Those Randy Stuarts

(Note: This post was begun...oh...ages ago. Maybe eons. The week it's talking about is the one ending December 11.)

Have been doing inventories in paleography. The Elizabethan catchall for things you were too lazy to write out was 'and other small implements,' so class kind of took on a tone of a bizarre version of the '12 Days of Christmas' vibe this week because that becomes the only part everyone can read and it occurs at the end of every paragraph. Five gold rings....

I wrote that before I realized how ridiculously behind I was on....everything. SO. Bullet rundown. Here we go:

• Last full playwright class was a case study on Sir Thomas More, taught by Prof. Editor and was great. I got points for turning a book upside down and we were all filmed awkwardly for some kind of promo video.
• Wound up auditioning for a play. Auditions make me hardcore, vomit-on-my-shoes nervous and this was no exception. We had to do improv? And then like...read things? Gah. But, this being a communist organization in a socialist country, everyone gets a role, and I will be appearing as one of three citizens in next year's production of King John. And I'm kind of really excited about that. Well, excited about having an excuse to socialize with fun people. The actual acting thing...I'll get back to you.
• Saw 'Matilda' at the Company. It was excellent. Totally made me tear up, because I am secretly a giant ball of sentiment and have a severe soft spot for children's ideas of adulthood. Hope to write a fuller review later, but really, really liked it.
• Messed up my reading for history and thus shamed myself, my peers, my country and my ancestors. But I did bring in a libelous Stuart poem about the Countess of Somerset, which I think made up for it. Judge for yourself:

Essex bird hath flowen hir cage,
And’s gone to Court to ly with a Page
She was a lady fyne of late,
She could not be entred shee was soe streight
But now with use she is soe wyde
A Car may enter on every side.

• The CREMS lecture was this week was given by Hal, in fact, and was excellent. One of the best of the term, by far. Also, it had to do with sex, so it fit right in with the whole theme of the day, since it was the same day we talked about libelous material (see previous bullet).
• Went to a Hanukkah party! Lit candles, sang, identified pictures of famous Jews hung about the room (damn you, Leonard Bernstein, and your non-remarkable visage), drank wine and had a great conversation about what the best weapon in the kitchen would be to fend off a ninja attack (interestingly enough, the knives lost out).
• One of the professors is retiring, so the last Thursday seminar was also her last talk, and it was excellent (dealt with commercialization of Shakespearean images, both of the playwright and of his characters). There was even a game! A game I lost because, really, who expects Benedict to show up in a car ad? No one, that's who. And then we had cake and I saw Prof. NYU, who gave me fun things and is always lovely to see and I scooted off home
• Made a triumphant return to Thursday play reading and had a ball playing the straight man in a comedic trio with MASS.B and Chi. The play was 'Tis Pity She's a Whore, which was suitably ludicrous and OH MY WORD SO DISTRESSING. I'm not sure I can really get behind any play where a girl (happily) gets knocked up by her brother. Ugh. Gah. Ew. However, still a lot of fun, especially when MASS.B messed up his death scene.
• The Friday of that week (so...the 10th...) I saw a two person version of Antony and Cleopatra. It was a very interesting thought experiment, and I thought they did a really good job of it. Afterwards we went out to drinks for Friend*'s birthday, and I got pleasantly tipsy and demonstrated that, no matter how content I am, my neutral face looks like someone just beat my puppy with a rusty shovel.

*Friend is a friend of the Institute, a friend of my roommate's, a friend of mine, etc. I have no idea what to name him, otherwise, and if I hold up this post until I think of something it will never get posted. Ever. So this will do for now and maybe in the future he will be reborn! Or not. You never know, with me.

Class-y Dame

I think it says something about where my head's been at the past few days that, sometime last week, I had to wait outside the Institute car park so that Judi Dench could drive past me and I'm only just thinking to mention it now.

I feel like I've been saying this a lot, but really...what is my life.

Paleography this week concentrated on inventories and numbers and the string of words that, when put in some kind of order and paired with arbitrary numbers that have no proportional relation to each other, allegedly made up the Elizabethan currency system. Paleography sometimes takes on the flavor of a particularly tense auction, since we all want to identify a word but there are only so many words we can make out, so as we read the document we are all jumping on each other to try and get there first. This week I got "every" and "spones" (spoons) and it was quite an achievement.

