Performing Rights and Ice Cream

Time has gotten away from me a little. I have wanted to write, but just haven't been able to find the space and time to really sit down and think. So I don't know what kind of an update this will be. I've been working on a multitude of things this past week as there was a graduate student conference, theatre, marking and organising for Psi#12 next week.

The graduate student conference happens every year at Queen Mary (QM) and this year there were 7 of us. Two from Drama, the rest from English. We had two respondents and it took the full day. It was really nice to hear what other people have been working on and to see the different presentation styles that people use. The respondents were mostly helpful as well although people didn't really engage the implications of the theory that I was proposing...they were more interested in talking about the theorist herself - Hannah Arendt. Interestingly, I found out that there is a digital archive of all her work in Oldenburg, Germany, which is where I went to high school when I lived there. I might just have to spend day looking at the archive the next time I go there to visit!

Psi#12 is Performance Studies International: Peforming Rights. It is the largest theatre/performace studies conference in the world and this time its theme is Performing Rights. One of the keynote speakers is Irene Khan, Secretary General of Amnesty International. There will be over 500 delegates from all over the world. I have been working on PhD involvement so it hasn't been that hectic for me. But it is still enough to keep me busy with emails. I just booked catering for lunch for 60 people. A far cry from the events for 1000 people I used to do on Parliament Hill!

Tomorrow night I am going to see Titus Andronicus at the Globe. It is a nasty play with lots of blood and the reviews always mention the people who faint. People faint at the Globe every year, simply because if you pay 5 pounds you stand in the 'yard' in front of the stage and it can get a little hot and stuffy if all 1500 people show up to stand. I don't thint it really has much to do with the amount of blood on stage! But I'll let you know after I see it.

This Sunday at church there is a bbq in the afternoon to raise money for a kids club trip this summer. Then at church they are baptising 5 people - they use the really big pool and dunk people completely. Last time the heater didn't work so the water was quite cold... and then I am running the fair trade stall after the service. Too much to do!

The world cup of Football (Soccer) starts today and all of Europe has gone crazy. Almost every second car here has little St. George flags (this is the white flag with a red cross that forms the middle of the Union Jack) flying from the windows. And their best striker had a hurt foot, but he has just been cleared to play so everyone is over the moon about that!

I'm just thrilled the weather has picked up - It's 27 (80 F) today, and hazy. It is supposed to be about the same tomorrow but no clouds! Perfect ice cream weather.

Now I am going to read...really...

spiders on the ceiling and birds on the roof

I've thought of many things to write, but correcting student work is simply taking a long time. So eventually today I should get something written, just bear with me...


So hours later, I'm back. Occasionally in the house we find some lovely spiders. They seem to come in all shapes and sizes and don't play favourites; they'll visit anyone. Last night on my way to bed I happened to notice one crawling on the ceiling near the light. When I tried to get him with a book he fell onto the light fixture.
From there I chased him (I have decided that spiders are male...not that this makes any logical sense, but it is working for me right now.) with the book until he fell off to the floor. Then I bashed him with the book. It happened to be the library copy of The Cambridge Companion to Hannah Arendt. I had to bash him twice as it was the paperback version. I'm sure John, who has the room below me, was thrilled to hear that at 23.00. No more spiders tonight though!

The birds of the neighbourhood like to coo. Specifically they enjoy cooing either near, on or in the chimney that goes through the wall in my room. It's hard to tell if they are just chatting or actually having an important conversation. Unfortunately there is no way to tell them to shut up as I can't see the roof from my window. What I can see are all the rooves of the neighbours who live in the council housing. Those buildings are much shorter than this three storey Victorian house. And the rooves are flat so when it rains a lot of water accumulates - they were definitely not built for snow! The birds like splash about in the water and the cats like to walk around the water while showing their disaproval. The birds avoid the cats, the cats never manage to get the birds...as you can tell I get hours of entertainment from this. And of course from the people who live in these houses coming out to yell at the birds. The old couple across the way even shake their broom and mop at the birds occasionally. The most exciting thing was when a football (soccer) flew up and a young boy was suddenly walking around on the interconnected rooves. The birds really didn't know what to do with him!

More tea!

Why the link between action and work in relation to the liturgy is eluding me is not clear. I have been staring at the same paragraph for about 4 hours. 3 cups of tea, lunch, and some email have come in between me and the paragraph - I thought we needed some moments to ourselves...but to no avail. I can't seem to make the segue between the chapter I have been working on and this new theory section. It will all fit together eventually, but I need a bit of speed on this! And if I am not going to get any work done, I might as well be cleaning my room instead of staring at the screen. Or correcting student work. I got through 14 essays last night, mind you they were for second marking purposes. But it is over half of that pile. The other pile which is first marking takes a little longer...but at least all the students have seen fit to give me lots to rant about which is helpful. I like to feel that I can impart something to them - PAGE NUMBERS PLEASE!

