I am a native in this world And think in it as a native thinks

Thursday, October 31, 2024

Evanescent


Some closeups from a fun art installation at Brookfield Place in New York, where I had lunch with my class on Saturday. It's called Evanescent and was created by Atelier Sisu, a design studio in Sydney.

The young daughter of one of my students informed me that the bubbles were “awesome”. And she was right.

Monday, October 28, 2024

Still lifting her lamp

I posted this on a political blog (Balloon Juice) I follow today, about the ugly rally that took place a few blocks from my apartment last night:

...Something that kept me hopeful through the barrage of ugly news yesterday:

I teach English to adult immigrants. This semester we’ve been learning about American elections, and I’ve been surprised by how interested they are in the history of the Constitution, the various compromises that were made, and the struggles for voting rights. So for our class trip, I took them on a walking tour of Lower Manhattan on Saturday. We visited Hamilton’s grave at Trinity Church, Federal Hall on Wall Street where Washington was sworn in and the first U.S. Congresses met, the plaque marking the building on Maiden Lane where Jefferson used to live and where he, Madison and Hamilton had the famous dinner in “The Room Where it Happens,” Fraunces Tavern where all of them used to eat and which was damaged by a British cannonball during the revolution. Then a ride on the Staten Island Ferry for a good look at the Statue of Liberty.

All of my students have kids, many of them have multiple jobs, and they give up their Saturdays to learn English. They are smart, funny, interesting, curious, and remarkably kind. They are everything that is right about this country, and we could use several million more of them. When I vote this week, I will be voting for many things and many reasons, but I want to give them the country they deserve.


I ended up voting today instead of waiting. Voting, for all of us.

Sunday, October 27, 2024

Sunday bird blogging


A few seagulls following in the wake of the Staten Island Ferry yesterday, with the Manhattan skyline in the background.

The warmer than usual temperatures have finally cooled down enough to give us at least one week of perfect October: crisp but not cold, leaves turning, our sidewalk shadows stretching longer as the sun moves south.

Saturday, October 26, 2024

Saturday reflections


October skies reflected near the 9/11 Memorial in Lower Manhattan today. I took my class on a walking tour to see where some of the history we've been reading about happened. We had a wonderful time, and I am exhausted.

Good exhausted, but exhausted!

Tuesday, October 22, 2024

Have some flowers


My Covid/flu shots knocked me flat for a few days so I'm just catching up on everything again.

Friday, October 18, 2024

My beautiful laundrette



I liked the worn-out feel of this laundry near the hotel where I stayed my first weekend in Oxford.

This afternoon, I went in to make copies for tomorrow's class, and one of the cleaning staff kindly held the elevator for me. He asked if I was late for my class and I said no, that I was just there to make copies, and he said, “You're a teacher?”

Since I'm decades older than most of the students there, I didn't know why that seemed so unlikely. (Cue imposter syndrome kicking in...)

Later I saw myself in the mirror in the ladies room—jeans, old t-shirt, hair damp and disheveled from the long walk to the Upper East Side—and burst out laughing. Yeah, I wouldn't have taken me for a teacher, either. I do dress better when I'm actually teaching.

Tuesday, October 15, 2024

Random things I saw in Oxford



Clockwise from top left: a homemade Black Lives Matter sign in the window of a student flat; the tower of University Church on the High Street; an assortment of condoms and tampons in the laundry room at Merton; tourists in the Schools Quad in front of the Old Bodleian.

Monday, October 14, 2024

And still more boats



 

More boats along the Thames


There are a variety of narrowboats and houseboats docked along the side of the Thames. Some of them seemed to be leisure crafts, though I only saw one or two actually out on the water, and some of them seemed to be residences.

I took the picture on the left from the water, on a Tea on the Thames cruise, where alas the high blood sugar brought on by consuming multiple scones with cream and jam apparently left me incapable of taking a decent photograph. I saw the bâteau ivre on the right on one of my walks.

Saturday, October 12, 2024

Lost boat




In an inlet off the Thames path, this boat from Balliol College. There were college boathouses all along the water there, so I'm sure someone knew the boat was there.

Cricket




Coming back to Oxford, and some odds and ends. Here's something you never see in New York: a friendly game of cricket on a Sunday afternoon.

This is one of the playing fields I used to walk past on the Thames path near the hotel where I stayed my first weekend in Oxford.

Thursday, October 10, 2024

Urban poetry, Bath style




And here's the last of Bath: rows of chimneys encircling a hill. A lovely image from a lovely city.

Pulteney weir


There has been a weir to prevent flooding on the Avon river in Bath since the 1600's. It was rebuilt in the 1970's in this unusual, and apparently more effective, horseshoe design.

That beautiful bridge across the river is from the 18th century. It's full of shops but sadly I had no time to linger there.

A park (but from a distance)





The parade grounds look like a lovely park for any Regency couple to take a stroll in, but since it wasn't public—you had to buy a ticket to enter—we changed our minds about taking a shortcut across it and admired it from a distance.

Wednesday, October 9, 2024

Jane Austen's Bath


I would have loved to spend more time wandering through the streets of Georgian houses in the city. I had really never seen much of England outside London until this summer; although I used to dream about Cornwall and Yorkshire, there were always places I wanted to see more. If I go back to Oxford next summer I may have to travel around the country a little while I'm there.

A somewhat smaller church






This Seventh Day Adventist church near Bath Abbey made me smile. I am guessing they have a rather small congregation.

Bath Abbey details


I especially love the angels climbing Jacob's Ladder.

Bath Abbey

 



The Abbey Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, which is right next to the Roman baths, is a parish church, not a cathedral. Judging by the exterior (we couldn't go inside because of a service in progress) it would make any bishop proud. The main building is 12th and 16th century, with a major renovation in the 1860's.

Monday, October 7, 2024

A few more pictures at the baths


Looking down on the main pool from the terrace. That green water is not very appealing; in Roman times there was a roof, which would have prevented the algae from taking over as it so obviously has today.

The woman on the right is one of the costumed characters who hang around the baths. (At first I just took her for a tourist with a slightly eccentric sense of style, but realized most tourists don't bring their needlework.)

Thursday, October 3, 2024

Roman abstract




These stacks of tiles in the museum at the baths are like a conceptual art installation. But they were very practical, supporting the floor to create a hypocaust (new word!) which is a space under the floor where hot air was sent to heat the room above.

Wednesday, October 2, 2024

In the museum at the Baths

Two things that caught my eye: a head of Minerva in gilded bronze that was found in 1727. It was probably originally attached to a statue of the goddess in her temple next to the Sacred Spring. The other is just a mask of unknown purpose, though most likely religious. It reminded me a little of the mask of Agamemnon, though that was of course much much earlier and in a different country.

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