Latest news with #PaulHoward
Irish Times
09-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
I read the letter a couple of times. It didn't irritate me...it filled me with joy
I've written before about all the gorgeous letters and cards that have landed in my work pigeonhole since I first wrote about my cancer diagnosis last December. People are kind. There have been home-knitted hats in the post and cool earrings, supportive messages and heartfelt notes, books and other tokens. I am grateful for it all. The flurry of well wishes motivated me to write my own letters to people . Admittedly, not as many as I'd hoped when I began my letter-writing project a few months ago, but definitely more than usual. There is something about the idea of people sitting down with a decent pen, writing a note, finding a stamp and sending it off that moves me every time. So I was happy to see the small brown envelope in my pigeonhole. The stamp depicted James Earley's Irish Deer, a tasteful and artistic choice. The paper was plain white but of decent quality. In the corner, where there's usually an address, the sender wrote simply 'Drogheda'. My name was underlined. Róisín. No 'dear' here, only on the stamp, so I knew this person meant business. 'Róisín:' the letter began, in blue ink and beautiful handwriting. The writer was discussing an error in my column about an event I did last month with Paul Howard at the Borris Festival of Writing and Ideas. 'Róisín: your column today includes 'would you rather ... watch Paul and I ... READ MORE 'Very disappointed with this from a professional writer. Wouldn't mind watching Paul – but, come on, watching I? Really? 'Cheap magazines have amateurs who write 'this bike carried my wife and I all over Ireland' kind of stuff. Carried I? 'Accusative, dative, etc, still apply – not only to amateurs but, especially, to professionals. 'Yours, 'John' Underneath his sign off, John wrote ' ... watch Paul and me ….' in case I might not have realised what I ought to have written. I read the letter a couple of times. You might think I'd find it irritating, in fact the letter filled me with joy. It seemed like a sign that things were back to normal and the statute of limitations on all that cancer sympathy had expired. I mean if John from Drogheda felt able to write, giving out about my use of I, then normal service really had resumed and I, for one, could not have been happier about this. I imagined John, a retired schoolteacher perhaps, sitting down with a cup of tea thinking: 'Yes, the woman has cancer but that does not mean I should not take her to task for the improper use of I. She's a professional writer, for goodness sake.' [ I'm enjoying my new friendship. We're at the stage when everything is fascinating Opens in new window ] And John is right. Just because I have a challenging illness, doesn't mean I should be allowed to play fast and loose with the English language in The Irish Times. It reminded me of when I used to play Scrabble at Gerry's house every Tuesday while undergoing weekly chemotherapy sessions. A good friend, he nevertheless made zero allowances. There was one time when I tried to play the high-scoring word Taxol, the name of my chemotherapy, but he told me that it was a brand name and therefore not valid. To emphasise the point, he told me to 'get that sh*t off the board' – our preferred phrase when somebody chances their arm Scrabble-istically speaking – even as my hair fell out in clumps at his kitchen table. I loved his adherence to the rules in the face of all the cancer carry-on in the same way I adore John's letter, which is now stuck to my fridge with a magnet. On reflection, I realise my deplorable use of I has its roots in being corrected as a child in school or at home for saying 'me and Shirley went to the shops'. 'It's Shirley and I ,' not 'Shirley and me ' I can hear my mother saying. My instinct had actually been to write Paul and me , in fact I believe I wrote Paul and me originally, but then a voice in my head said 'It's Paul and I ', and so I changed it on account of trying to write proper. What a fail. I have since conducted a small bit of research. Grammar nerds (and also John) will know this already, but 'Paul and me' is correct because 'me' is the object of the verb 'watch'. A good way to know when to use me, is to remove the other person's name to test it. 'Would you rather watch me …?' Would you rather watch I sounds completely wrong in this context. On the other hand, if the subject comes before the verb, I is the correct usage. 'Paul and I went to the cinema to see the John Lennon documentary' is correct. To be even more precise, subject pronouns such as I are used when the pronoun is the subject of the sentence, the one doing the action. Object pronouns, such as me , are used when the pronoun is the object of the sentence, the one receiving the action or following a preposition. Now, if this column does not appear on some class of State exam next summer I'm going to be, as John from Drogheda would put it, very disappointed. I actually think me and John could be friends. Or is it John and I? Answers on a postcard with some class of an arty looking stamp, please.
