Witches and Castles in Kilkenny

 Dear reader, this is where my Ireland trip differs from my other Europe trips greatly. I have become accustomed to my primary mode of transportation while travelling being my own two feet, and public transportation when absolutely necessary. But this time, in order to see Ireland wholly and truly, we rented a car.
             

The rental car process is an adventure in and of itself, let alone the actual feat of driving. And oh what a feat it was! Driving down two lane roads that were no wider than my driveway; hidden speed and traffic cameras everywhere; driving on the wrong side of the car on the wrong side of the road…

Oh, and there was also some pretty bad traffic.

The driving responsibility fell solely on P’s shoulder’s, because I was too young to rent a car (nevermind the fact that I was the one that taught him to drive). It was definitely a challenge for me to “take a back seat” and just trust in P’s adaptability. The extended insurance also really helped with this challenge!

So, after a couple days in Dublin, we picked up our rental car and drove to Kilkenny, a pretty town a couple of hours South East of Dublin. 

After the adventure of trying to park, we breathed a breath of relief and got settled into our hostel.

Just look at my motley crew:

Our first order of business was walking through town to scope out where to eat. On our wanders, we came across the COOLEST THING A CITY HAS EVER DONE. Okay, so I’m not really an authority or anything, but this was pretty awesome.

In the main strip on the lower side of the town, there was a row of stores and restaurants. Across from the storefronts, there was a boarded up area with wood painted on it, and notices about witches and witchcraft. Alex and I immediately swooned. But only it got even cooler, because through the deliberate knots and holes cut in the fence, a passerby could view through to the other side of the boards and see some awesome graffiti. This was such a cool and fun project that I had chills. 

It turns out that the area had been an eyesore in comparison to the shops across the street, so the town took on a beautification project and this is what they came up with. So much cooler than a flower garden in a traffic median, I’d say. The project they came up with drew upon local folklore about a witch named Alice Kyteler who owned an Inn + restaurant.

                                


                               


Most of the notices on the boards mentioned Kyteler, and the witch visible through the boards was ostensibly her. Kytler’s actual Inn had been transformed into a pub, so we made sure to stop in there for a bite and a pint. 

 After lunch we continued on our way to the very first legit castle I have ever seen. Although this would not end up on my favourites list, it will still always have a fond place in my heart for having been the first. 

The castle grounds were wonderfully kept, so we started by traipsing a circumference of the grounds, and just letting the magnificence of the structure impose itself on us.

Unfortunately we did not manage to take any pictures of the inside of the castle, but it had been set up as a very well curated and decorated museum. I would definitely recommend stopping by Kilkenny for a quick day trip if you’re in the region. 

A Review of Veronica Roth’s Divergent Series, and some reflections on the YA Genre

             At one point, I imagined my review of this series to be uplifting and optimistic. To illustrate this, I insisted a couple of my friends also read the first book, Divergent, and the sequel, Insurgent, in anticipation of the third and final book in the series, Allegiant, that was just released last week. I am disappointed to report that this series is not worth your time. Much like the Hunger Games in many aspects, it too had a ridiculous and pointless ending, and moreover, it was so poorly executed to the extent that I didn’t even care.

             To the series credit, the premise is quite interesting. The reader follows a quite likeable protagonist, named Tris Prior, through a crucial point in her life; where within her dystopic society that is divided into five factions based on personality type, she must decide where she should spend the rest of her life. You can see how this basis somewhat resembles the Hunger Games, but I was hooked from the premise of the division based on different personality types, and I kept reading because of the character development, initially. I will admit that I became somewhat invested in some characters.

             After the first book, the premise began to develop a little too far beyond its britches. Don’t misunderstand me. I love how YA fiction broaches big concepts in saliable, relatively non-threatening ways. The problem is (and would be for any book or writing of any genre) when a piece tries to take on too many big problems without giving adequate treatment to any of them. It was ambitious for each of the books in the Divergent series to deal with different problems (Divergent: societal devision based on personality; Insurgent with more authoritarian and rebellious political themes; and Allegiant, dealing with genetic (read: racist/ ableist) superiority issues. These are all wonderful issues that were set up quite nicely, but none of which were treated with enough attention. I did not expect these issues to come to a nice and tidy solution, but I also expect more from an author than to just set up (nicely) a premise and let it dangle while starting a new thread. Of course these topics also tie neatly into each other as well, but because the threads were dropped so abruptly rather than thought out entirely, each book almost felt like its own island.

