Things at Oxford are starting to heat up. My [redacted] day streak of going to pubs has ended. I have numerous papers I should be doing, in addition to the already insurmountable amount of reading. My rowing team even had a work-out that involved sweating and physical exertion (this is new). And I’m spending my… Continue reading Eat Your Heart Out, Julia Child. Or Not.
It occurs to me that I’ve written my last, well, who knows how many posts on various political topics. Anyone who knows me probably isn’t too surprised about this. To some extent, writing (and complaining) is my way of dealing with a world that, quite frankly, scares me. It’s hard to stay positive when I… Continue reading Living in Darkness, and Loving It
As a general rule, political developments in other countries that don’t directly involve the U.S.. have to be a pretty big deal to get coverage. The recent elections in Germany, or the passage of the new Lisbon Treaty in the E.U., passed by as a blip. The flip side is that, when stuff does get… Continue reading Why Lefties Can’t Even Make Holocaust Deniers Look Bad
I realize that I am now on my third post about yesterday’s protest, which seems a bit excessive. But really, my life here provides fairly little exciting writing material—I read a lot of books—so when something dramatic happens, my mind starts racing. I have to put thoughts on (electronic) paper before I can go back… Continue reading Bolshevik Bingo and a Walking Tour of Historic London
Last April was probably the period where I was the most politically radical—and optimistic—I’ll ever be. By the time I handed in my thesis, it was pretty evident that I had drank the proverbial freegan kool-aid. I genuinely believed the freegans, by working to create sustainable, egalitarian, local anarchist communities, were on to something that… Continue reading The (Near) Death of an Activist
With all the talk in the last few days about British neo-Nazis it was—in a weird sense—fulfilling to actually meet one. Mid-way through today’s anti-war rally in Trafalgar Square, someone in the back of the crowd began shouting “rubbish” in response to a speaker assailing the War in Afghanistan as an imperialist and racist ploy.… Continue reading The Feel-Good Witch Hunt
I may have mentioned it before, but I’ll repeat it: I love my living situation. I stay in a four story townhouse on a street right outside the college, and I have a reasonably sized room on the ground floor (that’s “zero floor” in British). Thanks to the generosity of the previous Sachs Scholar, I… Continue reading Geography Lessons
Circumstances (that is, reading) always intervene, and so I failed to post my principles before classes actually started. Still, though, my first few courses—which were fascinating—made me think I am wise to commit to some view of development before too long, and I become jaded, cynical, or (worst of all) realistic. Two incidents seem to… Continue reading A Manifesto of Sorts, Part II
Even before, I came to Oxford, I had already realized that the stock American responses to the Oxford experience are fairly cliched. I’m friends on facebook with enough people who have taken a Junior Year Abroad to already have heard every imaginable variation on “I’m in Oxford – and it’s just like Harry Potter!” Now… Continue reading (Insert Harry Potter Comparison)
Tomorrow, I will attend my first class as an Oxford University graduate student. It’s not likely to be a particularly dramatic moment, given that the lecture is on qualitative research methods. It will, however, mark my official entrance into an academic discipline that is, to say the least, a mess. Occasionally, I wonder about what… Continue reading A Manifesto, Of Sorts: Part I
Alex V. Barnard - Sociology 