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About the Book:

 

“Cast your mind back to a time when rubix cubes and lolo balls were the height of cool; the pop charts were full of Madonna and Madness; late at night, the ‘test card’ was the only show in town; and everyone went to mass on Sunday.

 

This light-hearted diary recounts the year 1986 through the experience and laughter of one family living in the rural wilds of county Waterford. The book starts with Nuala on the verge of a breakdown. This state of affairs is only exacerbated in a year where she must contend with odd socks, a voodoo  daughter, a pornographic cat, a vindictive car, and a husband who’s been living in a trance since 1969. It’s no wonder she eventually exclaims “Whoopee, I’m going to die!”

 

This diary also traces some pivotal moments on Nuala’s road to a pedagogical Damascus. The litany of school miseries and   injustices suffered by her children, as described in this book, lit a flame under this ‘lily-livered conformist’ which eventually blazed into an inferno of rage against the murder machine.

 

Ten years later, in 1996, Nuala nailed her ‘95 theses’ to the   proverbial cathedral door as she formulated the XLc schooling ethos. 15 years on from that, her methods have been widely  endorsed, and the XLc School is still going strong.”

 

The proceeds of this book will go to fund the XLc Project which helps Early School Leavers and children at risk to access Junior and Leaving Certificate qualifications. XLc is run ‘on a shoe string’^{Mary Hanafin} by voluntary labour and has no mainstream funding.

 

 

About the Author:

 

Nuala Jackson was born in Waterford, Ireland in 1942.  She was the 10th of 12 children—9 girls and 3 boys.  She entered the Ursuline Convent in Waterford when she was 17 and left when she was 24.  She taught for 30 years in Waterpark College, an all boy’s rugby school.  She has been a constant critic of the Education system and eventually started her own school, the XLc project.  This went from success to success despite lack of main stream funding and depending on the good will of volunteering and community.

 

Sample Excerpts:

TUESDAY 25TH MARCH

 

Today was a terrible day. I lost the butter. The milk spilled. The latch on the back door got stuck. The weather was filthy and the dogs have fleas……………..

………………..Rooting through the bathroom she had found a packet with Durex printed on it. Inside it she found the answer to the deprived soother-suckers dream.

I cut through her dissertation;

“Did you have that on your thumb in school to-day?”

“Yes.”

Oh God! She sensed the gravity of the occasion.

“Did the teacher see you with it? Did she say anything?”

“No she didn’t say anything, only Sr. Ita said something”

Oh God! Oh God! Oh God!

“What did she say?”

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Whoopee

 

I’m Going to Die

 

By

 

Nuala Jackson

 

ISBN: 978-1-907107-84-9

 

Price:  €15.00