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April 20, 2011
Ancient Easter: The Hill of Slane.
An Easter Week Druid Setback. In 433 A.D., the day before Easter, St. Patrick lit a bonfire here as part of his campaign to convert the Druids to Christianity. Patrick, a feisty Brit by birth, did this to defy the High King Laoghire, who had forbid any other fires while a Beltane festival fire was burning on the nearby Hill of Tara (now in Meath County). Unfortunately, King Laoghire so liked Patrick's moxie that he let Patrick continue his campaign to convert the feral and mysterious Druids in that part of Ireland.
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 12:58 AM | Comments (0)
April 19, 2011
At Cross-Culture: Caste, Class and Lower England.
I am his Highness’ dog at Kew; pray tell me, sir, whose dog are you?
--Alexander Pope (1688-1744) Englishman, poet, satirist.
At Cross-Culture, do see "The English--In a Class of Their Own" by Michael Gates. Excerpt:
The richest person I know-–a multi-millionaire by his mid-thirties--told me that his working-class background means that there are still people who ‘cut him dead’ socially.
And I will never forget my first seminar at Oxford University, when a class-mate (in more ways than one) from Lancashire was asked to read out his brilliant essay on the Victorian poets Tennyson and Browning. One of the girls suddenly walked out and never came back. Afterwards she told us she ‘had to go and vomit, as she couldn’t stand listening to that Northern, working-class accent.’
Posted by Holden Oliver (Kitzbühel Desk) at 08:32 PM | Comments (0)
April 18, 2011
Bennet Kelley: The GOP's Borat Budget.
Will the GOP budget make America "the only developed nation in the world that aspires to be Kazakhstan"? See Bennet Kelley's new piece at DemocraticUnderground.com. Pictured below, sort of: Republican budget guru Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).
Posted by JD Hull at 12:58 AM | Comments (1)