Andrewdevenney.com

Archival Tidbit for Today:

My dissertation has multiple -- and I mean MULTIPLE -- primary sources from which I am drawing, which on a practical level means I have lots and lots of shit to look at spread all over the damn place. It's not all centralized. It's not all sitting there with big blue flags on it that say "Andrew, read me!" when I walk in the door. I have to find it. And then I have to read it. This is both fun and a pain (lately more of a pain).

But sometimes, you find something buried in a stack of files that just makes your day -- because some intrepid, but probably bored, staffer in the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs did your research for you, except they did it in the late1960s!

Today, I ordered a file from the DFA files at the National Archives of Ireland that the finding aid simply called 'Press clippings on EEC 1967-70'. When I got the huge file (the biggest at least that I had worked with so far), I was happy to note that they had all these articles clipped from Irish (mainly Dublin) newspapers about the EEC debate in Ireland, including letters to the editor and articles describing local meetings and debates in the Dublin area on the issue.

Suddenly, with a couple more afternoons of work, I don't need to peruse so many bloody newspaper microfilm rolls as thoroughly as I would have had to before. And now I have some direct leads on local societies that engaged the EEC debate. And there are other files of press clippings for different periods as well!

Thanks anonymous Irish DFA staffer! I'll be sure to thank you in my book.

Okay,

How's this for inane? Since the new University Sports Club facility has opened up here at Dublin City University, my wife Andrea has been denied the use of the place because the costs for a general public membership are extremely prohibitive on our minimalist budget. So, being a logical creature some of the time, she would periodically go over there and ask about other options (pay per use primarily, which a flyer Gary Murphy sent me says they do). The people behind the main desk invariably have no idea what she's talking about and boldly contradict information given to us through other channels. Remember: the flyer in question CAME FROM THEM!!

Anyway, Andrea last night ran into her old aerobics instructor, the one whose classes Andrea always went to. She asked about not seeing Andrea lately and wondering why. Once Andrea explained the situation, she was told that's nonsense and that they should have something, a student family rate or whatever, to let us get the access we need. Barring that, the girl then said to let Andrea know when she wanted to come to class and the girl would meet her downstairs, i.e. sneak her in.

So, I went over this morning, putting on my best "I'm not really going to kill you, honest" face and put the question to them. I was told that there is a 1-year student family membership in the amount of 390 Euros, but that they have no facilities to give a 6 month membership, which is all we need. When I asked why they couldn't simply pro-rate the damn thing for 6 months (which would be 195 Euros), the people behind the main desk looked at me funny and asked what pro-rated meant. Seriously. I was then given an e-mail address for the Marketing Manager, who I might add they had called right in front of me initially to ask about it, and said I could ask her. What this means of course is that I could beg and she could blow me off. Such is the state of customer service in Ireland.

But, they don't understand whom they're dealing with here. Moo hoo ha ha...you see, I'm a Fulbright scholar, damnit! And I know people; I know people on staff who can make pointed comments to those higher than mere Marketing Managers about the "ludicrous nature of this." I do this with some regularity, since it's so bloody necessary. There's something to be said for your advisor complaining to the student Registry office about the delay in my getting my student ID by stating I'm nearly penniless unless I get my ID so I can get my bank account. Hell, RTE, mega television and radio behemoth funded by the public tax/license fee, has recently annoyed me, and I'm sic'ing my agents on them as well. And they will break I tell you.

Words of wisdom: Don't fuck with me. I know people.

I guess, we'll see how this saga turns out. Stay tuned.

Leave it to my wife to once again mock my lack of blogginess. If she only understood the power of the Internet, she would not mock my pain, oh no...

I discovered today an amusing little news piece in the Irish Times, circa 1967 (sorry, no link), while I was looking for comment on European integration (which is basically all I do). It was talking aboutsome theories being proposed by Soviet scientists regarding the moon. It seems they thought the damn thing was alive!! Based on readings a few of their unmanned probes took on the place, the Soviets began to suspect it was a living organism. I kid you not.

The only thing that kept running through my head as I read it was "They think the moon is made of living cheese! A living cheese they must take before the capitalist pig dog Americans expropriate it!" I can see the Politburo discussions now.

Okay,

So I can't get off my ass to update this blog regularly. Sue me. I've been busy. But I'm back now, and I hope to update more frequently, particularly with some posts about my work.

Because, really, that's all that's supposed to matter now, yeah?

Anyway, here's something to go read in the meantime: Richard A. Clarke's retrospective essay on the War on Terror, 2001-2011, entitled "Ten Years Later". Do it now. I mean it. It's long, but frankly the scenario sketched out by one of the few terrorism experts not co-opted by the Bush Administration's rose-tinted glasses and outright dishonesty is...well, chilling would be a good word.

Read it now. Or better yet, go buy the January/February 2005 issue of The Atlantic Monthly and read it there. They deserve the cash, I say...