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The personal statement required of Rhodes applicants is an important piece of the application. In 1,000 words or less, an applicant needs to:
- discuss his or her academic experiences and interests
- lay out a clear research agenda and/or explain what he or she would like to study at Oxford University
- explain how his or her experiences thus far—in college and in life more generally—have led him or her to apply for this scholarship
- what he or she would like to do with the opportunities afforded by receipt of a Rhodes scholarship.
That's a daunting prospect for many of us. You may find the advice of recent Rhodes winners useful as you think about and begin writing your essay. You can find their advice here: http://youtu.be/hLT5715YuZM. We've made available some winning personal statements from recent Rhodes Scholars. Reading through them can give you an idea of how much detail and which areas winning essays tend to cover. Remember: these are for inspiration and information. You need to write your own essay, reflecting your own experiences and interests. Looking at examples can be a helpful way to get started.
RHODES ESSAY 1: "Without contraries is no progression...."
RHODES ESSAY 2: "My double major in Government and Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality (WGS) always provokes one of two reactions...."
RHODES ESSAY 3: "My grandmother clutches her rosary and wags an admonishing forefinger at me as I sort through the dozens of saris she has collected...."
RHODES ESSAY 4: "Before I knock, I peer through the window of the door...."
The Marshall application is structured differently from the Rhodes, with opportunities for separate statements on future career aims and the applicant's proposed academic program. As our example indicates, Marshall reviewers will consider applications from art students who wish to study at certified schools of art and design in the U.K.
MARSHALL ESSAYS: "I grew up in Oakland County, a predominantly white suburb of Detroit, Michigan. It and a handful other counties circling Detroit are largely the result of the white flight...."
"Without contraries is no progression."
William Blake
Having twelve parents in a town of 600 was erratic and eye-opening. My six parents in childhood were products of divorce and remarriage, the six foster parents in adolescence the consequence of unsuccessful remarriages. While dialogues of dysfunction usually accompany this kind of tale, mine was one of fluid counterbalance. The various homes that welcomed me, often last-minute with my sleeping bag in hand, revealed to me a supple sense of diversity. The one constant in [my Midwestern town], however, was ignorance of the outside—geographically, politically, and religiously. The homogeneous farming community—and [my state] generally afforded little opportunity to explore or appreciate uniqueness. I suppose this "small town mentality" is best exemplified by the evening in spring 2003 when American bombs ignited Baghdad. The dormitory dining hall's eyes gaped at the television, while the hall's ears heard rapid whispers equating 'terrorists' with 'Saddam' and 'Muslims' with 'Osama'. Knowing my military stepmother was headed to the center of the conflict, I ignored the broadcast with defiant ignorance. As the bombs flattened, so did my budding global perspective; simply put, not knowing the details of the struggle seemed better than trying to understand a multifaceted conflict.
I studied in Oslo later that year, still trying to overlook the Middle Eastern and Islamic world. Ironically, my best friends in Norway were Moroccan, Israeli, and French-Afghani. I also taught at the Oslo International School, with the student populace representing over 40 countries. My companions and students abroad, who ultimately became my teachers, were touchstones of a world that I had embarrassingly dismissed, avoided, and even rejected.
Long fascinated by literature and religious studies, I began to grasp religious scholar Karen Armstrong's idea that "Theology and literature both teach one to connect the like with the unlike and to see that this can make a new truth." Drawn to the wisdom in this, I found a way to embrace the seemingly irreconcilable contrasts in my life. In the spirit of this balance, my mother returned from the war and my father, just months later, left for Baghdad. By this time, my global interest had dramatically transformed from that of a farm-boy freshman. The world during that time became much smaller for me: my father, working with U.S. intelligence in Iraq, often emailed me in [the Midwest], for Iraqi news. I realized then that something is, and has been, profoundly irregular in the interaction between east and west. Despite our online 'global community', even basic facts are lost in their voyage across hemispheres. If such discrepancies exist, what hope do Middle Eastern voices, perceptions, and emotions have to find a western audience and vice versa? I found myself longing not only to understand but also to influence modern struggles with hindsight from the medieval literary and religious past. In my passion to integrate medieval classics like Beowulf and Chaucer with the seemingly disparate modern Middle East, I was continually drawn to the crusades.
Fortuitously, my return from Europe this summer aligned with my father's short leave from Iraq. Amidst sharing adventure stories, our conversations drifted to my continuing interest in the crusades and the divergent voices echoed in Arabic and Christian art, literature, and historical records. I was taken aback when he mentioned that, in fact, he had numerous conversations with Iraqis on exactly that subject. When I asked him if he thought that affected how they view the current conflict, he reflected, "I'm positive it does, but I'm not sure how." By the end of the day, my father and I had developed plans for my trip to Baghdad in February so that I could begin to find out.
In 1984, Amin Maalouf collected narratives by Arab chroniclers of the crusades in The Crusades through Arab Eyes. In Iraq, I hope to gather modern narratives from Iraqis and American soldiers about their cultural memory of the crusades and their consequent perceptions of today's clash. I believe that the most effective way to change the world is to change people's perspectives and ideas about the world. While sociology and political science can deconstruct the struggle through their lenses, the intimate lens of literature—like Maalouf's collection—affords a crucial catalyst for such growth.
