Linacre Lines Magazine | Trinity 2023

LINACRE LINES A TERMLY MAGAZINE

TRINITY TERM • 2023 ©︎Ann Sun

©︎K A T H A R I N A S O P H I A U N G E R M A N N

IN THIS ISSUE 04 Foreword 05 Meet the Editors 07 "It's A Small World After All": Reconnecting with Linacre Alumna Professor Yuko Otsuka (D.Phil. ’00) 11

Coming to Fruition: Ripening Films

14

Too Many Blessings To Count: My Quarter Century of Living in the Borgou (Benin)

16

Supporting Locals in Mongolia

18

Margaret's Media Corner: Audiobook Recommendations

20 Exploring Oxford: Junior Research Fellows on Tour Poetry 23 I Believe in You 24 Hold That Thought 25 Reflections: Facing Forward

©︎ K E N Y O N E N O

©NICK CHOW

FOREWORD |SHANIEK PARKS

©︎Ann Sun

This edition of Linacre Lines is a love letter to Trinity. The last term has been synonymous with warmth, community, and joy. Memories of May Day, Summer Eights, picnics in Port Meadow, punting, summer balls, and actually being able to wear sandals should rush to your mind when reflecting on the past nine weeks.

These are the memories to treasure when we think of our time at Oxford.

In these pages, you will see Margaret’s audiobook recommendations for the season. I’m a romantic at heart, so Thank You for Listening will be my next read.

Also, take a moment to read about film classics and their links to seasonal fruits.

Yum! Naturally, we’ve decided to forget the gruelling weeks spent on essays, preparing for exams, and drafting theses. The weather was a gentle reprieve during a term "marked" (wink) by academic rigour. However, Trinity term represents the end of the official academic year. Our flatmates, housemates, and dinner partners will move on to new challenges and we will hear from a few of them in the coming pages. Many of us may not be sure what is next, but take heart when reading our alumna feature on Professor Yuko Otsuka. It’s never goodbye, but see you later.

Until then, let the good times roll. Catch up with our Junior Research Fellows and feel inspired by the phenomenal work that current Linacrites are doing in Mongolia and Benin. They remind us that we have the agency to chart our futures and impact the lives of people around us.

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MEET THE EDITORS Shaniek Parks | Editor-in-Chief D.Phil. Population Health Shaniek is an island girl who loves beach trips and visiting new places, with 27 countries under her belt. She’s at Oxford pursuing a D.Phil. in Population Health as a Vital Strategies Healthy Food Policy Fellow. Spring and summer are her favourite seasons.

You can catch Shaniek lying on a patch of grass at University Parks when the sun is out.

Hometown: Montego Bay, Jamaica

Ken Yoneno M.St. Linguistics, Philology, and Phonetics For his master’s at Oxford, Ken specialised in sociolinguistics and French linguistics. After six years in higher education, he is ready to move to London in July to start a full-time role working in the travel industry. When he's not tipsy, Ken is always on the hunt for the best Riesling bottle.

Hometowns: Manila, Philippines & Tokyo, Japan 0 5

Margaret Cunliffe M.Sc. Social Science of the Internet Margaret is currently working on her M.Sc. thesis project, which looks at stakeholder influence on the development of risk assessment algorithms in American prisons. She implores readers not to ask her how it’s going.

In her rare free time, Margaret enjoys going for walks, catching up on summer blockbusters at the cinema, and consuming entirely too much caffeine.

Hometown: Nebraska, U.S.A.

Maria Kaminska M.St. Comparative Literature and Critical Translation Maria has just finished her thesis on the ethics of narration and the contemporary novel form. She is excited about embarking on the pastures new and hopes to land a job in film curating. Otherwise, Maria is happy to imagine an alternative lifestyle somewhere in Italy, drinking affogato and indulging in la dolce vita.

Hometown: Kraków, Poland

Charlotte Wilson D.Phil. English Charlotte is in her second year of studying for a D.Phil. in English. Her research focuses on caregiving in the nineteenth-century novel. In her spare time, she enjoys going to the cinema, walking, and visiting Oxford’s coffee shops.

Hometown: Kent, U.K.

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“It’s a Small World After All”: Reconnecting with Linacre Alumna Professor Yuko Otsuka (D.Phil. ’00) |KEN YONENO During the long vacation between Hilary and Trinity, I went back to Tokyo for two weeks to see my family and friends. I also made sure to drop by my alma mater to talk with proud Linacre alumna Professor Yuko Otsuka, professor of linguistics at Sophia University, Tokyo.

