Mullingaaar

So today all transition years went to a drama competition in Mullingar. Us Fodlians we there to support the plays within Eriu and Banba and then write a review.
The first play was called Midterm Break, which was based on the poem by the man himself Seamus Heany. I felt this play was heavy hearted as it dealt with the death of an infant and the struggles following his death. The highlight of this play in my eyes was the heartbreaking departure of the coffin as the stage was dimmed revealing only a 4 foot coffin, white rose pettles and a candle, where the distressed  Elaina delievered a heartfelt goodbye to her dear brother.

The second play named "What are you looking at" dealt with the harsh issue of bullying. The play began with the character Amelia finding a diary, which belonged to the bully of her class Jenny revealing her true fellings for a fellow classmate Tyler. Jennys sour feelings toward Amelia  began when she found out that Amelia had also gone out with Tyler and turns the whole class against Amelia, who is also rumoured to have fallen pregnant. Life is a living hell for the tortured character and this play reveals the damaging effects of bullying on not only the victim, but also the bully as we witness her cries for help after being abondoned yet again by her parents and how the shouts of her conscience wont leave her at ease. This constant guilt leaves Jenny turning to pills and death soon follows. The set matched this play as it was dark and accompanied by music expressing the characters feelings.

The third play was based on the well known song 'concrete angel' http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XO5bhAbO9DM and personally this was my favourite play of the day due to high standard of acting from the girls and thd tormenting plot leaving you in high suspense throughout the performance.This drama dealt with seven year old Holly suffering the brunt of her mother's alcohol driven rage as she brultality abused her daughter desperately trying her take her  troubles out on someone. This disturbing story was even more heartbreaking when it came to the final moments of Holly's life as her father had arrived home early to talk about the noticed changes in Holly's personality and her schoolwork, only arrived to witness his dear daughters death as her mother staggered over and smashed a bottle across her head. This then led to the funeral which had theatre near tears, gowan the Isabelle! Overall I fealt this play dealt with the important issue of abuse within the home and felt the girls gave an excellent performance and they interpreted the true feeling of the song in their drama.

Last but not least was the final play from St Wolstans was the drama 'Titch Miller'. This play also dealt with the issue of bullying. Titch and Tubby were both bullied but formed a bond and became friends throughtout their years of primary school. Unfortunatly they were parted when it came to secondary school and unlike Tubby, Titch never learned to finally stand up for himself and make a change to his life. Titch soon became fed up and began to question life, asking if things would change if she didnt have braces? would they even noticed if he just disapeared? The play concludes with Tubby writing in his diary, revealing the cruel words ' Titch died when he was 12..' These words left a heavy inpact on the audience as bullying has become such a widespread issue.

 We then set out to munch it up and wander the streets of westmeath and soon returned home blasting the tunes ending a great day.

Washington, take two

Hey Nomad,

So for our January blog challenge we have to write about a place that we want to visit when we leave school. Me and Skellaay have agreed to travel the world together,foreva and paint all the towns red. Even though I was five, Washington was by far the best holiday Ive been on so I decided to bring seerah. In Washington were going to visit Barack's gaff and the Smithsonian cause we believe we can fllyyy. And then to finish it all off we are going to willingly go down a huge weir to go white water rafting, mad scones. Also, were going to swing by the 'cougar mountain zoo', lawl, and the one the world's largest waterpark and amusement parks 'six flags America'. Roll on 2015!

'The Desert Flower'

                       Warris Dirie

In religion, class Fódla studied all about the millenium development goals.We watched the story of Waris Dirie, who was a woman from Somalia who experienced many struggles related with gender equality, which is a vital goal. As a child, Waris was degraded as a woman and suffered from the harsh culture within Somalia. When she reached her teenage years, the Samalian tradition continued and Waris was seperated from her family to be married to a much older man. Her mother took a risk and sent her running to escape this arranged marriage and Waris soon emigrated to England where she found a job and also room mate. Waris spent her time working in a fast food restaurant and was soon discovered by the top photographer, Terence Donovan. Waris set out and became one of the top models featuring in many fashion shows and made the cover of magazines such as Vogue.She also did advertisements for brands such as Chanel, Levi's, L'Oréal and Revlon. As she became known to the world, Waris began her mission to reach out to the UN to banish these cruel traditions in Somalia. She worked to campaign globally and in 1997, at the height of her modeling career,she spoke for the first time with Laura Ziv of the women's magazine Marie Claire about the female genital mutilation and the harsh practises carried out in her native country. She also created a movie, named 'The Desert Flower' which told her story as we witnessed her troubles throughtout her life in Somalia. Waris soon became a UN embassoder and is working to ban these practises and achieve gender equality throughout the world.