Galester

Living in Europe must have somehow fueled a darker sense of cynicism in my heart.  Looking over my initial posts and other reflections, I have (and continue to) felt disenfranchised, bordering depressed, and certainly anxious for something else.  That’s crap.  I’m Michael Gale, one of the most ridiculously positive people in my circle of friends and probably above average in the ambitious and loving categories.

The next couple of weeks are a time of excitement and hard work.  I have decided that against all odds, I will complete my graduate thesis on July 27th, even if I must sacrifice the quality of the research or writing.  From then I will be free to pursue other interests in activism and public service.  I already have most of my weekends in August lined up with conferences and meetings including a reunion of my Truman Scholar class and a membership retreat for SustainUS, an organization with which I am involved.  These are going to be some really exciting times as long as meet the required objectives of "making it happen," especially with regards to my thesis.

What’s with the sudden change?  First, I just had a ridiculously fortuitous time in Dublin.  We had a series of events planned for Mitchell Scholars that included a musical that I had already seen and a tour of the Chester Beatty Museum, a must see for any visitor to Dublin.  At his home in Phoenix Park, the Mitchell Scholars got to have a conversation with Bertie Ahern, the Taoiseach (Prime Minister) of the Republic of Ireland.  We talked about science in Ireland, professional wrestling, and the contentious political issues of the day.  I was very humbled to have met my first "world leader," and actually I think I was the only person in the group who was visibly nervous.  The highlight of the week though was seeing U2 and Bono in concert in their home of Dublin, Ireland.  I have always been a fan of the band and yet I have never had the chance to see them in concert.  The show was amazing and full of progressive and meaningful social and political messaging including a display of the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.  My friend Paul made the funny remark, "the readership just doubled."  Although he might be right, it was quite empowering.

Second, beginning the transitional work of leaving Ireland and moving back to the United States to pick up where I left off has reminded me of what has been important to me.  Empowerment is what I am about.  I spent my time in public service so far working to empower students and other youth in their own personal development journeys, particularly with regards to advocating environmental issues.  I have had an amazing year in Ireland, despite many  roadblocks and bad times, but now I am ready to move on to something greater and more wonderful than I have ever achieved.  I hope that my friends and associates will be there to motivate me as you have always done. 

My time in Ireland is coming to a close in only four weeks.  In theory, this has and will be my busiest time here.  This past year I have been conducting research on protected areas designation policy in Ireland, looking specifically at the appeals process of the policy.  The final paper of this thesis, and the total basis of my research degree, is supposedly due on July 27th.  However I can’t imagine that being true.  It’s like some sort of bad dream.  There is no way I can finish by that date.  I had been told earlier in the term that the deadline would be sometime in late August or September, and that is what I based my research schedule on.  At this point, I should be able to buckle down, finish the research, and start writing.  Life would be grand if I could get the bloody thing out of the way, but is that what I am working on right now?  Hardly.

My only comforts in life right now are the Simpsons Season 5 DVD, late night conversations with my gracious housemate Noreen, and the fortuitous delights that come with living in a really interesting place.  The pain and pressure of the pending thesis completion resting on my shoulders has pushed me down into a cavernous vacuum of empty hedonism and apathy.  Despite my reputation for ambitious endeavors, I find myself quite content watching DVDs, reading magazines, reading emails, chatting online with friends, and thinking about all the things I should be doing.   

To make matters worse, I find myself losing various material and superficial possessions that make me happy.  Several weeks ago I went to see Lisa Loeb in concert: an amazing show and an amazing night.  I ran into a random friend from college, James McConchie, and the night was most excellent.  Then I thought it would be a really excellent idea to rest my digital camera on my pint glass, and yes the camera fell into my beer.  The camera was ruined, so I thought.  Now the camera actually works, but the pictures it takes are completely black.  However I discovered yesterday that if you place the lens directly in front of a strong light source, you can make out a slight image in the LCD projector.  This means that the camera is working but for some reason is not getting any light; so close yet so far away.  Also making matters worse, I was pick-pocketed the other night when I also had a random encounter with old friends.  I ran into a girl from my high school, Stephanie Tyree, at the bar and during the night was hanging with some random friends from college who happen to be studying in a town an hour away to the east.  I hate being victimized.  In my wallet at the time, I had all the money that was supposed to last me the rest of the summer (“graduation” money from the parents”) that I just had converted at the bank earlier that day.  I also lost my drivers license, some print photos of my family, and every Chinese fortune I had ever gotten from those delectable and infamous cookies.  I’m going to see if the bar will let me put up a ‘wanted’ poster or something, but I doubt it.  The Irish are not very cooperative with victimized Americans or foreigners, especially if you are a person of color.