Professor Otsuka specialises in formal syntax, focusing primarily on the syntax of the Tongan language. When she matriculated as an M.Phil. student at Linacre in 1994, our Principal was then a research fellow, Abraham Building was just about to be finished, and Nelson Mandela had just become the first Black president of South Africa. After a one-year stint working as a translator for Sony in Tokyo during her doctorate, she received her D.Phil. in General Linguistics in 2000, upon successfully defending her thesis entitled Ergativity in Tongan. I sat down with Professor Otsuka in her office at Sophia University on a cool spring day in March to talk about our experiences of studying linguistics as a Japanese Linacrite.

©︎ K E N Y O N E N O

Little did I know that we share more in common than we had both imagined.

When I began my undergraduate studies at the Department of English Studies at Sophia University (the name Sophia means “wisdom” in Greek), in April 2017, Professor Otsuka had just joined the department six months earlier as an associate professor, having previously taught linguistics at the University of Hawaiʻi (UH) at Mānoa for 16 years, her first job out of Oxford. We didn’t meet until September 2019, when I came back from studying abroad at Leiden University and took a class called Grammatical Theory B, where, as a full professor, she taught morphology, the study of word formation.

Professor Otsuka was the one who encouraged me to choose Linacre as my college when I was applying to Oxford (she also kindly wrote my recommendation letter) in 2021. She told me how she enjoyed the 0 7

international student body of the College and that she is still very close with the Linacrites she met during her time at Linacre. Apparently, she and her friends used to call themselves the Wild Women of Linacre. When they heard that Linacre might change its name to Thao College, she jokingly told me that they were considering changing their names to Thao Grandmas.

As she was showing me some pictures during her time in Oxford, I noticed a photograph that was taken from the inside of a room –– a view that looked very familiar. She told me it was taken from the room she occupied in the O.C. Tanner Building during her first year at Linacre. I was gobsmacked. That room happens to be my current room. What are the odds! It sometimes makes me chuckle to think that Professor Otsuka also drew syntax trees and read Chomsky in that very same place I wrote some of my best papers. It’s truly a small world.

The following interview with Professor Otsuka has been edited and condensed for clarity and brevity. It draws from several of our conversations.

Could you explain to us your research interests and how you became interested in the field?

My research field is theoretical linguistics, specifically formal syntax. I work on the language of Tonga, which is called Tongan, a Polynesian language of the Austronesian family. What I do is analyse the sentence structure –– the syntax –– of Tongan using the theory called the Minimalist Program (MP), one of the generative grammar theories. So that’s what I do. How I got into this… well, I spent two years in Tonga as a Japanese youth corps volunteer. That’s how I learned to speak Tongan. And when I went to Oxford for my master’s degree, my supervisor, Professor James Higginbotham, encouraged me to analyse Tongan using this theory because it was not really taken up in the literature. My M.Phil. thesis described Tongan from that perspective.

How old were you when you went to Tonga for the first time?

I was 21. I took two years off from college, and I went back to Japan to graduate. Then, I taught Japanese to non-Japanese speakers in Japan and English to little Japanese kids at the YMCA. That was what I was doing for a year and a half before I applied to Oxford.

©︎ Y U K O O T S U K A

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What was it like to study in Oxford as an international student, especially as a woman in the 90s?

One thing that really struck me is that East Asians were the super minority. In England, I don’t know if it’s still the case now, but when you say “Asian,” it meant subcontinental Asian, and we were the “Orientals.” That was the first time I got that category. We were really the minority.

In my year, there was another Japanese student, so it was just the two of us who matriculated that year. There were very few Japanese students, but there were a lot of women –– they were probably stronger (in character). I never felt like I was disadvantaged.

"That was first quite a culture shock: living with people of the opposite sex."

In Tonga and Japan, the division between males and females in the living environment is very clear, whereas at Linacre, both my next-door neighbours were male students and we shared the same bathroom. That was first quite a culture shock: living with people of the opposite sex. When you think about it now, you might want to ask why we even consider one’s gender. But back in the 90s and coming from Japan –– and Tonga, where men and women are strictly separated –– it was very different.

What was the most memorable moment you had at Linacre?

Everything was memorable! But if I were to choose one, it would be rowing. I was part of the rowing team, actually. So in that regard, the most memorable moment was when we won the very first race I participated in, which was the Nephthys Regatta. And I still have the cup! That was really nice.

Did you always want to row?

