Monday, 26 December 2005

hand the man his shades.

I find it to be no small thing that all of the following 3 people are Irish in descent:
1. CS Lewis
2. Bono
3. Ashley Lovell
Hear me now--I do not AT ALL place myself on some hierarchy of talent and fame beside these people. I am the one running the cotton candy machine at their theme parks. I am the face-painted fan at their concerts. I am the one who kinda wants to be a librarian so I can have access to more information about them. I am not like them at all.

Now, that being said, what the crap--we are all Irish? (Not to mention Damien Rice, who actually has relevancy to this story.)

So my incredibly cool mother stuffed my stocking with the latest TIME Magazine.


I know Bono is cool, and U2 is an amazing rock band, and I'm one of the many who claim some special connection with them. But there has been this book at Border's that I've wanted for like 6 months now, an in depth interview between Bono and Michka Assayas. My super cool mom ALSO got me this book for Christmas! So, tonight I am reading the magazine and finding Bono to be someone I need to be paying more attention to, because he loves Africa. There is a picture in the article of him hugging Nelson Mandela that I'd pay some serious money to have blown up and hung in my bedroom.
Anyways, I'm just saying that all the inspirational famous men in my life are Irish. And U2's song "walk on"?---it's about The Lady of Burma...the one Damien Rice wrote "Unplayed Piano" for. Tell me you see the significance of this! It's like this summer when I found out Ghandi spent 22 years in South Africa. All these worlds collide!

The following quotes should interest you:
""The key to some extent is faith," says Mike Gerson, the President's assistant for policy and strategic planning. Gerson and Budget Director Josh Bolten are evangelical Christians who believe there's a biblical imperative to help the world's poor."

Bono--"I try to live (my faith) rather than talk about it because there are enough secondhand-car salesman for God. But I cannot escape my conviction that God is interested in the progress of mankind, individually and collectively."

Go read the article. I feel like a 5th grader trying to be cool by promoting Bono. He's just a reason to exhale for people like me who still hopefully hold their breath when it comes to a worldwide apathy to genocide & lethargic governmental responses to 3rd world plights: disease and death, poverty, and human rights.

5 comments:

Emma said...

Ashley- you are just as cool as those other two people you mentioned. I like Bono, but sometimes he is overrated. I mean, there are dozens upon dozens of people who aren't rich and famous who live lives that honor God and those people to me are just as cool if not cooler than Bono. He has a platform, so he uses it. "To who much is given, much is expected". So, I think you are definitely as cool as him and I am sure if he ever met you, he'd agree.

Anonymous said...

You can be my Bono. I think you're just that cool. I didn't know Walk On was about Aunty Sue- no way!

Mark Kelly Hall said...

Yes, WE Irish people got it goin' on (note middle name)! My grandmother's family were/are the Kelly's, and--as I understand--the former O'Kelly's until arriving in America, fleeing (I assume, based on nothing but statistics) the potato famine. Not much detail to boast a connection to the Old Country, (though my grandmother was born c. 1898) but I'll take it. I'll really milk it if I ever get a chance to go to Ireland with my guitar!

P.S.: If you ever get a chance to see the PBS series on the Irish In America, do.

Mark Kelly Hall said...

You forgot alcoholism and anger, and often unintelligible speech. But, hey, you can pick your friends but you're stuck with your relatives, so why not make the best of it, right?

Anonymous said...

I have been looking for sites like this for a long time. Thank you! » »