Sometime in October, my mom sent me a package. Or tried to send me a package, as it still has not arrived at my doorstep. Tuesday I decided to get to the bottom of it all and trekked out past the edge of town and to the Royal Mail center, which is conveniently located in a building that looks like an overgrown gardening shed hidden behind a few large trucks and a few warehouses. I went in filled with righteous indignation, which was immediately dissipated by the sweet, friendly guy behind the window who....had no idea what to tell me. They can confirm it entered the country and then, poof! Gone. Somewhere.

All of this postal aggravation fed, I think, into a little bit of aggravation regarding class. I felt like we took two hours to cover, maybe, 20 minutes of material and the topic kept getting hijacked and I felt like no one was prepared. Frustrating, But! Adriana cooked sweet and sour for family dinner and it was delicious and, by the end of it, I was full and happy.

Class on Wednesday covered the 'second reign' of Elizabeth, which is a problematic term used to describe the 1590's, which happens to be what Prof. History is writing about right now. One presentation involved after a pause after each sentence to check on Prof. History's reaction, which was usually one of bemused exasperation and eye rolling. We almost ran out of time, and my presentation on dramatic commentary regarding the succession was a little all over the place (I feel like I've never reached the heights of that first week), but it was a great class, as it usually is.

If It Looks Like an 'R,' It's Probably a 'C'

Yesterday was a library and errand running day, so you will forgive me if I skip a description to get right to today...the start of Paleography!

That's right, kids. Paleography began today! There are about eleven of us in the class, which consists of MASSCHRE students and research students from both the Institute and Birmingham, and we met this morning at the Shakespeare Birthplace to begin our journey into the wonderful world of Elizabethan secretarial hand (pictured).

The theory goes, by the end of the class, we will be able to easily read documents written in this style of flourishes, blots and abbreviations that surely must have made sense at the time. We went over the alphabet this morning and then transcribed a scene from 1 Henry IV and the birth record of one "guye fawxe." The scene was (relatively) straight forward, but the christening record was a nightmare. I found myself getting irrationally angry at whatever sixteenth century scribe was responsible for the church document. Didn't he know better than to let his letters overlap like that?!

In between class, MASS.B and I went on a search for a pine scented Christmas candle that would provide me with olfactory holiday joy while not bankrupting my feeble student savings. A compromise was found in the form of some incense oil at Crabtree and Evelyn, and it has been happily burning since I got home. Success!

Playwrights was also a new experience, as the illustrious Prof. Plays has subbed out and now we have two weeks of Prof. Books. As you might have gathered, the topic of today's class was the book and print trade in Shakespeare's day, with particular attention paid to distribution of Catholic items and the role, types and extent of censorship.

Remainders:

• Made the undeniably questionable decision to trim my own bangs somewhere around midnight last night. As no one has noticed, I have to deduce I didn't screw them up too badly.
• It is, as I have may have mentioned, very cold in English homes and to stave off hypothermia we have begun using the heat. Unlike my home in Virginia, the layout of the house favors doors, which we have to keep closed to trap the heat in whatever rooms are being used at the time. The result is that I have, for the past few weeks, felt remarkably like I am living in some elaborate French farce and will, at any moment, open a door to find an Italian flight attendant on my couch.
• A residential complex en route to the Institute has put Christmas lights in its trees. I am unspeakably pleased.
• Tomorrow, we will be covering Elizabeth in history class. Tomorrow is November 17. November 17 is Accession Day. Nerd alert!

Rollin'

History class is, really, the highlight of my week, but I found myself a little distracted during yesterday's class because I knew, at the end of it, we would get our papers back. STRESS.

The topic was parliamentary politics in Renaissance England, something I know NOTHING about. Seriously, nothing. There were two houses? Right? And...sometimes people got elected? But they didn't? And Parliament did things? But not really? I have no idea.

My article was on popular political ideology in London, and started by saying "there's no way we can really tell what the popular political ideology was at the time." Um, thanks? There were highlights, though, as in any history class. For example! When the Queen visited Warwick in 1572, a fireworks/cannon display burned down four houses. And in one of the 14 contested election of 1604 in Worcestershire, there was a vote by noise. As in, cheer the loudest for your favorite candidate and whoever is the loudest wins.