No. On matriculation day, we had a welcome bop at Linacre, and we were in the common room. There was a male Japanese D.Phil. student who was graduating, and he happened to be a rower. Somebody told me to talk to him and so I did. Then he told me, “Hey, you should row.” I was, like, “What? I have never rowed.” He responded, “But it’s an Oxford sport so where else would you do it?

You just have to do it.”

Early mornings, rain or shine, I would get up to go to the river and practise. I was always wearing my boat club gear. My first year at Oxford was basically, day in, day out, rowing and training every day. I had never rowed before, but it was just so magical. It was so much fun. I highly recommend it.

Your first full-time job after Oxford was as an assistant professor at the University of Hawaiʻi. How did you do that?

I never had a plan. I went to Oxford by accident. And since my supervisor was rather

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hands-off when I was doing my D.Phil. thesis, I was just doing research and my goal was to finish it and pass the exam. I didn’t really think about getting a job afterwards. And one day, my supervisor said, “Are you thinking about getting a job?” and I was, like, “What job?” [We both laugh.] Then he said, “You should start thinking about it.”

My linguistics friends told me there was a site where you can see job postings. I went to the site and, low and behold, there was a post for an assistant professor, syntactician, focusing on Polynesian languages at the University of Hawaiʻi. I thought, “Huh! This is nice!” I told my supervisor about it and said, “I found this.

You told me to find a job and I found this.

Should I apply?” To which he replied, “Yeah, you have nothing to lose,” so I applied.

Row. Make friends. Talk to the people in the dining hall. That’s another thing –– you just walk into the dining hall, grab your food, and then sit down and talk to the people next to you and get to know them. That’s the best part of being at Oxford, because where else can you get to know future ministers and leaders?

"Row. Make friends. Talk to the people in the dining hall."

I was called for an interview, so I went, did the job talk, and got the job. I only applied for that position. I am so lucky because I had the background that they wanted: someone who speaks the language and someone who has some connection with Polynesia.

After graduating from Oxford, I moved to Hawaiʻi directly.

Finally, do you have any advice or message for current Linacre students?

The friends I made at Linacre are the closest and best friends that I have now.

The friendship and the network that you establish at Linacre are really, really special. The internationality of Linacre is amazing. The people there are really amazing.

©︎KEN YONENO

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COMING TO FRUITION: Ripening Films |MARIA KAMINSKA It is this time of the year when my fingers are

student Oliver (Armie Hammer). A holiday

permanently glued together with the juice of

comfort watch for many, Call Me by Your

strawberries grown under the nourishing

Name enacts the inherent fragility of

warmth of long summer days –– as there is, of

summer love, fuelling the kind of heat-

course, no better thing than a fruit that is

inspired melancholia that we all secretly

spot-on ripe. I don’t know about you, but a

love to feel.

sun-induced bliss makes me want to watch things that are similarly sticky and mellow; so

2.

if you share my longing for a summer fruity

Pomegranates (Sergei Parajanov, 1969)

screening, here is a selection of films that

Pomegranates:

The

Colour

of

taste like a fleshy fruit, amplifying the scent, the texture, and the flavour of summertime ripening.

1. Peaches: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017) ® The Colour of Pomegranates (Sergei Parajanov, 1969)

This is a film that feels like a fever dream: sweltering and oneiric at once. Framed as a biopic about the eighteenth-century Armenian poet Sayat-Nova, The Colour of Pomegranates is more of an assemblage of images than a fixed story –– with the

® Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

notable shot of bleeding fruits amongst

How can there be a fruit-themed watchlist

them. It is perfect for days when following

without

right?

the plot feels like too much to ask, staging

Guadagnino’s modern classic employs the

instead a truly sensory experience. Like the

summer fruit as a vehicle of desire that

grapefruit juice which colours the white

marks

the

linen, Parajonov’s film seeps into our minds

impossibility of the blossoming romance

the richness of its many textures and stays

between

behind the eyes long after the screening.

the

both the

cult

the

peach

scene,

intensity

and

seventeen-year-old

Elio

(Timothée Chalamet) and his father's 1 1

3. Strawberries: Wild Strawberries

If

indulgence

ever

needs

a

dictionary

(Ingmar Bergman, 1957)

illustration, any shot from Chytilová’s Daisies would definitely do the job. Following the adventures of two mischevious Maries (Jitka Cerhová and Ivana Karbanová) of voracious appetites, the film stages perfectly pointless sexy summer anarchy.

With

apples of Eden

rolling over many scenes, the film’s indulgent lustfullness could not be made any clearer.

