British cookie goodness

I know that England is not too well known for its culinary delights, but there are a few things I tried and grew to like while I was there. So lately, I've been frequenting the International sections of my local supermarkets to pick up my favorite foods that I had in England. Over Christmas, my dad and I drove up to Massachusetts to buy some Pimm's, so now I can enjoy the tasty beverage at home. I've also picked up smoked salmon (which I know isn't foreign, but I never ate it before going to Oxford), hummus (ditto), brie and cream crackers, Aero Mint bars, and rich tea biscuits. Next time, when I am not poor, I will go for the PG Tips (which are, alas, $6.99 a box). They even have Marmite, which is very British but I've never tried it because it looks disgusting.

These are all nice, but I just found out the best thing of all:

I can order Ben's Cookies from the States.

It's fairly pricey (about $14 for a small tin with 4 large cookies), but when you take the exchange rate into consideration, this is actually a slightly better price than at the Covered Market.

Being able to have that tasty cookie goodness here in the States would be pretty awesome. However, I have to consider some other factors, like nutritional value, the willpower to have 4 Ben's Cookies in my home and not eat them at once, and the sad state of my bank account.

Which is more important? Tasty cookie goodness, or the state of my bank account?

I'd like to know what you think.

Peace out,
Me

Virtual Learning

Hey folks, I'd like your advice here.

As I mentioned before, I'm leading a seminar presentation on the Virtual Classroom feature of Blackboard in about two weeks. I've presented and made handouts on this before, but I wanted to get some more perspectives from people who have used the tool.

I have no problem getting people to participate in the virtual class sessions. But I am particularly interested in strategies to get people to stay focused and on topic, and to keep people from slacking off during the class session.

If anyone has used Blackboard or WebCT to hold live online classes, I'd be interested in your feedback of what works and what doesn't. I'm also interested in suggestions for when to use the virtual classroom, other than exam review or bad weather. And finally, what do you do to deal with technical difficulties? Some people genuinely have problems that keep them from entering the virtual classroom, so I hate to penalize when it's not their fault.

Any feedback that anyone may have (from your experience as a student or faculty member) would be much appreciated. Leave a comment here, or drop me a line if you'd rather comment in private.

Many thanks! :)

Seasons change, people change

As I’ve mentioned more than once on this blog, I have this weird reaction to change. I resist it as long as I can, it makes me physically ill, and then once I plunge in and do what I have to do, I can’t imagine why I ever felt hesitant to begin with.

Last night, I went to a talk by Susan Douglas at my old university. (Yes, I went to a lecture on a Friday night. I have no life.*) Her talk was on the representation of motherhood in the media. A lot of my former professors were there, as were a lot of my colleagues from my last Master's degree. It was a great talk, and it gave me a lot to think about. And just as I did in Oxford, I bought the book and I had her sign it.

But I felt really out of place.

Don't get me wrong, it was a great lecture, and it was great to see some old friends. And the style was a bit more lively than some of the Oxford lectures I've attended. But I've grown accustomed to the Oxford academic life. I missed how presenters would cite articles written by scholars who happened to be sitting in the audience. I missed going with my friends and exchanging scandalous comments throughout the lecture. I was even a bit surprised when I got there and remembered that "refreshments will be served" does not include wine at an American university lecture.

I keep feeling compelled to go back to visit my old University, but every time I go back, I just feel like a visitor. The place hasn't changed much, the faculty haven't changed much, and a few of the students I knew are still there. I guess I'm the one who has changed.

Anyway.

In related news, I found out last night that the article on Media Literacy that I co-authored with two professors and a grad student last summer has been accepted for presentation at the National Communication Association Convention in Texas in November! Yay! I know it doesn't have anything to do with my current Master's or DPhil, but it's another line for my CV. :) It's also under review for publication, so I'll let you know how that turns out as soon as I find out.

Much love,
Me
xxx

*In Oxford, if my friends and I had decided to go to a lecture on a Friday night or some other weird time, we would have complained noisily for hours about what losers we are, but we would have genuinely enjoyed the lecture and would have talked about it at the bar with our friends afterwards. Ahh, the social life of grad students...

***Update, 2:56 p.m., 7/22/06: Sorry, for some reason I ended up posting this six times. I have no idea what the hell happened.

Murphy's Law of Buying Stuff

Dear Amazon.com,

Why, oh why, when I need two books so desperately for my DPhil proposal and order them with expedited shipping, do they arrive in my mailbox exactly one hour after I finish my proposal? Please advise.

Love and Literary Theory,
Kaitlin

Exotic childhoods

OK, this is really weird, but hear me out.

I was looking at some childhood photos of a friend recently, when I realized that I am totally envious of people who have childhood photos of themselves in a different country. Yes, I know they were born and raised there, but it just seems so much more exciting to have childhood photos from Italy or India or Scotland or whatnot.

I don't know what goes through my head - not just, "Hey! That's you when you were little! Cool!" but also, "Hey! That's a backyard in France twenty years ago! Cool!" Babies and small children seem to look the same the world over, but for some reason knowing that the photo was taken in another country makes the baby much more interesting.

Maybe I've just become indifferent to my surroundings. I've had them for the past twenty-six years, so it's all the same to me. When my friends came from Spain to visit me during my freshman year at the University of Hartford, I thought it was funny to see the kinds of things that excited them. School buses. Tall buildings. Baseball. Jack-o-lanterns. People who say "Good night" when you leave a restaurant at 7 pm. Hell, my friend even got excited about apple juice. It's the same around the world - Americans who go to London snap photos of the "Mind the Gap" signs (I did it too when I was there), when it's really something just as mundane to Londoners as a "No smoking" or "Exit" sign.

So why do I get so excited about childhood photos from other countries? What makes a baptism in a church, a high chair in a kitchen, a picnic in a backyard so much better when it's in Brazil or Spain or Hong Kong? I have no idea. It's just one of those odd quirky things that I find interesting. Maybe it's just because it's something different. Although I whine about how boring things are around here, it's probably interesting or exciting to someone who has never experienced anything like it before.

Sorry for this long-winded ramble. Off to have dinner and then back in the pool. Have a good week, everyone!