I survived the earthquake of 2008!

Well if you haven't heard on the news yet, just before 1am the UK experienced the largest Earthquake in 25 years! I was between wake and sleep so I didn't really understand what was happening - I thought maybe a plane just flew over our flat. But when my entire bed started to rumble and I heard what sounded like our flat going from a townhouse to a fully detached, I realized this was more than just a Boeing 747. Everyone here is safe though and there's no damage to the city (the quake was measured as a 5.2 on the Richter scale). I think one man broke his pelvis when his chimney collapsed on him but otherwise we're all fine. It is pretty cool to say you've experienced an earthquake though...and just more evidence that we are definitely going through some drastic environmental changes - I mean an earthquake has to be rather desperate to strike a place like England...really, could you not have found a more interesting place to 'unlock your plates'?

Ever since I returned from Paris, I've been feeling a little down. I think instead of being homesick I'm Paris-sick. Everything in England is so dull and grey, and we seem to be getting dragged into a slump in terms of the variety of options available to us. So on Monday Zee and I took a day trip to London. We visited the London Aquarium and also went on the all-seeing London Eye (the giant white ferris wheel you can view the entire city from). I found out that the London School of Economics has a PhD program in Communications so I wanted to check out their campus - but I didn't realize they had so many different buildings. I saw their library which is really modern - everything's white and sort of space-like. I've noticed London's all about minimalist design, which is a strange contrast with their traditional buildings like Big Ben and their symbolic figureheads like the royal family, etc. It's almost as if Londoners are trying to escape or completely reject their traditional culture by embracing this super-modern extreme. Toss in artists, business-people and students from every corner of the globe and you've got a city with one serious identity crisis. I'm not sure London is really 'my cup of tea'. It's a fun city to visit for a short time but I can't see myself living there.






What I'm really looking forward to is Mel's visit in three weeks! We are planning to travel to Munich (she has a friend who lives there), Rome or Venice and of course, Paris!!! It should be a fun couple of weeks, a nice reward for submitting my essay and my group assignment (yes, they're both due on the same day!). My next paper will be discussing advertising in a global context, and the extent to which advertisements contribute to a homogeneous global culture. It's quite shocking when you trace most global advertisements back to their original companies, the same 3 major corporations always come up - they control the entire world of marketing. And some people can't stand the idea of seeing a McDonald's or Starbucks in places like Beijing and Mumbai - they see globalization as really just a nicer word for Americanization or Westernization. But I think what we tend to overlook is:

1) that people in Beijing and Mumbai don't want to be kept in the dark, they want access to the same products we do, they want to feel more connected to the rest of the world and;

2) there's also what we call 'glocalization' occuring in these places. That's when a globalized commodity is re-interpreted for local markets. So for example since the majority of Indians don't eat beef, the Big Mac burger becomes the Maharaja burger (which I believe is a meatless patty).

There's a slew of counter-arguments either way. Sometimes I try to see globalization as this wonderful process of cultural exchange which is helping us understand one another and bridge the gap between borders. But other times, I wonder how much globalization is really occurring and how much is the rest of the world really just aspiring to consume American/Western products? There's this little angry puff of smoke that goes off inside me when I walk down the Champs d'Elysees and I see Parisians drinking starbucks coffees instead of sitting in their local cafes and having an authentic cafe au lait. Or when I read about a family-run supply store going under in a small town because a Wal-Mart moved in and drove everyone else bankrupt. But it also has a lot to do with power. I mean we see the United States as one of the most powerful nations in the world, so who wouldn't want to emulate them? Maybe when China and India become the coolest kids on the playground, everyone will start copying them too.

And my dissertation on beauty culture has moved more in this direction since I started thinking about it. Rather than trying to focus on a westernized or euro-centric beauty ideal for women, I'm looking at how universal beauty can unite cultures and races. There are certain features that signal attractiveness across all ethnicities. It has a lot to do with Darwin and Evolutionary Psychology, but basically my hypothesis is that cosmetics companies should place more focus on advertising that appeals to universal beauty rather than focusing on western or hollywood beauty to sell their products. Not only would this improve women's self-image but I think (and hopefully my study will prove this) that those products and advertisements will sell to a wider market and in turn increase profits - look at Dove. My dissertation adviser is really pleased with my work so far, and she's very encouraging and helpful, so I'm really lucky it's headed in such a strong direction.

