If in Dowd

"Over the coming years, your bodies will be changing." It was 2012, in an uncomfortable primary school classroom. This was it: the day that everyone had been anticipating for years. We heard whispers of what to expect from siblings over the weeks prior. We were nervous, anxious and very giddy. We were getting 'The Talk' . For those not from Ireland, 'The Talk' is the colloquial expression for the introduction sexual education class that primary school students receive at around the age of 12. It's an afternoon in which the girls go red as beetroots at the mention of menstruation and the lads hide their smirks and giggles with their jumpers when shown diagrams of the male anatomy. Unfortunately in my case and in the case of my classmates our introduction to sex education was the practically the extent of our sexual education. There's a reason that it's labelled 'the' talk, in the singular, I suppose. Over the 6 years following, we had p...

The scramble for tickets is just insane. Thousands of teenagers and adults battling on TripAdvisor to get good seats. And after a couple of stressful moments, no more tickets! Isn't it so funny. This is the Coldplay that is doing duets with Rihanna and Beyonce, this is the Coldplay that releases EDM records. It's a very different Coldplay to that of 2005. These two are from the album 'X + Y'. My dad used to have this in the car the whole time so I had months of listening to the album nonstop - but that was years ago. I hit shuffle on Spotify and heard Square One - the opening track, one I recognised instantly from the distinctive riff. Square One is a very interesting start to the album - the synth combined with loud guitars gives the band a very unique sound. The track really builds up. The guitars pick up pace and the song is very lively heading from the chorus into the second verse. There's a James Bond-like riff to follow every line. It's one of my favou...

"YOU support murdering children?"   It was a simple exchange. We were talking about faith in the modern world, and I foolishly dropped the 'A Word'. Hinting my feelings in relation to this controversial topic, I was immediately stopped in my tracks. My words had led to a judgement being made about my character and my personality. This headline from Waterford Whispers News summarises what has happened to the debate in Ireland: It's ironic, because since the debate has come into general public consideration in Ireland, it has almost become more of a taboo. A highly emotionally-charged debate, both sides will shoot the other down with provocative statements. People are afraid to open their mouths about it in case they are ridiculed for their views. This is exacerbated by the far-left and far-right musings on social media, suggesting that there is little or no middle-ground in this debate. Whatever side of the tracks you are on, or whether you have made ...

What the frogurt is frogurt, you ask? It's not the latest Game of Thrones character to be murdered, alas it is the latest abbreviation from the world of gastronomy. ' Frogurt ' is a term used to describe frozen yogurt, an ice-cream equivalent that is the latest food phenomenon. What irritates me about frogurt is not the stupid name, but moreso the way the treat has been marketed as a healthy option. Yes I'm sure it is the 'low-fat', healthier alternative to ice cream. I'm not here to argue the science of this trend, but I just feel that people are somehow under the illusion that because what they are eating is 'yogurt', it is magically good for them. Please don't tell me that you think chocolate flavoured frozen yogurt is healthy - it's a desert, plain and simple. On any given weekend in Dundrum shopping centre, swarms of teens are to be seen Instagramming* their mountains of frogurt, scattered with a wide variety of unhealthy confectione...

That's it: I've had my fun on the radio. Now I better go back to learning Irish irregular verbs. Though it scares me to say it, the commitments of the Leaving Cert will take up most of my time over the next year. I have ambitious plans to study from the crack of dawn on Sunday mornings. If I stick to my plans, I'm going to need to be full of beans and enthusiasm when I wake up. Currently on Sunday mornings I am mentally and physically at my weakest - think of the guy who says ' YARP ' in the film Hot Fuzz (that's before I have eaten my Weetabix*). Therefore, it would make sense that I would put my radio interest on pause for the next year to focus on academia. I suppose one could say that I'm going on ' hiatus '. However I always feel a bit cautious around using that term. It's most often associated with bands who've washed up and been dropped by their record label. Usually these groups don't survive the hiatus and become regulars on re...

DISCLAIMER: This article has absolutely nothing to do with the 90s rap one hit wonder Coolio. He probably Googles himself from time to time and might come across this. There we were, about 10 minutes into a 3 hour journey on the Italian autostrada .. air conditioning was at full blast, we were slowly but surely getting the hang of driving on the right hand side and learning the local drivers idiosyncratic inability to indicate when changing lanes. I was sitting in the back and remembered a question posed to me by someone before I jetted off: “Do you have any Italian?” - a fair question, to which I responded: “Does the word pizza count?” . I asked the same question to my fellow travellers, hoping that when we reached our destination at least one of us would actually be able to converse in the vernacular. They admitted that they only had a few words. "How do you say ‘hello’ in Italian?” I piped up, alarmed by my own ignorance. There was an awkward silence as nobody could g...