             As for Allegiant itself… I have a massive bone to pick. I noticed while reading how Tris was an entirely different character from the start, and that the change was not gradual, but quite abrupt. More disconcerting was Roth’s continued insistence on “killing your darlings”… but I don’t want to spoil anything so I will leave it there for now, though I do want to think more about this “kill your darlings” tool in writing, and question its efficacy.

             Two of my major problems with Allegiant, though, I can talk about without spoiling anything. Roth, for some reason unimagineable to me, decided to change the narrative style of the third book, so that unlike the first two that were told from Tris’ viewpoint, Allegiant alternated between Tris’ and her boyfriend Tobias’ viewpoint. Ignoring the fact that it is just pure sloppy to change a voice this late in the game, is Tris suddenly incapable of telling her own story so much that she needs help with some nuance from her boyfriend? An extension of this problem that just makes it even more frustrating for me is that Tris does not even get the last word of her own story. This seems like so much wasted in effort in trying to build an admirable heroine just for Roth to undermine herself in the ninth inning for no good reason.

             My other major problem I can equate to my major problem with the Hunger Games Trilogy, and namely Mockingjay. In imagining the target audience as being young, impressionable adults, it is important to expose them to the realism of the world. I understand that. But must we always be in such a rush to insist that the endgame is always: ‘and then everything turned to/remained shit’. Can we not find a silver lining, a reason to instill hope that a person can make a change? The trend in YA endings lately (Hunger Games; The Infernal Devices; Divergent) really bothers me. I would love to see someone on the scene shake it up a little bit. It seems YA authors have found some really creative ways of approaching mother fucking love triangles, you’d think they’d be able to find a unique and not lazy way to end their books?

             I don’t feel that I have to legitimize why I spend time reading Young Adult fiction, but I feel that certain really good YA fiction will legitimize itself anyways. An obvious example would be Harry Potter, but for me, one of the many profound moments I have had reading came from the Hunger Games. When Cinna, (for the uninitiated, a fashion designer helping Katniss with her rebel cause) turned Katniss’ dress from a symbol of her oppression into the symbol of her freedom, her cause, and a rallying point for a whole oppressed society, I had tears in my eyes. This moment did more for me as an Arts major than any other person, colleague, or professor did. I still think back to this moment at times when I feel that my training as an Arts major was futile. What Cinna did with his art as a designer was one of the most important acts in the Panem uprising. He had an integral part in the cause, and his training in art, coupled with his compassion and intelligence meant something. I am sure this same point has been made time and time again in literature and in life, but for me, Cinna and his Mockingjay dress were exactly what I needed.

This is why Young Adult literature is important. This is why Art is important.

“Make good Art.” –Neil Gaiman

Firenze's Art Scene

I am becoming more aware of certain scenes, that is, specific sites that seem to create, facilitate, or draw a community of creativity during a specific era. For example, in Woody Allen’s Midnight in Paris, Owen Wilson’s character yearns for the art scene of Paris circa 1920. Through my travels I am learning the extent of the symbiotic nature between an art scene and its location. The location provides a sense of community to the artists, and a culture as a baseline or starting point at least to integrate or build off of for work. In return, the location of that art scene receives tattoos of its cultural influence for that particular era that live on through passages in books, subjects and scenes in photos and paintings, and rhythmically through music.

Through my time in Florence, I am learning about the House of Medici’s heavy influence on the arts in Italy during the Renaissance. The Medici family grew their wealth with starting a bank, gaining political prowess through the Tuscan state, marrying royalty, and even producing a few Popes in the process. This money allowed them to provide financial support to Brunelleschi, Fra Angelico, Donatello, Michaelangelo and Da Vinci.

With the death of Anna Maria Luisa de Medici, the house was extinct. Anna Maria bequeathed the entire Medici estate, including their massive art collection, to the Tuscan state, provided that it never left Florence. Say what you will about the Medici’s, but to me, that is incredible civic loyalty and passion. This donation was the cornerstone of the Uffizi, one of the world’s best collections of Italian Renaissance art.

I can see why Florence would be a flourishing art scene, even aside from the influence of the Medici family. The city is small enough to foster a strong sense of community, but large enough to have a wide sampling of people. The Tuscan hills are omnipresent, but not in a looming way: Florence, to me, is a very open and free city. Oh, and the wine doesn’t hurt either.

I wonder what we will consider to be the biggest art scene of the early 21^st century. Looking at the patterns of power and economic influence and the weight that that has afforded people to spend more on artistic pursuits, it makes sense to me why France, Italy, and England were major art scenes at the times that they were. Following this pattern, in combination with my limited observation of what is happening where in the world today, I would say New York or perhaps somewhere in California.  Another real possibility could be that with the dawn of globalization, such art scenes will be harder to localize to just one geographic area.