Kieran Healy

On the Road Again

After a year of leave in Australia (well, someone has to act as a counterweight to all those Aussie backpackers), I just arrived back in the U.S. Three observations:

It should not surprise you that making a c.1 year-old boy watch the in-flight TV system for six hours of a Sydney-to-Los Angeles flight would lead to […]

Bristol

So Bristol was great up to the point where the hotel phoned me at 7:30 this morning saying that my car had been broken into. Back window knocked out and crap everywhere. They didn’t steal the Ligeti CD.

Ow

Went biking out at Mt Majura with Simon ‘I only became an academic after finishing a career as a professional cyclist’ Niemeyer this evening, the first time I’d been on a trail in more than two months. Big mistake. Huge.

You Old Romantic, Me

Until this afternoon, a Google search for the phrase ‘Valentine Poem’ promptly returned this elegaic masterpiece high on the first page of results. (I know this because its been the most popular search referrer to my website for each of the past ten days.) Written last year by one of the leading poetic talents of his generation, I think it’s a lot better than the crap it got displaced by—but whoever said democracy makes the best choices?

Christmas in Oz

I’m having my least Christmas-like Christmas ever, mostly because I’m living in Canberra. I understand that it’s unreasonable to expect Christmas to proceed as normal amidst the gum trees and sunshine, and of course there’s a lot to be said for adapting traditions to fit the circumstances. At the same time, I can see why […]

Intercontinental Ballistic Missive

Later this afternoon, I’ll be heading off to join the Social and Political Theory Program at the Australian National University’s Research School of Social Sciences, where I’ll be spending most of the next year. I probably won’t be posting much for the next few days while I find my way to Canberra. On the […]