Sunday, November 13

An uneventful day

Pastoral fall scene in Oxford[21 Nov: To the hundred or so people who searched for 'Queer Bop photos,' found this page, and left - try looking down a few paragraphs to where there are links to Queer Bop photos.]

On November 12th of last year, I was in the snow-swept complex of the West Point Military Academy, along with Samantha Hinds and Vicki Lyus, for the 56th Annual Student Conference on United States Affairs. It was our last night there and I remember walking back through the frigid air from the Firstie Club to the barracks were we were all staying. By comparison, very little happened in Oxford today, aside from reading and a few enjoyable periods of drinking tea and lounging about, both with Margaret and on my own. I have been making an effort to complete the two upcoming essays a good while before they are actually due, so as to have some time to think them over and have them edited.

In the evening, I read from the new Economist, responded to a mass of emails, and carried on reading about China. One of the emails, unexpectedly, came from my friend Ebony. She graduated from UBC in the same year as I did, also from the IR program. During that year, we were in the same native politics and Canadian foreign policy classes. She is presently in Japan: working and gathering volunteer experience, prior to applying to graduate schools. I haven't had any contact with her since graduation, so it was good to get back in touch.

Next Saturday (November 19th) is the infamous Wadham College Queer Bop. [20 Nov: described here and here, with photos.] This is the notorious Wadham event to which "men come as women, and women come in next to nothing." I plan to attend fairly briefly, and in an observational capacity. It is an event with such a reputation that I would be in clear violation of my mandate to report on Wadham life if I did not at least make a brief and guarded foray into the chaos. Since Wadham became obliged to adopt a closed-door policy for bops, tickets to the bop have apparently become desirable commodities. I am allowed to bring two guests so, if there are people out there who burn with desire to attend, I may be willing to provide those tickets, which are six Pounds apiece. The doors open at 7:30pm.

Oscar Wilde's An Ideal Husband is playing at the OFS Studio Theatre between the 15th and 19th. (My apologies for the terrible web page.) Since the tickets are only £6.50 and I have been keen to see a play in Oxford since I arrived, this seems like a good opportunity. Is anyone interested?

For tomorrow, the Social Sciences Library beckons.

Posted by Milan at 12:01 AM  

8 Comments

  1. Anonymous posted at 10:58 PM, November 12, 2005  
    Unrelated to anything: a lovely photo.
  2. Milan posted at 11:56 PM, November 12, 2005  
    I just discovered the platform independent* glory that is ourTunes. People sharing good music on the Wadham network get big kudos from me.

    *works on PC, Mac, Linux, etc
  3. Anonymous posted at 4:45 PM, November 13, 2005  
    You're going to attend the queer bop in "an observational capacity" only? How about a bit of dedication to experiencing the moment? What value does one-step-back reporting have for any of us?
  4. Marianne posted at 5:38 PM, November 13, 2005  
    Too bad there is a closed-door policy. Are there that many hooligans from non-Wadham colleges (such as mine) that crash the party? ;)
    I also agree with "anonymous" that you should participate in the queer bop - it's more fun that way. Although this is coming from the girl who didn't dress up last night for the Linacre superhero bop...
  5. Anonymous posted at 6:45 PM, November 13, 2005  
    The closed door policy is the consequence of how the police had to break up the 2003 Queer Bop. I think they fined Wadham a fair bit for all the disruption, as well, after a prof from New College called them in to quiet things down.
  6. B posted at 6:59 PM, November 13, 2005  
    To think, a Mica-style party in Oxford!
  7. Anonymous posted at 7:11 PM, November 13, 2005  
    [M]en crave the sense of power that only blasting a pumpkin into orbit in front of a large crowd can provide. (link)

    Very true.
  8. Milan posted at 5:17 AM, December 06, 2005  
    [Note to self, 6 Dec 2005: Links updated to refer to sindark.com]

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