We had a lovely
autumn day this morning. Helen and I got all the way around the garden. More rain,
this afternoon.
The new Evendoon
was in a state in which Helen could try it on. It’s a bit snug. I
am adding another stripe – easy, because it’s top-down – and am fairly
confident that blocking will be able to add another inch or two to the circumference.
But it’s sad.
Current affairs: I’ve
just read quite a long article in the Telegraph to the effect that Gibson’s
Bakery has won a long-standing dispute with Oberlin College which is going to
cost the college millions. A student tried to remove a bottle of wine without
paying. Mr Gibson followed him out to the street and there was an altercation.
The police came. The student admitted the offence. But somehow – my memory is
imperfect; it’s all in Wikipedia – the idea took hold that the student was
being persecuted because he was black. There were demonstrations. Gibson’s
sued. My sympathies have been with Gibson’s throughout; I’m very happy about
the result.
But puzzled. In my
day both college and town were “dry”. There were no bottles of wine to be had
in Gibson’s. I have read the alumni magazine fairly attentively all these years
and don’t remember the report of this major change. Shoplifting is apparently
common. In my day we had an Honor System under which shoplifting would have
been pretty severely disapproved of -- by the community, not just the authorities.
Wordle: No result
from Rachel today – either the last full day in Lisbon, or the day of travelling
back. Everybody else is present and accounted for: three for Alexander, four
for me and Ketki and Thomas, five for Mark. I have a witticism up my sleeve
which I will try to remember to tell you tomorrow – it gives too much away to
be uttered now.
Blocking should help.
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on getting out even when weather threatens.
I've seen mentions online about the increase in shoplifting-- even a few about specific shops that tell their employees not to stop it unless the value is over quite a high amount. My assumption is that they are afraid of possible violence, but it still seems odd. I saw a report of one American university town in the 1980s that would ignore small shoplifting if it was exam-time on the grounds of extreme stress causing unusual behavior. I guess it goes back a while.
Here one of our universities has just published an article in the "student newspaper" about how to shoplift and which sort of stores to target. It was apparently well received by the student body in question. Claims were made that students could not afford to eat and this is why it was necessary. The claims are interesting given the university has a "student bar" and fast food seems to be consumed at an extraordinary rate.
ReplyDeleteCalifornia passed a law that below a certain amount ($500.00 I think) the shoplifting person wouldn't be arrested. Shoplifting became so common that some stores closed. I read it on the internet so maybe someone in CA could confirm.
ReplyDeleteStudents being advised how to shoplift? This sits alongside students being advised how to manage their careers as sex-workers to fund their degrees. What happened to the idea of waitressing to make ends meet?
ReplyDeleteOberlin is my hometown, and I know quite a lot about the Gibson’s incident from my mother and many friends there at the time. (There was also an excellent and thorough New Yorker piece a few years ago.) One of the aspects of the case that does not get nearly enough attention, in my view, is the timing of the shoplifting — the day after the November 2016 U.S. presidential elections. Oberlin students, who I think were a liberal bunch in your day too, had woken up that morning to the news that Hillary had lost. They were itching for a fight, and apparently so were a lot of other (outside) people.
ReplyDeleteAs to the wine itself, you bring up a good point. The WTCU lost Oberlin many decades ago, and it has not been “dry” for years. The main instigator was Oberlin College itself, which wanted to be able to serve wine in the college-owned Oberlin Inn restaurant. (The current iteration has a full bar, one of the first things you see when you enter the lobby.)
(Once again, Blogger won’t let me sign in as anything but Anonymous. This is Rebecca.)
Rebecca-- my system shows a little gray triangle to the right of the word "anonymous". Clicking that triangle brings a drop-down menu with the choice of a way to comment as "name+url" and a url is not required. That is how I can sign with my name.
DeleteThank you! Testing to see if the name-change works … I think it does. (I used to be able to log into the blog with my full profile, but no more.)
DeleteOh, and I’ve detected an error in my original comment that I can’t correct: The long, thorough 2019 article I remembered wasn’t in the New Yorker (I looked). Not sure where it appeared — I read too many magazines :-)
DeleteI've been unable to comment for a few days. Testing to see if this works. Perhaps Helen has expanded since the measurements were taken for the original Evendoon...
ReplyDelete