Untold Imagined Stories
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UNTOLD<br />
& <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
by Year 11 students<br />
from Malone Integrated College, Belfast<br />
Fighting Words NI<br />
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A Fighting Words Northern Ireland publication<br />
<strong>Untold</strong> and <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong> May 2022<br />
© individual contributors, 2022<br />
Fighting Words Northern Ireland<br />
The Skainos Centre<br />
239-241 Newtownards Road<br />
Belfast BT4 1AF<br />
www.fightingwords.co.uk<br />
Edited by: Marnie Kennedy<br />
Interior and cover design: UsFolk Ltd.<br />
Fighting Words Northern Ireland gratefully acknowledges the support of<br />
the Heritage Fund and the funding provided by the Northern Ireland Office.<br />
<strong>Untold</strong> and <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong> © 2022 by Fighting Words NI<br />
is licensed under CC BY 4.0<br />
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A Fighting Words NI anthology<br />
by Year 11 students<br />
from Malone Integrated College, Belfast
FOREWORD<br />
<strong>Untold</strong> and <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong> is the product of fourteen writing workshops between<br />
October 2021 and March 2022, during which Year 11 writers from Malone<br />
Integrated College, Belfast travelled through time, back into the lives of people<br />
living in Northern Ireland in 1921.<br />
The animated conversations during the workshops led to insights about the past,<br />
how we live today and what our future might look like. Supported by Fighting<br />
Words NI mentors, these perceptive, creative young people produced thoughtful<br />
and imaginative writing, both fictional and personal.<br />
This is a selection of their work.<br />
The project’s explorations of the experiences of ordinary people in 1921 were<br />
challenged and constrained by the Covid-19 pandemic, the impact of which we<br />
continue to live with. However, discussion was also stimulated during this time by<br />
the creative ways pupils, staff and mentors found to collaborate. Conversations<br />
also touched on the pandemic’s consequences for society and the isolation and<br />
fears that many experienced. The writing often reflects these concerns.<br />
By responding to research and resources looking at social history, culture,<br />
employment and emigration, these young authors have marked the Centenary of<br />
Northern Ireland in 2021 in a thoughtful, inclusive and engaging way.<br />
We applaud these students for taking part in the project with openness<br />
and enthusiasm and for bringing their own experiences and ideas into the<br />
conversations. They have produced an anthology that everyone involved will be<br />
proud of and will want to share with others.<br />
The Shared History Fund, delivered by the Heritage Fund on behalf of the Northern<br />
Ireland Office, has supported Fighting Words NI in their goal to transform lives<br />
through creativity. <strong>Untold</strong> and <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong> engaged young people from a<br />
variety of traditions, ethnicities, communities and talents, collaborating to explore<br />
individual understanding of the past one hundred years, as well as to imagine the<br />
future they will be part of creating. Creativity, communication, and expression can<br />
unlock relationships and understanding, enabling young people to grow as active<br />
citizens contributing to a stronger society here in NI.<br />
Dr Paul Mullan<br />
NI Director at the Heritage Fund
CONTENTS<br />
Foreword<br />
A Monday morning 09<br />
Scalded: Haiku poetry 15<br />
The Time Machines 21<br />
‘It’s Like a Sculpture’ 27<br />
Football facts & fiction 31<br />
Leaving: the Pinkertons and the Bennetts 37<br />
Fashion, music and a hundred years of home haircuts 41<br />
100 years from now: Belfast, better or worse? 43<br />
Further travels 47<br />
About the class 58<br />
About the authors 63<br />
About the mentors, researchers, and artists 67<br />
Acknowledgements 69<br />
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A<br />
MONDAY<br />
MORNING<br />
9
A Monday Morning<br />
In 1921 only one in every sixty Northern Irish teenagers<br />
would have attended secondary school. Thousands never<br />
went to school at all. The campaign for education to the<br />
age of fourteen wasn’t successful until 1926 in the<br />
Republic of Ireland and 1933 in the UK.<br />
cutting turf<br />
bicycle factory<br />
market stalls<br />
linen mill<br />
carpet weavers<br />
blacksmiths<br />
kitchen work<br />
messenger washing<br />
childcare<br />
farm work<br />
deliveries<br />
begging<br />
cleaning<br />
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<strong>Untold</strong> & <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
“A person your age, 100 years ago, what<br />
were they doing on a Monday morning?”<br />
So I was Lyah<br />
A Time Traveller (S.A.)<br />
I suddenly found myself in a big house – a house that was big enough for ten<br />
families. I wasn’t sure how I ended up there.<br />
I was wearing a white dress and my hair was up in a ponytail. The dress was a<br />
little dirty, I wasn’t sure why.<br />
Suddenly, I heard a voice calling for “Lyah.” I was just standing there when an<br />
old lady came up to me and said, “Lyah, I’ve been calling for you. Why haven’t<br />
you answered?”<br />
I stood there staring at her. She said, “Lyah, are you okay?”<br />
I just answered “yes” without thinking.<br />
Then, suddenly, she said, “Well can you go and wash the dishes and after that<br />
clean the table and then wash my clothes right after?”<br />
I answered, “Yes, Madam,” but I was still confused. I figured out that I had<br />
suddenly ended up as a maid, working for rich people?!<br />
So I was Lyah, working for rich people in a big house. I didn’t know how to<br />
feel about this, but I was pretty sure that a girl who worked here would have to<br />
work hard to get some money.<br />
I felt bad for her.<br />
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A Monday Morning<br />
One Hundred Bicycles<br />
Ahmed Abdulla<br />
I suddenly found myself working in a bike store. We had to build the bikes. We<br />
got all the parts for some of the bikes but sometimes we had to make the parts<br />
by ourselves, which was very hard. You could easily get injured. We had to<br />
make at least one hundred bikes a day and that was hard because there were<br />
only four of us working.<br />
Make Them Shinier<br />
Pearse Rainey<br />
I suddenly found myself on the floor cleaning someone’s shoes.<br />
I looked around me and I didn’t see no cars or nothing, it was all horses and the<br />
man whose shoes I was cleaning said, “Make them shinier, young boy.”<br />
Their talk was so weird, I couldn’t understand a word they were saying.<br />
There is not one nice horse, they are all scruffy and disgusting.<br />
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<strong>Untold</strong> & <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
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14 Illustrations: Sinead Farry
<strong>Untold</strong> & <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
SCALDED:<br />
HAIKU<br />
POETRY<br />
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Scalded: Haiku poetry<br />
The class spent time with images from the laundry<br />
of a wealthy household and discussed the working<br />
conditions for the laundry maids. Laundry work<br />
was notoriously hard and dangerous, due to the<br />
hot water, irons and abrasive cleaning chemicals.<br />
Haiku poetry<br />
Mangle<br />
The dirty clothes<br />
But watch out for danger<br />
- Pearse Rainey<br />
I squeezed<br />
My steamy sheets<br />
To get the water out<br />
- Madison Rowan<br />
There will be chatter<br />
Dirty and dangerous<br />
- Mustafa Ahmed<br />
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Illustration: Rebecca Samuel
<strong>Untold</strong> & <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
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Illustration: Sinead Farry<br />
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<strong>Untold</strong> & <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
THE<br />
TIME<br />
MACHINES<br />
21
The Time Machines<br />
Forgetful Blues<br />
A Gramophone Time Machine Story<br />
Robbie Crawford, Logan Kirk and a Time Traveller (K.M.)<br />
