I finally booked my ticket and am so excited I can’t stand it! I fly out on June 27th. I am flying out of Ronald Reagan National Airport in Washington, DC then on to Heathrow Airport in London. I arrive the next day at 6:55 am. I am sure some of you that know me well are cringing, since I am kind of known for NOT being a morning person. J Hopefully, there’s a Starbucks close to customs in Heathrow Airport or somewhere close by. From there, I catch a bus to Gloucester Green in Oxford and we walk to the college from there. It is about a half a mile hike but I do that every day on campus just running to classes so no worries.
Let the packing begin!
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
The Latest News...
I finally got my laptop back and it runs better than ever. They had to replace the fans and the heat-sink fan. I start summer school Monday for 5 weeks, then head to the UK the end of June so I guess it is better that it happened now, rather than later. I want to thank my latest donor for the $100 he sent me. I am very grateful for all the help I have gotten so far. I still need to raise close to $2000 in a month so any help I get toward that goal is very much appreciated.
I found out the Shakespearean plays we will be studying at Oxford. They are The Winter’s Tale, King Lear, and Titus Andronicus. I intend to read these before I get over there. I got an email from Professor Barnhardt (our NCSU professor that is occupying us on the trip, that said, “Rather than a fourth whole play, we will look at a selection of various scenes from the English histories. I don't think the students need to look at any of them in advance, but it would be helpful if they could have some idea of how the kings link together (from Richard II through to Henry VIII). Think about: What makes a good king? Is a good king a virtuous one? Can it be right to depose a king? (Or, why might it not be?) What role do women play in the making and breaking of kings? Why might Shakespeare, writing in the 1590s have returned so often to the events of the 15th and early 16th century? Are these concerns about kingship and the religious status of kingship wholly irrelevant to us now or do they have connections to modern political questions?”
Prof. Barhardt also said we also need a passing knowledge of the Plantagenets in the 1100s (who used Oxford as their royal city; indeed, we’ll be hiking all over their deer parks and hunting lands) up through the Tudors in the 1500s. We will have Dr. Christine Kelly, historian, recreate the English Civil War (1600s) for us, which was all over our corner of Oxford, and we’ll go to St. John’s College and other places where the royalty held up when they had to get out of London.
If anyone has any input on these topics, feel free to leave a comment or email me at shelli_may@hotmail.com.
I found out the Shakespearean plays we will be studying at Oxford. They are The Winter’s Tale, King Lear, and Titus Andronicus. I intend to read these before I get over there. I got an email from Professor Barnhardt (our NCSU professor that is occupying us on the trip, that said, “Rather than a fourth whole play, we will look at a selection of various scenes from the English histories. I don't think the students need to look at any of them in advance, but it would be helpful if they could have some idea of how the kings link together (from Richard II through to Henry VIII). Think about: What makes a good king? Is a good king a virtuous one? Can it be right to depose a king? (Or, why might it not be?) What role do women play in the making and breaking of kings? Why might Shakespeare, writing in the 1590s have returned so often to the events of the 15th and early 16th century? Are these concerns about kingship and the religious status of kingship wholly irrelevant to us now or do they have connections to modern political questions?”
Prof. Barhardt also said we also need a passing knowledge of the Plantagenets in the 1100s (who used Oxford as their royal city; indeed, we’ll be hiking all over their deer parks and hunting lands) up through the Tudors in the 1500s. We will have Dr. Christine Kelly, historian, recreate the English Civil War (1600s) for us, which was all over our corner of Oxford, and we’ll go to St. John’s College and other places where the royalty held up when they had to get out of London.
If anyone has any input on these topics, feel free to leave a comment or email me at shelli_may@hotmail.com.
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