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Irish Examiner
31-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
Colin Sheridan: Bloom is the crowning jewel of our capital city
Ah, Bloom! That annual horticultural hootenanny where the scent of freshly turned soil mingles with the aroma of artisan sausage rolls, and where the only thing more abundant than the flora is the flurry of floppy hats. This year, Bord Bia Bloom 2025 blossomed once again in Dublin's Phoenix Park, transforming 70 acres into a veritable Eden of eco-consciousness, culinary delights, and enough garden gnomes to march on the Aras and stage a coup. The earth laughs in flowers, so said Ralph Waldo Emerson, yesterday, it was in stitches. First, an admission of guilt. As a novice, the name of this festival confused me. Bloomsday falls on June 16 each year. That celebration of Joycean pomp is no relation to Bord Bia Bloom, but the timing and title caught me a little off guard. Were there enough Ulysses nuts to warrant a five-day celebration in the largest public park in any capital city in Europe? No, it turns out, there isn't. Which is a relief. This is something else entirely. It's reductive to compare festivals — each lives and dies on its own merits — but given the scale and logistical footprint of Bloom, the National Ploughing Festival is an obvious and worthy inspiration for Irelands premier gardening and horticultural festival. Beginning on Thursday and running throughout the Bank Holiday weekend, Bloom will have attracted over 120,000 punters through its gates by the time the last tent is collapsed on Monday. If the ploughing is Glastonbury, Bloom is Electric Picnic. The setting is majestic and the mood more than a little mischievous. The variety on display from the moment you enter is so rich it'd make a willow weep. Puns aside, Bloom means business. I'm no sooner in the gate but I'm watching the Ballymaloe crew do a cooking demo on the Dunnes Stores stage. Chef Neven Maguire is hanging in the wings signing autographs like he's a member of Metallica. Maisie Carton, aged 15, from Dundrum, was prepared for moody weather in the Phoenix Park. Picture: Moya Nolan If there are politicians about, they are keeping a low profile. The weather, too, is appropriate; wet on Thursday, Friday brings dark clouds broken up by brilliant sunshine. Good gardening weather, right? Weather so rich you can feel the grass grow beneath your feet. Excited school kids follow patient teachers like mini climbers trailing their sherpa. Grownups who should know better sip Aperol spritz from recyclable plastic cups. With a taste of summer already lingering in the back of our throats, the timing of Bloom could not be more apposite. The heart of the festival lies in its show gardens — 21 verdant visions ranging from the sublime to the surreal. Take, for instance, the 'Make A Wish Foundation Garden' by Linda McKeown, a space so enchanting it could make a grown man weep into his compost. Then there's the 'GRÁ' garden by Kathryn Feeley for Dogs Trust, a canine-centric paradise where even the shrubs seem to wag their leaves in approval. Not to be outdone, the 'Tusla Fostering Garden' by Pip Probert offers a vibrant tapestry of colours and textures, symbolising the diverse journeys of foster families. Bloom, though, is not just about seasoned green thumbs; it's also a fertile ground for budding gardening superstars. The 'Cultivating Talent' initiative, now in its third year, continues to nurture and showcase the next generation of garden designers. This year's standout is Dr Sarah Cotterill — an assistant professor at UCD — whose 'Into the Woods' garden pays homage to Ireland's Atlantic rainforests, proving that even civil engineers can have a soft spot for ferns. Billy Alexander of Kells Bay House and Gardens in Kerry brought his Chelsea Flower Show-winning fern garden to Bloom. Picture: Moya Nolan For those of us whose idea of gardening involves little more ingenuity than picking herbs for a G&T, the Food Village offers enough distraction to fill a day. I unwittingly followed one chap who easily reached his daily calorie quota by exclusively eating free samples. It was an admirably frugal tactic, if a tad unnecessary. Unlike other festivals, the food was ample and reasonably priced. The village — which features nearly 100 Irish producers — is a smorgasbord of local delights. I'd eaten two gourmet burgers and a hot dog before lunchtime. Not every day in the trenches is like this, and this one-man army marches on its stomach. The food stages are accessible and unfussy — culinary luminaries like Neven, Darina Allen, and Fiona Uyema are on hand to whip up some dishes that would make an intermittent faster reconsider their life choices. The atmosphere is collegiate, the food divine. Sure, there are plenty of healthy options on display, too, but Bloom is not the space to suddenly become precious. There is lots of cream and butter, and the fun and food police are conspicuous in their absence. A key theme running throughout the festival is sustainability, with the Sustainable Living Stage hosting 40 talks on topics ranging from food waste to natural skincare hacks. The festival walked the walk — quite literally — by offering free shuttle buses, ample bicycle parking, and ensuring all food and drink packaging was compostable or recyclable. There were even volunteers on hand at each bin to advise you