Being back at work ain't so bad

Had a fantastic pre-advanced class this month. Great students, great lessons.

We did an extended reading project and read Chinua Achebe's 'Things Fall Apart' together. I read this almost two years ago when I was in Cambodia. It struck me then, and reading it again while analysing it's language and inferred meaning for discussion with a class made me appreciate even more how brilliantly constructed and written it is.



It brought up a huge wealth of material for discussion, including the natural cultural bias of language and the complexity of attached meaning and connotations.

From a student's essay,
"Okonkwo was traumatised by the experiences in his youth in his family and really obsessed by the fear of becoming like his father. That’s why he likes everything his father disliked and why he hates everything his father liked. He creates himself an identity in opposition to his father – as a complement to him. How present and powerful this construction of identity is, is shown in the sentence: “Whenever the thought of his father’s weakness and failure troubled him he expelled it by thinking about his own strength and success.” (p. 48) After his murder of the little boy Ikemefuna his reaction proves that this image of himself is only a construction but doesn’t reflect his real person – he would like to be hard, extremely strict and like a man or even better like a warrior, but he can’t. Although he never wants to show feelings and affection (except his anger), he has strong feelings and affections and he can’t always deny them. The reason why he despises feelings and affections is simple: to have and to show affection is something for women, it expresses weakness and – at the end – is part of the life of his father. And to feel affection and – even worse – to show them would be a sign of weakness and dangerous for him because of his fear of becoming more like his father. Maybe this fear of loosing control over himself makes him treat his wives and his children always with a heavy hand."

An Evening with Chinua Achebe (from the vaults of the American Library of Congress):



Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story


"There is no story that is not true. The world has no end, and what is good among one people is an abomination with others." - from Things Fall Apart

My Best Manliness

I finally got hold of the official wedding photos!








It was an absolutely lovely day and the environs were stunning. Surely, this must be the grandest wedding I will be allowed near.







According to the wedding website this is me;
"BEST MAN

Jonathan Spalton (Spol)

Spol has a bicycle and a guitar, which he is rarely seen without; they go together like tea, cake and cucumber sandwiches. As an ensemble, they have toured Japan and Cambodia, and crossed Canada (the wrong way). Seb and Spol went to high school together in Liverpool, where they were rock stars. When Seb asked him to be Best Man, we hoped he would come and stay with us for the days leading up to the wedding to do the housework, provide background music and entertain the cat. He excelled himself. According to Young's Suit Hire, Spol has improbable legs. "







MUCHLOVE to Seb & Hannah, the very lovely couple.