But the unfortunate part is that the work doesn't do itself. Which is my cue to end off here.

Oui Oui Paris!

As promised, I am breaking the rules and posting on a Friday so I can fill you in on my trip to Paris!

There is so much to say, I have a hard time figuring out where to start. The truth is that I have fallen in love. I don’t know if it’s just a phase or if it’s the real thing, but all I know is that right now it feels right. I’m having a love affair with Paris (haha, I hope I didn’t make anyone’s heart just stop). Nilufa and I managed to do almost everything in our 3 days and 4 nights visit. Here's a day-by-day breakdown:

Sunday Night:
We arrived in Charles de Gaulle airport around 8 pm (the flight from Birmingham was only an hour long) and quickly learned how to ride the metro. Lucky for us, their system is really simple and efficient. Paris is divided into districts with the first one starting in the main city centre spiraling outwards. Our hotel was in the first district so we were walking distance from all the major sites. I remember emerging from the metro station and seeing how lit up and lively the entire area was for a Sunday night! Our hotel was nothing special but had all the essentials. We ate a quick sandwich and decided to get a good night's rest to prepare for the next day.

Monday:
After indulging in a pain au chocolat (think of a square croissant infused with dark chocolate filling) and a cafe au lait (which is nothing like a cafe latte but more like an espresso!) we made our way to the louvre. The weather was pure perfection: a breezy 10 degrees, the warm sun cascading over rooftops, and a cloudless blue sky...there was no way we were taking a cab or metro anywhere on a day like that! To get to the Louvre we walked along the Seine river - which divides Paris into 'rive droite' (right river) and 'rive gauche' (left river). Ten minutes later we got to the Louvre and were a little confused because we didn't see the giant glass pyramids. All we saw was a big old building! But then once we turned the corner and walked through the arches, we came to the centre 'courtyard' and the pyramids stood in the middle. For a good minute I just stared at my surroundings...was I really in Paris? In the Louvre? I couldn't believe my eyes (literally).

After we finally figured out where the entrance to the louvre was (inside the bigger pyramid - duh!) we made our way to the most popular works: Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. There was a sea of people around the Mona Lisa, snapping pictures and walking from one side to the other, in awe of her gaze following them. We also browsed through the Egyptian section which I found fascinating! All those tombs and mummified people from thousands of years ago...it's hard to believe that those civilizations existed and created their own tools for communication and survival. When we left through the back exit and walked through the garden, we could see a faint silhouette of the Arc de Triomphe and realized that we weren't very far from the Champs d'Elysees. So we decided to try walking there and stopping for lunch along the way.

Don’t let people fool you into thinking the Champs is where all the major shopping and designer stores are. It is not. I walked up and down the entire street and found a handful of the major fashion brands I was expecting. Where was Chanel? Where was Dior? Where was the giant Louis Vuitton suitcase-shaped building in my dreams? I’ll tell you where. On Rue Montaigne. We were lucky enough to stumble upon it while wandering aimlessly and we had so much fun taking pictures infront of the fashion houses. I never found the suitcase building even though I went in two Louis Vuitton stores so it must be hidden somewhere else. But it didn’t really matter – I got my fashion fill.

The Arc de Triomphe is a mammoth ending to the champs d’elysees. We were trying to figure out how to get to it for the longest time, because the structure is in the centre of a roundabout, with traffic constantly driving around it…there was no way to safely cross the road. There’s actually an underground connection which you have to pay to walk through (and we opted not to because we wanted to save our money for the Eiffel Tower). What’s really special about Paris is that the modern city is flawlessly built around the historical attractions. It’s not like when you walk to the champs d’elysees or the louvre there are only foreigners around – the locals are constantly passing by as well to get to work or eat or go home. And no matter how new or old a building may be, they all maintain the same structural design as the traditional architecture so even a new hotel or restaurant has the same charm as the more ancient sites.

