Flat Stanley Goes to London

Word of the day: mum
Mum is definitely the word today, of course, because it's Mother's Day in the U.K.

Place of the day: Canterbury
As in Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, we made a pilgrimage last week to this quaint town and breathtaking cathedral. We also tried to do an album cover (second photo) in the ruins of a castle.

Me, Morgan and Hild; photo by Erika Edgerley

Flat Stanley Goes to London (also photos of the week)
So Flat Stanley is originally a children's storybook character who travels all over the world. Now elementary students send their own Flat Stanley creations to international destinations. My good friend Joe was lucky enough to be a recipient of Stanley from his nephew in the States. We took Stanley around for some City of London sightseeing. And then we even headed up to St. John's Wood to pay a tribute to the four lads. We think we made quite a storybook.

Flat Stanley started his London sightseeing at Piccadilly Circus.


Flat Stanley had to stop to call home.


Flat Stanley almost fell in the fountain at Trafalgar Square.


Flat Stanley can tell time because Big Ben is nearby.


Flat Stanley walked along the London Bankside and posed between London Bridge and Tower Bridge.



Flat Stanley visits the famous Abbey Road, where the Beatles once walked. He sees where millions of fans have written on the wall and even crosses the steet like the Beatles did on their album cover.




The end.

I'm Just the Teenage Cameraman, After All

Word of the day: shopping trolley
shopping cart

Place of the day: Poetry Cafe
At this hole-in-the-wall cafe in Covent Garden, I read a final ode to my recently lost iPod.

Laugh or Cry?
After scrolling down through an e-mail conversation forwarded to me from my boss, I noticed he referred to me as the "teenage camera person."

I considered writing back and saying: "For the record, I am almost 23, but I'm glad I still look like a teenager."

He told me today that my work is "very pioneering," to be fair. But his humor is a breed of its own.

I am now listening to: Nothing, just the sad sound of shoe on pavement and the beeping of crosswalk lights in an iPodless existence.

I am One of a Quarter of Americans!

Word of the day: Blighty
When informed I was leaving England, someone asked me when I was coming back to Blighty, a.k.a. England.

Place of the day: Union Theatre, Southwark
This hidden theatre on the route from Southwark tube station to the Bankside is maybe one of the coolest London finds yet. My roommate and I sat in the intimate crowd for a four-player production of a dramatic London play that made us both squeamish (awkward sexual content, such as a naked at the end!) and intellectually entertained. The play Senti-Mental as well as the venue was a completely worthwhile and memorable London experience.

I'll Pass on Your Statistics


In one of my first blog posts I felt so enlightened as I told you about how few Americans hold passports (24%), but I am so sick of this statistic after hearing it from pretty much every European. And when they bring it up, they often reduce the number to 18% or even 10%. I now hear it from pretty much every non-American I meet and it is starting to get kind of comical. I mean, I seriously laughed out loud the last time someone said it to me.

I almost find my response painfully obvious. But because I too was duped by this statistic, let me just explain. Well, first I'll start by mentioning that I do think international travel is an immensely important experience, and almost every country should do a better job of fostering this in our cultures.

But why is that statistic comical, particularly when a British person says it? First of all, Ireland is about the distance from where I live in the U.S. to Chicago. And yet none of the British seem to have ever been there. Also, Paris is a two-hour train ride away and it requires a passport. That's like going to Cleveland for me, and that, my friend, does not require a passport.

So (as many smart British people have also already deduced, to give them some credit), America is a really big place so of course a lot of people don't have passports. You don't have to leave the country to see the desert, the ocean, the mountains, the prairies, the snow, the tropics, California, New York, Alaska, Hawaii, etcetera ... And, by the way, passports only recently became a requirement to travel to our neighboring countries of Canada and Mexico. If traveling to France didn't require a passport, I'd love to know how many British people would have them.

Yes, at first I was appalled (but not shocked) at the number of Americans who don't have passports, but, seriously, it's not as ludicrous as I hear it portrayed at times. After spending a lot of time here, I find it to not exactly be some sort of enlightened island of people traveling all over the world all of the time. In fact, England seems to be somewhat lagging as far as integrating with other cultures. (Diversity and travel does not equal integration.) And so, while, yes, there are many ignorant Americans out there, I come across it at an alarming rate in ol' Blighty as well.

I am now watching: Just to balance things out, let's take a punch at the old American broadcast news. You really must watch this documentary exposing the horrors of broadcast network Fox News. I hate even writing "news" as part of its title, because "Fox Propaganda" would be more appropriate. The fact that a news organization run by a political party actually exists in America makes my journalism blood boil!

Trying to Make Offers They Can't Refuse

Word of the day: White Ace
It is easy to mistake a green bottle of this alcoholic cider for off-brand Sprite. And it is actually just as cheap as Sprite -- only 2 pounds for 2 liters! I mean, that price puts PBR to shame.

Place of the day: The London Dungeon
Now I don't know if I really recommend a visit to this house of London horrors right after a night that included White Ace, but it was definitely an entertaining place. I wouldn't have paid the big entry fee, but it turns out my co-worker hooked us up with a free visit! So I spent this afternoon seeing Jack the Ripper victims, visiting Sweeney Todd's barber shop, and running from the plague.

So what else is new?
As you can see I've gotten a little busy, and as this blog doesn't put food on the table, I've had to place it last on the list. I mean, there is literally too much journalism in my life right now. I can't remember which blog I need to write in or who I need to be interviewing or what sources need to be contacted, etcetera. (Not that I will humor myself by calling this blog journalism. My financial blog is where I tend to get a little more serious. But sometimes switching the tone back and forth confuses me and I find myself wanting to say "like, totally" in my other blog.)

