2012 - We Bid Adieu

If, like me, you've spent your holidays sniffling, sneezing, snorting and generally suffering head-cold induced misery or are just unmotivated to venture outside while the Irish weather combines monsoon and hurricane conditions you may be in need of some good reading material.

I'm a sucker for nostalgic end of year reviews. I think we all like to feel that we've made some progress as one year ends and another begins and looking back over all that has happened reassures us that the year wasn't wasted.  There are tons of reviews of 2012 online at the moment and to save you trawling through the morass I've compiled the best I've found here.

So make some hot chocolate (with marshmallows), huddle closer to the fire for warmth and let your mind take you on a few adventures....

1) Brain Pickings

One of my favourite websites is brainpickings.org, a collection of weird and wonderful articles on art, philosophy, creativity, science and much more.  You can subscribe for weekly digests of their best stuff  for free and here are two of their end-of-year pieces that are worth a look:

• Best-of Reading Lists Compilation 
• Best Articles from 2012

2) Wired.com

One for the techie-minded or gadget lovers out there, Wired.com covers entertainment, science, technology and gaming.

• Best of TV, Movies and Music of 2012
• Best Science Images 2012

3) Thejournal.ie

Sitdown Sundays on thejournal.ie, which compiles '7 deadly reads' from the week just passed, are always excellent and they've just compiled their own 'Best-of' for 2012 - every single article in this is a fascinating read - clear your schedule!

• Sitdown Sundays: The 20 deadliest reads of 2012.

4) Or maybe you hate end-of-year reviews and faux-nostalgia - in that case David Mitchell of The Guardian has just the article for you.  He skips the long slog of living through 2013 and gives you its end-of-year review now.  On the money as per usual...

• Bored with 2012 retrospectives? A look back on the year yet to come...

Happy New Year everyone!

Ms. Dobbyn

It's beginning to feel a lot like...

Calasanctius College is starting to feel very Christmassy indeed and in the final week before the holidays there's sure to be some Christmas poetry echoing in the English classrooms.  With that in mind we ask you - what's your favourite Christmas poem?

To get the ball rolling here's my own particular favourite: 'The Night Before Christmas' by Clement Clarke Moore:

'Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house
Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse;
The stockings were hung by the chimney with care,
In hopes that St. Nicholas soon would be there;

The children were nestled all snug in their beds,
While visions of sugar-plums danced in their heads;
And mamma in her 'kerchief, and I in my cap,
Had just settled down for a long winter's nap,

When out on the lawn there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter.
Away to the window I flew like a flash,
Tore open the shutters and threw up the sash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow
Gave the lustre of mid-day to objects below,
When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,
But a miniature sleigh, and eight tiny reindeer,

With a little old driver, so lively and quick,
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick.
More rapid than eagles his coursers they came,
And he whistled, and shouted, and called them by name;

"Now, DASHER! now, DANCER! now, PRANCER and VIXEN!
On, COMET! on CUPID! on, DONDER and BLITZEN!
To the top of the porch! to the top of the wall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!"

As dry leaves that before the wild hurricane fly,
When they meet with an obstacle, mount to the sky,
So up to the house-top the coursers they flew,
With the sleigh full of toys, and St. Nicholas too.

And then, in a twinkling, I heard on the roof
The prancing and pawing of each little hoof.
As I drew in my hand, and was turning around,
Down the chimney St. Nicholas came with a bound.

He was dressed all in fur, from his head to his foot,
And his clothes were all tarnished with ashes and soot;
A bundle of toys he had flung on his back,
And he looked like a peddler just opening his pack.

His eyes -- how they twinkled! his dimples how merry!
His cheeks were like roses, his nose like a cherry!
His droll little mouth was drawn up like a bow,
And the beard of his chin was as white as the snow;

The stump of a pipe he held tight in his teeth,
And the smoke it encircled his head like a wreath;
He had a broad face and a little round belly,
That shook, when he laughed like a bowlful of jelly.

He was chubby and plump, a right jolly old elf,
And I laughed when I saw him, in spite of myself;
A wink of his eye and a twist of his head,
Soon gave me to know I had nothing to dread;

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

He sprang to his sleigh, to his team gave a whistle,
And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
HAPPY CHRISTMAS TO ALL, AND TO ALL A GOOD-NIGHT!

Ms. Dobbyn.