Ranganna Gaeilge beo ar líne!

Live Irish classes online!

by | 2023/11/29 | Language Affairs, Personal

Live Irish classes online!

Gaelchultúr

I was scarcely back in America after spending a wonderful summer in Ireland before looking for a new opportunity to practice and improve my Irish. I intended to find a new class online, (one) which I hadn't already done. While browsing, I came across an interesting site that looked good. It is Gaelchultúr.com, and after reading a passage about Gaelchultúr, my interest was piqued. Here's a taste of what it was like.

"Coláiste na hÉireann/Gaelchultúr, established in 2004, is the largest provider of Irish language courses in the world and the first third-level institution entirely in Irish. Gaelchultúr is based in Dublin and serves language learners all over the world.

Gaelchultúr offers Irish language courses and learning resources of the highest quality, aimed at adults around the world who are interested in the language. Our goal is to offer excellent services to learners and fluent speakers to encourage them to improve and enrich their Irish. Gaelchultúr runs Irish language courses around the world, with talented teachers."

By God, I said to myself, they promised us the sun, moon and stars. But would they be as good as their word? That's the question! There was only one way to find the truth, and that was to try it. When I first started attending online courses, it wasn't too difficult for me to find a class that suited me, in terms of standards. But over time, as I did class after class, it became more and more difficult to find a suitable class. Although there was a large selection of classes at primary and intermediate level, there was a lack of classes at advanced level. There were two classes at the advanced level at Gaelchultúr, and I thought that was a good sign. So, I signed up for the class at upper level 2 with excitement. There were ten classes – each class two hours long.

The Class

The day of the first class finally arrived and eight of us started attending the class using the Zoom app. We had a teacher called Maitiú Ó'Coimín. He lives in Inveran in County Galway. He is a very capable man – Maitiú is an actor, journalist, writer, presenter, editor, adventurer and teacher and, of course, a great native Irish speaker!

He had an informal style and in that way maintained a relaxed atmosphere in the class, something I think is very important. We were all comfortable together, so we were able to speak easily and freely in Irish. We are all Irish by birth, from all over – six living in Ireland, one man living in Germany, and myself in America. Everyone was fluent in Irish, and all types of dialect to be heard from us. We got to know each other in the first class and I have to say that I really liked everyone in the class, including Maitiú.

The teaching material for all the course was made available to us in advance, and that was very useful in terms of preparation and study. Although the classes had the same structure, each class had a different content. There was also a nice balance, with an emphasis on spoken Irish, as is right in a class like this. Every week, we had a different topic. For example, here are a few weekly topics we had: Art and the Arts, educational matters, politics and Irish history. At the beginning of the class, after we went through the answers to our homework, we used to have vocabulary to learn, focused on the topic of the week.

Maitiú used rooms in Zoom effectively, to break us up into small groups of two or three. We were able to practice our spoken Irish well that way, and everyone had a chance to talk. Matiú came in and out of the rooms, listening and giving us advice and help. We used to have an agenda, and questions about the topic of the week to discuss. After each session in the rooms, we would gather back in the great room and share summaries and comments together. We had at least three sessions in the small rooms every week. At the end of each class, when we all gathered together again, there was a bit of grammar to learn, and then we would get homework for the next class.

Conclusion

I would recommend this class without hesitation to anyone who is reasonably fluent in Irish, and who is keen to develop and expand it. If you get Maitiú as a teacher, that would be an added advantage!

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I dTeagmháil le Liam arís!

In touch with Liam again

by | 2023/11/22 | Personal, Opinion

In touch with Liam again

I have to admit that I have not been in frequent contact with my former colleagues, especially after the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. As it happened, one of them, a great friend of mine called Liam, contacted me last week.

He sent me a message on Facebook Messenger out of the blue, and let me know right away that he had been let go from Qualcomm, after more than thirty years at the company. Liam is a first class engineer and senior director. His manager told him that his next project had been canceled and therefore his job had also been eliminated. His manager, the vice president of engineering ,was also let go, as well as many of the engineers working on the same project. Wasn't it cruelly ironic that Liam had received an email the week before from the human resources department, thanking him for his thirty years of dedicated service to the company? Isn't it really braindead for the company to do that with one hand and then throw him out the door with the other immediately after? Things are even worse, because Liam has been extremely loyal to Qualcomm, year after year. Poor Liam suddenly found out that his company’s words were nothing but lies and lip service, unfortunately. Poor Liam is not only in low spirits but also in real trouble, because he has to find another job soon and that won't be easy at all. Workers in the high-tech sector are discriminated against on the basis of age all the time, and Liam is now 55 years old. Not only will it be difficult for him to find a new job, but even if he does find a job, it will undoubtedly be difficult for him to find the same salary and working conditions. I personally think it is unethical for a company to treat workers in that way. Although there are laws in place in California to protect workers over the age of 40, companies end up skirting the rules. In this case, with the company trying to implement sharp cuts, certain expensive projects were cancelled, projects that are not central to the company's strategy. The company finds other jobs for many workers, but it is not so easy to move the leaders, because there are not many such roles to be found. It is no coincidence that the most senior workers - those who earn the highest wages - are let go. In this way, companies are able to let members of the high income group who are over 40 years old go without breaking any law. I saw this when I was working, and sometimes I saw the same projects resurrected with a new team after a short while later.