Before I get to my paper grade, here's how the breakdown of grades works here:

MA/Diploma pass with distinction

• 80: Exceptionally mature work, particularly with regard to originality and articulation.
• 75-79: Outstanding on all counts, with no weaknesses. Plentiful evidence of critical reflection and original thinking.
• 70-74: Excellent work. Strong on most criteria, with evidence of critical reflection on the issues involved.

MA/Diploma pass with merit

• 60-69: Very good work. Strong on most counts, and satisfactory on all counts, showing critical insight and an ability to appraise evidence.

MA/Diploma pass

• 50-59: Work of at least a satisfactory standard on most of assessed criteria

Resubmission required

• 40-49: Unsatisfactory. Fails substantially short in a number of categories. Needs reworking to be considered of pass standard.
• 0-39: Unsatisfactory. Fails to satisfy in any of the categories. Needs very extensive work in order to reach pass standard.

That's what we're working with. On my first postgraduate paper and the first paper I've written in over two years....I got a 67*! I'm well pleased. I feel like that puts me in a really good position to improve and maybe get a pass with distinction on my next paper, and makes me feel more confident because it shows I'm starting at a pretty okay level.

Registered to be an ad hoc worker (I need a job so very badly) and then started researching the next big paper before CREMS, which was on the Imitatio Christi and the Early Modern Jesuits. It was a confusing paper because he didn't explain what the Imitatio Christi was or who Ignatius was, but that was the basis of the entire paper. I was very lost and spent about half of it contemplating thesis ideas. On the bright side, I think I have one?

*Is it totally uncouth to post my grade? Does that bother people? It occurred to me that maybe that's some kind of faux pas. I use this blog primarily to communicate with people at home, but if anything here bothers people in my daily life, please alert me!

"To Quote..."

Social and Cultural History of Renaissance England day! Prof. History was in high spirits, as a book she contributed to has just come out and we were covering her area of expertise, gentry and idea of gentility in the English Renaissance. In fact, that's what she had contributed on article on in the aforementioned book. Thus, throughout class she would gleefully punctuate her thoughts with a "To quote [her name]..." and then read from her article, which I found delightful and vastly entertaining.

She also threw herself into a physical reenactment of the Earl of Essex wading to shore to knight someone for meeting a boat, tried to tell Jacobean jokes ("It is funny! It is. When I remember it properly, it's even funnier.") and denied posthumously stalking Philip Howard.

Presentations covered the Castlehaven scandal, decorations on funeral monuments and my own on dueling (managing a bit more coherence than last week, thank God). I sometimes get a little bummed we aren't doing more Shakespeare text work this term, but really, I'm enjoying myself so much I can't really complain. This class is one of the best I've ever taken, in any subject, and it happens to be a subject I love. Win.

Cows Are Dangerous

Any fear I had about my sleep deprivation on Wednesday turned out to be completely justified. I was kind of a walking disaster. Passed out cold on the train, was absolutely incapable of coherent human speech in class (it didn't help that I was presenting on things concerning English geography, which is already a trick) and then my card got declined when I tried to buy coffee. I almost burst into tears, which shows both how absolutely vital caffeine was at this point and how little sleep I had gotten, since a lack of white mocha is not usually enough to send me into a mini-breakdown.

I didn't cry, though! And I found enough change for tea, and I slept on the train on the way back and I stayed awake enough to thoroughly enjoy the party that night (but that's the next post).

The highlight of the day, as is every Wednesday, was class. I love my history class. I adore my history class. And, most importantly, I adore Prof. History. She is wonderful and ridiculous. A sampling of quotes from the morning:

"...they learn to dance and fence. I'm obsessed with this."

"We've noticed."

"Well, it's the tights, you see. It's always the tights."

"He's prostituted his talent. We all know this."

"...so, you're not pitchforking your straw, or whatever you do...spearing...there are agricultural instruments, that's all I know."

"I was once attacked by a cow in Denmark, they're dangerous. They need watching."

She's wonderful. True story.

