Bit of Ivory

Today’s Foxtrot? Hilarious:

Am sorely tempted to put this on my Christmas cards, even though I am SO not a math person. (That is, if I manage to get Christmas cards out at all. . .)

In other news, have been insanely busy. I finally made my survey inactive after recieving 3,366 responses. o.O. Needless to say, most of that data did *not* make it into the paper I turned in yesterday. I shall have to sit down soon and analyze it all.

I turned in my Sorting Hat essay as a semester project in my Intro to Grad Studies (English 600) class rather than my critical theory class (since he made the paper optional in that class and I needed something good for the other class), but my critical theory teacher ended up reading it anyway, since my 600 teacher farmed out our projects to other facutly members. I passed, but just barely. Dr. Muhlestein really liked my ideas (luckily he’s read HP), but said (rightly) that the paper was a bit unfocused, and that the issue I was dealing with is actually a lot larger than just the Sorting Hat, which is definitely true. He also said that I knew a lot more than I was putting into the paper (which is also true). The more I think about this idea, though, the more I find to say about it. I really think it could be my thesis topic– analyzing the ideology not just of Slytherin, Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, and Ravenclaw, but the ideology of Hogwarts, the ideology of the British Ministry, the ideology of Durmstrang, the ideology of the Wizarding World in general. I can talk about the pureblood ideology as a kind of residual hegemony, which Slytherin house especially helps to perpetuate. I can talk about *so much.* Now comes the problem of selling it. Fantasy isn’t really all that in in the academic world, at least not as a main pursuit. Can I really get into a Ph.D. program on the strength of a Harry Potter thesis? I don’t know. Anyway, I’m definitely going to try to rewrite the paper so that it’s a bit more coherent, maybe over Christmas break. I think I could submit it to more than just The Witching Hour, if I do it right.

So, two papers down, a big group project and a short essay on Austen and The Beggar’s Opera to go. Then finals. And then A BREAK. A MUCH NEEDED BREAK.

Does anyone know where I should look to find the production history of The Beggar’s Opera?