10 Questions About…

Everyday a new adventure! I’ll lead with the headline for a change and say our big event today was a memorial for Sinead O’Connor. The hosts (ROSA Socialist Feminist Movement) did a nice job lifting up the issues that were important to Sinead O’Connor – autonomy and respect for people and disdain who hold back those rights. (I wrote more about it for my music blog – including a full video of the singalong.) For family purposes, part of the thrill was the presence of local media. Lots of photos taken, especially of Kate who was early, and lots of questions for all of us. It was a moving event. It ended in a singalong to Nothing Compares 2 U, which of course reminded us the days after Prince’s death. Very moving.

Before that, the girls and I went our separate ways for a while. I started off for the Dublin Castle and found the Ireland Glass Biennale 2023, an exhibition of work from some of the world’s most innovative glass artists, designers and craft practitioners. It was freaking amazing. Sadhbh Mowlds did an amazing sculpture of a woman shaving her legs in front of the mirror. It was scarily realistic in an uncanny valley way. Pearla Segovia did a similarly realist sculpture of two women looking at each other with no faces. And my cutest favorite my Krista Israel. Even without a face, it seems so cheerful.

I did a walk through Trinity College just to make sure that my favorite place of happy memory really closed. Sad to report that the Science Gallery is cleaned out. But I did see a lot of awesome street art on my walk.

Then I decided to listen to church bells from St Patrick’s, Christchurch and St Audoen’s, which led to a fantastic new rabbit hole. First, many years ago, I lived behind the church. It’s an old area – we didn’t have a toilet in the house. We had a modern toilet in a room outside the backdoor. Turns out St Audoen’s was a happening place in medieval times; it was where papal bulls were pronounced and public penances carried out. Also, they have amazing bells, 6 from 1423 that were renovated in the 1980s. Today they rang a special sound to celebrate their 600^th anniversary and to remember Sinead O’Connor. It’s free and absolutely worth a visit if you’re in the area.

Post memorial, the girls and I checked out Christchurch, which is just a stone’s throw from St Audoen’s. It is almost 1000 years old and has also served as hub for the community, albeit the Protestant community. The building is amazing but it’s the catacombs that we came for. It used to be like a public square where vendors would sell their wares and life would happen … such as putting people in the stockade. We heard all about it from a (recording of) 90 year old Catholic who talked about sneaking into the church only to get a firsthand demonstration of the stockage from a church leader. Very funny in retrospect and a story that would get someone in serious trouble today! Another highlight is the petrified cat and rat that were found in the organ pipes. Assumption was that they were in a chase, jumped in and got stuck.