on what goes where. Keen not to take itself too seriously, Bloom isn't just for the horticulturally inclined; it's a family affair. The Budding Bloomers area offered a range of activities for the young and the young at heart, from bug workshops to interactive performances. Chef Tricia Lewis giving a cookery demonstration to a crew of hungry festivalgoers. Picture: Moya Nolan For those looking to bring a piece of Bloom home, the Grand Pavilion and Plant Emporium offered everything from handcrafted garden sculptures to rare plant species. It's the kind of place where you go in for a packet of seeds and come out with a bonsai tree and a newfound appreciation for macrame rope. In its 19th year, Bord Bia Bloom continues to be a testament to Ireland's love affair with all things green and growing. It's a safe, creative space where gardeners, foodies, and families converge to celebrate the simple joys of nature, nourishment, and community. In a time when the deforestation of the island is a hot topic, Bloom offers an antidote to the doom and gloom that can sometimes suffocate green-adjacent conversations. The jewel of the crown of this festival, however, is not any one of the celebrity gardeners, chefs or even Juniperus Communis on display. It's not even the extra-mature cheeses, of which I consumed quite a few. No, it is unquestionably the venue. The Phoenix Park frames this event and makes it a masterpiece, a celebration of nature its creators and organisers can absolutely be proud of. Verdant and resplendent, the vastness of the park itself makes access and egress easy. The walled gardens within the festival compound act as a spine for a sprawl that is beautifully organised, but never contrived. Great oak trees provide shelter from the infrequent showers. The grass acts as a quilt to lie on and bask in the brilliant sunshine. Just outside the fence, a herd of fallow deer skip by, as if curious about the din inside. There is a lot wrong with our capital city, and, understandably, we spend plenty of time talking about it. Bloom is an example of something done incredibly right. A festival of nature, food, colour, and life, hosted in a public park at an incredibly reasonable price. Accessible to everybody, and not a Joycean scholar in sight.
The Guardian
19-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Guardian
Poem of the week: from Quatrains by Ralph Waldo Emerson
Poet TO clothe the fiery thought In simple words succeeds. For still the craft of genius is To mask a king in weeds. Gardener TRUE Brahmin, in the morning meadows wet, Expound the Vedas of the violet, Or, hid in vines, peeping through many a loop, See the plum redden, and the beurré stoop. Heri, Cras, Hodie SHINES the last age, the next with hope is seen, To-day slinks poorly off, unmarked between: Future or Past no richer secret folds, O friendless Present, than thy bosom holds. Casella TEST of the poet is knowledge of love, For Eros is older than Saturn or Jove; Never was poet, of late or of yore, Who was not tremulous with love-lore. Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803-1882) was born in Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard graduate, minister, essayist, orator and popular philosopher, he was a crucial figure in the development of American liberal values. He was a founding father of Transcendentalism, the literary movement rooted in English and German Romantic traditions. These four short poems are from the group of individual verses entitled Quatrains, first included in the collection Mayday and other pieces (1867). They can be read here in their initial sequencing. The suggestion, made on the basis of Emerson's own comments, is that they respond formally to the Persian genre of epigrams and gnomic verses. The first, Poet, is particularly four-square and hymn-like, but its command, 'to mask a king in weeds' has different possible interpretations. Does it declare the poet's obligation to speak truth to power, or suggest that the poet must refuse to acknowledge worldly power altogether? And what about 'weeds'? It's an old word for clothes so might suggest a king disguised in a non-ceremonial, simply woven garment, but there's an inevitable hint, too, of the botanical kind of weed in all its clambering natural vigour. It's also interesting to imagine the king as emblematic of the major cultural figures Emerson names in his poem Solution. Solution is a rather long-winded companion poem to another shorter one, The Test, in which the Muse sets us a puzzle: to identify the five creative spirits whose work burns brightest. The answer is: Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Swedenborg and Goethe. In Poet, Emerson might be reminding himself that the 'craft of genius' lies in resisting the display of such influences, using 'simple words' rather than grand, imitative gestures. Or perhaps the matter is more basic and technical: any 'fiery thought' in a poem is stronger if it creates the impression of having occurred as naturally as a weed. The Gardener of the second quatrain is addressed as 'true Brahmin', a priest of Brahma. In Hindu thought, Brahma is the supreme being, manifesting himself throughout the universe. Artists sometimes depict him with four heads – and perhaps the quatrain form itself distantly reflects that cardinal structure. Emerson, deeply influenced by eastern philosophies, unites the Brahmin, the Gardener and the (ideal) Poet. Because of his particular identification with nature, 'hid in vines, peeping through many a loop', his vision will be sharpened and refined rather than obscured. In the imagery of the vines and the 'beurré', a variety of pear whose ripening causes its branch to 'stoop', there may be an echo of the opening lines of Keats's Ode to Autumn. And despite the specifically Sanskrit reference Wordsworth, I think, would not have found the 'Vedas of the violet' an alien concept. Heri, Cras, Hodie (Yesterday, Tomorrow, Today), juggling the usual, chronological word order of the Latin list, expands on the ancient eastern theme of mindfulness, (described engagingly here as 'not wobbling'). The three chronological units, Past, Future and Present, are skilfully evoked, with a rather effective shift into personification characterising the Present as an outcast, a 'poor relation', almost: 'To-day slinks poorly off'. There's a rhetorical force which works especially well in the vatic tone of the last couplet: 'Future or Past, no richer secret folds, / O friendless Present, than thy bosom holds.' This poor relation offers wealth to those who can ignore the ever-attractive 'shine' of times past and the tendency to squint, vaguely hopeful, at something that cannot in fact be 'seen'. My selection of Quatrains ends with a return to the Poet as central figure. Casella isn't himself a poet: he is the composer and singer who appears in the second canto of Dante's Purgatorio, and who, it seems, has set the poet's own work to music. I can't help feeling that Emerson, while a huge admirer of Dante, is making fun to some extent of Casella, or of romantic love itself. The dactylic rhythm isn't the only feature that suggests a comic undertow. There's the end-rhyme of the last couplet, with its insistence on a mis-stress (if not a mistress). If you stress the word 'OF' instead of 'YORE' as the metre demands, the result is one of those double-rhymes that often signals bathos: 'OF yore' and 'LOVE-lore'. The poem might have trembled more empathically, it's true, but I warm to that possible flash of good-humoured mockery. Emerson the writer is remembered today as a major essayist rather than a major poet. His poems are at their best, I think, when their focus is small-scale. The Quatrains are poetic distillations of his key ideas, but have the directness and vitality that prove them more than a by-product.
Boston Globe
15-04-2025
- Politics
- Boston Globe
Revolutionary lessons from Thoreau
Concord took no real note of the anniversary until the 1820s, when the war was more recent in town memory than the Vietnam War is to us today. The town marked it first in 1825; again in 1835, during the bicentennial of its founding; and even more grandly in 1837, when Ralph Waldo Emerson wrote his Advertisement Henry David Thoreau was a young man at the time. As his neighbors marched, sang, gave speeches, and lit bonfires on the anniversary to toast their political freedom, it didn't seem to Thoreau that they were free in how they lived. As he saw it, they had entrapped themselves in social expectations and material pursuits that enslaved them, and indeed much of his writing would become a critique of mere political freedom. In order to truly honor 1775, he believed, another, more interior revolution was needed, similar to the experiment in 'self-emancipation' he would undertake at Walden Pond, beginning on Independence Day in 1845. Thoreau saw political freedom as but a means to moral and spiritual freedom. That deeper kind of liberty meant freedom from rank materialism, from racism, from a purely utilitarian view of nature, and from religious doctrines and institutions that bound the spirit rather than expanded it. 'Men talk of freedom!' Thoreau wrote. 'How many are free to think? Free from fear, from perturbation, from prejudice?' Advertisement One way Thoreau thought his Concord neighbors abrogated the freedom won for them was their devotion to commercial pursuits and acquiring possessions. In 1837, the year the Battle Monument was dedicated, Thoreau decried the 'blind and unmanly love of wealth' in a speech at his Harvard commencement. The world, he declared, 'is more wonderful than it is convenient; more beautiful than it is useful.' And in 'Walden,' he wrote that most people 'even in this comparatively free country … are so occupied with the factitious cares and superfluously coarse labors of life that its finer fruits cannot be plucked by them.' Thoreau invoked the rhetoric of our revolt against England to suggest that we enslave ourselves. 'We tax ourselves unjustly,' he Another way Americans were not free was the endemic racism of his day and the institution of slavery. 'What is it to be free from King George and continue the slaves of King Prejudice?' Thoreau asked in his essay ' Advertisement Thoreau called for a 'peaceable revolution' against slavery in his essay ' Thoreau also saw a need for spiritual freedom, for freedom from institutions and creeds that narrowed the soul and sought to define or control the human experience of the sacred. 'The wisest man preaches no doctrines,' he He noted in 'Walden' that religious freedom remained a rare commodity. Middlesex County had many fine houses and churches of brick or stone, he Thoreau's writings about religion were among his most revolutionary. He took religious language back from the churches because he refused to let them have the last say about God. He rejected sectarianism, which mushroomed in Massachusetts during his life. 