Paris (and I suppose you could argue France in general) is all about integration – even their culture, which has been given the bad reputation of ‘imperialist’ attempts to unite people. The Chinese, the Lebanese, the Blacks, the South-Asians all speak perfect French and wear French clothes and eat French food – it’s not like Toronto or Leicester where different ethnicities come here and continue to express their own culture in a new country. If you go to France, you become French. I haven’t decided if that’s a good thing or not yet.

So when we got to the Arc, the Eiffel Tower was in clear sight. Even though we were tired from walking such a long distance we figured it would be a waste to take a metro for such a short distance. With sore feet, and a boost of energy from the fashion, we made our way to the tower. We timed ourselves perfectly, because we were at the base of the tower as the sun was setting. The atmosphere was beautiful for pictures (as you can tell below), and we got to watch the lights come on as the tower went from steely-grey to gold. When we got up to the top floor (by lift…there was no way we were taking the stairs) you could fully appreciate why Paris is known as the city of lights. Unfortunately it was freezing at night and very windy at such high altitudes (my ears even popped on the lift!) but we made sure to take in the view and enjoy the sparkling city below.

By the end of the night, we were exhausted! I couldn’t believe how much we managed to cover on our first day in Paris. We wanted to sample some more French food for dinner, so we ducked into a little restaurant near our hotel (after taking a cab back to our area!). I didn’t get a chance to eat very authentic French food because most of it is strange meat products like duck liver and snails and such…but in general everything they make is of such high quality. The fruits and vegetables are ripe and fresh, they serve each meal with careful attention to detail from the placement of cutlery to the Dijon mustard and baskets of freshly baked baguettes on the side. Eating in Paris is an art. Nobody walks and eats at the same time. Even if you’re having a coffee and a croissant, you must sit down and savour every sip, each bite, enjoy the flavours and textures – it’s the French way! I still dream about that chocolate-pistachio swirled soft-serve ice cream I had in a waffle cone at the chocolaterie. And that’s the other wonderful thing about Paris…even though it’s a major commercial centre, the people there are never in a rush like in other metropolitans like Toronto or London. Parisians make the time to earn a living and enjoy it.

Tuesday:
Since we covered nearly everything the day before, we decided to just do some shopping during the day and head up to Montmartre at dusk – the highest point in Paris where the Basilique du Sacre Coeur is situated. We were able to find a few sales and reasonably-priced items at the shopping mall in our area called Les Halles. I wouldn’t say that Parisians are particularly beautiful people in terms of their genes – but what does make them stand out is their style. They know how to dress and make themselves up – and that beret look isn’t a cliché, everyone wears them! I’ve heard a lot of rumours about the French being snobs but atleast with us, everyone was accommodating and friendly. What I loved was being able to practice my French with the locals. Even though most of them speak English, if you make the effort to speak in French to them, they will engage in conversation with you. It was the first time for me in about 11 years that I’ve been in a French-speaking environment outside the classroom, and I found myself going out of my way to make conversation with people just so I could speak more French!

The highlight of my entire trip had to be Sacre-Coeur. We didn’t even bother visiting Notre Dame because we heard it wasn’t that spectacular in comparison to the basilica. Getting to the top of the hill was the worst climb ever….so many stairs! Nilufa and I made this joke about how at most religious sites, it’s always really physically draining to get to them and how maybe you need to be exhausted in order to have a spiritual revelation! We might’ve just been delirious from all the walking though! Anyways once we reached the top we couldn’t believe what we saw. Sacre-Coeur is like the Taj Mahal of France. Inside they were holding their evening mass, so we got to listen to the priest give his sermon in French and walk around the church. You can’t take pictures of the inside, but the ceiling and walls are painted with vivid depictions of Christ in bright reds and blues with gold trim. They have separate sections around the perimeter for different saints too, with beautiful white statues that match the stone of the church (which is a special stone that never gets tarnished or worn down). We had an uncompromised view of the whole city as the sun was setting on our last night.

There’s just so much more I can say about Paris but I know I’ve gone on long enough. It’s such an enchanting city, and coming back to Leicester wasn’t easy after spending a few days there! I’ve always been of the mind that it doesn’t matter where you are, what makes a place fun and exciting is based on what you create for yourself – the people you meet, the things you do. But being in Paris made me realize that there are just some places that are charming and beautiful and fun regardless of what you create for yourself. I would love to live in Paris for a year or two. Brush up on my French, stock up on some quality prêt-a-porter, perfect!
Even though this trip is over, I know I will be re-kindling my affair with Paris next month, because my best friend Mel is coming to visit and Paris is on the must-see list! So au-revoir for now my love, we will meet again very soon!!!

