the most high wants us alive

[starfrosting]

Love! for life, so much right now, amazing dinner with Sef and Helen at Sef's house out in Lusk which is his family's house and so was the coziest thing I've seen in ages. Simply amazing food- to start: salad with red peppers and avocados and lemon, olives, spongy fried tofu with homemade teryiaki; and then: curried chickpeas with tomatoes and spinach and slow heat from chilies, brown rice; and to drink: red wine from the Spar plus homebrewed cider; and plus: fabulous mixtapes in the background and homegrown grass rolled up with Drum tobacco; and then: delightful sleep on their landing with a skylight above my head, bare-chested down on soft cotton sheets.

There were riots in town on Saturday because loyalists came down to march and republicans (well, and probably lots of fuckers just looking for a fight) got up in arms about it. You can read some accounts of it here if you'd like: http://www.indymedia.ie. The vibe in town was really weird. I've only heard of 2 people getting stabbed so I think it was more property damage than anything, but still. Plus later that night was 6 Nations rugby--so, needless to say I stayed in that night, watched Cabaret for the first time with Shani, and had a delightful evening. We'd gone out to brunch that afternoon so her drag troupe could see her off, so it was this surreally bourgeois moment around 4pm Saturday, sitting inside this well-upholstered club sipping mimosas eating eggs florentine with sirens whirring all outside across the river.

I have lots of work to catch up on but I'm strangely relaxed (read: in denial) about it. I saw a photo this morning that just capped this weekend. My life is beautiful I'm going to go say my prayers.

Comments

[metrosxualbutch.livejournal.com]

Can you talk more about where republicans "and lots of fuckers just looking for a fight" comes in? From my understanding of the history of this struggle, it is a deep conflict between a dominant colonizer and an oppressed people (the republicans being the oppressed people) and the country (which northern Ireland isn't even a country, it's part of england, I'm sure you well know this by now) is really split-- literally by walls. How would the conflicts be 'a lot of fuckers looking to fight' if this issue cuts deep into the communities?

[starfrosting.livejournal.com]

It is certainly about colonization and oppression; I certainly didn't mean to dismiss that. However, my current understanding of the march is this: the loyalist organization LoveUlster (which to my knowledge is linked with paramilitary activity as well as lots of racism) came down to march in memory of Protestant victims of the Troubles. This was a rather incendiary action (for lots of reasons, obviously, these sort of sectarian marches would never be allowed up in Belfast and there hasn't been one down here in decades) and split-offs from Sinn Fein and Continuity IRA urged counter-protests. Fine. I talked about "lots of fuckers just looking for a fight" because in addition to folks having proactive counterdemonstrations, there were folks literally throwing fireworks, rocks, bricks, and petrol bombs. I'm sorry but even if the people rioting have an abiding committment to a 32 county Ireland that just strikes me as people looking for a fight. Considering what I've heard from the various Irish kids I've spoken to (all around my age), which is that the republican vision of 32 counties has little popular support in either ROI or NI, I don't see most of what happened with the counterdemonstrations-turned-riots as an instantiation of resistance so much as one of frustration and a nationalistically-tinged desire to intimidate nationalists of a different stripe.

[taxishoes.livejournal.com]

Awesome.

I also have lots of work to catch up on and I am starting to panic.

Dublin sounds dangerous.

[starfrosting.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's any more or less dangerous than any other city I've ever been in.

Don't panic; you'll be fine. The worst thing that happens is something doesn't get done or doesn't get done well, and that is hardly as bad as it seems. Besides, you are skilled at working this way! Have you made a schedule? Sometimes that helps me (although sometimes I just draw it up and ignore it.)

[taxishoes.livejournal.com]

Ha, I know . . . I wasn't entirely serious . . . not sure why I said that . . .

I made a schedule but I ended up going to sleep.

I might not be fine. Last time things were this bad between me + school was sophomore year, and I got D's in a couple of classes. I just don't know what to do at this point. I need to finish everything. I just feel like shit and have no idea how I will get everything done.