Daisies is insatiable, sensuous, and sunlike.

Truly, a kind of film that makes you want to copy a lifestyle. ® Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman, 1957)

In

Bergman’s

film,

the

tastes

of

summer are memory-laden. The wild strawberries

work

as

a

5.

Cherries:

Taste

of

Cherry

(Abbas

Kiarostami, 1997)

Proustian

madeleine: they unlock a long-buried past, forcing the main protagonist, the retiring recluse Doctor Borg (Victor Sjöström), to reflect on his life. In the series

of

throughout

dreams the

that film,

he

has

the

wild

strawberries patch (a sentimental site of Borg’s youth) signals a quest for meaning, as Bergman links the site of the fruits’ gathering with a longing for human warmth. But with its fleshy softness, Wild Strawberries is a film which does not leave you despairing, hinting at a sense of hope about the possibility of human connection.

4. Apples: Daisies (Věra Chytilová, 1966)

® Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami, 1997)

This Iranian classic is an elegiac meditation on what makes life worth living, one that frames a taste of cherry as a salient argument for existence. The film unfolds as a road trip of Mr. Badii

(Homayoun

Ershadi)

who

seeks

a

volunteer who would agree to bury him under the cherry tree once Badii decides to end his life. Enveloped in the matters of life and death, Taste of Cherry is a quiet, tender film that revolves around absences. But while the film avoids giving any fixed answers as to its protagonist’s fate, it hints at the sensory as a form of anchoring in the world.

® Daisies (Věra Chytilová, 1966)

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©︎MARIA KAMINSKA

VOICES OF LINACRE 1 3

TOO MANY BLESSINGS TO COUNT: My Quarter Century of Living in the Borgou |C. RYAN SMITH

Although I am an American citizen, I have lived for most of my life in the Borgou region of the Republic of Bénin in West Africa. I moved to the Borgou in 1998 as a Peace Corps volunteer and then stayed in the country after my service. Aside from infrequent visits back to my hometown of Lithia Springs, Georgia, I have been in the Borgou ever since, only venturing forth for my doctorate, and a single academic year of residence in Oxford, in September 2022.

Life in the Borgou is hard but good. There are many blessings despite the challenges. I am the adoptive father of 14 children — now grown — and grandfather to 26 little (and not so little) ones.

Three of my daughters-in-law are pregnant as I type these words.

My children are all of the same biological family and we are based in their ancestral seat.

That village, named PèrèrèGourou, is likewise the

©️C. Ryan Smith

headquarters for the Antisua Forest Regional Council (CRFA): the Beninese non-profit, nongovernmental organisation I run which manages the community-based governance, ecological restoration, and promotion of the Antisua Forest nature reserve. Pèrèrè-Gourou has transformed me into a local son, and, over the years, I have become a vocal and visible proponent of Borgou customs and languages. At Oxford, I explore the cultural responses to ecosystems by the Baatɔnu people, including my family and friends in Pèrèrè-Gourou, so perhaps I have, indeed, found a niche for myself in the Borgou.

The responsibilities I face are many, as are my worries. Money issues are a terrible source of stress. Thankfully, much of the

food my family and I consume comes from our farm near Pèrèrè-Gourou, though that endeavor requires a tremendous amount of hard work and time invested each year. It is difficult, if not impossible, to impart my lived realities to friends, colleagues, and professors here at Linacre College and at Oxford generally, yet I never stop trying.

Last week, I went on one of my long walks through the nooks and crannies of Oxford, this beautiful and peculiar city. I found myself traversing the Lye Valley, a stunning landscape of wetlands, grasses, shrubs, flowers — so many flowers — insects, and singing birds on the south side of Headington Hill.

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©️C. Ryan Smith

©️C. Ryan Smith

The Lye Valley reserve is not very large, but while it is surrounded by urban development, it is among the only intact fen ecosystems remaining in England, according to the signage. I lingered in the warm brightness, enjoying the glories of the English springtime. The water moving through the Lye Valley forms bogs and a small creek. In one bog, I noticed something floating upon the water, an aquatic plant whose name I do not know. I recognised its family, however, from the Borgou.

The species indigenous to Africa is called nim doronu in the Baatɔnum language, which, as the translation implies, indicates “good water.”

Gaston and I were visiting Yandia, a sacred spring in Pèrèrè-Gourou, which, after years of neglect, was recently reborn, its bũnu returned after a prolonged absence.

