Today’s big event is another video conference interview for the CFO job at OCCRP scheduled for 4:00 PM. Earlier in the day I go about my usual routine, including reviewing more material for this week’s CMA lesson. I start getting ready for the interview after lunch by reviewing previous notes on OCCRP, then I focus on making myself presentable. It’s been awhile since I’ve cleaned up my beard, and it takes about 20 minutes for me to manually trim it with scissors. I shower, dry off, and manage to put on a decent shirt and a sports coat just in time before the interview is scheduled to start.
There are two people on the call — the “associate publisher” (my main point of contact who seems to be very involved with operations) and one of the co-founders with whom I haven’t had any contact yet. When the co-founder joins the meeting, his video is turned off… so I’m not sure if he just dialed in as audio-only or if he can see me. At any rate, the meeting lasts for a full hour and goes fairly well. The co-founder asks me about my move to Ireland, and as it turns out he’s a dual U.S.-Irish citizen like myself. He seems like a very interesting character — according to his bio, prior to become a journalist he had studied aerospace engineering at Texas A&M University and worked as a structural dynamicist on the space shuttle. He has also been a professional standup comedian, acted in four films, and plays bodhran in the only authentic Irish/Celtic band in the Balkans. The co-founder has another meeting right at 5:00, but after he disconnects I continue speaking with the associate publisher for another 20-30 minutes. One of my biggest questions is whether or not they would expect me to relocate for the job. Thankfully, it doesn’t sounds like I would be required to moved to Sarajevo — although I would need to spend a significant amount of in-person time with the staff based there, especially early on. OCCRP is also looking to establish a European headquarters, which most likely will be in The Netherlands, although that has not been finalised yet. As we’re wrapping up, the associate publisher says he will work on scheduling times for me to speak with some other key staff members as a next step. So that sounds like a good sign — stay tuned!
As part of my ongoing cultural assimilation efforts, and partially inspired by the lead up to St. Patrick’s Day, I found myself reading up about Ireland’s national anthem, “Amhrán na bhFiann” / “The Soldier’s Song.”
The following are some tidbits summarized from a surprisingly long Wikipedia article about it.
The anthem was composed with English lyrics in 1909-1910 and was sung by rebels in the General Post Office (GPO) during the Easter Rising of 1916. The Irish version was first published in 1923.
The Irish Free State did not initially adopt any official state anthem. “The Soldier’s Song” was widely if unofficially sung by nationalists, while ex-unionists continued to regard “God Save the King” as the national anthem, as it had been for the rest of the British Empire. ‘The Soldier’s Song’/‘Amhrán na bhFiann’ was officially adopted as the national anthem of Ireland in 1926. In 1928, the Army band established the practice of playing only the chorus of the song as the national anthem, because the longer version was discouraging audiences from singing along.
The ending of copyright of the original English lyrics in 2013 led to a review of the national anthem by the Seanad (Sentate) Public Consultation Committee. A 2017 opinion poll found 82% supported teaching the anthem in school; 40% claimed to know all the words and 40% “some” of them. (I suppose I should start to learn it myself!) The committee’s 2018 report recommended no change to the Irish lyrics, despite some opinions raised over the years that the opening words “Sinne Fianna Fáil” be translated differently to avoid association with the Fianna Fáil political party.
The flag protocol issued by the Department of the Taoiseach states that when the anthem is played in the presence of the national flag, all present should face the flag and stand to attention, and Defence Forces personnel should salute the flag, “until the last note of the music”. However, a history professor quoted in the Wikipedia article had this to say about the protocol: “I don’t think I have ever seen anyone salute the flag during Amhrán na bhFiann. Certainly, nobody is standing to attention until the last note of music, given that we have effectively replaced the last line of the song with collective freestyle screaming and roaring.” Sounds very Irish to me.
COVID update: the daily new cases in Ireland are still hovering stubbornly around 500, and the vaccine rollout continues to be slow going… only 7% of the population has received at least 1 dose as of last week.
