Get Yer Red Hot Scholars!!

I've been asked why I haven't posted anything in a while. There are two reasons:

First, the internet connection for my laptop went down immediately after I posted the "Oxford by Night" photo and we haven't been able to get it up again. This is a bit maddening because I've got lots and lots of new photos to post, including from our outing in the Cotswolds on Sunday. Plus, I'd like, for my own selfish reasons, to have the computer I lugged all the way here available to me in my room. Instead, we're all jostling (including the large Berkeley contingent) for the use of a few computers in a VERY hot computer lab. The problem is mostly MY own fault because when I submitted my paperwork for a computer account months back I gave the MAC address for my token-ring connection, not my ethernet. At the time I didn't know the difference, but now I sure as heck do! Anyway, the wonderful folks at Merton have been making heroic efforts to get me re-connected, but these things move very, very slowly here (which, of course, is one of the charms of the place). I'm hoping we'll be up tomorrow, but if not, we'll be like the British and keep a stiff upper lift and simply press on. This is hardly a major problem! The worst case scenario would involve us waiting until the trip is over to post the photos. And that's not too bad at all.

We are all working full-time now on our research projects, which is taking up virtually every spare minute in the day. It's quite a challenge to conduct research at the Bodleian, especially when you are a newbie. It's an amazing library system, but very hard to master, especially for Americans like myself, who are used to US research libraries. First, the hours are 9-5 Monday-Friday, so you can't work there at night or on the weekends. Again, it's part of the charm of the place, that you are not expected, as with American research libraries, to spend unhealthy amounts of time sitting in a carol. When I was dissertating at Indiana University, I can remember days where I went in at 8 am and left when I was kicked out at 11. It's simply not done that way here. So while we grouse about the inconvenient hours, we should remember that the policy was created by people who feel even scholars should live balanced lives of study, fraternity, family, community, etc. Once you get used to the system I'm sure it's great to have an excuse to go pubbing on Friday night and punting on Saturday afternoon rather than trudging to the library like an enslaved coal miner!

The Bodleian also requires you to put in a request for most books. You can't just walk up the stacks and grab what you want. You must do a search using an old and unintuitive Telnet system and request the book to be (eventually delivered) to one of the reading rooms. There's also a limit on the number of books you can request for a reading room. Once the book is delivered, if you want to take it to a desk, you must fill out a slip with your name, the books name and number, the date, etc. and leave it to mark where the book was. If you want to photocopy, you must have the book checked by several people and you are watched VERY carefully by an appointed to staffer to ensure that you don't harm the book.

The Old Bodleian and Radcliffe Camera are both beautiful old buildings, but they are not air coniditioned and you must do lots and lots of walking about and stair climbing to get to anything. Also, the filing system is completely different from ours. Again, these things add to the sense of charm and adventure, but they can be momentarily frustrating, especially when you are very much pressed for time, trying to squeeze in a half hour of note-taking or copying between lecture, lunch, class, trips, etc. Using the "Boddy" the correct way is truly an art-form that I would love someday to say I have mastered.

As for the papers, everyone now has a topic and is hard at work. Some folks are racing to get theirs written as soon as possible so they can have fun this weekend. The rest of us expect to be writing all day Saturday and Sunday.

My paper will be on the communication environment of Julius Caesar's Rome and how Caesar used various forms of media to hold the attention and maintain the support of his plebian supporters. My tutor says its a relatively unexplored topic, so I'm quite excited to dive in. I've ordered several books and found lots of articles using a fantastic online full-text journal article service called J-Stor. I can't believe the kind of stuff they have! Full text, high-quality facsimile copies of articles from the greatest journals in most fields (especially the humanities). I bought a ream of paper today so I could print some of these off. I'm finding articles that go back to the turn of the century on the Roman postal system and signalling technologies used by Roman armies in battle. Lots of neat stuff like that.

The heat: It's been unusually hot and dry here for the past 5 days or so---ever since I dropped about $50 on a good raincoat after getting soaked in cold rain the first two days. There is absolutely no air conditioning here and it can make things rather sticky. There is an upside, of course. When I post the Cotswold pictures, you will see how the bright sun gave the English countryside a real Italian look.

My Cold: I woke up with burning sinuses the other day and have had a pretty bad cold now since Friday. Lots of sneezing, nose-blowing, and other yucky stuff. My head felt like it was going to explode yesterday and my poor tutor and classmates had to watch me go through about 200 tissues over the course of our class. Then I got some "non-drowsy" sinus medicine and all that did was make me sleepy and loopy. I almost passed out during a lecture on the poetry of George Herbert this morning! But I think it's starting to clear up----at least I hope so, desperately!

Well, that's all for now. Thanks to everyone for reading and commenting. It makes a huge difference to know that someone's out there!