Under the Skin

Hey there! I know that I was doing stuff with the Scottish thing. It's being worked on. Partially done. However, I went to a feis on Saturday, and I've got to tell you about that! Firstly, a feis (pronounced fesh) is an Irish dance competition. I competed in reel, light jig, single jig, reel special and light jig special. I won second in everything except light jig where I won a third. Pictures are to come. Some of me, some of my awards. :-) I learned a very important lesson though: First, let's just clarify the make-up of Irish dance costumes. They're wool. They're layered. They're long sleeved. They're to your neck. They're HOT. It was 90+ degrees on Saturday. Irish dancing is not an "endothermic" sport. Both Hatches and Russells are heavy sweaters (not good genes there). Don't ever forget to bring deodorant to one of those feis things. I'm just glad that in Irish dancing you don't move your arms, because some dancer...

Okay, I guess I should continue our Celtic Cultures Course. The next people on the list are basically the people that everyone think of when you say "Celtic Culture": The Irish. The Irish people have a long, complicated and engaging history. Where Manx was easier to write about because it's just so quaint and lovely and endangered and dying, Ireland is hard to write about. Where the Manx are just the Manx, the Irish are vividly diverse. Their on-island variety is so complex it is rivaled in complexity only but Irish history and Irish politics. Irish culture isn't just Irish culture anymore, but a culture influenced not only by its ancient roots but also by the minds and brains that have come out of Ireland: Shaw, Joyce, Swift and many others. I really don't know where to start. If you want to hear the history of Ireland in fifteen minutes in humor that will never be matched, ask my English teacher, Mr. Curtis. It's hilarious. To begin with the basics, he...