the green and pleasant land

the old country

2005-08-15T00:57:00.000+01:00

faithfully departed
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

I spent about 48 hours in Ireland in late July, courtesy of the Fitzie Foundation and a cheap ticket from Ryanair.

lots of photos

2005-07-29T09:12:00.000+01:00

the gown is about to fall off
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

Yesterday I posted pictures from the past six weeks (Deede and Da's visit, Henley, hiking on the Continent, graduation, and a few things in between) on my Flickr account, which you can access by clicking the photo to the right. Look out for the sets from Lavenham, Henley, hiking to Ely, and hiking in France.

Reality check

2005-07-07T11:26:00.000+01:00

When I put up the blog below, I didn't know that London Underground had been struck by a series of explosions, or that the top of a double decker bus in Russell Square had been blown away. The Underground blasts happened on the Metropolitan Line between Aldgate East and London Liverpool Street stations. I was just on that line, travelling between those stations, exactly one week ago, on my way back from meeting some of my future law school classmates. Rowing seems pretty frivilous now.

Blades

2005-07-07T11:02:00.000+01:00

A few weeks ago, I turned in my dissertation and rowed in May bumps, the Easter term version of the Lent bumps I featured on my blog back in March. Why are they called May bumps? No doubt for the same reason that the following week of balls and garden parties is called May week – it’s in the month after May, obviously!

The dissertation went out with a wimper rather than a bang – there were no last minute crashes, changes, or emergencies, thank goodness, and I turned it in on Friday, June 17, forty-five minutes early and one word under the limit. My classmates and I went out for a pub lunch afterwards, at which they drank champagne and I downed water by the pint. You couldn’t have tempted me with the world’s best bottle of wine that afternoon. On that Friday, my boat found ourselves in a position we never would have predicted at the beginning of the week, up two bumps and chasing Churchill for our third. Summer finally came to Cambridge with all its force that afternoon, just in time for what we expected to be the hardest race of our year, and I wasn’t about to jeopardize our chances with thesis celebration.

Per haps I should explain just why I cared so much about ramming a very expensive eight-man boat into another equally expensive vessel on a hot summer afternoon. It wasn’t necessarily all the practices and land training that went into preparing for the race. I did that because I fell in love with rowing when I first stepped into a boat last year at Harvard and would have been happy with the experience no matter what happened during bumps. I cared, more than I should probably admit, because bumps gave me a chance to do something I have never done before. I have been on some successful sports teams over the years, in softball and basketball, but I never felt like I made a major contribution to our victories – I was just in the right place at the right time to watch my teammates excel. But there is no room for watching your teammates excel when you are sitting in an eight with them, trying ram your boat into the one in front of you. For the first time in my life, I had a chance to make a real contribution to an athletic endeavour.

And not just any athletic endeavour! If my basketball team had won the state championship my last year of high school, would anyone remember it a hundred years from now? I doubt it. The bumps races, however, are steeped in the kind of tradition that only Oxbridge can produce. A boat that bumps up each of the four days of the race puts up an old blade, inscribed with the names of the cox and crew and who they bumped, in the bar or boathouse of the college. The Christ’s boathouse has such oars on its walls dating back to the1890s. “Winning one’s blades” means going down in the history books, contributing to the honour of the college, and being the subject of hushed tones in hallowed halls for years to come. Silly? Maybe to some people, but to an Anglophile history buff like myself, it is the stuff of dreams.

Our boat had an extra incentive added to this sense of tradition and continuity. There were girls in the crew who had rowed for three years and never bumped. The first women’s boat at Christ’s had not earned blades since 1990, a long time considering that women started participating in bumps in 1984. In fact, the entire boat club has been on a general downward trend since the mid- to late-1990s. While boats in the lower divisions had earned blades now and again, but a blades crew in the first division would signal a turn of fortunes at Christ’s.

So you can imagine the excitement in the boat when in the first two days of bumps, we overcame Catz (St. Catherine’s) and New Hall before either had a chance to round the first corner. We felt confident that we could catch them eventually, but no one expected us to make up one and a half lengths that quickly. Surprising results in the boats ahead of us placed Churchill in our sights on day three, an intimidating prospect as they had previously beaten us in a side-by-side race in London and easily evaded us when we chased them in the Lents. The race on Friday was a test of our mental stamina as much as anything else. As our boathouse is the furthest from the start of the course, we rowed down past all the other crews, including Churchill, as they sized us up or yelled encouragement. We had to wait on the bank for the second men’s division to finish, fidgeting on the grass just next to Churchill’s boat, simultaneously trying to stay focused and not think about the race. I still feel slightly nauseous remembering the butterflies in my stomach. We finally pushed off for the final row up to our starting position, past the crowds that had grown since the day before, attempting to keep our eyes in our boat and not watch our competitors. The worst bit, however, was the last few minutes before the gun. There are two warning shots, at four minutes and one minute, and the silence that stretches in between them seemed interminable.

Then everything happened all at once: the final warning shot, Simon our boatman pushing us out, the bank party counting down the last seconds, taking directions from Simon, and just enough time to think, “What am I doing here?” before the staring gun fires and the world is reduced to boat, blade, and the distant sounds of voices from the bank. Tap down, catch in time, eyes on the rower in front, weight on your toes, rough water, don’t panic, stay together, push for ten. Then I suddenly remembered why I was there and how badly I wanted to ram my boat into Churchill’s, to show everyone else that we meant business, and to prove to myself that I really could push that hard. And then we all pushed harder. But where was Churchill? A whistle from the bank signalled that the gap had been closed to one length. Julianne our cox called ten strokes to a half length. Cate just in front of me fell off of her seat, and before I could think about it, I had pushed her back on her seat with the handle of my oar. We recover, Julianne called ten to half again, and this time we do it, Simon blew the whistle twice, and there was no stopping us. We could feel the rough water churned up by Churchill’s blades, and then our own were scraping the bank; Julianne was pulling in to get out of the way – why? – wait! – we bumped! We still hadn’t turned that first corner yet. The whole thing took no more than three minutes.

So much for that defeat in London! The traditional three cheers for Churchill – hip-hip-hooray! – and then the bank party handed us small branches from trees on the bank to wear on the way home. I tried to figure out a new way to stick mine in the Auburn visor Da and Deede gave me, catch my breath, and talk to everyone else at the same time. Before the race, our boathouse’s position, furthest from the marshalling point, had seemed a detriment, giving us more time to get nervous – but no one was complaining on the long victory lap home!
The most spectators come on the last day of bumps – it’s on the weekend instead of a business day, and that’s the day that results stick, to be triumphed over or brooded upon for another year. I read in the papers later that this year’s Saturday crowd was the largest in memory. On the banks, alumni and their families sipped Pimm’s under marquees flying the college flags, tourists snapped photos, and students looked for their friends in various boats. So I hear, anyway; I didn’t pay much attention to any of it on the way down.

