“Give me something, Bloomsday’s coming
Open up the doors and have a goddamn beer
Ring the baker, the butcher, the charioteer
The palm readers in Salem, the engineer
And everybody’s wondering where their little light is
And everybody’s wondering where their little light is
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine
This little light of mine, I’m gonna let it shine”
Samantha Crain
There are times when I think that I’d have loved to be a teacher. Monday morning was one of those times. My friend John Nutley had asked me a few weeks ago if I’d give a talk about Rossmore Park and the Drumlin Giants to a class he was facilitating in the National Learning Network in Monaghan. I was shocked. Nutley had found gainful employment ?? And more surprisingly that there was a National Learning Network in Monaghan.
“Where is it ?” I asked.
“Opposite the old Diamond cinema.” He replied.
“I thought Dhaba was opposite the old cinema ?” (Dhaba is a wonderfully weird Indian/Irish takeaway … that does pizza.)
“No, up from that.”
“The back of McKenna’s beer garden ?”
“NO! Up from that ! It’s the huge building ….it’s bigger than the old cinema !!!”
“Oh there ? I thought that was apartments.”
Once we had established where it was John went on to explain what it was. The National Learning Network offers courses in life skills and employment preparation, further education options, and confidence building for people that have had an injury, illness, or challenge that requires a helping hand. John was doing some classes on ‘Place’ , familiarising people with their community and physical space.
I’m not nervous about speaking in public, in fact, I can do it at the drop of a hat, and on occasion have to be restrained from doing it uninvited. I do however get a bit nervous when I’m giving a talk somewhere new and don’t know exactly what the set up will be in terms of numbers of people and what technology I have access to for my funky Prezi presentation. In the past I’ve gone to schools where my usb drive was blocked as a ‘foreign object’ on the teachers laptop and I had to run to my car and back with my own laptop and eventually started the presentation in a rather breathless and red faced fashion, so much so that a concerned 8 year old raised their hand and asked if I wanted her to go and get the school nurse.
I’ve gone to a third level institution in Donegal to give a talk in a lecture hall where no one knew how to lower the volume from the interactive whiteboard and the video I’d prepared …sorry , that Glenn had prepared for me, detailing how we constructed Roddy Den Drum, our initial giant sculpture in Rossmore, which featured Fatboy Slim’s ‘Right Here , Right Now’ blared out so loudly that the curtains at the back of the hall shook.
And I’ve given the presentation in council chambers where I ended up having to go to a nearby stationers and print out 20 copies of my presentation and hand it to all the attendees as the council office was still operating on Office 95 and wouldn’t recognise my new fangled laptop.
So , on Monday , I arrived early to find out where I’d be talking and have a quick check to make sure everything worked. John took me to the classroom we were using and helped attach my laptop to the whiteboard and everything worked first time, including a satisfactory blood thumping level of sound. He told me that the class were on a coffee break but would start drifting in shortly. The first person to wander in was Alana.
“John, I thought you said that this class was full of lovely people, and the first person I meet is Alana, she’s a notorious rascal !”
Alana had helped me many moons ago when I pretended to be a coach with the reluctant kids group in Monaghan Phoenix Athletic. Alana’s Dad, Damien, and Brian Peppard were the actual coaches who focused on the kids who were interested in running, and I was cajoled into looking after the younger kids that , like myself, were there under duress, and we’d make a pretence of exercising on the side of the track near the steps which was well lit and then walked and talked about the stars and the music I was playing on my phone when we were on the badly lit side. Alana would remind me that we were supposed to be training and not making up names and legends for constellations of stars…I still smile when I look up on a clear dark night and see the ‘One Eyed Crow’ constellation and the story of how it had given up it’s other eye to become our sun. It’s commonly called The Big Dipper, and yes, I know it doesn’t look like a crow, but it doesn’t look like a bear either !
Before my coffee had gone cold the room had filled up and another class joined us , so extra chairs were brought in. And I began.
I gave them a brief history of Rossmore Park, told them about all of the Drumlin Giants, mentioned famous people from Monaghan that connected us to Chile, Apollo 11, Marie Antoinette, Dracula, dragons, and got them bopping along to Fontaines DC’s ‘Liberty Belle’. I also talked about some of the events that we’ve held out there in the past and some that we’re hoping to host this year and asked if they’d like to help.
They were very enthusiastic !
It’s always a real buzz to be able to talk to an engaging group about something you’re passionate about.
Before the class John had apologised to me saying that he’d forgotten to ask me what my fee was and that he’d sort it out later. I said I never charge a fee, in fact if it came to it I’d pay him for the privilege.
After the class John asked if I’d send him on the names of some of the Giants and which events we’d like to include the class in so that he could include them in his class report.
“Class report ?”
“Yeah, I have to prepare a class outline before each class and then do another report on how it went and what outcomes….”
He talked on in that vein for a moment or two and then I remembered why I hadn’t become a teacher.
On Monday I got to visit a place, in our community that I’d never truly been aware of before and met a wonderful bunch of people helping to kindle the lights of others.
It was a two way street.
Magic.
Toodles,
Paul
P.S. This is for the light givers, like you .
P.P.S This is an old audio of an old blog about Pluto the PLANET and other things….
