Or, you know, a temporary home.
A mixture of both would be ideal.
Dublin SPCA writes:
Urgent Urgent! We really need to get this chap out on foster care TODAY! He needs 3 weeks TLC because of cat flu and he had to be shaved because he was very badly matted when he came in. If you can help please, please contact Barbara on 01 4994503 or foster@dspca.ie ASAP, Thank you
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pn53QJojNN4
Deady – Blurred Lines
Cork’s Brian Deady takes a Robin Thicke/Pharrell Williams track and adds a bit of Bobby McFerrin/kitchen utensil fun.
And it works.
Thanks Ciaran Le Cool
You may have read the article by Terry Prone (top) in yesterday’s Irish Examiner exploring the subject of self-harming and the workplace through the eyes of a self-harming young woman
Mairead Carey (above) writes:
Terry Prone’s article on self-harming is written from a person’s view of a woman who cuts herself. This view is an incorrect portrayal of those who self harm.
It is a correct portrayal though of how ignorance can damage people and can ultimately stop people from reaching out for help. This article somehow made it into a newspaper spread but this is not news, this is a distorted look at reality.
I myself, a self harmer for many years, knows too well the effect that this kind of ignorance can have. I no longer self harm but not without help from my peers, my job and therapists. The article’s title {Nothing They Can Do For The Co-Worker Who Cuts herself]really broke my heart as it is breathing despair and hopelessness for anyone who is self harming. It claims there is nothing you can do for the co worker who cuts herself.
Please know this is so terribly far from the truth. If you self harm please know there is hope, you can get help and there are people who want to help you. If you are the worker or peer who does not self harm but has a colleague or friend who does; please know your words can ultimately help the person who self harms, you could potentially be the first person to show them there is help, there is hope and it can get better.
For the co-worker or the friend who does not self harm, let me try give you a correct insight to a the self harming person. A person self harms because they are in severe emotional turmoil, they may have been through trauma, they may have experienced something which has caused them great pain.
The people who self harm do so because they do not know any other way of expressing this pain they are in, they may not have people in their life that lets them verbally express what is going on for them. Yes the person who self harm sometimes hides their wounds but sometimes they do not.
Please do not harshly judge the person as they have spent many days been judged and this just adds to their pain. People who self harm are also human, just like you, they have feelings, they like to laugh, they like to talk to people and they, like you, also cry. Remember this before you ignore, judge and label them as hopeless. Please do not the article Terry Prone has written as the truth.
If you know of someone who self harms but they do wish to talk about it, do not ignore them, they may need to build trust before they disclose something so personal with you. Talk to them the way you would talk to any other human, laugh with them, go on lunch with them. You could be the first person who lets them know they are OK, you could be the first person who treated them like a human being, this will ultimately help them to reach out as they will begin to feel safe. Getting help for self harm is a very delicate thing to do, forcing it or ignoring will only make it worse.
For the person who self harms. Whatever you do, do not believe that everyone thinks the way Terry Prone thinks. You are worthy of friends, friendly co workers and much more. You can get help if you wish or you can reach out to friends and co workers that you trust.
You are not hopeless and you are certainly not helpless. There are so many organisations and people who really want to help you. You can overcome self harm and I know this because I have. It can be difficult and you will cross paths with many who judge you but know that you deserve a life where you no longer self harm.
Do not let anyone’s false judgment and hurtful words discourage you on your journey. Use your voice even when people try to silence you, walk when people try to make you crawl.
Don’t let anyone make you feel inhuman, you deserve a beautiful life just like everyone else and I believe you can achieve it.
For the published writers out there, please take responsibility for your work. Your words, your articles can seriously affect people.
Do not write about self harm without having a full understanding of the effects it causes. Detailing wounds, detailing ways people self harm, focusing on blood all contain triggering material that can cause so much devastating damage that you will probably never hear of because your articles have silenced their voices.
The article by Terry Prone has so much triggering material as well as so much material that is false, that it disgusts me that it was published.
It portrays work places as terrifying for anyone who self harms, it portrays self harmers as a “bit odd”, it portrays people who do not self harm as heartless and scared but this is all so incorrect and a real distortion on reality.