Admittedly, medieval studies can be viewed, and perhaps rightly so at times, as a distant and obscure subject. My interest is in the crusades' fundamental relevance to global issues today through its correspondences and its contraries. While at Oxford, I plan to compare eastern and western medieval literature, manuscripts, and art portraying the crusades. For instance, I will study Persian historian Rashid al-Din's stylized Persian depiction of Pope Gregory IX in Oxford's Fulk of Neully [Ms Laud Misc 587 fo.1] alongside "St Bernard, Cistercian abbot of Clairvaux" [MS 49 fo.162r]. The primary literary source I will work with is The Song of Roland for its fictionalized depiction of Charlemagne as quintessential enemy of Islam. More specifically, I will evaluate models of the convivencia, the coexistence of Christians and Spanish Muslims. In that context, I will use manuscripts like Alfonso X of Castile's A Treatise on Chess to explore further the development of Prester John, a Christian-Muslim mythical hero, as an exemplification of "crusading convivencia." Not only does Oxford have the richest supply of relevant manuscripts, it also boasts the leading group of scholars of the religious Middle Ages.
My passion is to mine the riches inherent in opposites: provincial town and multifaceted world, willful ignorance and ardent curiosity, the medieval and the modern. After spending this spring working in Iraq and this summer joining a professor on an ancient Canaanite archaeological dig outside Jerusalem, my journey towards the crusades will continue. I hope to find myself at the welcoming doors of Oxford University next fall, to approach the unique manuscripts of the Bodleian library with awe compounded by anticipation, and then enter into the finest academic community available to cultivate my research and contribute my voice.back to top
My double major in Government and Studies of Women, Gender, and Sexuality (WGS) always provokes one of two reactions. Some people, like my uncle, make light of the concept of a man majoring in women's studies; others, like my grandmother, pull me aside with a worried look and encourage me to try studying something besides gay and lesbian theory. I had always planned to work in human rights advocacy, and my academic choices seemed like good preparation for that field. Still, my uncle's skepticism nursed a suspicion that I would perpetually be an outsider if I studied issues like feminism, ethnic conflict, racism, or poverty. My grandmother's concern fostered an equal and opposite conviction that there is something self-serving about fighting for gay and lesbian rights when you have a personal investment in that struggle.
When I arrived at college, I had not begun to grapple with the ethical underpinnings of social justice. I dove into [my university's] First-Year Urban Program, a week of volunteering which stressed that it can be counterproductive to work on behalf of a group without working with those people themselves. As I listened to a homeless speaker reminisce about how clueless volunteers could be, my mind flashed back to rooms full of white, middle class Midwesterners, and I wondered what I had actually contributed to local campaigns against poverty, racism, and violence. I kept myself updated on the politics of those movements, but without attempting to interact with individuals who were personally fighting those battles, I could never confidently say whether I had helped or hindered their efforts. In the years that followed, I threw myself into gay and lesbian activism on campus—and felt naturally authoritative when I spoke up.
It was outside the campus context, however, that I witnessed how the ability to understand others—and not outsider or insider status—truly characterizes effective advocacy. After receiving a Weissman Fellowship from [my university] to work abroad, I spent a summer at the International Lesbian and Gay Association in Brussels, Belgium. It was initially jarring because developments in the United States were rarely mentioned in the office, where I was tracking the decriminalization of homosexuality in Africa and Asia, publicizing anti-gay violence at parades in Latvia and Russia, and translating materials on women's health and same-sex domestic violence. What I considered contemporary gay and lesbian issues—like adoption and marriage—were distant goals on the organization's agenda. Nonetheless, though I was working on behalf of people who were thousands of miles away and had different objectives, my familiarity with the movement's resources, symbols, and terminology made me markedly more effective as an ally.
Shortly afterwards, I left for South Africa to do field research for my thesis. In 1996, the South African Constitution was the first in the world to ban discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, and I investigated how the subsequent decade of progressive legal victories occurred in spite of an overwhelmingly unreceptive public. The Government Department demanded a quantitative comparison of countries where similar reforms had been proposed. Professors in WGS, on the other hand, suggested that I use personal testimonies to understand how post-apartheid politics shaped gender and sexuality. I quickly realized that the movement in South Africa could not be explained by comparative cases, since apartheid and history put it in a class unto itself, but the personal (and occasionally, contradictory) perspectives of my interviewees also failed to produce a definitive conclusion. It was only through a combination of fieldwork and legislative research that I found that the country's progressive legal framework masked very specific problems—ranging from administrative indifference to endemic violence—in communities fragmented by race, class, and gender. As an outsider who still felt a connection to the movement, I was not sure whether I could accurately depict that reality. As one interviewee pointed out, however, the gay and lesbian movement in South Africa has historically depended on activists who challenged claims that homosexuality is "un-African," but also relied on outsiders who listened to South Africans, lobbied governments, and raised awareness around the world.
I have witnessed the ways in which individuals use journalism, law, and political pressure to draw international attention to populations who suffer from abuse and repression. Whether one is part of those populations or not, the ability to listen to others and contextualize observations is a necessary precursor to meaningful advocacy. Without that background in anthropological theory and ethnographic practice, it is difficult to know whether attempts to work with marginalized populations do more harm than good. As an undergraduate, I have developed a better understanding of the ideological justifications for human rights. Now, I want to train myself to conduct fieldwork and bring the pursuit of those protections to light.
