#northern irish punk

[spilladabalia]

Stiff Little Fingers circa 1980, photo by & © Virginia Turbett.

Edit post, actually 1978, I was fooled by drummer Brian Faloon sporting Jim Reilly hair here.

[savage-kult-of-gorthaur]

THE STIFFS DETAILED THE FRUSTRATIONS, ANGER AND MIND-NUMBING BOREDOM OF NORTHERN IRISH LIFE..."

PIC INFO: Spotlight on STIFF LITTLE FINGERS, performing live at Liverpool University, UK, on March 7, 1980. 📸: Kevin Cummins.

"The Stiffs detailed the frustrations, anger and mind-numbing boredom of Northern Irish life during the Troubles in fearless fashion, helping to define an otherwise dark era for many."

-- THE THIN AIR.NET (Caolan Coleman), c. August 2019

Source: www.picuki.com/media/3445890358697999155

[deathdefyinggarlic]

damn

[nugothrhythms]

"Poisonous" by Northern Irish deathrock/post-punk/horror punk act Tragedy Vampires off of their 2020 EP Like Nosferatu

[lesbianscxlly]

What's your favorite headcanons you've heard for Scully and Mulder?

OOO i have quite a few

i know she’s canonically an irish catholic but i like to imagine that margaret scully was originally from northern ireland and moved to the us in her late teens!! i also believe that scully is very fluent in irish gaelic

scully has an INSANE sleeper build. she works out in canon and i just know she can deadlift like 200 pounds. she’s also a lot stronger than she assumes she is so she’ll playfully slap mulder and he’ll fall over

(ik these are like all scully im sorry) scully grew up on punk and rock music bc of william and bill jr so she listens to a lot of that but she also really likes some folk music because of her mom

expanding on the music one both scully and mulder really like new wave/goth and always have some band playing in the background when they’re working

both of them love horror movies and sometimes they’ll play one on the projector instead of working (they got caught by skinner once)

in htgsc scully got mulder the ufo fish bubbler we see in all things and he got her that translucent deck of cards with a slice of the human body on each one (i think vsauce made them)

scully grew up poor and had to help bill provide for the family when their dad was away

SCULLY IS SOUTHERN!! how could i forget my literally fav headcanon of all time is that scully spent most of her childhood in tennessee (her dad is from new orleans to me)

mulder has a very slight boston accent and the two of them sometimes make fun of eachothers southern/new england accents

scully isn’t very good at anything artistic because it’s very hard for her to stop rationalizing everything while mulder is actually pretty good when he tries

before joining the fbi scully was planning on becoming on epidemiologist, mulder was planning on being a child psychologist or social worker

sometimes i write scully having bpd but tbh that’s not based on anything i just like having my own versions of characters

they’re both autistic

AROMANTIC SCULLY!! ASEXUAL MULDER!!

i don’t think they ever started explicitly ‘dating’ they just got more and more romantic with eachother till they were basically in a relationship

they still think of eachother as their bestfriends than the romantic partner because that’s the most important part of their relationship

ik this is basically canon but whenever scully experiences an emotion or situation that is uncomfortable she resorts to anger while mulder resorts to shame (i believe scullys character is built on first fear and second anger while mulders is built on first love and second shame)

scully used to be really close to bill but they grew apart because neither of them are good at communicating or compromising (i also believe that her and bill are very similar)

scully played ice hockey and did jrotc and mulder played baseball and did theatre

my hcs for their families separate lives/professions

charlee (lee) scully: has a phd in computer science from ucla, giant nerd

melissa scully: art teacher at a catholic school

samantha (sadie) mulder: music major, plays mainly bass guitar and stand up bass, also great at the cello. had lots of jobs but is now a highschool chamber orchestra teacher

ok that’s a lot sorry if this is egregiously ooc i think too much

[columbosunday]

theyre dropping the hottest new northern irish folk punk album of 2024

[cantquitu]

Hi!

Im also watching Say Nothing and its really good! I also started to read the book. As an Irish person can you give me your perspective about it?

Sorry I completely missed this yesterday. I was binging the last few episodes, I couldn't tear myself away.

I thought Say Nothing was really good. It is such a complex and difficult subject with no clear right or wrong, only dark and shade. I liked that the series didn't try to give easy answers or take a moralistic stance. I think it portrayed the awful, messy complexity of the war as well as a piece of television could. I am sure it will provoke a breadth of differing opinions, and some will be angry, but I think it was a truly excellent attempt to portray this painful chapter in history with some nuance.

