Photo Stalking

Visiting Stonehenge

you don't expect to see the

BEST MULLET EVER

you be the judge!

It's not a quarter... but it will do!

When truly in need,

quarters are over-rated;

tuppence will suffice.

Nothing says awesome like a bunch of high school teachers using the UK equivalent of a penny (though likely more worthless) to re-invent speed quarters. I vote we call it "Feed the Birds" in honor of the Bird Lady from Mary Poppins. Also, let it be known that certain tuppence coins bounce more readily than others, and that I either get it in the glass on the first shot [that's what she said] or wind up drinking.

What Not to Do...

If you're interested:

Mind-numbing boredom awaits;

Jane Austen Tour.

Seriously... I don't even like Jane Austen to begin with, but the Jane Austen Walking Tour was possibly the worst thing ever. Even the Janeites I was with thought it was misery. Perhaps worse than punting?

Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince

Once again she has

brought wizards to life. Perhaps

the best? Thanks J.K.

Dessert (has two s's for "sweet stuff")

Cream + Meringue + Berries,

and it looks like an igloo.

Get in my belly.

Connections

Today = Harry Potter + Eric Erikson + senior thesis + Ghost Stories + The Sixth Sense + Freud.

It's really been a day of pulling it all together... now if it would just make sense.

The End of Days

But I will fight you

contact lenses which refuse

to cooperate.

Translation:

World War Three will likely be

fought between my contacts and me.

Seriously - why can't we just get along?

Land of the Ancestors

Where can you buy plaid,

and hump the seat of Arthur?

Only in Scotland!

Great weekend (aside from the noisy child on the train and the frotteuristic Turkish Scots in a pub on Saturday night).

Cafe International

Was it banana

Which I detected in my

Vanilla latte?

Dessert (has two s's for "sweet stuff")

Raspberry Kracken.

Don't let your eyes decieve you;

It tastes like catfood.

The Sightseer

Put your camera back!

It is inappropriate

to document class.

Seriously, who gets out their camera to start taking pictures of class... during an individual presentation (given by yours truly)... without asking permission... and then starts passing the camera (which is not easy to use) around so that others may document the class? Not cool I say; not cool.

Don't Judge a Book By It's Cover

A review of Ian McEwan's novella The Cement Garden

Death? yes. Secrets? yes.

But I know that the cover

Did not say incest.

It's funny to me that a book that I purchased because I thought it might be teachable would be considered by our gifted and talented school board more vile than anything Pat Conroy ever considered writing.

I will, however, continue to peruse McEwan for teachable readings.

Punting (or the worst idea ever)

It started out something like this:

On weekends I like to go punting.

With friends who enjoy beer hunting.

If we leave after lunch,

We can go in a bunch,

and the punter can do all the grunting.

This is how it ended:

For a good time we hired a boat

To sit in the river and float

Down the stream we would go

as we rocked to and fro

About none of our skills did we gloat.

Final thoughts:

never go punting; ever.

Words to the Wise

bras are never shirts;

underwear is not swimwear;

and tights are not pants.

take heed

PIMM'S

O sweet ambrosia,

Why was I missing out on

such deliciousness?

As You Like It

On Thursday night we hopped the chartered bus to Stratford to see the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of As You Like It. What a treat!

We started off by heading to English Teacher Mecca, aka the Holy Trinity Church where the bard is burried. Then we had a quick meal at the "Dirty Duck".

I was previously unfamiliar with the story. But HSLP gave a brief run-down prior to disembarking from the bus, and once the show started I felt comfortable knowing what was going on. A few years back I had a ground breaking experience when I could finally read (and understand) Shakespeare (as an English teacher this was always a bit disconcerting, so I was at the very least relieved to finally feel some sense of mastery in this area). I've never been one to really sit down and enjoy reading a play (of any sort), but I love attending productions. College trips to the Blackfriar's playhouse were always highlights of courses, and seeing a staged production always increased my comprehension level (and in some cases it was the only chance I stood for comprehending in the first place).

I highly enjoyed the performance and were I in the heralded Page to Stage class, I'd probably have lots of analytical things to say regarding the use of color and light in the production. What I'll focus on, instead, is simply the players.

In the prior night's performance the actress playing Rosalind pulled a muscle. During that production parts were shuffled around, Celia became Rosalind (as she was the understudy), and they went on with the show. Thus, we saw Celia's first full production as Rosalind - she was stellar. I never would have known that she wasn't the originally cast actress, and there was a remarkable chemistry between this Rosalind and Orlando. This chemistry is rather comical as it seems that the actor playing Oliver is actually dating the Rosalind understudy. In the 10 minute recess during which the roles were shuffled around, Oliver reportedly approached Orlando and warned, "no tongue." hysterical. The extra fun part is that we get all of this back story because on Friday students in the P to S class met with Orlando who filled them in on all of the gossip. swoon.

During my first year teaching the honors English 9 class completed research projects on Elizabethan England and different cultural or historical aspects of the time. I was fortunate to have several papers which were quite interesting, particularly one on Shakespeare's fools / clowns. The clowns in As You Like It were stupendous. To those who want to get technical, I'm considering Jaques to be a clown because his singing (and likeness to my emo students) was too much to handle. Both Jaques and Touchstone were impeccably cast and portrayed, and laughs were abundant because of this.

Touchstone (as played by Richard Katz)

Jaques (as portrayed by Forbes Masson)

All in all, a wonderful evening (especially with the introduction of Pimm's into my drinking repertoire).

Late Night Quad Talkers

Late night quad party

I'll never get to sleep now.

Shout: "OOPS YOU BLEW IT"

My second BL Summer in Santa Fe, we awoke one morning to find a BreadNet posting from SuZanne one of the director's assistances with the subject line "Oops you blew it." The very live nature of the St. John's college campus caused spectacular acoustics at all hours of the day and apparently our late night chatting session (read 11pm) was a bit too noisy for some.

It seems that "oops you blew it" is appropriate at Lincoln College as well, because the stone walls and strategically placed benches prompt conversations to be magnified and the lack of airconditioning means windows need to be left open at night. Hopefully the wee Brits will be out of here after Visiting Days are over and Lincoln College will become a quiet Bread Loafian oasis after the hours of 2am (seriously, I'm fairly certain they were up until after 2 our first night here).