On the other end of life, I did some laundry this morning. That is always a good feeling. And I booked tickets to see the Exonerated which is about people who were on death row in the US and were released after proving they were innocent. It is read by a large cast and will no doubt be a heavy evening of contemplating the inner workings of the justice system and how humans can continue to hope. So to contrast with that, I am planning on going to see the Da Vinci Code at some point next week. I've read the book and want to see how they have managed to interpret the story. I'm not expecting much, considering the book wasn't well written, but I do like all the high speed travel through Paris, London and the UK. It is so strange to watch parts of London go by and realise that I know where they are! Also, that they filmed the movie while I was living here...very strange.

The English weather is not dissapointing today - It has been rainy, sunny, spitting, cloudy, sunny, driving wind and rain, sunny, light breeze...and that was all before lunch. I am just glad I don't have to go anywhere. I managed to get out for a 30 minute walk this morning. But do not feel inclined to try my luck again. I will no doubt be drowned if I try to step out the door.

So back to the ideas of labour, work, action and the performance of the liturgy. Some day this will all be over and I won't have to think so hard...more tea!

Jacobean Drama and women in bras...

I never think of what is going on in my life as strange until I try to tell someone about it. This week, however, is classic. After the escapades I wrote about on the 18th, I tried to stay near to home and write. I did a lot of thinking on Friday, but not much writing. That evening I went to a play at the Barbican called "The Changeling" which was first performed in 1634. It is Jacobean drama and similar in language style at least to Shakespeare. This was not a play that I had read, but I had heard a lot about the company who were putting the play on - Cheek by Jowl.
http://www.barbican.org.uk/theatre/event-detail.asp?ID=3662
It was one of the most impressive stagings I have seen. The set was minimal, the costuming was simple but the lighting was incredibly effective and the acting was superb. It was a great piece of theatre. But the play itself is NASTY. Not the sort of thing you want to go to for fun. It is not cheerful, although there are moments of humour. Love, sex, betrayal, violence...people do come out of this one very well. The commentary on a women's virtue is also interesting. Under the guise of Christianity and purity, virginity is really just another way to validate men. Of course none of this is surprising...but the entirety of the way the play was performed was stunning. The images they created are vivid and impossible to forget. The tempo of the play was also impressive as this is a very wordy play, but the action drove ahead with a speed that was unrelenting. There was no chance to get bored. Really wonderful, horrifying stuff.

Saturday morning I went to a workshop that took place at church on Nuno felting. This is a textile technique where you take merino wool, place it in any way you choose on muslin, wet it all down with soap and water and rub it until the wool adheres to the muslin. There are more details involved than that, but the basic idea is very simple. There were about 14 women and we all came away with scarves. The woman leading the event suggested I put mine in the wash on gentle to finish it, but forgot to mention that it would shrink...luckily it is still wearable, but not quite as long as I thought it would be. I went with a simple pattern - cream wool on cream muslin with pieces of fabric that I cut out laid under the top layer of wool. I'll get a picture up if I can borrow a camera. It was fun and adictive! It is so nice to spend two hours doing something and come out with a finished product. And the range of beautiful textiles that people created were really impressive.


http://www.jmh.company.org.uk/pages/out-&-about-page/opera_house/opera_house.html
Saturday night I went to the ballet at the Royal Opera House. They were celebrating Dame Ninette de Valois who started the Royal Ballet and was responsible for the National Ballet of Canada, among others. So Canada sent over a new piece to be performed here. The male dancer in that piece was the brother of my roomate in fourth year university in Canada. I never met him, as he was always travelling or performing. Alex (the former roomate) lives in Paris right now, so she came over to see him and some other friends dropped in as well. It was a really interesting evening and I wore my new scarf...I managed to not tell everyone that I had made it that morning -- in fact, I didn't tell anyone! But it was fun to be able to wear it immediately.

On the way home, I opted to take the bus from Trafalgar Sq instead of taking the tube. I managed to pick the bus that crossed the route for the Playtex Moonwalk for Breast Cancer... mostly women walking 26.2 miles through London overnight while wearing decorated bras... Needless to say it took an extra half hour to get home and I got to see a wild variety of bras!
http://www.walkthewalk.org/

Today I wrote and corrected student work. Some of my students have such great ideas, and even when they don't understand the implications of some of what they write it is still exciting to see the links they do make. Others...I am going to have to report for plagiarism. Ouch. That is the downside, although at least with plagiarism I do not have to comment on the quality of the writing, whereas with bad writing I have to find a way to be encouraging!