22<br />
Matthew had moved into a new house. He had black hair, brown eyes and wore a<br />
Nike tracksuit and a white t-shirt. His dream was to be rich and have fancy cars.<br />
Robert knocked the door. “Pleased to meet you, I’m your new neighbour.”<br />
Robert was tall and had brown hair, frog-green eyes and wore a blue tracksuit. He<br />
was from Liverpool. He was afraid of big spiders, but he didn’t know why.<br />
“Hello,” said Matthew, “I just moved in here. I’m renovating the place right now.”<br />
“Do you need any help? asked Robert.<br />
Matthew replied, “Yes. Let’s start at the attic and we’ll work our way down.”<br />
“That’s a good idea. Let’s go up and start,” said Robert.<br />
“What’s that?” asked Matthew.<br />
“It looks like a box,” said Robert.<br />
Matthew said, “Do you want to open it?”<br />
Robert replied, “It looks like a record player. But there’s no cord.”<br />
Matthew said, “There’s a handle on it.”<br />
The record on the player was from the 1930s. It was by Paramount and was called<br />
Forgetful Blues. Matthew started twisting the handle.<br />
It happened in a blink of an eye: they teleported to the date of the record and the<br />
place where the band recorded it.<br />
Terry wore a black suit with a top hat and tie. He had a curly moustache. He was<br />
wealthy and lived in New York but came from outside the city. He was afraid of<br />
snakes because when he was younger a snake almost bit him on the arm. He<br />
played the violin.<br />
Terry said, “Where did YOU come from?!”<br />
Matthew said, “I don’t know! I just played the record player. What year is it?”<br />
Terry said, “It’s 1930.”<br />
They saw buildings, a barber shop and a big bulky old-style car. The sound of the<br />
car was quieter but clunky.<br />
They had to twist the record backwards to get back to the present day.<br />
Terry ran outside and got some of his friends but by the time he got back Matthew<br />
and Robert were gone. They were exploring New York. They looked completely<br />
different to everyone else. They were wearing tracksuits and everyone else was<br />
wearing suits.<br />
Terry and his friends ran out and tried to find them. They couldn’t find them, so they<br />
gave up.<br />
Standing on a street corner, they got hit by a car driven really fast by a drunk<br />
driver. Matthew and Robert, hiding in a nearby alleyway, saw Terry and his<br />
friends being hit by the car. They ran over and shoved the driver out of the car. The
<strong>Untold</strong> & <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
driver raced off, not knowing what he had done. Matthew and Robert looked<br />
in the car and found two suits and money. They found some valuable pocket<br />
watches to sell. They brought them to a pawn shop and got $100 for one of the<br />
watches, to buy food and other things.<br />
Matthew and Robert bought a record from 1910, they went back to the present<br />
then returned to 1910. The record this time was Sunflower Dance by Terry Kirk<br />
and the Banjo Kings. They went to Switzerland and saw green fields and snowy<br />
mountains. It was midday. They heard music. It is Terry and his band playing.<br />
Red Silk<br />
A Sewing/Time Machine Story<br />
Harlie Brown and Pearse Rainey<br />
The sewing machine that time travels into the future.<br />
How does it work?<br />
You spin the wheel, you sew a date or a place into a big red silk sheet and it<br />
takes you there. You can only do it in secret, in an underground cabin…<br />
“Come on! We’ll go and find out!”<br />
Harley and Pearse ran quickly to the cabin. They were petrified but excited to<br />
see where the machine would take them. The cabin was dark so they couldn’t<br />
see around them. They wobbled on a cracked brick that smelled of damp and<br />
dust. Finally they found a light switch and the cabin lit up, flame red. The walls<br />
were covered in red silk. When Harley and Pearse got closer they noticed<br />
different dates sewn into the wall.<br />
They tried it to see where it would take them and they ended up in the 1980s!<br />
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The Time Machines<br />
Snapshots from a Time<br />
Travelling Camera<br />
The Grandfather Camera<br />
Ahmed Abdulla<br />
One hundred and fifty years ago a boy called Corey was really into cameras and<br />
everything to do with photos.<br />
So one day Corey was walking to his grandfather’s house through a place full of<br />
trees and plants. He saw a brown leather thing laying on a tree. He walked over<br />
and took it and put it in his pocket because it was cold.<br />
When he got in his grandfather’s house he went upstairs to his room. He looked at<br />
the leather thing, then opened it. When he found out it was a camera, he was so<br />
happy. He tried to take a photo - and teleported to a different world!<br />
There was only one person there, a girl. She was two years older than Corey.<br />
Her name was Marta…<br />
1940 Dream<br />
Mustafa Ahmed<br />
Hi, my name is Lennie. I’m a 16 year old. Once I was sleeping and I had a dream that<br />
I was back in 1940. The dream was about this weird object. The colour of it was black<br />
and there were buttons on it. I didn’t know what it was or the name of it.<br />
Every time I pressed the button it made a noise and flashed and everything around me<br />
stopped moving, animals and humans and every object around as well. With the other<br />
button I was controlling all of these things. I found out that I could teleport to any place<br />
of the world by just clicking one button. That was crazy.<br />
The place I chose to go to was France and I met this guy called Ali and he was from the<br />
future. He could only speak French and that was kind of awkward because the only<br />
word I knew how to say was ‘bonjour’ which is ‘hi’ in French. And that’s how I met my<br />
BF, Ali.<br />
We both got stuck inside that camera for a few hours because we teleported at the<br />
same time. That was mad because I found the camera in the attic of my mum’s house<br />
and he found it in an old car that parked up his street.<br />
Back then he was 17 years old. I was 15 or 16. A couple of years went past and people<br />
started making tvs and phones and cameras that I knew what it was called. And this<br />
was one of the most real dreams that I had as a dream and experience it in real life.<br />
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<strong>Untold</strong> & <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
After all that happened, me and Ali became best friends. We went to France<br />
together and we agreed to stay there and have a family. We never thought of<br />
teleporting back. It’s just us together in France by ourselves, with no one around.<br />
That’s how we had our lives. It was the best life ever.<br />
Where Do You Want To Go?<br />
Chanel Faloon<br />
Once upon a time there was a camera.<br />
I was in my room and there were four brown boxes. I went into them all and in the last<br />
box was a black camera. I went to take a photo to see if it still worked. I pressed the<br />
button and it said, “Where do you want to go?”<br />
So I laughed and just for joke, I said, “Spain!”<br />
And all you seen was a bright light and it sucked me into the camera and I ended up<br />
somewhere. I was scared, didn’t know anyone, looking round for help. Every person I<br />
told had a different language and I didn’t understand them.<br />
I walked alone, sad, wanting to go home, crying, until someone came up to me and<br />
goes, “Hello, you ok?”<br />
I said “No, I don’t know where I am. I used this black camera to take a photo and I<br />
ended up here”.<br />
“It’s ok, it happened to me too, and I’m still stuck here. My great, great granny gave me<br />
the camera to help me. Do you know where the camera is?”<br />
I go, “No…”<br />
“Only you need that to get back home!”<br />
I started to panic, crying tears, dripping down from my face…<br />
No Phones<br />
A Time Traveller (C.W.)<br />
Once there was a girl called Ruby and a boy called Mícheál. They were messing<br />
about with their mum’s camera. They pressed a button on the top of the camera and<br />
were in L.A. in the 1940s. They were weirded out because there were no phones.<br />
Ruby and Mícheál were asking everyone, “Where are your phones?”<br />
They replied they were in 1941!<br />
They were needing to ring their mum, but no one had a phone, so they were there<br />
for a long time…<br />
