A Vision of Life on Earth

A narrated account of an academic's study of Northern Ireland visions and his collection of diagonal images...and diplomatic foods.

An anthropological magnification of life in a troubled portion of modern Earth, which I've never been to but which makes for an unusually 'dioramic' tale about...human dignity. 

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I travel to Northern Ireland by air (Aer Lingus) for a special anthropological report about the magic of the life there.

The sectarian war between Irish-Catholics and British-Protestants in Northern Ireland based on socioeconomic-disparity induced frustrations and disagreements, between the Irish Republican Army and the Ulster Volunteer Force and British police-military leads to the iconography of this rather strange (and long!) Western civilization tale, which offers us strange 'trinkets' and 'mementos' of a rather hideous history involving 'soldiers' which can be called metaphorically 'candymen' of inter-religious hauntings.

You never know exactly what an IRA man/woman might look like or for that matter what he/she is dressed like to be disguised or guerrilla in appearance.

The long history between the Irish resistance, the IRA, and the British government has given us these anthropological images, which I begin collecting during my visit to Northern Ireland in 2021.

It's not just the bad luck of the Irish that makes Northern Ireland a somewhat poor tourist-destination because of the troubles between the Catholic-Protestant population, since we know of a similar story in Kashmir (Asia) between Hindus and Muslims, but nevertheless, this Irish 'tale' offers us imagery about the eerie dance of liberty's offspring (and claustrophobia maybe).

I find images of these underground 'candymen' in this inter-religious 'battle' between the two dominant denominations of the world Christian community, and I start to think about ale, really (and medicine).

Mostly, the images of haunting Belfast I find, of grey mornings, amidst these Western sectarian troubles helps me to see why I'm so fortunate to be an American and enjoy Notre Dame Fightin' Irish college-football games on Saturdays on NBC, but Northern Ireland is a strange contrast in this anthropological study I'm doing in the United Kingdom.

I consider myself a world-traveler and a critic of anthropological studies, and I've been to Thailand, France, Mexico, Canada, India, England, Germany, Romania, all over the USA, and South Korea, and now I'm in Northern Ireland for a Dartmouth study about the magic of this troubled place, so I feel like a goodly nerd...and brave too.

I start drinking a lot and start visiting various Irish eateries in Northern Ireland and decide to 'shift' my study to the photography of the kindly Irish waitresses serving up great food really in this sometime violent place, hampered by the sadness of alienated hospitalities.

Maybe the real avatar for the troubled Irish-Catholic minority in Northern Ireland is the folk-horror character Lubdan, an evil leprechaun who has no choice but to deliver souls to hell for trying to dare to steal his magical pots of gold (hehe).

So, I start making a scrapbook of the kindly Irish waitresses in the eateries of Northern Ireland, and it feels like a nice mosaic for this anthropological study or magnification of humanity gone somewhat diagonal...but it's a story.

I start collecting all sorts of eatery-media and tokens and trinkets and realize my love of anthropology has made me something of a jungle-explorer.

The food is great, and so's the beer, folks/friends.

I'm no James Bond, but I feel like the 'Storm-Shadow' suddenly of United Kingdom customs/metrics.

I find an incredible and haunting painting of a leaning Irish waitress in Northern Ireland and consider it a nice symbol of the value of this foreign (and unusual!) anthropological study.

This sectarian 'war' between the 'candymen' of 'taste' (no better terminology!) leads me to some nifty eateries in Northern Ireland where I can put behind my education in inter-religious hell and think about the dreamy quality of just sitting down and eating and appreciating what life is giving me.

I take photos of the Northern Ireland eateries, some very very nice, and of the kindly waitresses, and I start to ask myself, "Am I a cannibal?"

The Irish curries are really awesome, and I realize being interested in worldly cuisine has led me to a sweet-note in this dour anthropological photo-analysis and study of what comprises Western civilization inter-religious hijacked daydreams.

War is hell, and we've images of war from just about everywhere, and it's involved both beautiful women and long-suffering men, some insane, some relentless, some depressed, and I consider this Northern Ireland study a portrait into the vision of Earth's strange charms.

When I get back to the golden and fortunate United States, which doesn't suffer the humility of occasional inter-religious hell, a friend on Wall Street (NY) asks me if I was 'frightened' to be 'blown up' by an IRA/UVF attack during my study of Northern Ireland visions, and I tell him about the view of the 'candymen war of taste' in that troubled area of Western civilization and I tell him, "The luck of the Irish is varied I'm certain, but the green flowers of 'taste' are rather expositional."

I met a Scotland Yard cop while in Northern Ireland who asked me, "Do you feel brave conducting this study?" to which I had no real instinct but to softly reply, "Life on Earth is a green dollar."

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"Money is everything" (Ecclesiastes)