King of the Redheads

What do you get when you bring a brother and sister together to plan a birthday party? A fundraiser for the Irish Cancer Society with a few hundred Red Heads together for Lots of whacky red madness.

Its called The Irish RedHead Convention and it is entering its 4th year in 2013. It takes place in August each year in the beautiful Cork village of Crosshaven. For the first time we are making it a weekend event to cater for the level of interest and to make sure we fit in all of the events we have planned.

What can you expect if you come along? Firstly, red heads, lots of them. Once you get over the initial realisation that you are sharing a space with so many of a minority who become the majority for the weekend, you can settle in to some live music in one of the bars, take part in the Crossroads Ceili or take to the Red Soap box to share your ginger musings. There will be air & sea rescue demonstrations by the appropriately Orange coloured RNLI lifeboat 'Miss Betty' and a movie screening in 'The Big House'. You can take part in Orange Lawn bowling or Carrot Tossing competitions and of course, enter one or more of our FoxyFest categories such as Best Red beard, most freckles per square inch, the best red dog, the youngest redhead and the Best Red Family among many more.

Being Ginger, Red, Carrot top or whatever you say is not only something that makes you unique but it is also a brand that a country and culture has sold itself on for generations. It is an attribute that people aspire to, wish they had and you could even say people are 'Dyeing' to be like us when you see how many shades of red are on sale in a bottle in your local pharmacy.

If you want to join in the fun and be a part of a World Record Attempt to bake the most gingerbread men in one go, you need to be in Crosshaven, County Cork between 23-25 August 2013.

We ARE The Gathering 2013 and this is the homecoming of the RedHeads. Be Part of it.
Www.redheadconvention.ie
Twitter: @IrishRedHeads
Facebook: RedHeadConvention

Battle of the Bulge - Week 5

*BEEP BEEP BEEP BEEP - THE TIME IS 06.45, THE TEMPERATURE IS 5 DEGREES WITH SHOWERS, THE HEADLINES ARE...*
My alarm said, as it tends to do these mornings. My wife is 9 days away from giving birth to our first child, she wakes several times during the night and by the time my alarm shouts at me, she's so tired she can't hear it. I roll out of bed, throw on the tracksuit and a woolly hat, off I go for a 3 mile jog/walk.

I used to cal it a walk/jog, but recently I've noticed that once i'm warmed up, I can jog for longer than that dreaded first day when I struggled to run for more than 10 metres. The pain in my feet, the muscles around my shin burning and my mind asking me why am I not still in bed, tempting me to stop and say "I'll start tomorrow".

If you've battle(d) with the bulge you'll probably know what I mean. The physical battle is a tough one, you can only do what your body will allow you to do, but you can also do more than your mind tells your body it wants to do. Winning that battle when the mind tells you to stop, that's where you won the war. Looking up that hill or at the marker you set yourself, it's ten metres away and your mind says stop, but you keep going till you reach it, that's where you won the war.

Every time you tell yourself that you can't do it, you're right. Every time you tell yourself that you can do it, you're right. So which of these attitudes will get you the results you want?

My goal is to be able to get off the couch with minimum effort when my baby arrives into the world. I don't want to be struggling to reach him/her as they head for that coffee mug on the table, I want to be the dad who wants to play, who wants my child to have energy and a thirst for playful discovery. I want to be alive when my child is older, I want to be a part of their adult life.

The greatest gift I can give my wife, my child and myself, is to be healthy. Every morning that alarm goes off and I want to stay in bed, I just remember the goal, it becomes easier, it becomes enjoyable, it becomes routine. And, it works. I've lost 20lbs (just under 1.5 stone or almost 10 kilo) in five weeks.

Thanks to Paddy Cunningham www.ptpaddy.com for his expertise, encouragement and advice.

I'm losing it...

The Future...
I'm sitting on the couch enjoying something on TV, my baby is crawling towards the cup I left on the coffee table. I can see it coming but something is stopping me from preventing it. My minds eye knows that if I just reach forward to pick up the cup, the impending reality could be altered. I can't, it's not that I don't want to, it's just that I'm so unfit I can't move fast enough. I raise my voice and shout the baby's name as a distraction, to try and slow them down, it doesn't work. The baby is successful in this mission, as she will be in countless others through her life. She grabs the cup that is filled with hot liquid and tugs on it...

The Present...
I don't want that to be the reality of the future, well of course I want my child, She or He, to achieve countless missions they set out on, but the tugging on the cup, the not being able to get off the couch quick enough, the seeing what's coming and not being able to stop it, that's the bit I don't want.