  A Person of Principle!!

Liam, myself and our spouses, met for dinner right after I spoke to him on the phone. It was still difficult for Liam to accept what happened to him so abruptly. But he was enthusiastically looking for work in the area, and contacting other former colleagues who were working in other companies. He had done a few interviews and was hopeful that he had done well in one of them. Liam said he was very grateful for me spending time with him on the phone, giving him advice. Sometimes, you don't know how important it is to talk together, especially when things like this happen. What kind of great advice did I give him? The most important thing I did was to listen with empathy to him - that's all. We have a strong relationship and he trusts me completely, and vice versa. It turned out that Liam had not been happy in his job for the past three years but despite that, he continued to work because he was loyal to the company, and he wanted to protect the people who worked for him, because he saw increasing risks on the horizon. He did not surrender his principles, even when his livelihood was in danger. The bottom line is that I have the utmost respect for Liam, and it's a shame that Qualcomm didn't treat him with respect after his spending his life in their service, working hard and benefiting them all that time . Shame on you, Qualcomm!

 

 

 

 

 

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Léirmheas Scannáin: Killers of the Flower Moon!

Movie Review: Killers of the Flower Moon!

by | 2023/11/14 | Reviews

Movie Review: Killers of the Flower Moon!

My eyes were glued to the big screen every minute of this very interesting film 'Killers of the Flower Moon', masterpiece of director Martin Scorcese. I didn't even take a toilet break, even though the movie is almost three and a half hours long. I hardly took a breath, or blinked my eyes, for fear of missing something important in the story. 'Yes – this film is so enthralling.

The film is based on the popular book 'Killers of the Flower Moon', written in 2017 by journalist David Grann. The book tells the true story of a white businessman and self-proclaimed "true friend" of the Osage Nation (a native tribe). The tribe became rich when oil was discovered on their reservation. The scheme devised by some white men was to marry landowners and then kill them to get their estates. Women were the owners for the most part, as the Osage tribe was a matriarchal one. The story focuses on one native family – the mother (played by Tantoo Cardinal as Lizzie Q) and her four daughters, and what happens to them, especially one daughter who is not yet married.

There are three main characters in this film – Robert de Niro as William Hale, Leonardo diCaprio as Hale's nephew, Ernest Burkhart, and Lily Gladstone as Mollie Kyle – Burkhart's wife. All three give an excellent performance, and in my opinion, Lily Gladstone is on a par with de Niro and diCaprio. Ernest Burkhart is a dullard, and Hale cleverly exploits him, exerting his influence on him strongly. Mollie meets Ernest, her handsome taxi driver, and they fall in love. Therefore, it was not difficult for Hale to convince Ernest to marry Mollie. One by one, her mother and sisters die so that only Mollie is left alive.

Hale then plans to kill Mollie Kyle, and get her estate for his own family through Ernest. There is a twist in the story because Ernest and Mollie are in love, and the relationship between them is central to the story. I will not tell you more about this story now, but you will see the rotten corruption that the Americans, and especially the farmer Hale, played on the natives in the twenties in the past century, through the lens of this horrible story.

Gladstone's opinion

Lily Gladstone (Mollie in the film) has aboriginal blood, so her opinion about the film is very interesting.

“I struggle to think of another film that has been so true to indigenous women. I love my sisters in the film, and they are like family to me,” said Lily.

Mollie's sisters, native actresses Cara Jade Myers as Anna Brown, JaNae Collins as Reta Smith and Jillion Dion as Minnie Smith, are killed for their money.

The scenes with the sisters and their mother speaking their native language together are very powerful. In fact, every scene that shows the Osage language and culture is exciting. Rarely do you see such a realistic representation of the native people in Hollywood.

“Mollie survived but Kyle's three sisters did not. We all know someone, someone in our family, someone in our inner circles, someone we grew up with and we don't know where they are,” Lily said poignantly. With that, they connect the life as shown in the film and the life as it is today, in terms of mistreatment of indigenous people in America.