The atmosphere in the boat had changed from the day before. I think that we really won our blades when we bumped Churchill so quickly after they had decisively beaten us in the past. Although no one would have admitted it on that Saturday, we felt that much more confident lining up behind Downing, who was on a downward spiral anyway. While Downing’s women currently hold the “headship” (they are the first boat in the first division) in Lent bumps, they had already been bumped every day when we had them in our sights in the Mays. Christ’s had a score to settle with them as well – their first men had denied ours a bumps headship in the ‘90s, and then had the chutzpah to parade their boat around our first court. It was payback time.

Downing gave us a better race than the previous three boats had – we saw the other side of that initial corner for the first time, but just barely. Their cox wouldn’t concede until we thwacked their boat with a resounding and satisfying “THUMP!!!” Our alumni party could see us from their position on the opposite bank, and you can hear them talking about it on a DVD a local photography studio made of the race: “Did they get them?! Oh, oh! Yes! Hooray! Who wants more Pimm’s?”

I will always remember our row home on that golden afternoon, a wave of clapping from the bank following us home as Julianne our cox proudly displayed the college flag (while simultaneously steering the boat). Several members of the Christ’s graduate society had turned out and cheered us from the bank. Friends from Harvard ran alongside our boat taking pictures. For once, Julianne had to admonish us to slow down, because we were too excited to take our rate down. Our first men congratulated us by banging on their boat before rowing down to the start of their own race. Every crew we passed called out, “Well done, Christ’s!” And we laughed as only victorious youth can laugh, carefree and invincible, all the way back home.

Even the master of the college had come out to wish us luck and see the start of our race. He spoke at our boat club dinner later that evening, putting our results in the context of the Christ’s Quincentenary and reading from the boat club’s report in 1905. Ours was not the only successful boat at the college this year; the Fellows’ and rugby boats had also won their blades, and our boats gained a total of eight places overall. As Master Bowie stood at the high table in the warm, soft glow of our formal hall, he declared, “I usually give the same speech at these occasions, promising new dawns and New Jerusalems. But this year deserves a different speech, for the New Jerusalem has come.”

More photos from the Royal garden party

2005-06-10T17:44:00.000+01:00

I have added some pictures of meeting the Queen here. Thanks to Rebecca for taking them! People have been asking me if I am in any of the 174 photos the Cambridge Evening News has posted on its website, but I haven't seen myself in any of them. All the photos at Christ's were taken at the other end of the fellows' garden from where I was standing.

With the compliments of the Press Secretary to the Queen

2005-06-08T22:32:00.000+01:00

The latest from the Royal Engagements Diary. Also, local press coverage here.

The Queen at Christ's

2005-06-08T17:01:00.000+01:00

The Royal Party has just departed the College, and everything is back to normal. After my last post, I ran around the College taking photos of all the preparations and greeting friends who were arriving for the event. I arrived at the marquee in the fellows' garden at 3 pm, as instructed, in full academical dress. People representing all elements of the College -- undergrads, fellows, staff, porters -- were also there, and we had a chance to have some tea and chat before HM appeared (only the English would offer tea as a refreshing drink in the heat!). Almost all the women who were not in academical dress wore hats, some of them quite fanciful, though only the head librarian sported gloves. As the appointed hour approached, the domestic bursar (the College administrator in charge of the day's programme) directed the six groups of people who were to meet the Queen to their positions. Everyone else retreated behind white lines in the grass, and we all waited.

The Queen entered through the main gate of the garden, followed by the Duke of Edinburgh, and a larger party than I had seen at the English department. In addition to the Lord Lieutenant and lady-in-waiting, the Sherriff, the Lord Mayor, and the Duke's equerry, each in their particular dress, followed. They made their way down the garden and paused for a cup of tea by the marquee before meeting each of the groups. We were the last group, so we had a chance to see how everyone else behaved, but also more time to get nervous! The Duke approached our group first, accompanied by the Vice Master, and asked us if we had finished yet. No one wanted to be the first to speak up, so there was an awkward pause before we all spoke at once. He realised this method wasn't going to work, and began asking each of us individually, starting with a girl two spots down from me in the horseshoe. When I told him that I was finishing my dissertation for my MPhil, he remarked, "You don't sound entirely native!" I replied that I was from Alabama. He asked me where I originally went to school, and I said that I took my first degree at Harvard. He enquired why I came to Cambridge, and I told him that the 18th century English literature program was very good here. (And apparently I was speaking very loudly, because my friends in other groups told me later that they could hear me! How embarrassing!) The Duke continued around the group, and then moved on to speak to the people collected behind the white lines.

Despite being briefed on protocol, I completely forgot to curtsey or say "Your Highness," and could only revert to my Southern "sir," which I would say to any man of the Duke's age. But the fellow assigned to our group, Dr. Bayly, said that we all did fine, so I tried not to worry about it, although I was determined to get it right for the Queen.

She finally made it to our group and had a very different style than the Duke. He was more casual and conversational, while she systematically progressed around the horseshoe, asking each of us what we studied. This made it easier to remember protocol, so I managed to make my half-curtsey and take her proffered hand without a fumble, although I forgot to say "Your Majesty" until the second time I addressed her. She asked me what I studied, and when I said that I was researching what Edmund Burke and Jonathan Swift had to say about Ireland, she made a face! I said that they had interesting things to say about it, and she drily remarked, "I'm sure they did" and moved on to the next person. I guess I mentioned the wrong country! While we had been told that the Queen would lead us on with questions, she left us hanging a bit after we answered the standard "What do you do?" which made for some awkward silences. The exhanges were over quickly, though, and the Royal Party returned to the entrance of the garden, followed by members of the College, where they unveiled another plaque in honour of their visit and the 500th anniversary of the College's founding. And then they were off!

Everyone hung around for a while comparing notes, which is when I found out to my mortification that my voice had been loud enough for the entire garden to hear what I was saying. The porters are never going to let me live this down. But I was still thrilled about my royal experience!

A friend of mine tooks some photos of all this, which I will post later. Thanks for reading this far!

The saga continues

2005-06-08T13:46:00.000+01:00

Sorry to cut off right at the climax back there, but I had to leave the computer room to see the Queen depart the building and then have lunch. I am back in my room at Christ's, which has become a fortress -- but more on that later.

So the Queen entered, and she was a very short woman, no taller than my shouldters, but assured and serious, nodding and smiling. She approached the first presentation, something to do with Hamlet that I couldn't quite hear. A fellow explained the project, and a student who is involved with it read a passage from the play. She turned to the group of us in the middle of the room and asked if we were involved with the project as well, but we were only there because we had been randomly assigned to the room! One of the undergraduates just said that he had finished his course and was waiting on the results of the exams. HM got the point and turned to the next presentation, a resource of medieval texts on the web. I stood just about two feet away from her while she listened and was able to get a good look at her outfit for Mom's benefit. She wore a pale, but richly coloured, yellow weave coat, buttoned down the front, that went to just below her knees and a hat of the same colour, paired with a black purse, gloves, and patent leather loafers with a one-inch heel. The hat had some understated flair, with a single, thin feather on one side, and the odd matching pin or two to keep it in place.