I am seeking a program that trains students to put research skills to use, but also encourages graduates to think critically about their work. Oxford's program is especially attractive because of its insistence on the inseparability of rigorous methodology and sociopolitical theory. The MPhil in Social Anthropology stresses training in quantitative and qualitative methodologies, but graduates are encouraged to apply those skills thoughtfully by engaging with Marx, Weber, and other social theorists. The first year of the program is virtually identical to the MSc, and provides an introduction to the field of anthropology before those concepts are put into practice in the second year. Students from a variety of disciplines, from academic anthropology to advocacy and human rights, are thus able to pursue the degree and enrich each others' experiences. In South Africa, minority movements succeeded because they stressed that human rights are indivisible. Oxford's Institute of Social and Cultural Anthropology stresses this interplay of religion, nationalism, and ethnicity, and Dr. X and Dr. Y would be especially invaluable resources while studying the political mobilization of identities. As a human rights advocate, the ability to conduct cross-cultural research, understand key concerns, and bring violations to light aren't only skills I hope to master, but ones I am determined to practice.back to top
My grandmother clutches her rosary and wags an admonishing forefinger at me as I sort through the dozens of saris she has collected over eighty years. Fish curry cooks over a wood fire in the kitchen while a cow saunters in the street outside. It is a soggy monsoon afternoon in Sampige, the village home of my mother's family since before Vasco de Gama landed in India. My summer is drawing to a close. I have done bloody battle with leeches in the jungle, wrangled a classroom full of children yelling, "Ajith said a bad word—beat him!" and encountered a man who, hearing I was American, growled and proudly showed me the pixilated Osama bin Laden on his cell phone. Yet few memories stand out as vividly as my grandmother and the unlikelihood, bordering on absurdity, that this woman's granddaughter should sing the fight song at college football games, use the word "Google," or watch MTV's Pimp My Ride.
Daughter of a Midwestern boy and a girl from Calcutta, I find it amazing that my Indian grandmother, experientially a world away, set the stage for my life. As I have studied for degrees in Letters and International Studies, the interconnectedness of human experience across time and culture has been a recurring theme. Just as religious nationalism in Serbia has parallels to India's Hindu-based BJP party, knowing about the governance of Sparta under Lycurgus lends historical perspective to the fusion of faith and governance. My academic background forms a broad and rich foundation for the English Language and Literature B.A. at Oxford. Having seen the interplay of various academic disciplines, I am anxious to apply this awareness to studying the intertwined development of literature and language.
I have known for several years that I want to become an English professor and a writer. Like most word-geeks I am fascinated by the ability of skillful writers to capture images and convey effects through their handling of language. I want to explore the technical and formal aspects that make it possible for literature to reflect and change the people who read it. One of the best courses I have taken was an introductory American History class in which we read novelists from Alger to Kesey to DeLillo. Along with learning about historical events, we discovered through literature how those events had shaped Americans' view of the human experience. Understanding history, philosophy and politics gives literature its grounding while literature gives those subjects their life. One reason I love literature is its power to challenge me and refine my view of myself and others. Literature charts my common ground with characters as diverse as a street urchin in a Dickens saga and a modern Japanese businessman in a sketch by Murakami.
Studying at Oxford was a childhood dream of mine, discarded along with my tutu. I was originally attracted to the fact that Bertie Wooster was an Oxonian, but the English Language and Literature B.A. degree and the tutorial system rekindled my interest when I participated in the Honors at Oxford program. The English B.A. focuses on giving the student a solid grasp of the development of English literature from Beowulf to present. Learning the foundations of literature provides the basis for future specialization just as a background in the broader humanities enriches the understanding of literature. Reading James Joyce's Ulysses taught me how literature and culture anchor a writer's work and broaden his scope of possible expression. Anyone could describe Leopold Bloom making a pot of tea. James Joyce chose to relate the event in the form of a catechism, borrowing cultural and literary associations of Christianity which lend Bloom's every thought and action a preternatural significance and make a statement of bold humanism without ever straying from the narrative. Without Joyce's knowledge of his historical and literary family tree from Homer to Yeats, Ulysses would have been un-writable. Without a similar awareness on the part of the reader, it is unreadable as well.
The best professors I have encountered have been those who combine their expertise with knowledge and interests beyond their specialties. In their offices a question about Iraq turns into a discussion of Virginia Woolf. They are the professors who see their own subject as a contribution to my broader development as a scholar and as a person. Literature in particular is a fertile ground for interdisciplinary application and has practical relevance in other fields. As an English professor grounded in both literary history and interdisciplinary studies, I hope to bring students in touch with the beauty and power of the written word, with an eye to helping them clarify their own values, discover their potential and find their niche in the world.
As an aspiring writer, I know that producing two papers each week will be invaluable to my development. I have written for friends and family and known the delight of a well-formed sentence from an early age, but it was not until college that I took my own writing very seriously. I have learned to appreciate the connotations and sound qualities of individual words and to notice how those attributes can be used to create subtlety of meaning. Writing an opinion column for the school newspaper has exposed me to the challenge of distilling my own thoughts and observations for the consumption of strangers. I enjoy examining a narrow facet of life and seeing how it reflects upon the greater whole.
I have always tried to live my life with initiative. Whether traipsing onstage in a bikini when my friends dared me to enter a beauty pageant or visiting my Grandmother in Sampige, through a wide range of experiences I view life from a variety of angles and incorporate them into my worldview and writing. Studying English at Oxford is a logical next step towards a career of using literature to examine assumptions and discover unsuspected commonalities, thus bridging a span as wide as that between myself and my grandmother, who recently heard that she is mentioned in my essay for the Rhodes Scholarship. "See how good God is!" she exclaimed. "My name is going to Oxford!"
