Eoin Butler: writer, journalist and Mayoman of the Year
Tripping Along The Ledge
Blog
Published: Irish Times, December 17 2011The rebel priest
IN THE MUDDY SLUMS OF JUBA, the people are preparing for a party. By 11pm, tens of thousands of them have poured out onto the streets: cheering, honking car horns and waving the flag of their new country, as well as those of the US, Norway and Israel.
At the stroke of midnight, South Sudan becomes the world’s 192nd independent nation. In the new capital, joy is unconfined. In the mud huts that stretch for miles in every direction, residents can be heard singing and ululating well into the night.
By 7am, the BBC World Service reports a crowd of a hundred thousand already gathered at the Dr. John Garang Mausoleum. The speeches here will last late into the afternoon. But despite a complete lack of respite from the sun, the people never once cease to sing, sway and chant… Read the rest of this article here.
Clicking along the ledge
#5 David Norris would make a terrible, terrible president (June 10th)
Just because you like someone, and just because their election would generate positive press coverage for your country the world over, it does not make them that person a good – or even remotely suitable – candidate for high office. This blog was a fraction ahead of the curve on that one, I like to think. Read the rest of this entry »
The rebel priest
IN THE MUDDY SLUMS OF JUBA, the people are preparing for a party. By 11pm, tens of thousands of them have poured out onto the streets: cheering, honking car horns and waving the flag of their new country, as well as those of the US, Norway and Israel.
At the stroke of midnight, South Sudan becomes the world’s 192nd independent nation. In the new capital, joy is unconfined. In the mud huts that stretch for miles in every direction, residents can be heard singing and ululating well into the night.
By 7am, the BBC World Service is reporting a crowd of a hundred thousand already gathered at the Dr. John Garang Mausoleum. The speeches here will last late into the afternoon. But despite a complete lack of respite from the sun, the people never once cease to sing, sway and chant the names of the new state, its new president and his army.
“South Sudan… oyee!”
“Salva Kiir… oyee!”
“SPLA… oyee!” Read the rest of this entry »
On Walsh’s Hill
The leaves run with the cars
The cars run to the town
Don’t expect the night time it will only let you down
Walk on Walsh’s hill
Look up at the stars
The town is full of lights and there are people in the bars
The nights are made of nothing
And the mornings are so cold
The television talks to you like you were four years old Read the rest of this entry »
This is funny
…and seasonal. David Sedaris’ “Six to Eight Black Men” from the album ‘Live at Carnegie Hall’. It was originally published in Esquire Magazine
A Ballyhaunis man abroad
In July 2011, photographer Ross McDonnell and I visited the city of Juba in East Africa to witness independence celebrations for the newly sovereign state of South Sudan. It was a short enough trip. We left the day after I saw Mayo beat Galway in Castlebar. And I was home in time to see Roscommon go down in a wet and windy Connacht final.
But this was no summer holiday. As a journalist, I visited the Gaza Strip during the Israeli blockade in the summer of 2008. But Gaza was a holiday camp compared to this place. South Sudan is one of the poorest, hottest, most remote and dangerous places on earth. A place where there are guns on every street corner. A place where a 15 year old girl is more likely to die in childbirth than she is to have finished primary school. Read the rest of this entry »
The top 5 funniest things people said to me when my father died
The recent death of my father was undoubtedly the least funny event of my entire life. It came as a savage shock to me, like a stranger approaching me on the street and punching me in the face. Read the rest of this article here.