And not only that, but to make this story into such bingeworthy, pacy, riveting television without falling for Hollywood cliches and pat cliffhangers? I don't think I quite believed that was possible in a series about the war in Northern Ireland.

The acting was fantastic, such brilliant casting matches for the young & old versions of the characters! Lola Petticrew, Hazel Doupe and Anthony Boyle were particularly great, and I'm so glad that they chose West Belfast actors for two of those roles. I thought they were incredible.

But giving my perspective "as an Irish person" is kind of complicated. As an Irish person from the Republic I've had a completely different experience of events in the North compared to anyone who grew up there. A completely different personal relationship with our history. One of the strengths of Say Nothing for me was how it portrayed this contrast in the later episodes set in the '90s. My brain is still melted from being confronted with so many shades of the conflict all at once. Every time I felt conflicted about a scene, a later scene would address that conflict - not offering solutions or answers, but acknowledging that there were multiple other perspectives. Powerful stuff!

Growing up in the south, most of us had the option to tune out what was happening, to go about our days without our lives being directly impacted by the war. When I was very little, it was on the news every single night and I knew that after the grown-ups had had a few drinks, you didn't want the subject raised. But despite trying to figure out the words to U2's 'Sunday Bloody Sunday', my childhood understanding didn't really go beyond "We want the Brits out but they won't leave because the Protestants want them to stay and there are more of them than Catholics, and they'll probably keep killing each other forever and I really wish it could stop"

I never experienced British bigotry towards me personally as an Irish person until I was actually in England - it's something every Irish person anticipates in their bones, but it wasn't in my face growing up.

I never even went across the border until I was 16 years old. I went to see a British band play in Belfast (think of that episode of Derry Girls where they travel to Belfast to see Take That, if the Derry Girls were from Dublin and they were going to see a punk band, not a boyband). My parents wouldn't let me go because they said it was too dangerous, but I went anyway. They were right. There was a bomb scare on the train on the way there and another bomb scare at the club after the gig. My friends and I were totally out of our depth. At 4am we fucked up and called the wrong taxi service to take us to a Catholic area and had army rifles pointed in our faces at a checkpoint. We were young and didn't know what we were doing and couldn't quite grasp that this was reality. It was frightening and sobering, and I did not go back until after the ceasefire a couple of years later.

So that was the luxury of being raised in the south - I didn't have to think about it most of the time. A luxury no-one growing up in the North had. So as an Irish person I have a load of thoughts about Say Nothing, but I'm especially interested in what Northern Irish people have to say about it.

[historysideblog]

Online History Short-Courses offered by Universities Masterpost

Categories: Classical Studies, Egyptology, Medieval, Renaissance, The Americas, Asia, Other, Linguistics, Archaeology

How to get Coursera courses for free: There are several types of courses on Coursera, some will allow you to study the full course and only charge for the optional-certificate, for others you will need to audit it and you may have limited access (usually just to assignments), and thirdly some courses charge a monthly subscription in this case a 7 day free trial is available.

Classical Studies 🏛️🏺

At the Origins of the Mediterranean Civilization: Archeology of the City from the Levant to the West 3rd-1st millennium BC - Sapienza University of Rome

Greek and Roman Mythology - University of Pennsylvania

Health and Wellbeing in the Ancient World - Open University

Roman Architecture - Yale

Roman Art and Archeology - University of Arizona

Rome: A Virtual Tour of the Ancient City - University of Reading

The Ancient Greeks - Wesleyan University

The Changing Landscape of Ancient Rome. Archeology and History of Palatine Hill - Sapienza University of Rome

Uncovering Roman Britain in Old Museum Collections - University of Reading

Egyptology 𓂀⚱️

Egypt before and after pharaohs - Sapienza University of Rome

Introduction to Ancient Egypt and Its Civilization - University of Pennsylvania

Wonders of Ancient Egypt - University of Pennsylvania

Medieval 🗡️🏰

Age of Cathedrals - Yale

Coexistence in Medieval Spain: Jews, Christians, and Muslims - University of Colorado

Deciphering Secrets: The Illuminated Manuscripts of Medieval Europe - University of Colorado

Enlightening the Dark Ages: Early Medieval Archaeology in Italy - University of Padova

Lancaster Castle and Northern English History: The View from the Stronghold - Lancaster University