Conclusion

You can understand this wonderful film on at least two levels. You can take it as it is, that is to say that it features first class actors at work, under the direction of some of the best directors in the world, revealing an interesting story, set in Oklahoma a hundred years ago. It is a tangle of scheming, with love, murder and money as ingredients mixed together to present you with a delicious soup. The audience would be very happy with the film, and that read on it. But another meaning can be superimposed on this original reading, when you recognize that this is not just a work of imagination, but a work based on bitter truth. That is that there was racial and sexual discrimination against the indigenous people, and their lives were of little value. With that background, it was easy for greedy and immoral Americans to kill indigenous women to steal their money. This corruption was widespread, and did not stop until an FBI detective, Tom White (played by Jesse Plemons), came to investigate the murders.

The film steers the light towards the situation of the indigenous people in their own country, almost a hundred years ago. And it raises this question: are the conditions forindigenous people better now than they were then? Unfortunately, that question is not easy to answer! But perhaps, with this film, this important question will be asked more often to the appropriate authorities.

Bottom line: Don't hesitate to see this movie as soon as possible!

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Todhchaí an Mheánoirthir – Idir dhá cheann na meá!

The future of the Middle East - conflicted!

by | 2023/11/07 | Current Affairs, International News

Todhchaí an Mheánoirthir – Idir dhá cheann na meá!

The Israeli government was in a panic, after the recent horror when Palestinian militants attacked Israel. At the time of writing, more than 1,400 have been killed in Israel and more than 8,000 have been killed in Gaza since the conflict began on October 7. The Israelis had a choice between two tough options: launch a major invasion of Hamas in Gaza, guns blazing; or take a more prudent, measured approach.

Background

Most Palestinians live in the occupied Palestinian territories. The Israelis captured those territories in the six-day war in 1967. The Golan Heights were captured from Syria, the Gaza Strip and the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt, and the West Bank and Jerusalem from Jordan. Israel returned the Sinai Peninsula to Egypt in 1982. They pulled out of the Gaza Strip in 2005. For decades, Palestinians have been racially discriminated against in the occupied territories. The most horrific thing is the illegal settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. From 2012 to 2022, the number of Israeli residents in the West Bank and East Jerusalem increased from 520,000 to over 700,000. These settlers are living illegally (according to international law) in 279 Israeli settlements throughout the West Bank, with 14 of them and 229,000 inhabitants in East Jerusalem. 147 of the settlements are outposts, which are illegal even under Israeli law.

Israel's efforts to expand Jewish settlements in the West Bank have intensified this year, reflecting the agenda of the right-wing government in Israel and prompting international criticism of a practice that violates international law.

The Palestinians say the settlements are encroaching on territories that will one day be part of their own state. The settlements also create a two-tier legal system in the territory – one set of rules for Israelis and another for Palestinians who live under military rule.

The Israeli approach creates a lot of tension between the Palestinians and the Israelis, and especially when the Israeli government is ignoring the Palestinians and their demands to have their own country.

Response to the Hamas Attack

The Israeli defense forces (IDF) have launched a ground invasion. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said “We are only at the beginning of the war against Hamas. What we do to our enemies in the coming days will hurt them deeply for generations to come."

Immediately after the Hamas attacks, Israeli forces have been carrying out continuous airstrikes on Gaza and the people of the area are lacking food, water and medical supplies. A ground invasion is underway but not much news is coming out, as the communications systems in Gaza were destroyed as part of the attack. It is very unfortunate that Israel did not follow the advice of the experts.

Advice from couple of experts

A couple of Middle East experts I respect have offered their suggestions. Thomas Friedman is an award-winning journalist for the 'New York Times' - including three Pulitzer Prizes! Here are a few words he recently wrote about what's going on in the Middle East, referring to President Biden's visit to Israel:

"I admire how President Joe Biden has used his compassion and physical presence in Israel to convince Israelis that they are not alone in their war against Hamas, while at the same time extended a hand to moderate Palestinians. Biden strongly urged the Israeli leadership to pause and to think about the next three steps forward – not only what they should do in the Gaza Strip to destroy Hamas, but also what should be done next to achieve peace and political stability.”

Yuval Noah Hariri is a historian, Professor of history at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and a famous writer (who wrote 'Sapiens' and 'Homo Deus'). Here are a few words from him:

“The Israeli government says it wants to disarm Hamas, and it has every right to do so to protect its citizens. The disarmament of Hamas is also crucial for any chance of peace because, otherwise, as long as they remain armed, Hamas will be able to prevent that. Even if Israel succeeds in doing so, that is only a military achievement, not a political plan. In the short term, does Israel have any plans to salvage the peace deal between Israel and Saudi Arabia? In the long term, does Israel have any plans to achieve a comprehensive peace with the Palestinians and to normalize its relations with the world?”