CRFA, accompanied by the traditional chief of PèrèrèGourou, has planted hundreds of native trees around Yandia during the past two rainy seasons to protect the site from encroaching agricultural land. With the renewal of Yandia and the return of the bũnu came nim doronu: a sign and a blessing.

My dear friend and mentor, Gaston Troukassa, whose extended family in PèrèrèGourou has loved me as their own for decades, once explained the significance of nim doronu. He said that its presence, resembling tiny floating discs of light green, is rare. Nim doronu only appears in a particular watercourse when the bũnu (spirits) are present and at peace. The Baatɔnu people adore bũnu spirits, and relations with them tie individual people to their fellow human beings as well as to their ancestors and non-human neighbours.

streaking through, I feel a

As I sit by my window today on Union Street typing on this

rickety

computer,

foliage

abound

outside

and

sunshine

pang of guilt. I am far from my adoptive homeland, from others who need me and whom I need, and I am spending money like it is going out of style, as my late parents used to say. I do not know if the spirits of the Borgou

can

communicate

with the spirits of England, but it is clear to me that, like Yandia,

the

Lye

waters

are

blessed

Valley’s and,

despite the hardships I face, I am

blessed,

thankful. ©️C. Ryan Smith

Beninese

too.

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SUPPORTING LOCALS IN MONGOLIA |BAYARSUREN YALALT In recent history, Mongolia has been harshly affected by exacerbating rural poverty and hard weather conditions that altered the lives of nearly a million people in a country of 2.8 million. During these difficult years, many nomadic families have lost all their livestock and were left with no income source. As a result, thousands decided to give up on their traditional lifestyle and move to more central locations.

In 2005, I co-founded GER to GER Organization (www.GERtoGER.org) with my American partner with an aim to empower families across Mongolia through the tourism industry. For over a decade, we've contributed towards the reduction of poverty for some 200 nomadic families and provided technical assistance and vocational training, such as community-based tourism development, nature conservation, and more.

What matters most to me is contributing towards the sustainability of Mongolia’s nomadic way of life, as it is the cultural, historical, and economic foundations of my country. One case study that I would like to share is about an exceptionally financially challenged

© BAYARSUREN YALALT

family we met during our research trip. The parents have four daughters, aged between 8 and 16, and with no livestock to sustain themselves and to survive, the family had to herd other nearby nomadic families’ livestock. Both parents struggled with alcohol use, but, nevertheless, we were ultimately won over by one of the daughters, who wanted to attend medical school but had little prospects of going to

university. She shared with us that her only prospects were herding and marrying into another family, if they would take her. Another sister had broken her leg while herding two months earlier; her leg had become infected and she was not able to walk. I was deeply concerned about the future of these daughters. My partner and I decided to take a chance and invited them to join our community1 6

After several tourism seasons, the parents not only purchased their own livestock (10 horses and over 50 sheep and goats), but they were also able to pay their daughters’ university tuitions. The oldest fulfilled her dream as a premed student and the other studied the Korean language.

The youngest daughter underwent surgery for her leg and is now able to ride horses as a guide, and she even taught herself basic English.

As for the parents, over the years, the father has been successfully guiding for us –– international travellers have provided tons of positive feedback about him being a friendly and knowledgeable guide. Eventually, the mother was promoted within our social enterprise as a coordinator for the National Park. Recently, she has also started piloting a reforestation project. They have both been very successful, and they have

© BAYARSUREN YALALT

based tourism training workshops. Initially, they were concerned that they wouldn't have the necessary livestock for travellers to ride (e.g., horses, ox-carts, etc.), so I convinced them to rent horses and equipment from other families and that we would support them with the finances. even surprised the local governor, especially now that the mother is in such an industrious position of responsibility (he had known her family to be poor and with very little prospects).

Travel Entrepreneurs” (2010), and an UNESCAP report (2007) featured GER to GER as an official case study of community-based tourism for Asia and the Pacific regions.

I’ve learned that giving them a way to earn money was less important than restoring their honour and dignity through creating an environment that fosters leadership within their nomadic community. Since 2005, GER to GER has been bringing over 300 million Tugriks annually in economic benefits for the rural economy, 140 millions of which have been directly allocated to participating nomadic families.

As animal husbandry is easily influenced by the climate, and with the environmental impacts of climate change getting much more visible in Mongolia, I deeply desire to further foster nationwide partnerships towards greater prosperity for thousands of nomadic families.

