An uncool career
“21 seriously cool careers that need maths,” says the poster on the wall of one of the mathematics department classrooms. Being a teacher is not among the twenty-one. Once, I asked a class in Dublin, “would you like to be a teacher?” I remember that just three of them answered “yes,” and the answers were for things like having long … [continue reading …]
Telling the truth?
“Truth isn’t truth,” said Rudi Giuliani, bringing the opprobrium of the world’s media down upon him, in the circumstances, justifiably. But, in a wider context, does a story have to be true to be true? Are there stories that are apocryphal, stories that are told of many different people in many different places, that are without factual basis, but tell … [continue reading …]
Statistics are the new creeds and managers are the new clergy
Garrison Keillor used to sign off the News from Lake Wobegon in his weekly Prairie Home Companion programme with the words, “that’s the news from Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good looking and all the children are above average.” Didn’t idea of all the children being above average, seem reasonable? Perhaps, if the average … [continue reading …]
TELEGRAPHIC TRANSFER NOTICE ,
This was spammed by Google. It is very amateurish. Zenith Bank (UK) Ltd 39 Cornhill London EC3V 3ND United Kingdom tel: +44 70 8646 8527 Fax:+447043071539 Dear Esteemed Customer, TELEGRAPHIC TRANSFER NOTICE. We are hereby officially notify you concerning your fund Telegraphic Transfer through our bank, Zenith Bank (UK) Ltd United Kingdom, to your bank account, which has been officially … [continue reading …]
In a country churchyard
Walking through the gateway of the churchyard, an instantly recognized names was inscribed in stone. He was a familiar presence in the farmyard, a firm friend of my grandfather. The soft cream colour of the headstone with the plain, unadorned inscription captured a sense of the man he was. Anyone who knew him would have remembered a man who was … [continue reading …]
Sunday thoughts for 16th September 2018
“You are the Messiah” Mark 8:29 The five “W’s”, where, who, why, what and when, help thoughts about today’s Gospel reading. “Where” is straightforward, Verse 27 tells us, “Jesus went on with his disciples to the villages of Caesarea Philippi.” The place name had a meaning for the disciples that can easily be missed. At one time it had been called “Paneas”, … [continue reading …]
Art for art’s sake
It was the autumn of 1978, forty years ago, that I bought Dire Straits’ first album. In the depths of rural Somerset, it was the days of three television channels and pop music available only on BBC Radio 1 or Radio Luxembourg. Buying a record that would have cost a day’s wages was a significant decision. The album was played … [continue reading …]
Are we dancer?
Paul Selby strove to teach us Shakespeare, to see the world in a way other than in the way of the trivial and the material culture of the late 1970s, to look for deeper meanings, to search for the things which were timeless. During one class he pondered dancing, feeling that dancing of the ballroom variety was a complete negation … [continue reading …]
Settling the account
This story was expanded from a piece of flash fiction. It was entered for this year’s RTÉ Francis McManus Short Story Competition. The evening classes at the college gave her the opportunity. It was a computing class that had taught her to use the Internet, something of which she had been frightened. It had been the stories in the papers … [continue reading …]