Icon of the Week: Tudor Pret
The Oxonian’s life is a tumultuous one. It can be easy to feel overwhelmed by the constant onslaught of society meetings, sports, and social events that we all spend our days frittering to and from. If we’re lucky, we might manage to spend the occasional hour or two actually doing our degrees. I
Brewing communities: inside Oxford’s café culture
At Jericho Coffee Traders, postcards from customers cover the wall behind the cash, and graduates have their photos taken in front of the café. There’s even a regular who gets behind the counter and starts working when the line gets too long. At The Missing Bean, a professor gets a
“Never Go Back”: An Ode to Returning
Sat in my stuffy English classroom, with its chipped yellow wallpaper and alarmingly stained carpets, I read Carol Ann Duffy’s poem ‘Never Go Back’ for the first time. The name might ring a bell—most of us remember the onion metaphor, perhaps not so fondly, but there’s more to it than just
The kindness tax
A customer recently asked me why the pint I had served him cost 10 quid. He leaned over the counter where I studied the freshly poured drink (head overlarge, incriminating tracts of lager streaming down the sides). A fiver because it’s alcohol. Another two pounds because it’s a pub in the
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: Siyun Sun
‘City of Angels’ Digital, 84.1×118.9 cm I always need to learn, produce, and do something more meaningful than everyday living. I desire the object petit a, the thing I will never reach but forever wander around it. This void I desperately want is only reflected in ordi
Firsts
The first draft is almost always completely scrapped, reworded, reworked, refined, crumpled, torn up, and tossed away. The first pancake never turns out quite right–– does the first child? Everyone remembers their firsts: first steps, first kiss, first love, the first man on the moon. N
Makes me feel fine
A search for out-of-print children’s choral covers of pop songs on the internet, and for the spirit of childhood, if such a thing can be said to exist. I’m starting with a bona fide child I know in person. A few weeks ago, I stayed a night at my [&hellip
ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: William Schwabach
‘Film from Sarajevo’ Ilford 100 ISO B&W 35mm film The result of a trip to Sarajevo. I really enjoyed simply wandering around the city. The architecture was fascinating, and although one might get a desolate impression from my photos, the town
American Decadence
Every time I open the fridge at my grandmother’s house, two Country Crock margarine tubs occupy the middle shelf. One of the familiar taupe containers holds margarine, while the other no longer does; instead, it is filled with chicken curry, a staple in my grandmother’s household. Within