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Hothouse thinking
Feb. 21st, 2007 03:44 pmEvery Wednesday, I seem to arrive about twenty minutes early for an International Relations tute in college, so I tend to go into the JCR, where I usually discover Ben and a plate of food, so we've got into the habit of sitting for those twenty contented minutes and working our way through the Grauniad crossword. Today, sacrilege - someone had already done the G2 quick crossword, and we didn't have enough time for the cryptic. So I leafed lazily through the papers until we found an untouched quick crossword, and pausing for a minute's carping at the obvious nature of the clues ("Travel pass, six letters," Ben said. I said, "Oyster." It was "ticket". Booo. Similarly "Greek capital" was Athens and not any other capital in Ancient Greek history.), we got to it.
But the point is, while looking for a crossword, I found an article entitled "The over-pressured hothouse that is Oxbridge", and having not seen the cover, thought dazedly that I was reading Cherwell.
But I wasn't, of course. The article is in The Independent and is all about the flaws in the system - how "psychological stamina" is valued over actual intellectual ability, and how it becomes a tunnel with a distant light - and yes, both fifth-week blues in general and Andy's death in particular are mentioned. (I guess it's Andy's death, really, that has got people to worrying about this now rather than during any other term I've been here. In fact, does anyone have a source for the oft-quoted statistic about the immensely high level of diagnosed mental illness in Oxford as opposed to the general population? I've heard it, but never seen it referenced.) The article seems a fairly good analysis to me, though I'd quibble at the details. Anyway, I've linked it as being of interest to some, and because it seems notable to me that the collective Hilary mental state round here has actually made a column in the national news.
Speaking of which, I have been declared free from mental illness for the time being. I'm glad of this; I may have trouble sleeping and concentrating, but these, apparently, are due to me rather than any depressive symptoms I may be currently harbouring. I do wish there was some sort of blood test for this kind of thing.
In the meantime, I think I need some lunch and an answer to two down, "agitator" (6,6). We think perhaps that the first word is __B_L, but we may be very wrong.
But the point is, while looking for a crossword, I found an article entitled "The over-pressured hothouse that is Oxbridge", and having not seen the cover, thought dazedly that I was reading Cherwell.
But I wasn't, of course. The article is in The Independent and is all about the flaws in the system - how "psychological stamina" is valued over actual intellectual ability, and how it becomes a tunnel with a distant light - and yes, both fifth-week blues in general and Andy's death in particular are mentioned. (I guess it's Andy's death, really, that has got people to worrying about this now rather than during any other term I've been here. In fact, does anyone have a source for the oft-quoted statistic about the immensely high level of diagnosed mental illness in Oxford as opposed to the general population? I've heard it, but never seen it referenced.) The article seems a fairly good analysis to me, though I'd quibble at the details. Anyway, I've linked it as being of interest to some, and because it seems notable to me that the collective Hilary mental state round here has actually made a column in the national news.
Speaking of which, I have been declared free from mental illness for the time being. I'm glad of this; I may have trouble sleeping and concentrating, but these, apparently, are due to me rather than any depressive symptoms I may be currently harbouring. I do wish there was some sort of blood test for this kind of thing.
In the meantime, I think I need some lunch and an answer to two down, "agitator" (6,6). We think perhaps that the first word is __B_L, but we may be very wrong.
