Protests, Pastries and Penguins

Okay, this post actually doesn't have much to do with penguins, but I prefer alliteration in threes and I LOVE penguins.

As for the protests though, yes, they are happening here but I am not involved in them nor am I covering them. I really appreciate all of the e-mails I've been receiving asking if I'm okay, but rest assured that even though students from City are participating, the actual demonstrations are taking place far from my university.

Several of my colleagues have been covering the protests, and aside from a few lost phones, everyone has stayed safe. For excellent coverage, I recommend following my colleague Sarah on Twitter. She does a great job of incorporating multimedia.

London is an interesting place to be right now. To be fair, it always is, but with the student protests and Wikileaks, there's a lot of global news coming out of this city at the moment.

The Frontline Club, the journalism hub where I spent the midterm elections and have attended several interesting debates, issued a statement this week revealing that they have acted as a safe haven for Julian Assange for the last several months.

Though my personal impression of Assange was hardly favorable, the idea of Wikileaks as a form of journalism is now unavoidable, and it will be fascinating to see how it evolves in the face of Assange's arrest and such international backlash.

***

In other news (the kind related to my life and far less consequential than the aforementioned), tonight was another fantastic night. I learned how to make authentic french crepes, and though my first attempt was fairly pathetic, after the second crepe I was flipping with panache. So much fun!

Unfortunately, I only have photographic evidence of the crepe failure, because the rest were so good I got caught up in the moment and ate them.

Crepe fail:


Additionally, Clem (my french crepe guru/friend) has picked up on the fact that I often say "jeepers." She asked Liz what this meant, and Liz sent her a web link to a definition. Apparently she really liked it and is incorporating it into her vocabulary, along with other Americanisms she asked us for like "get it girl" and "good call."

In exchange, I am trying to pick up french slang. So far I'm working on "ca dechire," which Clem says is the french "jeepers" equivalent.

***

Finally, since I blogged/whined earlier today about being sick, things have started looking up, namely because I love sentimental videos. Some of you (you know who you are) have accused me of being incapable of real-life sentiment, but if that's the case then I make up for synthetically-inspired emotion ten-fold.

The one that's really getting me at the moment is Google's recently released Year in Google Searches.

It makes me nostalgic for this one, which legitimately made me well up in the middle of a New York City bar during the Super Bowl.

Which is almost as embarrassing as when I got weepy after watching this British Christmas commercial at Allister's aunt's house.

Finally, I love movie trailers, and am especially excited about this one. It's been out for awhile in the US, but I'm going to have to wait until January to see it here in the UK. Another movie that glamorizes the life of an overworked journalist? I'm in.

Plus I'm a sucker for a montage and Harrison Ford.

***

p.s. I said there wouldn't be penguins but I changed my mind! Last feel-good video of this post goes to Ralph, the bald penguin at Marwell Wildlife Center here in the UK. Apparently he was the alpha penguin until he lost all his hair. The lady penguins were giving him the cold shoulder until Ralph Lauren (yes the Polo guy) designed him a neoprene suit and then voila! he was back on top! My goal is to see him in person this spring. Swoon.

Happy Friday!

Love,
Jess

Election night!

Well, at home it's still election day. But I'm gearing up to cover the midterm results live from London, where a group of expats is gathering at the Frontline Club to watch the votes come in.

Wanna know what the Brits and Americans abroad think of our vote? Follow my first attempt at live-tweeting at www.twitter.com/jjabels.

There's another Tube strike going on here tonight, so I should be starting coverage around 9 p.m. UK time, or 3 p.m. CST.

If you're reading this and you're American and you haven't voted, please go vote!

Full updates tomorrow, after I sleep a little :)

Love,
Jess

Humanity at its best(?)

Every night, starting from around 7 p.m. onward, I play witness to all extremes of human emotion. Why, you ask? Because my window faces an alley, and that alley is a direct route from the main road to the pub.

In the past few weeks I have seen and heard more fights, crying drunk girls, professions of love, lad banter and earth-shattering belching than I can begin to describe.

But tonight is the best, because as I write this an enterprising group of youngsters is filming an amateur rap video in my sketchy little alley. If they become famous some day, it'll be nice to say I saw them in their infancy. I'll admit the song isn't bad, but the video is full of the requisite crotch-grabbing and scowling you would expect.

***

As promised, a recap of the discussion of the international aid budget discussion at the Frontline. Most of us in attendance agreed that the panel could have used more dissenting opinions. The consensus among the panelists, all of whom work in the aid industry, was that we have to find more effective ways to deliver aid to the people who really need it rather than potentially corrupt governments.

I was surprised to hear that most panelists agreed that project-based aid is no longer the focus we should take. Instead, they said we should be focused on multilateral program aid, and on helping develop better government infrastructure to ensure stronger trade partnerships and growth. The latter portion makes complete sense, but shying away from project aid is a fairly big shift from the last 30-some years of aid philosophy. It will be interesting to see where things go.

The final thing discussed that I found really interesting, especially being from the agriculture epicenter of America, was the fairly hostile attitude toward the subsidies we give farmers in America. It's logical that the non-West is angry, since producers who could be selling cotton, grain and other goods for a minuscule price can't increase their profits because we give such high subsidies to our farmers. Still, it's hard for me to be against that when those same farmers are my family and friends. It's an interesting debate, and one I look forward to learning more about as the term goes on.

We had such beautiful weather today, I'm putting going to the park and visiting Borough Market at the top of my to-do list for the weekend :) I hope everyone had a good Wednesday and is gearing up for the weekend!

Love,
Jess