Greetings!
I am writing to you from my first relaxing, guilt-free day in quite a while. Yesterday I handed in my last essay due before exams. I had four major assignments due over the last two weeks, so I had several very late nights. I was writing essays on:
a book by the author of
Whale Rider, for those who've seen the movie, for English;
the oh-so-tenuous connections between spatial abilities, testosterone, and finger length ratio -or 'why males perform better than females on visual-spatial tasks' for psychology;
whether or not everything we do is unavoidable and already determined (this one drove me absolutely nuts) for philosophy;
and finally the ways in which
Buffy the Vampire Slayer challenges assumptions about heterosexuality being the only legitimate sexuality for Sex and Society.
So I've been very busy researching and writing. My classes are still going quite well. Right now we're talking about commercial sex in Sex and Society, which is especially interesting because New Zealand legalized prostitution in 2003. The aim was to bring prostitution into the open so that health and social workers and police had greater access and so that 'sex workers' would have more scope for protection from attack and abuse. The jury's still out on whether this change is having overall positive or negative effects.
My English class is also going well lately. I've never had a class before that made literature seem like such a living thing. We study recent works and talk about current trends in New Zealand and Pacific literature rather than those of decades or centuries ago. We're also looking at Pacific writing from quite a political angle: how Pacific Islanders are reclaiming their history and culture through stories and poems. I feel like I'm learning a lot about the cultural tensions in the region.
Anywho, fun things lately have been going to see
Stardust, which came out in the States a while ago. The book it's based on was written by one of my favorite authors, Neil Gaiman, and I really enjoyed the movie.
I also went out for a birthday celebration at Lone Star Steakhouse, which is heavily American themed but also vehemently Kiwi. They've even got little explanations in the menu of how, despite the theme, the whole place is New Zealand run, gosh darn it. McDonald's does much the same thing: all of its wrappers proudly proclaim that they use Kiwi meat, bakeries, fish, vegetables, etc. The Kiwis are really a very patriotic lot. It's remarkable how many of them go around wearing sweatshirts with "New Zealand" emblazoned on them. Right now the Rugby World Cup is on, so everyone's in something of a tizzy. New Zealand's All Blacks are always in the top few teams. Given the size of the country, this is a point of considerable pride here. America, for those who are interested, haven't won a game and are out of the running. They did do respectably against England, though, which apparently surprised people.
There are only two weeks of class left before exams and then I'll soon be heading back to the States.
Here I am on a windy Wellington night by the harbor:
