What is it about singing in the shower?

i absolutely, unconditionally, immeasurably love surprise visitors.

<3

Why This Day is so Wonderful.

Went to Tim Hortons with my brothas (consequently arrived at school too late to go to English...): instant gratification.
Got lots of little things done during art class including handing in stuff; signing up for stuff; bumping into people and talking to them about stuff; discussing deviance with Dr. Epp; receiving, losing and then retrieving a balloon; calling my mom; starting to make a doozy of a crossword; discovering a secret hallway; etc.
Currently in History with the recieved/lost/retrieved balloon tied to the seat next to me,
and soon
Mother is picking me up from school so that I may go to a clinic where they will extract from me a vile of blood to examine.

Hooray for days full of amusing/enlightening/unusual things.

-CH

This Sucks.

I recently became aware of a film that was newly released called Trade. It's about sex-trafficking in Mexico and the U.S. and was inspired by Peter Landesman's eye-opening article in the New York Times on the trade.

Yeah. I read the article and yeah. I'm entirely speechless. I cried. I can't believe this happens. I didn't understand the full extent of this operation. I feel like more people should be aware. We need to pray. We need to do something.

I really encourage you to read this article http://www.nytimes.com/2004/01/25/magazine/25SEXTRAFFIC.html?pagewanted=1&ei=5007en=43dbe6ef76e45af8ex=1390366800

and to check out the movie website. http://www.tradethemovie.com/

Cambridge Adventures: Day Two - Monday, Monday

Monday morning in Cambridge was pretty standard:

Reluctant wake-up
Breakfast
Walk to the church (we followed random group of conferees on a "short"-cut! The walk is now 14 minutes, as opposed to 15...)
Meditation
First plenary address

The address was pretty interesting - the speaker was Wilfred McClay, yet another professor/author/scholar dude, who spoke on our society's confused notion of happiness and self-gratification. He quoted John Stuart Mill ("Ask yourself if you are happy, and you will cease to be so.") and yeah. I can't remember much.
But the Q&A period after dealt with what we can do to deal with/change a society like this.

After the first address I left to shop, if memory serves me correctly. I don't think I bought anything, though I do remember finding a store called Topshop which was most appealing to my preferred style of dress. I may return there in due time when I'm in a more shopping frame of mind.

Soon enough, it was time for my first poetry class! My elective for this week is a Poetry Workshop led by the British poet, Malcolm Guite. He is... a FANTASTIC man. His energy and enthusiasm are so incredibly gripping and contagious. He's a priest, a poet, and a rock musician. He sports a full beard and a tangled mop of unkempt hair. A true artist.
Everyone in the class was transfixed - he's like a child in a man's body, bouncing around, eyes full of wonder and light, hands waving madly as he talks.
And his poems are fantastic. (example to come.)
We talked about what a poem is, why we write them, what purpose they serve. We also discussed a few things about technique and form and talked about the villainelle.

At 5:30, everyone piled on coaches to go to Chilford Hall, deep in the countryside of Cambridge. It was about a half an hour drive, during which I marvelled at the scenery and sang to myself (not knowing the length of the drive, I didn't bother to take my book or iPod) while my mother chattered with some lovely people sitting by us.
Chilford Hall is a country-ish uhm... place I guess. It was interesting. There were a few different buildings, but we were in the main hall. Outside on the big lawn there were random areas in which Grecian statues were set up. It didn't seem to fit the whole theme of "English countryside" we all agreed. But anyways. When everyone arrived we all walked around and mingled - I met up with a dear girl, Elizabeth, who was in my film class in Oxford. We explored and chatted with each other and got to know each other better which was delightful. She's here with both of her parents, and I'm here with my mom - in each other, we found solace: an escape from the clutches of parental company. (Drama queen, I know.)
So dinner started. We ate.
AND THEN... the partayyyy began. The Mellstock Band is a group of musicians who specialize in old English country music - they were featured on the new Pride and Prejudice. They were there to play for us and teach us English dances very much like those you see in Pride and Prejudice! So there we were (about 50 of us, at least) on the dance floor, learning old English dancing. And it was by far as fun as it looks in the movies. Elizabeth and I partnered (she was Lizzie, I was Mr. Darcy) and good times were had by all. It was an awesome way to meet everyone, and I'm pretty sure none of us stopped laughing the entire time we were on the floor - which was a couple hours. We took the last bus home at some late hour, with all the other spirited inividuals who stuck it out 'til the end. (Needless to say, both of our parents had left much earlier.)

