Summer 2011 at Cambridge University: Week 3 highlights

My apologies for getting so behind on the blog posts! A term paper on Rosslyn Chapel slowed things up quite a bit. Here are the major non-academic highlights of last week:

1) Lecture by Lal Khan, a "political activist and Trotskyite political theorist!" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lal_Khan) Crazy to hear a real live Marxist revolutionary talk about current events. He characterized the Arab Spring as the beginning of the socialist revolution in the Middle East, and the war on terror as a construct of capitalist countries that is gradually destroying them from within. He was a very smart guy, and being as liberal as I am I really wanted to believe what he was saying, but I just couldn't take him seriously when he used words like "proletariat" and "socialist revolution" in perfect seriousness. He was also unable to answer intelligent (and typical) questions from the audience, such as "what happens after the socialist revolution?" and my question, "if trickle-down economics and Keynesian economics are ideological theories, then why is a planned economy any more objective or less ideological?"It's too bad that Marxist theorists haven't developed the theory more to address these issues.
2) A Midsummer Night's Dream in the St John's College courtyard. Fantastic!!! The setting was gorgeous (see pictures below), the weather was tolerable, and the actors were excellent and highly entertaining. It was actually by far the lewdest production of a Shakespearean comedy I have ever seen...those of you familiar with the play can probably guess which parts were played up the most! Anyway, I will definitely be attending more of these before I head back to Yale...they happen frequently in the college courtyard over the summer :)
3) Plenary lecture by Professor John Hawkins on "Language and the Law" - in other words, how lawsuits in the US frequently arise over disagreements about language and about the meanings of everyday words, phrases, and sentences (particularly libel and patent cases). He was a very dynamic lecturer and I learned a lot - for example, the word "substantially" has two entirely different meanings which can lead to enormous confusion (and lawyers use phrases like "the wrench-engaging surface is substantially entirely below..." in an effort to clarify the issue, only confusing it further...). So now I have a newfound interest in linguistics!
4) Unexpected fireworks on the King's College backs. The most spectacular show I have ever seen, in fact, and certainly the closest I have ever been! The fireworks were huge, and the show went on for at least 20 minutes. Apparently, although you cannot walk on the grass here, you can shower it with burning embers and shrapnel...!

Pictures! http://www.flickr.com/photos/donnahorning/sets/72157627131235591/