What a trip! (Part One)

I'm finally back in Leicester, after my two week excursion with Mel, and what a journey it was. I know a lot of people are dying to hear about it, so let's get started:

The day before we flew out to Venice, Mel and I decided to spend the day in London. I have to say, we covered A LOT of ground in seven hours. We visited the Tower of London - an ancient fortress where many historical figures were imprisoned and/or executed, and of course where the famous crown jewels are kept. I found it rather ironic that I had to stand on a conveyor belt to see diamonds, rubies, emeralds, and other jewels that once belonged to the country of my ancestors, sitting in glass cases in London. Oh well. We saw the greats like Westminster Abbey, Houses of Parliament, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Tower Bridge and Piccadilly Circus. Mel, being the 'historian' that she is, wanted to stop at the British Museum - which is FREE! Of great interest were the Rosetta stone and Cleopatra's tomb. I really wanted to browse through the Eastern Religions part of the museum, but by the time we got there someone had pulled the fire alarm and everyone was escorted out of the building. Good thing entry is free, I'll just have to go back another day.




After our lovely and fast-paced day in London, we spent the following four and a half days in Venice! Venice is such a unique city. When we were landing, all I could see was water out the window. And marshland. There was no runway in sight! But we landed in one piece, in a city called Mestre - the closest airport to Venice. From there we had to take a shuttle boat through the marshland. I even got bitten by an Italian mosquito! Things weren't looking too good for us. When we docked in Venice, Mel and I felt hesitant about our decision. The whole area was grey and murky - we had no idea where to find our hotel. It took us probably 45 minutes to navigate our way through Venice's narrow streets and pull our luggage up several bridges before we found our hotel. So that stereotype about getting lost in Venice - very true. The streets are poorly labeled, and oftentimes the same name will be used for three or four streets, even the postman doesn't get it. Typical directions are given like this: go down this street, turn left. Cross two bridges, turn right. Go to the end of the street, cross another bridge and it's past the church on your left hand side. Thankfully we booked a charming hotel with helpful staff, close to the main areas, and they always gave us relatively clear directions.

After a hearty plate of pasta and a not so restful night’s sleep (there was a canal right outside our room that water-taxis would speed by all night long), we ventured back to the pier to see the sights. Venice only has one piazza or ‘square’ called San Marco (St. Mark’s). This is where all the most famous sights are: The Basilica di San Marco, Bridge of Sighs, Palazzo Ducale, Grand Canal and the Campanile di San Marco. It was only at the moment where we walked into the piazza did I realize why Venice is such a renowned city. I won’t even attempt to describe the architecture - you can draw your own conclusions from the pictures (posted below)




Unfortunately, a lot of the churches we visited would not allow photography inside. The only images I have of the inside of the Basilica are in my memory. The best way I can describe its magnificence is to say that the small mosaic scenes on the outside of the basilica is what covers every inch of the inside. From the ceiling to where the walls meet the floor, are enormous depictions of Christ done entirely by mosaic patterns. As you walk around the church, the light hits the walls at different angles, and the golden mosaic sparkles like the Grand Canal on a sunny day. To think of the time it took not only to build the basilica, but to create and construct the mosaic on the inside, brought tears to my eyes. What love and devotion for God those people must have had to create these beautiful places not just for themselves, but for the worship of Divine Creation. As Wayne Dyer would call it: a labour of love. I remember when we left the basilica, I asked Mel if we could just sit outside for a few moments, and we sat and looked at this wondrous creation – amongst all the buzz of the tourists it brought a feeling of peace to the piazza.



The Palazzo Ducale holds the complete opposite sentiment than the basilica. The building is often described as a frosted birthday cake, in its pinkish red marble and white stone. The palace is quite beautiful inside as well – lots of typical Italian artwork and furniture covered in gold and rich velvet. But what was really interesting is the dungeon where all the prisoners were held. This connects to the famous Bridge of Sighs – named not for the romantic sighs of those who view the bridge from the outside, but for the sighs each prisoner would release upon gazing at their final view of the Grand Canal before being lead to their execution in the adjoining building…creepy, I know.