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<strong>Untold</strong> & <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
IT’S LIKE A<br />
SCULPTURE!<br />
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It’s like a sculpture!<br />
This prosthetic arm was designed and built<br />
in the 1920s in Belfast by surgeon Thomas<br />
Kirk and engineer Alexander Pringle to help<br />
people injured in the WWI.<br />
P & K Artificial Limb Company also made<br />
prostheses in the North of England for<br />
agricultural workers.<br />
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<strong>Untold</strong> & <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
Like Candy, the character from<br />
Of Mice and Men, who is missing a hand.<br />
People still need<br />
prosthetic arms today<br />
Made of rubber,<br />
leather and metal, and<br />
something electrical?<br />
Injured soldiers<br />
Fingers have grips and springs<br />
Like the robotic arm at the<br />
opening of Back to the Future<br />
Like a sculpture<br />
Farm workers<br />
hurt by machinery<br />
Metal hinge at the elbow<br />
Like the<br />
Marvel character,<br />
Iron Man<br />
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<strong>Untold</strong> & <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
FOOTBALL<br />
FACTS &<br />
FICTION<br />
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Football facts & fiction<br />
These stories, both collectively and individually written, were<br />
inspired by the Pathé Film of the Irish Ladies Eleven vs Fleetwood<br />
Ladies Team, ‘Football is a Girls’ Game’. The match was filmed in<br />
north Belfast in June 1921 in front of 1,700 fans at Cliftonville’s<br />
Solitude ground. The Irish Ladies Eleven won 3-1.<br />
www.britishpathe.com/video/girls-play-soccer-1920<br />
The same year the English Football Association (FA) banned<br />
women’s games from taking place on pitches owned by FA clubs.<br />
Though the ban was not replicated in Northern Ireland, there were<br />
fewer games played in the rest of the decade. It was not until 2008<br />
(87 years later), that the FA issued an apology for banning women<br />
from the game of football.<br />
AS SOON AS HE BOOT THE BALL<br />
IT TURNED INTO A BIG PORTAL<br />
TO ANOTHER DIMENSION...<br />
32
<strong>Untold</strong> & <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
The 2021 Dimension<br />
Chapter 1<br />
Mark’s father was a farmer and he grew potatoes. One Wednesday Mark was out<br />
for a walk in the cornfield. His daddy always told him not to go there. There were<br />
things in the field that his father didn’t want him to go near.<br />
The cornfield was quite a walk away from where Mark lived. As he was walking<br />
through the field he tripped over something. He fell and he looked back and saw<br />
it was a football, so he lifted it to bring it with him. He ran home with it and went to<br />
sleep because it was late.<br />
The next morning he woke up to go out and play with it. As soon as he boot the<br />
ball it turned into a big portal to another dimension...<br />
THE BALL FELL TO PIECES<br />
Chapter 2<br />
Ahmed Abdulla<br />
When Mark kicked the ball, the ball fell to pieces. It was a big ball. There were a<br />
lot of small stuff on it like gold and silver and different stuff that are expensive back<br />
at the time. When that happened, Mark was so scared. He tried to get everything<br />
together, but he couldn’t. He was panicking and he didn’t want to leave the ball, so<br />
he took everything and brought it with him…<br />
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Football facts & fiction<br />
IN A WINK OF AN EYE<br />
Chapter 2<br />
Madison Rowan<br />
Mark jumped back out of fear. He didn’t know what was just done. He was<br />
debating if he should go in or not, but he ended up taking a step into the portal.<br />
He looked around himself but then he just went on inside.<br />
In a wink of an eye, he went to a part of America while it was in war…<br />
NO MASK, NO ENTRY<br />
Chapter 2<br />
Pearse Rainey<br />
Mark was surprised when he saw the portal. He was so confused but happy<br />
because he just found the 2021 dimension everyone was talking about. He walked<br />
into the portal to see that every person he saw was wearing a mask. He said it was<br />
like hell and he wanted to talk to everyone, but no one would talk. Everyone was<br />
separated and not communicating.<br />
Mark walked into a shop to buy something. As he walked in, there were signs<br />
everywhere, “No Mask, No Entry.”<br />
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COVID-19 HAD TAKEN OVER<br />
THE UNIVERSE<br />
Chapter 2<br />
Pearse Rainey<br />
Mark had no idea what was going on, so he finally got to talk to someone. Mark<br />
said, “What is going on?” and the woman said Covid-19 had taken over the<br />
universe.<br />
Mark was stuck in the portal. It was magic and the magic was so powerful it sucked<br />
him into another dimension. Mark thought that he was in a dream, but he was<br />
actually in a sleep paralysis.<br />
AS SOON AS HE TOLD ME I FELT<br />
LIKE MY HEART DROPPED<br />
Chapter 2<br />
Yassmin Alrashaydah and A Time Traveller (S.A.)<br />
I didn’t know what was happening. I saw a bright light, then somehow ended up<br />
in America. Everything looked different from where I lived; it’s almost like I had<br />
travelled to the future.<br />
I saw a big poster on a building that said, “A big new opening in 2121.” I was a<br />
little confused because 2121 is in, like, one hundred years. I asked someone what<br />
year it was, and as soon as he told me I felt like my heart dropped: I had travelled<br />
over a hundred years in under ten seconds.<br />
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<strong>Untold</strong> & <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
LEAVING:<br />
THE BENNETTS<br />
AND THE<br />
PINKERTONS<br />
Images from The Arrival by Shaun Tan © Shaun Tan<br />
37
Leaving: The Bennetts and the Pinkertons<br />
A. R. Hogg, Courtesy of National Museums NI<br />
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<strong>Untold</strong> & <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
“Give a name to one of the family<br />
members and write about waking up on<br />
the morning that the photo was taken.”<br />
Leo<br />
Ahmed Abdulla<br />
Leo is nine years old. He has two younger brothers and one older brother. They are<br />
travelling to America to work to have a better life. But the children are confused<br />
because they haven’t travelled before and they haven’t been on a ferry before.<br />
They are really excited to get on a boat.<br />
The Pinkerton Family<br />
Harlie Brown<br />
In 1930, the Pinkerton family left Belfast for a new job and to feel better.<br />
John was a horse trainer. He had to travel to Belfast from the countryside. He was<br />
offered a job in England.<br />
The Eldest Brother<br />
Mustafa Ahmed<br />
Mark was the third oldest child of the Bennett family, and he was the oldest boy in the<br />
family. He was always helping his parents by taking care of his younger brothers. At<br />
the age of 12 he was happy and confident, not like the rest of the family. They look a<br />
bit sad and worried.<br />
Imagine you are the oldest boy in the family, and you have to take care of your<br />
three younger brothers with different attitudes, especially when there were no jobs in<br />
Ireland and your father got a job in America.<br />
Things are going to be different – like you leaving the rest of your friends and family<br />
and you have to get more comfortable with the clothes you’re wearing. They are very<br />
bad, not comfortable at all. The clothing you are wearing is a bit itchy and all.<br />
At the same time I feel a bit bad and sad for Mark because the whole family of nine<br />
are all together and they are travelling at the same time and he is taking care of them<br />
and looking after them so no one gets lost and worried.<br />
Mark was very excited about hearing his dad got a job, but he feels a bit cheated<br />
about taking care of all three brothers at the same time. He thinks that at least one of<br />
his sisters should help him with the job that his parents gave him.<br />
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Leaving: The Bennetts and the Pinkertons<br />
America<br />
A Time Traveller (N.L.)<br />
The Pinkerton family lived in the Belfast Docks area and they moved to America<br />
because their life in Belfast was very difficult. The mother’s name was Anna and the<br />
