Stop The War

I took part in the anti-war demonstration today. It was very successful. Over 300 people took part. One chap in his mid 50s said it was the most successful demonstration he'd seen in all his time here, and he'd been at protests from Vietnam onward. It's encouraging to see so many people come out and make a stand against war in Iraq.

I've treading a fine line when it comes to war against Iraq. While I am dead set against war, I do believe the threat of war is all that's keeping Saddam on good behaviour. If Churchill and Roosevelt had been able to unequivocally tell Hitler that they would attack if he took even an inch of the Rhineland, then Hitler wouldn't have moved, and without his reoccupation of the Rhineland, he would have fallen out of power and his regime collapsed. It is, in a way, because of appeasement that World War II occurred. Bullies often only understand one thing, and that's power, which grows out of the barrel of a gun (as Chairman Mao was often fond of saying).

I believe the future of Iraq, Afghanistan and other countries that are oppressed under the thumb of authoritarianism lies in the enrichment and education of the people. Once that has been achieved, people will naturally want a bigger say in their own affairs. People who know only poverty and suffering are too focused on eking out a poor living to participate in a change of government, and are only able to wish for it.

When the Master was going to Wei, Ran Qui drove him. The Master said, "What a dense population!" Ran Qiu said, "When the people have multiplied, what should be done for them?" The Master said, "Enrich them." Ran Qiu said, "When one has enriched them, what next should be done for them?" The Master said, "Educate them." (Analects 13.9)

So as long as the threat of war guarantees Saddam's good behaviour, I'm all for it. But I hope we never come to war. Thousands have already died in Iraq; must more blood be shed?

Extreme Karaoke

The highlight of the evening must've been when half the men in the room got up and did a drunken, bawling, half screaming version of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. The women tried to counter with I Will Survive, but we had them beat by far. Best performance has to be a tie between Rich "choirboy" Morgan's rendition of My Way and Ashwin's dead ringer for Shaggy (He got the accent so perfectly, it was amazing!). I did my usual favourites: New York, New York, Great Balls of Fire, Mack The Knife, plus Sex Bomb, which, as I realised halfway through the first verse, I did not know how to sing apart from the chorus. Also a few duets: besides the aforementioned Bohemian Rhapsody, I took part in Summer Nights (Tell Me More! Tell Me More!), and Summer of '69. I even got on the floor and did some swing with Mindy when someone did a rock and roll song. She follows very well, as befits someone with her vast experience in dancing.

At one point we were in a conga line dancing to a disco song. One has to wonder what exactly were the contents of the mysterious fruit punch the bar was selling for a pound a cup.

Tell me readers, what is your favourite song to sing during Karaoke?

Thanksgiving

An excellent, if partial, account of the Thanksgiving celebrations can be found here at Hertford can be found at my favourite strawberry-blonde's blog.

My contribution of Hershey's chocolate, imported directly from Boston last weekend, went down very well, especially with Americans who were missing the Kisses and Twizzlers from home.

The after-dinner conversation was excellent as well. Rich took it upon himself to be the master of conversation and proceeded to expound his theories of sexual relations:

1) Attractive people are lousy in bed, because they have no incentive to be good.
2) Don't sleep with stupid people, because they are more likely to get pregnant because they are less able to properly use contraception and birth control.

There probably were more, but I've forgotten.

Also the group agreed that British women were much more confident of their own sexuality and of their bodies than American women, or for that matter women in many other parts of the world. We hypothesised that it was a partial influence of local culture and mass media, with a healthy open discussion of sexuality all over the media here as opposed to unhealthy portrayals of unrealistically beautiful women in American, combined with a puritanical repression of discussion.

While this was going on, Channel 5 on the TV was showing a show called, "Outback Stripper" which had naked women everywhere. It shocked the non-Brits, because it's not something you would see on broadcast TV in most places, even if it was already 11 p.m.

Tonight is Extreme Karaoke night at the Hertford Octagon. You just know I'm going to be there.

The Hugheys

I would like to tell you, at this time, about two of the nicest, sweetest, swellest people I've met here in Oxford. Despite all the scholars, academics, businessmen, and politicians I've met here, these two people stand out in my mind. Forgive me if I get one or two of the details wrong:

SHE is 28, strawberry-blonde, a full-time writer and a part time porter at the Bodleian Library. Born in Missouri, she grew up in Florida where she has a B.A. in journalism from Florida State University, an M.A. in English Education from the University of South Florida, an A.A. in Communications (from St. Petersburg College, and a B.S. in Media Performance (from FSU).

HE is 25, bespectacled, has brown hair and two BAs: in Anthropology from Florida State University and in History from the University of Southern Florida, is a fellow D&D gamer and is currently reading for a D.Phil in Medieval Archaeology from Oxford, because he wants to teach medieval archaeology and history.

They met when she was 19 and he was 16 (she thought he was older than he really was), fell in love, got married five years later, and will celebrate ten years together next year.

But despite them being two really smart, friendly people individually, what really strikes me about my friends (and I'm happy to be able to call them my friends) Andrew and Erin Hughey is that although they are so very different from each other, at the same time they are so perfect for each other, and every time I see them together they always seem to me to be so much in love. Just watching how they look and smile at each other, and are always aware of each other's presence is something that uplifts me. It is truly inspirational and magical to watch two people who have known each other so long and yet are still so completely and madly infatuated with each other, and it makes me happy simply to know that in this crazy, cynical world full of fear and terror, that love, pure love such as theirs exists and shines for the world to see.