Did some stuff in the library, then met with Prof. History again. I had a couple of basic, basic questions about my practice essay which turned into a realization that I have so much work I still need to do (thank God it's unassessed). Then we discussed my ideas for a dissertation topic. I had three ideas, and she thought they were all solid, but the one I've been thinking about for awhile was the one she said had real potential to be "fascinating" and I'm really pumped to do it. So! That's awesome.

Less awesome is that she's only here for the term.

Was going to end here, but oh my goodness DUTCH POLEMIC. The presentation, from what I got from it, was really interesting—about how pamphlets discussing the political situation in the Netherlands during the 1620's influenced the way Englishmen saw their government—but oh gosh, I was so tired and academia loved polysyllabic words and there was a lot I missed. But the mystery of the Dutch Polemic has been explored.

Presenting and Puzzles

There is never going to be Wednesday morning wherein I do not bitch about having to trek into Birmingham. It's just not going to happen. Setting that alarm, trundling to the station, shivering on the platform...these require complaining. That's just how it's going to be.

That said, I'm actually really glad I have to do it. I like that I'm somewhat forcibly reminded that I belong to a larger campus, that I get to hang out in the main library or explore the student union. That I know where to buy hoodies, or where to buy lunch, or that the campus players are putting on Henry V. And for someone who didn't have a real undergraduate campus, I get a real kick out of having one now, even if it's only a day a week.

Class this morning was really the first time we got hardcore into substance...a little too much, since we came close to running over. Prof. History called on us each to present, informally, to the class and then there was a little back and forth on what we had found and then on to the next.

Extemporaneous speaking makes me incredibly nervous, so while I was waiting to be called on I quickly jotted down a skeleton review of what I had read to make sure I didn't leave anything out or get my various readings confused. My notes wound up being something like this:

• Impulse (opening of ideas, aspirations, relationships, magnificence)
• Goods (domestic production, arguments against, volume vs. type, naturalization, porcelain)
• Methods (Exchanges, agents, women, vice, The French Garden)

At one point, while talking about how the import-export business allowed for a naturalization of goods, I referred to the English as "we" and then checked myself out loud–

"What am I saying? I'm not English."

"Oh, but you will be!"

"Stop threatening the Americans!"

Less than a month in, and it's begun.

On the way to reception after the CREMS lecture, Prof. History made a point to tell me she had really liked my presentation, which made me really happy. I mean, it doesn't count for anything or anything like that, but I really want to do well here and I found it very encouraging and motivating to do well on my practice essay.

CREMS itself was on anagrams. The lecturer talked about the cyclical nature of importance placed on them (in the Renaissance, they were taken seriously, but in the Victorian era, they were more just word games; that sort of thing) and then spent a lot of time talking about how they were (are) used in the authorship question. Edwin Durning-Lawrence's "mechanical proof," if you didn't know, is kind of wonderfully ludicrous.* Also, he (the lecturer) wants to write a musical based on Riverbank Laboratories, which sounds like a fascinating place.

Came home from an exciting day of intellectual endeavor, and saw this as a friend's status:

One reason my new school is cool--history of Shakespeare criticism professor didn't have access to his usual facsimiles of Pope's 1725 edition of Shakespeare, so he passed around the real thing.

Have I mentioned I love it here?

And, finally, super awesome mail shout-out to Dad and KO! Thanks for your notes, and I'll try to write back soon!

*I was unable to find a link to a summary of his theory, unfortunately, and it's too complex to remember...suffice it to say, it involved a lot of hilarious math

Classes: Day Two

Rundown of Wednesday:

Social and Cultural History of Renaissance England: Unlike Shakespeare, the Playwright and his Drama, this course will be taught by only one professor* throughout the autumn term, so we got a much clearer overall picture. Each week covers a different area of English early modern history and in the handbook** we were given a reading list and essay question pertaining to the topic in question. The reading list is divided up amongst the students so that we can then pool our varied learning through discussion (instead of through individual presentations) and the essay questions are what we can choose to do our practice (2,000 word) and first term (4,000 word) papers on. Our professor's area of expertise is court life, and she's just finishing up a book on the Earl of Essex which is....unbelievably thrilling to me.*** We went around the room and talked a bit about our backgrounds and such. I felt a little embarrassed admitting I hadn't done an undergraduate dissertation, but it was important to get out there and I don't think will be too much of a hindrance.