father’s name was Joseph. They had four children called Christian, Georgia, Lily<br />
and Julian.<br />
In America their life was still difficult because it was not their home country and it<br />
was hard for their children to become accustomed to the country and new people.<br />
America was not better for them as foreigners. Though difficult, life in Belfast was<br />
better because it was their own country.<br />
In America the father found a job that paid him little. The children went to school<br />
while the mother stayed at home, cooking and doing housework. At 12 o’clock she<br />
would go to pick up her children from school.<br />
Their life was very difficult because the money their father brought home was not<br />
enough. For this family, I think it would have been better to go back to their old life<br />
in Belfast despite the difficulties, as it was their country.<br />
Michael and Maya<br />
Yassmin Alrashaydah<br />
This family does not have a home, food, money or work so they decide to move<br />
from Belfast to America. The name of the father is Michael. The name of the mother,<br />
Maya. The names of the boys are George, Lennie and Daniel. The name of the<br />
girl is Abbey. The parents feel afraid but in front of their children they feel that<br />
everything is fine.<br />
Michael found a new job in the restaurant. He works as a waiter. He is happy in his<br />
job. George and Lennie work in the delivery of mail and their mother looks after<br />
her children, Abbey and Daniel.<br />
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<strong>Untold</strong> & <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
FASHION,<br />
MUSIC AND<br />
A HUNDRED<br />
YEARS<br />
OF HOME<br />
HAIRCUTS<br />
41
Fashion, music and a hundred years of home haircuts<br />
Students talked about the change in<br />
women’s fashions from 1910 to the 1920s<br />
and how that related to world events.<br />
World War I had reshaped the world, Ireland became independent and Northern<br />
Ireland was formed. Women had demanded and won the right to vote. The 1920s<br />
saw the birth of the dance hall, giving young people new opportunities to meet<br />
and socialise on a regular basis.<br />
If you wanted to follow the fashions of the famous and wealthy, you might think<br />
about cutting your own hair. In 1921 they didn’t have YouTube videos to help.<br />
Instead ‘Modern Woman’ magazine published a tutorial on how to use ‘shingle<br />
clippers’ to achieve the latest hair style.<br />
Modern Woman, November 1925<br />
www.lse.ac.uk/library/whats-on/exhibitions/making-modern-women/<br />
fashioning-women<br />
What could go wrong?!<br />
Lockdown Hair <strong>Stories</strong><br />
Ahmed Abdulla<br />
One time in lockdown, I gave my brother a haircut and he really liked it. He didn’t<br />
want me to at first. He wanted my mom to cut it, but my mom gave up and I took<br />
over and cut his hair. I used scissors and a trimmer.<br />
Mustafa Ahmed<br />
How did my lockdown go?<br />
It was a bit awful because we didn’t get that many chances. You had to stay<br />
at your own house and you were not allowed to go out of your house and get<br />
a haircut. My dad realised that my hair had got a bit long, so he offered me a<br />
haircut. He said if he messed up my haircut, he would let me stay off school and<br />
give me £50 but it turned out good.<br />
I had a bad day because I lost the money!<br />
42
<strong>Untold</strong> & <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
100 YEARS<br />
FROM NOW:<br />
BELFAST<br />
43
100 years from now: Belfast<br />
“What do you think it will be like living in<br />
Belfast in 2122? Will life be better or worse?”<br />
This workshop, like many during the project, had to take place on Zoom.<br />
Here’s a selection of the issues that students and Fighting Words mentors<br />
discussed:<br />
44<br />
• Artificial intelligence.<br />
• We need human connection.<br />
• It will get worse with climate change, Belfast under water.<br />
• Technology will be more intelligent, more cyberpunk.<br />
• Holograms, projections like in Star Wars.<br />
• Use of technology to make future better, e.g. White particles to reflect sun<br />
in Arctic.<br />
• Housing? Will children go to school, or will teaching be online?<br />
• Robots in houses to do cooking and cleaning, so no housework or chores.<br />
• No school but school needed for next generation.<br />
• Population bigger so more houses.<br />
• Make house waterproof. Build houses with metal. Floating houses, floating cars.<br />
• With no petrol or diesel how will we get power?<br />
• Turbines under water to generate electricity.<br />
• Energy from the sun. Heat from Venus.<br />
• How will we share entertainment?<br />
• Will we still have phones?<br />
• Could technology transport us somewhere? What about teleportation?<br />
• Will we have surgery to give us technology? Chips in our arms to pay for things?<br />
• Will artificial intelligence be incorporated into people?<br />
• Government could listen to our conversations, manipulate our thoughts.<br />
• Technology could be dangerous.<br />
• Humans need to choose technology to use.
<strong>Untold</strong> & <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
Jack-Sea and the<br />
Portal to the Future<br />
Illustration: Sinead Farry<br />
Max is a 17-year-old young person who likes to play football. His favourite band is<br />
Queen and he also likes Ed Sheeran. He plays both guitar and piano and writes music.<br />
Max finds a guide about time travel and meets somebody100 years from now. Who?<br />
Max came home after school, hungry, and was looking for crisps in the back of the<br />
cupboard. He found a wobbly shelf. Behind it there was hidden an iPad. Max’s sister<br />
came into the kitchen, so he quickly hid it in his school bag.<br />
Max bolted to his bedroom. He noticed that the iPad had a full battery and there was<br />
no password attached. He opened the iPad and it began to vibrate aggressively. The<br />
iPad flashed up a word in capitals:<br />
“JACK-SEA”<br />
Max said the word out loud and that started to activate a portal. The portal sucked<br />
him in.<br />
Max suddenly ended up underwater. He found himself in a bedroom with a humanlike<br />
creature swimming through the door. Max opened his mouth to say, “Where am<br />
I? Who are you?” but he didn’t recognise his own voice because he sounded different<br />
underwater. He felt weird and was surprised.<br />
Jack-Sea was a human who was able to breathe under water and much taller because<br />
in the future, nutrition is better. His clothes could transform from swimsuits to land attire.<br />
Jack-Sea moved his hand across himself and Max mirrored the movement. The<br />
movement created a wave…<br />
45
100 years from now: Belfast<br />
Chapter 2<br />
A Time Traveller (C.W.)<br />
Jack-Sea moved his hand across himself and mirrored the movement to create a<br />
huge, big wave along which swept them away to an unknown place that had trees<br />
and beaches everywhere.<br />
All of a sudden they were back in the portal and they end up in lava and water.<br />
Then, him and Max became good friends and they went home after they spent all<br />
day in a portal. They were really tired but they got each other’s numbers so they<br />
texted every day and became really close and they Face-timed every day too.<br />
They ended up going back to the portal world for one last adventure and they<br />
enjoyed every second of it.<br />
46
<strong>Untold</strong> & <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
FURTHER<br />
TRAVELS<br />
47
Further travels<br />
“ARE YOU OK?”<br />
Prague<br />
A Time Traveller (O.P.)<br />
Dear Diary,<br />
I went to the Czech Republic... but Czech Republic, 1966.<br />
I appeared in Prague. I walked around and met someone called Chloe.<br />
She said she was a time traveller too.<br />
I asked, “Where are you from?”<br />
Chloe responded in a joyful voice, “I’m from France. Why, where are you<br />
from?”<br />
She looked happy but sad. “Hello, are you ok?” she asked.<br />
“Yes, I’m fine. I’m from England, the year 2022.”<br />
We walked for a bit. We stopped at a train station. She looked more sad<br />
than before.<br />
I asked, “Are you ok?”<br />
Chloe responded, “No…”<br />
48
<strong>Untold</strong> & <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
David’s Time Travel<br />
- an American Prince of 2022<br />
A Time Traveller (N.L.)<br />
David was studying at the most famous university in America. On his birthday<br />
