Pursuant to a conversation I had at our departmental drinks night last Wednesday—by which I mean, a conversation I’ve now had with shockingly little variation about four-hundred times since I went vegan—I have decided to officially coin my first sociological theory: Barnard’s Law: In any heated discussion between a vegan and a non-vegan over animal… Continue reading Barnard’s Law
Two weeks ago, I bought a bike. I was committed to buying a used bike—seeing the carcasses of cheap, mass-produced bikes around Oxford scared me off of new ones—but was also wary of purchasing something from Craiglist and feeding into Berkeley’s rampant bike theft. I lucked out, though, and found a store that refurbishes old… Continue reading Bike Co-Op Blues
It is fall and I am back on an American university campus, which can mean only one thing: I am surrounded by undergraduates. It’s most obvious at 9:55 a.m., as I look out the window of my office to see hordes of dazed-looking late-teenagers staggering to class, clutching textbooks and coffee cups. The lampposts on… Continue reading The Strange Species
The story of the last two months has been one of finding places for things. It started when I began packing to leave Oxford, attempting to cajole my worldly possessions into fitting in two duffel bags. Looking into the closets and storage spaces of my college-owned graduate house, I realized that many international students had… Continue reading Outfitting My Room: Bargain Shopping for Anti-Consumerists
Here’s a quick primer on how the University of California (and California State University) is completely fucked. This year’s state budget is cutting $650 million from a system already emaciated from a 20% cut last year, with a bonus $200 million in cuts if revenues come short of projections. Tuition has risen 67% for residents… Continue reading UAW Local 2865
Two days ago, my parents and I loaded up the family Toyota. Together with a book-on-tape and my Mom’s heavily-Bruce-Springsteen-centric CD collection, we embarked on a road trip through the desolation of Middle America. Our destination was a new university, where in just a week I will start the Next Big Phase of my life,… Continue reading De(T)ox the Punx
It’s mid-summer cleaning time. As I pack myself up for a very permanent-feeling move to California, I’m purging myself of old books and clothes and knickknacks and CDs, hopelessly attempting to maintain the myth that I still maintain the student ideal of a life that fits into two duffel bags. Cleaning has taken a digital… Continue reading Anglophile
Periodically, animal advocates get torn to shreds for daring to suggest that the suffering of animals deserves our consideration alongside the suffering of humans. Last year, Natalie Portman had the audacity to ask, “If we don’t tolerate rape, why do we tolerate meat eating?”—and was promptly pounced upon by feminist bloggers. More recently, twitter called… Continue reading PETA vs. the Feminist Blogosphere
Five-hundred-or-so years ago—which, in Oxford, falls under “modern history”—a mob of townspeople were chasing two students (as tended to happen back then). One student was from Lincoln College and the other Brasenose. They reached Lincoln’s gate, at which point the porters—being English and, by extension, sticklers for the rules—permitted the Lincoln student to enter but… Continue reading The Nostalgia Series, Part II: Ascension Day
“Was it really that bad?” Last year, one of my housemates was from Rostock, Germany, and had lived under the socialist regime until he was ten. His stories were a window into the daily life of communism, something my history books could never provide me. His mother used to deposit him in queues without actually… Continue reading Behind the Iron Curtain
Alex V. Barnard - Sociology 