September 18 – October 29, 2022

In 1994, the internationally acclaimed fiction writer Lucia Berlin met the New York School poet and librettist Kenward Elmslie at Naropa University’s Summer Writing Program, where they were both visiting writers. “We just clicked,” Berlin said in a 2002 interview. “We cut through right away into each other’s deep feelings. It was like falling in love, or going back to your childhood best friend in first grade, that kind of really pure friendship.”

That friendship developed through a faithful and frequent correspondence, a literary exchange of about two letters per week over the course of a decade. Lucia was living in Boulder, Colorado, and later in Los Angeles; Kenward was dividing his time between New York City and Calais, Vermont. Despite the distance between them, the two writers came to depend on their intimate friendship and deeply valued their correspondence.

In the following letters dated between May 28 and August 5, 2000, Lucia and Kenward discuss a New York production of Kenward’s musical play, Postcards on Parade, and the books each was working on at the time: Lucia’s memoir, Welcome Home, and Kenward’s fourteenth poetry collection, Blast from the Past, which he wanted to dedicate to Lucia. They write about the books they’re reading, Lucia’s recent move to a trailer park, and the thrilling poetic visuals she sees from her windows.

7 min read

Inclusivity, culture and power

The nightlife of Oxford occupies an important place in the story of the city, and in its historic contribution to the wider world.

Nightlife can embrace or ostracise. Some spaces are widely accessible – open to non-students and actively welcoming to those who identify as LGBTIQA+. Other spaces bar entry in accordance with university tradition.

This accessibility is important, because the international importance of the university gives Oxford’s night-time scene real power. Over time, it has been shown to dictate national politics, shape culture, and embody the systemic social divide in this country. In many ways, traditional systems of power are perpetuated by Oxford’s nightlife.

There is also an important relationship with film and literature. Oxford’s nightlife has been widely portrayed in fictional media, and at the same time venues in the city have played a role in the discussion and production of literary creations.

Cultural contributions

The public houses of Oxford have long contributed to the cultural fabric of the city and the wider world. The most prominent example is the Eagle and Child pub, founded in 1650. In the early to mid-twentieth century this was the place in which J. R. R. Tolkien and C. S. Lewis first shared the manuscripts of The Lord of The Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia, reading them aloud to a group of writers known as ‘The Inklings’. This group, which included poets Owen Barfield and Charles Williams, was a forum in which the writers discussed their work. They met in the ‘Rabbit Room’ of the Eagle and Child, and in Lewis’s own rooms at Magdalen College.

4 min read

Tracing Oxford’s history in its buildings

During my time in Oxford, I have seen many shops come and go. Nowadays they often leave with little or no sign they ever existed, but back in the day when advertising was hand painted on walls, the new owners often just covered it up. Taking a walk in Oxford and keeping your eyes open, you can still find the fading remains of some of these so-called ghost signs today as they get uncovered. In a broader definition they can also include metal signs or stone engravings. Have you noticed some of the ones below?

1) Curry’s, Cowley Road

Curry’s signage on Stockmore Street / Cowley Road. Photo by Paul Freestone 2020.

On the popular Cowley Road in East Oxford, you can find the traces of a shop that some of you may be very familiar with. Although now selling primarily electronics, then Curry’s were advertising above what is now Atomic Burger with the words “Accessories Curry’s Cycles”. On the side of the building on Stockmore Road the faded writing reads “Toys & Baby Carriages Curry’s Cycles and Radio”. The advertisement was likely put up sometime between 1934 and 1948.

2) Lumley’s Grocery, Walton Street

Lumley’s corner shop. Photo by Isisbridge 2013, album “ghost signs etc”.

In Jericho two special signs are displayed above the Oxford Wine Café at 127 Walton Street: they are ghost signs covered up by ghost signs. The sign at the top reads “The finest Turkey coffee ¼ [meaning: one shilling and fourpence] in one pound canisters”. However, if you look very closely, you can make out another advertisement beneath the visible one. It says “G. Lumleys Grocery Provision Warehouse”. The previous corner shop also encouraged passers-by to “try Geo Lumleys 2/6 [meaning: two shillings and sixpence] tea” on the lower of the two signs. Again, a previous advertisement can be made out beneath this sign proclaiming “[illegible] Bacon, Crosse & Blackwell’s Pickles”. George Lumley was a grocer there until 1888.

There were scraps galore in another regular weekend of the Barclays. Jules, Jim, Pete and Vish are here with the tale of the tape - let’s get ready to Ramble!