his father gave him a watch that could time travel. David touched the watch and<br />
accidentally passed into a portal and found himself in 1995.<br />
Stuck in that year, David was very confused and asked the people where he<br />
was, and what year it was, because the buildings, the machines, the way people<br />
dressed, were all different.<br />
He was very confused. He slept for two days without eating and then luckily, he<br />
found a nice person who helped him find a place to stay. Her name was Jessica,<br />
and she asked David what the problem was. He told her everything that happened,<br />
and she understood. They went to Jessica’s house together and Jessica told her<br />
family about David’s situation. They thought for a while, then accepted him to stay<br />
for a month with them.<br />
After a few days David got used to the city, the food, the way they lived in 1995.<br />
He made friends with everyone, but he was close mostly with Jessica. One day<br />
David thought about sending a letter to his family. He asked Jessica if there was<br />
any way he could send the letter to them. Jessica replied that there was no way,<br />
that you cannot send letters through time travel.<br />
David replied that he missed his family and that he wanted to go back but he didn’t<br />
know how. Jessica advised him to try his watch again, maybe that would work and<br />
he told her he would try.<br />
David told Jessica how much fun it was to live with them and that he would never<br />
forget about them. The following day David told his friends and Jessica’s family<br />
that he wanted to return to his home.<br />
All his friends came when David was trying the travel watch and he said goodbye<br />
to them. He tried the time travel watch many times, but it did not work. He touched<br />
it again and then he disappeared.<br />
David was back in 2022. He told his family everything that happened. They were<br />
shocked by this. It was very hard for them to believe it because they did not think it<br />
was possible to travel in time.<br />
CANNOT SEND LETTERS<br />
THROUGH TIME<br />
49
Further travels<br />
WHAT ARE YOU?<br />
‘Blessed-Cursed’<br />
A Time Traveller (C.R.)<br />
50<br />
Ben was really scared. The trembling arms were hugging his own body tightly and<br />
the fear haunted him as never before. He faced the mirror and... God, what was<br />
happening? There were... thorns growing on his shoulders?!<br />
Was it even possible? It seemed like a dream, but all that pain was so real…<br />
He felt like a monster, a freak. Now, how could he go to school? What would his<br />
family say?<br />
Not knowing what to do, he just jumped out the back window of his room, which<br />
gave him free access to the forest.<br />
The little boy ran and ran like a fugitive prey, until his feet start to hurt. He sat<br />
on a tree trunk and began to cry, grabbing the thorns desperately and trying to<br />
tear them off his shoulders. He screamed with his heart full of pain, seeing blood<br />
running down his back and his hands getting covered with it. Then it did not hurt<br />
anymore. He was not feeling anything but sadness at that moment. However he<br />
did not realise that, through the mysterious darkness of the forest, someone was<br />
hiding, observing him with a big pair of bright, wide eyes.<br />
In the following second, Ben felt a cold touch on his arm. It was very careful but<br />
it still scared him. And he looked up, finding curious eyes that immediately made<br />
him drop the thorns. It was a boy. He seemed to be as young as Ben, his red hair<br />
was a pretty mess because of the strong wind.<br />
“Who are you?” Ben asked in a whisper, drying the tears with the back of his<br />
hands, and then staring at the boy. He finally noticed that those big eyes were a<br />
bit different, completely black, except for the pupils that constantly changed their<br />
colours.<br />
This realisation scared Ben, making him slap the unknown boy’s wrist and back<br />
away. The boy quickly shook his hands, as if he said that everything was fine,<br />
approaching again.<br />
“Who are you?!” Ben asked again. “What are you?”<br />
Ben’s body was shaking. It could only be a dream. It was not possible that all<br />
of this was actually happening in such a short period of time. What else could<br />
happen?<br />
“My name is Terry,” the boy finally said and then paused for a moment. “And I<br />
can help you.”<br />
“What...?” Ben confusedly questioned, not expecting the adventures and<br />
challenges this would take him in the future.
<strong>Untold</strong> & <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong><br />
SHE DIDN’T REALLY WANT<br />
ANYTHING TO DO WITH ME<br />
Ju-da<br />
Yassmin Alrashaydah<br />
Hi everyone. My name is Ju-da and I live in Seoul, South Korea. I was only four<br />
years old when I learned that something was very wrong with my mom. Other kids<br />
always hug and kiss their parents.<br />
“Why can’t we do that, Mommy?”<br />
“Ugh, don’t call me that.”<br />
She turned to walk away, and I had to take my shot. I ran to her and grabbed her<br />
in a tight hug.<br />
“Just go like this, mommy. It’s easy.”<br />
She literally ran away from me.<br />
“Don’t touch me, I’m wearing Chanel.”<br />
She didn’t really want anything to do with me. She used maids, butlers and<br />
money to keep me away from her. At first, I thought something was wrong with me,<br />
but my cousin Heidi totally disagreed.<br />
“Ju-da, you’re my best friend in the whole world because you are so perfect.”<br />
I was so jealous. Heidi’s parents were amazing, even though they were really poor<br />
and lived as far away as America. They tried to visit every other year. They videocalled<br />
me all the time. I loved them.<br />
One day, Heidi called me with some amazing news, “My dad’s company just blew<br />
up overnight. We’re finally going to be rich. Ju-da, say it’s amazing! What’s more<br />
amazing is that I can afford tickets to see you. Ask that witch if I can stay over.”<br />
I went out to talk to Mom, but she was sitting there with some strange men.<br />
Then Mom said, “Ju-da, here you are. Come meet the boy I want you to date.”<br />
I said, “He what?”<br />
Mom said, “He owns diamond mines.”<br />
Diamonds.<br />
“You can date him now and get married after college.”<br />
I said, “No way! Have you gone insane?”<br />
Mom said, “Don’t you dare insult me in front of everyone!”<br />
I replied, “Don’t you dare try to ruin my life. Heidi is right. You’re a witch.”<br />
Cont. ><br />
51
Further travels<br />
Her guests laughed and she turned red. She said, “You ungrateful little… Go<br />
to your room!”<br />
I did go to my room. I also called up Heidi and made my first and best evil<br />
plan.<br />
I told Heidi, “I can’t take it anymore. I’m running away from home. Now that<br />
your parents are rich, can I live with you?”<br />
Heidi answered, “If they say no, I’ll hide you in my room. Get over here!”<br />
Thankfully, aunt and uncle loved the idea and welcomed me there with open<br />
arms. They didn’t even tell my mom and I could escape without any drama. I<br />
finally got away from my crazy mother and, the best part? I was going to live<br />
with my best friend, Heidi. I literally jumped and screamed with excitement the<br />
entire first night.<br />
COULD HEAR THE LEAVES<br />
DROPPING OFF THE TREES.<br />
The Monster<br />
Harlie Brown<br />
I was walking through Musgrave Park and it was dark, scary and creepy. I could<br />
hear the leaves dropping off the trees.<br />
I looked up and there was a big monster at the top of the tree. It was brown with<br />
hair and as big as a bus. It jumped down at me. I ran and it came after me. It was<br />
jumping and breathing heavily.<br />
I went to the park entrance, and it was shut so I had to jump over the park gate…<br />
52
Jordan<br />
Yassmin Alrashaydah<br />
Hello, I’m Yassmin.<br />
I want to talk to you about the past. I was in Jordan and I left Jordan. I was ten years<br />
old. My mother and father were talking about their past. They did not have phones or<br />
anything to communicate with. These people did not have hospitals to go to. If they<br />
got sick, they made their own medicines. Along with herbs for medicines, they also did<br />
not have modern schools. They studied at home, gathering children together in one<br />
house. There was nothing from the modern era in the past.<br />
We are now in a very smart era because there is everything a person needs, such as<br />
