Thursday is the day I have all 3 classes, at 10, 11, and 12, and then lunch at 1, all on opposite sides of the town, so that's a bit stressful.
Whats been going on? I just got all my books for International Relations and Philosophy on Amazon for around £30 pounds ($60, probably half the price the three would have been in the store. Parents, moneda por favor. Just kidding.) The last couple days have been cool. Classes are beginning to get interesting after lots of introductory stuff. Two cool things yesterday: I met with the theater fund about being one of the directors for the "Fresher's Play", which is a few freshman directors and all freshman cast in 20-30 minute shows. We've got quite a long time to put them up, and unless a one act play miraculously lands in my lap, I'm gonna work with the cast to create an origional piece. Should be interesting, and hopefully not absolutely horrible.
Last night I went with my roomate and academic dad (a sort of odd tradition which basically just involves calling half the student body family) to the school debate, which was in "Lower Parliment Hall." So named because at one point under Mary Queen of Scots the parliment met there! AMAZING room with a practical throne, and the debating society is ancient so there are all sorts of interesting/fun rituals. The peace-keeper guy carries a sword. They serve port before the debates. When the audience approves, it says "here, here" and when it doesn't approve, it says "shame". As people are speaking. When voting on issues, when hands are raised in abstention, everyone says, "liberals!". In the end as the debaters file out everyone sings a song in Latin.
Ahhh being in this place....
It's interesting. European politics are far more liberal than US politics. But I'm finding this place very tradition-bound (both a good and bad thing) as well as LOTS of hardcore Christians. As an ancient priest college with strong theology and divinity programs I guess it makes sense, as well as the fact that all universities in the UK are government run, whereas in the US you'd have specific religious colleges where you'd get the nuts and then other schools for the real people. Ouch.
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Upcoming: Romeo & Juliet, Forum Theatre, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
A Californian, a Scot, and a Shanghainese walk into a bar...
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Upcoming: Romeo & Juliet, Forum Theatre, Brief Interviews with Hideous Men
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Soft Night
silent graffiti
sprawling words stretched out on cream pink walls
spattered from on high by the seagulls
that freewheeled and caw-cawed through aharsh pink sky
still graffiti
a motionless oasis
in violence, silent. calm,
but eagerly longing for discovery:
notice me!
here! I am out of place
no whitewashed walls
a monument TO MAN’S INGENUITY
no pyramids of the metropolis
only the loving work of boys
somewhere between testament and confession
they who posses nothing
but are the property of adults
spray themselves out on other adult property
this is mine! until the paint
is covered by another layer
dogs piss at a fire hydrant
silent graffiti
crackling ground under Nikes
and from
far off
the whirr of sirens.
4 comments:
I think traditions can be fun if they still have some meaning even if they've lost their original context. But tradition for the sake of tradition is just goofy and very, very British.
Love the image of the debate keepers holding swords. Cool stuff, Brian. Congrats on your books. When will they arrive?
Careful about those Christians... remember why the Cathedral in St. Andrews is only a ruin...
say, have you ever watched the British parliament on ESPN? grown men yell "here, here" and "booo" in the lower house. I'm not sure about the house of lords, since they are too aristocratic to do much of anything...
On the problem of too many Christians...
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