The week in review

No matter how well planned, first weeks are always, well, discombobulating. I always expect to be very well-organized (what with my lists and all), but somehow never manage it. Along with launching courses (15 internships to supervise and visit field sites and meet as a class bi-weekly [new to me], 13 independent studies, two classroom-based courses upper division courses) I'm trying to backfill the program calendar with extra activities students might enjoy. Everyone signed up for "new" events-- Wicked Wednesday night and a day trip to Oxford on March 19. Students pay their first visit to Stratford Villas (where I'm living) for breakfast next Saturday, followed by a guided walk through Bloomsbury, starting at Newton's statue at the British Library. I hope it isn't too cold and rainy (an only slightly hopeless hope in January)

Last week I saw a so-so ballet (Giselle, technically lovely, but danced precisely and almost without emotion); the theatre (Coliseum)compensated in its beauty. I also saw
an Edinburgh Fringe Festival award-winning two-hander (Midsummer [a play with songs], very good indeed) at the MUCH more prosaic SOHO theatre, and saw the awesomely funny Pajama Men there, too. One review described Pajama Men as "Monty Python on LSD"...if you're inspired to check out a performance that made me laugh so hard and long that my face hurt the next day, look 'em up at their website or YouTube and figure out how to get to one of their performances. Yes, they WERE that good.

Coming back from grocery shopping yesterday, I passed a school with an interesting sign:

The Cavendish School. Est. 1875
An Independent school for girls aged 3 to 11 years
and sibling boys aged 3 to 7
HeadTeacher: Mrs. T.R. Dunbar B.Sc(Hons) PGCE NPQH

Hmmm. I wonder at the gender/age composition (perhaps after age 7 boys are expected to get hair cuts and wear trousers?) and the meaning of all the letters after Mrs. Dunbar's name. And will any sibling relationships do, or must it be a sister between ages of 3 and 11?

I've just glimpsed the sun, signalling the potential for a good trudge around Camden Town to figure out what's in the 'hood. Regent's Park is not too far, nor is Primrose Hill, so I'll see where my feet take me.