And when I'm not doing journalism I'm still not really disconnected from it at all. But the election is just so exciting!!! And I hate the idea of missing a candidate picking his or her nose or a good podcast about the cultural impact of Pollyanna or a Times article on obesity ... Sigh, my roommate thinks I'm crazy for staying up so late typing away but I wish I was able to "let go." She also says it's cool how interested I am in things. I never really noticed that this wasn't normal, but now I see that it becomes the difference between getting enough sleep and not getting enough sleep. The world is divided between these people.

Someday I would like to sleep better, but it will not be this week. As of right now I'm in job search hell. Sadly I can't just be an intern for life. Well, I think I would be if interns had health insurance. But yes, the time has come to start going to the dentist again. Of course, applying for things when you are working full-time and overseas are a bit of a hurdle, but thanks to the World Wide Web, I'm managing just fine. My parents can just scan some clips for me and send them right over! Aren't you so impressed by them for being so tech-savvy? My mom sent me two pdfs already all by herself. Aw, I love patronizing my parents.

By the way, I miss my parents and my mom's chili and Ohio and everyone. Last week was particularly rough because I finally had a valentine and a Valentine's Day evening without The Post (I traditionally put the paper to bed on that date, sometimes by choice), and here I was in London. I got a nice package including a whole box of Twinkies though! Nice job valentine!

Yeah so anyway, I have an interview outside of London tomorrow, so I better at least attempt sleep. Unfortunately when you film the interviews you have to pay more attention to things!

Before I zzz outta here, I'll also add that I just saw The Godfather and it rocked. Another thing checked off my life to-do list! Rock on.

Unmaid in London

Word of the day: blurt
A new Brit slang word I heard today from someone a little younger and hipper than I is the word "blurt." Instead of "splitting" from somewhere, you might "blurt." You know, like, "Hey guys let's blurt." Not as in "say something awkward" like I do all the time, but as in, "let's leave."

Place of the day: Brighton
We took a day trip to the seaside and it was lovely! Of course my pictures of the sea didn't really turn out, so you'll have to take my word for it. The extravagant/exquisite/whatever-other-e-word-could-suffice Royal Pavilion was fun to explore. It was the palace of King George IV, a man who loved his pleasures. Definitely the coolest royal residency I've seen yet.

Courtesy of Wikipedia

Photo of the week:
Well, I must apologize, because it appears I have absolutely jinxed Banksy, the world-famous British street artist. Here is the maid, one of his famous graffiti works in Chalk Farm, on Wednesday. As you can see by the "wet paint" sign, its neighboring graffiti works were painted over.

Photo by Jessica Lee

But then here is the maid erased yesterday. My friend Jessica conjectures that Banksy might've lost much of his street cred.

A moment of silence for the poor maid.

Add on: Jessica tells me the maid is back. It doesn't take the Banksy team long to clean up the lack of graffiti problem!

And a good quote...

A quote from a humorous commentary about the Soc Gen debacle I am writing about:

"As you may have gathered, I don't understand the stock market, because it's so boring my brain refuses to get to grips with it." -- Charlie Brooker, The Guardian

The Cold, Hard Truth of What's at the Bottom of the Kettle

Word of the day: limescale
So, this is the nasty build-up sometimes congregates at the bottom of a kettle. Obviously this exists in America but obviously I never noticed because obviously I don't own a kettle. They are awesome though (and electric; these are not old-lady teapots).

Place of the day: Brick Lane
I finally ate some of the delicious curry lining Brick Lane sold by London's Bangali population. As you walk up and down the street, you are harassed by restaurant recruiters selling deals on their curry restaurants (which is how we got a free bottle of wine and 30% off).

Who Needs Facts?
Before I begin writing my big spread of stories on the French rogue trader …

I'll tell you the biggest difference I notice between British journalism and American journalism. It's actually the same comparison American journalists often draw between magazine journalism and newspaper journalism: The blurring of opinion and facts. Journalism here seems to have a little more of an agenda. (However, please note that I'm discluding broadcast journalism from my informal study, as we all know that Fox News-like agendas are a whole other story.)

I thought of this because a couple days ago my boss was coaching me on how to write this story about the event that happened at Soc Gen, the French bank that lost €4.9 billion from fraudulent trades. So my editor presented a huge list of opinions I could take and they sounded like fun, but I thought I was doing a boring story about how the back-office and front-office failed or whatever. I said, "Well this is a little more opinionated than I thought." And he instantly pointed out that everything we do should be opinionated and that American journalists usually have a rough time with this. I said I was fine with that but wanted facts to back it up (obviously, evidence). He agreed and in a way I think perhaps I can come up with the best of both words. It's just about having a thesis and evidence -- American journalism does this too, maybe just a little more anally.

I'm glad that here at an English-based magazine I have the opportunity to practice a lot with journalism. But sometimes I just want to be writing a city council story where every paragraph-long sentence ends in "Brown said." Of course that's boring writing I never even used to do in the States (I was always more of a features writer by trade!), but I'm just saying, that's what England does to me sometimes.

I am now listening to: Every single podcast/vodcast I can find. I am going to miss commuting to work without car and listening to them so much.
Some of my favorites:
NPR: Talk of the Nation
This American Life
Search Engine
On The Media