Progress in Positano
You might claim that anti-intellectualism is on the rise. You wouldn’t be the first. The assertion that intellectualism—that is, a preference for, and emphasis on, reason and intellect—is under threat has been made many times. Let me give just one example, upon which the above statement is bas
Guillotine: You should keep your unplanned pregnancy and take it to Spoons
In Anglo-American culture, the figure of the mother is entirely inseparable from the image of the martyr. The Good Mother completes her divine Duty. The considerate Mother, who keeps herself indoors with the crying baby, sequesters herself from the world, martyrs herself for the cause of everyone el
Dr Faustus got me thinking
What does an Oxford student director want to hear from a critic? How does that differ from an Elizabethan playwright? As I sat in the Keble O’Riley on a rainy Wednesday night, I couldn’t help but notice how the Oxford dramatic scene is really a strange apparatus. There is a kind of Fausti
A Norwegian reviews Hedda Gabler
As a Norwegian, going to see an English production of an Ibsen play felt a bit like going to see Shakespeare performed in French. On my way to the Pilch to see Tiptoe Productions’ staging of Hedda Gabler (co-directed by Ollie Gillam and Gilon Fox), I could feel a sense of protective patriotism bub
Musings from a courtroom
They say that jurors fall into two camps; those who thrive from the start, and those who enjoy themselves eventually. There is, however, a third camp they don’t talk about. Those who don’t—and continue to not—want to be there. I fell into this third camp. A jury summons letter isn’t what m
Letter to the Editor: Part of the solution
To the Editor, How refreshing to be seen! Many-a-time I have been accused of performative reading. Occasionally, I carry a novel in my back-pocket. This seems to provoke especially vehement allegations of performativity…but isn’t that the point of a paperback? One day stands out in partic
TW: Genocide
In times of conflict, the images that reach us don’t just inform us, but play a vital role in deciding who, and what, the world chooses to remember. During the Vietnam War, widespread access to television sets brought the scenes of violence into American living rooms, eroding support for the c
Letter to the Editor: This scene kicks and screams
To the Editor, It’s around 8:30pm, and I’m backstage at the JdP music building at St Hilda’s. I’m sweaty, and I can barely walk in the tight dress I chose completely of my own volition. The second half of the concert is about to start, and as is typical of me, I’m not sure […
Guillotine: Give all children unrestricted internet access
In case you were wondering where half the world’s capital ran off to, two hot new AI innovations dropped: OpenAI’s Sora and Meta’s Vibes. They are both social media feeds. Sora’s gimmick is that you can now very easily make AI videos with real people in them. I first found out about it throu
