Election night!

Tonight is the big UK election - will I wake up tomorrow in a conservative Britain? It hasn't been conservative since 1997. Labour has been in power since then. It does not look good for labour in this election however. Ellie and I did some campaigning for the Liberal Democrats in Ealing! We delivered letters and flyers for our local prospective MP - Jon Ball. He's a silly and tall man. We spent the last 2 evenings out around Ealing and Acton. I have a bit of a new sympathy for mail delivery people. Its hard to get things through some people's mail slots! I messed up a few by accident - because some of them have these brushes that don't move very easily and then the outside metal flap gets caught. Below is Ellie, holding the letters we delivered, ready to go out:
The Lib Dem prime minister candidate is Nick Clegg. If you remember anything about British history from high school - the liberal democrats were the wigs and the conservatives were the tories. This will be quite an interesting election. It seems like the conservatives will probably win, but the Lib Dems are putting up a fight. And it seems, at least from what I have seen in papers and on the news, that Labour are not going to have a good chance.

Ellie and I are going to watch the results coming in, and instead of the traditional BBC election coverage, we will be watching the alternative election night coverage on Channel 4. David Mitchell, of peep show fame, will be one of the presenters.

In other news, my old co-worker, Laura, and her husband, Matt are coming to visit soon and I have turned in my four papers! Lots of exciting things. In word count, the papers equal more than my dissertation! Now I am studying for exams and starting on my dissertation. Oof. I think this month is going to be very busy for me in terms of work.

more baking therapy/procrastination

My papers are not going the best. I am trying, maybe not hard enough, but they are just taking so long. Anyway, Ellie was in need of a pick-me-up today, so I made these delicious cookies. Seriously, the best cookies I have ever made. The picture isn't the best, as its from my phone, and definitely does not convey the amazingness. However, if you check the original recipe here, there is a better picture.

I modified the recipe a bit. First of all, they are gluten free! I used a white gluten-free flour mix, and added a little less than 1/4 tsp of xanthan gum. And secondly, I used milk chocolate chunks instead of dark chocolate chips.

I think next time I make these, I will use some white chocolate chips. The amount of chocolate in these cookies is a bit hilarious, but also so delicious.

Lent Term Ends

I am on my first week of Easter break. Lent Term, and all teaching, is done - no more teaching in my Master's!? Its just me and my paper writing.

Right now I am working on a 5000 word paper for my Gender and Postcolonial Theory class - its going to be a gender and race discourse analysis of the media portrayal of Haiti after the earthquake. If you have any opinions or ideas, send them my way!

The weather is finally getting better in London, spring is showing itself and you can spend long periods of time outside and not be uncomfortable! Ellie and I have big plans to spend lots of time in London parks, with delicious food.

Life has been pretty normal, I have been very busy with school work lately. But, my lovely friend, Kelsey, came to visit a few weeks ago. She was here for a week and we saw lots of the sights around London. (Below: Kelsey and I with the penguin at LSE)


I have pretty much acclimatised to London, I feel like I am fully present here. I remember when I first got here, I was having some anxiety about the whole experience. I never knew which way traffic was going to go and I was overwhelmed constantly by the number of people. But I feel at home now. It is not the same as Seattle, and honestly I really miss living in Seattle. However, I am a fan of London.

Lots of work ahead of me! 3 papers, a research proposal, and an annotated bibliography due on 26th April! Hope everyone is well!

Lent Term Begins

I have just turned in 3 essays:
1) 2500 word essay
2) 3000 word essay
3) 250 word essay (for Spanish)

I worked on those essays little by little, didn't leave them to the last minute and I am very glad for it. I saw my classmates on facebook freaking out about getting essays done.

I don't have any interesting adventures to report at the moment. I didn't leave my flat for several days, mostly because of the cold and because of essay writing. Not much adventure there. There was supposed to be a blizzard a few days ago, it did not hit London. There has been snow for the past few weeks on and off, but not much in London. Again, no adventure there.