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Before I knock, I peer through the window of the door: the room is strewn with blue balloons and extravagant bouquets. Mrs. K reclines in her bed in her hospital gown. Her eyes reveal a familiar and painful story, one shared by each of the families I visit. Her husband sits in a small wooden chair beside her, his face etched with worry as he considers the life his newborn will lead.
This couple's first child, Jackson, was born with a myelomeningocele, a defect that occurs when the neural tube (the embryologic precursor to the brain and spinal cord) fails to close during fetal development. While his childhood will be interrupted by multiple surgeries and his body will be marked forever, he is lucky to have been born in the United States, where people with neural tube defects (NTDs) can often lead relatively normal adult lives.
As I enter the room, I consider how little I know about NTDs. Although I understand what is known about their etiologies, available treatment options, and potential consequences of these deformities, I know little of the strife, emotional burdens, and agony associated with them; little of the shattered dreams, new realities, and lifelong fears that follow a diagnosis. I visit families like Jackson's to learn. They are my teachers.
Their lessons contextualize the research that is my passion. I study the etiology of NTDs in Guatemala. The country has an extremely high incidence of NTDs, but Guatemalan children afflicted with this deformity are not privy to the luxuries of medical and surgical intervention available in the US. Children who could be saved if born 1000 miles north often die as a result of the deformity.
I am the lead researcher among a team of neurosurgeons, anesthesiologists, pediatricians, nurses and social workers who travel to Guatemala each year with Project Shunt, a medical mission sponsored by the Department of Neurosurgery at the University of Michigan to heal children afflicted with neurodevelopmental defects. We are studying the aggregate-level effects of the toxin fumonisin FB1. This toxin, found in rotting corn husks, is thought to be a direct cause of NTDs in populations that consume corn as a main staple. Our work has the potential to dramatically curb the incidence of NTDs in Guatemala and beyond.
The decision to become a physician was easy for me: growing up, my primary interests were people and science. And medicine, in my mind the confluence of social work and physiological engineering, was an obvious choice. On a daily basis, doctors have the special opportunity to help others in their weakest and most dependent states and to manipulate scientific principles in their aid.
As a first generation Egyptian-American, much of my extended family still lives in Egypt. I was raised a stone's throw from the poverty and despair that marks much of the world. As I continue to move between the relative opulence of the US and the deprivation of countries like my parents', I realize my challenge as a physician and scientist as one to study and alleviate health disparities that fall along ethnic, socioeconomic, and national lines.
Currently, I am a first-year student in an NIH-funded Medical Scientist Training Fellowship at the University of Michigan pursuing both MD and PhD degrees in hopes of developing a career in academic medicine. This way, I will combine my clinical interests with an extensive research agenda; I will continue my research in neurodevelopmental epidemiology hoping to alleviate the international burden of congenital neurological defects. Clinically, I will specialize in pediatric neurosurgery. As a neurosurgeon, I may mend with my hands some of the defects I cannot avert through my research. Also, many countries in the underdeveloped world lack quality neurosurgical care; for example, it is estimated that there are only 65 neurosurgeons in the entire region of sub-Saharan Africa, as compared to about 110 per state in the US. To address this global shortage, I would like one day to create an international fellowship to train general surgeons in high-yield neurosurgical techniques. Logistical, technical, and ethical issues often mar the conceptualization, planning and administration of epidemiologic studies and public health campaigns in the developing world. To improve my skills in research and administration and to strengthen my background in international health, I will study Global Health Sciences at Oxford.
Why would I take pause from a fully funded, combined MD/PhD course to pursue studies at Oxford? First, the University's individualized pedagogy is ideal for training researchers. Training at Oxford, I can benefit from one-on-one interaction with some of the world's premier epidemiologists: I plan to conduct research with the British National Perinatal Epidemiology Unit, a world-renowned perinatal epidemiologic think tank. Second, the Global Health Sciences program at Oxford is interdisciplinary, unlike public health courses in the US. The program places equal emphasis on theory and application, preparing its graduates for all aspects of international public health research and administration. Third, studying at Oxford will place me among a community of elite scholars that will broaden my horizons and refine my perspective. This opportunity will not delay the completion of my education. Because I am already pursuing MD and PhD degrees, my studies at Oxford will fulfill required PhD coursework, allowing me to return and finish both degrees on schedule.
My religion teaches that if one saves a life, she has saved all of humanity. I remember reading this verse with my father as a boy: "How great," I thought, "would it be then to save a life every day?" Quick to share my thoughts with Baba, I told him that I wanted to be a doctor when I grew up. My father, a professor, thought for a moment, and reasoned, "Abdulrahman, wouldn't it be better to learn why people die, and then teach everyone around you to save lives? Wouldn't that save more lives?" His reasoning stuck; but so did mine.back to top
Marshall/Personal Statement
I grew up in Oakland County, a predominantly white suburb of Detroit, Michigan. It and a handful other counties circling Detroit are largely the result of the white flight spurred by the city's 1960s race riots. Whenever my father and I visited the city, he casually pressed the automatic lock button as we crossed Eight Mile Road, the dividing line between the suburbs and the city. He grew up in Detroit and remembered a vibrant, diverse city—drastically different from the dilapidated, primarily African American city I saw. My mother worked as an advocate for urban teens in the city for years, and my father drew up building proposals in an attempt to rebuild the city. The daughter of a community-minded architect and teacher, I was raised to think of myself as a catalyst for social improvement through creativity.