Back at Robinson, Elizabeth and I made plans to sleep in the next morning and go out for breakfast together.

I slept very well that night.

-CH

Cambridge Adventures: Day One - An English Sabbath

It was an interesting Sunday. One that I am not at all accustomed to. In saying this, I don't mean that it was unenjoyable at all. Here's what happened:

In the morning, I skipped breakfast and slept in. Oh, the delight! So, I didn't get up until after ten. Then I went to the market and got myself something to eat and walked/shopped around for a bit. It was a nice relaxing morning.

A little after one, coaches left from Robinson to go to Ely Cathedral for the afternoon and for our worship service. I read the whole way there - I bought the next book in my series... I just couldn't wait til I got home!

Ely Cathedral is the most breath-taking building I've seen yet, and that's saying something, considering the buildings that are in Oxford and Cambridge! Here are some shots:

"Wot's this? I'm in Narnia?!"

I just couldn't keep my eyes off that Cathedral!

Two hallways like this ran down the sides of the main worship area.

The main hall - I'm standing in the middle of it, so this goes about the same distance behind me, too. :O

This was the catachism area - there's built-in desks on both sides that are hard to see.

The dome above where the priests stand and the choir and stuff.

So those pictures don't really show a fraction of the cathedral... there were so many staggering details. If you ever to England, make SURE you take a day trip to go see the Ely Cathedral.

To [unintentionally] enhance the whole experience, there happened to be a chamber choir recording a CD there that day, and they were in some obscure wing, away from the tourist-infested areas, but while we were walking around outside, we could hear it through the walls... it sounded like LOTR music. It was SO beautiful! We went in to the huge room they were recording in and watched for a while.

The worship service was very interesting. I believe a congregation regularly meets there, and so our huge group joined them. It's an Anglican church, so there were lots of ceremonies and formal practices - they were pretty cool though. A boys and mens choir was leading the service - most of which they sang - all these prayers and texts - in beautiful harmony, of course. It was amazing. And we kneeled to pray! That was pretty cool. It was a bit hard to concentrate on the act of worshipping... I was so in awe at everything! But I guess marvelling at beauty is worshipping, in a way.

Anyways, we went back to Cambridge right after the service and had an opening reception (there were lots of new people joining us for the Cambridge week) but I was pretty tired, so I didn't stay too long. I just read and rested until our evening session at the St. Mary's (the University church at Cambridge) which was really cool. Paul Barnes played some more Phillip Glass pieces (this time from his Orphee symphonies) and Kate Butler sang some finally unopera songs! They were just humourous musical-esque pieces that she acted/sang - the first was about a woman who was far too in love with her iPod, and the second was about a couple who's marriage was destroyed because of an unhealthy addiction to Sunday morning crosswords. They were pretty funny.

After the performances, American artist Bruce Herman (http://bruceherman.com/index.htm) gave an informal talk on how our culture views beauty - has lost sight of it, actually - and how art affects/is affected by that. It was a question/answer style lecture, so that was pretty sweet.

An Oxbridge tradition is the Bag-end Cafe. I can't remember if I've mentioned it before, but yeah, it was started a few years ago by a regular conferee, Andrew Lazzo, a really funny and energetic guy who teaches mythology at a University in the States somewheres. Anyways, the Bag-end Cafe is just this: everyone is invited to the college bar and we mingle and drink, then every night there's a special guest who answers questions or leads a discussion (always related to the Arts) and it's a really informal and comfortable atmosphere. Also, people can share poetry and prose, and yeah. Basically it's just a gathering of Art lovers who come together to drink and talk. I went for the first time at night and enjoyed it SO thoroughly! Bruce Herman was the guest there, so I was able to ask him all the questions I was too scared to ask at the big lecture. Then some people read some of their poetry and the actor dude, Tony Lawton, sang a song - I think he had consumed a couple pints by this time. It was a beautiful folk song though, and he sung very well.
It was just so much fun; I wish I had started going last week.

