Recess!

Hello again! I've been busy working and playing and haven't had time to update, so be prepared for a long one! Two weeks ago, I went to Derry/Londonderry with Niki and Jason for three days. The city is Derry/Londonderry because it was originally called Derry, which is derived from the Irish word for oak trees, which used to be plentiful back in the day. The London part was added when England attempted to 'plant' Ireland with English Protestants. A bunch of London guilders (businessmen) funded the sprucing up of Derry, and got London added to the name for their trouble. This has caused conflict, however, between the Catholic community, who likes to maintain the name 'Derry' and the Protestant community, who prefers 'Londonderry.' The debate has caused so much trouble that some people now refer to it as 'Stroke City' since they always have to call the city 'Derry-stroke-Londonderry' to otherwise keep people happy. Could you imagine if some people wanted to keep calling New York 'New Amsterdam' after the name was changed?
Anyway, despite the drama over what to call this place, we went and really enjoyed ourselves! The first photo shows Niki enjoying our lovely hostel which was located just outside the city walls. We had decent weather the whole time we were there, so we were able to walk all the way around the city on top of the city walls. From these ancient walls, we could see the Bogside, which was a hotbed for conflict during the troubles. Nowadays, people are working hard to change that. The second photo shows one of the newer murals that is now in the Bogside. Each square was painted by a different school in the Derry/Londonderry area. All different colors were used, so that no one would feel offended, since colors represent politics in Northern Ireland. The image of the dove over the colored squares represents peace, and the left wing is even carefully created from the word 'peace.' The other wing is created from half of an oak leaf, which is still an important symbol for the city. The next photo is also taken from the walls of the Bogside. It depicts typical symbols used to 'mark territory' in a way.
The last picture was taken elsewhere inside the city walls, I can't remember exactly where. I find graffiti in Northern Ireland extremely interesting. If you think about it, one goes to a bit of trouble to graffiti something on a public wall. There's the gathering of appropriate materials, and the risk of being caught. So whatever is to be written must be of great importance to the 'artist.' In many cases, this has to do with politics and paramilitaries. But in some cases it doesn't. In the case of this final photo, it's not about politics or paramilitaries. Amid the scribbles of initials and names is the phrase, "You don't hafty spend money to give."
I agree.