The Queen politely listened to this second presentation, made a remark, and then left the room, smiling and nodding as before. The Lord Lieutenant (I forgot to add that he had two sliver tassles dangling from his belt) stayed a bit longer to ask some questions. As soon as they were out of earshot, the entire room let out a huge sigh of relief! We went to the entrance of the library as HM toured the studio in the basement and returned upstairs to say a few words and unveil a plaque commemorating her visit. She then went out to her motorcade and accepted boquets from some youngsters. The Duke of Edinburgh presently appeared, and the Royal Party drove off to its next engagement.

The administrators and fellows were clearly relieved that the visit went smoothly and encouraged everyone to partake of the champagne lunch which quickly appeared. I sat out in the courtyard with Alda, a friend from my course, and we talked dissertations in the sunshine.

Returning to Christ's, I found a barrier accross the street from the Great Gate, and policemen positioned every twenty-five yards or so around the College. There are police vans of every description in the parking lot, and bobbies popping in and out of X staircase to grab a bit of lunch.

I will have to be in the fellows' garden, in academical dress, in about an hour. The College has in included me in one of the six groups of eight people who will be personally presented to the Queen (don't ask me why!). It should be a nice event as long as I don't flub my curtsey -- the weather outside is perfect, sunny and breezey without a cloud in the sky.

Whew!

2005-06-08T12:13:00.000+01:00

The Queen has just left the computer room. We first saw the crowd waiting outside rush to see her enter the building about fifteen minutes ago. Nothing happened for some moments, when we saw HM through the bookstacks as she walked through the main reading room, asking a question here and there as the students stood at attention. She then went into the next room, where she seemed to stay for a very long time indeed as everyone in our room talked nervously with each other, making last minute plans for where to stand and who would speak first. Various men in suits passed outside our door, then a Royal Household staff woman, then a University photographer, and finally an English staffer rushed in an told us to stand and HM herself entered, followed by a scarlet-clad professor, a lady in waiting, and the Lord Lieutenant (pronounced left-tenant here), complete with a sword and spurs. Have to run now, more later!

She is in the library

2005-06-08T11:53:00.000+01:00

I just saw her!

She's here!

2005-06-08T11:51:00.000+01:00

And I hear she is wearing yellow.

Somebody didn't get the memo!

2005-06-08T11:20:00.000+01:00

The current diversion in the computer lab is watching a bobby and a man in a suit trying to wrench a bicycle from a railing at the history faculty. I will never consider by bike safe again having seen how easy it is for a couple men with a big wrench to cut the lock.

Reporting live from the English faculty

2005-06-08T10:37:00.000+01:00

I'm in the computer lab at the English faculty, where the administration is in a tizzy getting ready for the Queen's visit later this morning. That's right, the Queen is visiting the University, for the first time since 2000, and I will get to see her not once, but twice! She will inspect the new English faculty building this morning, and then, after some intermediary events, visit Christ's in honour of its Quincentenary this afternoon. The University has declared today a Scarlet Day, which means that all participants must wear full academical dress, with the fellows donning their dress scarlet robes.

My first encounter with the Royal Visit occurred before I left X staircase this morning. I was making porridge in my pjs and bathrobe, and when a couple of bobbies -- complete with neon yellow vests and tall black helmets -- burst in to the kitchen, giving us all a fright (although I think in my state, I scared them more!). It turns out that my home has become a base of operations for the Cambridge police and the Secret Service. The bobbies retreated, only to be replaced by our bedder Sue, who complained that ten of her coworkers had not appeared this morning in a sulk because they were not selected to meet the Queen (more on that later).

I had to leave College by the Hobson Street Gate as our Great Gate is closed, and hurried across town to the English faculty. I thought the town was rather subdued; there were far fewer commuters walking through King's than usual. All the parked cars and bikes have been removed from West Road, and there are police everywhere. It took some doing to prove my identity to the University Pro-Proctors (outfitted in morning coats and top hats, a la Harvard commencement marshalls), as I was uncorrectly listed as an undergraduate. The lobby was in a uproar when I finally entered, swarming with students in various degrees of attire, most of which my mother would not consider adequate for meeting Royalty, professors in academical dress, Royal Household staff, more police, the odd man in a top hat, and harried cleaning staff. From my position in the computer lab, I can see odd groups of students sitting around the history faculty, sunning and pretending to read while they wait for a glimpse of HM. The people in my room have just been told that several of us may have to leave when the Queen comes in here as there will not be enough room. From what I can tell, she will be watching some sort of demonstration on one of the consoles.

That's it for now! Hopefully I will be able to stick around here long enough to report on events as they happen.

home again, home again

2005-06-02T23:18:00.000+01:00

Blake and Dad
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

Just back from Decatur, where everyone met Blake, and we celebrated Dad's 50th birthday. The guys are checking out wedding attire for the groom's party in this photo.

Never a dull moment in X staircase

2005-05-24T09:26:00.000+01:00

bees
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

why I should move to London

2005-05-22T12:54:00.000+01:00

free to view
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

Yesterday as I was walking from Euston to King's Cross, I passed the British Library and thought I would pop in for a quick peek at the Magna Carta, which I hadn't seen since I was little. "Popping in" turned into two hours of gazing at artefacts ranging from the monumental (the only surviving medieval manuscript of Beowulf) to the amusing (a menu from Scott's South Polar expedition).

Some favourites:

the Lindisfarne Gospels
Codex Sinaiticus
the Benedictional of St. Ethelwold
the Sherbourne missal
the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles
a Gutenberg Bible
a First Folio
St. Thomas More's last letter to Henry VIII
Jane Austen's writing desk
tiny, handmade books created by the Bronte sisters before they were published authors

Spring chicken

2005-05-14T12:48:00.000+01:00

All-American Dad
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

My father, the debonair gentleman pictured at right, turns 50 today. He doesn't always wear boater hats -- just at Rotary meetings.

Happy Birthday, Dad!

The democratic process in 3D computer graphics

2005-05-08T20:02:00.000+01:00

My friend Danny has a pithy review of the surreal experience that is watching general election returns in the wee hours of the morning.

Memory becoming history

2005-05-08T11:21:00.000+01:00

ww2-pic-088
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

V-E Day in Britain feels different than it does at home.

Essential difference between the US and Britain, No. 143

2005-05-07T13:49:00.000+01:00

IMG_1143
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

When the public wants something, it takes to the streets -- behind a bagpiper. From the chants I could hear from my window, it sounded like these marchers want a football stadium for Cambridge.

The polls are open

2005-05-05T10:22:00.000+01:00

commons
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

Britain's general election takes place today. Pundits expect Labour to maintain its majority in the House of Commons, albeit by a reduce margin.

Where were you in 1505?

2005-05-02T21:11:00.000+01:00

choir
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

In honour of Christ's College's "birthday,"which was yesterday, I have put up a slideshow of half the procession around first court that marked the occassion. Why only half? Because my camera battery died as the procession approached me. Maybe there is something deeper to be read into that.

From the college website: "Sunday 1st May, marks the 500th anniversary of Christ's College. On this day in 1505, King Henry VII issued the lettters patent authorizing the refoundation of God's House as Christ's College. God's House had been founded in 1437 by William Byngham, and had stood on the current college site since 1448. In 1505 it was Henry's mother, the Lady Margaret Beaufort, who decided to found the new college, with the support of her confessor John Fisher, Bishop of Rochester."

