ON MY RIGHT EYE GOING BLIND

MY EYE

Arithmetique two globes, and no more
Admits of, then I still have all my store.
For what mischance* hath tane from me my right eye,
It seemes did only for a View stand.
But this I'le say for thee departed eye,
Thou wert not given to steale, nor pick, not see
Any in disgrace; but thou didst go
Untimely to thy Death only to show
The other members what they once must doe;
Hand, arme, legge, thigh, and all must follow too.
Oft didst thou scan my verse, where if I misse
Henceforth I will impute the cause to this.
A eye’s losse (I speake it not in sport)
Will make a verse a Foot too short.
Farewell deare eye, much I greive to see
How soone mischance hath made a blind eye of thee.

Adapted from Thomas Randolph - On the loss of His Finger

*Central Retinal Artery Occlusion.

THE AFFAIR

PORTRAIT of AN AFFAIR

IN CONVERSATION

Part IV

THE AFFAIR IV

HER BEGINNINGS

 &

 STORIES SHE TOLD ME

HER HISTORY AS SHE TOLD IT TO ME

First Time – Giving it up but not for love.

J: hi

 me: hi

 J: ok so I was in Vermont with a guy named Tyler

 me: Ok so I was about to say as you told me your first time to be fucked was on a ski trip right?

 J: yes

 me: Sarah there

 J: no just Rachel

 me: Oh ok So you were in HS?

   J: yes i was a junior

 me: About 17 or 18??  so 17

 J: I was 17

 me: um ok  and before this all you had done was to mainly give some boys bjs

J: yes

 me: friends form school like

 J: no

 me: no

 J: on another ski trip with Rachel

 me: ?  that is when you blew someone?

 J: yes the first time

me: oh ok  but did some boys in NJ right? Right?

 J: no did not before i had sex... before i had sex i blew only one guy i think

 me: ok  so not very experienced? very

 J: no not at all

 me: So then you met this guy for the first time on the trip - how did you meet?

J: Rachel met his friend of the ski slope, he was working the lift and he invited us to a party that night so he picked us up and his friend was in the car so we went to the party and i hung around and talked with the friend most of the night

 me: oh ok.  they were older?

J: yes like 24

 me: ok

 J: they thought we were in college

 me: so did you have it in mind before you went out that you wanted to get laid

 J: no

 me: so then were you drinking?

J: a little but i wasn’t drunk

 me: k so then party over you go back with him to his place or yours how did it happen he ask you or what?

J: so then the party was lame so they took us back to the place where they lived and met their other roommate we played pool and he asked me if i wanted to go to their room and i said yes

 me: oh so three boys two girls?

 J: yea

 me: hm you said yes expecting what?

 J: i would probably sleep with him,,, i was the one who wanted it. i wanted to get it over with

 me: So he had said like so want to go to my room and hang out?

J: he was like "so do you want to see the other parts of the apt?" actually they lived in a motel kind of but it was where all the ski instructors lived at the time (at the base of the mountain kind of). ohhh wait L  think i was expecting to have sex before they picked us up bc i took with me a pad just in case i did and i bled

 me: Ok - were you making out before this?  At their place before going to his room

 J: yea we were flirting when we were all playing pool in basement

 me: ha ok so you end up in bedroom?

 J: yes

 me: what happened then - did he strip you? and take his clothes off?

 J: we made out

 me: on bed?

 J: and then we slowly took off our clothes yes on bed

me: each took your own off

 J: no we helped with the tops but then with bottoms i think we did ourselves,,,, i probably unbuttoned his pants and then he took them off

 me: were you both totally naked?

J: eventually we were and then i got on top of him and had to tell him that i was a virgin

 me: ok and what did you do ok  what did he say

 J: and he said that we didn’t have to do it

 me: ok

 J: and i said i wanted to do it

 me: did you offer to blow him?

 J: i told him that i didn’t want it to get in the way from us doing it. No i didn’t want to blow him i wanted my cherry to pop

 me: so then describe how he fucked you tell me all

 J: so then we switched positions

 me: yes

 J: and i think he kissed me and slowly put it in

 me: did he spread your legs

 J: he was very gentle

me: were you wet?

 J: oh no i think he ate me out

 me: ah yes

 J: and then came up and then he put it in

 me: ok so first he eats you out was it good?

