US-Ireland Alliance

Mitchell Scholars Gather in Belfast 

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March 2012 – The Mitchell Scholars came together in Northern Ireland in late February for their Mid-Year Retreat, as they do every year. It was a jam-packed four days of history, politics, food, poetry, and endless conversation about everything from theater to the relationship between China and Africa.

The Retreat began with a wonderful dinner in the on-the-move Cathedral Quarter of Belfast, full of art spaces and restaurants. Our restaurant, Made in Belfast, featured local products on the plate and mismatched chairs on which to sit. Really good food, and a fantastic chandelier to boot. Bright and early the next morning, we were given a tour of Stormont. The Parliament Buildings are housed in an imposing edifice on a hill, and our guide was full of enlightening historical tidbits. We were able to meet with First Minister Peter Robinson and Deputy First Minister Martin McGuinness, and so able to see power-sharing in action. What we thought would be simply a brief chat ended up as a sit-down conversation. Topics included the tension between the environment and business development and the ever-present question of how Northern Ireland should deal with its past.

Lunch at the historic Crown Saloon was followed by a fascinating meet-up with former paramilitaries, organized by Professor Dominic Bryan of Queen’s University. In the evening, the US Consulate in Belfast hosted a lively reception for the Mitchells at the Residence. Acting Consul General Kevin Roland and Public Affairs Specialist Peter McKittrick were fantastic hosts, and the crowd included guests from Belfast’s burgeoning digital and creative communities. Fashion designers rubbed elbows with television producers, Web impresarios mingled with venture capitalists, and historians exchanged bon mots with political activists. A diverse and fascinating crew, and a rousing good time.

The Mitchells were then whisked off the Belfast Singer-Songwriters Festival for a concert at the May St. Church by American John Oates and Northern Ireland’s Iain Archer and Gareth Dunlop.

The next day included a fascinating tour of Belfast’s famous murals with Dom Bryan, who is both a font of knowledge and vastly entertaining; a talk by another Queen’s professor, Peter Shirlow, on the post-Troubles political landscape of Northern Ireland, and a reading by several writers at the Heaney Centre at Queen’s. A trio of poets – Medbh McGuckian, Leontia Flynn, and Benjamin Maier – read along with crime novelist Stuart Neville (“Ghosts of Belfast”), who said he was there to “bring down the tone,” although his acerbic, taut prose did anything but.

Day Three was an outdoorsy day, as we piled into a coach and headed up the Antrim Coast to the famed (and scarily swaying) Carrick-a-Rede Bridge and the impressive UNESCO site Giant’s Causeway.

We pulled into Derry/Londonderry just in time to change for a fantastic but brief dinner at a restaurant called the Custom House before rushing off to a production of  playwright Frank McGuinness “Carthaginians.” Written in the ’80s, the play looks at the events surrounding Bloody Sunday in 1972. Now being revived as part of the 40^th anniversary commemoration of Bloody Sunday, the play was directed by actor-director Adrian Dunbar and is touring both Ireland and Northern Ireland. Playwright McGuinness was Mitchell Scholar Katie Marcum’s professor during the fall 2011 semester at UCD, and it was her idea that we go to Derry to see the play in the very place where it is set. The references to American pop culture were pronounced, most notably in the use of Don McLean’s music (anyone remember “American Pie”?) and mentions of the old television show “The Jetsons.” McGuinness greeted us after the curtain, which we really enjoyed.

Day Four, our last day, featured Pauline Ross, the dedicated founder and director of the Derry Playhouse, leading us on a walk around the historic city’s walls and explaining a bit about what it was like to grow up there, when, as a student, you’d come out of the pub to face barricades and possibility of bombs. Ross took us to the church of  Presbyterian Minister David Latimer, whose church overlooks the Catholic Bogside neighborhood where the events of Bloody Sunday took place. Latimer made waves last fall when he elected to address Sinn Fein’s annual conference and spoke of his “deep friendship” with Martin McGuinness. The visit was an unscheduled – and fascinating – treat, and a wonderful way to wind up our Retreat before we all scattered to every corner of the island.

-- Anne Glusker