While studying at [my college], I focused on performance art, a discipline in which the human body becomes the artistic medium. Some of my best classes involved collaborations with a female juvenile facility, local farmers, and the Humane Society. In each of these classes, we used art to reach out to different members of our community. During my senior year, I performed a monologue in front of large-scale paintings I created about my city's namesake. Upon graduating from college in 2006, I was awarded a fellowship with Artrain USA, an art museum in a locomotive that travels the country, bringing world-class exhibitions to impoverished, art-starved communities. I created puppet shows and paintings about the towns we visited and staged re-enactments of significant local events. After my fellowship with the Artrain USA, I was awarded an artist residency with a community arts organization with two galleries, a stage, classrooms, and seven resident artist studios. [The city], historically a working-class port town, offered a host of historical events, figures, and rituals for me to explore. Its modern day culture also fascinated me—its rich cultural diversity, its proximity to the Mason Dixon Line, and the ways in which blue collar [citizens] who had lived on the same street for 40 years bumped up against recent Latin American immigrants.
[The city] seemed, in some ways, to echo my father's stories about Detroit. But while in Detroit much of the white population now lives north of the city, [my new city's] racial divide consists of block and neighborhood divisions. It struggles with high crime, drugs, and gang-related violence. When I moved into the Creative Alliance, there had been a spike in drug-related theft on our block. Every day I heard a different racial or ethnic slur uttered on the street. I wanted to change the hostility somehow, but couldn't figure out how to break through the tension of my new city. Then, I saw a photograph that changed everything.
In the old newspaper photo, "Washday," a row of pristine marble steps leading to the city's row houses are meticulously scrubbed by housewives in the midday sun. The residents were unbelievably unified, as though the women had decided to scrub their steps at precisely the same hour. I had never noticed anyone in my neighborhood scrubbing steps and began to suspect that the absence of this performance was a symptom of something greater than a lapse in marble maintenance. Beginning in the late 19th century, this ritual was performed each Saturday by the female heads of household all first-generation Americans and recent immigrants from Italy, Poland, and Germany. The performance of the weekly chore, once unifying them in their fresh homeowners' pride, fell off gradually as the 20th century progressed, renters moved in, and a generation moved on. I decided to use this aspect of [my city's] history as a point of entry into the complexities of its current social structure by performing the once-communal chore.
Though great in theory, this was not an easy task. Almost immediately I realized that I was afraid of my audience, afraid they might not remember or care about the part of their history I was trying to resurrect. Would they slam the door in my face? Some did. But many more said "yes." Every Saturday for the past six months, I have worn a 1940s housedress and apron. I go door to door with a bucket of water, scrub brush and a can of Bon Ami Polishing Cleanser, knock on my neighbors' doors, and ask "Do Your Steps?" Their reactions range from delighted glee as they recount their days scrubbing steps to confusion if they are strangers to the ritual. Most often, we end up in a lively discussion about the history of their block, the ritual of step scrubbing, and their theories on why the tradition ended.
This is just one example of my belief that it is critical that people engage with the history of the place they live to understand its present social, cultural, and economic dynamics. Just as I've seen in [cities across the country], historically based performance art could do wonders to shed light on international affairs in an engaging, thought-provoking way. It performs the double purpose of drawing historians and politicians to art, and drawing art appreciators to politics and history. Sometimes it takes an outsider to look at a country's history and politics to re-ignite an interest in or reframe that piece of history.
Many other performance artists have taken their inspiration from global and cultural politics. Guillermo Gomez-Pena, for example, is a Mexican-born performance artist, creating work about the politics of the U.S./Mexican border. NaoKo TakaHashi is another performance artist whose work highlights the ambiguities of national and individual identities, focusing on re-location in London. I would like to become just such an ambassador, learning about a new place while connecting with its people through history.
Marshall/Proposed Academic Program
I earned my Bachelors of Fine Arts Degree in Art & Design in 2006 from [my university]. Since graduating, I have held two artist residencies and worked as an arts educator in impoverished urban and rural communities. These experiences have made me crave the ability to affect more people in new places with my work, which is why I would like to pursue a Master of Fine Arts degree. Scotland has a rich, 10,000-year-old history. I want to investigate the history of Glasgow's shipbuilding industry. I am fascinated by formerly industry based urban areas, and how the populations once in these industries (whether it is shipbuilding in Glasgow, steel in Baltimore, or cars in Detroit) change and are affected differently during the height, decline, and renewal periods of the industrial-economic shift.
For a performance artist, the Glasgow School of Fine Art provides the perfect academic and cultural environment. The GSA's strong support of students creating work in a variety of media, especially time-based work and performance, make it a perfect match for my approach to art making. The School is a small, highly focused international community of artists that encourages socially engaged artwork. Several of the School's faculty members, a number of whom are performances artists, have received or been finalists for the Turner Prize. Because the focus of my work is on the reenactment and creative exploration of local histories, I seek to study under Julie Roberts, Edward Stewart, Stephanie Smith, and Alan Currall. Roberts is known for her paintings that investigate objects associated with medical institutions. Edward Stewart and Stephanie Smith are performance artists concerned with researching the politics of identity and gender. Alan Currall is a master of using his life, relationships, and surroundings as creative media. I am eager to see how my work responds to, benefits from, and is challenged by an entirely new academic and cultural environment.
