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Message from the Director
About me, Derry, and BCA's program at Magee College…
Most of my friends think of me as a "global nomad," but I prefer the metaphor of "sailor," not only because I spent a few years at sea when I was younger, but also because it captures more clearly something about my perspective on life, as well. The sea is tempestuous and always in motion, even when it appears calm on the surface. It often reminds me that attempts to tame, organize, and permanently control life as it is lived upon the land, are manifestations of what are probably deep illusions about the nature of life. Instead, my sense is that the challenge is to accommodate oneself to the life of our planet, much as a sailor does to the sea - with respect, some significant sense of awe, and a sense of mystery because some things cannot be known.
The metaphor of sailor also means that I've encountered many different "realities" - in different countries; different cultures; and, most interestingly in individuals who on the surface seem to inhabit the same reality as others. My Federal Court case against the US Secretary of Defense when I was a military officer some years ago served to confirm my sense that realities are sometimes in competition with each other, and therefore I developed a lifelong commitment to trying to transcend the conditions that lead us to that most devastating reality - war. But, I've also realized that this cannot be accomplished through puritanical seriousness, and that instead it has to be done through joy, laughter and forms of intellectual play that keep life singing.
It's for these reasons that I'm so pleased to serve as BCA's Resident Director in Derry, because despite its tempestuous history of conflict it is, as the poet Seamus Heaney noted, a place "where hope and history rhyme." And that has never been clearer than today when the Peace Process in Northern Ireland seems set to create realities most people never thought possible. Derry, the Walled City, is rich in history and beautifully situated on the Foyle River with the mountains of Donegal surrounding it. Throughout its tempestuous past Derry has maintained a joy in music and language that is unsurpassed on the island of Ireland. You'll learn to say "aye" instead of "yes," "wee" instead of "little," and "ye" rather than "you," as ye become part of its rich cultural traditions. And I'll insure that the courses that BCA students take at Magee College of the University of Ulster, some of which I teach, contribute to that experience because its my goal that you'll gain a sense that you are participating in the rhyming of hope and history!
Jim Skelly
BCA Director - Derry
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