'The gods are of no sect,' he wrote, 'they side with no man.' Refusing to fit God into a theological shoebox, he urged his readers to know God through direct, unmediated experience. And he expressed faith that people could intuitively grasp the spiritual and moral laws of nature on their own. Advertisement Ultimately, Thoreau found moral and spiritual freedom in the natural world, in his experience of wildness as a divine, liberating force, and in his inextinguishable faith in life. 'Faith, indeed, is all the reform that is needed,' he wrote in one of his earliest pieces. Thoreau never explicitly called for revolution. His jeremiads about freedom were more literary and philosophical. But his writings amount to a revolution in thought, in what we value and how we live our lives. Thoreau hoped his readers would keep the revolution of 1775 alive by turning in a new direction, but he was wise enough to know this would take a long time. 'We are a nation of politicians, concerned about the outsides of freedom, the means and outmost defenses of freedom,' he wrote in 1851. 'It is our children's children who may perchance be really free.' Thoreau's critique of freedom is as salient today as it was when Concord first celebrated April 19, on the 50th anniversary of the battle, in 1825.
Observer
13-03-2025
- General
- Observer
Opinion- Ramadhan's discipline: A lesson in self-reliance
Every year, Ramadhan arrives as a spiritual retreat, a time of self-restraint, reflection and renewal. While it is primarily a month of fasting and devotion, I have come to see Ramadhan as the ultimate test of discipline. The pre-dawn meal (Suhoor), the long hours without food or drink and the structured prayers require an unwavering commitment that goes beyond fleeting moments of motivation. It is during this sacred month that I have truly understood the saying I once read on X: 'Discipline takes you places that motivation can't.' Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his famous essay Self-Reliance, speaks about the importance of trusting oneself and rejecting conformity. His words resonate deeply with the lessons of Ramadhan. The ability to wake up before dawn, to resist the urge to break one's fast before sunset, and to remain committed to spiritual and personal growth — all require a form of self-reliance that Emerson championed. He wrote, 'Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.' This echoes the discipline of Ramadhan, where the strength to endure hunger, fatigue, and the temptation to falter comes not from external validation but from an internal commitment to faith and self-improvement. For me, Ramadhan has reinforced the idea that discipline is a muscle that grows stronger with consistent effort. Motivation, on the other hand, is fleeting. It is easy to feel motivated on the first day of fasting when enthusiasm is high, but by the tenth day, motivation often wanes. This is where discipline carries us through. It is what pushes students to study late into the night and professionals to keep striving for excellence despite setbacks. In Oman, and the general Islamic world, where community and faith are central to our identity, Ramadhan becomes a collective exercise in discipline. The entire nation shifts into a rhythm of self-control and spiritual dedication, reinforcing the idea that personal discipline has a broader social impact. One of the greatest lessons Ramadhan has taught me is the power of delayed gratification. The simple act of waiting until sunset to eat reminds us that patience and perseverance yield greater rewards. In a world driven by instant gratification, where social media and technology cater to our every whim, Ramadhan forces us to slow down and exercise restraint. This lesson extends far beyond the holy month. Whether in academia, career growth, or personal development, success is rarely immediate. It is the disciplined individual, not the merely motivated one, who reaches the highest peaks. Moreover, Ramadhan's discipline extends beyond fasting. It governs speech, actions, and even thoughts. The month teaches us to control anger, to speak kindly and to reflect on our behaviours. This level of self-awareness aligns with Emerson's belief that true growth comes from within. He urged individuals to be true to themselves, to cultivate inner strength rather than rely on external influences. Similarly, Ramadhan is a time when we step away from distractions and look inward, building resilience and character through self-discipline. In Oman, where tradition and modernity coexist, discipline is a cornerstone of both personal and national development. The country's steady progress, its commitment to education and its ability to balance cultural heritage with global advancement all stem from disciplined efforts. The values learned during Ramadhan — self-control, perseverance and reliance on inner strength — are the same principles that drive Oman's success. Ramadhan has shown me that discipline is not about deprivation but about empowerment. It is about gaining control over one's desires, thoughts and actions. Emerson's self-reliance, the wisdom of the quote I read on X, and the traditions of Oman all point to the same truth: motivation may spark the journey, but only discipline will see it through to the end.
