The Priory School

I got to head into the second of my Brilliant Club schools today, where the students and I had fun wrestling with terms like "authoritative knowledge" and "epistemology". A grand time was had by all.

Especially me, since I got two fantastic walks through adorable and not inner-city neighbourhoods on the way to and fro. 

Particular favourites of the journey to Orpington include this delightfully literal gem of a street name:

(Well, I'm assuming its literal. I didn't actually *see* the gravel pit one assumes is the namesake for this route.)

Also this sign and complex name:

So many delightful things are happening in this photo. Putting aside my newfound desire to live at Lancelot Court on Avalon Road, I have learned that "fly tipping" refers to dumping large objects on the street - curbside deposit of sofas and whatnot. The pupils and I had a great giggle when I asked them to explain it to me and I introduced the American collegiate practice of cow-tipping to them. 

You learn something new every day, folks. 

Years & Years

I went last evening to my second real concert. (My first was P!nk at the O2 a couple years ago, which I ended up at when a colleague had an extra ticket fairly last minute. By "real concert", I mean place with crazy people standing up and screaming over the presence of some dude with a guitar. Clearly I follow this scene really carefully. Haha.) A band named "Years & Years" (who, if I understand correctly, just got a #1 hit single or something) was playing in town. Effy and another Marshall mate have followed them for years and years (see what I did there?) and were insanely excited, so I jumped on for the ride. 

The band was really quite good. And several songs were fairly mellow, so k wasn't just in an insane mob of manic. 

Before heading to the gig, we popped into a nearby restaurant for London's attempt at Mexican food. The sopa de tortilla was actually quite lovely, and that way we could actually catch up without shouting in each other's ears at the concert. 

Afterward, they all wanted to dance...so I somehow managed to be out far past my bedtime. But I made it safely home on a night bus and am now happily headed to brunch at The Breakfast Club. 

Also on the agenda this weekend: a meeting about the eighth international workshop on hydro-hegemony, a return to the very fabulous Kensington Unitarians, and a good amount of PhD work. :)

Brilliant Club Launch

'Tis the season for teaching! March marks my in-school placement with The Brilliant Club, the charity placing PhD researchers with low participation schools around England. I'll be teaching in two schools around Orpington,  southern suburb of London. 

Yesterday, I met one of my schools at the University of Sussex. Pupils enjoy a first day at a university, including tours of the campus and meetings with uni staff, as part of their course. I'll then go into the school 5 times to deliver university-style tutorials. The students will have a final assignment, graded at a level higher than their current level and according to a uni-style system, and then they get a graduation trip at another university to show off some of the diversity of higher education. Hopefully by the end, the students have had the chance to build their confidence and get an idea of whether and why university is right for them. 

My liaison teachers are fantastic; the students are great; Sussex is always beautiful and hilly. The day was, well...brilliant. 

A week of bucolic bliss

After an absolutely fabulous time in Norwich and Norfolk teaching energy and campaigning, I am back in London.

I got in some rural pastoral bliss before having to head back to the city. Particular favourite was frolicking in the mud with teens all day only to come back to the glorious fire:

The kids all seemed to have a good week, and it's always fun teasing the other mentors who come along to help run the programme:

Jenny, my co-coordinator, and I had a good time as well, in between fighting with technology in the middle of lectures:

I am now somewhat tragically returned to the big city; however, it is a glorious day out, and I am on my way to the Unitarian Chapel near Notting Hill. So there's only so much misery that all can contain. :)

A Diplomatic Rambling

It's really not very diplomatic at all. ;)

However, it is about diplomacy!

The newest series of "Ramblings" dives into a wee bit of diplomatic theory, considering one possible framework for my environmental peacebuilding research.

The mini-series kicks off with an overview of Diplomacy. Episodes about Track 1 (official negotiations) and Track 2 (civil society leader networks) Diplomacy are now up as well!

Alex meets Maestro

Lucky Marshall Scholar Alex got to meet Iorwerth this weekend, coming into Norwich for a mini-retreat. He was supposed to come teach at Holt Hall with me - which is what I'm doing all week - but we had a student group cancellation and suddenly didn't need him for early in the week. Since some rail tickets were already purchased, we went ahead and came in anyway for the weekend.
Iorwerth dragged him around the Castle and Cathedral and library:

London International Dive Show

You can now read more about (and see pictures!) of my weekend with the Kuwait Dive Team at the London International Dive Show on the WaterWords Blog of King's Water: http://blogs.kcl.ac.uk/water/2015/02/20/phd-student-becca-farnum-at-the-london-international-dive-show/.