I anticipate my work in the MFA Program will combine historical research, performance, painting, and installation to further my creative investigation of local histories. I envision my creative research as a sustained and thorough inquiry into the history of the people, places, and events surrounding the shipbuilding industry in Glasgow. I will utilize The Glasgow Museum of Transport, The Kevlingrove Museum & Art Gallery, The Glasgow & West of Scotland Family History Society, The Mitchell Library, The Museum of Scottish Country Life, word of mouth, tall tales, rumors, and local gossip to conduct my creative historical research.
Marshall/Choosing the UK
My multidisciplinary, creative investigations of local histories in towns and cities of the United States have proven fascinating, challenging, and rewarding. The most creatively lucrative have been my explorations of places where I am, initially, a total outsider. I then use art as a way to become an insider, to gain access to the essence of a by inserting myself as a character in its past. It is exhilarating and inspiring to consider how many more historical individuals, places, events, and industries I would be able to explore in Glasgow, the largest city in a country whose roots stretch back to prehistoric times.back to top


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Some very interesting labels cropped up in the late summer... here are some of the ones that caught our attention.
- Pusser's Nelson's Blood 15yr Rum nailed a great score from BTI this month with a 95pt rating. It was their highest rating for an aged rum category. It's also a great story.
- One of the bigger players in the gin world came back with a vengeance! Tanqueray No. 10 showed up as the #1 rated gin in the 2014 Wine Enthusiast set of reviews with a 96pt rating. They called it "gin and tonic" perfection. Perfect for summer. The Malacca scored almost as well at 94pt.
- We've always been partial to the work at North Shore Distillery and they re-entered the review market with a 90pt Wine Enthusiast score for their No. 11 gin, which we always found to be aimed squarely at the Gin Martini crowd. Their No. 6 came in right behind at 89pt.
- Not all the scores were great... the flavored rum category struggled with the Beverage Tasting Institute and the new Bacardi Pineapple Fusion came in as the caboose with 80pt and a "powdery" finish.
- Flavored vodka is another category that struggles with the pros but it's worth noting that Van Gogh Double Espresso picked up an impressive 94pt score from the BTI. They thought it would be "fantastic" in cocktails and great if you're leaving summer and looking forward to winter.
- Unflavored vodka does not suffer with the pros and Stolichnaya reasserted its dominance with its Stoli Elit nailing a 97pt score from BTI.
- As rums go, Appleton Estates is a big player and their 21yr premium expression received a near-unheard of score of 98pt from Wine Enthusiast. If you're wondering if rum can be as good as whiskey, this is your answer.
- Right on Appleton's heels, the new line of premium Bacardi rums called Facundo all received excellent scores, headed by the Facundo Paraiso XA rum at 97 pt (and $250).

subset: commoncrawl


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Sarah Ban Breathnach's Mrs. Sharp's Traditions: The Art of Domestic Bliss
Dear Listener,
Forgive us for being so bold, but are you pleased with you family life? If your answer is "no" or even "I'm not sure," then may Mrs. Sharp be of assistance?
Within the cozy confines of this charming audiobook, you will meet Mrs. Victoriana Sharp, a noted nineteenth-century "literary domestic," and the delightful creation of Sarah Ban Breathnach's imagination.
This audiobook based on Mrs. Sharp's Traditions by the author of the international best-seller Simple Abundance, is a "Simple Abundance for families." Ban Breathnach encourages us to turn away from the stress of modern life and embrace the enduring pleasures of a gentler, more reassuring era. Mrs. Sharp is on hand to offer an abundance of joyful simplicities that will enchant and engage everyone.
Full of heart and insight, Sarah Ban Breathnach's Mrs. Sharp's Traditions reveals century-old secrets for bringing a family closer together -- customs and rituals that still work their magic today.
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The Washington Post puts the George Allen-Jim Webb debate on Sunday's "Meet the Press" on the front page Monday with the subhead: "Comments on Race, Gender Resurface in TV Appearance." But the Post account by Michael Shear and Tim Craig omitted Jim Webb's most stunning comments on race, at least for a Democratic candidate: he re-emphasized that he believes government quota programs ("affirmative action") are the equivalent of "state-sponsored racism" -- which isn't exactly friendly to the Democratic Party's minority-group activists.
In a 2000 Wall Street Journal book review praising black conservative Ward Connerly, Webb said that only blacks were the subject of historical discrimination in America, so broadening quotas to all minorities was as odious as Jim Crow racism. In a campaign in which the Post and other outlets have so pounded Allen's supposed racism in the "Macaca" comments, isn't this the kind of stand which Democrats would usually pound (wrongly) as racist?
Russert only mentioned the words "state-sponsored racism" as he offered Webb the chance to revisit the land of "Macaca." He didn't give a fuller context of the article that would inflame the Jesse Jackson-Al Sharpton wing of the Democratic Party, such as:
Mr. Connerly's views on race relations are decades ahead of the Jacobins who have foisted the affirmative-action regime on this country.
Affirmative action, which originally sought to repair the state-induced damage to blacks from slavery and its aftermath, has within one generation brought about a permeating state-sponsored racism that is as odious as the Jim Crow laws it sought to countermand. A Soviet-style bureaucracy of political commissars now monitors every level of our society to ensure that racial and gender "diversity" matches pre-ordained models, using the awesome powers of government to make certain that white males are not "overrepresented" in education, employment or government contracts.
