On the Literary Pub Crawl yesterday, the concept of place was so evident and tangible. By being in the

various places that authors and leaders congregated and comingled with their fellow Irishmen, I was able to grasp a better understanding of how their works and actions took shape. The atmosphere contains energized electricity and the slow, calm pull that follows a few beers. This complexity is reflected in the literary work that comes out of Ireland, which the actors so effectively portrayed during the various stops of the pub crawl. While in the pubs, I was able to see the various types of people drinking or simply hanging out with others. There are so many different types of people, but also the same types at every stop along the way. I can understand why some of the pub descriptions can become clichés, but I am also very aware that those characterizations must be from an outsider perspective. The differences in the pubgoers is probably much more evident to those from Ireland, but Dublin specifically. Another great aspect of the pub crawl was being able to experience the various aspects of a Friday night in Dublin. While in the pubs, we saw happy people experiencing and enjoying life. We also were able to see some of the dimmer sides of Dublin, the beggars and those that were a little too drunk. The latter reminded me of the characters from Dubliners, which is interesting since James Joyce wrote in and about many of these pubs. This is probably the most striking reality of the pub crawl, that Dublin is a striking and complex city, with high and low aspects.