Linacre Lines Magazine | Trinity 2023

LINACRE LINES

Reconnecting with Linacre Alumna Professor Yuko Otsuka (D.Phil. ’00)

Coming to Fruition: Ripening Films

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

Supporting Locals in Mongolia

Margaret's Media Corner: Audiobook Recommendations

Exploring Oxford: Junior Research Fellows on Tour

Poetry

I Believe in You

Hold That Thought

Reflections: Facing Forward

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.

©Ann Sun

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

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

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.

Charlotte Wilson

“It’s a Small World After All”: Reconnecting with Linacre Alumna Professor Yuko Otsuka

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

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

© KEN YONENO

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.

© YUKO OTSUKA

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

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.”

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.

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

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

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

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.

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 thepeopleinthedininghall."

© KEN YONENO

COMING TO FRUITION: Ripening Films

|MARIA KAMINSKA

It is this time of the year when my fingers are permanently glued together with the juice of strawberries grown under the nourishing warmth of long summer days –– as there is, of course, no better thing than a fruit that is spot-on ripe I don’t know about you, but a sun-induced bliss makes me want to watch things that are similarly sticky and mellow; so if you share my longing for a summer fruity screening, here is a selection of films that taste like a fleshy fruit, amplifying the scent, the texture, and the flavour of summertime ripening.

student Oliver (Armie Hammer) A holiday comfort watch for many, Call Me by Your Name enacts the inherent fragility of summer love, fuelling the kind of heatinspired melancholia that we all secretly love to feel

® Call Me by Your Name

How can there be a fruit-themed watchlist without the cult peach scene, right? Guadagnino’s modern classic employs the summer fruit as a vehicle of desire that marks both the intensity and the impossibility of the blossoming romance between the seventeen-year-old Elio (Timothée Chalamet) and his father's

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 notable shot of bleeding fruits amongst them. It is perfect for days when following the plot feels like too much to ask, staging instead a truly sensory experience Like the grapefruit juice which colours the white linen, Parajonov’s film seeps into our minds the richness of its many textures and stays behind the eyes long after the screening.

1. Peaches: Call Me by Your Name (Luca Guadagnino, 2017)

(Luca Guadagnino 2017)

2. Pomegranates: The Colour of Pomegranates (Sergei Parajanov, 1969)

® The Colour of Pomegranates (Sergei Parajanov, 1969)

In Bergman’s film, the tastes of summer are memory-laden The wild strawberries work as a 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 dreams that he has throughout the film, 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

If indulgence ever needs a dictionary 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

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

3. Strawberries: Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman, 1957)

® Wild Strawberries (Ingmar Bergman, 1957)

5. Cherries: Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami, 1997)

4. Apples: Daisies (Věra Chytilová, 1966)

® Taste of Cherry (Abbas Kiarostami, 1997)

® Daisies (Věra Chytilová, 1966)

VOICES OF LINACRE

© MARIA KAMINSKA

TOO MANY BLESSINGS TO COUNT: My Quarter Century of Living in the Borgou

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

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

© 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.”

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.

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.

As I sit by my window today on Union Street typing on this rickety Beninese computer, foliage abound outside and sunshine streaking through, I feel a 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 Valley’s waters are blessed and, despite the hardships I face, I am blessed, too. And thankful.

© C Ryan Smith

© C Ryan Smith

© C Ryan Smith

SUPPORTING LOCALSIN MONGOLIA

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

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 community-

© 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

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

e 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)

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.

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

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

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

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.

MARGARET'S MEDIA CORNER:

Audiobook Recommendations

I have a confession to make: against all odds, studying for my master's at a worldrenowned university has somehow made me worse at reading My bedroom is littered with half-read fantasy novels and impulse Blackwell’s buys I keep promising myself I’ll read “when I have time,” only to find myself sucked down another research rabbit hole.

These days, when I’m looking to indulge in a beach read and escape my looming thesis deadlines, I find solace in audiobooks While I miss the sensation of flipping through pages, I very much enjoy getting to read in queues, on the bus, or while walking to the library without adding to my eye strain. There’s something oddly comforting in having a book read to me that momentarily takes me back to grade school story time.

For the length of a chapter, I can forget about research, obligations, and battels to be paid and go back to a simpler time when my sole concern was whether our hero could fight off the dragon bearing down on her 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.