Shear and Craig do not consider that writings like these could at the very least depress the liberal base of Democratic voters who would find these comments highly offensive if they came out of the pen of a Republican candidate. (Imagine if Webb was the GOP nominee!) Or is it possible the Post ignored this topic precisely because it's depressing to liberals?
Is it not possible that voters watching the debate yesterday would see Webb as Allen Lite, as a race between two conservatives? Issues on which Webb is more liberal (say, "gay marriage") weren't touched by Russert, who largely stuck to Webb's comfort zone and selling point of military topics.
The Post reporters do not omit Allen's exchange over "Macaca," of course. (You can argue that this helps Allen protest the word just popped out of his mouth as a nonsense word.) But the Posties cast this again as a dominant issue in the race (as the Post has clearly intended) and also as a "character" issue. "But questions about character -- including Allen's comment to a Webb campaign volunteer and allegations about Webb's view of women in combat -- have dominated a race that polls indicate have tightened."
Webb's anti-quota comments were also left out of a transparent Webb-boosting piece by Robin Toner in Monday's New York Times.


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What's For Dinner?
I made this last night! Not only was it easy, it was really good!
I used top round steak and 35 minutes was probably 5 minutes too long. But it still tasted good. And you should totally PILE ON the spinach. You can not put enough on.
It can get a little messy when rolling them up and it's not easy putting in the toothpicks, but it's worth it. Aren't they pretty?
Dinner is served!
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The first target for arrest was a top Quebec construction boss, the second was once No. 2 at the city of Montreal, and the third was chief fundraiser for the mayor's party.
Quebec's corruption crackdown struck the heart of Montreal's city hall and its construction industry on Thursday with the arrest of construction magnate Paolo Catania, Frank Zampino, a former city councillor who was the right-hand man of Montreal Mayor Gérald Tremblay, and former fundraiser Bernard Trépanier.
While investigators have scooped up municipal officials in Montreal suburbs, it's the first time the corruption investigation has made arrests near the top of Mr. Tremblay's administration. Last month, police arrested 15 people, including construction magnate Antonio Accurso, on charges of corruption, fraud, conspiracy and bribery, in the anti-corruption squad's first major operation.
Nine men were arrested in Thursday's sweep and charged with fraud and conspiracy. Mr. Catania and the former civic officials also face charges of abuse of trust. Police allege the men, led by Mr. Zampino, rigged a deal on a $300-million condo development in the east end of Montreal.
Investigators say the city officials fed information to Mr. Catania's firm, Construction Frank Catania, that helped it craft a winning bid for a large swath of city-owned land at a low price in 2007. In return, the city officials allegedly received about a million dollars in cash and gifts, including money intended for Mr. Tremblay's party, Union Montreal.
The allegations have not been proven in court.
"I take note of this morning's arrests, which are very serious arrests. I hope all light will be cast on the situation as quickly as possible," said Mr. Tremblay, who was questioned by investigators and was visibly distressed as he addressed city council.
Mr. Zampino retired from civic politics abruptly in 2008 when it emerged he had vacationed on The Touch, a luxury yacht owned by Mr. Accurso that has become famous for its political guests.
The firms owned by Mr. Accurso and Mr. Catani, 49, have long divided much of Montreal's construction business.
Mr. Trépanier, 74, was nicknamed "Mr. 3 per cent" at city hall about three years ago after a political rival accused him of demanding that percentage for Mr. Tremblay's political party from some city contractors. Mr. Tremblay denied the accusation.
A city auditor's report two and a half years ago found that Mr. Catania's firm obtained 48 hectares of city land for about $4.4-million, about a quarter of its market value and about one seventh of its civic evaluation. Police say they've documented about $1-million in fraud in connection with the land deal after a year reconstructing computer records.
Police allege that Montreal's housing and development agency offered $30-million in financial aid and low-interest loans to Catania Construction for the condo project and guarantees the city would buy $41-million in units.
With a report from Daniel Leblanc in OttawaReport Typo/Error
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January 20, 2009
There has been much recent research into the overuse of antibiotics by Europeans. Consumption of these drugs varies strikingly across Europe, with Greeks, the heaviest users, taking three times as many as the Dutch, who use the fewest. Rather like trade protection, the popping of an antibiotic offers false comfort to individuals, says the Economist.
As with political debates over free trade, some people appear to suffer from a corrosive lack of trust when the authorities tell them that they are demanding the wrong thing, says the Economist:
- In an anonymous 2008 survey, Greek pediatricians said that 85 percent of parents demanded antibiotics for children with the common cold virus.
- Even when told that antibiotics cannot fight viruses, 65 percent of Greek parents in the survey insisted they did until their doctors gave in.
Scientists talk of a broad north-south divide in Europe, with the Dutch, Germans, Scandinavians and Baltics consuming few antibiotics, but lots being guzzled in the Mediterranean. The main users are Greece, Cyprus, France and Italy, with Spain almost as high once illicit sales without a prescription are counted. Just as with trade barriers, pill-popping has bad side-effects. For example:
- In most north European countries, penicillin can deal with a common nasty, streptococcus pneumonia in all but 5 percent of cases.
- But in high antibiotic consumers like Cyprus, France and Spain, more than a quarter of cases do not respond to penicillin.
