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.