Magic in the Middle Ages - University of Barcelona

Old Norse Mythology in the Sources - University of Colorado Bolder

Preserving Norwegian Stave Churches - Norwegian University of Science and Technology

The Book of Kells: Exploring an Irish Medieval Masterpiece - Trinity College Dublin

The Cosmopolitan Medival Arabic World - University of Leiden

Renaissance ⚜️🃏

Black Tudors: The Untold Story

European Empires: An Introduction, 1400–1522 - University of Newcastle

The Mediterranean, a Space of Exchange (from Renaissance to Enlightenment) - University of Barcelona

The Life and Afterlife of Mary Queen of Scots - University of Glasgow

The Tudors - University of Roehampton London

The Americas 🪶🦙🛖

History of Slavery in the British Caribbean - University of Glasgow

Indigeneity as a Global Concept - University of Newcastle

Indigenous Canada - University of Alberta

Indigenous Religions & Ecology - Yale

Asia 🏯🛕

Contemporary India - University of Melbourne

Introduction to Korean Philosophy - Sung Kyun Kwan University

Japanese Culture Through Rare Books - University of Keio

Sino-Japanese Interactions Through Rare Books - University of Keio

The History and Culture of Chinese Silk - University for the Creative Arts

Travelling Books: History in Europe and Japan - University of Keio

Other

A Global History of Sex and Gender: Bodies and Power in the Modern World - University of Glasgow

A History of Royal Fashion - University of Glasgow

Anarchy in the UK: A History of Punk from 1976-78 - University of Reading

Biodiversity, Guardianship, and the Natural History of New Zealand: A Museum Perspective - Te Papa

Empire: the Controversies of British Imperialism - University of Exeter

Great South Land: Introducing Australian History - University of Newcastle

Indigeneity as a Global Concept - University of Newcastle

New Zealand History, Culture and Conflict: A Museum Perspective - Te Papa

Organising an Empire: The Assyrian Way - LMU Munich

Plagues, Witches, and War: The Worlds of Historical Fiction - University of Virginia

Russian History: from Lenin to Putin - University of California Santa Cruz

Linguistics 🗣️

Introduction to Comparative Indo-European Linguistics - University of Leiden - Coursera version

Miracles of Human Language: An Introduction to Linguistics - University of Leiden

Archeology 💀

Archeoastronomy - University of Milan

Archaeology and the Battle of Dunbar 1650 - Durham University

Archaeology: from Dig to Lab and Beyond - University of Reading

Archeology: Recovering the Humankind's Past and Saving the Universal Heritage - Sapienza University of Rome

Change of Era: The Origins of Christian Culture through the Lens of Archaeology - University of Padova

Endangered Archaeology: Using Remote Sensing to Protect Cultural Heritage - Universities of Durham, Leicester & Oxford

Enlightening the Dark Ages: Early Medieval Archaeology in Italy - University of Padova

Exploring Stone Age Archaeology: The Mysteries of Star Carr - University of York

Forensic Archaeology and Anthropology - Durham University

Roman Art and Archeology - University of Arizona

The Changing Landscape of Ancient Rome. Archeology and History of Palatine Hill - Sapienza University of Rome

[thatcrazypoppiigirl]

Okay, so, per my post a few weeks ago, I'm going to start posting more stuff about my book. So for the very first post about it, the pitch notwithstanding, here's the character sheet for my main character Ash at the very beginning of the series. I'm going to do a cut here, because this thing is long as hell. I'm also unapologetically sharing with everyone the character sheet from my Creative Writing degree out of my worldbuilding courses.

THE BASICS:

Character Name: Aisling Caireach Hayes

Nickname: Ash, Phoenix

Origin of Nickname: Shortened first name, vigilante alias

Birthdate: 3/21/1998 (25 in universe)

Place of Birth: Columbus, Ohio

Ethnicity: Irish, Scottish, and mixed Northern European

Religion: N/A

Height:5’2”

Weight: 95lbs

Body Type: Ectomorph, triangular (wider hips than chest)

Eye Color: Amber Gold

Glasses or Vision Enhancements: N/A

Hair Color: Orange-red

Hairstyle: Long, waist-length spiral curls

Grooming: Has trouble upkeeping her hair due to lack of giving a fuck

Skin Tone (pale, tan, olive, brown, etc): Pale Ivory

Face Shape: (round, square, oval, chubby, heart-shaped): Heart-shaped

Prominent Features: Freckles, button nose, roundish-almond eyes

Tattoos or Distinguishing Marks: Watercolor phoenix tattoo across her back, overlapping sun and moon tattoo at the base of her neck

General Health: Never gets sick. 