Like many readers, I was drawn into Gideon by the blurb on its cover prominently advertising “lesbian necromancers in space. ” Having read two of the three books currently out in this series, I can tell you that this is a gross understatement of how wonderfully outlandish these books become

Narrator Moira Quirk beautifully captures the alternating irreverent humor and suspense in the story of Gideon, a foundling swordswoman on the cultish planet of the Ninth House who is made to help the Ninth’s necromancer heir, her sworn enemy, complete a mysterious challenge off-world to save the House Gideon is at once a space opera, a tightly-plotted fantasy, a murder mystery, and a soap opera-esque queer love story. I frequently found myself lost in the intricate worldbuilding, just along for the ride until Muir revealed the answers were in front of me all along. If you ’ re looking for a story to take you out of Oxford for a while, this is it

This novel is less an escapist fantasy than a re-

A DEADLY EDUCATION BY NAOMI NOVIK

GIDEON THE NINTH BY TAMSYN MUIR

minder that as bad as exams and dissertation writing have gotten, at least monsters aren’t popping out of Linacre’s walls trying to kill you A Deadly Education follows El in her third year at the magical Scholomance, a magical school that offers young witches a measure of protection against the hordes of Maleficaria looking to attack them. Of course, even the Scholomance’s status as “safe” for students is dubious at best, and so El and her fellow Scholomancers spend much of their time fighting against monsters and trying to figure out how they will survive to graduation.

A Deadly Education is a self-aware and refreshing take on the magical school genre that thoughtfully considers who society prioritises safeguarding and the inequalities that replicates, all while being fast-paced and wildly entertaining Give this one a listen, and remind yourself that the D.Phil. could certainly be worse

Dual narrators Cynthia Farrell and Emily Woo Zeller perform the letters of Red and Blue, respectively, and their performances manage to capture both characters’ dawning realisations that the other side may not be what they thought, and that they care more deeply for their fellow letter-writer than they ever expected. If you have an afternoon to spare and want to spend some time with a story that is as much poetry as it is sci-fi, I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

THANK YOU FOR LISTENING

BY JULIA WHELAN

THIS IS HOW YOU LOSE THE TIME WAR

BY AMAL EL-MOHTAR AND MAX GLADSTONE

Recently spotlighted in a viral Twitter post, This Is How You Lose the Time War is the rare book that lives up to its online hype The audiobook is a quick read at only four hours, but in that time El-Mohtar and Gladstone pack in a vibrant, innovative, and moving story of two rival time travelling agents corresponding as they seek to undo each other’s work and ensure their own faction’s vision of the future comes to pass.

I am unabashedly a romance novel lover –– as a friend of mine aptly put it, they are “candy for your brain” in the truest sense Thank You for Listening is a gem of a romance written and narrated by award-winning audiobook narrator Julia Whelan and set in the world of audiobook narration. Sewanee, a wellregarded non-fiction narrator who got her start in romance, agrees to co-narrate one 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 something more (I did promise a romance), and the book plays out like an audiobookworld You’ve Got Mail (or a straight The Half of It, for the youths of Linacre). This story is written with so much obvious insider knowledge of and care for audiobook production, Whelan covers serious topics like disability and losing a loved one with grace, and the love story is compelling and a ton of fun.

Linacre Junior Research Fellows On Tour

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, ELSA PANCIROLI & TEA G

The JRFs on tour at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History

© VIBE NIELSEN

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

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 an opportunity for profound inspiration and contemplation. Engaging in discussions with the JRF community brought forth brilliant personal reflections and visionary insights, further enhancing the overall experience.

I can just express my gratitude to all of you for organising it and guiding us with such passion. My own experience with the complex work behind exhibition walls is not great and is based mostly on manuscripts, so I was really impressed by everything we got to experience in 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 me, the drawing/describing exercise really nailed it.

Junior Research Fellow

Dr. Yige Sun, David Cockayne Junior Research Fellow

Dr. Lena Vosding, Bryan Warren

©TEA GHIGO

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

HOLD THAT THOUGHT

Paul Graham Racich

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

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

Sweet Caroline

You blew it!

Stow it, crush it, flash it!

R E F L E C T I O N S :

FACING FORWARD

|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!

© KATHARINA SOPHIA UNGERMANN

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 research on computational neuroscience as 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!

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.

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.