Armagh Project 2015

Armagh Project 2015 began today on top of a green and grassy bronze age hill set against a changeable sky.  14 of us climbed to the top of the mound, urged upward by the grumblings of distant thunder.  No one wanted to be caught in the rain but everyone wanted the view from the summit.

It was spectacular.

“I’m done,” one of the students said, “It’s over. This is everything. This is the trip.”  She sat down, smiled blissfully up into the sunlight and looked quite serious about not getting up.

She might be right.  At this moment Ard Macha is the center of the world and the poets are come to life on the top of the hill.  Even at the end of the month when we all fly home, none of us will truly ever leave.

Here is the cast for the Tuesday night reading of Shadow of a Gunman:

Donal Davoren: Jeffrey

Seamus Shields: Bryonna

Tommy Owens: Robert

Adlophus Grigson: Charles

Mrs. Grigson: Carolyn

Minne Powell: Allie

Mr. Mulligan: Dominique

Mr. Maguire: Warman

Mrs. Henderson: Sharea

Mr. Gallogher: Chris R.

An Auxiliary: Caitlin

Stage Directions: Terri

It’s a little strange– flying to a different country on your birthday. Granted, I was still over the United States when I turned twenty-five. But the idea of being in a different country when you first set foot on land at a quarter-of-a-century is a bit like reseting something.

This is not my first trip to Ireland; we landed in Dublin, but I had been there about eight years ago. However, this is my first trip to Northern Ireland, part of the UK, and the small town of Armagh. Ireland is just as beautiful a country as I can recall it among all of my travels.

Continue reading →

Coming in, I never really heard of Armagh. Dublin, Belfast, heard of those, those are two places that are big. I hadn’t considered Armagh being a city, I had assumed it was had the town-ship feel within the space of a city. I came here, walked to and fro a couple of stores, ate out, and I came to the conclusion; though it looks like a city, its residents are well-lived. A couple sore thumbs here and there, but from location to the folk, it feels quite like a warm little town in from atop the church hill down to city-center.

The land here in Ireland is wonderful, I have been enjoying every moment I am out here. The air feels cleaner than it does back home. I have been enjoying the fact I can walk to any place I need to go and that there is easy transportation for anything that is too far. I did not know what I was going to expect here but it has just been extraordinary. Though I have learn do not wear orange.