Disabilities, Illnesses, or Weaknesses: Always on the verge of starving due to her high metabolism.

Fashion and Style (what do they wear, how do they wear it?): Dresses in a gothic punk style. Lacy dresses and blouses paired with ripped jeans and fishnets, combat boots, and a leather or suede jacket.

Special Jewelry: A small ring in the shape of an A made of aquamarines

COMMUNICATION SKILLS:

Languages Spoken: English, German, Spanish

Accent or Dialect: Newscaster accent

Favorite Phrases: “Oh, for the love of fuck.”

Do they curse: Frequently

Demeanor: calming, severe, solemn, withdrawn (As Phoenix she’s brash, bright, and cheerful)

Mannerisms: Crosses her arms defensively, hums frequently when lost in thought, biting the inside of her cheek when tense

Gestures: Speaks with her hands a lot

Posture: Straight back, shoulders back. 

LIVING CONDITIONS:

Place of Residence: 2214 Bridlewood Boulevard

Type of Residence: House

Surrounding Area (city, rural, etc): suburban

Describe Residence: Three bedrooms and two bathrooms, a small living room, and a connected kitchen with an open floor plan

Who do they live with: N/A

Pets: N/A

Overall quality of living conditions: Good, clean, everything in working order

Home Décor: Minimal, but dark colors and low lighting

Important features of the home: A horseshoe hung above the front entrance, left there by her grandmother. 

Type of Vehicle: Emerald green Volkswagen New Beetle with seafoam detailing

Age of Vehicle: Made in 2001

Defining characteristics of the vehicle: A custom interior change- the front passenger seat flips up to reveal a secret compartment. There’s a single daisy flower decal near the license plate

Quality of Vehicle: Older but still going strong

Additional information: The Beetle belonged to Alyssa Shaw originally, and was left to Ash by Camilla Shaw.

PERSONAL RELATIONSHIPS:

Marital Status: Single

Significant Partner(s): (Future partner) Harley Amin Fadel

How did they meet partner: You’ll just have to read the book for that.

Nickname for Partner: Lee

Previous romantic partners: None of significance

Important family:

Mother: Abigail Hayes

Age: 56

Living or deceased: Living

Mother’s occupation: Military Surplus Store Manager

Father: Jack Hayes

Age: 58

Living or deceased: Living

Father’s occupation: Tailor

Siblings: Rory Hayes

Describe the quality of relationship with any significant family members: Mother- Not on speaking terms. Father- Not on speaking terms. Rory- Not on speaking terms. 

Children: N/A

Friends: Maggie Torres

Best Friend: Formerly, Alyssa “Alice” Shaw

Describe relationship with friend(s): Ash keeps few friends, if any. She self-isolates a lot, especially after Alice’s death. Alice was, as she put it, her “soulmate”. 

CHARACTER PERSONALITY AND PSYCHOLOGY:

Any psychological issues or illnesses: Depression, Suicidal Idealization

Meyers Briggs Personality Type: Defender- ISFJ-T

What do they love: Life. Ash loves everything about life and living. 

What is their passion: Folklore and linguistics, protecting others, and painting

What do they hate: 

What would they die for: The people she loves, the people she protects. 

What do they value: Authenticity, Determination, Loyalty, Love, Trustworthiness

Greatest strength: Her determination and strength of will

Greatest weakness or flaw: Her mercurial anger and her loving heart

Their favorite attribute: Her physical ability to help others

Least favorite attribute: Anything about her physical appearance

Biggest secret: Being a metahuman vigilante

Biggest fear: Losing another person she loves

Most likeable trait: Her honesty

Least likeable trait: Her… honesty

How are they perceived by others: Distant and impossible to nail down entirely. 

Proudest accomplishment: This implies she’s satisfied with anything she does.

Other accomplishments: Maintaining her honors status at university while patrolling every evening as a vigilante seems like an accomplishment. 

Biggest regret: Never telling Alice she was in love with her

Most embarrassing moment: The night her brother caught her trying to have a one-night stand. Trying is the keyword here.

Personality quirks: Makes snap decisions, is a perfectionist, can’t tell a lie to save her own life.

Would they like to change anything about themselves: Everything about herself.