I have held down my recent job for over five years now and anyone who discovered and heard about my self harm were supportive and reached out to me. Some people won’t understand straight away but they do try.
So to the writers, would you prefer to create a society of silence or would you prefer to help create a society where it is OK to speak out, to reach out and get help.
Remember when you write you influence. Take responsibility, we are real people.
Mairead Carey
Nothing They Can Do For The Co-Worker Who Cuts herself (Terry Prone, Irish Examiner)
Update:
“Terry Prone’s “nothing they could do” attitude and depiction of co-workers passively witnessing a colleague’s self-harming behaviour at work only propagates the culture of secrecy around mental health problems in the workplace that needs to be urgently challenged.
…A good employer should be mindful of the levels of stress that all employees experience at work. Promoting and protecting the mental wellbeing of the workforce is important for individuals’ physical health, social wellbeing and productivity. It can impact retention, productivity and performance while also assisting and supporting employees experiencing distress. Having clear steps and guidelines on how to engage with employees on wellbeing and mental health makes it easier to form an appropriate proactive strategy to address a situation.
For better or for worse, we all bring our mental health to work so this open conversation needs to happen from the boardroom to the break room.”
From a statement by John Saunders, Director of See Change, issued today.
The most representative show from each state according to Redditor someguyfromcanada.
He’s really asking for it with that username.
UPDATE:
Eamonn writes:
Hi, I saw the map of American TV – here’s a map of Irish movies I did a while back, quality’s pretty bad but i thought you’d be interested.
Right so.
The Grand Canal Dock, Dublin, at lunchtime.
Thanks Sean Hodkinson
Meanwhile….
Inchyadoney Strand, Co Cork.
Harsh but necessary.
*coughKarlcough*
Thanks Colm Troy
Part one and the (just-released) part two of Kevin Porter’s supercut wherein he sets out the case that screenwriter Aaron (West Wing, Studio 60, A Few Good Men, Moneyball, etc.) Sorkin is an inveterate recycler of phrases and plotlines.
You know what they say:
It’s almost hard to believe…
And that I would be her Minister for Love
Fine Gael’s Paddy McCartan. (above) ,the “Junior Councillor for the Pembroke Ward” in Dublin South East went on Today with Pat Kenny on RTE R1 this morning to deliver an eleventh hour plea on behalf of Lucinda Creighton’s FG-voting constituents.
She’s losing Dublin 4.
Pat Kenny: “So as the Junior Minister for European Affairs Lucinda Creighton wrestles with her conscience coming up to the vote on the Protection of Life during Pregnancy Bill, her Fine Gael party members in Dublin South East are far clearer on what she should do. Now we will be talking to the minister herself later on in the programme but for now we’re joined by Paddy McCartan, Junior Councillor for the Pembroke Ward in that constituency. Paddy, good morning!”
Paddy McCartan: “Morning Pat!”
Pat Kenny: “Now first of all, what do you want Lucinda Creighton to do?”
Paddy McCartan: “I want Lucinda to support this bill on behalf of the members of the constituency.”
Pat Kenny: “How do you know what the constituency thinks on this particular issue?”
Paddy McCartan: “Well, going back to a meeting I had with Minister Creighton on Friday, I indicated to her that many members had requested a meeting with her and I said I would meet her on their behalf and express their views to her and which I duly did and she responded and then I conveyed those views to what her stand was and I let the members know what she thought.”
Pat Kenny: “Now in terms of what you said to her about what the Fine Gale members in the constituency felt. Clearly you spoke to a lot of active Fine Gael members.”
Paddy McCartan: “Active members. I am not talking about her constituents, I am actually talking about the party membership in Dublin South east or Dublin Bay South as it is now. These members are based in the branches Sandymount, Ballsbridge, Donnybrook, Pembroke and the vast majority of them expressed a wish, while supporting Minister Creighton, that she still, they wanted to see her stay within the party to deal with these issues in the future.”
Pat Kenny: “What is it they believe, that the Bill that is being put before the Oireachtas is a government bill that should be supported by her irrespective of her personal reservations?”
Paddy McCartan: “That would be the view of the vast majority of the members I have spoken to.”