Above all, many experts come back to levels of anxiety, and intolerance for uncertainty, as a key driver of antibiotic demand. And this may explain one final correlation. When comparing countries that use the most antibiotics with those most skeptical of the benefits of globalization four of the top five match.
Yet this correlation also gives grounds for hope, says the Economist. Education and transparency work wonders in reducing antibiotic use. Even though cultural differences cannot be erased altogether, trust can be built.
Source: Editorial, "Of antibiotics and globalization," The Economist, January 8, 2009.
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ABOUT THE PROGRAM: For several years the casino members of the Iowa Gaming Association allowed a person to ban him/herself from a particular casino. In 2004, a Statewide Voluntary Self-Exclusion Program was created so a person could sign one form and not be allowed at any Iowa licensed casino. The statewide program option was passed by the Iowa legislature and is part of the industry's comprehensive responsible gaming initiative. For more details, see below or these Frequently Asked Questions.
A person can voluntarily request to be banned from all commercial casinos in Iowa by signing an exclusion form. This form is then distributed to all IGA member casinos (the three tribal casinos are exempt from participation). By signing this form, a person agrees to a lifetime ban that is irrevocable. He/she will forfeit the equivalent dollars of any jackpot, slot credit or chips to the State of Iowa General Fund if a breach of the lifetime ban is discovered.
Download Self-Exclusion Form
No. If a person signs a single casino's in-house voluntary self-exclusion form, he/she does not automatically become enrolled in the statewide exclusion program. The above statewide form must be completed and turned in to be banned from all of Iowa's commercial casinos.
Learn More »


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Wheeler dealing
I wish to buy a set of winter tyres and steel (ie non-alloy) wheels for my VW Tiguan Escape. My VW dealer tells me I cannot buy steel wheels in the UK and therefore would have to buy a set of alloys, total cost, with tyres fitted a prohibitive 4 x £370. I do not want to take off the normal tyres (235/55/R17 - 99H) from their alloys to substitute with winter tyres. Do you know where I might obtain some steel wheels, please?
Asked on 27 March 2010 by M.B., via e-mail
Answered by Honest John
Get the wheels from Germany using the Internet. Remember you will also need a different set of tapered-shoulder wheel bolts. You cannot use the same bolts as used with the alloys. Maybe a specialist such as GSF or Euro car parts can get the wheels for you in the UK.
Dear Honest John,
Please help me choose my next car. I would like it to have:
Please help me choose my next car. I would like it to have:
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You recommend winter tyres rather than 4wd. At the beginning of last winter I had some snow tyres fitted to my Honda Accord 2.2cdti. They were excellent...
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Cold-snap snow-how: Advice on coping with the freezing weather, including videos, facts and winter driving advice.
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Decent SUV with diesel automatic option. Comfortable seats. Escape version capable off-road. Optional Park Assist works well. Much better from September 2011 facelift.


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"Blessed be the Lord God, the God of Israel, who only doeth wondrous things." (Psalm 72:18)
Do you ever wish you could be a king or queen? It seems like kings and queens have everything! They have whatever food they want. They have servants to do their every bidding. People have to bow down to them out of respect. They tell their military leaders when to go to war. They can give away their money or jewels to whomever they want. It seems like being a king or queen would be the best thing in all the world.
David was a king, but he knew that his subjects, the people of Israel, deserved a better king than he was. So he prayed for a great king to rule perfectly over Israel. He wrote this prayer down in Psalm 72.
God is going to send a righteous king (vv.1-3, 7). Because God's king will treat all people fairly, whether they are rich or poor, there will be peace for a very long time. When God's king rules, there will be peace all over the world. God's king will rule "from sea to sea and....unto the ends of the earth" (v. 8). Kings from all over the world, including places such as Spain and Saudi Arabia, will come to him with gifts because of how great he is.
God is going to send a king who will protect the "poor and needy" from evil. He will "redeem their soul from deceit and violence." This king will care for his people so much that he will protect them not only from physical danger but also from spiritual harm.
God is going to send a king who will rule forever! Sometimes people in history have been glad when a king died, because he was not a good king. But the king that God will send will be blessed that means honored by all nations because of how wonderful he is.
So David blesses the Lord God because He will do the wondrous thing of sending this great king. David did not know who the king would be, but you and I do. Jesus is the king! When the wise men came looking for Jesus, they asked where the King of the Jews would be born. At the triumphal entry the people called Jesus a king. When Jesus spoke to Pilate at His trial, He told Pilate about His kingdom. Jesus is the king for whom David prayed.
God has sent a King for you to honor and that King is coming again!
My Response:» King Jesus came once to redeem sinners, and He is coming again to be King of All. Are you praying for Him to come as David prayed? Are you expecting Him to come as David expected Him?
The Lord God of gods -El Elohim Jehovah
Joshua 22:22 "The LORD God of gods, the LORD God of gods, he knoweth, and Israel he shall know; if it be in rebellion, or if in transgression against the LORD, (save us not this day,) "
What it means to love and serve God. Deu 6:5 -- And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might.
Inerrancy means that the Bible is always true and tells the truth concerning everything it talks about. God warns man not to add to the words of the prophecy of the Bible, for the words written were given to men by him and contain no mistakes. (Rev. 22:18-19) (2 Timothy 3:16) "All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: That the man of God may be perfect, throughly furnished unto all good works."
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