Short term or long term goals: Her only goal is to dismantle the terrorist group Slate and finally get revenge on the man who killed Alice.

Obstacles: A lot of them, and they’re all named after different rocks.

Heroes or role models: Phantom Ox of Montana, and Seraphim and Archangel of New York City

Negative role models: N/A

Biggest life influence: Her parents had the biggest impact on her, followed tightly by Alyssa’s death

PAST HISTORY:

Hometown: Lockbourne, Ohio

Past relationships:

First love: Alice Shaw

First sexual experience: N/A

Major childhood events:

Best memory: Going to the beach in Florida with her parents and brother, and flipping off the camera with him when their father took a picture of them.

Worst memory: The death of Alice, and the helplessness of having to watch her die

Saddest memory: Her fight with Rory that led to the schism in her relationship with her family

Quality of childhood: Really good. Her family was happy and she was well-loved.

Educational experience/level: Junior at University

Significant school experiences: Growing up being “popular” at school- on the softball team, the track team, and a cheerleader, being known by everyone, but everyone being too afraid to be her friend

Special skills or training: Kickboxing, ballet training, Judo, some Muay Thai and Krav Maga.

Hobbies: Painting, reading, researching obscure folklore stories. Is vigilantism a hobby?

DAILY LIFE:

Morning routine: Wakes up at 6:30 am, eats a heavy breakfast, practices her stances and dance positions on days when she doesn’t have early classes, and then heads to school.

Afternoon routine: Spends most of the afternoon at class and the library, or working at the vintage record and book store. Rarely eats lunch.

Evening routine: Eats a heavy dinner, then heads out to patrol. Usually patrols until close to two AM. 

Sleep habits: Sleeps between three and four hours a night.

Additional information: On rare occasions, Ash will head out to grab coffee with Maggie and they’ll update each other on their lives. They occasionally go drinking together. 

POWERS AND ABILITIES:

Fire Manipulation - Due to an internal process, Ash’s body converts all unnecessary energy into heat. She naturally runs a temperature of about 101 Fahrenheit. Her body can withstand extreme temperatures (she’s handled molten glass with her bare hands before) without any issue, although if she gets too cold, her heat output is drastically lowered. Her heat is tied strongly to her emotions, and thus she burns hotter when angry and grows cold when sad. Through “vents” beneath her skin, she secretes a gas that’s undetectable to the human eye or nose, but that is highly flammable upon contact with air. She can open the “vents” at will and channel fire across her body, which does not burn. 

She uses this ability in a multitude of ways, but her two favorites are super heating her hammer and creating hot air vortexes to “fly” inside. She can use heat waves to create mirages, and she can create quick walls of heat that deflect things moving below a certain velocity. This does not deflect bullets. It can slow them, but she can still be shot.

Accelerated Metabolic Rate - Ash has a heightened metabolism, which forces her to eat two to three times the amount of food a normal person needs to survive. While she could survive on the amount of food a normal person eats, she would be unable to use the majority of her abilities. In addition, she sleeps half the time a normal person would and heals at a faster rate. It's not instant, and she can still be injured just as easily as a normal person.

On the flip side, these abilities have left Ash rail thin. She is constantly on the edge of collapse at the end of the day, because she never quite eats enough. Her soft face is graced with heavy under-eye shadows from her pushing her already limited required sleeping to the edge, and her refusal to care for herself properly.

Durability - Through training, and helped by her enhanced body, she is faster and stronger than anyone her size should be. She can take bigger punches than people twice her size, but she suffers just as much damage as they would regardless. She’s more durable than the average human, and can fall as much as four stories without sustaining life-threatening damage. She might break her arm, but she’ll get up and walk away. She can heal fractures in a week, and fully broken bones in the span of a month or two, depending on the break. In the case of some breaks, she still requires medical attention, though she has been lucky to not have that level of damage as of yet.

Enhanced Senses - Although it is to a much lesser extent than her fellow metas, Ash has two enhanced senses. She has what equates to tremor-sense of up to twenty meters. She can sense direction and speed, and it's muffled by the addition of wearing boots. She also has what she refers to as "bird vision". She has telescopic vision and can pick people out for as far as four street blocks.

Vibe Checker - While not a thing she can really prove, Ash has what has been jokingly called the "Vibe Checker 9000". Ash is very good with vibes, and can easily tell when people are lying to her or hiding things. She has "clicks" where she can tell when things have fallen into place the way they're meant to. 