For over a decade now, GER to GER has received international recognitions and awards, and it has been featured in numerous international publications. For example, the National Geographic Society press release classified GER to GER as "One of the World’s Innovative

I strongly believe that my studies at Oxford University’s Master of Science in Environmental Change and Management programme will best prepare me to fulfill my purpose: to become an environmental and agriculture change-maker.

I’m ever grateful to Linacre leaders, who provided me with the learning environment that I needed.

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MARGARET'S MEDIA CORNER: Audiobook Recommendations |MARGARET CUNLIFFE I have a confession to make: against all odds, studying

for

my

master's

at

a

GIDEON THE NINTH BY TAMSYN MUIR

world-

renowned university has somehow made me

Like many readers, I was drawn into Gideon

worse at reading. My bedroom is littered

by the blurb on its cover prominently

with half-read fantasy novels and impulse

advertising “lesbian necromancers in space.”

Blackwell’s buys I keep promising myself I’ll

Having read two of the three books currently

read “when I have time,” only to find myself

out in this series, I can tell you that this is a

sucked down another research rabbit hole.

gross understatement of how wonderfully outlandish these books become.

These days, when I’m looking to indulge in a beach read and escape my looming thesis

Narrator Moira Quirk beautifully captures the

deadlines, I find solace in audiobooks. While I

alternating irreverent humor and suspense in

miss the sensation of flipping through pages,

the

I very much enjoy getting to read in queues,

swordswoman on the cultish planet of the

on the bus, or while walking to the library

Ninth House who is made to help the Ninth’s

without adding to my eye strain. There’s

necromancer

something oddly comforting in having a

complete a mysterious challenge off-world to

book read to me that momentarily takes me

save the House. Gideon is at once a space

back to grade school story time.

opera, a tightly-plotted fantasy, a murder

story

of

Gideon,

heir,

her

a

sworn

foundling

enemy,

mystery, and a soap opera-esque queer love

For the length of a chapter, I can forget

story. I frequently found myself lost in the

about research, obligations, and battels to be

intricate worldbuilding, just along for the ride

paid and go back to a simpler time when my

until Muir revealed the answers were in front

sole concern was whether our hero could

of me all along. If you’re looking for a story to

fight off the dragon bearing down on her.

take you out of Oxford for a while, this is it.

With that in mind, here are a few of my top recommendations for audiobooks for your next walk in the park, beach trip, or whenever you’re looking for a little escape.

A DEADLY EDUCATION BY NAOMI NOVIK This novel is less an escapist fantasy than a re-

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minder that as bad as exams and dissertation

Dual narrators Cynthia Farrell and Emily Woo

writing have gotten, at least monsters aren’t

Zeller perform the letters of Red and Blue,

popping out of Linacre’s walls trying to kill

respectively, and their performances manage

you. A Deadly Education follows El in her

to

third year at the magical Scholomance, a

realisations that the other side may not be

magical school that offers young witches a

what they thought, and that they care more

measure of protection against the hordes of

deeply for their fellow letter-writer than they

Maleficaria looking to attack them. Of course,

ever expected. If you have an afternoon to

even the Scholomance’s status as “safe” for

spare and want to spend some time with a

students is dubious at best, and so El and her

story that is as much poetry as it is sci-fi, I

fellow Scholomancers spend much of their

cannot recommend this book highly enough.

capture

time fighting against monsters and trying to

both

characters’

dawning

figure out how they will survive to graduation.

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING

BY JULIA WHELAN

A Deadly Education is a self-aware and

I am unabashedly a romance novel lover –– as

refreshing take on the magical school genre

a friend of mine aptly put it, they are “candy

that

society

for your brain” in the truest sense. Thank You

prioritises safeguarding and the inequalities

for Listening is a gem of a romance written

that replicates, all while being fast-paced and

and narrated by award-winning audiobook

wildly entertaining. Give this one a listen, and

narrator Julia Whelan and set in the world of

remind

audiobook

thoughtfully

yourself

considers

that

the

who

D.Phil.

could

certainly be worse.

narration.

