Ugly Mug

So I have spent the last few days mainly twiddling my thumbs waiting for some work to come along, sleeping and spilling scolding hot coffee on myself. The lecture courses I'm taking this term are Algebraic Topology, Set Theory and Representation Theory which are all as thrilling as they sound. I actually rather enjoy Representation Theory (the area in which I was thinking I would do a DPhil) and the bonus is that the lectures are given by my personal tutor; Set Theory had potential until I turned up and the lecturer began by writing line after line of predicate calculus on the blackboard (history shows that the study of mathematical logic is v. bad for your mental health); and Algebraic Topology clearly has the capacity to ruin my life for the next 8 weeks.

In other news, I watched the inauguration, and thought that Obama's speech was very accomplished and lucidly set out a new ethos with regard to American foreign policy. But most importantly - did you see Aretha Franklin's enormous hat?!

This Land Is Your Land

I was delighted to see Pete Seeger leading the crowd in song at the end of the Obama concert yesterday. Now there is a true American hero: almost 90 his voice is fading, but the same cannot be said of his enthusiasm - he looked so happy!

Characteristically he insisted that they sing the full 'unsanitised' version of 'This Land is Your Land', and rightly so. Woody Guthrie's song is patriotic in a unromantic and unfashionable way - expressing the notion that ultimately the story of a nation is the story of her people, not of her leaders. It is not a song celebrating the hope and freedom of America but decrying its absence for those exploited and left in extreme poverty by the actions of an unchecked Capitalist hierarchy. It is in essence a protest song. I'm sure the potency of the lyrics in these times of multi-billion dollar bailouts, fraudsters and deindustrialisation were not lost on Seeger, or for that matter Barack Obama.