For the moments when I relax my brain, I have been reading P.G. Wodehouse's books on Bertie Wooster and Jeeves. They are very funny and so different from what I am doing right now that they are a great diversion! I feel a chapter calling me now...

all over London and back again

A friend of mine needed a place to sleep last night. She was on her way from Lithuania to Calgary and cheap flights being what they are, she had 14 hours in London to kill, between midnight and 2pm. So, I arranged to doze on the couch at a friend's place near Victoria Station until she called to tell me that she had arrived on the bus from Stansted Airport. As the bus goes directly to Victoria Station, it was then simple to pick her up, and catch a bus back to Brixton. I anticiapted her calling sometime between 1:30-2:00. Just after 1 my cell rings and she announces she is at Liverpool Street Station. The bus driver, who knew she wanted to go to Victoria Station has made it sound as though this is the normal place to get off. So, we are now at opposite ends of town and there is no easy way to navigate night busses so that we will find each other. After deciding to risk a cab (how much can it cost when there is no trafic!), I wander out the door of my friend's house and head to the end of the street where they have said that the traditional Black Cab's wait. I see two drive by as I sprint downt the street...when I get there -- nothing.

However, within a minute a cab pulls up, but the light on top, indicating it is for hire, is turned off. The cabbie pulls up, turns off the engine, gets out and goes into the public toilet that is standing on the corner. While I am contemplating how long I should wait for the cabbie another cab pulls up and is nice enough to notice me waving my arm. Luckily there is very little traffic at this time of night and to my surprise, I know the streets the cab is taking to cross town! I normally only take busses or walk when I am not on the Tube as cabs can get quite expensive! Knowing that the streets of London are no longer impenetrable, I feel confident that this will all turn out in the end. I do love driving along the bank of the Thames at night in London. There are so many lights and well known sights that I always feel a little awed that I am really in London!

Barely 15 minutes later and I am jumping out of the cab - the driver did tell me that the public toilet at the end of Maunsel St is the only toilet available to cabbies at that time of night in London. So if you ever need a cab, that is the absolute best place to get yourself to! Back to jumping out the cab and doing a fairly good immitation of competitive walking (which is now an Olympic sport) to find Meaghan (yes, I have friends with my name...different spelling). Waiting on street corners in foreign cities is never one of my favourite things to do...especially when I haven't anticipated having to do so! Walking aound three sides of the building twice (the fourth side adjoins other buildings) did not produce the anticipated Meaghan. By this point, everyone who is waiting for busses, and the cabbies trying to convince someone to pay more for a ride think I am a little strange, when on my third trip around the main corner, I spot a figure looking at the bus map! With the traveller found, tired, but generally well, we head for the night bus to Brixton, which is just pulling up. 30 minutes later we are back at my house and eating toast.

After sleeping for a scant 5 hours we are back out the door, on our way to Victoria Station. A little bit of shopping for marmalade, tea and biscuits is followed by a traditional English 'fry up.' Breakfast felt well deserved after all the running around the night before, although that much grease is never good for the stomach! Just after 11 we got on the train to Gatwick (an impulsive decision on my part to take a train ride...but there just hadn't been enough time to talk!). Meaghan has recently bought a house in Edmonton (these people with real jobs!), so we looked at the house plans, paint chips, carpet and countertop colours...if only there was time or money to decorate anything on a PhD salary! Once at Gatwick we discovered that Zoom was checking in two flights to Canada and that everyone had turned up at the same time! But the line moved relatively quickly and within an hour I was watching security guards patting Meaghan down for sharp metal objects...ah international travel!

After all that, I am quite impressed that I managed to get any work done today at all!
(And the image is from Paris in January - view from near the Louvre, looking at the Left Back.)

writing and yet not

Although today was dedicated to writing, not much happened. I have mostly been thinking and trying to decide what to do with the ideas that I already have. A workshop is now in my mind for liturgical purposes. I think that churches need help to understand what the liturgy is, how to use it properly and how the structure of the liturgy is powerful. It was through talking to my mother that this idea finally christallised in my mind.

A friend is sleeping at my place this evening on her way from Lithuania to Calgary. I need to pick her up at the station at 2am...so I will have a long night! Off to home group now where dinner will be whatever I find at the store on the way there. Although I have made homemade banana bread.