Observer
10-03-2025
- General
- Observer
Ramadhan's discipline: A lesson in self-reliance
Every year, Ramadhan arrives as a spiritual retreat, a time of self-restraint, reflection and renewal. While it is primarily a month of fasting and devotion, I have come to see Ramadhan as the ultimate test of discipline. The pre-dawn meal (Suhoor), the long hours without food or drink and the structured prayers require an unwavering commitment that goes beyond fleeting moments of motivation. It is during this sacred month that I have truly understood the saying I once read on X: 'Discipline takes you places that motivation can't.' Ralph Waldo Emerson, in his famous essay Self-Reliance, speaks about the importance of trusting oneself and rejecting conformity. His words resonate deeply with the lessons of Ramadhan. The ability to wake up before dawn, to resist the urge to break one's fast before sunset, and to remain committed to spiritual and personal growth — all require a form of self-reliance that Emerson championed. He wrote, 'Nothing can bring you peace but yourself.' This echoes the discipline of Ramadhan, where the strength to endure hunger, fatigue, and the temptation to falter comes not from external validation but from an internal commitment to faith and self-improvement. For me, Ramadhan has reinforced the idea that discipline is a muscle that grows stronger with consistent effort. Motivation, on the other hand, is fleeting. It is easy to feel motivated on the first day of fasting when enthusiasm is high, but by the tenth day, motivation often wanes. This is where discipline carries us through. It is what pushes students to study late into the night and professionals to keep striving for excellence despite setbacks. In Oman, and the general Islamic world, where community and faith are central to our identity, Ramadhan becomes a collective exercise in discipline. The entire nation shifts into a rhythm of self-control and spiritual dedication, reinforcing the idea that personal discipline has a broader social impact. One of the greatest lessons Ramadhan has taught me is the power of delayed gratification. The simple act of waiting until sunset to eat reminds us that patience and perseverance yield greater rewards. In a world driven by instant gratification, where social media and technology cater to our every whim, Ramadhan forces us to slow down and exercise restraint. This lesson extends far beyond the holy month. Whether in academia, career growth, or personal development, success is rarely immediate. It is the disciplined individual, not the merely motivated one, who reaches the highest peaks. Moreover, Ramadhan's discipline extends beyond fasting. It governs speech, actions, and even thoughts. The month teaches us to control anger, to speak kindly and to reflect on our behaviours. This level of self-awareness aligns with Emerson's belief that true growth comes from within. He urged individuals to be true to themselves, to cultivate inner strength rather than rely on external influences. Similarly, Ramadhan is a time when we step away from distractions and look inward, building resilience and character through self-discipline. In Oman, where tradition and modernity coexist, discipline is a cornerstone of both personal and national development. The country's steady progress, its commitment to education and its ability to balance cultural heritage with global advancement all stem from disciplined efforts. The values learned during Ramadhan — self-control, perseverance and reliance on inner strength — are the same principles that drive Oman's success. Ramadhan has shown me that discipline is not about deprivation but about empowerment. It is about gaining control over one's desires, thoughts and actions. Emerson's self-reliance, the wisdom of the quote I read on X, and the traditions of Oman all point to the same truth: motivation may spark the journey, but only discipline will see it through to the end.