V-DAY 1({})

I don't think you'll be hearing from me again until next Thursday. That's because on Sunday I leave for PARIS!!! But don't worry, I will more than make up for it by posting all the details of my trip upon my return.

Before I leave though, I wanted to wish everyone an early happy V-Day. I don't mean Valentine's day though, I was actually referring to the V-Day Movement to end violence against women around the world (and no, the V doesn't stand for violence...). The famous playwright and activist Eve Ensler, who wrote the Vagina Monologues founded the organization. It's mission is to re-claim February 14th, not as a day to celebrate romance, but a day to help women who are suffering, due to rape, battery, incest, slavery and other terrible atrocities. The point they are trying to make is that we cannot celebrate love until the violence stops.

2008 marks the ten year anniversary for V-Day, and everyone from Oprah Winfrey to Jessica Alba are jumping on board to raise awareness. So if you're looking for something to do this Thursday, why not look for a V-Day event in your area? There are colleges, universities and other communities around the world organizing events. At the University of Toronto last year, I helped organize V-Week where we had an entire week of guest speakers, and workshops, culminating in our own production of the Vagina Monologues - which raised over $500 for a local woman's shelter. It's probably one of my favourite plays, and I think every woman should experience it atleast once.

Other events going on this week include the Leicester Comedy Festival...it's the longest running comedy festival in the U.K. - they have shows happening in venues across the city over 10 days this month. I'm hoping to check out a few of them this weekend before I leave - although I don't have a great appreciation for British comedy...in my opinion, there are two things that should never be dry: humor and food. Nonetheless I'll give it a shot...maybe after several hours I'll have acquired a taste for it - that's the humor not the food.

The other event which happened a few nights ago was the "Dee is freaking out because she has no future" show that occurred from 8-10pm in my bed. Basically I looked at the calendar and realized that I'm halfway through my program and still jobless. I started searching for lecturer positions at colleges in Ontario and phD programs but what struck me is that if the first five months went by this quickly, how fast will the next five pass? Not only do I have an incredible amount of work left to complete for this program, but I've also got to find myself some kind of teaching position for when I get back. And what if nobody wants to hire me? Let's face it, I look like I'm twelve...is anyone going to believe that I can actually conduct lectures and that I have a teaching philosophy? I mean, I know the theory, I know what the literature says about how appearance affects your judgment - my dissertation is largely based on this premise (oh sidenote: it's coming along really well...I have to submit my proposal tomorrow to my adviser but she really likes my idea - it's changed a bit so I'll fill you in some other time).

It's a really scary thing though, to go from being a student to a professor. From writing essays to reading them. I've spent the last 17 years sitting in the classroom rather than standing at the front of it - is anyone going to respect me or take me seriously or listen to what I have to say? Or will I constantly have to battle with my appearance to be heard? Oye vay, I'm too young to be this stressed out...I think I need an Alka Seltzer. I think that going into the working world is going to be even scarier than moving to England. After all, it's not like my mom can come with me on my first day...or can she...(just kidding...or am I? No no, I really am!).

On top of all that, my other big dilemma has to do with working in a university environment to begin with. A lot of the time these academic institutions care more about what research you carry out that they can take credit for. As much as I enjoy researching, I know that I'm more passionate about being a good professor. But I feel like that will constantly be a secondary priority to keeping the university happy with journal publications about my findings. And anyone who's been to university and thought their professor must have been possessed by the devil knows what I'm talking about. The only reason there are so many bad professors around is because of their academic contributions. Which is really such a shame, professors are there to cultivate minds, inspire the leaders of tomorrow. Instead, a lot of them are puppets with the university's hand up their you-know-what.

Ok, that last bit was harsh. I guess what I'm realizing is that as anti-corporation as I may be, academic institutions are also becoming businesses in their own right - and intelligence is the commodity they are selling us. And it's really disappointing to see how money-driven everything has become. Maybe I should just move to Germany where education is free. I'm sure they have tofu Schnitzel...they must.

