Phew...this first week of term has been a bit of a doozy. I had my first Plato tutorial, which was actually fascinating, and I'm scrambling to finish reading most of Shakespeare's early comedies (see title). I really like reading Shakespeare, and I guess I prefer it to the weeks this autumn when I had to read dozens of case studies and history books, but it's definitely hard to absorb so much of his work in so little time. Thankfully, I saw the Royal Shakespeare Company's production of Hamlet when my mom was here and I'm going back to the RSC to see A Midsummer Night's Dream next week; seeing the shows staged definitely helps me get a grasp on their overall tone and the finer plot points more easily than only reading them.
This has also become the week of 'looking for summer jobs'. There's a lot of interesting work for undergraduates out there at policy research and public interest advocacy bodies, but the application process is pretty daunting (as it is in most fields, I suppose). The plan of attack for the moment is just to cast as wide a net as possible and hope that I can get something nailed down soon before most of the better positions are taken. If you're a past supervisor/professor/co-worker of mine, secretly read this blog, and are dying to serve as a reference, shoot me a line. (I will be doing more than just posting that to find them though...the blog's traffic has been down since I, you know, stopped writing anything.)
Even though I need to be reading and writing a ton, I am taking some time off Friday evening to go to London for the night. Last term I let work take priority pretty much without exception, and I'm trying to shift to the mindset that this is my one time being free to explore Europe and I should make use of it. I'll let you all know how that plan goes after I hand in my paper next week!
Oh...almost forgot: OBAMA!! We watched the inauguration in the common room at Mansfield and I am incredibly optimistic based on what he had to say and these first couple of days in office. The mood in England isn't hard to discern; the whole world (minus parts of the Mid-East) seems to be in love with him. I don't think it's particularly hard to see why, although I'm hoping that now that he's done campaigning his official stance will shift back to supporting gay marriage. As it is the new White House website has an LGBT issues section stating his intentions to: a) support federal recognition of civil unions, b) oppose constitutional marriage amendments, and c) repeal Don't-Ask-Don't-Tell. That sounds like a good start to me.
I feel a little bit out of touch with people, especially with all of you guys at Brown. Send me a message on Facebook or Skype/AIM (both "jonahfab") so we can catch up.
Over and out.