Centre for Reformation and Early Modern Studies (CREMS) Lecture: The optional, yet highly encouraged, part of the program. Tonight's was ‘Old Robert’s Girdle: Visual and Material Props for Protestant Piety in Post-Reformation England,’ presented by the head of MASSCHRE. It was very interesting, all about how people used objects in their household to reinforce and display piety after the reformation and how that gets reconciled with anti-imagery feelings related to Catholic iconography. Also, it came with wine, because that's how we do everything, here. I plan on going to them all, so the Dutch Polemic lives on.

Wednesday is the day I'm at the Birmingham campus, which I will go into in more detail in another post (most likely sometime next week). For now, though, I'm going to leave it short and sweet and get on with the first of my reading assignments.

Fact: I'm kind of giddy about having reading again. Walking around campus today was exhilarating....I just really, truly love being back at school.

Love to you all!

*It seems they are, in fact, called "tutors." Screw it, I'm American. They are "professors" on this blog....unless I forget.

**syllabus

***"One American accused me of [being in love with the Earl of Essex] and that's not true. He's an idiot."- Prof. History. She's fantastic.

Classes: Day One

And we begin! I sketched out my programme in the last post, but here is my actual academic schedule:

• Tuesday: Materials and Critical Methods for Research (am); Shakespeare, the Playwright and His Drama (pm)
• Wednesday: Social and Cultural History of Renaissance England (am), CREMS* Lecture (pm)
• Thursday: Weekly Seminar (early pm), Play Reading (evening)
• Friday-Monday: Weekend/Working time

Impressions of today's classes...

Materials and Critical Methods for Research: As far as I can tell, this class only lasts five weeks. It's taught with students from MA: Shakespeare Studies and PhD Integrated Studies, which I'm psyched about because it puts me in contact with students outside of my tiny programme. This is, most definitely, a "medicine" course—something you don't want to do but will be really, really good for you in the end. I'm actually incredibly grateful we have it because I think it's going to be an excellent resource, and I feel my skills could use polishing, it's just hard to get really excited about a class entirely based on research methods. We were given a "library treasure hunt" due in two weeks and then will have another paper based, from what I understand, less on content and more on the methods used.

Shakespeare the Playwright and His Drama: This course is team taught by a number of professors, so it was hard to get a true sense of how it's going to work, week by week. The autumn term will examine Shakespeare's life and career, the second half will look at his plays proper (though we end with a case study of Thomas More). We were given the eight questions we can write on for our 4,000 word paper and then discussed some basic here's-what-you-need-to-know-when-writing type things. I'm impatient to get to the plays themselves, but the weekly topic list looks awesome, so I guess I can wait!

Been having some moments of doubt about my programme this week, mostly because I'm interested in EVERYTHING and Shakespeare Studies has a much broader focus, but I'm feeling good about it again after seeing the topic lists for the courses**. This is all the stuff I haven't explored before, at all, in an academic setting, whereas I think the Shakespeare Studies course would have a little more retread. Not that I wouldn't learn loads, it's just exciting to be doing something totally new.

And I have had a few moments of self-doubt, I admit. Not a lot! It's just so much. But I keep reminding myself, people do this. People do this everyday and, in the immortal words of Lina Lamont, "I ain't people***."

Finally, on that note, one of my professors said something in class that I've been repeating to myself and finding a lot of comfort in. I will leave you with her words, because, while versions of this have been said to many people many times before, I think it can apply to a lot of us (wherever we are, whatever we're doing) and bears repeating:

"You wouldn't be here if you weren't willing to do the work, able to do the work and offering an opinion worth hearing."

Amen.

*Tragic news for fans of Dutch Pamphlet Polemic! The lectures I published awhile back are not, in fact, the names of the classes I will be taking. Rather, they are supplemental lectures we are encouraged to go to. Can't say I'm not breathing a sigh of relief on that one.

**History was also sent out, but I will address it tomorrow.

***I am totally people. But in cases of banishing self-doubt, ego inflating is allowed. Nay, required.

Shakespeare Summer Camp

Leading up to coming over here, I would give people a sketch of my course and then summarize the whole experience by saying "It's kind of like Shakespeare summer camp, but for a year and with more wine."