2008: The year of the Democrat

I've been staying quite mum about American politics for the most part these days, largely because I'm stuck on who to support. Can you believe it? I'm actually not backing the sisterhood 100%. The truth is, as great a symbol as it would be to see Clinton as president, people shouldn't just support her because she's a woman. I mean the whole point of gender equality (or equal opportunity if you'd like to argue semantics) is that women and men should be given the same rights, and should be regarded equally as well. If women truly want emancipation, then don't just vote for Hillary because she shares your gender. Treat her like the rest of the candidates, look at her policies, and vote for the candidate who you think will do the best job as president. Sorry, let me re-phrase that: Vote for the democrat you think will do the best job as president. There, much better.

My problem with Clinton? Well, she's a flip-flopper for one. I mean first she tries to bring this socialized medicine into effect and gets squashed by the republicans and bought out by the lobbyists and pharmaceutical companies. Then she votes yes to go into Iraq and now admits it was a bad choice and wants to bring the troops back. But then she votes for this resolution in the senate that is essentially a fig-leaf allowing Bush to go into Iran (Obama wasn't even in the senate that day to vote so don't think he's any better). Clinton's defense was that she believes Iran has been manufacturing weapons being used against American troops. So she wants to designate the revolutionary guard in Iran as a terrorist organization so that they can "impose sanctions on their leaders". Gee, I wonder what that means. If she's so interested in getting the troops out of Iraq, then what will it matter if Iran is making weapons? It's not like there will be any American troops left to fight anyways, right? Hmmm.

Then you've got Obama. The charismatic, young, black um...celebrity figure or presidential candidate? I can't exactly figure out what he is anymore, with the music videos and "Barack Obama girl" plastered all over the media. Which by the way doesn't guarantee him the black vote entirely. It seems black women are also in support of Hillary. And I can see why. Black men were able to vote years before any white or black woman could thanks to Martin Luther King Jr. and his movement to end racial oppression. What he forgot to include in there was the oppression of women. You can't really blame him. Never send a man to do a woman's job, right? Anyways the point is, it seems black women want to see a woman of any colour as president in hopes that she will cater to their rights more than a black man (as history has already dictated).

It just makes me wonder, all these candidates (except for McCain) who are promising to end the war in Iraq, will they really do it? Who can you trust? I feel like it's all a bunch of fake rhetoric sometimes. Which is why I'm so thankful that I don't have to make an actual decision.

We had a girls' night last Friday and some friends of ours came over to play games and eat Chinese food. One of the girls was American...and well, it was only inevitable that eventually politics came up and we found out that although she was a democrat, she supports Bush 100% and the war in Iraq (which is pronounced ee-raack by the way and not eye-rack). Let me also set the situation up a little better. This was said to an audience consisting of myself, Z (who is half Lebanese/half Syrian) and our other friend who is a Muslim Sri-Lankan. Needless to say, it was quite the heated argument. Funny enough, when we asked her why there is a war in Iraq, she had no clue. There is no relation between 9/11 and Iraq. But I think we've all come to realization that unless there is an oil-well in the pit of Osama's colon, there won't be half as many troops looking for him in Afghanistan as there are in Iraq. And don't give me that "we already found Osama and executed him" story...we all know he's still hiding away somewhere and Bush is paying the mortgage on his cave.

Anyways, the whole conversation made me realize how lucky I am, to be in the company of people like Z. People who I can exchange information with and learn from, people who actually have an idea of what's going on around the world, and most importantly, people who want to make a difference. I don't know if I've ever explained what it is she's interested in, but she wants to travel to places like Africa and the Middle East to help improve peace-keeping efforts there. She wants to stop the fighting and help bring about positive change and eventually work for the UN. That's her passion, and I'm confident she's going to get there because I really can't see her doing anything else. I think what she (unknowingly) reinforces in me is to also maintain my ambitions. All of us have our roles to fulfill that are equally essential. It's so important to stay motivated, and inspired, in everything you do, and to always ask yourself "what is the purpose of doing this? what am I achieving on a greater level?".

To those of you able to vote, make sure you consider that on your ballot.