Other important sights were the Rialto Bridge and the Jewish Ghetto – a district far north where Jews were restricted to living (so much so that a wooden bridge had to be built to connect the ghetto to the rest of Venice after WWII). On one of our days we took a trip out to the island of Murano – famous for its Venetian Glass Blowers. As much fun as the tourist spots were to visit, I think both Mel and I enjoyed wandering the streets of Venice, accidentally discovering hidden beauties and eating in tucked away authentic Italian restaurants – where you have to order your food in Italian and listen to the waiters singing love songs! Speaking of food, of course we made sure to drink cappuccinos in the morning, and try the tiramisu, as well as the delectable Venetian pastries and gelato – all sinfully delicious. Since Venice is along the coast of the Adriatic Sea, they are well known for their fresh seafood. Although I wasn’t adventurous enough to try the squid ink linguini, I did sample some of the more typical dishes. It’s no wonder that they have to close up for siesta in the afternoon after eating such hearty meals for lunch!









So onto what most people don’t exactly understand about Venice: why is it sinking? The answer is twofold. The first reason involves the way the city was built. When Venice was first founded, workers drove large poles through the muddy land into the more stable sand and clay at the bottom of the water. This allowed for a more solid base to be created by oak planks and marble – impermeable by the water. However over time, the weight of the buildings has been pushing the poles deeper into the sand bed, hence why the city is sinking a few centimetres per century. The other part of the problem is that Venice is also drowning. Due to global warming, water levels continue to rise, causing hundreds of floods each year and more generally speaking, expediting the sinking process. There have been attempts at saving the city – such as injecting concrete into the foundation, which failed. More recently Project Moses which is supposed to be completed by next year, but most likely will not be operational until much later – consists of steel gates that can hold back water when the tide becomes dangerously high. But even Project Moses has its uncertainties, as the government lacks the 3 billion euro budget required to complete it. There are also environmental concerns of the consequences from interfering with the normal tides on the marine life and the health of people who eat the local fish. Oh here’s another lovely bit of information about Venice: they have no sewage system. All their waste is flushed into the canals and washed out into the ocean twice a day. So that beautiful greenish-blue colour the water has is highly unnatural to say the least. Apparently the Summer months are the worst times to visit Venice, since the hot weather heats up the water, releasing an unpleasant odour throughout the city. We were fortunate enough to be there while it was relatively cool and missed the stinky stew.

I think at this point I’m going to break for an intermission before tackling Paris and Munich. Hope I’ve given you a sizeable taste of my journey thus far. To be continued…

Yes...I'm still alive

I know, it's been 2 weeks since my last post...I'm a horrible blogger :(

Today I submitted my group assignment AND my individual essay, so I hope you can understand how swamped with work I've been lately (hence my lack of blogging).

So what's been going on in the world of Dee for the last 2 weeks? Well, it's official. I'm on my Easter Break. And to celebrate, Mel is coming to visit in a week, and we'll be spending the following 2 weeks in Venice, Paris and Munich! The flights and hotels and trains and buses are all booked and I am in dire need of a vacation (although, I don't think Mel has been on a vacation for over 4 years so I really have nothing to complain about!). Her and I have been friends for the last 9 years now, and this is our first international excursion together. It's so strange to think that we were these two kids not too long ago, merely fantasizing about what our adult lives would look like. And now here we are, actually living those lives, still sharing them with one another. We're beyond excited for this trip.

And the fun just keeps on coming, because after Mel leaves, my brosin Darin (that's brother-cousin...I know, I'm a dork) will be visiting for the following two weeks! He wants to see the U.K. so we'll most likely be visiting Scotland or Ireland, as well as some of the more 'developed' cities in England like Bath and Cornwall. So even though I won't be coming home for the break, it will still be five incredible weeks of traveling and bonding - awww

I guess you've probably caught on to the downside to all this - and that's the fact that my blog will most likely not be updated for the next little while. I'll post something the following Monday but after that I'm quite certain I won't be around much. I'll do my best to upload pictures and details of all my travels once I'm back though - as soon as I find the time.

