Reading List 2020

What follows in this post, in chronological order, is the books I am reading throughout the year. I will update as we go. I hope you find something of interest......  January Lauren Duca "How to Start a Revolution" If this doesn't get your political activist juices flowing, admit defeat, you simply don't have any!! If …

The Land of Fire and Ice

I like Cork airport because, for example, it's on the west side of Cork, which is, frankly, handy. But, particularly, I like flying from Cork airport, because the alternative, i.e. 'going to Dublin', is simply a pain in the proverbial.  I probably don't need to mention that the experience of flying has become sooo hideous that I now, …

A new beginning

On the 1st September I handed in my Master's thesis. It felt akin, according to my imagination, to being in a car traveling at breakneck speed and suddenly coming to an abrupt halt. It felt like a major, sudden full stop. It was finished, over, done, ended, finito. My life went from the all consuming …

Does Your Chewing Gum Loose it’s Flavour on the Bedpost Overnight? My blog portfolio.

Well what a ride this has been, as they say back in the day, surprisingly, (not that word)...  it has been a blast!! I choose the title for my final blog as a tribute/nod to my modernities colleagues, because they get to study the surreal, out there stuff, I decide to have a piece of …

Literature and IT Review.

MA Irish Writing and Film: Theories and Traditions Literature and IT Review. My MA thesis intends to argue that the prevalence of death in Marina Carr’s plays recognises the imposition of Ireland’s funerary tradition and crisis of soul loss in the form of stagnation and stasis, particularly highlighting, its detrimental impact on womanhood and motherhood …

UCC Textualities Conference 2017 – A Review.

Textualities 2017 is UCC's school of English annual mini-conference where the school's MA students (that includes me) feature our research presentations to our fellow students and members of the faculty. The mini-conference is organised by us and forms part of our contemporary research, skills, methods and strategies module. Everyone takes responsibility for some aspect of …

UCC Textualities Conference 2017 #textualities17, ‘Live Blog Panel 3’.

Welcome to UCC's Textualities Conference 2017, Panel 3. The chair of Panel 3, Josephine Fenton, introduces the presenters, outlines their MA programs, wider research interests and the titles of their presentations. All presentations are delivered in the pechaKucha format, which is a presentation comprising twenty slides taking twenty seconds each. The first speaker is Cian …

‘Bright Star, Elegy for David Bowie’ Graham Allen…and other star people.

Graham Allen is a professor of English at University College Cork and The Madhouse System (2016) is his second collection of poems, following on from The One That Got Away (2014). Both are collections of poems that capture life in its wonder, pain, madness, hypocrisy, and joy. For some reason stones recur, I don't know why. I …

UCC Wikipedia Editathon

When I arrive at UCC one recurring message is ever present, DO NOT CITE WIKIPEDIA ON PAIN OF DEATH...or probably, in reality,  not a very good mark. Fast forward to undertaking a Masters.... I recall a conversation, regarding what the MA entailed, with a member of the English department who vaguely mentions a blog. Stupidly …

Trump Watch: Fake news….no really

Ah Kellyanne Conway, never ceases to disappoint. Obviously the Trump administration have decided to join the 'dishonest media' and invent their own 'fake news'. When you think about it, well it is a natural progression from 'alternative facts'. I am speechless. Is this what 'making America great again looks like'? Works cited. Conway, Kellyanne.  Fake …