Exam Time

So it's exam time, and I froth at the mouth like Pavlov's Dog (even though my situation is far far better than the years when I ran a diploma design studio or two). Exam time back then was shear hell, when I existed on a diet of whisky, bananas and pain killers. But the reaction is still there, and Julie and I sit up night after night discussing the idiocies and atrocities we experience in our respective subjects just the same. And I tell you, these are very worrying times. I can't respect tutors who demand 'you give up your job' and 'spend thousands of pounds on rendering' at the same time. I cannot believe I hear of a student who took only three hours off on Christmas Day! I beg all of you, what's it all about? I always say history is about understanding technology and power, two simple but hardly benevolent terms. It now seems we are no longer interested in criticizing these conditions so much as participating in them in absolute subjugation. Remember 'Architecture' as a professional activity is pretty small beer, it is not a large Las Vegas style bourbon. It is an entirely artificial social construction and a flimsy one at that. I'm seeing too many casualties (including me). Be careful what you wish for.