• Missives from Texas, part I

    My time in Austin is (sigh) almost over, but I wanted to start posting some things about the trip, I guess we’ll all be catching up for awhile (see Riley’s post in the Group blog). It’s been such a privilege to be at UT Austin for over 2 months as a Tinsley Visiting Professor. I am one of those people who needs uninterrupted blocks of time to think, whether it’s for writing or coming up with new ideas. Being in a university environment is very stimulating, but because many things in our schedules are out of our control (teaching, staff meetings, organisational meetings etc), our days get filled up with…

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  • Space Cowboys

    My colleague Adam Ciesielski and I recently returned from a 5-week work visit in (mostly) sunny Austin, Texas. Sera had been awarded the Beatrice Tinsley Centennial Visiting Professorship, permitting her to visit the University of Texas (UT) for a semester, and Adam, Chiara and I were excited to learn that we would be joining her at least for a short period. Among the many things we were able to do – embark on a road trip to Lubbock in icy conditions, visit Enchanted Rock and the German settlement of Fredericksburg, attend the infamous SXSW festival, visit a shooting range and a vineyard in the same weekend (!!!), traverse the hills and…

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