Nos différences nous unissent.

“When I score, they call me French.  When I don’t, they call me an Arab.” -Karim Benzema

Academia is a funny thing. It’s something that I’ve wanted to do my entire life, but it was one of those things where it was never the right time.  Now that the dust has settled on the World Cup and Les Bleus are boarding their coach from Charles de Gaulle (courtesy of TV5 Monde streaming live through Facebook and YouTube) en route to the Champs Élysées, it’s only natural that, given the events of the 2010 and 2014 World Cups, the French press has, much like the champion team in 1998, focused on the national origins of it’s players, ironic given that the “official hashtags” for Les Bleus were #TousEnsemble (everyone together) and #Fiersdetrebleus (proud to be blue).  The conversation surrounding this team is identical to that which surrounded the 98 team: Marine Le Pen is angry that there are too many foreigners because it dilutes the very essence of what it means to be French, supporters of the Front National are upset that there aren’t enough “proper French” players lifting the trophy, there have been numerous discussions across social media about the amount of African and African descendent players that were selected, the list goes on. Presenters on TV5 Monde continue to bring up players like Benzema as well as l’affaire Deschamps.  The latter is a cloud that continually hangs over both la selection and the media and will for a very long time.  When France defeated Belgium to advance to the final, the general sentiment was “que l’esprit de 98 bénisse les bleus de 2018.” (may the spirit of 98 bless this team), and only time will tell if this golden team will be remembered in the same way that the 1998 team was when they won. This is a special team and the conversation around it is nuanced and complicated and will take a long time to unpack, and I suspect that in the coming years, when I’m hopefully finishing my dissertation, then we’ll have a complete portrait as to how important, historically, socially, and politically this team really was.

#TousEnsemble. Everyone together.

Recommended Reading: France and the 1998 World Cup: The National Impact of a World Sporting Event (Sport in the Global Society

it’s been a while, but i’ve finally been able to recover my account.  every time i’ve reset my password, someone else goes in and resets it to something else.  to whomever was changing my password, than you for not getting rid of my content.  to everyone else, have a happy mummy cookie while i decide in which direction i want to take my blog in.

Giant advent calendar in Manchester’s Northern Quarter.  I love my city.

Abe Lincoln FC

Abe Lincoln is a United fan [ok ok ok…FC United went a little crazy with their bar scarves in town, but YEAH LINCOLN FOR THE CAUSE. or something.]

Going to York next weekend, so i’m sure i will have some more important and more interesting content to share with the masses as i have been trying my best to stay under my rock and avoid the Parklife shitehawkery of the weekend.

xo

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

[Stan Chow’s excellent ram done for Lunar New Year as projected onto St Anne’s Church, St Anne’s Square, Manchester. view more of his work here. and buy a print or six.]

New Year’s Resolutions 2015

because i need to take a break from my assignment (that i oughtn’t be taking a break from but that’s neither here nor there…) and based on a conversation that i had with a coworker and with my boyfriend the other night, here is my list of New Year’s Resolutions. 01. Make it to the end of January in one piece. 02. Get to the middle of February and plan something exciting for Half Term. 03. Last a few more days until March holidays and boyfriend’s birthday. 04. Use time wisely throughout March until Easter Holidays. 05. Realise that it’s not the end of the world anytime soon and that everything is going to be ok because April is when i can start to look for a teaching job. 06. Have good leads going into May half term. 07. FIND A JOB! 08. FINISH MY COURSE WITHOUT HAVING LOST MY MIND. 09. FIND A KICK ASS FLAT. 10. Holidays in Spain. or France. or wherever we decide to go. If you take that as my “How not to lose my mind in the last six months of my PGCE”, my major resolutions are to be more responsible with my money because i have a lot of big things coming up and to realise that the world isn’t ending / don’t worry so much / EVERYTHING IS GOING TO BE OK. I also need to realise that I can’t control the actions of other people and that the only person that I can make act like an adult is myself. (i feel this is less a resolution and more of an advice to myself…j’habite avec des singes ET IL NE FAUT PAS LES AIMER. ON DOIT S’OCCUPER AVEC VOUS ET VOUS-MÊME SEULEMENT. IL FAUT SOUVENIR QUE VOUS NE LES AVEZ PAS CHOISIS. VOUS AVEZ CHOISI SEULEMENT LA MAISON, LA VILLE, ET ICI, C’EST TOUT.) this seems to be a feasible list, broken down into manageable bits….two to three week bites so that i don’t get so overwhelmed. i think that if i do this, then the next six or seven months will be a massive success. i’m going to make the most of it and give it a go and hope for the best because if i repeat the ten points above to myself as applicable, then they will be self fulfilling prophecies. the days will come and go and the time will pass; there’s no stopping that. here’s to making the best of it… wish me luck. x

The Great Manchester Wheel. File under: Things I’m Obsessed With.

I’m kind of obsessed. no filter, just adjusted the white balance. Blackberry z10 while walking home from the bus. not bad. can’t complain. life is good.

BBC Studios. Media City, Salford UK

The BBC Studios, Media City. Salford, UK. 30 October 2014.

I went on an adventure to Media City yesterday. ITV, BBC, an ice skating rink, and a TARDIS. There’s something so…lovely about glass buildings. Lovely seems so boring, but i don’t really know how else to describe it? glass buildings make me happy in general. -insert something about glass and the fragility of life- it’s nice for me, at least, to get out of the normal neighbourhoods that i see every single day and go to other places in the city…it’s funny that once you’re out and about that you realise how close everything is. Media City isn’t really that far from the city centre and right across the street from Old Trafford which is a little walk to the Tafford Centre. it kind of reminds me of Manhattan where everything seems so far apart on a map, but once you get stuck in and walking around, things are really closer than what you think they are.

Plus…we went across the way to the Lowry and bought chocolate bars as big as our faces at the Cadbury outlet because there’s a Cadbury outlet and because why not?

My view. Every Day. Picadilly Gardens, Manchester.

Back in April, I posted a picture of the Great Wheel of Manchester and I said that I couldn’t talk about it. Well…I can talk about it now because I live here. That’s right. The cat’s out of the bag. The big secret’s out. I’ve packed my bags and moved to Manchester and it’s wonderful. This is the view from my study / reading spot and honestly…who is going to complain? After all…based on this photo, I’ve clearly only moved to England for the weather 😀

Le Tour Eiffel, Paris. 2012

Le Tour Eiffel, Paris. 2012

Because sometimes you really just need a cliché photo of the Eiffel Tower to make you happy. The first day that I was in Paris, I do what I always do: I take an orientation walk around the city and make mental notes of what I would like to see and what I would like to add to my itinerary. The good thing about Paris is that no matter where you are, the Eiffel Tower is always there so no matter where you are, as long as you can find it, you can never get lost. This day, I had lunch at the Tuileries and walked towards the Champs Élysées, just a little stroll; nothing more. I walked around the round a bout, [not in traffic, bien sur!] and saw the top of the tower and…well, there we go. I decided to take the back roads, stopped for a pastry, stopped to people watch, stopped for a beverage, etc. and there it was. It was like a cartoon, the trees pulled away, the sun was shining, and the birds were singing. It was perfect.