Hey All, I just finished writing the first of many papers for Oxford. This particular one was over the literary history of the Noble Robber, Social Activist, and Re-distributor of wealth, known as Robin Hood... the first Comic Book Hero. It was a blast studying Robin Hood and his history. There are over a dozen men that Robin Hood may be based on, however there isn't sufficient evidence to link him directly to any of them, or even a particular place in England. Due to these factors, Robin is a pliable character and can be adapted to fit any era, to become the type of hero they need him to be. Thusly Robin has gone through the centuries from 1377 when he is first mentioned in a ballad, all the way to the twenty-first century when he is depicted in a BBC television program. Robin has certainly gone through revisions in that time too. At first he was a ruthless forester who killed bloodily and with zest. He robbed from whomever he wished and gave little away except to the church. Since then Robin has been adapted to become a dispossessed noble man fighting the good fight against oppression and tyranny. He has become the heroic Noble-outlaw who robs from the rich and gives to the poor. Fun eh? So my paper was set up to track when and why Robin has changed so much in the past 700 years. Answer: because he represents what it means to be British in each era he is in, and is continually reinvented to represent the new idea of Britishness.

Anyway, it was a lot of fun writing the paper. We'll soon find out if it is nearly as much fun to have it dissected and analyzed by the foremost opinions on academic papers. uggg. I've discovered a new musician I really like... Joshua Radin if anyone has free time, look him up. It should be a good time. I had a great break in the paper writing today though when I got the chance to finally talk to my parents on the phone. I had emailed with them a few times, but it was really nice to catch-up on the phone. However, since most of the day was spent writing on the computer or talking on the phone with the rents back in the colonies, I don't have very many neat pictures to add from today.

I did however finish the day by joining my first membership in Great Britain... Blockbuster. A group of us who were writing on Robin Hood decided to reward ourselves with a viewing of some of his movies so we made a trip to the blockbuster 15 minute bike ride away in Headington. It was a great trip only to get there and find out that Blockbuster in Headington has no copies of any Robin Hood movies. How can you be a British Movie Store and have no Robin Hoods? Its a travesty, that's the type of stuff that gets your colonies to break away from you. But it was a fun trip none-the-less.

I also started planning my fall break (28 Sep- 02 Oct). It looks like two friends, Bryce and Nick, and I are going to go to Dublin and backpack around Ireland for the week. It ought to be incredible. I'm really excited about it, and the guys are really cool... we all seem to get along well and line up theologically on a lot of issues which is rare. So I'll be eating a lot of lucky charms cereal in preparation. Well, we'll see what tomorrow brings. Have a great day.




The movie is of the inside of the Upper Radcliffe Camera part of the Bodilean Library where I did most of my library work this week.