EQUIPMENT

A large, solid steel hammer in the form of a meat tenderizer with a full-length handle wrapped in black and red tape. the head weighs thirty-four pounds, and on one side is smooth and flat, while the other side is spiked with quarter-inch diamond-shaped studs. It has a red wristband that Phoenix usually keeps wrapped around her wrist. The hammer has a phoenix and flame print carved into the side. She also has a thigh and waist holster for the hammer, for when she’s flying or not fighting. Some other items on her include a police scanner, zip ties, duct tape, and a first aid kit, all neatly contained in the small backpack she carries with her everywhere she goes.

Her vigilante outfit consists of a black and red ceramic mask designed to look like feathers and a crest, and a black leather and Gore-tex jacket with a deep hood. She wears black Gore-tex pants with armored elbow and knee guards, gathered by her mother from the army manufacturer she works for. Underneath this, she wears a suit crafted with materials from her mother by her father, the tailor. It's simple, red and black, and shows at the edge of her sleeves and when she raises her arms. Her suit and boots are made of Gore-tex Crosstech and Kevlar materials and are made to her exact specifications. The suit is full body and covers all but feet, hands, and head. They took a pretty penny to acquire, but Ash takes safety very seriously.

BACKSTORY:

Ash’s head was spinning when she woke. She felt like a train had hit her head on, her body as achy as if she’d fallen off a building. And she had done that before, so she knew what that felt like. There were hushed voices off somewhere in the distance, but she didn’t care about that. She didn’t care about the bone-deep chill that was suppressing her heat either. Instead, she started tossing her head back and forth as she looked for her friend.

Alice wasn’t immediately within sight. That wasn’t necessarily a red flag, although she would look back on it later and realize it had been intentional. She thought nothing of it and assumed the older girl had simply managed to make it without getting injured this time. She let her eyes close for a moment and fell back unconscious.

Memories swirled through her head, interlaced with dreams. Memories of meeting Alice for the first time, and their first patrol together. Dreams of a hand reaching out to her and a scream. Memories of Alice bringing her meals during finals, of them celebrating her seventeenth birthday. Dreams of Alice’s body lying lifeless on the ground barely out of reach. Memories of the man consumed by shadow as he reached out and touched her, sucking the life and heat from her body.

She bolted awake, jolting upright. It hurt her entire body and she groaned. Hushed voices stopped and then hands were on her face and in her hair.

“Ash? Oh my god, Ash, baby, are you okay?” Her mother’s hands pushed her curls back from her face.

“We thought we were going to lose you, darling.” Her father’s hands tucked her hair back and held it there.

Ash coughed and felt her insides practically crack with the cold that was permeating her body. “Mom, Dad… where’s Alice? Is she okay? What happened to me?”

She saw her mother look over her head at her father, the two exchanging a look. Her mother swallowed, and her rough hands cupped Ash’s face. She had a sad smile on her face. “Your wristband’s automatic monitor sent out an SOS when your body temperature dropped to 80 degrees. We came as quickly as we could. You were so cold when we arrived that we thought you were dead. It wasn’t until we brought you home that you started to warm up. We didn’t know if you were going to make it.”

“Mom, where’s Alice? She was with me.” Her voice had a bit of edge to it, and she grabbed her mother’s hands, moving them away so she could look around their basement that had served as her base of operation for the last few years. The second cot had a body in it, and she saw long raven hair. She breathed out, and she reached her hand out to touch Alice’s shoulder.

“Wait, Ash, don’t–”

Her fingers met Alice’s shoulder and cold radiated outward and into her fingertips. A deep cold, a frostbiting cold. A dead cold. She felt her heart stop and she jerked her hand away before reaching back out and shaking the older girl’s shoulder. “Alice? Alice, wake up.”

Her father reached out and took her hand, pulling it back. She struggled against him, trying to reach for the girl as tears filled her eyes. “No, no, Alice, wake up! Alice, please, I know you can hear me, wake up!”

Her parents began to restrain her, and her father eventually slung her over his shoulder and started to carry her up the stairs. Tears fell from Ash’s eyes, warm, but not as warm as they should have been. She pounded weakly against her father’s shoulders. “No, let me go! Why isn’t she waking up? Why isn’t she waking up?”

“Ash… Alice is dead.”

The words froze her and she stopped moving as they left the basement, Alice’s body finally disappearing from view. Her father gently deposited her on the couch and her mother quickly came in to wrap a blanket around her shoulders, curling the edges in under each other to make sure it was secure.