Action

I think the reason that Hannah Arendt's political philosophy can be relevant to the study of liturgy is through her definitions of labour, work and action. Labour is not applicable, in this case, because it is based on necessity and religion, or the performance of the religious texts, are not (strictly speaking) necessary. People will live very well without ever engaging with such an activity. Work, on the other hand is part of what happens in the liturgy. Work is characterized by the idea of utility, it is used to make things, or order things. Work is used to create the objects which are used in the liturgy - decorations for the church, writing of the texts, composing the music, crafting the chalice and candles, etc. Work is also engaged in by people before they come to the service, in preparing themselves, mentally, spiritually, physically. Once in the space action takes over for the most part. The enactment of the liturgy is a series of actions which are mostly known, because they appear in the text that prescribes the liturgy. Yet, each beginning of an action is new and unique, and this is where, once again, Arendt's thoughts are relevant. Through action, humans reveal the unique 'who' of themselves. This means that each person has a unique way of being in the world which is shown through their actions. They usually are not aware of this identity as it can only be perceived by others. This unique way of acting means that each person contributes to the enactment of the liturgy in a way which is only visible to the others who are present. A group is needed to be aware of how the group is functioning. The group needs to pay attention to the contributions made and how they change what happens in each instance of the liturgy. The liturgy cannot function in a vaccuum where everything happens the same way each week, because it never does happen the same way each week. Added to this is the theological view that God, in all of his incarnations, is present and contributing to each enactment of the liturgy each week. So not only is every person present contributing, but so is the spiritual centre of the event. The liturgy needs to be formed through action which can never be anticipated, because action cannot be known before it happens. Its effects are far reaching and unpredictable.

Christmas Cake and Sappy Movies

It's all extremes this week - hot and hazy, complete inability to write, full deserts of christmas cake (the kind that keeps forever...) and luxurious vanilla ice cream with a spoonful of whiskey over the top, and ridiculous sappy movies (yes, I watched, 'You've Got Mail' for the second time). But as it is late and I need to finish a whole section of my chapter tomorrow I really can't go on about things that really aren't' making any sense. If only I felt that this was at all eloquent, but I know that I am too tired to really think about that.

I have freshly washed sheets, a P.G. Wodehouse book and a full glass of water. Sleep should go well!

washing on the line

I've managed to wash my sheets and get them hanging outside to dry. The weather people tell me that it is going to rain and be ten degrees colder by Monday so I am taking advantage of 25 and sunny. Although I was supposed to have really gotten work done today and I am just setting off to start typing now, at 13.40. A lovely food delivery arrived today though. Smoked haddock, smoked bacon and a box full of fresh organic fruits and veg. Last week I got two globe artichokes. I think I will be having them for supper tonight. I had never had smoked haddock on its own before this week. There is a restaurant on Mile End Road, called L'Oasis where they have a chef on all day. They only have 11 tables, but most seat at least 4 people. A lunch item was Smoked Haddock with Mash, spinach and a poached egg. I don't know what the chef put in the mash or in the slightly milky sauce that was on the plate, but it was one of the most enjoyable meals I have eaten. All the flavours went together so well. I finished it all, but I was stuffed! Barely managed a bowl of soup for supper. The menu had another dish that looked great, wild something sausages with mash (not potato) and some other side item...anyway, I will have to to back for that soon. I could ramble on about food all day, so now it is time to really work on my chapter!

Smell of Lilacs

I can't believe that just a few weeks ago I was sitting in Dubai writing postcards... In London just a few lilac blossoms are out on the bush two floors below my window, but it is enough to make the air smell sweet. For the first time this year I have dried my clothes on the outdoor line in the sun. The neighbourhood cats took great interest in the ritual of walking back and forth to the basket to get more clothes. The little taby watched from behind a chair in the bushes, but after 5 items decided to ignore me. If they would stop using the gravel in our little garden as a big litter box I might feel more friendly towards them...

Not much writing happened today, although I did a bit of thinking. Tomorrow it will happen. The only thing I really have to do is pay for a new travel card...replacing a lost student oyster card ended up costing me 55 pounds! I'll be complaining to someone - why the student has to get punished when they have no money to begin with is beyond me!

I made a really good cauliflower, potato and fish soup/chowder with soy milk. It tastes of home, although the soy does make for a slightly different texture. And I bought some truly luxurious hot chocolate mix with vanilla and chilli from a place near Liverpool Street Station! That will be my legacy to London - finding all the best places to get hot chocolate!

Rain, rain, rain, london...

It is absolutely pouring here, or as a favourite prof at Uni would have said, "Il pleut comme une vache qui pisse." Maybe not the most elegant, but accurate. After three false starts to spring and a drought in south east England, rain is falling. Old victorian roofs are not known for the soundproof design and the steady sound of rain is soothing as I try to get organised for the day. Hopefully not too soothing as falling asleep is not part of my plan...

I am hoping to use this blog as a way to get out my need to write when the PhD chapter just won't cooperate. Thoughts build up, as does the need to write, about anything really.

Until the next tea break...