How to Talk to Ghosts
The road narrows between two hedgerows and, as the cab slows, a red-brick manor house comes into view. I have arrived at Arthur Findlay College, the UK’s premier educational institution for psychic mediums, to attend the college’s annual Open Week. I am met at reception by Minister Steven Upton
The Aesthetics of Nostalgia
A man in a voluminous fur coat riding a child’s scooter rolls towards the camera in slow motion. Behind him, a crowd of people decked out in hipster kitsch follow on bicycles, rollerblades, and rolling office chairs. This is the opening shot of the music video for ‘Thrift Shop’, Macklemore &am
Keeping House
Left alone in my mother’s house, I clean: clear dishes, fill the washer, measure soap. Its humming fills the kitchen and I hunt for silver polish to clean now-tarnished spoons that someone gave her on her wedding day. There’s so much to do but not enough to make me stop (thinking of you) aaaaaaa
“Go Home and Sit Still”: WWI and women’s colleges at Oxford
During the First World War, enrolment at Oxford plummeted. In 1914 Oriel had been home to 133 undergraduates; in 1917, only ten remained. Over the course of the war, 14,561 members of Oxford University enlisted and by 1918 approximately 20 per cent of those men were dead. As the town grew into a cen
