Today we got our classroom back and we met as scheduled in the morning.  Two of our cohort did not show up which worried us but they were OK in the end.  Hmm…

Jericho- the council houses

Our chapter was inspired by the Inspector Morse mysteries.  I have watched all of them and loved every one, including the two new spin-off series, one featuring Sergeant Lewis on his own and the other a young Morse set in the 1950s Oxford.  Our presenters rightly pointed out that there is not much about the TV series in the book but rather a tour of north Oxford, including four of the 5 women’s colleges, Keble College, and the Museum of Natural History. Since we had visited that yesterday the images of place were clear in our collective heads.

We did have a lively discussion on a number of topics:

• the appearance of women’s’ colleges and why education for women was so controversial; while the colleges were founded in the last quarter of the nineteen century, no students could earn a degree until 1920!
• the meaning of free speech and the parameters for discourse across differences
• the immigrant experience and how the US has always been suspicious of those coming into our country from other places, including the experience of many of our own ancestors
• language as a tool for inclusion or exclusion

We had hoped to visit the Museum of the City of Oxford but were disappointed to find that it is closed until 2020.

Walking along the Oxford canal is an adventure, albeit a warm one in today’s hot and sunny Oxford.