Irish Times
18-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Times
I thought Paul McCartney had sent me a gift after my cancer diagnosis
I was headed to the Borris Festival of Writing & Ideas in Carlow to play a very public game of Would You Rather? recently with my friend Paul Howard . I've known Paul, who writes Ross O'Carroll Kelly in this newspaper, for 30 years. In all that time we'd never been on a road trip together. It turns out we're not really road trip people. It took us about four hours to get from Dublin to Borris on account of the fact that we stopped en route for a coffee and a pecan plait at a motorway services. It was only after leaving the services that we realised we were in fact heading back in the direction of Dublin. We turned around eventually, and got stuck in the same bad traffic for a second time. It's no hardship being stuck in the same traffic twice with someone as uplifting as Paul; in fact, lots of people would pay for the pleasure. Our event was called Would You Rather? only because neither of us had been able to come up with a better title before the Borris programme was printed. Making good use of the road trip, we rang one of my teenage daughters from Paul's car to find out what Would You Rather? meant exactly. 'You know,' she said. 'Like, would you rather have no fingers or no toes? Would you rather be attacked by a shark or mauled by a lion?' We decided to do a cultural version of Would You Rather? Like, would you rather be stuck in a lift with Sally Rooney or Fintan O'Toole ? Would you rather do a meditation retreat with Elizabeth Gilbert of Eat, Pray, Love fame or collaborate with Dan Brown on a Da Vinci Code-style thriller set in Ikea? [ Róisín Ingle: My profound, challenging, surprisingly joyful, life-changing year Opens in new window ] The event went well. The tent was packed. We began by explaining that the Borris festival was one giant game of Would You Rather? with so many excellent events going on at the same time. For example, to be sitting in front of us the audience would previously have had to ask themselves would you rather see legendary actor Fiona Shaw do her thing or watch Paul and I 'grapple with the big questions'. (That was a programme misprint. We only had small questions.) READ MORE 'Would you rather spend a day with Paul McCartney or John Lennon ?' was one of those questions. This enabled me to tell the story of how I'd met McCartney once years ago and how, after I badgered him, he'd kindly signed a column I'd written about him. Which, to my never-ending sorrow, I subsequently lost. And it allowed me to tell them how, after I was diagnosed with stage-four breast cancer 1½ years ago and was down in the dumps, a taxi had arrived outside my house with the beautifully wrapped gift of a book of photography by McCartney, with a card signed 'Love Paul'. And about how I rang my good friend Paul Howard up to tell him that, 'Oh my God, Paul McCartney must have somehow found out about my cancer and he's only gone and sent me a book of his photography.' 'It's from me,' Paul said when he had finally stopped laughing. I didn't know it then, but there was a woman in the audience at Borris called Mary who was dealing with a breast cancer diagnosis. Mary had styled my hair into plaits for a photo shoot many years ago. She wanted to talk to me, about our shared experience, but worried that Borris wasn't the time or the place. When she came home from the festival, her sister asked, 'Did you talk to Róisín? 'No,' Mary replied. 'But I will find her.' Two days later I was in the Mater hospital for the scans I get every three months. My name was called along with another woman. It was Mary. The Mary who knew she would find me had accidentally found me. [ My post-cancer treatment hair reminds me of boxing promoter Don King. It makes me laugh Opens in new window ] After the first of our two scans we went for coffee, because I am a big fan of serendipity and because I remembered how good she had made me feel during that long-ago photo shoot with the plaits. 'Would you rather: a pecan plait or a plain croissant?' I asked Mary as we got coffees in the Mater cafe. She went for the plain croissant. Each to their own. It turned out Mary was now where I was 1½ years ago. Newly diagnosed with breast cancer and being scanned to see if it had spread anywhere else. I told her some things I hoped might help. She's a wise woman, Mary. A meditator. A mother. I wasn't telling her anything she didn't already know. We both had a lot to say. We talked for more than an hour. The serendipity continued. We discovered we'd be getting our scan results on the same day the following week. Whatever happens, I know she will be able to handle it. So will I. We swapped numbers. 'We can be cancer buddies,' Mary said before she went off for her second scan. 'No,' I told her before I went off for mine. 'But, if you like, we can be friends.' Because I realised that's what I'd rather. And luckily, Mary agreed.
