‘If women remember that once upon a time we sang with the tongues of seals and flew with the wings of swans, that we forged our own paths through the dark forest while creating a community of its many inhabitants, then we will rise up rooted, like trees. And if we rise up rooted, like trees … well then, . . .
You can tell a lot from a woman’s shoes
Every woman has a some kind of relationship with shoes. For many I think it’s a kind of love affair. But for me shoes are full of complicated contradictions. Yes, it’s that serious. I’m not a lover of shoes, shoe shops or hairdressers for that matter. But that’s another story. When I was a kid, the back to school ritual included getting a new . . .
What Monica Lewinsky can teach us
We’ve all been there. Young, free, infatuated. If you remember your own youth you will probably be glad that there was nobody recording your adventures on a mobile phone. Or maybe like so many others these days you have already had your private moments shared on the internet for everyone to gloat over? I’ve had to learn all this new . . .
10% of Irish people have no religion
According to the census results only 10% of people in Ireland have “No religion”. No religion doesn’t really cover the multitude and variety of individuals behind that new statistic. I know because I am one of them. I have a hunch that the real figure is probably a lot more than 10%. Do you think that everyone, in every home, was consulted about . . .
Reclaiming feminism
I was talking with an old friend, some one who has been around the block with me over the years. As with most women of a certain age, we got to the heart of the matter pretty quickly. I realised that for more than 20 years I have been inside the kind of job that steals your voice. Now I have loved this job, . . .
Where does a Mammy Bear sleep?
While Angela Merkel has brought Ireland nothing but ongoing austerity, she is coming to the fore as the real leader of Europe. As we all watch Donald Trump lurch from one embarrassment to another Angela plays things in a calm and low key way. She’s very much the adult to his pouty toddler. The recent meetings to discuss climate change . . .
Flying free
We organised the first International Women's Day Celebration, in 1986. My baby, just a few weeks old, came with me that night. His Dad looked after him in a room downstairs while I facilitated the meeting of about 150 women. If needed he could be brought up to me for a feed.......such are women's lives, the personal is always . . .
First frost and final freedom
It's been a great year. One of the best. After years of campaigning for women's rights, I turned 60 and realised I could finally LIVE liberation rather than just hoping for it. What took me so long? What changed? Growing up in Ireland during a different era, we girls were rewarded for CARING. I wasn't . . .
