Woke up this morning, did my walk along the river. The weather is pleasantly cool. Just missing my trusty dog Luna to walk with me. Stopped by my favorite pub (that I don’t drink at) but’s what become the place I eat breakfast at when I wake up late. My hours are still not straight.

Today planned to get packed , sort out my transportation for tomorrow. I must finish the very last of Bishops Buckley’s book to prepare.

Later, I have an interview with John Adams, musician and painter. Will be asking about sexuality in the musical community. Such as, back in “the day”, music was all about sex, drugs, and rock and roll. Has it changed?

The interview moved to 6pm then to 8 because he was traveling from Cork, in the south of Ireland.

A little before 8, I took a taxi to an art studio to meet John. He and others were hanging pictures, preparing for an art show and exhibition.

John is charming and a good sense of humor. He is a drummer and heavenly influenced by the British punk scene, ie. Sex Pistols.

The interview is fascinating, had a chat after. Would like to spend more time getting to know him personally But he seemed to have a lot going on. Said my thanks and a good night. Caught a taxi.

Returned back, feeling good, hadn’t eaten since breakfast, it was now 10:00pm. I felt like a nice dinner. Now this is one of the times that I don’t like being my myself..dining in a nice restaurant. I looked around the lobby of my hostel…hoping I’d see the guys in my room that invited me to go out to eat and dancing earlier that evening. No Such luck. The only person I recognized was a French boy that slept in a bunk in my room a few nights ago.

I asked him,” You wanna get something to eat?” he looked at me funny..I said, “It’s not a date”

He said he had aleady eaten…and something it’s too late for him to eat. Anyway, I felt weird..

I walked around the Temple Bar area. Found a really nice Italian restaurant, open till 11:30 pm. There were 4 of us dining alone, sitting in “Loser’s row”. I spoke to the man next to me, he’s from Spain. Dinner was delicious though, even alone.

Planned to go to the costal town of Galway. I looked at tours vs. catching a train or bus on my own.

The tours took you everywhere, thought I might just take the bus there and walk around.

Things changed a bit last night.

I looked at my agenda and had an interview with a musician tomorrow. I need to find a place. It’s noisy here.

The excommunicated Catholic Bishop Pat Buckley interview that came through last night. He’s recently written a book, My Sexual Life- My Spiritual Life. I downloaded the book and started reading late last night. Spent today finishing the book. It’s quite powerful about the inner workings of the catholic church, and attempts at reform.

Walked around looking for a place for my musician interview tomorrow. Found a quiet pub, Fitzsimmons, think it’ll work. Stopped at a Mediterranean small restaurant for lunch, had falafel. It was tasty.

Went back, sat in the lobby reading. Finished the book, a couple of parts made me cry.

Went out for a walk. Got dinner, Thai take out.

Met up with my first roommates from the Neatherlands.

Our room has a whole new cast of characters. A Korean guy, 30s, was in the bunk next to me. He left this morning. Today two really nice girl cousins, one from Brazil and other from Portugal. They left after a couple of days. A new guy from Venezuela, and a couple in their 20s from Italy, here studying English just arrived last evening. We got 2 new guys, one from Argentina and Venezuela. They are nice and a good sense of humor.

I told the Italian couple about my interview with an excommunicated gay bishop..they said
“Love is love, and the world needs more of it”

That’s my new favorite saying.

I’ll be here one more day, then doing to Belfast in Northern Ireland. I’m meeting up with the Tenneys again at Paddy’s Palace in Belfast. On Thursday, Sept 11…ohhhh day…I am taking a train to Larne, going aboit an hour North from Belfast to the coast. There’s I’ll meet Bishop Pat Buckley.

INTERVIEW IN THE PARK

Today I am to interview Mark Sutton. The introduction is through Karen, a lovely lady I have yet to meet, but has been so helpful making introductions around Ireland and UK. Before I left home, Mark gave me lots of logistic and tourist advice. That’s always so appreciated.

We met at a coffee shop, had coffee, got to know each other a bit. Then we walked to a park called “the Green”, and it was truly green all around. We found a bench, I set up my mics and recording equipment and did the interview. The grass was green, the weather was sunny with just a touch of cool, and families were out for a stroll.

Karen’s business partner and husband, Mark, graciously agreed to set for an interview on Bi sexuality. How they feel discriminated by the LGBT Community. How he always felt judged. He was candid, open, and spoke from the heart. I am so glad to get the interview as I could not get anyone I knew in Texas to talk on the air.

How he struggled with it, most of his life. I am interested in the male dynamic of men and their “alpha male” dominance, pecking order thing they have. Being a female, I can never truly understand.

He had things to say that were enlightening and touching. How is feels fo free to be fully himself.

Then we walked around for awhile and had a late Morroccan lunch.

Before I left Texas, I wondered if meeting all these lovely exotic people that I am interviewing…I wonder if I will feel discrimination because I’m straight and quite vanilla. Doesn’t seem to be the case at all.

