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
I have never been to a truly “authentic” British pub. As far as I am concerned, this is true by definition: any pub that a twenty-four year old American studying abroad can find, enter, and safely drink a pint in simply can’t be properly English. Nonetheless, if I were to ever swear allegiance to the… Continue reading The Nostalgia Series, Part I: Bookbinders
Sometime around age sixteen, I pretty much gave up on patriotism. The accumulated weight of bearing witness to a senseless “pre-emptive” war, the travesty that was the Bush Administration, and listening to one-too-many Anti-Flag records combined to squash much appreciation for the country where I was born out of me. I wouldn’t say I was… Continue reading Three Cheers: A World-Cup-Patriotism Post-Mortem
For all intents and purposes, I finished my term on Thursday—the day before my final exam—when I gave up on studying, unable to convince myself anymore that learning to do ANOVA statistical tests by hand or to ramble about epistemological approaches to ethnography had anything to do with, well, anything. Paul Willis, a Professor at… Continue reading Adventures Under the Midnight(ish) Sun
Here’s an exciting life update: I broke my wrist. I’m not going to go into how it happened, except to state that it did not involve alcohol and that my cover story is that it involved a fight with zombie ninja pirates. Not a huge deal, but definitely a frustrating and unneeded at a stressful… Continue reading Broken Bones and Open Borders
It seems almost ridiculous that I’ve lived in England for eight months now and haven’t yet blogged about the one thing more British than bangers and mash: alcohol. Having just barely survived “my” birthday garden party and finally recovered from last week’s Boat Club Dinner, I suppose now is as good a time as any… Continue reading A Brief Sociology of Social Lubrication
In celebration of finishing exams, a few development studies students set out to find the least productive way to spend an afternoon. We found this paragon of procrastination. It is called cricket. I freely admit that I do not know enough about cricket to appreciate its nuances, which I’m sure are fascinating. I also know… Continue reading Spring Has Sprung!
In the depths of winter—when it was dark by 3:45 p.m., and had drizzled for three months straight—a few friends assured me that the weather in English spring would be fantastic. I was skeptical, since typically here “fantastic” weather usually means “you can sort of see the sun through the clouds and it’s not raining… Continue reading Grey Britain
Me: So, are you all packed for your trip? Nicola (housemate): No, but I’m not stressing it. I’ve already packed up my passport, credit cards, and tea, so I’ll be fine. Me: Tea? Nicola: Well, I’m a little worried they might not have tea in Sweden. – – – – – Everyone always talks about… Continue reading Drinking Problem
I think I owe England an apology. I’ve realized that I’ve spent a lot of time essentializing “England” in my mind, as if it’s a place that you can actually get to know in a short time. At some point in the last six months, I managed to convince myself that, having done the drive… Continue reading Places that time forgot
Alex V. Barnard - Sociology 