Into December

The grading saga continues, with tomorrow as the slightly-stretched deadline. It’s going to be a long 24 hours, followed by dealing with plagiarism cases and calculating participation grades.

Over the weekend, I did photograph this year’s Massey Christmas Gaudy. Some preliminary, minimally-edited photos are already up.

Tomorrow we are being graded in our Judo class, for possible advancement to yellow belt. They actually taught us more than the assigned syllabus includes. My technique certainly isn’t great (especially for escaping hold downs and smoothly transitioning between them), and I will need to do a bit of vocabulary cramming tomorrow.

Once I am done with this term’s TA duties, I need to turn back to my PhD work. I will be working as a research assistant, but need to decide if I should also try to get some (considerably better paying) TA hours next term. Next year my departmental funding gets cut by half, and then it goes away altogether the year after.

P.S. It was good to see the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers reject the easement requested for the Dakota Access Pipeline, pending an environmental assessment. There are no permanent victories in the fight against fossil fuel infrastructure, but anything that delays project and increases risks for investors hold out hope for helping us avoid the worst consequences of climate change.

Author: Milan

In the spring of 2005, I graduated from the University of British Columbia with a degree in International Relations and a general focus in the area of environmental politics. In the fall of 2005, I began reading for an M.Phil in IR at Wadham College, Oxford. Outside school, I am very interested in photography, writing, and the outdoors. I am writing this blog to keep in touch with friends and family around the world, provide a more personal view of graduate student life in Oxford, and pass on some lessons I've learned here. View all posts by Milan