Today I went on a walking tour of Dublin called “Sex and Society”. Fun and interesting it was.

The tour guide Peter was funny and informative. He took us through the history of the seaport brothels, the earlier scandalous writings and lives of authors James Joyce, Oscar Wilde and Brams Stoker.

The repression of the Catholic Church to modern times…sex shops like nice lingerie shops and fetish shops.. a regular meeting BDSM club…a real breakthrough for Ireland.

Of course, the brothel area was just for men..you could get girls or boys in another place. There was no equivelent for women. During the Victorian period, women were to be motherly and nurturing, but men could be very sexual and aggressive.

The really sad part was the Magdeline Asylum, the catholic homes for unwed mothers. Women were sentenced there as slave labor, their babies were taken away. There is a movie, Philomenia, about that occurrence. Recently they excavated one of those homes in Galway and found the skeletons of 800 babies, thought to have starved to death.

We really walked for that tour. On the way back, I stopped at the pub that’s I’ve been eating breakfast in and had a bite of dinner. Two Irish lads were playing guitars and sang old rock and roll tunes..everyone sang along. For me they played.. Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here”

It was a fun day. Tomorrow thinking about going to Galway.

Of note, I heard about this excommunicated Bishop Pat Buckley in Belfast. Northern Ireland. I sent him an email earlier today. I just got an email from Bishop Buckley.. I got the interview on Sept 11!! I keep secretly hoping that I will see Van Morrison walking down the streets of Belfast.

NIGHT MOVES ON LOCATION EXPLORATING SEXUALITY IN IRELAND AND UK

It is projected that we may elect a woman president the next time. If so, it will issue in a tide of women leaders. It’ll be called the year of the woman. When I heard that from the political pundits. It’s time for the second revolution! 40 year after the last, men are still making our reproduction decisions. Think it’s time for the men to move over and give us a chance. I think we can do better on the environment, health care, prevention of wars…and also in sexuality. For me the second revolution is where sexuality is brought out of the closet and into the warm light of day…so it’s just a quality of life issue..like getting exercise, eating right and being a healthy sexual individual.

The help and generosity of all the people I am interviewing is overwhelming. I started with a couple of contacts and they have networked in my behalf. Now I have a full schedule of meeting many people that work in sexuality. I am wondering what I will find? Wounded souls? And what is the common thread that runs though all these people?

Tonight I took the train to the coastal town of Bray. I met Abi O’Donavan , whom works with sexual healing and studied Theology. Out topic is The Catholic Church affects on sexuality in Ireland.

She picked me up at the train station. Most surprising, she had long red hair. She took me to the most beautiful, ethereal, like something from a fantasy movie, a place named Glendaloche (glenda lock). She said it’s a place of feminine energy… a lake in the mist. I subsequently found out that the movie Excalibur was filmed there. Loved that movie.

We did our interview. She shared her story..of growing up in the catholic Church, Married at 21. At the age of 27, two Franciscan priests came to their parish, they were missionaries in the poorest part of central america. These priests were reformists. She studied with them, was so influenced by their loving practical messages. She pursued a theology degree. He achieved status as a lay person in the church. The hirarchy of the catholic church did not like their Reformer stance and transferred them to Siberia (no joke). A hard liner priest was sent to replace them. One woman suffering from post partum depression (PPD) talked to that priest. He told her PPD was a sin and she should be happy to have a baby. It was such a drastic change of what she was accustomed to, so she left the church.

She divorced, began her own sexual journey.

Now she works in trantra and helps with sexual healing for persons full of shame and guilt over their sexuality. She currently is just out of a long term relationship.

Afterward toured ruins and went to a little Inn and had a lovely dinner. Over the evening, we got to know each other and had a lot in common. It feels like a friend for life.

Took the train back to Dublin. There were some drunk young boys, and some other well behaved, but shy ones.

Walked about 5 blocks back to my place. Got back at midnight.

There German boys in my room left and now there were German girls in their place. They went into the laboratory part of the bathroom together for an hour then took a shower together.

Had trouble getting to sleep, maybe for the excitement of the day, jet lag or the great coffee that topped off dinner.

Whenever I visit a new place, its enjoyable to walk around the neighborhood, see the sights, make note of places you want to check out. Didn’t wake up till 10:30. extremely late for me. Was still feeling sleepy from jet lag and time change. Went for a walk, more like a stroll instead of the usual power walk. The architecture is fabulous.

Another hostel, across the street. Looks cute from the outside, but according to kids that stayed in both. Mine is nicer.

There’s a good place to walk along the river, some it has a walking track. Spent some time in the afternoon working on my blog, returning emails about the upcoming interviews. I hung out with the kids in my room. Recorded voice drops, station IDs, from kids in the lobby from all over the world.