So just like Marty McFly in Back To The Future, I know what is coming and I'm going to do something about it. The estate I grew up in had a man who owned a De Lorean car. I often wish he was still around so i could try what Marty did, t would save me hours of hard work and I could probably keep eating foods that I don't need and living a life non conducive to active fatherhood. Alas, he is not here and I need to do this the long way.

The Plan...
I will lose at least 3 stone (42 lbs) in weight by the time my unborn baby can crawl. We, my wife and I, are scheduled to meet our baby on 20th November. I intend by then, to be almost half way to my goal.

The Method...

• Number 1: Want it more than you want your current habits.
• Number 2: Listen to someone who knows something about it.
  "If it wasn't grown and it didn't live, do you need it" he said to me.  "Think of your goal about being a daddy" he said to me.
• Number 3: Do what someone who knows something about it tells you to do.
  "I want you to walk for 20-30 minutes every day" he said to me. "Don't eat bread this week" he said to me.

The Result...
In week one, with Numbers 1-3 above, I offloaded 8lbs. In week two, with numbers 1-3 above as well as 2 days with a little bit of jogging, about 15 minutes in total, I offloaded 5lbs.

Back to the future...

I'm on a gym programme now to help burn fat by increasing my internal furnace, AKA metabolism. I'll keep you posted, if you like?

*Special thanks to Paddy Cunningham for working with me on this. Visit his site http://www.ptpaddy.com/ 

Youth Work - Theory & Practice

Youth Work is not accidental. It is planned, structured, monitored and evaluated. It has a history, it is constantly changing and adapting to new realities. The world we live in now is very different, though connected, to the world of 50, 25, 10 years ago. Youth workers have the challenge of ensuring their practice meets the emerging needs of young people affected by changing society.

The following are some of the dominant models taught in Youth Work Studies in Ireland.

1.       Character Building – This was probably the foundation of youth work which came from the church groups like YMCA and around the same time, Scouts. That there was a moral obligation on those with education in society to help form the character of Young People. As Young People, especially men, moved from country to city during industrial revolution, they needed something to do other than drink and covort.

2.       Personal Development – Realising that Young People are individuals and need to have their needs met, a move from only building the character of the person, which was coming from the institutions of the day, to working with them to realize their potential. Which is different for each person, this model is still a dominant practice today.

3.       Critical Social Education – Young People are not, or at least should not, be mindless consumers who do what they are told and are seen but not heard. To encourage an independent mentality, I’ll break down the three words in my understanding. Critical = Thinking for themselves,  Social = Pro society & Community but carrying and asking questions about how it operates, Education = The first time Youth Work is seen as an Educational Process and not just a ‘Keep them off the streets’ facility.

4.       Radical Social Change – Where does power lay in society and how is it used? Does everyone benefit equally from the system we live in? What needs to change and how? This model of Youth Work is based on the belief that sections of society are deliberately oppressed to maintain a status quo and this is wrong. It promotes change in the way our systems operate to reflect a more fair distribution of resources.

In Ireland Youth Work Organisations are engaging with the National Quality Standards Framework (NQSF) and are having to articulate just how they carry out their work. It is imperative that youth workers are able to explain to people who may never have taken part in youth work activities, just what it is that they do. These models are a good starting point. To read about one organisation in Dublin and how they identify with the models click here http://www.thebase.ie/whatwedo/yth_workmodel.htm

To read more on the NQSF, see here http://www.dcya.gov.ie/viewdoc.asp?fn=/documents/Publications/NQSF_Summary_ENGLISH_270710.pdf

Fiscal Compact Referendum

I am starting to understand how the economics of this referendum are quite different to the politics of it.

I agree that our state should be keeping its debt to GDP ratio as low as possible, I'm bemused that we need to change our constitution to do it and enter into an agreement to be fined by the European Court of Justice should we fail to do it. Can't we manage our own home?

My reservations about a Yes vote, which I think will be the result, are compounded by what I have been reading and listening to, including the following:

Only 4 countries have so far ratified the treaty. I'm led to believe that there is a meeting of EU ministers in June, at which, changes may be made to the compact as it currently stands. We will have already ratified it.

Signing up to the Fiscal Pact does not guarantee bailout funds. Any other signatory to it can block an attempt to borrow from it.

We are still paying bondholders who invested in banks, lost in their gamble but get paid back anyway. On Monday 28th May, AIB paid out 2.25 Billion. In my opinion, it's not their cash to splash, we own them and shouldn't be rewarding bad gambles. As long as we are willing to pay back the failed investors, we will always need bailouts. I'm told not paying them will mean they won't invest in Ireland again. I say that unless we allow investors to fail they will continue to make bad investments and corrupt capitalism, as Freedman intends it.

This international agreement is here to stay, should we decided in the future that it's not in our interest to be in it, we can't get out of it.