By the time I got back to my room, it was almost 12, so I just crashed - hence I am a day behind in blogging, and will probably remain so for the rest of the week. So I'll have to tell you about today, tomorrow, and so on and so forth.

Anyways. Until tomorrow then - I have many exciting events to tell you about!

-CH

Cambridge Adventures! Day .75

Yes. Today was not a full Cambridge day. Hence the decimal seven-fiveness.

In the morning after breakfast everyone brought their luggage down and waited by the porter's lodge to get on a coach. It was sad to leave Keble... stepping through that giant Medieval wooden door one last time... Oxford is an amazing city, and I will do everything in my power to return there someday. There's still so many things to see! And pictures to take! And good times to be had! Indeed. Oxford has not seen the last of me...

On the coach, I read a tad but mostly listened to music, slept and watch the beautiful scenery whip by the windows. Cambridge is much more in the country, so for most of the drive I was serenaded by images of rolling hills, lush fields, and far too many sheep. The sleep was sketch - it threatened to be the "demented spine" scenario all over again, but Mother-bird came to the rescue with one of her magic massages [I credit all my skills to her].

Three hours later, it was CAMBRIDGE TIME. Hurrah! We're staying at Robinson College, which was built in the 80's, so the surroundings are quite different from those at Keble. But the building boasts some spectacularly wacked out artistic details - I have yet to photograph them, but will soon.

So, my mama and I got settled into our [seperate] rooms [right next door to each other] which are quite nice. We both have a balcony which we share with our respective neighbours - mine, a young poet named George; Mom's; a young lady who's name I do not yet know.

After settlation and restation, we headed to town. The layout of Cambridge is drastically different than that of Oxford. Cambridge is much more in the country, so things are further apart. The walk from Robinson to the town is about 15 minutes, and is mostly along a very picturesque walkway, followed on both sides by a creek and many willows. Then you cross a busy street and the walk continues on the otherside, goes over an acient stone bridge and on the other side is the Medieval town of Cambridge! The buildings are as spectacular as in Oxford, but there's something much more charming and rural about Cambridge, even though there are tons of people walking the streets and just as many [actually, more!] nice stores than in Oxford. It's a very different place - I'm sure you'll see by the pictures I'll eventually take/post.

Anyways, once in town, we found a restaurant - the Cambridge Chophouse. Sounds highly uncivilized, but it was a beautiful bistro-esque place, very classy in all respects. The food was also spectacular - I had a steak with quite possibly the best mushroom sauce in all of Christendom. Oh, and my mom and I shared a bottle of delicious Shiraz! Though, I can assure you, that has nothing to do with the crookedness of this shot:

This was one section in the back of the restaraunt. This tunnel led to a room with one big table in it for larger parties.

Funkay. N'est pas?

A close up of the artwork on the back wall. I loved it!

After lunch, it was time for the market. Yes, in Cambridge's town square, there is an open-air market place! We all know how Catherine loves such things, so I was in my glory. There was even a retro clothing stall.... :D. I only bought a couple things today, but I will be hitting it up again.

Mom went back to the college - markets are not her thing. No form of shopping is, really. Not even groceries. Anyways, Mom went back the the college, and so I spent the next few hours shopping in various boutiques and such. There are sooo many little streets and stuff here, I think one could shop for a week solid and still not have seen them all! Hence I bought no clothes today - I want to scout it all out first.

This evening, we had the option of watching a movie in the Robinson College Theatre entitled C.S. Lewis: Dreamer of Narnia. It was a really cool documentary-type film about what inspired Lewis for each of the Narnia books. It was excellently put together and was very interesting. I learned a lot about the less-known details of Lewis' life.

After the movie, Mom and I decided to walk back into town to have a drink and some dessert. We went to a small cafe and sat outside, eating apple pie and drinking delightful cafe concoctions, and chatting about deep things! Mostly the future. As it turns out, Mom's are pretty good at that stuff.

Anyways, I am muchly looking forward to my delightful bed. Off to sleep I go!

-CH