Celine Kiernan's Blog, page 17

Promise : Don’t be a Bystander

Promise from DESIGN FOR LIFE on Vimeo.

You might recall my saying that I had an interesting project handed me before Christmas?

Well I’m delighted to unveil the fruits of that.  Directed by Simon Daniels from DESIGN FOR LIFE and acted by the wonderful teens from the Kildare Youth Theatre (at Crooked House Theatre Company) this is an anti-cyberbullying video.

We all need to stand up for each other – just because it’s not happening to you, doesn’t mean it’s not happening. Don’t be a bystander.

You can see the video on youtube

You can get advice or information here.

You can follow the campaign on twitter: @WatchYourSpace

or follow the hashtag: #Up2Us

Feel free to share

CAUSES OF RAPE – A STATISTICAL ANALYSIS

Thanks to Flightrisker for this indepth analysis of the causes of rape. I think it speaks for itself:

Snow, Writing & Palmerstown CS Graphic Novel Project

So this is what it looks like outside my window at the moment! (Vurry pretty, though potentially quite damaging to tonight’s planned trip to Dublin and  popcorn-guzzling enjoyment of Les Mis.  Ah well…)

I won’t blind your eyes with an interior pic because I am currently cross-legged on my bed, still sporting mismatched pj’s, wrapped in the husband’s dressing gown, enjoying watching the valley fill with snow and TRYING TO WRITE THIS DAMNED BOOK (I say it every time – but I swear, I swear, this is the book that will kill me)

I’m very excited for next Tuesday. That’s the day I start working with the TY students in Palmerstown Community School. For the next month 20 students and I are going to be working on a graphic novel project which they will write, draw and assemble themselves. The project is called ‘voice’ and has its foundations in the idea that unless we are the ones doing the telling, our truths will never truly be reflected in the stories we see, read and hear. Each student has four pages of graphic novel artwork in which they can tell a story of any genre, in any style, on any topic. The only rule is that the story (no matter how fantastical) must contain a grain of truth with relates to them or to their world. Hopefully there will be a book of very unique stories at the end of it, and an exhibition of the students’ work. I’ll blog as we go along and keep you posted as to our progress Might even get the students to come along and talk to you themselves.

For now, back to this writing lark…

For your dubious delectation, here is a section from yesterday’s work:

After the dance, the soldiers pushed forward for their garlands They smelled different. They seemed taller. Many of them were chewing some strong smelling substance which turned their spittle red. When they smiled their teeth looked bloody. For a moment I was actually afraid of them. I saw Pascalle grip Primo by the arm and pull him from the attention of two brash (and obviously very interested) young soldiers. I had time to witness her slip a string of amber beads around his neck, then my vision was blocked by one of the soldiers stooping to receive the garland I held in my arms.

She had a cigarillo dangling from the corner of her mouth. Her lips and teeth were vivid with that violent stain. But she grinned at me with all a soldier’s familiar tolerance and humour, and as I slipped the garland around her neck she said, ‘Hello, sweetling. Remember me?’

Book Giveaway & Reviews over at Smugglivus…

I’m over at The Book Smugglers today, folks! Giving away books and reviewing my top YA & Kids reads of 2012. Come on over ( and leave a comment to be in with a chance to win a copy of Into the Grey before it’s UK/US release) 

Arn Chorn Pond: Everyone has a Story

In a world where the gun is all too often romanticized as the ultimate tool for social change, I find this video very powerful. Especially this week. When Arn Chorn Pond – a Cambodian ex-child soldier – talks about being bullied in the American high school in which his adopted parents enrolled him, he tells how, in his previous life, he would have, without a thought, shot and killed the children who were bullying him. He then goes on to speak about the teacher who taught him English and thereby gave Arn Chorn a voice which he used to not only express his hurt, but also to change the world for thousands of others.

Yippeee… and here we go again!

Much to my and my editors extreme shock I’ve finished The Vast Edit with two weeks to spare! Cue Mssrs Stan Laurel and

Oliver Hardy, here for the sole purpose of expressing my joy…

I had fully intended to take the time coming up to Christmas off. My plans involved something along the lines of me lolling about like a boneless cat watching mindless TV, eating biscuits and drinking swimming-pools’ worth of tea.

Alack tis not to be. I find myself presented with a project that is waaay too interesting to pass up. And so, coming up to Christmas, instead of looking like this…

I will most likely look like this…

BUT NO MATTER. I’m loving what I do. I love the project I’ve been lucky enough to have been handed. I only hope I can do it justice. So, instead of relaxing and hanging about here for a while I’m heading into the thicket again, machete in hand, helmet on head, snake guards about mine ankles. Don’t wait up… I may be sometime.

Write the Note now.

