More pictures and a bit of academic rambling
Two more Norwich pictures (down at the bottom). Also, I went through my sketchbook since I've been messing about in there more lately.
Today I got a really positive e-mail from my Romanian contact. She seems to be really excited about the possibility of my working with her group this summer! I'm trying to clear up some details and I think I need to chat with Ralph one more time, but it's looking very likely. Cross your fingers for me.
I feel mildly disappointed and a little guilty as the prospect of India fades to the background, but they've not expressed much interest despite technically saying "okay". Also, I remember doing a paper in high school on Roma (gypsy, traveler) culture and being fascinated by it. Hopefully I'll get another chance to go work/volunteer in India.
I did find out from my mom that my great-aunt was very concerned about my going to Kolkata/Calcutta. It's not the safest place in the world and she didn't like the idea of my flying off there on my own. This hasn't influenced my decision at all. Mostly I found it sweet.
I also found out today that I might qualify for a UK Ancestry Visa since my nanny was born in the UK. Actually, despite the many years she lived in the US, she never became a US citizen. This visa would supposedly give me five years to live and work here. I would have to come up with my dad's and my nanny's birth certificates and there's some kind of weird note about my not being in the UK when I apply, but it seems worth looking into.
I started reading a chapter tonight for one of my essays. I'm doing a paper that uses the concept of moral development to analyze a group of theatre projects on global citizenship. That's the idea at the moment anyway. It could morph again. The chapter I'm working on is pretty interesting and is comparing two viewpoints about moral development: cultural transmission theory and self-construction theory. There are a whole lot of other sub-divisions and categories, but I won't bore you all. Basically, it seems to be considering the balance of 'natural', universal moral development with culturally specific moral development. It's interesting because that ties in nicely to the concept of global citizenship. As far as I can tell, global citizenship depends on the idea that there is some sort of unifying moral principle that won't change across cultures.
My other paper looks like it'll be on the trickster/joker/fool/jester character in world theatre. I found a Native American play today based around Coyote and I have a couple Indian plays that should tie in. I also found a book called Fools Are Everywhere: The Court Jester Around the World. I'm tempted to see if there's any consideration of female tricksters/jokers/fools/jesters... but that may be stretching the analysis too far for a paper this size. It tends to be a male character from what I've seen. I might poke around a little, but shouldn't let myself get too distracted.
Our TfD session today was with a Kenyan theatre practitioner working in the Netherlands. He was fairly verbose and the room was stuffy so I kept getting sleepy. It was annoying because the topics he covered were pretty interesting. I got some valuable notes. It does start to seem, however, that everything keeps getting repeated. This may have something to do with the fact that several of the guest speakers (including this one) are graduates of the program.
On another note, our house is being cranky. The bathroom light is out upstairs and we all keep forgetting to get a new bulb. Downstairs, the kitchen drain has clogged, so we've gone to doing dishes in a tub that we dump outside. Nothing too bad, but I'm faintly relieved to be getting away for a few days.
Anyway, I should probably start moving towards bed. Tomorrow I catch a train down to stay with Kate for a few days and if I don't get some sleep, I'm likely to be rushing about in the morning trying to get my stuff together because I overslept.
Today I got a really positive e-mail from my Romanian contact. She seems to be really excited about the possibility of my working with her group this summer! I'm trying to clear up some details and I think I need to chat with Ralph one more time, but it's looking very likely. Cross your fingers for me.
I feel mildly disappointed and a little guilty as the prospect of India fades to the background, but they've not expressed much interest despite technically saying "okay". Also, I remember doing a paper in high school on Roma (gypsy, traveler) culture and being fascinated by it. Hopefully I'll get another chance to go work/volunteer in India.
I did find out from my mom that my great-aunt was very concerned about my going to Kolkata/Calcutta. It's not the safest place in the world and she didn't like the idea of my flying off there on my own. This hasn't influenced my decision at all. Mostly I found it sweet.
I also found out today that I might qualify for a UK Ancestry Visa since my nanny was born in the UK. Actually, despite the many years she lived in the US, she never became a US citizen. This visa would supposedly give me five years to live and work here. I would have to come up with my dad's and my nanny's birth certificates and there's some kind of weird note about my not being in the UK when I apply, but it seems worth looking into.
I started reading a chapter tonight for one of my essays. I'm doing a paper that uses the concept of moral development to analyze a group of theatre projects on global citizenship. That's the idea at the moment anyway. It could morph again. The chapter I'm working on is pretty interesting and is comparing two viewpoints about moral development: cultural transmission theory and self-construction theory. There are a whole lot of other sub-divisions and categories, but I won't bore you all. Basically, it seems to be considering the balance of 'natural', universal moral development with culturally specific moral development. It's interesting because that ties in nicely to the concept of global citizenship. As far as I can tell, global citizenship depends on the idea that there is some sort of unifying moral principle that won't change across cultures.
My other paper looks like it'll be on the trickster/joker/fool/jester character in world theatre. I found a Native American play today based around Coyote and I have a couple Indian plays that should tie in. I also found a book called Fools Are Everywhere: The Court Jester Around the World. I'm tempted to see if there's any consideration of female tricksters/jokers/fools/jesters... but that may be stretching the analysis too far for a paper this size. It tends to be a male character from what I've seen. I might poke around a little, but shouldn't let myself get too distracted.
Our TfD session today was with a Kenyan theatre practitioner working in the Netherlands. He was fairly verbose and the room was stuffy so I kept getting sleepy. It was annoying because the topics he covered were pretty interesting. I got some valuable notes. It does start to seem, however, that everything keeps getting repeated. This may have something to do with the fact that several of the guest speakers (including this one) are graduates of the program.
On another note, our house is being cranky. The bathroom light is out upstairs and we all keep forgetting to get a new bulb. Downstairs, the kitchen drain has clogged, so we've gone to doing dishes in a tub that we dump outside. Nothing too bad, but I'm faintly relieved to be getting away for a few days.
Anyway, I should probably start moving towards bed. Tomorrow I catch a train down to stay with Kate for a few days and if I don't get some sleep, I'm likely to be rushing about in the morning trying to get my stuff together because I overslept.