phones, schools, hospitals, markets.<br />
HE TRIED TO ESCAPE BUT<br />
WASN’T STRONG ENOUGH.<br />
Time Travelling Footballer<br />
Robbie Crawford<br />
John is a footballer in 2022 and plays for Liverpool.<br />
He gets teleported instantly to the year 1951.<br />
John fell as the portal scared him. He got back up and looked around for a while.<br />
Eventually, he put his arm inside the portal and it started to pull him in. He tried to<br />
escape but wasn’t strong enough. He ended up in the dressing room of Anfield.<br />
He was still playing for Liverpool!<br />
It was ten minutes before a game started against Man United. He started on the bench<br />
and Liverpool went one-nil down. In the 50th minute he was subbed on and did skills<br />
no one had ever seen before. He was able to get past the Man United players easily<br />
because they didn’t know how to defend against the skills. He scored, and the match<br />
ended a draw.<br />
John was the talk of the whole town. He went to training the next day and all his<br />
teammates came up to him and asked how he knew those skills. He had to learn the<br />
skills again because he had these boots on which were a lot lighter than his teammates’<br />
boots and the balls were heavier. John’s teammates asked him to teach them.<br />
53
Further travels<br />
INTO THE<br />
UNDISCOVERED FOREST<br />
Illustration: Attila Szabó<br />
54
Michael is a famous horror author. The whole family is leaving Belfast to go to<br />
the US for more opportunities for his writing. Their German Shepherd, Leahcim, is<br />
travelling to America with them.<br />
Michael worries about leaving his older relatives because he’s their only family.<br />
He plans to go to a forest to research a setting for his next horror novel.<br />
‘Dad, I don’t want to go,’ said Michael’s oldest son, Jared, sadly. They were at the<br />
airport about to get on the plane. Michael felt confused, because he thought his<br />
son wanted to go to America.<br />
‘I know you’re feeling scared, but it’s going to be okay,’ Michael said. ‘Remember<br />
we are planning to go hiking in the forest, and Leahcim will enjoy hunting small<br />
animals. We’ll be staying in a really cool cabin in the middle of nowhere while I<br />
do research. It’ll take a week to get there on foot.’<br />
‘Great. I’ve been practising building my tent and my first aid skills,’ Jared said…<br />
55
Further travels<br />
Into the Undiscovered Forest,<br />
chapter 2<br />
A Time Traveller (N.L.)<br />
Jared asked his father if he could go to the forest with him, but he said that he<br />
couldn’t go because it was dangerous. Jared did everything to convince his father<br />
to go with him and in the end, he accepted it.<br />
The next day Jared and his father set off, early in the morning. They took<br />
everything they needed, and they brought food for lunch because they would stay<br />
there all day. Jared was thinking about how to help his father, to give him some<br />
ideas, even if he didn’t know much.<br />
They walked all day and didn’t realise that it had become dark. The dog was<br />
barking, scared because it was dark. Jared and his father tried to calm him down.<br />
Jared was scared. They opened the light of their phones and they started to put<br />
up the tent, to sleep. Michael tried to call his family to tell them that they would<br />
sleep in the forest but the internet was not working. Jared and his father remained<br />
trapped in the forest. They didn’t sleep.<br />
It became morning. Jared, his father, Michael, and their dog were survivors. They<br />
were tired because they didn’t sleep. Then early in the morning they went home.<br />
Into the Undiscovered Forest,<br />
an alternative<br />
A Time Traveller (R.N.)<br />
56<br />
On a cold winter breeze there was a man and his dog.<br />
The man was holding a briefcase and he wore a leather jacket with brown pants,<br />
with a white suit shirt. The man was a horror book writer, and he was walking down<br />
a long dirt path.<br />
The man looked up to see an old wooden cabin in the distance. He turned to the<br />
dog and kneeled down to scratch his ear and said, “We’re nearly there now,<br />
Roxy.” He got back up and started to walk towards the cabin.<br />
The man looked up to see that the trees had blocked most of the light shining<br />
through. About five minutes later the man walked up to the front door, looking for<br />
the keys in his pocket. He got the keys and opened the door and he let Roxy inside<br />
the cabin. The man put his case down, locked the door and tried to find the fire. He<br />
got logs, coal, and firelighters. He started the fire and sat down at a nearby desk<br />
with a typewriter on it. He put paper in and started to write a new story.<br />
All you could hear was the wind, the branches of the trees that were hitting one of<br />
the windows, and the typing of the man.<br />
The man finished one of the chapters and sat down by the fire.
Into the Undiscovered Forest,<br />
chapter 2<br />
Chanel Faloon, Logan Kirk and a Time Traveller (C.R.)<br />
Michael, his son Jared, and the dog were in the middle of the forest. It was summer<br />
and the trees were growing drastically, over-growing each other so that it got<br />
dark early.<br />
They heard a noise, a big “boom,” and the trees started to shake and fall over. The<br />
ground shook viciously as a plane hit the ground close to them. It broke apart and<br />
left a hole in the ground. Dirt went all over the place and it was really mucky.<br />
Michael, Jared and the dog ran over to the plane to see if there was anyone<br />
injured. Jared saw that there was a girl injured, around 18 years old.<br />
“Are you OK?” Jay shouted, scared.<br />
“Help!” the girl shouted, holding her hand up out of a broken window.<br />
Jared asked her name. “It’s Caty,” she replied. Michael ran to help her to get out<br />
of the plane.<br />
“Where did you come from?” Michael said, “And where are your family?”<br />
Caty had come over to America in the plane her family’s friend owned. But then<br />
she had stolen it and lost control. Caty tried to think of some white lies.<br />
“I was just on a flight lesson and got lost.”<br />
Michael picked Caty up and carried her into the cabin where they were staying.<br />
The cabin had two windows, and a driveway for off-road vehicles. The cabin was<br />
made of logs. They brought her into the cabin to help her. Jared remembered about<br />
the first aid kit and they got her to take a rest.<br />
While she was asleep, they took her phone to try to make contact with her family.<br />
Jared scrolled down the contacts until he found ‘Mum’. Then he rang and she<br />
answered.<br />
“Hello? What’s wrong, Caty?!”<br />
57
58
ABOUT<br />
THE CLASS<br />
59
About us<br />
Harry Potter<br />
xmas movies like Jack Frost<br />
revising<br />
Titanic Walkway<br />
playing football<br />
The Mournes<br />
Dubai<br />
Maldives<br />
Pretty Little Liars<br />
reading poetry and<br />
Osamu Dazai<br />
police videos on YouTube<br />
on my phone<br />
games<br />
60<br />
Reddit Belfast Giants
theatre<br />
dance<br />
Helen’s Bay<br />
Rangers<br />
Of Mice and Men<br />
ice hockey<br />
Bangor Pier<br />
music<br />
acting<br />
art<br />
Nando’s<br />
make-up<br />
Netflix<br />
cinema hairdressing<br />
eyelashes<br />
Bora Bora<br />
Queen<br />
Pot Noodle<br />
Instagram<br />
nails<br />
Home Alone<br />
travel<br />
doctor<br />
Snapchat<br />
SoundCloud<br />
Cavetown<br />
Celtic<br />
pink<br />
yellow<br />
family<br />
61
What do you hope to get out of this workshop?<br />
(Oct 2021)<br />
I want to learn about NI history.<br />
Create stories I can share.<br />
Have fun. Learn new skills.<br />
How are you feeling?<br />
(Oct 2021)<br />
Happy.<br />
I understand.<br />
Excited.<br />
Bored.<br />
Don’t know yet.<br />
Good.<br />
It’s easy.<br />
How are you feeling about the project?<br />
(March 2022)<br />
Happy, excited.<br />
Happy, nervous, tired.<br />
Nervous.<br />
Tired, relaxed, happy.<br />
Happy, excited, curious.<br />
Not really interested.<br />
Confident, excited.<br />
The same.<br />
Really interesting, fun, really good.<br />
It was alright. Fun. Exciting. Happy.<br />
Very interested, happy, learned alot of things. Love it.<br />
I feel excited, quite curious and happy about our story.<br />
Very interested, learned a lot of things. Love it.<br />
Just thank you all.<br />
Thank you for helping me write stories.<br />
62
About the authors -<br />
Ahmed Abdulla loves watching Marvel films, shows and similar stuff. His favourite<br />