Sewanee,

a

well-

regarded non-fiction narrator who got her start in romance, agrees to co-narrate one

THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR

BY AMAL EL-MOHTAR AND MAX GLADSTONE

last romance for an old friend, this time with a

wildly

popular

but

mysterious

male

narrator. The two strike up a friendship over email

that,

of

course,

blossoms

into

Recently spotlighted in a viral Twitter post,

something more (I did promise a romance),

This Is How You Lose the Time War is the rare

and the book plays out like an audiobook-

book that lives up to its online hype. The

world You’ve Got Mail (or a straight The Half

audiobook is a quick read at only four hours,

of It, for the youths of Linacre). This story is

but in that time El-Mohtar and Gladstone

written

pack in a vibrant, innovative, and moving

knowledge

story of two rival time travelling agents

production, Whelan covers serious topics like

corresponding as they seek to undo each

disability and losing a loved one with grace,

other’s work and ensure their own faction’s

and the love story is compelling and a ton of

vision of the future comes to pass.

fun.

with of

so

much

and

care

obvious for

insider

audiobook

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EXPLORING OXFORD: Linacre Junior Research Fellows On Tour |VIBE NIELSEN, ELSA PANCIROLI & TEA GHIGO The Junior Research Fellow community at Linacre College has, over the past six months, gathered for a new concept, initiated by three JRFs working in the Gardens, Libraries, and Museums network at the University of Oxford. With three Museum and Gin Tours behind us –– and one more to come –– we have explored the collections of the Natural History Museum, the Pitt Rivers, and the Ashmolean, and have a trip to the Botanic Garden arranged in June. It has been an inspiring and delightful way of getting together: not only because the diverse community of JRFs at Linacre always provide great company, but also because our collection of wide-ranging academic fields provides good conversations and new ways of looking at each of our own disciplines. The tours were also a welcome chance to get behind the scenes in some of the fascinating museums in Oxford. Highlights included a rare sight of the Oxford Dodo, which is normally safeguarded away from the public eye in a not-to-be-named cupboard of the Natural History Museum, recently collected and not yet catalogued quilts made by craftswomen in Hawaii at the Pitt Rivers Museum, and a specially designed workshop at the top of the Ashmolean Museum, where we got to try out identifying pigments of selected artworks with a view of the rooftops and dreaming spires of Oxford’s city centre.

©︎VIBE NIELSEN

The

JRFs

on

tour

at

the

Oxford

University Museum of Natural History

©︎KRISTINE DYRMANN

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At the Natural History Museum, Dr. Elsa Panciroli arranged a tour consisting of an introduction to the architecture of the building by Jane Griffin, the recent redisplays in the main court by Dr. Ricardo Perez de la Fuente, the oldest collections behind the scenes, including the only surviving soft tissue of a dodo, by Mark Carnall, and a visit to the library and archives led by Matt Barton. Dr. Vibe Nielsen continued the programme with a specially designed tour of the Pitt Rivers Museum, presenting elements of her latest research on changing curatorial practices.

Afterwards we received an introduction to some of the most recently collected objects at the Pitt Rivers, led by Dr. Marenka Thompson-Odlum, and finished off the day with an exercise drawing objects on display in the museum. At our following gin reception at Linacre, we tried out the Pitt Rivers gin Witch in a Bottle and shared our experiences from the objectdrawing exercise.

Two months later, Dr. Tea Ghigo followed suit with a colourful tour of the Ashmolean Museum entitled "Into the Blue." Here, we explored the collection from an unusual angle by focusing on blue pigments used worldwide from antiquity to modern times.

While looking at paintings, textiles, ceramics, and prints, we discussed the manufacture of colours and discovered more about plants and minerals used to obtain various shades of blue. The visit included a backstage tour of

the

scientific

laboratory,

where

we

witnessed how cutting-edge technology for material analyses is applied to museum collections. We finished the tour identifying pigments

during

a

specially

designed

workshop, before heading back to Linacre for a taste of the Ashmolean gin.

©︎VIBE NIELSEN

©︎VIBE NIELSEN

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The feedback received from participants in these events reveal the warmth and engagement within the JRF community at Linacre College, which makes life as a postdoctoral researcher in Oxford such a unique experience: The museum events held in January and March were undoubtedly among the most memorable highlights of my College experience. The meticulously designed tours were perfectly suited for the diverse audiences they catered to. These excursions served as a powerful reminder of the immense depth

and

breadth

of

Oxford's

offerings. They provided not only a glimpse into its rich cultural and historical

heritage,

but

also

©︎TEA GHIGO

an

opportunity for profound inspiration in

I can just express my gratitude to all

discussions with the JRF community

of you for organising it and guiding

brought

forth

brilliant

personal

us

reflections

and

visionary

insights,

experience with the complex work

overall

behind exhibition walls is not great

and

contemplation.

further

enhancing

Engaging

the

experience.

with

such

passion.

My

own

and is based mostly on manuscripts, so

I

was

really

impressed

by

Dr. Yige Sun, David Cockayne Junior

everything we got to experience in

Research Fellow

the museums. What I liked most was the strong focus on how current research on cultures and historic objects can be communicated to visitors.