Liverpool edged out Man City in an absolute firecracker, while Nottingham Forest lost an early relegation six-pointer after getting too horny on main. We also check in with Graham Potter’s glow-up, take an angle grinder to yet more goalposts and applaud Blyth Spartans’ bespoke toasting services.

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The strange magic of Britain's master storyteller

The Washington Post reported Saturday that a former executive with Trump Media, which owns Donald Trump’s struggling social media platform, Truth Social, is alleging the company broke federal security laws, and that another executive was ousted for refusing Trump’s demand that he give his shares in the venture to Trump’s wife, Melania. 

Will Wilkerson, who was fired by Trump Media on Thursday, passed along hundreds of documents, photos, and audio files to the Washington Post and to the Securities and Exchange Commission. The Post‘s exclusive report details the chaos allegedly taking place at the company. 

The report details how cofounder Andy Litinsky was allegedly fired after refusing a personal demand by Trump, who already owned 90 percent of Trump Media shares, to give his shares to Melania. More broadly, the report portrays a company in disarray, one in which decisions were based not on logic or business savvy, but bitterness and spite. Five months after refusing Trump’s demands, writes tech reporter Drew Harwell… 

Litinsky, who first met Trump in 2004 as a contestant on the TV show “The Apprentice,” was abruptly removed from the company’s board. Wilkerson said he believes it was payback for his refusal to turn over a small fortune to the former president’s wife. Litinsky thought so, too, according to an email Wilkerson and his attorneys shared with The Washington Post and the Securities and Exchange Commission. In that email, Litinsky complained that Trump was “retaliating against me” by threatening to “ ‘blow up the company’ if his demands are not met.

Trump Media did not directly rebut any of Wilkerson’s claims, Harwell noted. Instead, it released a statement essentially accusing the Post of publishing fake news, and saying that…

Kevin De Bruyne has claimed that he isn’t surprised about Arsenal’s early form this season, before likening his style of play to Manchester City’s.

The Gunners have won eight of our opening nine matches of the league term thus far, and could make it nine when they take on Leeds United tomorrow, while a win could well see them build a gap over the Citizens, who face a potential banana-skin against Liverpool at Anfield.

De Bruyne has spoken to Sky Sports ahead of tomorrow’s big clash however, and during that interview he was asked about Mikel Arteta and his uprising at Arsenal.

“Not really, no (if he is surprised with Arsenal’s performances),” De Bruyne said.

“I think I see a lot of similarities with the way that we [City] play and that’s always been his [Arteta] style. When he stopped playing football and had the opportunity to come here it was, for him, a good learning school and obviously we had great years together. I saw an evolution from the beginning of Mikel and after three years when left.

Arsenal have been ruled out of any potential move to try and sign Kylian Mbappe from Paris Saint-Germain, despite rumours of the Frenchman being unhappy at present.

The superstar is currently claimed to be unhappy with his current club and wants to leave, sparking numerous rumours surrounding his potential next club.

While the Gunners have a great record with French players such as Thierry Henry, Robert Pires, Patrick Vieira and others, Ben Jacobs insists that we will not be entertaining a move to try and land him despite his current situation.

“Arsenal are not in the race for Mbappe,” Jacobs told the Football Terrace podcast. “They would not seriously entertain any kind of offer or bid for him, that one is a complete non-starter. And Newcastle, as I mentioned is another possible destination in the sense that PIF want a marquee signing. But there’s absolutely nothing in it at the moment.”

While we could hope to have bigger aspirations in the transfer market next summer with an expected return to the Champions League, I don’t believe anybody is expecting us to to battle for Mbappe.

Arsenal will make the long trip north to Yorkshire to take on Leeds United on Sunday, with the visitors currently unbeaten at home this season.

The Whites have been a mixed bag this term, but have continued to play with a high intensity regardless of the challenge in front of them, and they have enjoyed some fine wins this term, including an impressive 3-0 win over Chelsea.

We go into the game as strong favourites however after winning eight of our opening nine in the division, but the boss is not taking anything for granted as he praises our opponents style of play.

“With Jesse and the teams that they have already played, it is very clear what he wants to do – be a really intense team, a really dynamic team and a really good team when there are spaces to attack,” Arteta told Arsenal Media in his pre-match conference.

“There’s some similarities [to Bielsa’s team] but every coach has his own book, but what Jesse has done over the time he has been there is really impressive.”