I know last week I took a pretty big stab at American culture 'invading' other cultures of the world when discussing my essay on globalization. Since doing all my research and actually writing the paper I wanted to clarify a few things. First of all, I've come to the realization that it's not really America that's the culprit in all of this. It's capitalism. Even if you look at the way we categorize the world: developed nations are those with consumerist economies and developing nations are not. We see development from this Western, Marxist lens...that in order to be a self-sustaining country, you need to be a society that consumes. America is merely the best example of this. And advertising only fuels the desire to consume further. So if the entire world is bombarded with Coca-Cola ads telling you to drink coke because it will make you happy and 'cool' then of course people are going to think that consumption is the answer to their problems. And sure, there is room for resistance, room for manipulation - but to what extent really? So maybe the McDonald's in India doesn't sell Big Macs - but there's still the yellow and red buildings with the golden arches - the McIdeology of quantity over quality still exists.

I think the point I was trying to make in my essay was that we need producerist economies just as much as we need consumerist ones. Why do we look at China or India and see them as less developed than the US? They're just following a different model to development. They know what resources they can offer and have made the most of them. Who are we to label them as a developing nation? And this isn't just a theoretical problem, it's a practical one too. We need only look at situations with certain 'packaged goods companies' in the 1980's to understand the implications of 'forced consumerism'. How can we encourage poorer nations to invest what little local capital they do have into baby formula or soft-drinks, when they don't even have adequate water systems? It's counter-productive to their development. Maybe the 'developed world' does it on purpose, to keep the poor poor and the rich rich. Who knows.

And I guess I have the habit of always bringing things back to a spiritual perspective and equating it with religion, but it just seems so clear to me. We all find different ways to reaching divinity, and they're all equally acceptable. So why can't we also respect the different paths to economic development? Sometimes I wonder, how developed can we be if we still have this superior attitude? That's anti-development...it's backwards.

Speaking of religion actually, I just wanted to bring your attention to an issue that I think truly requires global attention - and hasn't because of the lovely media filtering newsworthy material. Essentially, in 1995, Chinese authorities kidnapped the youngest prisoner of war in history - a six year old boy that the Dalai Lama declared as the 11th reincarnation of the Panchen Lama. In his place, the Chinese nominated a different boy as the 11th Panchen Lama, and have persecuted any Tibetan who still worships the 'true' Panchen Lama under house arrest in China. To this day, him and his family's whereabouts are unknown - and the Chinese government has refused to submit to requests from the U.N. which would allow direct contact with him, ensuring his safety. Last year if the Panchen Lama is still alive, he would have turned 18, and as such he has the right to speak on his own behalf. Although an entire year has gone by, still nothing has been done. Please visit this site and sign the petition that would assist an investigation into his whereabouts. LINK

It's really unfortunate to see religious freedom in Tibet restricted and controlled by China. I hope we can collectively make a difference in whatever small way. Thanks for taking the time to participate.

I'm actually feeling kind of drained at this point, so I'm going to take a cat-nap before the celebrations tonight. Happy St. Paddy's!

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.

How to stop the fighting

So last week, myself and some friends were thinking of taking a trip somewhere. But the problem was each of us has already seen different places, and the weather still isn't warm enough to fully enjoy places like Sardinia or Croatia. The only place we could think of that none of us had visited, which would still be fun at this time of year was Istanbul.

We started to do some research, look for possible travel dates and prices. It all seemed to be going quite well, until one of our Cypriot friends (there are a lot of Greeks and Cypriots in Leicester) was telling us about his absolute hate of Turkey and all things Turkish. What history tells us is that Turkey invaded the Northern half of Cyprus, forcing all of the inhabitants to relocate. There was a war, many people lost their lives, others became refugees in their own country - are we seeing any parallels to Palestine yet? Our friend's father had to leave his home, his city, and move to the south of Cyprus...all because of the Turks. There's still a lot of resentment because of that - and he made that quite clear when he said "Just remember, when you go to Turkey, you are essentially helping to fund the guns that kill Cypriots". Great.

