November 13, 2023
Lyric Lott, WPAMC '24
From the bustling streets of London to the misty villages of the Lake District, it is hard to overlook the ubiquitous presence of afternoon tea as a traveler in England. Afternoon tea is known throughout the world as a British pastime, an oft-upheld and celebrated custom in the eyes of Brits and anglophiles alike. It’s so ubiquitous, in fact, that 244 National Trust sites around the United Kingdom serve it in their cafes.1 But ...
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November 06, 2023
Dorian Cole, WPAMC '24
It hurts to be a mother. My own mother told me that women forget the pain of childbirth. How else, she asked, would we ever be convinced to do it again? Pain can be hard to remember, but blurry memories turn sharp in other ways. How do you hold a memory without cutting yourself on its edges? The things that hurt us hurt to think about even years removed from them, even across generations. When we do remember our pain, we often ...
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October 30, 2023
Laini Farrare, WPAMC '24
Figure 1: The Roman Baths. Photo by author.
Bath, England is well known for its illustrious architecture (featuring native Bath stone), its famous streetscape, and of course the Roman Baths. The Baths, also known as Aquae Sulis, are an archeological marvel, consist of traditional Roman bathing pools sourced from a natural hot spring. The Baths are also remnants of a temple dedicated to the Roman goddess, Minerva. Upon my ...
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October 23, 2023
Em Dombrovskaya, WPAMC '24
As we visited museums concerned with the daily lives of people in the past on our British Design History trip, I started taking note of the investment museums are making in multi-sensory experiences of the home. In many cases this means the presence and interpretation of tallow candles. Tallow candles have been made by rendering animal fat within the home at least since the existence of the Roman Empire. Beeswax candles were ...
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