish Republican flag, left, in an Armagh neighborhood.

Day 7: The Capital of Ulster

Conflict at Ulster's roots

The view from the top of Emain Macha.

Conflict is in Ulster's DNA.

At the outskirts or Armagh stands  the remains of the area's 4,000-year capital, Emain Macha, now called Navan Fort. It was mostly a religious site, a temple built on a commanding hill. Graves and weapons have been found throughout the area.

The founding of Emain Macha, is among the earliest legends of Ireland, involving King Connor of Ulster and his enemy, Queen Maeve (or Maab) of Connaught in the west and south. Of course, like the much more modern King Arthur, Connor and Maeve are as much, probably more, legend than historical reality, the tales that swirl around them always involve jealousy and war.

Self-described "warrior clown" Dave Marcellus Kearney
greets visitors while wearing traditional warrior costume.

The historical center at that fort honors the real historical artifacts, including a mummy we viewed at the Irish museum, as well as the legends.

And on a rainy, windy day, we could almost hear horns and pipes of warriors in the air.

Guide Rosaleen Litter shows visitors the archaeological sites, now largely overrun by farms and quarries.

Days 5 and 6: Farewell, Dublin. Hello, Armagh.

 Another Ireland, and another nation, across the border

St. Stephens's Green in Dublin, a setting James Joyce used in Ulysses, is one of the most beautiful parks in the world.  We visited on our last day in Dublin.
Take a walk across it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D0GsDzaP65Q&feature=youtu.be

The border between the Irish Republic and Ulster, Northern Ireland, United Kingdom, is about an hour north of Dublin and as you approach it north of Dundalk, it's clear you're in a different place.

A yellow shrub that looks like American forsythia, gorse, appears. It's common in Scotland, but non-existent in the Irish Republic. The land rises. It's hillier and rockier. The homes look a bit tidier, as they do in the English countryside. 

There's just a highway sign at the border, indicating that distance will henceforth be measured in English miles, not European kilometers. There are no checkpoints any more, as there were in the time of "The Troubles." It's more more like a time of "the tensions" since the 1998 Good Friday accord and its finalization a few years later that allowed Catholics and Protestants to share power in the Northern Irish Assembly, the region's parliament.

The Irish Republic is the new Europe, cosmopolitan and multinational. Northern Ireland is Great Britain, and in-your-face about it. The British Union Jack flag prominently adorns many public and private buildings right up to the border. Orange flags and banners are common, commemorating William of Orange, who defeated the Irish at the Battle of the Boyne River, north of Dublin near the current border, thus ensuring British rule for all of Ireland until 1922, and part of it through modern times.

The Orange Gate, with British and Ulster flags and insignia honoring
William of Orange, marks a major thoroughfare in downtown Armagh. 

While many Northern Irish are proud of the Britishness, ~ mostly Protestant members of the Church of Ireland, affiliated with the Church of England (Episcopalians in the U.S.) as well as Presbyterians and Methodists ~ others are less comfortable.  The Protestants parade through Catholic neighborhoods on the anniversary of William's victory, June 12, called "Marching Day," in a show of pride. Catholics see it as an insult. In the past, the marching season has lead to bombings, shootings and deaths. Today, marching season usually results in vandalism and fistfights, at worst. 

And while the political conflict may be over, the region has yet to bury 1,000 years of Anglo-Irish animosity. It remains part of the culture.

Our group will explore that culture from the northern perspective for the next month. And as a cultural Catholic with recently reinforced genetic and nationalistic ties to the south, it's not always going to be comfortable. But this is a learning experience for us all. And THAT is what the Armagh experience is all about.

Theater teacher Kimberly Lynne of the University of Baltimore leads members of the Ieimedia class around St. Patrick's Church of Ireland (Episcopalian) Cathedral in Armagh. The Church-of-England-affiliated Cathedral lies atop the city's highest point, looking down on St. Patrick's Catholic Cathedral.

Maria Hirsk, right,  an official city Blue Badge guide, explains the history of
Church of Ireland Primate Richard Robinson's palatial estate
to Ieimedia Program Director Terry Ciolfalo and theater teacher
Joan Weber during a tour of Armagh, Northern Ireland.

Program Director Terry Ciofalo shows Ieimedia students some of the facilities they will be using in the new performing arts complex in downtown Armagh.

Day 4: A very dead, but present, history, and a lively present

Fun in the streets, mummies in the museum

A young person plays in soap suds that resulted from some mischief after someone put detergent in a fountain in front of the Irish National Bank adjacent to the houses of parliament.

One of those all-too-common rainy days limited our activities, but whether you're indoors or out, you can't escape Irish culture and history in Dublin.

We went to the nearby national museums of natural history, archaeology and art to find a well-preserved past, and then enjoyed the sights and sounds of a vibrant present.

The highlights of the archaeological museum are ancient gold works and reproductions, but the stars of the show are the "bog men," 2,500 year-old mummies preserved in peat-moss bogs. Several have been discovered around Dublin in recent years, usually by accident.