superhero is Spiderman because he loves the story and films. Their favourite<br />
holiday place would be Dubai to spend time with family and because it’s really<br />
luxurious and they love all the modern buildings. He’d love to be a pilot and wants<br />
to travel to different places.<br />
He’d like to improve his football skills and have more time to spend with his team,<br />
Albion Star.<br />
There is a person called Mustafa Ahmed. If he had a superpower he would choose<br />
flying so he could travel around the world and visit different places without having<br />
to pay for it. The place that he would love to go to most is Paris because it’s a nice<br />
place with lovely people. Mustafa has many playlists but his favourite music is rap.<br />
American rapper NBA Young Boy is his favourite. The thing that Mustafa gets most<br />
annoyed by is fake people. The only thing he really cares about is his friends and<br />
family members.<br />
Yassmin Alrashaydah is from Jordan. She speaks four languages (Arabic, English,<br />
French, and Greek!). Her favourite colours are black, blue, and green, and her<br />
favourite animal is a panda. If Yassmin had a superpower, she would like to be<br />
able to fly, and if she could go anywhere in the world she would go to Switzerland.<br />
In the future, Yassmin would like to be a dentist. Her favourite holiday is Ramadan.<br />
She likes Turkish movies and would like her hair short. In her free time she likes<br />
drawing and watching films. She likes to draw people. Her favourite sport is<br />
basketball. She likes to be friendly with other people.<br />
Harlie Brown would love to travel the world. When she gets older she wants to do<br />
eyelashes and would love to go to Dubai and to the Maldives. She loves Nando’s.<br />
Her dream is to have loads of money to get a big house in Spain.<br />
Robbie Crawford has lived in N. Ireland his whole life. When he was three he<br />
choked on a chicken bone. It went into his lung and he had to go to theatre to get it<br />
removed.<br />
Robbie has a Chinese Shar Pei called Foxy. He has a pit bike and one of his<br />
ambitions is to find a good spot where he can ride it. Robbie does boxing three<br />
times a week at a gym. He likes the music genre, rock, and his favourite song is<br />
Eye of the Tiger by Survivor.<br />
63
Chanel Faloon’s superpower would be to fly because she could fly to her best<br />
friend’s house, holiday, or to Spain, to sit in the water to cool down.<br />
One of her childhood memories was going to England and the priest threw holy<br />
water around her because she laughed when he repeated a prayer.<br />
She loves Christmas because she loves snow and the winter weather.<br />
Her favourite song is Hello My Love by West Life.<br />
She’s annoyed when people get on differently in front of people. It makes others<br />
feel sad, angry and left out. She wishes she could travel in time so she could see<br />
her uncle. His name was Wayne. She would like to see if he was happy and if he<br />
was proud of her mummy.<br />
Chanel would love to go to New York.<br />
Iqra Idow is a quiet girl who likes school, especially her favourite subject,<br />
Hospitality and she enjoys cooking. She really loves her family, who are from<br />
Somalia and live in Belfast.<br />
Iqra can speak Somali and English. When she has free time she likes to watch<br />
movies, especially comedy and horror movies. Iqra likes to help her mother and<br />
takes her little brother to the park. Iqra’s favourite celebration is Eid because she<br />
fasts for one month during Ramadan.<br />
Iqra has always been excited about the beauty industry especially make-up,<br />
Henna and nails. She would like to travel to Turkey and Dubai.<br />
Logan Kirk’s favourite childhood memory is meeting the Northern Irish football<br />
team when he was 3 or 4 years old. He was given a player’s t-shirt signed by the<br />
team and was in the Star newspaper.<br />
Logan’s disability is called Spina bifida hydrocephalus, and he has to have shunts<br />
to drain fluid from his head because he has a disc missing from his spine. He<br />
already has the superpowers he would want: he’s super-strong (with lots of upper<br />
body strength) and super-fast!<br />
He watches YouTube videos every day about Bugattis, Lamborghinis and Ferraris.<br />
He has a funny sense of humour.<br />
Nyakuma is from South Sudan. She speaks four languages, (Amharic, English,<br />
Italian and Nuer). Her favourite colours are pink and purple and her favourite<br />
animal is a lion. If she had a superpower she would like to be able to fly and<br />
travel the world. She would go to Korea, America, Brazil, Dubai and Turkey.<br />
Her favourite holiday is Christmas. Nyakuma likes to watch Turkish, English and<br />
Amharic movies when she has free time.<br />
Her favourite sport is basketball.<br />
In the future Nyakuma would like to be a doctor. When she is bored she likes to go<br />
shopping.<br />
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Kyle is a big Eminem fan and his favourite song is Cleaning Out My Closet. Kyle<br />
would love to own his own yacht and travel the world. For the time being, he lives<br />
in Belfast with his family. He just cares about his family and friends.<br />
Superpowers that he wishes he had are flying, teleporting and freezing time.<br />
Oisín has always wanted to go to France, Czech, Japan, Spain, Italy, Poland,<br />
Germany, USA, Canada, Mexico, Australia and the Philippines and New Zealand.<br />
His favourite songs are Twilight by Boa, The Perfect Girl by Marau and he likes<br />
Nirvana. His favourite movies are The Batman and he likes the MCU (Marvel<br />
Cinematic Universe).<br />
Pearse Rainey wishes he could fly because he hates walking.<br />
His favourite food is Chicken Korma with naan bread and rice because it has so<br />
much flavour.<br />
His playlist includes Adele, Amy Winehouse, Cardi B, Carrie Underwood, Gerry<br />
Cinnamon, Maroon 5, MJ, Miley Cyrus, Nicki Minaj, and Shakira.<br />
Pearse cares about family and friends. His dream is to go to Bora Bora because it’s<br />
really peaceful and no one goes there.<br />
Rhys’s favourite subject is engineering, especially designing and modelling. He<br />
likes the solid works part best.<br />
When Rhys is not in school, he likes to play Rainbow Six Siege and Rust. He likes to<br />
eat risotto with cheese, chorizo, mushrooms and onions.<br />
Rhys is interested in the history of the Vikings, Ancient Egypt and Greek mythology.<br />
He likes the stories of Greek gods like Zeus and Poseidon. He became interested in<br />
history through games like God of War.<br />
Clara is from Brazil. She likes Capoeira, a Brazilian dance, as well as hip-hop and<br />
belly dance. She loves Disney animations and is a fan of DC comics.<br />
Clara would like to go back to Brazil and be a great language teacher since she<br />
likes different languages and cultures. She can speak Portuguese, Spanish, English<br />
and is learning Danish. Her favourite celebration is Carnaval because of the<br />
colours and costumes. Her playlists are diverse, but sometimes she just listens to<br />
5 Seconds of Summer and Tomorrow x Together.<br />
She is shy and quiet, yet can be very loud when she is with close friends. Most of<br />
the time she likes to appreciate the silence.<br />
If Madison Rowan had a superpower it would be teleportation so she could get to<br />
places any time, any day. She would go on holiday to Spain and chill in the pool.<br />
As she misses her nanny and granda she wishes she could go back into<br />
19-something. She could meet her Nanny and auntie and be able to see her<br />
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granda as she misses him so much. If she could ask them something she would ask<br />
if her mum’s doing them proud, even though she knows she is.<br />
Her favourite celebration is the 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th of July cause it’s friends<br />
and family time and the bonfire is so fun and the bands are on for four nights.<br />
Her fave songs are Take Care by Drake and Safe Inside by James Arthur cause<br />
they’re catchy.<br />
Her dream is to be a counsellor because she done it and she wants to give back<br />
and help people.<br />
Amina is from Somalia. She would like to go back one day. Her big hope is to go<br />
to Mecca. She would like to visit France, Canada and America.<br />
Amina speaks three languages – Somali, Arabic and English and she likes to read<br />
