Action packed day - 12 Nov 2015

 Arrived into work to the big surprise of lovely cupcakes!  Thank you to Jennie!  *waves to Jennie if she's reading this blog*

 

 During my lunch break I headed across to the Abbey Theatre where I had read there was an event happening.

Waking the Feminists is a response by Women in the Arts to the Abbey Theatre's launch of their program for 1916 (Waking the Nation) which contained just one play by a woman and all the rest by men. 

 

I arrived and all the tickets were gone.  I got on to the cancellation list (no 92) but I missed out on a cancellation as well (they had 49 of those tickets).  What I did get was a ticket to go upstairs to the bar and listen to the sound being streamed in from the auditorium.  This was actually probably best for me as I did have to go back to work while the event was still on.

 

 

The words were so powerful that it did not matter we could not see the speakers.  Personal stories about what women had encountered and how they were not going to take it anymore.  "The time is now" said Deborah Crotty.

 

I went back to work invigorated.

 

 

After work I scurried up O'Connell Street to an event in the Pillar Room in the Rotunda Hospital.  It was the launch of the book of  "Ireland says yes: The inside story of how the vote for Marriage Equality was won"

I had intended wearing my Yes Equality badge but forgot it that morning so a sticker that I had in my drawer in work had to do.  And I had myself a nice glass of wine :-)

 

Panti Bliss was mc. You might remember my blog post about going canvassing and meeting Rory O'Neill?

 

The authors of the book Grainne Healy, Brian Sheehan, Noel Whelan.

 

Ursula Halligan who spoke movingly about the personal prison she was trapped in and she felt safe enough to come out to herself and Ireland because of what everyone did as part of  the Yes Equality campaign.  It's sad to think that it took until now at the age of 54 for her to confront this suppressed truth about herself but it is also a happy thing - as she said in her speech she could have ended up taking it to the grave.

Panti Bliss said that as a result of Ursula giving her interview with the Irish Times during the campaign "we all fell in love with Ursula".  She then commented that this was integral to the vote because "it's very hard to vote against someone you love". 

 

The evening brought all that great feeling back to me of the day of May 22 2015 and also made me feel proud of playing my small part in changing history.  One of the speakers said they asked a canvasser why they came out and they said because they didn't want it lost over just one vote.  And that was it for Enid and I, we felt that if there was something (small) we could do we should do it, because if (God forbid!!!!) we lost we would be able to say we tried, and that we could not have done more i.e. if we hadn't had gone out and then had lost we always would have felt there was something we should have done.

 

From there I bussed it (the 38 to the Navan Road and then changed to a 39a) and met Enid for a coffee in the towncentre. 

 

Phew what a day!