For

drawing/describing

me,

the

exercise

really

nailed it.

Dr. Lena Vosding, Bryan Warren Junior Research Fellow ©︎KATARZYNA KAPITAN

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I BELIEVE IN YOU Paul Graham Racich

Can you feel my love?

I am here and You are there, An eternal bond unites us everywhere.

I believe in You! My heart pounds at the thought of You being ever true.

I look up and all the sky glows blue with the wonder of You. Darling it’s always new, All because I believe in You! The morrow is Your birthday, my lovely Aquarian, Although You are far away, My soul will be with You, On that meridian –– My love, O how I believe in You!

©︎MARIA KAMINSKA

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HOLD THAT THOUGHT Paul Graham Racich

I see it in your eyes lower it to your mouth utter it now before I know you want to say it but you can’t for you can’t dare

©︎PATRICK ROBICHAUD

you swallow the moment

I swear –– hold it! keep it to yourself pray that nobody knows or cares.

You blew it!

Stow it, crush it, flash it!

©︎MARIA KAMINSKA

Sweet Caroline

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REFLECTIONS:

FACING Upgrading FORWARDyour

living space?

© KATHARINA SOPHIA UNGERMANN

|SHANIEK PARKS Let’s take a moment to channel the words of Former Prime Minister (1868 and 1874–1880) and Honorary Oxford degree holder, Benjamin Disraeli, “a university should be a place of light, of liberty and of learning.” While he may have said this over 200 years ago, universities remain amazing places where we mature, regardless of our age and past experiences.

An Oxford college represents a place of belonging as we grapple with essay submissions, formals, making new friends, and, for some, the dreaded VIVA! While we are a postgrad college and each of us have faced the world on our own in some way, we must admit that we needed Linacre when we first arrived in Oxford, and we still do.

We caught up with a few outgoing Linacrites and asked them to tell us about their time at the college and plans for the future. Their responses are heart-warming, making me proud to be a Linacrite!

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Liam Ludington M.Sc. Mathematical Sciences Hometown: North Carolina, U.S.A.

For my master's here at Oxford, I looked at how we can train computers to see colours the same way we humans do.

After graduation, I will be heading to Heidelberg University in Germany, where I

will

be

conducting

computational

research

neuroscience

as

on a

Fulbright researcher.

As my training is in mathematics, I’m trying to learn as much as I can about electrical engineering and how the brain and neurons work before I move to Heidelberg. I’m not sure if I want to start doing a Ph.D. right away, as I would also like to pursue other paths such as teaching and working in finance and start-ups.

I’ve had a great time at Linacre, and I’m proud to have been part of the Linacre rowing team –– we did well at the Torpids and at the Summer Eights this year.

The College is quirky in a good way, very close-knit, and I think it’s the coolest postgrad college in Oxford!

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Mathilde Mioche M.St. History of Art and Visual Culture

Hometown: Paris, France

At Linacre, I met some of the most passionate, kind-hearted, and intelligent people I ever came across. I enjoyed profound

conversations

and

giddy

game nights in the Common Room and was lucky to share a floor in the Abraham

Building

with

several

wonderful flatmates.

After graduating, I plan to apply for a doctorate in the history of art and spend a

year

acquiring

curatorial

work

experience. I don't know yet where and when exactly, but I intend to stay in the U.K. for the foreseeable future (I am halfBritish)!

I am grateful to have learnt so much, humanly as well as academically, during my time at Oxford. I am also happy to have carved close relationships, which I hope will last for many years to come.

Life at Linacre was both homely and exciting –– a truly memorable year.

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Angqi Xie M.B.A.

Hometown: Singapore The M.B.A. programme has been an extremely eye-opening and enriching experience. The opportunity to interact and work with a diverse cohort of classmates from various backgrounds, cultures, and industries has exposed me to different perspectives and ideas and has fostered my global mindset and cultural understanding. The experiential learning opportunities also allowed me to apply my knowledge in real-world situations, build practical skills, and gain valuable

insights

into

different

industries. Most importantly, I'm really thankful to have met amazing friends in my cohort!

Post-M.B.A., I would love to work in the banking industry, specifically in the risk management area. I'm open to working back in my hometown, Singapore, or exploring new countries in Asia like Hong Kong.

I would sum up my student life at Linacre with these words: FUN, FRIENDS, FORMALS.

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©PATRICK ROBICHAUD

©NICK CHOW

Enjoy your long vacation!