the Quran.<br />
Her big dream is to become a businesswoman, maybe to do makeup for weddings<br />
and special occasions.<br />
Eid is a very happy day for all Muslims. Amina remembers going to her relatives<br />
for Eid. All young Muslims receive money from their relatives on this day, and<br />
Amina did too.<br />
Her superpowers are art and football. She is annoyed when she is not eating<br />
chocolate.<br />
Maryama is from Somalia. She can speak three languages: Somali, English and<br />
Arabic which she learned by translating the holy Quran, watching Arabic TV and<br />
at school. She has never travelled to an Arabic country but would like to so that she<br />
can improve her Arabic. She’d also like to visit North Korea.<br />
Maryama likes to drink coffee and her favourite subject is Math. In her spare time,<br />
she reads books (in Somali), watches movies and listens to music. She cares about<br />
fashion - her dream job is to become a fashion model - and likes to play football.<br />
Her favourite game is PUBG Mobile and she spends her time playing that game<br />
with friends.<br />
Imogen wishes she could go to Bora Bora, do hair and beauty and meet Joey<br />
Essex.<br />
She loves Nando’s and she hopes she doesn’t get ‘rona’ before going to New<br />
York!<br />
Caitlin lives with her mummy and is an only child. She has a dog called Lady. Her<br />
superpower would be time travel, to go to 2007 when she was born or 2018, to<br />
see her great granda Joe, to hear what his voice sounds like and to see if he is<br />
proud of her. They were really close.<br />
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Caitlin is always on her phone or Tik Tok no matter what time it is or what<br />
she’s doing.<br />
Fey Hill and Sidra also contributed to this anthology.<br />
About the mentors, researchers, and artists<br />
Jonathan Beck is a thirty-something writer from the north coast of Ireland. He likes<br />
spaghetti and cats—but not on the same plate. If he had a superpower, he would<br />
choose the ability to understand and speak any language, and not just the Earth<br />
ones, either.<br />
Stephanie Boven-Dunlop grew up in Michigan and Kentucky. She loves Dolly<br />
Parton and Nina Simone. She’s very happy that there are no wild snakes in Ireland.<br />
In America, they would sometimes slither across her jogging trail and give her a<br />
terrific fright. If she could pick a superpower, it would be teleporting so she could<br />
pop over to have a cup of tea with her mum whenever she wanted.<br />
Caroline Bowers is a Tech Marketing Manager from Belfast. She enjoys creative<br />
writing, reading books, and walking her Golden Retriever puppy. Caroline is<br />
a travel fanatic and if she had a superpower, it would be the ability to teleport<br />
anywhere in the world whenever she wanted (the first stop would be Paris). Her<br />
guilty pleasure is her favourite song, Sweet Caroline, by Neil Diamond.<br />
Máire Callaghan studied at Queen’s then moved to London where she worked in<br />
publishing. Life’s adventures took her to Munich, to Dublin and then full circle back<br />
to Belfast. She enjoys collecting stones and shells during wintery walks beside wild<br />
seas on empty beaches. She has Saint Sister’s Where I Should End on loop at the<br />
moment and can be found most days in a comfy chair with her nose in a book.<br />
Clare Cavanagh is a retired professional. (She might be over the hill, but the climb<br />
was terrific!)<br />
Clare’s superpower would be mind reading. Her favourite time of the year is midsummer’s<br />
night. She listens to jazz music and cares about social justice.<br />
Sinead Farry is an illustrator living in Belfast. Her favourite place is her garden.<br />
Her superpower would be to turn into a big oak tree to help stressed people relax.<br />
Swings and a treehouse on the tree would be places to play and the sweet singing<br />
of birds resting on the branches would soothe minds.<br />
Marnie Kennedy moved from Sydney to Belfast at the turn of the century. She’s a<br />
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fan of short stories, poetry, film soundtracks and reading in the sunshine. One day<br />
she will make time to develop her love of linocut printing. If she could choose a<br />
superpower, it would be to have a vivid memory.<br />
Kelly McCaughrain is the author of Flying Tips for Flightless Birds (Walker Books)<br />
and was the QUB Children’s Writing Fellow for Northern Ireland 2019-2021. The<br />
superpower she’d like to have is time travel. The superpower she actually has is<br />
growing lemon trees from pips!<br />
Daniel Paton is a lost millennial in a complicated world. He physically resides in<br />
Belfast, though mentally spends most of his time running around with hobbits in<br />
Middle-Earth. He hopes to become a ‘proper’ writer one day - whatever that is.<br />
Rebecca Samuel is an illustrator from Donegal. Her favourite things to draw<br />
are from the natural world and if she were to go anywhere in the world right now<br />
it would be the places she would love to paint, like the expansive landscapes and<br />
grandiose trees of the Americas, fjords of Norway and flora/fauna of<br />
New Zealand.<br />
Rebecca has loved contributing to this anthology and hopes that readers get as<br />
much out of it as the writers and illustrators have put into it!<br />
Niamh Scullion is often found deep in a story, whether reading one or writing one.<br />
Once as a young child, she was behind the couch lost so deep in a story, that her<br />
family forgot her and went away for five hours to a football match. She didn’t even<br />
realise they were gone until they returned, worried sick. The original Home<br />
Alone story.<br />
She still thinks books are better than football.<br />
Attila Szabó is a visual artist who studied Fine Art at Ulster University and lives in<br />
Hungary.<br />
Fighting Words NI mentors Sam Farrell, Natasha Geary, Valerie Goodchild and<br />
Cathaoir McKay also supported <strong>Untold</strong> and <strong>Imagined</strong> <strong>Stories</strong> workshops.<br />
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Acknowledgements<br />
Year 11 students from Malone Integrated College<br />
We thank them for sharing their Mondays and for all the portals that they opened.<br />
Staff of Malone Integrated College, particularly Selina Dutton and Niamh Cuffe,<br />
also Ryan McDonald and Naomi Cassidy<br />
Fighting Words NI staff:<br />
Hannah Armstrong, Jonathan Beck, Lucy Beevor, Hilary Copeland, Emily DeDakis, Sean<br />
Óg Gibson, Donna Hunter, Marnie Kennedy, Romy McKeever, Antonio Mulholland,<br />
Niamh Scullion, Julie Sherlock, Talitha Taylor<br />
Fighting Words NI volunteers:<br />
Stephanie Boven-Dunlop, Caroline Bowers, Máire Callaghan, Clare Cavanagh, Sam<br />
Farrell, Sinead Farry, Natasha Geary, Valerie Goodchild, Kelly McCaughrain, Cathaoir<br />
McKay, Daniel Paton, Rebecca Samuel, Attila Szabó<br />
The 174 Trust<br />
Joe Laverty Photography<br />
UsFolk<br />
Joe & Geraldine<br />
Mukesh Sharma and Frances McNally from The National Lottery Heritage Fund for<br />
understanding the challenges and for their keen interest.<br />
Fighting Words Northern Ireland gratefully acknowledges the support of the Heritage<br />
Fund and the funding provided by the Northern Ireland Office.<br />
Thanks to this grant, it has been possible to share some untold stories about Northern<br />
Ireland’s history and bring the community together to mark the Centenary of<br />
Northern Ireland.<br />
Photographs by A. R. Hogg<br />
Courtesy of National Museums NI<br />
This work is licensed under a<br />
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 International License.<br />
‘P & K’ artificial left arm, Belfast, Northern Ireland, 1920-1925.<br />
Science Museum Group Collection<br />
© The Board of Trustees of the Science Museum<br />
This work is licensed under a<br />
Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.<br />
Images from The Arrival by Shaun Tan<br />
© Shaun Tan<br />
Reproduced from www.shauntan.net<br />
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Fighting Words NI is a charity registered with The Charity<br />
Commission for Northern Ireland.<br />
Registered office: The Skainos Centre, 239 - 241 Newtownards<br />
Road, Belfast, BT4 1AF.<br />
Charity No: NIC105751 Company No: NI638582
www.fightingwords.co.uk<br />
Design by UsFolk<br />
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