Pat Kenny: “And, do you know if those members have any personal reservations themselves and agree with her but feel…?”
Paddy McCartan: “I think we can all interpret this Bill in different ways. I don’t think there’s any… it’s a complex bill, there’s nothing black and white any more in medical science or in technology, there’s grey areas, Lucinda may be right, I may be right but we think that in the best interests of the government which is pledged to introduce this legislation and pass it that it should be supported, and that would be the view. Now if I could just run through a few of the texts I got from people after I had met the Minister, and I’ll give a fair balance of what was said. One of them said there was a waste of talent, another one said they were very disappointed, another one said they felt let down, another one said fair play to Lucinda, another one said I admire Lucinda, another one said not surprised and another one said does that mean she wants to leave politics. So, I mean there was two of those there that expressed a view fair play to her now but that doesn’t necessarily mean that, the you know the implications of actually losing whip and all that goes with that…”
Pat Kenny: “Would there be a difficulty in her getting a nomination in Dublin Bay South next time round following this action if indeed she does decide to leave the parliamentary party, because that’s what a decision to vote against this Bill would mean?”
Paddy McCartan: “Well, I support Minister Creighton on this, I don’t see anywhere in the Fine Gael rule book that she wouldn’t be allowed to stand and I think there might have been a slight backing down on that position, you can’t prevent someone from putting their name forward at a convention and seeking a nomination and personally I don’t think that’s going to happen, I think two and a half years down the road Lucinda may very well seek a nomination but what I’m saying is that a lot of the people, her supporters who are my supporters, like we’ve worked very closely, Lucinda and I have been involved in active politics, I’ve been involved for over thirty years in Dublin South-East, Lucinda has been there for over ten years, we have worked very closely together and our supporters have worked very closely together but I would certainly think that based on the comments I got a lot of that support base could not be guaranteed in the future.”
Pat Kenny: “Could not be guaranteed in the future. So she’s putting her political future on the line. One last point – is it your view that other people in the party who have decided to support the Bill, perhaps with all the pressure that’s been brought to bear on them with great difficulty supporting the Bill, but they’ve had to suck it up and she as someone who’s enjoyed high office should suck it up as well?”
Paddy McCartan: “Well, there would be. That’s not an unreasonable, that’s not an unreasonable view, I think. I mean I was surprised at the demands for the amendments when Lucinda knows that there’s no possibility of those changes being made.”
Pat Kenny: “So what’s she doing? Grandstanding?”
Paddy McCartan: “No she’s not. As I’ve said and I will say this to you Pat and to your listeners that I have said it to Lucinda and I’m on record as saying it to her that I had a vision, like we’re a ambitious constituency, Dublin South East, John A Costello, Garret Fitzgerald and I had hoped that in time Lucinda would become a cabinet minister, become leader of this party and with all that that would entail become the first female Taoiseach and I’ve said that to her and it’s a great personal disappointment to me if, if this happens and will be a great disappointment to most of the membership and I think I’m correct in that, though you know I think Lucinda may confuse support of the members with actually… we’re all supportive of her but what we want her to do is a different thing.”
(Fine Gael, Sam Boal/Photocall Ireland)
Saturday July 13th: Halves, Overhead the Albatross, Bantum @ Button Factory, Curved Street, Temple Bar, Dublin (€10).
Nialler9 writes:
There’s a lot of outdoor gig activity this week in Phoenix Park and Iveagh Gardens but for something a bit more affordable, try the launch of Boa Howl, the second album from experimental Dublin band Halves, a band known for their rich instrumentation and detailed arrangements that fall somewhere between the sounds of latter-day Radiohead, Efterklang and Grizzly Bear. Listen to the album on State.ie here.
Support from six-piece instrumental rockers Overhead The Albatross and Cork electronic producer Bantum.
Lansdowne Road and the Dublin mountains from the top of Fm104’s studios, Macken House, Mayor Street, about an hour ago.
Thanks Jill O’Herlihy
‘Sup?
Meath GAA football captain Kevin Reilly with the Tayto Park meerkats this morning.
Tayto-sponsored Meath take on Dublin in the Leinster Senior Football Final in Croke Park on Sunday.
(Sasko Lazarov/Photocall Ireland)