So now here I am, typing away in one window the sorrows of a man who has most if not everything going for him and in the other the Cape Fear episode of the Simpsons.  I have always struggled with my status as a self-proclaimed “privileged vagabond.”  As my mother says, I am “hoeing” myself out to my housemate for free rent, I really do not wake up any day with any particular purpose or plan, and I have zero motivation to do anything about it.  However I do recognize the privileges that I have, the wonderful people in my life, and all of the skills and possibilities that are completely within my reach.  I need some serious stimuli right now to get back on track, but until I get a consistent source of food money, a personal recognition of the importance of things other than money, and a sparkle of attraction in the work that I am not doing, I will probably go back downstairs, lay in bed, and watch Simpsons Season 5 again; but this time with audio commentary. 

‘But it doesn’t mean you ain’t been on my mind.’

Loads have been on my mind this past year: years and spots of people, places, and communities I have called home.  From the rain forests of Australia to my humble roots in the park system of West Virginia, I have moved from place to place never really fully understanding where "home" was.  Really, West Virginia will always be my home, but the physicality of that identity has been changing for the past several years now.

For those of you not obsessed with staying abreast of the Michael Gale Experience, I have spent the past year living in Galway, Ireland, a small yet thriving cultural and commercial community in the developing west of Ireland.  I have been pursuing graduate studies for a M.Sc. in Zoology doing research on protected areas designation policy in Ireland, funded by the George Mitchell Scholarship program of the U.S.-Ireland Alliance.  For more detailed accounts of my adventures throughout this past year, check out the on-line journal I kept for the "Alliance" at http://www.us-irelandalliance.org/journals.phtml

In the next four weeks, my journey in Europe will come to a close with my return to the United States on July 17th en route to Charleston, WV via a possible few day stay in Washington, DC.  If any of you DC folks would like to lobby me either way on such a visit, please feel free to do so.  I am excited to be returning home to spend some quality time with the family and to obtain a focus on my priorities for the few but remaining years of my youth.

As for activities, who knows.  I have loads of impossible but idealist ideas of projects to take on over the next year, most of which are in environmental media and campaign organizing.  In the end I need to find income, so I will be looking for paying jobs and will probably abandon the ideas that have little institutional support. 

For support is what I am really looking for over the next year.  I have spent several years traveling and working in different locations: a year in DC, a summer on Cape Cod, and now a year in Europe.  Throughout the time, I have made loads of fantastic friends and connections, but I am losing them as I become lazy, chubbier and less attractive than usual, and void of any specific or particular purpose to "wake up to in the morning."  In hopes of garnering the support of my networks of friends, associates, and colleagues, I hope that as I reach out to people they will reach back and reconnect along the lines that initially brought us together.

This is where I need the help of you, my peeps.  I have gotten a lot better with emails, reading blogs of friends, exchanging photos and jokes of respective adventures, and even writing hand-written postcards (even though I have not yet moved onto hand-written letters).  I would love to hear from the differing people from the different walks of life that I have trotted over these past years.  UF gang, West Virginia folk, summer exchange kids, anyone and anywhere.  Email me updates, links to blogs, and whatever, and hopefully over the next couple of months I can catch up to all the wonderful things going on in people’s lives and feel reconnected again with all that I left behind when I moved to Europe. 

Help make it happen?

Friendsters, I have been frustrated over the past year or so at my inability to actively stay in touch with the people and places that have made me the person that I am today. I love Friendster and the way it allows me to stay connected with friends, but the wires between us have been far too silent. To keep y’all abreast of what I am doing, I hope to update this blog periodically with posts about the goings of the day and what I am up to in life. Read away, check regularly but not often, and post comments!