We are being asked to do something (reduce debt to gdp @ maximum of 0.5% ) which is something we havent been able to do in the past. Since 1980 its averaged at 4%. So when the NO side says it is leading to more austerity, I can see why.

Yes, the question still remains, what's the alternative? We vote yes, we will need a bailout. We vote NO we will need a bailout. Maybe we should learn Chinese?

A Paddys Pondering on Poland

The train stopped with a jolt and one of my companions made an observation between the style of the train driver and the car drivers we’d previously experienced. We sat in the cabin of six seats and never thought about why we were stopped for longer than a few minutes. Stuck in our books and immersed in the world of another. The present is lived by me but belongs to someone else.

Two men are walking the track outside the window. An inspector marches past our cabin, in his oration to anybody who could listen as fast as he walked I only understand the word ‘Police’. I’m outside the cabin now, straining to reach above the lowered window for a good view of what’s happening outside, the men on the track are to my right, to my left three women in their twenties begin walking in the same direction.
Cabin doors slide open and more people emerge to look outside, they begin talking in Polish and we are told that the train will be here for at least three hours. There has been a suicide on the track.

People’s reactions differ. A man in our cabin thinks about his flight leaving at 7pm. Another wells with tears. More people on the track, myself included. I can see medics in a huddle, 300 metres behind the train. The inspector marches the tracks yelling that the line we’re standing on is still active, all but those who chose to walk to the next station board the train and await further instruction.

Torun

This is the Poland I want to see. Warsaw is fine, it’s a city with noise, cars, trams, offices and history, But Torun is culture, history, crumbling, red and beautiful. The old town is small, each street has a story, an eclectic mix of old and new. The astronomer Copernicus is without doubt the biggest attraction. I chuckle as I read the plaques on the walls of two houses claiming to be his birth place, probably. Visit the museum, his family home. Ginger bread comes from here, one story says that a housewife making her daily bread consumed a little too much tipple and added honey instead of something else, the result was ginger bread, but don’t expect it to look or taste like what you might know as such.

Continue walking to find the Spanish Donkey, a bronzed sculpture saddled by a two inch high metal strip running the length of the spine. This was the punishment for soldiers who refused to follow orders. Sat on the then wooden donkey with weights attached to their legs to ensure an excruciating medieval wedgy.

The Vistula River flows fast and wide. The promenade entices couples to walk its banks and into the sunset. Rowers power upstream, café boats await your custom overlooked by the city gates.

It’s believed that over 1500 Irish football fans intend to set up base in Torun during the UEFA championship 2012. The weather will be warm, the terraces in full swing and the Pivo on tap. You’re only a few hours train journey to Irelands match venues and you won’t suffer the wallet lashings being prepared in the bigger cities. You won’t be disappointed with your choice of home base. 

Warsaw
My second trip to Warsaw, last time with snow, this time without. It’s an interesting city, over 85% was destroyed in the bombings of WWII. The only surviving buildings being those used by the Gestapo. The history of freedom fighting is honoured in the Warsaw Uprising Museum, the best museum in the capital city. Take a virtual flight over the post war city, the destruction will astound you. Filmed by pilots in Allied planes you will recognise the river, that is all.
The ‘Old Town’ is beautiful. Dominated by the Palace and the square that will try to convince you you’re in Brussels, until you experience it. A tour of the Palace is a good choice as you step back into the Kingdom of Poland, represented by the crown on the head of the Eagle, Polands national crest. The coffee shops and restaurants wait patiently for the summer to arrive and with it, the thousands of visitors and locals alike who come to enjoy the pleasures of these surroundings.

The entire old town, including the Palace have been rebuilt from the rubble left behind by Nazi occupation. Constructed between the 50’s to 80’s from paintings and drawings housed in the libraries of Dresden, you won’t know that you are older than the current buildiongs until you read about it. The reconstruction is immense and the attention to detail a triumph. Citizens of the city began reconstruction of the Palace without the consent of the Communist regime who aspired to achieve the Socialist Realism which in no way, includes a palace, a symbol of the kingdom and freedom of old Poland.

I enjoyed my five days in Poland. I will visit again. Krakow & Gdansk are on the list, but I will wait until after the football and the peak season so that I can really enjoy the hidden beauties this country has to offer. 

Peace

Alan

Influential People

It occured to me today that Influence is a curious thing. I don't quite know why it didnt occur to me before with such clarity. I have dwelled a little on the influence others have had on my life, but never focussing on the negatives. A fortunate thing I suppose, because what use are they to me?
The TIME 100 most influential people poll is open for another week, closing April 6th (View Full List Here). It's the first time I paid any attention to who was in it. I admit to being a poor reader and rarely make the time to sit with magazines or other literature beyond what appears on the Twitter timeline (@jeditraining). but when I saw the list of candidates it hit like a brick, a relatively small one, more like a stone, but it did hit me that these are a right mix of people.
Considering the impact that some of these people have, for good or bad, it challenges me to accept the reality that Influence is not always the positives that I have been focussing on.

