Today was my last day auditing a seminar at University of London SOAS... A food forum. I didn't really participate in the class... that's kind of the deal with auditing... But I only missed one class (when I had the plague) and I would sit and feel the crackling energy of the group and try to harness it into my book project. I'd write frantically the whole time.
That lasted almost my whole time here...and now it's over. The grad students will now write and study for their exams. And I have given myself a week to see if I can get anything drafted as well.
My project has changed a *ton* this semester. I'm trying to keep primary authors and texts as much as I can. But I want a much more *global* focus now. It won't be global authors or texts, so it has to be global foods. All food items in the lit that aren't native to the US. No corn or squash or what have you... Rather non native, global foods that became very influential to the US. And got written about by some of the biggest authors... And why...
I always enjoyed the feeling at SOAS. Very uni... Kids in jeans and such. I would grab lunch in the student center from a woman who set up shop there selling Caribbean food. Or the Hare Krishnas outside. All veggie of course... One time I stopped on my way and had lunch in a converted public toilet... That was weird!! That kind of stuff I'm gonna miss!
Because that's over now... and I feel a bit misty nostalgic about it. Indeed I found myself wanting a souvenir of some kind. So would you believe they were out of almost everything? But they did have a student created global cookbook fundraiser. Not veggie...but still... done and done!
And here's a pic...
This evening I saw Happy Days...a Beckett play... with Juliet Stevenson (one off those British actors in absolutely everything). She is buried in sand the whole time and trying to convince herself that it's a *Happy Day* while getting buried further throughout the play... And it's just her and occasionally one other actor on the stage the whole time. So basically we watched her talk... And it was fabulous! And I swear the director made it so the ending was ambiguous enough to have a possible happy ending reading to it. Which is amazing in a Beckett play! (Of course it could also be read tragically... it's absurd like that!) I have to read the play now and see if that was his idea or the director's.
I'm glad to see a play with a woman lead when I can. There's not much. It might be worse than Hollywood movies per capita. So this was great!! Ditto people of color btw. Which is why I'm trying to see what I can with some inclusion!
That was last evening... Now I'm off to Margate. Beach town with some Dickens connections. Let's hope the weather cooperates!!
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