The beginning of the end

2005-04-26T11:07:00.000+01:00

Christ's third court
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

Easter term at Cambridge begins today. In honour of the occasion, I have created a spring slideshow which you can view here. Many thanks to Margaret for giving me a Flickr pro account so that I can upload more photos!

The RING!

2005-03-29T23:23:00.000+01:00

The RING!
Originally uploaded by ocherdraco.

Margaret took a photo as soon as she landed -- this is at a cafe in Heathrow.

the VIII

2005-03-29T23:19:00.000+01:00

the girls at boat club dinner
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

These are the girls I rowed with last term. In the back row l to r: Sophie (the captain), Lucy, Kathy, Tabby, me, Rebecca, and Tiffany. Claire and Julianne (our cox) are in the front.

stylin'

2005-03-29T23:15:00.000+01:00

Danny spats
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

Danny lives across from me, studies modern European history, and has the Best Dissertation Topic Ever. He busted out the spats for boat club dinner.

Back in my city

2005-03-29T18:26:00.000+01:00

Nyema chappelle
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

Nyema and I made a whirlwind overnight trip to Paris last week. We did the usual Louvre/Notre Dame/Sainte Chappelle route (along with all the middle school students of Europe, it seemed) and ate lots of pastries. We almost didn't make it back to London thanks to Sea France demonstrators on the tracks near Calais. Many thanks to Claire for hosting us!

More photos from Rome on flickr

2005-03-29T18:20:00.000+01:00

Blake trevi
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

Click here to check them out.

And the winner is . . .

2005-03-28T00:00:00.000+01:00

After a thorough perusal of a map entitled "Rail Services around London and the South East," Leighton Buzzard and Sheerness-on-Sea have knocked Biggleswade of the top of my list of Favourite English Town Names. Honourable mention goes to Kidderminster, Snodland, and Dorking (Deepdene).

My sister is here for Easter. YAY!!!

My dashing fiancé

2005-03-22T09:33:00.000Z

Rome 2005 016
Originally uploaded by bjohnson00.

Blake has some photos from Rome up on his flickr account. Go here for a picture of me minutes after the proposal, jumping for joy on the inside but trying to maintain some vestige of outward calm because I am in St. Peter's. Blake took all the photos that are focused properly, and I took the ones that aren't.

You know you are a grad student . . .

2005-03-20T02:10:00.000Z

. . . when it's 2 am on a Sunday, and there is no one in the library except for you, the college skeleton, and the encyclopedia of Anglo-Saxon Britain you are reading as a break from 18th-century fiction. I haven't finished my essay, but, by golly, I know that Archbishop Wulfstan commissioned pastoral letters from Ælfric of Eynsham.

The details

2005-03-17T11:54:00.000Z

My sister has a thorough account of the engagement event on her blog, but I would like to amend it by noting that while I am flattered that she thought I knew so much about the obelisk, I was actually directing Blake to look at the façade before he told me to put the guidebook away. We spent the rest of the morning in St. Peter's Basilica, but all the collected centuries of Catholic architectural glory could not distract me from looking at my left ring finger. In the afternoon we toured the scavi underneath the Basilica, including the tomb of St. Peter (a memorable experience in and of itself), and only bristled slightly when one of our fellow pilgrims asked if we were brother and sister.

When it rains, it pours . . .

2005-03-17T00:08:00.000Z

Blake propsed in St. Peter's Square at the Vatican on Saturday (full details forthcoming), and Yale offered me a place in their law school class yesterday, so we will actually be able to live in the same city, a possibility I didn't dare hope for. And, yes, that was a run-on sentence, but I am too happy to care.

Mothering Sunday

2005-03-06T19:11:00.000Z

Today is Mother's Day in England. So go give your mom a hug!

Carnage

2005-03-06T13:17:00.000Z

Dad asks, "Phyllis, it's very nice that you 'rowed over,' but what does that mean?" Dad, "rowing over" means that we did not bump the boat in front of us and that the boat behind us did not bump us. Consequently, we finished the designated bumps course (about 2 km) and retained our position for the next race. Rowing over is honourable, I suppose, especially if you have a really good crew chasing you, but not nearly as exciting as bumping!

The last Lent bumps race was yesterday, and we were caught up in some traffic less than halfway down the course. Two of the boats in front of us were involved in a bump, and the one that we were chasing (Churchill, directly behind the bumping boats) did not navigate properly and was caught up in the "carnage," as boaties refer to a build-up of boats on the river. We steered around the pile-up successfully and were then told to pull over as we had bumped Churchill by completely passing them. The boat chasing us, however, somehow thought that they had bumped us (and why they did I can't imagine) and pulled over as well. In the end, all three boats involved in the confusion received a technical row over. And now you know what that means!

Yes, there are other things going on at Cambridge . . .

2005-03-05T01:05:00.000Z

. . . but right now I'm focused on bumps. We rowed over again today.

Bumps update

2005-03-03T19:24:00.000Z

We didn't catch First and Third today, but we did have a great row. Queens' gained some ground on us at the beginning, but we pulled well away in the second half of the race. So much fun!

Ouch

2005-03-02T21:13:00.000Z

You can see pictures of the oh-so-painful race here. I'm in the crimson Harvard hat.

Bummer

2005-03-02T18:54:00.000Z

Our race had barely started today when one of our girls caught a crab, which does not mean that she reached into the water and pulled out a crustacean. The Stonehurst Regatta website defines "catching a crab" as "upsetting action caused by turning of oar blade in water so that release is either forced or impossible to make. The former is a 'partial crab;' the latter, when control of oar is fully lost,' is a full crab.'" Today's crab would definitely fall under the latter category.

For full results of today's races, go here.

Let the bumping begin

2005-03-02T13:30:00.000Z

Lent bumps, the first installment of the craziest form of rowing I have ever seen (May bumps being the second), started yesterday on the Cam. My boat will row its first of four races today, sandwiched between strong crews from Pembroke and First and Third. Anyone who calls rowing a non-contact has never seen this event. What on earth am I talking about? Click here for enlightenment. To find out who First and Third are and what happened to Second, click here.

Join the fan club

2005-02-28T21:19:00.000Z

I know that I am supposed to save this sort of bragging for my grandchildren, but until they show up, I am going to lavish praise on my sister, who has pulled off yet another poster masterpiece with the Princess Ida Edition of Margaret Maloney's Designing Genius.

palæographia

2005-02-28T14:58:00.000Z

I just discovered one of the hidden treasures of the English faculty, an online handwriting course that teaches whoever happens to stumble onto its pages how to read and transcribe English texts from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries using photographs of manuscripts from various Cambridge college libraries. The website also has a brief introduction to writing materials of the period, a guide to brevigraphs, an alphabet in the "Jacobean court hand," and complete photographic reproduction of Martin Billingsley's The Pens Excellencie or the Secretaries Delighte (1618) among other goodies. Yeehaw!

Mini-reunion

2005-02-25T09:29:00.000Z

Frank and Claire
Originally uploaded by ocherdraco.

