Busy week!
Tuesday night I went to see "The Pitman Painters", a play based on a true story, in which miners enroll in an art course and begin painting pictures, only to confront the issues of class that lie embedded in the institution of ART. I enjoyed the play: it was mercifully short and the dialogue was witty. All in all a lovely performance.
Most of my week was consumed with writing my first PAPER for my four-credit black culture course. To give you an idea, I titled it: "The Black Death: Racial Politics of Disease". Basically, I wanted to explore the ways in which racism is perpetuated within the context of modern medicine. This was prompted by a classroom discussion in which myself and an Oberlin student argued about blood donation. In the U.S. (not sure about the U.K.), men who have sex with men aren't allowed to donate blood, and neither are people from Africa or people who have had sex with someone from Africa. I understand that statistically it makes sense, especially in the context of HIV/AIDS, but they check all the blood anyway before it gets used in transfusions. I'll give you a verbatim quote from this particular discussion, courtesy of this Oberlin ignoramus: "Whose blood would you want, a white person's or a black person's?" What?!?!?! WHAT?!?!?! I seriously couldn't believe my ears. Fortunately, another professor told me today that my academic advisor (and the professor of this black culture course) commented on the debate and basically said that I did a good job using facts and information, whereas this Oberlin dude just got really emotional. I think he fell for the trap I set when I said, "Statistics aren't real: they're completely fabricated." Ha.
Anywho, I also visited the Tate Modern this week! SUUUUPER cool stuff in there. I really enjoyed the Picasso's, and I saw Monet's "Waterlillies" and a Rothko. It's kind of a haul to get there, but I'm sure I'll be going back a few more times this semester. Last night, I went out on the town with some true-blue Brits I met a couple weekends ago. They're older and they all have jobs and stuff, but it was cool to hang out with authentic brits. We went to a dance club called "The Roxy", which played great music. Of course, this was a Wednesday night, so I felt it a little this morning, having to be in class at 8:45am... oh well. You're only young once!
Today was packed full of classes, but my friend Claire (from Oberlin) and I went to get PIZZA after history class. We went to a place called Pizza Express, and it was surprisingly upscale. We got a pizza with spinach, goat cheese, onions and balsamic vinegar and another with chicken, jalapeno and red peppers and chili oil. SO good. We cut the two pizzas in half and each had half of each variety. We were starving and definitely ate ALL the pizza.
Tomorrow, it's off to BRUGES for the weekend for my Renaissance art course. I feel kind of pretentious because I've been to Bruges already, so I won't be getting the look of wide-eyed wonder that I'm sure most everyone else will. It's a lovely city, though, and I'm looking forward to checking out all the amazing art!
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