Kathryn Crowley

October 22, 2020

Let's Party

Let’s Party

On 22^nd October 2020, the first day of the 6-week ‘Lockdown2’ in Ireland

He said

Will we throw a party?

I said

Are you finally losing it?

How can we throw a virtual party?

How can we dance when our feet are flat and unmoving?

How can we make banners and hang them from the rafters when we don’t feel like cutting and gluing and reaching up high?

How can we play rock and roll music and sing cheerful songs when inside we’re just about humming and we’re seeking out lullabies?

How can we invite others around to be part of a bubble when our own bubble is quickly deflating and descending?

He said

It’s time for a quieter party, a new kind of silent disco

A party that gives thanks for waking up above ground, one that celebrates that family and friends are still within speaking if not touching distance

A party that knows that though we’re not rocking and jiving, we can still walk and march to the beat of our own drums

A party that celebrates that in Ireland we’re not threatened by man’s inhumanity to man, by ruthless dictators or by warring overlords

But by a virus that will be beaten by good and decent people, that will be beaten by us.

Let’s party.

October 21, 2020

Literary Taxidermy New - A 'Huxley Honorable Mention'

I'm delighted to share some good news on my writing endeavours .....

19 OCTOBER 2020

We're pleased to announce the thirty-four Huxley Honorable Mentions in this year's Literary Taxidermy Short Story Competition. Although these stories did not make it into the final anthology, they all reached the penultimate round of selection, impressing our many readers. We're certain you'll be seeing more from these writers in the future. Please join us in offering congratulations to all the honorable mentions!

Jane Andrews, "Tempus Fugitive" • Tabitha Bast, "There Is Life at This Level" • Susan B. Borgersen, "Strong and Black" • Ned Boyden, "The Department of Sanitation" • Gilbert Ben Brynildsen, "Toothpicks" • Kathryn Crowley, "Lockdown Differences" • Selina De Luca, "Clockwork" • John J. DeDominicis, "Obsession, Lies, and Murder" • Una Dimitrijevic, "American Dreamers" • Rhonda Valentine Dixon, "Amaira’s Fortune" • Brian Douglas, "The Tiger" • Josephine Draper, "Takeover" • Sean Fallon, "The Fido Paradox" • Peter Hankins, "New Troy" • Anna Sara Henderson, "Our Eleemosynary Future" • Paul Hillman-Harris, "Always Sunny" • Caroline Hunt, "The Uncurling" • Suzanne Johnston, "Confidants" • Michael Kuty, "The Other Side of the Lamp" • Claire Lanyon, "The Documenter" • Leah M, "Derelict, Neglect with No Regret" • Bobbie Allen Macniven-Young, "Such People" • Eleanor Musgrove, "The Sixteenth Key" • Skip Ashseed, "45 Minutes to Destination" • Jennifer Rathwell, "Taps" • Patrick Roycroft, "Succumbing" • Alexandra Runge, "Building Bricks" • Rachel Marie Salhi, "The Whiskey Heel" • Janeen Samuel, "The Gift of Mrs Burtenshaw" • Michael Seaton, "Drop South" • Rick Shingler, "Dog Run" • Michael Taylor, "Thirty Days Hath September" • Richard Vadim, "One Tin Cup of Freedom" • Carol Josephine Dixon, "Stories"

In recognition of their fine work, every honorable mention will be listed in 34 STORIES, this year's forthcoming Huxley anthology. And stay tuned! We'll be announcing the Morrison honorable mentions next....

https://literarytaxidermy.com/news.html

October 2, 2020

Medical Recruitment Policies in Ireland

This is the text of my letter in yesterday's Irish Times.

Sir,

The resounding answer to Dr. Alex Hartigan's question ...'isn't it time to expand the graduate entry medicine programmes and reduce places in traditional undergraduate medical degrees?' (Letters, September 29th) is a definite 'no.' The proposed reduction in undergraduate medical degrees would further ensure that medicine is restricted to those young people whose parents have the financial capability to pay for the wildly expensive graduate entry programmes. For those of us on modest wages, the only affordable option for our children is through the undergraduate route.

My daughter decided what she wanted in post-primary school and she worked long and hard to pursue her long-held ambition to become a doctor. I can assure the doctor that there was no 'snobbish parental pressure.'

I do agree with Dr. Hartigan's sentiment that 'we need to retain our own expensively trained medics.' In my daughter's case, she answered 'Ireland's call' and returned from Australia with many of her colleagues and, once the first crisis was over, her 'Covid contract' was terminated in early July.

It appears that the Irish medical system is not really interested in retaining her and many of her cohort.

Yours,