Attempting to write a Thesis

Since my return from the road trips, I have been pretty focused on thesis research. Well, at least on my interviews. I have done some work pulling articles to use for my lit review, but I can’t get quite motivated to read them and start drafting the lit review. I have done a good job of scheduling and carrying out interviews. I first talked with folks at the Ulster Farmers’ Union for over an hour. It was a good conversation discussing the role of the recession on brain drain and the fact that agriculture is also affected by the problem. I also got a chance to interview two of the DARD staffers that I worked with. While we talked about the policy issues of brain drain, I also got to have a personal conversation with them about their experience growing up in a rural area and being part of the brain drain that never returned. Was very interesting hearing their perspective on not going back and still working on rural issues, since this is something I struggle with myself.

Lastly, I got the chance to meet & chat with DARD Minister Michelle Gildernew. The Minister is one of the more personable and colorful politicians that I have met in a long time. She definitely has more personality that any Northern Ireland elected official that I have met! She is a Sinn Fein Minister & Member of Parliament. However, with her party, she abstains from taking her seat at Westminster. She is such a kind person with a really terrific sense of humor. After meeting her, I can understand how she pulled off her impressive win in May (by 4 votes!) as I feel that many people probably vote for her personally instead of just voting for her party. She is well versed in rural issues since she represents the rural west of Fermanagh/South Tyrone. She talked with me about what she sees as the problems with rural brain drain in Northern Ireland. She also took the opportunity to thank me for my work on social farming and told me stories about when she met with former USDA Sec Mike Johanns (now a GOP Senator from Nebraska), including him helping out NI when they had the outbreak of foot & mouth disease. I left very impressed with her! If the rest of Sinn Fein were like her, they could be much more popular and immensely more effective. Plus, I was happy to see one person with a strong grasp of economic issues, since that is something the party tends to ignore in my opinion. Hopefully, she will continue to rise in leadership.

Had my birthday this weekend. I had a nice, relaxing day. Bre & I got up and hit St. George’s Market, my last trip there . We had lunch and Bre bought my cupcakes, yum! From there, we eventually hit up the infamous happy hour at Madison’s, ate dinner at Nando’s, and caught a movie. We went to see The Killer Inside Me. My advice: don’t see it. Too much brutality in what is just a really twisted, sick film. Sadly, there were no fireworks or BBQ. It was def a good birthday that I will always remember, but I think being born on the 4th of July really just means you have to be in America for a proper celebration! Anyway, tomorrow I head to Scotland with my friend Daniel and some of his friends for the weekend. We are heading over to T in the Park, a 3 day outdoor music festival, so I’ll spend the weekend camping out and listening to some great music, including Florence + The Machine, Mumford & Sons, Paolo Nutini, Scouting for Girls, Kasabian, Muse, Jay-Z, Eminem, Black Eyed Peas, 30 Seconds to Mars, Vampire, Weekend and John Mayer, among many many others.  Some good American bands in there, but mostly British stuff that I have fallen in love with over the last year. Looking forward to that, then its back to Belfast to wrap things up, pack, and have my going away soiree next Thursday. Then, I’m Bammy Bound on the 17th.

Me & DARD Minister Michelle Gildernew

Minister & I sharing a laugh…a great political personality!

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