However, on Thursday I go to Bilbao for my dear friend William's wedding! Ellie and I are staying in an actual hotel, with the husbands-to-be. The ceremony is at the city hall, and after we are going to have the reception in a restaurant overlooking the city. We have been told there will be several courses and lots of wine - in addition to an amazing atmosphere because we are celebrating a couple's love.

I will hopefully have lots of pictures to contribute to this blog after my trip. I may or may not be purchasing a low-end camera soon...

Merry Christmas to everyone!

I have finished one of my 2 essays for this break and its Christmas! Ellie and I are at her mom's house, basking in the free warmth and filling ourselves with delicious tea and food. Today I think I may be eating a lot. Yesterday I helped Ellie's mom to start making some of the food. We also decorated the tree (its quite small and in a pot).

I got some brilliant presents from ellie's family - her brother brought me some peanut butter filled pretzels and pancake mix from trader joe's, as well as tickets to see a pantomime. Quite a British experience! Ellie got me this lovely gift indoor plant grower, it doesn't use soil. Its hard to explain, but I'm very excited about it. I will post a picture soon, and make updates about all the delicious plants I grow (I plan to grow only food).

I made the most of my first week of vacation (I have a month)! I went ice skating for the first time, which went very well. I didn't fall once, I think my rollerskating background helped me.

Ok, I am tuckered out, so I am off to bed. Hope everyone is well!

Michaelmas term down, Christmas on its way

I am so relieved the term is over. I now have to face writing my 2 papers to hand in for 11 January. The term was tiring and intense. But it was really good as well. I think I have learned a lot about how research is done, how to keep up with enormous amounts of reading, and how to make new friends. I have a nice group of friends forming. Today I went to the pub after a meeting with a bunch of them. It feels nice to have people to hang out with.

One thing I love about LSE is that there is *always* something going on to do. There are several public lectures every week, not just academic ones, but also fun ones. For example, the guy who wrote "Stuff White People Like" came to speak about his book. I've gotten exposed to a lot of different people and ideas. I think that while it is no where near as radical as I am used to in academia, I am learning a lot about just how many view points one idea can illicit.

Today I went to a board meeting review of the sociology department. Apparently the Gender Institute is a part of the department. You wouldn't have any idea, we never do anything with sociology or talk about it. The meeting was about whether or not the Gender Institute should have autonomy from sociology. A bunch of the students were asked to come and tell the board their views. A group of us from Gender went in and argued for a break from sociology. And we got it! Its a really big deal, as I learned when all the profs in the Institute were squealing when we found out. They busted out the champagne, and we celebrated.

I'm going ice skating for the first time tomorrow!

a little update

I know it has been awhile! School picked up and got really busy. I have been working on facilitation, research proposals, and keeping up with massive amounts of reading. The term is over on 11th December, when I will try to write a longer post about how everything is going.

Tonight was the holiday party for the GI. There was some amazing mulled wine, mince pies, and other treats. It was held in the GI space, lots of students, and all of the faculty attended. I've made a nice little group of friends, and so I spent the evening mostly socializing with them. I like the general feel of the GI, and the professors are so nice to socialize with.

Ellie is working until 1:30am every night for the rest of the week, and all next week! So I am home alone in the evenings. Its a bit lonely at home alone, but I am trying to get work for school done. She is still looking for runner jobs and currently working for an events staffing company.

I am going to turn in early I think, I have been sick on and off, so I am trying to sleep as much as I can. Tomorrow I am facilitating in my "Cultural Constructions of the Body" class. The topic is "Precarious Bodies" - the assigned readings are about how perpetrators/enemies/terrorists are embodied in terms of racialized masculinity, heteronormativity, etc. I've been reading a lot about violence, prisons, terrorism, and Abu Ghraib this week and it has been quite difficult. The lecturer for this week showed a few pictures from the Abu Ghraib scandal, which caused quite an uproar from students. I felt it was inappropriate and kind of traumatizing, even though I understood the learning objectives. The pictures bear a striking resemblance to pictures taken during the slavery era in the US as well as pictures of racial violence against African Americans in general (gatherings when people were hung, etc).

If you are looking for something to read about prisoners rights, I would recommend "Are Prisons Obsolete?" by Angela Davis - not if you're looking for a light read though!