You know what? Excepting I neglected the fact I will be writing more than I ever have in my life up until this point (COMBINED), I was 100% right.

The past few days have seen a number of meeting-new-people opportunities. There was the aforementioned footie on Friday, and then yesterday there was an informal introductory event hosted by seasoned Institute students at the Pub across the street. This morning we had the official Institute welcome, where the...conveners? tutors? professors? (we would call them professors, but I'm not sure that's appropriate, here) were all introduced and said a few words. They also went over the activities offered at the Institute, including the play reading series on Thursday nights, which is just for fun but "has academic designs promoted by stealth and fueled by alcohol."

We had a break before meeting individually to go over what the year would be like. MASSCHRE, I was warned by Chi.Roomie, tends towards a very small programme. Last year, it seems, they only had four people, so I wasn't sure what to expect when it was time for my meeting. This year, we have nearly doubled! We have SEVEN people. Coming from NYU, with 400 people in one of my freshmen year lectures, this is just crazy talk. Also, four of the seven are...well, quite a bit older than I am. My parents' age, at least. A very new schooling experience! Out of the seven, though, only two of us are full-time (myself and a guy from Seattle), though one of the part-timers is on her second year and so will be doing the dissertation at the end.

So! What am I doing this year? I am taking two subject courses, both lasting through the end of the spring term (one on Shakespeare's plays, one of the Social and Cultural History of England during the time), a research course and a paleography course. The two subject courses will each have two 4,000 word papers due, in addition to an ungraded 2,000 paper in the plays course (I think it's the plays course) as an opportunity to get feedback before we do the graded ones. The research and paleography courses also have a paper a piece and there is a 4,000 bibliography paper due before summer to serve as a research guide for our 12,000 word dissertation. You know what that is? An effing lot of writing, that's what.

But I'm really excited! I think I can handle it. All of that writing. And the presentations. And the graduate conference in the spring. And...yeah, I got this. Absolutely got this.

Katharine Clifton: Will we be alright?
Almásy: Yes. Yes, absolutely.
Katharine Clifton: "Yes" is a comfort. "Absolutely" is not.

Hmmm...

Remainders

• During the break, I ran a few errands and rewarded myself by indulging in a panini from my favorite coffee chain. It had meat and I ate the whole thing and it was heavenly and I felt so utterly indulgent.
• Had a dream that was structured like a crossover episode between 'Alias' and 'The West Wing.' Bizarre.
• Made an omelet! No one died!
• SI reimburses travel for MASSCHRE students between Strats and Bham. You know why? Because they are MAGICAL.

(Picture of the Institute from the garden, taken during my trip here in 2009...but it looks the same!)

The Leaving Process

After spending a cozy night in Bmore with a rooftop, a hefty supply of wine and my two best friends from high school, Saturday saw my official send-off party. Something like 20 of my nearest and dearest made it out to Dupont for consumption of what seemed the Mid-Atlantic's entire alcohol supply, including my best friend from college who came down from New York and a dear friend in from Cville. It was, absolutely, the best goodbye see you later party I could have asked for and I'm so lucky to have these kids in my life.

Which brings us to packing.

You know what's terrible?

Packing.

Every inch of my queen bed, most of my couch and large swaths of floor are covered in a checkerboard of jackets, shoes, books, towels, pants, tights, bras, kitchen supplies and miscellany which I eventually have to whittle down into 23kg of Only the Most Vital. I have commitment issues.

This is not going to end well.

Part of the problem is knowing my budget is so ridiculously tight, I am reluctant to leave behind anything I would then have to buy in the UK, such as shampoo, toothpaste, notebooks or pens. I will need these things! But they take up space. And I haven't even made my Target run, yet! Where will the boxes of mac and cheese go?!

Focus is required.

Finally for this, the briefest of pre-departure updates, a tentative timeline was sent out for SI's first two weeks. I am pumped! I am ready! I am....concerned that my programme gets abbreviated to MA SSCHRE. Surely its resemblance to "massacre" is just a coincidence....

...right?

(Picture from a metro ride I took last week. I promise there will be more interesting visual components to this blog at some point. Sadly, I was having too good a time on Saturday to document the going away shenanery, and I can't imagine you want a picture of the packing process, so for now, this will have to do.)