Columns

If you attended the Luther theatre program’s October “Much Ado About Nothing” and were considering attending the dance program’s November “A Tragedy Like Macbeth,” you could have been pretty sure about the differences between the two.

Since arriving in England I have discovered one of my life’s greatest loves – trains. In America, trains are mostly for hauling graffiti-covered shipping containers of who-knows-what to who-knows-where, or slow and expensive Amtrack trains serving a few areas of the country.

Among the most common phrases at Luther, including jokes about burning down Main III and comments about their sport being in a building year, stands the most uttered sentence in all of student vocabulary: “The caf is bad.”

I’m surprised at how many students still seem surprised at adaptations of Shakespeare. “You mean that all the parts are played by women?” “You mean that Hamlet has a dog, and kills his mother?” “You mean it’s set after World War II?” “You mean it’s been shortened?”

You know what I love? Parking tickets. The way they look, fluttering under my windshield wiper like a yellow flag. The way they smell like the hard work of our Luther security guards. The way they feel as I rub them all over my body.... um... anyway... I love parking tickets.

Having recently celebrated my month-iversary with Nottingham, it seems appropriate to reflect on both its charms and, well, more bizarre qualities. As for its charms, Nottingham has a lively city center with all kinds of shops dedicated to any product one might need, especially clothing. Oh, fashion in Nottingham.

When people use their deep, reverential voice to identify Shakespeare as the greatest writer of all time, they are usually thinking of his tragedies – perhaps of their summer’s experience with a wrenching “King Lear,” or maybe just their ninth grade forced march through “Romeo and Juliet.”

Shakespeare did have a deep understanding of those experiences we call tragic.