“I’m so sorry, Ash. I’m so sorry. She was already gone by the time we got there. We couldn’t save her.” Her mother gently rubbed her shoulders through the blanket and shot her father a concerned look. “She’s still cold, Jack. What do we do about this?”

“We just wait. There’s nothing else we can do. We don’t even know what they were fighting.”

Ash’s eyes flashed up and she whispered, her voice hoarse, “It was like he was made of shadow. All the lights went out when he came in, and all the warmth disappeared. He was fast, faster than me. He sidestepped me and then reached out and touched me. I felt all the warmth in my body leave me, Mom. I got dizzy and I fell down. I think Alice tried to bend reality and he got to her first.”

Her voice broke when she said her friend’s name. Not her friend, her soul mate, her better half, the truest match for her in the whole world. She was in love with Alice, she loved Alice like the moon. She was the softness to Ash’s angles, the calm to her fury, and the deep night sky to her midday heat. Ash was the sun, and Alice was the moon, perfectly in balance with each other. Her perfect. Other. Half.

Gone now. Gone now, and leaving Ash all alone again.

“Her mother is going to be here soon, Ash. We called Mrs. Shaw.”

“Camilla is coming?” Before the words were even out of her mouth, there was a knock at the door. Ash felt her blood run even colder than it already was. She pushed the blankets aside as her father went to answer the door. Something stuck in her throat and she gasped in softly as the door opened. Camilla Shaw was a tall and regal version of her daughter, the same raven black hair and green eyes as the girl. Right then, those green eyes were sadder than Ash could ever remember them being.

She stepped inside the door, and even at that distance, she heard her softly say, “Where’s Aisling?”

“She’s over on the couch with Abigail. She only just woke up.” Camilla looked up and directly into the sitting room and into Ash’s soul, it seemed. Her eyes weren’t accusatory like Ash had been expecting. No, they were just sad. The woman stepped into the house and slowly walked to the sitting room, and Ash stood, unstable and clutching her stomach. She closed the distance between them.

“Camilla. I’m so sorry. This is all my fault. I should have- I should have–”

The woman entered Ash’s space and wrapped her arms around her shoulders, pulling her close. Ash felt tears hitting her shoulder, and the woman’s soft voice rang out in her ear. “This isn’t your fault, Aisling. Alice knew the risks. And she loved you dearly. She would be so happy you survived. Please don’t blame yourself.”

Ash immediately burst into tears and held the woman bone-crushingly tight, before letting up so she didn’t hurt her. She heard Camilla gasp slightly before sighing. She was still silently crying into Ash’s shoulder while Ash now bawled openly.

They held each other and cried for a while, and then they all went downstairs. Ash’s father and mother help Camilla carry the cot out to her van. Ash stayed in the room. As soon as they were past the doorway, she walked up to it and went to close it. She made eye contact with her father as he rounded the corner on his way out. He nodded sadly to her.

She shut the door and engaged the lock. A long time ago, they had rebuilt their basement, adding panels of industrial radiant heat transferring panels as the walls. They had exchanged the door for something heatproof and made sure it was a perfect seal.

Ash walked to the middle of the room and sat down. Her breathing, which had finally come under control, hitched and caught in her throat. She let it out. A blast of fire erupted out from her, lifting her hair into wild tangles in the air and blowing her clothing away from her. The cotton clothing caught fire, blazing up around her and falling away into ash. She screamed, her throat tearing and tasting of iron. She screamed and she screamed as the room got hotter and hotter. The plates of the room creaked as they started to radiate the heat into the earth, but not fast enough. The temperature of the room burned hotter than Ash had ever burned before as she screamed and cried out her despair.

Alice was gone.

Alice was gone.

Alice was GONE.

Ash screamed until she couldn’t scream anymore. Then she curled up on the floor, her vision blurry. She closed her eyes, and they stayed shut. She felt the last bit of strength in her body leave her, and then there was nothing.

Ash was alone again.​

[upthewitchypunx]

I always forget that I know a bit more about The Troubles than a lot of Americans.

In 1993 I was 16 and part of something called The Ulster Project that brought Catholic and Protestant Northern Irish teens over the the US to stay with host families to see how Catholic and Protestant kids get along here. My best friend was Catholic and I was Protestant so I guess we were supposed to be a good example. Funny though, cause we were these goth/punk non-Mormon kids in Utah so everyone not Mormon got a long.

While the kids were visiting in the month of July we went to each other's churches, did service protects like working a soup kitchens or on trails in national parks, and fun stuff like picnics and amusement parks.

On a camping trip I walked into a tent with kids arguing about how they were British because they were from the British Isles or of they were Irish because they were from the island of Ireland. I don' think I fully understood the complexity of the situation at the time, but looking back, it is an experience I'm so glad I had a chance to learn about and it was literally in the middle of the Troubles.

[nugothrhythms]

"Toughen Your Act" by Belfast, Ireland-based shoegazey gothic punk act Hidden Hand off of 2022 album April's Attic

[annahlysing]

The last post, but not the least

Hello everyone! For this final post, I wanted to give you an update on my methodological approach before justifying my time frame.

First of all, you’ve probably noticed that I’m using different types of sources (songs, texts, audiovisual material...); I think this is crucial given the nature of my topic! These sources combine elements of music and history to best understand the impact of music on the perception of the Northern Ireland conflict and its role as a form of protest. I firmly believe that the idea of "perception" of the conflict through music cannot be fully explored without cross-referencing these sources.

Based on this, I’ve thought about developing a thematic/analytical outline; I think it’s the most appropriate approach for addressing the topic. Moreover, I intend to critically assess and distance myself from certain pieces of information (particularly the article on JSTOR and the documentary). Well, that’s all for my digression on methodology!

Regarding the time frame, I thought it would be more relevant to focus only on songs produced during The Troubles. Even though my secondary sources are from after the period, narrowing my scope to the years from the late 1960s to 1998 seemed the best way to handle a subject that could easily become too vast. I chose to end the study's scope at 1998 because it marks the signing of the Good Friday/Belfast Agreement, and I wanted to highlight this key date while restricting my work to songs of the conflict, not those written afterward.

______________________________________________________________

Thank you very much for reading my posts over the past weeks, and for all your comments, ideas, and reactions. I was a bit skeptical about blogging at first, but I’ve really enjoyed it. I'm actually even a bit sad that it's coming to an end...!

As a farewell gift, I’d like to introduce you to the British punk-rock band Boston Manor. They're not very well-known, but they definitely should be! (Well, I don’t listen only to Irish music ;)

Take care,

Annah

[libertineangel]

On the way back last night there was a Northern Irish guy selling papers on the Tube - I overheard him say to one person that he also plays in a punk band that does squat gigs, at which point naturally I started paying attention, only for him to then say the proceeds all go to ex-veterans, that he himself did 18 years in the army and still has a scar the IRA gave him

There are two options here: either somehow a Northern Irish punk has never heard Stiff Little Fingers, or he wilfully ignored everything they ever said and became a fucking colonial bootlicker anyway.

[dear-indies]

Hi! Would you please give me some suggestions for faceclaims fitting for a "stereotypical" punk character? He's male and between the ages of 23-29. I was originally thinking Matthew Lillard in Senseless (1998) but I'd like to have more options.

Julio Torres (1987) Salvadoran - is gay - has younger roles but also looks very young.

Eric Graise (1990) African-American - is a double leg amputee - Queer as Folk.

Tyler Posey (1991) Mexican / English, Scottish, Irish, German, distant French - is queer and sexually fluid.

Yves Mathieu East (1994) Afro Asian - is queer.

Rish Shah (1995) Indian - Do Revenge.

Ashton Sanders (1995) African-American - Native Son.

Ryan Potter (1995) Japanese / Ashkenazi Jewish, Swedish, English, German, Scots-Irish/Northern Irish - is bisexual - Titans.

Liam James (1996) - Deadly Class.

Evan Mock (1997) Bisaya Filipino / Unspecified.

Murakami Nijiro (1997) Japanese - Alice in Borderland.

Pedro Pascal (NYPD Blue) White Chilean.

and not a man but I don't get to suggest him as much as I'd like and he totally fits this ask:

Chella Man (1998) Hongkogner Jewish - is Deaf and genderfluid (he/they) - Titans.

Why is there such a lack of punks in media ahhh!!

[punkrockhistory]

Four English, Scottish and Northern Irish punk debut albums

The Exploited - Punks Not Dead

Stiff Little Fingers - Inflammable Material

G.B.H - City Baby Attacked by Rats

Discharge - Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing

Your favorite?

#punkrock #history #punkrockhistory