About 4:00 I started getting sleepy, took a nap, and was an hour late to meet the Tenney’s for dinner, Oops! We walked around the restaurant, pub area. Everywhere there is music, the workers in the restaurants were singing along to the music playing outside. We joined in to Johnny Cash’s “Ring of Fire”. The people seem happy. After sitting down, everyone in the Fish and Chips restaurants, staff and patrons alike joined in to sing Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond that was playing outside. Now at home that song makes me change the radio station, but somehow hearing it in a foreign country with it uniting everyone in the space, makes the song memorable. Went back to my room after dinner. The Tenney’s were tired they’d been to another town on an all day tour.

My roommates invited me to “have a pint” with them at a nearby pub. They were meeting some boys from New Zealand and the german boys in our room. Went to Fitzgerald’s Pub, just down the street. Sat next to one of the New zealand boys, he is a cricket player on world tour, after the tour he is moving to London. On the other side of me was an Irish boy, we talked about what we did…then he said..”Interview, you should interview the people in Belfast about how bad they are treated’…and started ranting. After he finished, I said, “Well I only care about the sex stuff”. He turned his back to me and never said another word. Little too heavy conversation for the bar..lighten up, please. Spent awhile talking to Jet ( pronounced Yet) from the Neatherlands and was in our room the night before. She was celebrating because she found one of the almost impossible places to live while she finishes her masters degree. Had a beer and a chat, and after awhile said “Goodnight.”

Arrived into Dubin airport about 6 am after a change in Newark, NJ, it was an easy bus ride into the Dublin City Center. And a few blocks walk to Abigails Hostel. It was too early to check in, so I had to wait in the lobby until 2 pm. All the while chiding myself for not sleeping on the plane. I watched 3 movies in flight, a good time to catch up on the movies that I rarely see after Randy’s death. He loved movies so. On board, I did not follow my normal routine to fake out myself to minimize long flight anguish. This flight was only 7 hrs to Dublin I told my self over and over compared to that 14 ½ hr flight to Tokyo I did for 17 yrs. These are my tips: l) Reading the first two chapters of a good page turner book, so that I am looking forward to getting on board and delving in. 2) Take 50 mg of Benadryl (anti allergy medicine that causes drowsiness). Take it just before they serve the meal, if you are lucky..they’ll be waking you up for arrival 3) Take toothbrush and toothpaste and an extra pair of socks, goes a long way to combat that icky feeling of being on a plane overnight.

So back in the lobby, no sleep. The guys at check in are really kind and helpful and a twist of humor. They offered me one of the many leather couches to crash on until the rooms were ready and offered me coffee and breakfast complimentary. I had coffee and croissant. During breakfast, met a Canadian girl in her 20s. She’s here to work. Moved to the inviting red couch, put my Ipod on, and stretched out but unable to sleep. My room is an 8 bed mixed room comprised of 4 sets of bunk beds. They give you bed linens to make your own bed and towel rental for 1 Euro. It has a private bath in the room. Mine is a lower bunk close to the bath.  

My roommates are 2 boys from Germany, one happened to be an exchange student that spent time in San Antonio. There is a girl age 24 from the Netherlands, a mystery guy that’s been asleep since I arrived, and 3 girls from Canada. Most of them are students working on Master’s degrees at the very near by Trinity College. They are looking for the scarce, reasonable, housing to share. My room/bed costs only 93 Euro, $160 US for 5 nights and the fun it free.

Randy would have never stayed in a Hostel. If he did’t have enough money to stay in in the style he liked, he’d stay home or go camping.

First thing was to take a shower, then a nap. I slept for 3 hrs. Met the Tenneys from Austin, had Irish food, I had a chicken and bacon pie. It was delicious. Afterward to a pub. First pub is the famous Temple Bar, it’s only a couple of blocks from where I’m staying. The historic pub has many rooms, some open at the top, live music and a soccer game televised in different rooms. However it was so crowded, not my favorite situation. Walking around Dublin, it’s a beautiful sky this evening framing the ancient and European architecture.

My place is right on the river with ornate metal curved bridges crossing. Lots of people walking in this area with pubs, restaurants, street music playing from rock and roll to Irish music. However, I imagined streets of tall, strapping, red headed lads. Buts its mostly a sea of brown. We went to a nearby pub, not as crowded, we all three set at the bar and ordered Guiness. One of the Japanese men I worked with raved about Irish guiness. It tasted like beer!.. but stronger and darker. I drank it and chatted with the bartender Paul, around my age. His pub is 60% tourists and 40 % regulars. I told him I’d be back. Hope to talk to him about man of the street interviews.

Back to my room, put on some Pink Floyd with the consent of my bunk mates. Several kids stopped by, I am by far the oldest…in age but young at heart. We laughed and talked until we got a request from one of the room occupants to tune it down. Guiltily, I knew it was probably my loud voice. Time for bed…try to catch up on my sleep.