The well-preserved, and well-coifed,  head of a 2,500-year-old 
mummy shows Irish pride  in red hair existed centuries ago. 
The lower half of this bog man was lost
as he was discovered by accident as
workers harvested peat for fuel about 30 years ago.

The hand of a bog man reaches across the ages. He was beheaded and his body mutilated, but his well-manicured hands indicate he was a nobleman of the pre-Christian era.

After the archaeological museum, we visited the natural history museum, a Victorian-era curiosity shop stuffed to the rafters with preserved animals in jars, mounted beasts, skeletons and reproductions. Among the unusual exhibit was an extinct Tasmanian wolf, a carnivore more closely related to the kangaroo or the oppossum than coyotes and dogs, pickled human brains, Neanderthal skulls and century-old butterfly collections under heavy covers to preserve them.

Animal heads, skeletons and century-old wood-and-glass exhibit cases cram the insides and line the walls of the Irish Natural History Museum.

The Irish elk was the largest member of the deer family.
It had  antlers spanning 12 feet.
Archaeologist believes early people helped bring it to extinction.

We followed the natural history museum visit to the national art gallery, which has a nice, but not overwhelming, collection of old and modern masters from Brueghel to Rembrandt to Goya to Picasso. The gallery has dedicated significant space to Jack Yeats, brother of William Butler, a modernist painter hailed as Ireland's greatest visual artist of the mid 20th century.

Goya's portrait of an actress of his day
bears a striking resemblance to the modern Spanish 
actress Penelope Cruz.

We finished the day approaching the modern era at Gogarty's restaurant and pub, founded in 1835, making it a relative newcomer to the scene. We learned at the archaeology museum that the area around the restaurant was the site of the original 9th-century viking settlement that was the nucleus of the modern city. Gogarty's features 14 hours of daily Irish music, usually familiar Irish ballads.

Irish folk singers keep the crowd at Gogarty's hostel and restaurant entertained. The establishment keeps the music going 14 yours a day.

After a good long walk, we ended the day comparatively early. For tomorrow we go to Armagh,  and my work begins.

Day 3: Dublin

The cosmopolitan capital

The main gate at Trinity College, one of the finest universities in the world and the home of the Book of Kells, a 9th-century illuminated Bible. Irish monks meticulously and artistically copied Bibles during the"dark ages" in order to keep literacy alive. Their works and their reputation spread throughout Christian Europe.

Dublin, in some ways, might as well be New York. It's crowded and confusing and cosmopolitan. It's full of famous museums and semi-autonomous neighborhoods. 

The hotel maids, restaurant servers, clerks and various others often come from eastern Europe. They are attracted by better wages than they could earn in their home countries despite the sluggish Irish economy. Luba Irtentvi, a hotel maid from Latvia explains:

Luba's story

Luba Irtentvi came from Latvia to Ireland 

to work as a hotel maid in 2007. Listen to her story:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5n7Qv8PavWI&feature=youtu.be

There are hardly any skyscrapers, though.

It's dominated by the shops of Grafton Street and the pubs of Temple Bar, the neighborhood south of the River Liffey. with street musicians and salespeople hawking leprechaun toys, there is something of a "Six Flags Over  the Celtic Folk" feel to it. 

Pedestrians and tourists windowshop in the Temple Bar neighborhood.

Locals enjoy a pint at noon at Temple Bar.

But you can't escape the history. The landscape is dotted by monuments to great Irish writers and revolutionaries. And the one tourist attraction EVERYONE sees is the Book of Kells. The book is housed in a special exhibit at Trinity College,  on of europe's premiere universities. The book, an illustrated Bible, was written and illustrated in around the year 800 by local monks who painstakingly hand-copied each verse. Some monks wrote the verses and others illustrated letters as the beginning of the passages in detailed and fanciful colors and pictures. The book isn;t the only work of the Irish monks, but it is the most detailed, best-preserved and the most beautiful. Ireland is sometimes called "the light in the dark ages," as the relatively isolated monks hand-copied books that found their way throughout Europe as wars and plagues ravaged other countries.

The "long room" at Trinity College houses a huge collection of ancient books. The room was the home of the Book of Kells until recently.

An illuminated manuscript reproduction of another 9th-century work
illustrates the art and literature of the Book of Kells.
The Book of Kells is larger and much more ornate,
but visitors are not allowed to take pictures.

From there, our walking tour took us to bookshops along the River Liffey, where the vikings came up to build the city shortly after the monks created the Book of Kells. We wandered the narrow cobblestone streets of Temple Bar, the theater and restaurant district south of the river, to the Grafton Street shopping district to St. Stephen's Green, a very popular and manicured park downtown, across from our hotel.  

A local man feeds the swans at St. Stephens Green near our hotel.

We later met our family friend Catherine Keoghan of Mullingar, a close friend of my brother who met her when she visited my original home town of New Haven, Connecticut. And then I met my colleagues for Armagh. It's getting to be time to get ready for work.