Welcome to the new subscribers who joined over the summer. We are starting the third year of A Delicate Bloom of Learning. In the first year of the newsletter, I used the letters that I sent to my mother as a source for describing my first year (1986) as a graduate student studying English at Oxford University. In the second year, I contrasted my experiences at Oxford with those of John Aubrey, who was a student at Trinity College, Oxford, in 1642 (beginning with Three Windows at Oxford).
This year, we will be following the Vlog of Ruby Granger, who is just starting her Master’s degree in English at Oxford, to see how much things have changed (or not) over the past 37 years.1 She is well organized, and I think that you will learn some useful things in her video (such as how to use ChatGPT to reformat a list, as well as an app to turn your photograph of a recipe into a PDF).
My preparation for Oxford is detailed in Turl Street, Not Exactly Diagon Alley. Because there was no internet, the course reading lists were published in a printed volume called the Examination Decrees and Regulations. I used the university’s pocket diary rather than designing my own product (as Ruby has done). One thing to remember is that I was at Keble and Ruby is at Jesus College, so we may see some college-specific differences.
Since I now live near Oxford, I can attend lectures or use the libraries, so those experiences will also be included in this year’s writing. I will follow the usual pattern of sending out a newsletter on Sunday of each week of Michaelmas term (8 weeks), then nothing during the break. Wow, I can’t believe I am here.
Thanks to Hurley Winkler. I found Ruby Granger in her Lonely Victories post Back-to-School Energy for Writers.
Wow! So many great explorations to look forward to.
Is that really Fish & Chips they are eating? Like the White Horse sign says, "There's always time for one more pint." Life should not be hurried......
Thats Great :) Crazy watching that video... its like another world to me... some of the teachers who taught me at my Boarding school...( as detailed in my boarding school stories )went to Oxford..
so... that means that I went.. basically and I'm a literary genius ;)