Land of the Free?
Through the years I have learnt what it feels like to be mistaken for an Arab, a Frenchman, an Israeli, a Brazilian and a Spaniard. I have been greeted by countless warm introductions in languages which I will never understand and born witness to as many shocked faces at hearing an American accent escape my lips. I have been half-Mexican, half-German and a suspected Israeli spy; a humble student, an honoured guest, a weary vagrant, a desperate hitchhiker and an invisible beggar. At an early age I learnt what it means to be 'American' to the rest of the world. Yes, I've also been the one whose tax dollars 'pay for the bullets that kill my children,' and 'the bastard who robbed us of our water,' but more recently I've watched individuals shocked from one stereotype of dark-skinned foreigner into another of 'bloody American'....
Features: In the Summer-Time...
Food is an integral part of any summer. Wimbledon wouldn't be the same without strawberries and cream; a trip to the coast wouldn't feel quite right if one was to dabble in the sea without ice cream; a barbeque just couldn't exist without chicken, sausages and mountains of salad; reading under a tree would seem incomplete without a stash of fruit to keep the hunger monster at bay. Summer foods are lighter, fresher and make you feel better - especially when compared with stodgy winter warmers and comfort food, which provide an insulating layer both physically and metaphorically from the harsh realities of winter....
Features: Venice, Vidi, Vici
Two things strike you on arriving in Venice: firstly, how delightfully charming the network of canals are, with their emerald green water and warrens of narrow, winding streets; secondly, how impatient and indifferent the Venetians seem to be to your presence. That said, all it takes is the enchantment of a pre-dawn walk around the quiet streets of the city and a peaceful sunrise at St Mark's Square, to realise why Venetians have a love-hate relationship with the camera-touting tourists they depend on for their livelihood. ...
Features: Beyond werewolves and witches
At the end of May, a collection of 350 academics from around the world gathered in Nashville to present papers and discuss social issues, mythology and religion in...Buffy the Vampire Slayer. While many viewers dismissed the now-departed TV show as merely a blonde Californian teen and her friends going through the usual teen angst against a backdrop of monsters and fighting, academics and scholars embraced the show. It is seen as a work of cultural importance which encompasses a range of meaningful subtexts - a love-affair which continues even after the end of the "Buffyverse". They are not alone in their intellectual fandom of a cult television show: from Star Trek to Alias to Xena: Warrior Princess, certain American series have attracted a loyal base of academic support, the result being reams of papers and seminars on a wide range of literary and cultural topics....
Features: What you know, or who you know?
This week sees the official launch of one of Oxford's newest student societies. Oxford Women in Politics will begin its first initiative on Thursday, with the creation of a wide-ranging network for female students, faculty and alumni in the political and policy worlds.
