Hello, dearest friends. David Dugan here in Belfast. We have successfully completed an eventful, interesting, and relationship-building week here in the wondrous city of Belfast. Today consisted of a series of carefully planned lectures, each given by an influential member of the Northern Ireland cultural scene. The skies of Belfast showed little promise in the morning, with grayish skies kidnapping the sun and limiting its opportunities for graceful release onto the landscape. The temperatures were nothing to write home about either, stubbornly holding at around 55 degrees F. After a brisk walk to the lecture hall, we eagerly anticipated the arrival of one of Northern Ireland’s most influential women, Baroness May Blood.
The Baroness, a powerful woman with great charisma, spoke of the life and times of her childhood in Belfast. Born shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, she grew up in poverty. In order to help support her family, May Blood left school at 14 and began working in one of the many linen mills in Belfast at that time. She worked from 8 am sharp until a grateful release at 6 pm in what she described as appalling conditions of stifling heat in summer and frigid cold in winter. On several occasions, the Baroness did this seven days a week. How much compensation did she receive, might you ask? £100? £150 pounds? Actually, despite all of the backbreaking effort, she received a measly £1.70 pounds a week.
The Baroness went through life without knowing a few of her siblings, for they had relocated elsewhere on the island to avoid the WWII bombings. One day a group of rebel Protestants approached her father during the Baroness’s late childhood, explained that they were planning to burn the house of the Catholic woman next door, and anticipated his help. May’s father, boldly and quite bravely, protested because the people inside that house were simply “trying to rear their children.” As a result, May’s house was burned down. Despite the struggles that she saw between Protestants and Catholics during the Troubles, May exhibits a rather optimistic view on the direction the peace process is moving. “Although the wall separates the Protestant and Catholic communities, the wall hasn’t stopped Protestants and Catholics from working together. The way I see it, the people find common ground and move in the right direction, and the politicians take two to three years to discover this and do the same,” May stated.
May Blood soon found herself immersed workers’ rights and women’s issues. She helped to establish the Northern Ireland Women’s Coalition in 1996, a non-sectarian political party that voiced the concerns of women in the Good Friday Agreement negociations. The group has been going strong for years now, with Blood being the figurehead of the esteemed organization.
As May’s success with the NIWC grew, so did her popularity and importance in the UK. On a regular day at the office, May received a phone call offering her a life-long peerage that would include a seat in House of Lords in London. Although initially apprehensive, May decided that she had lived her life with the belief that she should grasp every opportunity that came her way. She adopted the title, Baroness Blood of Blackwatertown in the County of Armagh, and shared how the position has opened countless doors for her continuing work on behalf of workers, women, and her passion, integrated education.
Upon meeting with the Baroness, I originally pictured her as a grandmother-type figure, which was certainly a respectable status. But after hearing the superb words that she delivered, I found a different respect for her. Today’s morning speaker left me in awe after an eye-opening speech about a poor Protestant girl’s struggle and how, after following her dreams, she became a member of the British Peerage.
So if you get the opportunity to meet Baroness May Blood, and think of her as simply a “grandmother-type figure”, keep in mind, it’s Baroness MAY Blood!
Our afternoon correspondent is John Wyza:
We began the afternoon by meeting with Sinead Morrissey, a poet who was born in Portadown, lived in Craigavon, attended Queen’s and then began to move all around the world until her return to Belfast. It seems her interesting childhood led to her being raised fairly neutral towards both Protestants and Catholics. This is due to the fact that her parents had been Communists, of all possible political groups in the six counties. This neutrality would affect her later outlook and the style of her writing. Dr. Morrissey is an accomplished published author and currently a member of the Queen’s University faculty.
Ms. Morrissey explained the covers of two of her volumes and made it clear that she wanted each person to interpret them. The first book she showed us, Between Here and There, had been written in a castle during a writing workshop. The cover continued with the theme of the first book by having the image of a young girl on it, conveying an image much like Alice from Alice in Wonderland. The reason for this was that there had been four photos of a young girl whom Morrissey believed to be the former owner of the home. She had felt the room to be haunted and, in a month, was only able to write one poem in which she felt compelled to make references to Lewis Carroll’s Alice. It wasn’t until the poem was written that she learned that the photos in her room were originals taken of Alice by Carroll. She went on to explain how this method was called ekphrasis, which is a literary device used when writing about an image of some kind. Dr. Morrissey showed us a 1901 film of people entering and leaving factories. She read the poem which, among other things, poignantly points out that many of the children would have grown up and gone off to fight in World War I and were among those killed in great battles like the Somme.
Next she showed us her second book, Through the Square Window, which had the image of a young girl on it whose stance was disturbing in some ways as she put it, but also conveyed a sense of innocence of the child. Some had thought that she had been shot, others thought that she was preaching, and still others thought she was at play. The art itself was called “Child about to do a handstand” and had been used precisely to convey the meaning of innocence while giving that same disturbing notion when looked at. Finally, she shared a poem about her parents with us. Although they divorced later in her life, Ms. Morrissey sees their union in her hands. The poem, “Genetics,” is about how she has the same fingers as her father, but the same palms as her mother. Many students said this poem in particular struck a chord with them for many reasons, some personal, some because of the style, and others simply because it had been recited by the writer herself. In addition to writing critically acclaimed poetry, Dr. Morrissey is known for her impactful recitations that make her poems resonate emotionally with the audience.
We returned to the Elms dorms and went on our own ways for a time, some to work on their journals and others to sleep, and eventually we came together for a class and reflection on the day. While we discussed the book Reading in the Dark, Mr. Bizga and Mr. Brennan made an Italian dinner downstairs. The dinner ranged from salad and pesto noodles to goat cheese and garlic bread, vegan and non-vegan, showing quite a bit of skill by the cooks. It had been made especially for that night, Mrs. Varnish's last with us in Belfast, to celebrate her being with us. It was clear and still is that she will be missed, and if she's reading this she should know that we were all very, very happy to have had her with us. The tone of the dinner was a cheery one and as we finished, we filtered a few at a time to write our notes to Mrs. Varnish. She loved the card and notes written, and we loved having written it for her. After we all worked off our due by cleaning up after the meal, we again went on about our way, some watching a movie in the common room with Mrs. Varnish and others outside playing soccer. The tone of the evening was a relaxed one and was finished well.
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