My friends Claire, MaryBeth, and Frank (all classmates from Harvard) came to Cambridge over the weekend. Frank and Claire (who both live in France at the moment) had scholarship interviews, and MaryBeth was visiting Claire while on break from the school where she is teaching. Most of our activities involved food, as you can see here, the highlight no doubt being the small mountain of little, whole, fried fish we unknowingly ordered at a Cypriot restaurant, which kept Frank entertained throughout the rest of the meal. On Monday night we enjoyed the incongruous experience of eating Indian food in Christ's VERY English formal hall. Everyone was in good spirits, despite the strangest weather I have seen yet in Cambridge -- it snowed and stopped and snowed again continuously throughout the day, with bits of sunshine in between.

MaryBeth and me

2005-02-25T09:15:00.000Z

MaryBeth and Phyllis
Originally uploaded by ocherdraco.

Pembroke Regatta

2005-02-19T15:21:00.000Z

Just returned from the Pembroke Regatta, a head-to-head race on the Cam. We beat Homerton to advance to the quarterfinals, but then lost to Clare.

De chartres

2005-02-18T19:19:00.000Z

The Charter of Christ's College, Cambridge
Originally uploaded by ocherdraco.

This is the royal charter from King Henry VII that re-founded God's-House as Christ's College. Notice the Beaufort portcullis the top, bottom, left, and right of the page, along with the red and white roses of Lancashire and York, respectively (although you only see red roses around the college!). Henry VII's coat of arms are in the middle of the large illuminated letter at the beginning of the text. The red dragon to the left recalls the Tudor link to Wales. I'm not sure what the white animal (dog?) on the right symbolizes.

Grace

2005-02-17T09:19:00.000Z

Most of the colleges at Cambridge (certainly all of the older ones) require that a Latin prayer be recited before meals are served in formal hall. Christ's has a reputation for having the longest such blessing, which has been in use since the college's foundation. I never knew what it meant until I found a translation online this morning:

"Exhilarator omnium Christe, sine quo nihil suave, nihil jucundum est; benedic, quaesumus, cibo et potui servorum tuorum, quae iam ad alimoniam corporis apparavisti; et concede, ut istis muneribus tuis ad laudem tuam utamur, gratisque animis fruamur; utque quemadmodum corpus nostrum cibis corporalibus favetur; ita mens nostra spirituali verbi tui nutrimento pascatur, per te Dominum nostrum. Amen."

"Christ the gladdener of all, without whom nothing is sweet or pleasant, bless, we beg you, the food and drink of your servants, which you have now provided for our bodily sustenance; and grant that we may use these gifts to praise you, and may enjoy them with grateful hearts; grant too that, just as our body is nurtured by bodily foods, so too our mind may feed on the spiritual nourishment of your word, through you our Lord. Amen."

And the Games go to . . .

2005-02-16T13:10:00.000Z

An IOC delegation arrived in London today to evaluate the city as a possible site for the 2012 Olympic Games. The city has been plastered with "Back the Bid" paraphernalia. Word on the street, however, suggests that Paris is the front-runner.

Quincentenary

2005-02-15T08:41:00.000Z

Christ's kicked off its Quincentenary festivities a few weeks ago with a reception at the Guildhall in London, and I went down with a motely crew of undergrads, porters, fellows, readers, lecturers, gardeners, and fellow grads to mix and mingle with alums (read: potential donors). Heralded by trumpet fanfare, notable alums including the Rt. Hon. the Lord Luce (the Lord Chamberlain), Sir Andrew Turnbull (Secretary of the Cabinet and Head of the Home Civil Service) and Professor Simon Schama came out to rally the troops with speeches. Ever attuned to references to my own alma mater, I noticed this reference in the campaign literature I picked up at the event:

"It is well known that some of America's leading universities have built up enormous financial endowments; Harvard, for example, can call upon financial resources twenty times greater than those of Cambridge. The vast bulk of Harvard's huge wealth has come from its own alumni, some of whom give truly staggering gifts to their university. Why? A graduate of both Christ's and Harvard [I wonder who that was?] explained it as follows: Harvard alumni know that their university has the biggest endowment in the world, and they want it to stay that way, so that future generations can benefit from the same opportunities that they themselves enjoyed. Harvard alumni are proud of their university, and they want it to remain the best. Of course Christ's (the grandfather of Harvard) is also the best . . . ."

Moving on from the question of how two entities can be "the best," you may be wondering about the basis of Christ's claim to be the progenitor of fair Harvard. A footnote in the brochure explains, "A member of Christ's, Walter Mildmay, founded Emmanuel College Cambridge in 1584. Fifty years later, in 1636, a member of Emmanuel College, John Harvard, helped to found the college in Cambridge, Massachusetts that bears his name." WRONG. Well, I suppose that one could debate the interpretation of "helped to found," but anyone who has been on a tour and remembers the "Statue of the Three Lies" legend knows that despite the words on the famous landmark in the Yard, the Massachusetts Bay Colony founded Harvard, and that John H. simply bequeathed a bit of money and a library to the burgeoning institution (if it could be called burgeoning at the time). I guess they forgot to ask the "graduate of both Christ's and Harvard" about that! Still, it's nice to know that there is some connection between them.

The photo that all the tourists take

2005-02-11T16:04:00.000Z

IMG_1014
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

I usually cut through King's on my way to the English faculty, and this week I finally remembered to bring my camera to catch the afternoon sun hitting the chapel (the building with the multiple spires). Clare, Cambridge's second oldest college, is the shorter building on the left. This stretch of the river is a favorite spot for "kayak polo."

more of King's over the Cam

2005-02-11T16:01:00.000Z

IMG_1012
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

Toil and Trouble

2005-02-09T13:36:00.000Z

In honor of Macbeth's 1000th birthday, a professor at Brooklyn College is attempting to save the infamous king's reputation. This motion was consequently lodged in the Scottish Parliament last week:

* S2M-2321 Alex Johnstone:1000th Anniversary of the Birth of Macbeth and Connections with Lumphanan, Aberdeenshire—That the Parliament notes that 2005 is the 1000th anniversary of the birth of Macbeth, King of Scotland from 1040 to 1057; regrets that Macbeth is misportrayed in the Shakespeare play of that name when in fact he was a successful Scottish King; notes the historic connections that Macbeth had with a number of locations in Scotland, including Lumphanan in Aberdeenshire, where he met his death at the Battle of Lumphanan in 1057, and is of the opinion that marking this 1000th anniversary would both boost understanding of this historic period and increase awareness, especially among tourists, of locations such as Lumphanan that have ties with Macbeth.

Spring is on its way!

2005-02-09T00:30:00.000Z

IMG_1009
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

While the weather can't actually be termed "warm" yet, flowers seem to have sprung up overnight in the gardens at Christ's.

Photos from the Head of the Nene at Peterborough

2005-02-07T19:25:00.000Z

peterborough 2
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

This picture was taken by a professional photographer who covered the event. You can see what a true English day it was! Rowing on the Nene is a much different experience than the Cam - it is straight in contrast to the Cam's twists and turns, and there is far less in the way of scenery. The results aren't up yet, but we think we did 5km in about 22 minutes.

