A storyteller's perspective on everything you would ever want to know about creativity, health, happiness, parenting, wellbeing and blagging your way into parties at 3am
Follow the Rab at https://twitter.com/haveringrab
Storytelling
is one of the oldest and most powerful ways of sharing wonder, laughter and
amazement, and of transporting your head, heart and soul to new and incredible
dimensions.
To
experience storytelling at its most magical, hilarious and sometimes terrifying
come along to hear me telling stories in the Cottage Bar every Thursday evening from June 5th to September 25th.
I’ll be telling CELTIC TALES from the myths, folklore and urban legends of Ireland and
Scotland.
When: Thursday evenings
Where: The Cottage Bar
Time:
8.00pm
Price: 10
Euro / 7 Euro Concessions
Tel: 087 654 5411
Map to Cottage Bar
Here’s the latest Q & As from Go Ask Alice. Questions include ‘Girlfriend
broke it off – Am I stalking?', ‘Can loneliness kill?’, ‘Eyelid twitching’ and
lots more… Have a look at the links and click on any that interest you. If you
find the links useful, feel free to tell your friends
The latest Go Ask Alice book
is available in the Wellness Centre at the back of The Hub - drop in any time
for a read.
Copyright (C) 2014 Columbia University All rights reserved.
Remember, if you have problems or worries you feel you would like to
talk about confidentially, contact Cindy Dring, Health Promotion Officer for
NUI Galway at 091-492048. Alternatively e-mail her at cindy.dring@nuigalway.ie
or just drop in to Aras Ni Eimhigh.
Trying to keep up with who
and what to fear and hate can be a bit gruelling. Is it Russians this week we
should be cowering from, or perhaps fourth wave feminists or is it the turn of
teenagers yet again?
Be afraid! Scary feminists are after you!
A possible solution to this
tiring business is to find one thing that we can all agree is the enemy of everybody.
That way we can all have one daily dose of panic and terror that doesn’t
involve using up so much energy reading papers, surfing the internet or
listening to the latest gossip in the gym, pub or local mother and toddler
group. We get our quick shot of fear and then get on with studying, working,
raising babies, scratching our arse and / or smelling the daffodils.
Fortunately there is one thing that may
indeed fit the role of evil and malign terror, and that is BACTERIA… If recent
reports are anything to go by it seems that anti-biotic resistant BACTERIA may
be about to wipe us all out (even Russian feminist teenagers). If recent media
speculation is anything to go by our extinction may happen as soon as next
year, next month or even next Thursday.
The danger we are facing is that antibiotics are
becoming less effective at killing bacteria, or rather bacteria are becoming
more stubborn in their desire not to be wiped out. A World Health Organisation report
spells out the very real dangers in the treatment in many illness
including Gonorrhoea and
Tuberculosis. More worryingly the introduction to the report considers that ‘a post-antibiotic era – in which common
infections and minor injuries can kill – far from being an apocalyptic fantasy,
is instead a very real possibility for the 21st Century.’
However,
such a bleak future is not inevitable. Bleak futures never are. There are
reasons why antibiotics are becoming less effective, not least the mass
production of antibiotics for profit by pharmaceutical industry and the use of
those antibiotics both in the treatment of humans and in farming.
The
WHO report highlights that the over use and inappropriate use of antibiotics
has allowed bacteria to build up resistance. In Ireland the HSE has also
drawn attention to this in an online feature bluntly entitled ‘Antibiotics
don't work on colds and flu’ which includes charts on sicknesses
that do and do not need antibiotics.
The
WHO has good advice for what can be done to begin tackling this problem, namely
there has to be a reduction in the use of antibiotics in humans and in animals
and an increase in hand hygiene. This sounds simple enough but sadly the nature
of politics and lobbying will no doubt delay any meaningful action.
But
this does not mean we are powerless. Despite the headlines there are things we
can do starting today which will help us look after ourselves and our planet.
We can wash our hands properly. We can eat organic food. And we can demand that
our elected officials listen to the WHO and not the lobbyist from the
pharmaceutical industry.
Of
course we can do nothing and when the antibiotic resistant shit hits the fan
blame it all on those pesky Russian feminist teenagers.
Keep up to date
by following this blog on twitter at:@RBizzness
Storytelling
is one of the oldest and most powerful ways of sharing wonder, laughter and
amazement, and of transporting your head, heart and soul to new and incredible
dimensions.
