Wednesday, October 17, 2007

Decent Day

Good lectures this morning. My psychology professor continues to get really excited everytime he mentions torture. In IR we talked about Machiavelli and Hobbes with regards to their views on power.

Went again to the debate training this afternoon. Not so great for me this time--the topic was "This house believes that parents should be allowed to vote for their children while their children are minors". I was arguing against, trying to point out which parents this would further enfranchise. I was trying to say that lower class people are likely to have more kids but be more negligent of them, while the middle and upper classes have fewer kids but would be more likely to vote. Aaaaaand apparently "lower class" is one of those phrases you just DON'T use here, because as soon as I said it everyone ghasped and made out as if I had argued for taking the vote away from the lower class. So it's okay to make fun of "neds," "chavs," and "the working class" to a degree, but not to say the word "LOWER class". That would be unaristocratic of us!

Hah. But enough of that.

Tonight has been good. I cast my show and got £250. Hooray. The £250 was from a scholarship reception which I went to tonight, and the callbacks were tonight as well. I'm quite happy with my cast, as I took all the people who others didn't love as "actors" and I loved because they weren't actors. My first rehearsal will be Friday, so hopefully that goes well. I've got to figure out what I want them to do. Ah, and I get £100 pounds to spend on the show. Since I'm not exactly planning on set/props, I figure it'll go for cast meals/drinks. Hooray!

P.S. William, thank you for "The Castle". I had to struggle a bit to get through "The Trial", but I think "The Castle" may just be the best book I've ever read. Maybe--I'm only halfway through. But I did that in one sitting, in which I usually read about 20 pages.

4 comments:

tsonia said...

Ya know... The Brits are pretty interesting historically with their relationship with torture. All of Europe, in fact. Not that we aren't. We just deny. Glad today was a better day. I worried for you yesterday. How's that hand, by the way?

Unknown said...

I laughed out loud at the thought of using the term "lower class" and being gasped at. I had no idea!

And what play are you directing? Is it an original piece?

swallace said...

In Europe there is a long tradition of class divisions and they are (on the surface) constantly trying to erase them, except for the adoration of royalty (who are now about as useful as the heirloom silver tea set that you admire but never use). In the US we have always pretended not to have class distinctions (ha!) and so we feel more open about maligning the poor. I wonder if the situation is reversed in the two locations concerning the discourse on race???

Anonymous said...

brydawg, class and race are the two strands even the professional rhetoricians (politicians?) fear to broach, so don't feel bad. Personally, I think voting rights should be based on many things,(like an SAT score) such the intelligence quotient, emotional intelligence, financial stability, class gaps, and so forth, much like an affirmative action of sorts, but then i am nobody, so there.
K. is great. Perhaps one day there will be a play based on the castle.