Travel
This is the way to skate!
Posted on | December 14, 2008 | No Comments
Last March, I was lucky enough to go to New York for a few days with my daughter, sister, her husband and daughter - it was a wonderful break and a beautiful city. It was cold and we headed down to the ice rink at the Rockefeller center a couple of times, I didn’t dare venture on the ice, but if I did this is what I would have been like:
A brave skater under the guidance of the Rockefeller Center’s Prometheus sculptor
Meanwhile Bebhinn makes good progress
Rome, Philosophy and St. Cyril
Posted on | September 26, 2008 | 2 Comments
I spent a week in Rome at The Grandeur of Reason - Philosophy and Theology Conference. I was there as a spectator and as partner of Cyril - who gave a paper on a very grand and reasonable topic at this conference. It was really nice that partners could be included and encouraged to attend. There was lots to do - Rome is just amazing. The eternal city as Paschal told us. You can see the historical layers of the city intertwined beneath your feet (and in front of your eyes) all round you.
It was a really great week. I met loads of really interesting people - Shelly from San Francisco, in particular. The organisers were amazing, so inclusive of all the people who were there and so committed to their area and to networking. Myself and Cyril were very happy to sit at one of the dinners with the incredibly respectful and esteemed philosopher - François Laruelle (I didn’t know this at the time) but I was very taken with his patience as the three of us tried to chat, we had a little french and he had a little english. Overall, it was really great to be in the company of such committed and talented scholars, who were also fun.
On one of our afternoons in Rome, we checked out the Sistine Chapel and found Cyril’s patron saint - St. Cyril of course.
Cyril and Saint Cyril
Cyril and the Ancient Philosophers
We also came across Raffaello “Scuola di Atene (Raphael, The School of Athens) painting “depicting Plato pointing upwards (the idealist) and Aristotle pointing downwards (the realist) talking together symbolising St. Thomas Aquinas taking the best of Aristotle and the best of Plato together with his belief in creation out of nothing to produce one of the most remarkable world picture characteristic of medieval times” Cyril’s words ….and so another photo opportunity to show the philosphical nature of this existing Cyril was taken.