One person who caight my eye was John Prendergast. He works for the Enough! Project; focussing on conflict in Congo, Africa. I came across a short video a couple of years ago and I use it frequently in my Global Justice in Youth Work course to begin a conversation around the impact of peoples purchasing power on other peoples lives. You can watch it here if you're interested http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aF-sJgcoY20 
I like the video because it is short and to the point. If you have watched the KONY 2012 video you might also remember him as he makes a brief appearance. I compare him to lets say, Daniel Craig whom you might know better as James Bond with a 6 pack tummy. No doubting he has influence, but is in the same paradigm as John Prengergast? What about Kim Jong Un, the new beloved leader of North Korea? Yes he's there too and yes he is influential. I recal a photo I saw in the international media the other day of Obama (also on the list) viewing North Korea through binoculers from the deminlitarised zone, I would say that if you can make the USA take notice of you, there is a big enough reason for that.
You have the link, so if you'd like to vote, click away.

Influence on a personal scale. Today I make the journey to Kilcranny House, a small peace centre in Coleraine, Northern Ireland. A man I know, respect and deeply admire passed away early this month, his name is Conn Mulvenna. I know Conn since his time as a facilitator on the Glencree Youth Group back in the late 90's. My first immersion into peace work and International youth work. It would be years after that myself and Conn would meet again, in Glencree while I was facilitating similar programmes to those he inadvertantly got me addicted to. Conn never set out to influence the direction my life would take, or at least he never told me so :-) and I am sure that he never realised the impact he had on other peoples lives as he did what he loved to do, create spaces for people to meet. Conn is one of the reasons that I am now doing what I do, training youth workers. Indeed, the day I got the phone call from the National Youth Council of Ireland to inform me that I was being offered the job as Development Education Trainer, I was in a car on the way down the mountain after spending an overnight residential in the company of 15 teenagers, another facilitator and Conn Mulvenna. There is no coincidence for me that the offer came while I was surrounded by a place and its people who gave so much to me in terms of my development as a person.

I miss you Conn and I honour you as a being through my lifes work. Thank you for everything you gave me, and others.

Peace
Alan

We didn't have the 'Green Thing' back in our day.

I received a joke email recently that made me think about the origins of certain things. Just like my recent visit to Haiti, a local guide told me how the history books talk about Columbus 'Discovering' the Americas. Only what did he discover when he landed there? People, who had been there for hundreds maybe thousands of years already.
So when i got this email it made me think about the 'Green Thing' and whether or not it belongs to one generation over another?
Take a read for yourself.  and if you really feel like it, leave a comment or question and see where the discussion takes us?

The Green Thing

I was at the Check-out in the supermarket recently, the young cashier suggested I should bring my own bags because plastic bags weren't good for the environment. I apologised and explained, "We didn't have this green thing back in my earlier days, old habits die hard" I said. The cashier responded, "That's our problem today. Your generation didn’t care enough to save our environment for future generations".

It’s strange because back then, we returned milk bottles, plastic bottles and glass bottles to the shop. The shop sent them back to the factory to be washed and sterilized and refilled, so it could use the same bottles repeatedly. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the green thing back in our day.

We walked up stairs, because we didn't have an escalator or lift in every store and office building. We walked to the shops and didn't climb into a fuel guzzling machine every time we had to go down the road. But she was right, We didn't have the green thing in our day.

Back then, we washed the baby's nappies because we didn't have the throw-away kind made out of plastics. We dried clothes on a washing line, not in an energy gobbling machine burning electricity that comes from coal, peat, oil & gas -- wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days.

Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing brought in from all over the world. We ate fruits that were in season, not food that had to be flown half way round the world just so I could have an Orange in January. But that young lady is right. We didn't have the green thing back in our day.

Back then, we had one TV, or radio, in the house -- not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen big enough for all the family to see, not a screen the size of the wall. In the kitchen, we blended & stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the post, we used crumpled up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn petrol just to cut the grass. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to join a health club where you run on treadmills that operate on electricity. But she's right. We didn't have the green thing back then.

We drank water from a tap when we were thirsty instead of buying a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen. But we didn't have the green thing back then.

Back then, people took the bus, and kids cycled their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their parents into a 24-hour taxi service. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 2,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest pizza.

So I wonder, who is it that doesn’t have the ‘Green Thing’?