Peterborough Cathedral

2005-02-07T19:22:00.000Z

IMG_1004
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

I took this photo as we were loading our boats up -- there were a lot more trailers there earlier in the day!

Tabby, who sits behind me

2005-02-07T19:21:00.000Z

IMG_1003
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

Wren Library

2005-02-07T00:40:00.000Z

Wren library
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

On 26 January my "Methods and Resources" seminar met at the Wren Library at Trinity, which holds the college's collection as it was in 1820, The building itself was completed in 1695. It contains the Rothschild collection of 18th-century works, some of which we handled in class. Our professor taught us how to decipher the clues that each book gave us as to time period, readership, authorial influence, and so forth.

Head of the Nene

2005-02-05T09:43:00.000Z

HeadPoster2005
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

I'll be racing with Christ's 1st women's VIII at Peterborough today. Wish me luck!

More from Gray's Inn

2005-02-02T23:08:00.000Z

IMG_0999
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

This is just what the hallway looks like! Notice the portrait of Charles I in the background.

Gray's Inn, take two

2005-02-02T23:07:00.000Z

Gray's Inn print
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

Since my photo of the Inn didn't turn out very well, I have uploaded this print to give you a better idea of what it looks like.

Gray's Inn

2005-02-02T23:06:00.000Z

IMG_1000
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

Gray's Inn is one of the four Inns of Court to which all English barristers must belong. I went there yesterday with the Cambridge Gray's Inn Association and learned about the process of becoming a barrister (which is much more complicated than becoming a lawyer in the US), as well as the history of the Inn. Our group joined students preparing for the Bar, barristers, Queen's Counsellors, and Benchers (senior members of the Inn) for drinks and dinner in their historic hall. As at Cambridge, there was a robe to go with every level of seniority and a Latin prayer before the meal. There was also a great deal of formal toasting. I especially enjoyed the visit because its past members include people I read about as an undergraduate, including Francis Bacon and Elizabeth I's chief ministers. Most of the buildings were destroyed in the Blitz, but the best features of the hall, including a screen taken from a ship in the Spanish Armada, were saved in the nick of time.

"Literary" London

2005-02-02T23:00:00.000Z

IMG_0996
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

On our way back to Cambridge, Danny and I snapped a couple of shots of this reference to Harry Potter at King's Cross Station. (In the books, Harry and his friends run through the wall at Platform 9 3/4 to board the train that takes them to their school.)

Aladdin

2005-02-02T22:56:00.000Z

aladdin
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

I tried to get a photo of the pantomime from the Old Vic's website, but something went wrong! You can go there to see the rest of this photo. Aladdin was a fantastic pantomime, with wonderfully imaginative costumes and sets that reminded me of some of designs my friends Abigail and Naomi did for The Mikado back in 2002 (combining contemporary and traditional shapes and fabrics). While Sir Ian was the highlight of the show, especially when he appeared as Britannia at the end, the rest of the cast was strong as well. Danny, Carolyn, and I were proud of ourselves for getting some of the "local" jokes about British political figures, and we joined in the banter between the cast and the audience with gusto. "Oh no we didn't!" "Oh yes we did!"

Whirlwind weekend

2005-02-02T22:51:00.000Z

IMG_0995
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

My first weekend back in England (January 22-23), I made a quick trip down to London to see my friend Carolyn and go to the pantomime Aladdin, starring Sir Ian McKellen, perhaps better known to some people as Gandalf in Lord of the Rings. We ate delicious, cheap Indian food on Saturday night, and the next day went to Westminster Cathedral for Mass. Carolyn showed me the building where she works for the Labour party, which naturally is close to Parliament and Big Ben (you can see from photo what a gorgeous day it was!) We spent the afternoon looking at "Avant-Garde Porcelain from Revolutionary Russia" at Somerset House before meeting up with my friend Danny from Christ's to see the panto.

On the slopes

2005-01-24T09:28:00.000Z

IMG_0990
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

After New Year's I went to Park City with Blake and his parents for a week of skiing. We had more powder than I had ever experienced before, which was a significant challenge. I am happy to report, however, that all my bones are still intact!

New Year's Eve

2005-01-24T09:26:00.000Z

Peter Kiedrowski Wedding
Originally uploaded by bjohnson00.

After my family's visit to England, I went to Minnesota to spend New Year's with Blake. We were about to go to a wedding when this photo was taken. Notice the new shawl the Johnsons gave me for Christmas!

In London Town

2005-01-24T09:22:00.000Z

Phyllis and me on the Tube
Originally uploaded by ocherdraco.

My family also made a daytrip to London, where we saw the Tower, Shakespeare's Globe Theatre, and the Tate Modern before meeting some friends for dinner.

Groundlings

2005-01-24T09:19:00.000Z

Groundlings
Originally uploaded by ocherdraco.

On a tour at Shakespeare's Globe.

Fats in front of the Tate Modern

2005-01-24T09:18:00.000Z

Fats in front of the Tate Modern
Originally uploaded by ocherdraco.

Christmas dinner a l'anglaise

2005-01-21T23:17:00.000Z

Full Mouth
Originally uploaded by ocherdraco.

Christmas dinner in the Cambridgeshire countryside, complete with crackers (favors that include bad jokes, a toy, and a crown), pudding, fruitcake, and BRUSSEL SPROUTS, which are apparently a requisite part of any English Christmas celebration, though few people eat them. Nick (enjoying a mouthful in this photo), a fellow Christ's postgrad from New Zealand joined us and explained the jokes to us. The big success of the evening was the plum pudding with rum butter from owners of the cottage we were staying in. Alas, we forgot to set it on fire! Next year.

the Queen Mother

2005-01-21T23:05:00.000Z

See! Mom ALWAYS poses!
Originally uploaded by ocherdraco.

Christmas cracker toys are fun

2005-01-21T22:59:00.000Z

Christmas cracker toys are fun
Originally uploaded by ocherdraco.

Kristi and Fats

2005-01-21T19:40:00.000Z

Kristi and Fats
Originally uploaded by ocherdraco.

My royal aunt and uncle at Christmas dinner.

Bavarian adventure!

2005-01-20T01:26:00.000Z

IMG_0971
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

I visited friends in Neumarkt, Germany, the weekend before Christmas, which truly got me into the holiday spirit. My hosts were a wonderful source of Bavarian history and lore. They arranged a tour of a Benedictine monastery, took me to countless (predominantly Baroque) churches, showed me the cities of Nuremberg and Regensberg, and introduced me to Bavarian cuisine. I even helped decorate the Christmas tree! This photo was taken on the last day of my trip at a ruined castle that overlooks the valley in which they live. It has only recently been excavated -- a year ago, the ground was as high as the second storey windows in the background.

Christkindlesmarkt

2005-01-20T01:01:00.000Z

IMG_0985
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

Nuremberg has hosted a Christmas market from the first Sunday of Advent through Christmas Eve from as early as 1628 (a year to which I am particularly attached). Vendors sell mulled wine, sausages, lebkuchen (a cakelike cookie), ornaments, wooden figures that spout incense, and traditional figures made of walnuts and plums. The church in the background is the Frauenkirche.

