Joe Dunne wins inaugural Davy's Portrait Award
Yay!!! My brother, Joe Dunne's painting "Portrait of Cara" has won the Davy Portrait Awards for 2008.
Finally, Joe's amazing portraiture is receiving deserved recognition. (No bias here!)
Congratulations Joe!
This exhibition opens in November 2008 at the Naughton Gallery in Belfast and tours to Farmleigh House, Dublin in 2009.
Further information can be found at
http://www.davyportraitawards.com/More at
http://www.joedunne.net/
Wholesome tv and internet browsing
Having gotten rid of our sky subscription, we are happy to discover that we still get BBC1 and BBC2 for free (but not RTE or TG4 despite paying the licence fee, and their crappy analogue reception). Skipping through the hundreds of channels (past the very tempting Movies4men - also free) I discovered the
Community Channel, (channel 539) which is an absolute treasure chest of wholesome programming. So far I have watched documentaries on the producers of Bonita bananas (enduring all kinds of abuses as they strike for their rights in Ecuador); a documentary on
Divine Chocolate, who have a great fair trade partnership with farmers in Ghana; and a documentary on Excellent Development in Kenya. These are all
archived on the Community channel website.
Related links:
Excellent DevelopmentBanana link.and in recognition that it's not all high moral tone in Daniel's psyche!
Movies for MenLabels: community channel, development, fair trade
Beware Tesco Pine nuts
After some investigations as to why every meal I have is accompanied by a rancid metallic taste, I have sent the following missive to Tesco Ireland:
It appears that my taste is completely ruined for up to 2 weeks,
because you are using dodgy (oxidised) chinese pine nuts.
I got them in your Country mix.
*Please take them off the shelves.*
See
http://www.euro-emergencymed.com/pt/re/ejem/fulltext.00063110-200103000-00036.htm
Listen to the youth
I got to attend Dáil na nÓg at Croke park on Feb 15th. Dáil na nÓg is an experiment in youth participation, funded the Office of the Minister for Children. (Full info at
www.dailnanog.ie ).
The top recommendations coming from the participants included:
Education Reform
1 Language subjects should be more conversational and relevant to everyday life. Pre-examined years should take part in mandatory Gaeltacht and foreign trips that are paid for, or subsidised;
2 More focus on the oral aspect and culture in the teaching of all languages;
3 All teachers must receive training in guidance counselling and communication skills.
Mental Health
1 Accessible youth cafes in all areas. Open when needed to provide a safe space to seek help on drug and alcohol issues and other problems;
2 A positive advertising campaign that shows real life experiences and the effects of suicide on family and friends;
3 More funding for mental health services for young people, including advertising and school programmes.
For more see:
http://www.ireland.com/newspaper/ireland/2008/0216/1203093372510.htmlhttp://www.kilkennypeople.ie/sport/Kilkenny-delegates-at-Dil-na.3853025.jpPhoto by Derek Spiers.
Sand Dune Man
Just listening to some nice sounds
at Ger Lane's myspace site. Check it out. Here is Ger getting some inspiration the recent Arvo Part concerts in Dublin. Taken with my nokia 6234!
Labels: music
Cérbh é Séan Ó Ríordáin?
TG4 screened a lovely documentary tonight (with english subtitles) on the life of Séan Ó Ríordáin. (Now freely available through their brilliant web service at
www.tg4.tv ) The programme was narrated by poet Louis de Paor.
There was an interesting theme throughout to do with belonging and exclusion. "If you're out, they can't put you out", noted O' Ríordáin. The poet had suffered TB in an era when the illness was synonymous with stigma, and banishment to isolated draughty sanatoria. On account of the illness he also denied himself the possibility of marriage. He finds a sense of belonging in his idealisation of the gaelic culture of corca dhuibhne. Yet his poetry shows him suffering a clearly modern angst in its midst.
In the closing section of the program, de Paor reads a passage from Ó Ríordáin's diary to the nephews and nieces he had doted on, when he would visit his brother in Mayfield, Cork. Poignant and beautiful. Lovely television.
More about the poet
here - last year saw the 20th anniversary of his death. Pity it's so hard to get a copy of his poems! Now where is my leaving cert irish poetry book??
Labels: poetry
1911 Census Fun
The
1911 Census is a treasure trove for Dubliners interested in their roots.
I can now account for the whereabouts of all 4 of my grand parents, and two great grandparents on the night of April 2nd 1911. (I'm a true blue Dub alright)
Daniel and Maryanne Dunne were staying with relatives in Reginald Street, in the Liberties.
John Barnes and his mother Ellen were at Parnell Place (near Harold's Cross bridge), while my Granny Barnes (neé Fallon) was based in Clontarf.
I also discovered
http://www.dublinheritage.ie, which records the marriage ( I think) of my great grandmother Eliza Richardson of Beaver Row Donnybrook, to my great grandfather John Dunne in 1857. Eliza Richardson had been baptized into Catholicism the year before according to the site.