Yahoo
24-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Daviess County Public Schools Summer feeding program kicks off
OWENSBORO, Ky. (WRHT) — School may be out for the summer, but Daviess County Public Schools are still showing up for kids and families with meals they can count on. DCPS officials are hoping to continue the fight against food insecurity through their summer feeding program. It offers free meals to kids 18-years-old and under. Officials say the effort is more than just convenience, it's a lifeline. Boat tour sheds light on Pigeon Creek debris The district's kick-off event aims to get families excited and acclimated to one new important change. State regulations now require meals be eaten on site to make sure one meal is served per child. 'They're all congregated sites. You at least have to start eating your meal inside. Like, we'll go on probably before you finish, and you can take it or go. We have to stay on site for the duration,' says Connie Beth Fillman, the food service director for DCPS. Statistics show more than 3,000 children face food insecurity and that number spikes when school cafeterias close. Daviess County High School's assistant principal has worked in the district for 22 years and says one of its biggest benefits is nutrition. '…the availability of whole grains, nutritional breakfast [and] lunch that these kids can get their hands on… something that's going to be nutritious. It's going to fill them up, and it's going to give them energy to want to get out and and do more,' says Paul Howard, the assistant principal of DCHS and a parent of two DCHS students. From now until August 1, the district's food service vans will make pit stops at over a dozen locations like spray parks and neighborhoods. With the exception of holidays like Fourth of July and Memorial Day, three vans will make their way across the county. 75,0000 meals were served last summer and 1,000 kids were served each day.'Hamburgers. And we got apples and chips. Carrots and their milk. And then we're also sampling our fruit slushies. We serve these at high school and have a cup of fruit. So we're letting the kids see those, too.' One rising eighth grader attended the event with his family and says the program makes his battle with celiac disease easier during and outside of school hours. 'I think it definitely helps instead of having to pack my lunch every day. I really like how they made me a gluten free sub sandwich,' says Jack Tichenor, a rising 8th grader at Daviess County Middle School. The school program's second annual kick off at the county high school's football field aims to give families a taste of the new protocol with games and vendors offering free items occupying their time while they eat. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
21-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Sell in May? Bitcoin Tops $107K, Could Hit Record Highs This Summer Say Analysts
"Sell in May and go away," goes the Wall Street adage for equity markets every summer. For bitcoin BTC, though, some analysts say this season could mark a break from tradition. "As we get into the European summer months, the sense is it's more likely a case of 'buy in May and go away' than any significant headwinds or selling pressure," said Paul Howard, director at crypto trading firm Wincent in a market note. A confluence of positive regulatory developments around digital assets in the U.S. and increasing institutional buying both via exchange-traded funds and spot allocation is poised to push BTC higher in the next months, Howard said. U.S.-traded spot bitcoin ETFs, for example, pulled in $667 million in net inflows on Monday with BTC pausing just below its January record, underscoring persistent demand, he noted. The vehicles attracted $3.3 billion in May, per SoSoValue. On top of that, there's been a flurry of companies joining Michael Saylor's Strategy (MSTR) adding bitcoin to their treasury, financed by debt and stock issuances. "As we edge closer to a $4 trillion market cap for digital assets, we will see BTC cross all-time-highs in the coming weeks," Howard said. The total crypto market cap currently stands at around $3.3 trillion, per TradingView data. Historically, summer months have been slow for crypto assets, but macro and political forces are also converging in ways that could disrupt the typical seasonal lull, analysts at crypto analytics firm Kaiko pointed out. The Federal Reserve's next interest rate decision in June will precede Donald Trump's July 9 tariff deadline for trade partners, both of which could trigger market-wide volatility, the report said. Bitcoin options markets are already flashing signs of investor anticipation, Kaiko analysts said. Strike prices at $110,000 and $120,000 for the June 27 expiry have drawn heavy volume, suggesting bets on BTC making a record-breaking move, the report noted. Bitcoin briefly topped $107,000 during the Tuesday session, gaining 1.2% over the past 24 hours and trading just 2% below its January record high.