 J: yes he was good... i wasn’t sure what was good or not bc i hadn’t really had it before. S0 then he puts it in and it hurts but i do not complain and try to get into it

 me: did he use condom

 J: yes he used condom

 me: you put it on him

 J: no he did it himself

me: so were you wet before he went in

 J: i don’t know i wasn’t aware that a girl gets wet

 me: ok so you said was uncomfortable

 J: at that time

 me: kk

 J: the it kind of hurt but it was ok i wanted it

 me: were you honey

J: a little not really i was mostly thinking about getting it over with

 me: so then he comes?

 J: no he didn’t cum

 me: huh?

 J: we are in the middle of it he probably only took 5 thrusts when the door knocks

 me: yes

 J: and it is his roommate and Rachel

 me: oh omg yes

 J: they want to use the room

 me: Oh

 J: bc Rachel was probably going to blow him

 me: ah i see

 J: and he yells back to go away

 me: so then

 J: he doesn’t then he starts to bang

 me: they walked in????

 J: then my guy curses at him

 me: um is he still in you

 J: and then the other guy starts to ram the door (the door was locked)

 me: i see but not still fucking in you

 J: at this point he pulls out and puts on boxers and goes to the door

 me: oh and you are on bed

 J: right as he is at the door the guy opens the door but my guy holds so that it does not open wide

 me: ok  so does not see you

 J: and tells him to go away

 me: hum  so he goes

 J: no he doesn’t i had sheets over but trying to clothe myself

me: ugh

 J: So then, when they are at the door i run to the bathroom with my clothes

 me: ok

 J: the other guy goes away and i pee and see that i was bleeding a little and was so happy

 me: ok

 J: so i put the pad in and get dressed

 me: good

 J: and come out and he apologizes and i say that it was ok and then he gets dressed and we walk out to the sitting room where everyone is Rachel and the guy goes into the room

 me: did you two do it again some other time?

 J: no that was it

 me: and she blows him

 J: i guess so and then they finish and we all sit around and talk

 me: ok so now you are no longer virgin -

 J: no

 me: when was the next time anyone fucks you?

J: the next year

 me: 18 by whom?

 J: it was a friend of Rachel’s boyfriend at the time yes 18 he asked me to his junior prom

 me: where when how  ok

 J: and i think i sucked him then but he didn’t cum

 me: before

 J: (bc i didn’t know what i was doing)

 me: ok

 J: this is after ski trip

 me: yes

 J: and the following year i was house-sitting Rachel’s house. i had a party and he came

 me: kk

 J: and we went into Rachel’s room and made out and we had sex sort of

 me: sort of?

J: well he tried to but i think he was nervous

 me: to??

 J: so he got limp

 me: oh go on

 J: and apologized

 me: ok

 J: and i told him that it was ok

 me: yes nervous

 J: and we got dressed and that was it

 me: did you have clothes off

 J: yea

 me: you should have blown him then

 J: well i didn’t know

 me: Ok thanks Jules - thank you for sharing

 J: no problem

                                                 ********  

CHRISTOPHER BROOKE

                                                                IN MEMORIAM

CHRISTOPHER BROOKE

Gonville & Caius College

A learned, gentle and profound scholar sorely missed.

Prof Brooke died peacefully on December 27, aged 88.

A medieval historian, Prof Brooke, CBE, FBA, Hon VPSA, was a Fellow at Caius from 1949 to 1956, and then from 1977 until 1994, when he became a Life Fellow.

He was the author of “A History of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge”, published by Boydell Press (1996).

In a 2008 interview for the project “Making history: the discipline in perspective”, Prof Brooke described himself as an “hereditary historian”, having learned from his father, the medieval historian Nugent Brooke. He said: “I had the opportunity of working really as apprentice to him from when I was 14 or 15. I gave up collecting engine numbers and took to collecting medieval archdeacons instead."

The other two major influences on his life were the historian Dom David Knowles, who taught him at Cambridge, and his wife Rosalind, Prof Brooke said.

Asked about the future of the discipline, he said: "I do think history is incomparable as cultural instruction. The difficulty is that it mustn't be propounded by people sort of ex-cathedra, as if they were issuing papal encyclicals...

"It is potentially one of the most powerful educational forces in the world, and the more scientific it is, the more effective and powerful it is.”

Historians, he concluded, “need to be rather humble and modest or else they'll get too big for their boots, because the world in a sense is at our feet.”

Professor Sir Alan Fersht, Master of Caius, said: “It is with great sadness that I report that Christopher died peacefully on 27 December 2015.