Now I know he was exaggerating a bit to make a point. It's not like there's still a war going on between the Cypriots and Turks. But what he's trying to say is that by spending money in Turkey, we are helping to fuel their economy, and sustain their occupation of Cypriot land. I mean it's the same thing when we go to the US, right? We buy all the really cheap stuff and feel so good about the savings we made, but what is that achieving on a bigger scale? Well, it's helping to maintain their economy, their "war on terror" and the over 655,000 Iraqi civilian deaths. There's a lot of people who refuse to travel to the States for this very reason. Technically, you could find issues like this in every country. The fact that I am living in a country that has colonized the 3 countries that make up my heritage says something. But I guess what I'm wondering is, when you KNOW the consequences of your actions, does it become more of a responsibility to act accordingly? Whenever we get in trouble for doing something wrong, what's the first excuse we use? "I didn't know!" We see lack of awareness as a good defense for wrong-doings. In this case though, I can't use that defense. I guess technically it doesn't really matter anymore because plans fell through due to scheduling conflicts, but hypothetically speaking, what's the solution?

On a small-scale level, the best I can come up with is to make sure when I travel to these places, I make some kind of charitable donation to the other side worth the same amount as what I spent in the country. So if I were to go to Turkey, I'd try to find some NGO (non-government organization) that has peace-keeping efforts between Cyprus and Turkey and donate my time, money or other goods to them. Or just make sure I visit Cyprus in my lifetime as well and spend a good amount of coin there too! That way I haven't contributed anything more to one side versus the other.

On a large-scale level, I would say we need to start keeping the peace more. We all think these wars are about oil, money, power or religion. What I truly think it stems from more than any of those things is narrow-mindedness. The inability to accept belief-systems or values that are different from your own. Why do we always do that? We are so focused on trying to be unique, to stand out in a crowd, we see that as the mark of a successful person. But what is wrong with recognizing that we are all the same? We are all divine beings. My soul isn't any lighter than yours - it's all the same. And I understand that not everyone is a religious or spiritual person. My best friend is Agnostic and if we were any closer we'd be the same person. That's cool to have that perspective (see how easy it was to be open-minded?). But even on a scientific level, we can see how slight our DNA changes to result in different races, features, etc. I believe it's less than 7 % of genetic differences can be explained by belonging to one race or another. Whether you're comparing our divine source or our genetic source, you have to reach the conclusion that we are more similar than different. And I personally believe that it's dangerous territory to start aiming to be individual, separate from everyone else. Because that's where you develop these notions of superiority. I'm right, you're wrong, and that's it. That time you spent trying to separate yourself from the world could've been used to unite yourself with the world. We become so wrapped up in developing our individuality, that we are completely blind to our equality. We come into this world with nothing, and we leave this world with nothing. That is the ultimate truth.

And it's easy to look at bigger examples like imperialism and say "that's not right for one country to impose its values on another" but much harder to put into practice in the everyday. Try next time you're talking to someone not to judge them. Not to think that they've got it all wrong and you've got it all right. Making these tiny changes in the way we treat one another is what will have the greatest impact, collectively. And I'm not saying that we shouldn't strive for excellence in school (for example) because we're all the same and we should all follow the same pattern and just be average. That's dumb. Strive for excellence in everything you do - but don't do it so that you can be better or distinguish yourself from everyone else. Do it because you aspire for greatness, regardless of what everyone else is doing. And the best way to figure that out is to ask yourself: "if everyone was doing what I was doing, would I still be happy, would I still want to do it?". When you earn a certain salary every year, are you happy with what you make because it's more than what most make? Or are you happy because you feel like you deserved that much money for the effort you put in? It's a simple question, with a very profound answer.

Sure, we might speak different languages, or eat different foods or have different income levels, but these are all social constructions of man to make us feel separate from one another. We need to stop focusing on all these little things that appear to distinguish us from one another and start looking at the more important factors that unite us from within. There's a very popular Sanskrit greeting we hear and say all the time, and some of us use it without realizing it's true meaning. One of my favorite authors, Wayne Dyer, ends every book he writes, every lecture he gives, with this word. I feel like it's probably fitting to end this post with it, because of the topic, so:

Namaste. (I honor the place in you, where we are all one)