Conclusion

The Israeli government went against the advice of the aforementioned experts, who were saying that this is the time for it to show unprecedented self-discipline. Hamas was expecting a fierce and violent response from Israel, which has happened and will end any chance for Israel to form alliances with Arab countries in the region. No doubt, Iran is happy to see that, with Israel stuck in an endless war.

It would be better to devise a new and more targeted approach against Hamas as soon as possible, and protect innocent people in the Gaza Strip. As part of that strategy, it would be necessary to stop building settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem immediately. These proposals are unlikely to happen today or tomorrow, and in the meantime innocent civilians will be slaughtered in droves.

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Dírbheathaisnéis 5 – Amanna Cinniúnacha!

Autobiography 5 – Defining Moments!

by | 2023/10/31 | Dírbheathaisnéis

Autobiography 5 – Defining Moments!

After the fact, it is easy to see a small number of defining moments that had a big impact on the direction of your life. In my own life, there are a few of them that have had a strong influence on me. Here are a few.

Introduction

First, I should pave the way, and give you an understanding of the background. I was a weakling when I was in primary school. I was even lucky to be alive, having had a bad bout of pneumonia when I was just five years old. I was sick again when I was seven, and after that my asthma was pretty bad. Therefore, I was not involved in field sports, unlike most of the students in the school. But I had a hunger for knowledge about everything, but especially about science. I got copies of 'Look and Learn' magazine every week, and I read everything in them. I was fascinated by the mysteries of the universe, and it was hard to believe that the stories in that magazine were true. But they were! It was unbelievable to me that we were all traveling on an insignificant little planet, revolving around an insignificant star, in an insignificant galaxy in the vast universe itself. When I looked up into the sky, I saw the stars and galaxies up there, and I knew even as a boy, that I was looking far back millions of years. That's a big concept for a little boy, and it gave me a comprehensive understanding of humanity and our small role in that big universe.

Inspector!!

One day, when I was in sixth class in primary school, an inspector came to visit. He was monitoring the class for a while, and writing notes. Then, he stood up and walked to the top of the class. He introduced himself to us, and then started asking us questions. Many pertained to Science and maths – playgrounds for me. The questions got harder, and before long, no one but me could answer them. I was able to answer them all. I remember a few of them well: How far is the sun from us? What is air pressure and what is the air pressure at sea level? The inspector was very surprised that I was able to answer his questions, and he praised me and said that it was the first time a sixth class student had been able to answer them. I was ecstatic. The inspector’s respect had a strong affect on me and it occurred to me that I had a great interest in science and mathematics and that they are worthwhile activities. At school and in the society around me, I saw how worthwhile sport was, and especially hurling. But now, I realized that there was a place for people like me, who were interested in learning, and that was a good thing, despite the opinions of many boys in the class. I felt reassured. It was only once in one day in primary school, but in that hour, some unknown inspector lit the flame of my interest in learning - a flame that grew over time, and a flame that encouraged me to concentrate on scholarship.

Confirmation

I don't remember exactly when Frank Dowling came on the scene as a new student - maybe in sixth class, or maybe in the first year in secondary school. Like the inspector, although he wasn't there for long, he had a big impact on me. He spoke with an English accent, as his family had just moved from England to Ireland. Unlike the other students, Frank did not play hurling, and was very interested in science. I could hardly believe that there was another youngster like me. Before long, there was a special bond between us. We used to have lively debates on science topics, and I learned a lot from him. I knew more about certain subjects in science and he knew more about certain other subjects in science. We were always learning from each other, which inspired both of us. I remember one time in particular, when Frank asked me pointing to my desk: "This table – do you think it's solid?" I replied that it was strong and solid. “Wrong!” said Frank. "There is nothing but empty space, and elementary particles whizzing to and fro, traveling through space at the speed of light!" I was taken back, because what he said went against everything my senses were telling me. But things are not as they seem, and I knew that everything was made of molecules; molecules made of atoms, and atoms made of electrons, protons and neutrons. So, what Frank said made sense, but I had never put those pieces of information together before. It gave me a great insight and I then realized that all aspects of science were very interesting to me, from things so small that they cannot be seen, up to things so big that they cannot be imagined.

Random Teachers!

The few random encounters mentioned above had a big impact on me, no doubt. The people in question did not ignore me completely, but (instead) they gave me recognition and praise and more importantly, they reinforced my attitude about science and its value. Therefore, my self-confidence and interest in science increased from that time. Looking back, it strikes me how important other people are in your life, apart from your teachers and even your parents. I believe in the old saying from the Buddha: "When the student is ready, the teacher will appear!"

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