Nuremberg at dusk

2005-01-19T22:54:00.000Z

IMG_0974
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

What a beautiful city! My hosts had the great idea of taking me to the Kaiserburg castle overlooking the old part of Nuremberg at sunset. It is hard to believe that much of it was bombed to rubble in World War II and has since been rebuilt. The church on the left is St. Sebaldus.

Annual Fraternity Reunion in Nuremberg

2005-01-19T22:45:00.000Z

IMG_0946
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

The local university has a number of fraternities based on hometowns, extracurricular interests, and/or academic discipline. Every year current and past members of these fraternities descend on Nuremberg for reunion dinners and a procession before the Christmas holiday. The current members wear traditional uniforms, while the alums sport hats bearing their fraternities' colors. My host, Mr. Hoerndler, is an alum of such a fraternity and attended his reunion dinner while I was there, although he and his fraternity did not march in the procession. This picture is from the end of the procession, which finishes at St. Lorenz church.

At Glastonbury Abbey

2005-01-19T22:40:00.000Z

IMG_0886
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

Becca, a friend of mine from Girl Scouts, and I made a daytrip to Glastonbury on December 12. It involved a lot of switching from bus to bus, but it was worth it! Glastonbury is the alleged resting place of Arthur and Guinevere, as well as the site where Joseph of Arimethea reportedly started a monastery and originally brought the Holy Grail. For those of you who have read Marion Zimmer Bradley's book, legend has it that Avalon was located somewhere near the Abbey. Becca and I also climbed up the Glastonbury Tor and went to Wells Cathedral.

Fairbairn's

2004-12-05T17:06:00.000Z

I raced twice in the Fairbarin Cup competition on Friday, in the morning with Christ's senior women's VIII and in the afternoon with the IV. The races didn't go as well as we would have liked: we were 22 out of 35 in the VIIIs race and 7 out of 17 in the IVs. You can see more detailed results here.

You can click on the photos below to make them bigger. I am the fourth from the back of the boat, wearing the blue hat.

around the bend

2004-12-05T16:58:00.001Z

around the bend
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

from the Chesterton bridge

2004-12-05T16:58:00.000Z

from the Chesterton bridge
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

Blake's visit

2004-12-05T16:15:00.000Z

Blake came to visit me the weekend before Thanksgiving, and we had lots of fun running around Cambridgeshire and London. He arrived on Saturday, 20 November, on a bus from Heathrow. After he had some time to recover from his trip, we walked out to the Orchard at Grantchester for tea and scones and then went to evensong at St. John's College. Afterwards, we had a lovely dinner at a local seafood restaurant. On Sunday we went to sung Mass at Our Lady and the English Martyrs and then out to lunch with one of Blake's Glee Club friends, Steve Koh, who is at Wolfson College. We then heard evensong at King's College (at 3:30 in the afternoon, so not really evening) and wandered around the shops in Cambridge. That night my classmate Phil had us over for an amazing Sunday roast, complete with Yorkshire puddings.

On Monday we took a train down to London so that Blake could see at least some of the sights. Our first stop was the Tower of London, which I picked because it featured in some of the Shakespeare plays we read in class last year. We went on a beefeater tour, saw the crown jewels, and breezed through the armoury and medieval life displays. In the afternoon, we toured the special Raphael exhibit at the National Gallery. I insisted on showing Blake the Wilton Diptych before we left. We walked along Whitehall Street from Trafalgar Square, and just happened to pass the changing of the Guard, as well as No. 10 Downing Street and the Banqueting Hall. After gawking at the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben, we searched for a coffee joint amid monolithic government buildings and found a Starbucks just in time to refresh ourselves before evensong at 5 pm at Westminster Abbey, where Blake was able to see the memorials of great British composers and physicists as we walked in. He rightly commented that the French tried to do Westminster Abbey in a secular way with the Pantheon, but fell short of the mark.

On Tuesday we made a quick jaunt to Ely Cathedral and then spent the afternoon shopping. We attended evensong at King's College so that Blake could be 4 for 4 on English choral music during his visit. Blake kindly submitted to attending the Evelyn Downs lecture and buffet, which were both disappointing. The next morning I saw him off on his bus, which was quite sad!

There are a few pictures from the trip below.

outside Ely cathedral

2004-12-05T16:11:00.001Z

outside Ely cathedral
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

Blake outside Ely cathedral

2004-12-05T16:11:00.000Z

Blake outside Ely cathedral
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

beefeater at the Tower

2004-12-05T16:09:00.000Z

beefeater at the Tower
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

in front of London Bridge

2004-12-05T16:08:00.000Z

in front of London Bridge
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

The eighteenth-century online

2004-12-01T14:21:00.000Z

I am in a classroom at the University Library listening to a dry (but helpful!) presentation on the various electronic resources that are available to students of the eighteenth-century, the choicest of which I will include below for the edification of the public.

Ffugiadau Llenyddol / Litterære Falsknerier / Literary Forgeries by Johan Schimanski: Bibliographies, biographies, essays, and links on a few forgers at the end of the eighteenth century, with a handy chronological table of forgers around 1800. In Norwegian, Welsh, and English.

Long s and f by Jack Lynch: A list of words in which confusing the long s (in typography before 1800) with the letter f will result in a word that will sneak past a spelling-checker.

The Vocabulary of Robbie Burns : A glossary of Burns's Scots dialect. Highlights include "sheep-shank-bane" (a person of no importance), "pigmy-scraper" (an undersized fiddler), and "fidgin-fain" (quivering with fondness).

The Samuel Johnson Sound Bite Page by Frank Lynch: Words of wisdom from the man who compiled the first English dictionary.

Pictures of the Past — The 17th and 18th Centuries in Film by Sabine Biebl: A searchable filmography of movies on the period.

The Bluestocking Archive by Elizabeth Fay of UMass-Boston: "This archive assumes a deep relation between the intellectual and social movement of the Bluestockings, the culture and cult of Sensibility and High Romanticism. It is an archive of texts by or relating to the eighteenth-century British Bluestocking Circle and the second generation Blues, including predecessor texts, and literature of sensibility as it is derived from the Bluestockings' concerns with aesthetics, and with women's aesthetic achievements."

Harvard, Harvard everywhere

2004-11-16T16:24:00.000Z

Yesterday was a work hard, play hard kind of day. I read Clarissa, a 1,500 page epistolatory novel, for five hours in the morning, and then met up with a friend from Fisher House for lunch. Her name is Amanda, and she graduated from Princeton in June. She is reading medieval theology for a M. Phil. and hopes to go on to a Ph. D. Any alums of my freshman medieval seminar will be pleased (or at least sympathetic) to hear that her dissertation topic is Julian of Norwich (a 14th-century English anchoress). I went straight from lunch to coffee with my friend Philippa, who is in the same M. Phil. program as me. We talked poetry and theory all the way to a fun seminar on Locke's philosophy of language. At the reception afterwards, we met up with one of my Harvard friends, Rich, who lives at Corpus and is reading for a M. Phil. in political thought and intellectual history. By the end of the evening, Rich, Kristen (Harvard '04, international law M Phil, Emmanuel), Simon (Harvard '01, political thought and intellectual history with Rich, although he's aiming for a Ph. D.), and I ended up having a pub dinner at the Free Press, which has become my local. We ran into Simeon (Harvard '04, from Alabama) while we were there, while we were discussing what we thought of the Summers administration. It's hard not to feel as at home in the original Cambridge as I did in its offshoot!