Nary a dog will be fed nor child washed til Christmas…

Behold my kitchen table. See it contains all I need to bully my vast behemoth of a novel into something rather more readable and good. To the right of screen, the notes, letters, timelines and character sheets upon which my beloved Ms Elise Jones has worn her editorial fingers to the bone. In the middle, the demonic contraption into which I spew my brain vomit  laptop on which I write my immortal prose. To the far left the food and drink which shall sustain me on this month long stumble through the nadirs of my soul something to nibble on should I get peckish.

This is how the kitchen table is, this is how the kitchen table shall remain* until December 21st when I hope to meet my deadline with my sanity hanging by a sinew and my nerves in shreds flying colors and a jolly laugh.

Til then good friends, adieu.

*I may occasionally eat and replace the apple.

Apologies to my workshop kids!

Guys, I’m so so sorry! I know you’ve been waiting some while now to see your drawings and stories up online. You must think I’ve forgotten all about you, but I haven’t! I’ve just been a touch overwhelmed. Event season only finished for me last week and I’ve been trying very hard (and not too successfully) to get my latest book written before I plunge into the next round of edits on Resonance.

THIS MEANS I’VE IGNORED YOU TERRIBLY.

I can’t promise that I’ll have the time to put your work online this week (or maybe even next week) but By the first week in Dec I’ll have it scanned and uploaded. OK? FORGIVE ME!

(PS: forgive me also, Emily from Drogheda who has been patiently waiting her drawing of Wynter and her cats, and also Lucy from Wexford whose thank you gift has been sitting on my desk for nearly TWO MONTHS! I will get these to you before Christmas, I promise)

Let no more women die …

In response to Savita Halappanavar’s needless and shocking death, due to being denied a lifesaving abortion in Galway Hospital this October, I have written to my local TDs and reminded them that it has been over twenty years since the Irish people voted to protect the rights of the mother as well as that of the unborn child, and telling them that it is time our government stepped up and fulfilled its duty to protect the rights of women in Ireland.

If you are a resident in Ireland are eligible to vote and believe that NO WOMAN SHOULD DIE NEEDLESSLY, I ask you to take time to  go to this webpage and contact your local TDs. The process is simple and will take hardly five minutes of your day.

Thank you. Please pass this message on. Also, if your TD gets back to you and you want to publicly acknowledge their response, send it to me, I will paste it below (or you can put it in the comments.)

TD RESPONSES:

BRENDAN SMITH T.D. (Cavan Monaghan), DÁIL ÉIREANN, KILDARE, STREET DUBLIN 2

Dear Celine

I received your e-mail this morning and I note the contents.

With kindest regards.

Yours sincerely

Brendan

________________________________

Heather Humphreys TD

Cavan – Monaghan Constituency Unit 2, Mall Rd, Co Monaghan

Dear Celine

Thank you for your email of 14/11/2012.

As committed to in the Programme for Government, an Expert Group, drawing on appropriate medical and legal expertise, was established in January to study the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on the ABC v. Ireland case. In that judgement, the European Court held that the Irish State had failed to legislate to implement existing rights to lawful abortion when a mother’s life is at risk.

Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution states that: “The State acknowledges the right to life of the unborn and, with due regard to the equal right to life of the mother, guarantees in its laws to respect, and, as far as practicable, by its laws to defend and vindicate that right. “

The interpretation of Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution arose in the “X case” in 1992. A majority of the members of the Supreme Court of Ireland held that, if it were established, as a matter of probability, that there was a real and substantial risk to the life, as distinct from the health, of the mother and that this real and substantial risk could only be averted by the termination of her pregnancy, such a termination was lawful.

The judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the A, B and C v Ireland case confirmed that Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution is in conformity with the European Convention on Human Rights. However, the Court ruled that “no criteria or procedures have been… laid down in Irish law… by which that risk is to be measured or determined, leading to uncertainty…” and held that further legal clarity was required.

Ireland has signed and ratified the European Convention on Human Rights, Article 46 of which states that signatories agree to abide by any judgment of the Court in any case to which they are parties. Ireland therefore has a duty to implement the judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in A, B and C v Ireland, and must put in place a legislative or regulatory regime providing effective and accessible procedures whereby pregnant women can establish whether or not they are entitled to a lawful abortion in accordance with Article 40.3.3 of the Constitution as interpreted by the Supreme Court in the X case.

In order to address the judgment, and to fulfil a commitment included in the Programme for Government, the Government established an Expert Group, drawing on appropriate medical and legal expertise, with a view to making recommendations on how this matter should be properly addressed.

The Expert Group, Chaired by Mr Justice Sean Ryan, will report shortly with recommendations on a series of options on how to implement the judgment taking into account the constitutional, legal, medical, and ethical considerations involved in the formulation of public policy in this area.

The Government believes that this is the appropriate forum in which to examine this complex and sensitive matter.

I have received a large number of representations in relation to this matter and while there is no point in trying to pre-empt the findings of the expert group, I can assure you that I am taking all of these representations on board and I have also raised them with the Minister for Health, James Reilly TD. Yours sincerely

Heather Humphreys