Winter Head results

2004-11-15T01:40:00.000Z

I rowed in Christ's senior IV in the Winter Head race on the Cam Saturday, and it went much better than I expected! In our first race, we rowed side-by-side with another boat, but in this one the boats took off at intervals, with the idea that each crew tries to take over the one in front of it and stay ahead of the one behind. We couldn't tell how we compared with other student women's IVs when we raced because we were between two men's crews, and the one behind us crashed into the bank twice (ouch!). However, we were extremely please with how we rowed -- definitely the best we have done all year. We just found out the final results Sunday morning:

Women's Student Senior : 4+

1 96= 442 Magdalene Coll. BC (Cam) 6 04:09 10:22

2 132 438 First and Third Trinity BC 9 04:26 11:00

3 147 33 Kings Coll. London BC 10 04:38 11:15

4= 149= 436 Christ's Coll. BC 2 04:34 11:17

4= 149= 35 Imperial Coll. BC 9 04:38 11:17

6 156 440 Kings Coll. London BC 11 04:40 11:34

7 164 439 First and Third Trinity BC 10 04:49 11:52

8 165 437 Clare BC 2 04:50 11:53

The first column is our rank within our division, the next is our rank overall (but that doesn't really mean much because it includes men's boats and VIIIs as well), then racing number, the name of the crew, time at 1km, and final time. We were pleased to be so close to the boat ahead of us and significantly far ahead of the boats behind -- Clare BC, for example, won the recent University IVs event, so we were proud of coming in ahead of them.

No fun!

2004-11-13T02:39:00.000Z

I have just returned from standing in the freezing courtyard for thirty minutes -- someone set the fire alarm off, rousing us from our beds, and it is still ringing every few minutes while they test it. This is especially annoying since I have a race today and need to have some decent sleep to be ready.

Now remember the 11th of November

2004-11-12T22:45:00.000Z

Yesterday was Remembrance Day in Britain, which is somewhat similar to Veterans' Day in the United States. I was wondering what the day would be like here since Britain was so much closer to the World Wars than the United States. I was surprised to see that life went on much like any other Thursday. If it had not been for the Poppy Appeal, the day's significance would have totally, instead of mostly, faded into the background here in Cambridge. The Appeal is an effort to raise money for the British Legion (like the American Legion) by selling paper poppies that people can pin to their clothes. (I have purchased three because I keep misplacing them.) I would say maybe 30% of people here are wearing them, which I thought was dismally low participation. I am aware that there were ceremonies going on elsewhere in Britain; I just felt very removed from them all here. I understand that there will be more of an effort this coming Sunday, generally referred to as Remembrance Sunday. I suppose I feel more strongly about commemorating the World Wars, and World War I in particular, after learning about the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps' (ANZAC) contribution and the impact it has had on Aussie society when I was there this past summer.

Remember, remember, the fifth of November!

2004-11-09T11:21:00.000Z

My friend Carolyn, who is volunteering for the Labour Party in London, came up for the weekend, and we had a fabulous time. On Friday night, we took guilty pleasure in watching the Guy Fawkes fireworks at Midsummer Common. (Why guilty? Guy Fawkes Day celebrates the failure of the Gunpowder Plot to blow up Parliament in 1605, and became a focal point for anti-Catholic sentiment in England.) However, my English friends tell me that today few Britons recall the historical origins of the holiday. I just told myself that I was interested in seeing the spectacle for academic purposes. In any event, all thoughts of popish plots faded into the background in the girl talk marathon we had over dinner afterwards. On Saturday we walked through the meadows to Grantchester for tea at the Orchard, former haunt of Rupert Brooke and Virginia Woolf. Anyone else who comes to visit me will probably get to go there as well! Carolyn also helped me set up my cell phone before we rushed off to evensong at King's. After more gossip over Indian food, we made a frenzied run to Sainsbury's for Kinder eggs before watching Finding Neverland (so-so) at the local theatre. After Carolyn left on Sunday, I made some new friends at Fisher House's Italian night, which was no doubt more fun than it was authentic. Apparently the English make pasta by pouring boiling water from a kettle over the noodles. I will leave you to imagine what the results are . . . .

Art Deco academia

2004-11-07T12:12:00.000Z

I went to my first academic conference ever on Friday, on the reception of Burke in Europe: http://www.clarehall.cam.ac.uk/rbae/EdmundBurke.htm. It was held at the Senate House at the University of London, right next door to the British Museum (which, alas, was closed because of a strike). Barnie, my architecturally savant MCR big sib, told me that when the Nazis planned their invasion of Britain, they decided to make the Senate House their headquarters because it was the only building in London with appropriately menacing Art Deco design (you can judge for yourself by checking out a super-informative blog post and pictures at City of Sound: http://www.cityofsound.com/blog/2003/11/senate_house_un.html). So I spent the morning with about 25 other Burke enthusiasts, all but one of whom were at least twenty years older than I, listening to fellow enthusiasts expound upon the minutiae of, say, what Victorian Tories thought of Burke from the mid-1850s to the Reform Act of 1884, trying very hard not to imagine the room swathed in swastikas. And I liked it (the Burke minutiae, not the thought of London under Nazi rule)! I discovered that going to an academic conference is like being in on one big inside joke -- everyone tries to impress everyone else by throwing around witty quotes, the humour of which can only be understood by knowing the nuances of the quote's original context, including the life history of the person who said it, that of the person they were speaking/writing to, and the particular aspects of Burke's life on which it was commenting, as well as the historical setting in which it was first uttered. It sounds tortuous, doesn't it? But if you actually get it, you feel like you are part of some sort of archane, mystical fellowship; in other words, you feel like you belong.

fall in Cambridge

2004-11-04T18:39:00.000Z

I took these photos this afternoon while I was running errands. St. John's, in the first photo, is another College in Cambridge. It was established by the same woman who re-founded Christ's, Lady Margaret Beaufort, mother of Henry VII, the first Tudor monarch. The painted index of names in the next photo is in the entrance to my building -- there is a similar guide at the foot of every entryway in the College.

the "chapel" at St. John's in the afternoon sun

2004-11-04T18:38:00.000Z

the "chapel" at St. John's in the afternoon sun
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

the X-men

2004-11-04T18:37:00.000Z

the X-men
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

changing leaves in New Court

2004-11-04T18:36:00.002Z

changing leaves in New Court
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

Formal Hall in between meals

2004-11-04T18:36:00.001Z

Formal Hall in between meals
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

the exterior of the Master's Residence and Formal Hall (the bay window) in the afternoon sun

2004-11-04T18:36:00.000Z

the exterior of the Master's Residence and Formal Hall (the bay window) in the afternoon sun
Originally uploaded by sableswan.

passageway from Second to First Court

2004-11-04T18:34:00.000Z

passageway from Second to First Court
Originally uploaded by sableswan.