A great new blog

can be found here.
Who said blogging is dead?

I have never seen the point of

royalty.
But this receipe will keep you going for when you have nothing in the cupboard and need something utterly delicious and it is from Tom Parker-Bowles.
Here it is:
1. Fry garlic and a pinch of chili in some olive oil.
2. Add 2 tins tomatoes.
3. Add some balsalmic vinegar and a bay leaf.
4. Bubble for 1 hour on a low heat.
5. Season and serve with spaghetti, parmesan, some rocket salad and good olive oil to drizzle.
PERRFect!
Sadly it is back to work here, writing my report for the AHRC.
Sasha keeps me company.

lunch boxes

are the bane of my life.
I am therefore impressed by Mimi Ito's photostream on Flickr.
You can read about it here.
and see it here.
Roll on school dinners.

High Stoy Wood

Hot spring sun. Here are Molly and her friend.
Here is Sasha who liked Dorset but not the cows.
Meanwhile, the others were here.
Happy Easter!
P.S. The Easter recipe is Dr Joolz' favourite risotto.
Take 2 red peppers and fry in olive oil with some garlic.
Add a tin of tomatoes.
Puree with whizzer or blender.
Add vegetable stock
Fry onion in some oil.
Add risotto rice.
Stir.
Add the stock slowly until the rice is cooked.
Then add some parmesan, and butter. Season.
Serve with Feta cheese and rocket.
Comes courtesy of the Thyme Cafe in Sheffield.

Thank goodness

We have our tickets for Glastonbury which is now sold out.
It has been a nailbiting morning.
Even Sasha was nervous.
Luckily I can sit in the comfort of my own home and watch it on TV.
The relief.
And Isabel can see the Arctic Monkeys live.
Also a relief.

dialogic objects

Inspired by Gaby's visit, (Gaby came from Germany where she teaches socio linguistics to hear about Charmian's project in Tower Hamlets)
I am thinking about the way that objects speak with two voices.
For example, quilts in Pakistan can mean one thing, that is, warm coverings for wearing in the winter.
In Rotherham, quilts become duvets, they cover you at night in the cold Rotherham winters.
The object is the same, but has different uses and meanings in different spaces.
Here is our textile case in our exhibition (still on at Rotherham Central Art Gallery till 14th April).
The cotton was also grown in Manchester, but from our informants, was grown in Pakistan, on the farm.
It too has a dialogic quality and like Bakhtin's texts, speaks with two voices.

Living normally

is something I try to do, and I was pleased to find this book which celebrated ordinary homes.
What I love about normal homes (as opposed to 'styled' ones in magazines)
is the way objects and artefacts are acrrued.
People give you stuff, and even if it is faintly tasteless, it stays, as a trace of the giver and also as an acknowledgement of the messy realities of daily life.
Even better, cats, children, playstations, clutter up more of it.
There is even a website dedicated to people's homes which you can find here.

Travelling

This week I have been here, here and to talk to the people at this project here.
You ofcourse should go here to see the wonderful exhibition.
My knowledge of the UK rail network has now reached doctoral proportions.
I am hoping to offer an online doctorate in the manner of this marvellous course with modules in
GNER studies (including reading on theorising "trans" status objects and the death of the train company, with Derrida thrown in for free)
The Midland Mainline module will include sedimented literary theorists such as Raymond Williams and Richard Hoggart as it has an old school Marxist feel.
Virgin meanwhile will include a whole section on risk theory (Beck ofcourse) and include theorists such as Bev Skeggs on class while my favourite module will be,
Northern Rail which will have wonderful sections on children's popular culture, girls talk and ethnographic positionality.
Suggested dissertation topics:
Visual cultures
Viewing cultural spaces
Criticality and the train
Travelling and tourism
Must start the e-forms now.

Ferham families

had its grand opening on the 3rd March at Rotherham Art Gallery and the opening party was a great success.

All sorts of famous people came.

I was very excited by our gold case

our wonderful wall placards

and by the elephants.

This quote is from Jaan Khan and I think it is very poetic.

Here are some advance pictures of the exhibition but really, you have to be there.

On until April 14th so you have no excuse.

online shopping

is what you do when you are doing a really hard thing like writing a report for this organisation about what you did in clear and accessible language.

Obviously this is too hard so you have to go shopping.

Dr Joolz likes to shop here and so I take a look.

Daughter has just bought a tunic dress from here
(note: for those over 30, tunic dresses are to be worn WITH CAUTION).

However, I like these websites:

Tulip and Nettle are very arty, off beat and CHEAP.
I have told you before about this addiction, I think it is now beaten, thank god.
This website was picked up as my favourite by Literate it has fab dresses but is not cheap.
For reliable surfing and good in sales go to Toast and Boden.

Beware however, going too floral, purchasing halterneck tops and

embracing wholeheartedly the peasant look as it is NOT GOOD on older female academics.
But I have some quirky interests.
Kittens
Dolls
Gypsy caravans.
You have been warned.

Hopefully someone will write about online shopping which will be v. useful.

I have been haunting

Art Galleries this weekend in excited anticipation for our big event next weekend (3rd March Rotherham Art Gallery BE THERE).
First off is Ellen Bell at Leicester Art Gallery whose dictionary models spilled over when it came to the word home and went into Punjabi when the word marriage came up making me think that my idea of dialogic objects really makes sense.
Then Art into Abstraction in Sheffield which was wonderful, full of hanging lights and movies of Miami skyscrapers
I am also loving this album which was kindly given to me by one of our Professors
and this book which is preparation for my forthcoming visit to New York.
Can I also tell you I think this is a terrible blog. (But really funny).

By popular demand

Dr Kate brings you the latest information on Fashion from London Fashion Week and also
Top Tips for your Spring wardrobes.
First off, is tulip skirts.

See the illustration here.
Men may hate them, this is not the point, they are in fashion.
You wear them with high heels and opague tights.
For more information see marvellous Jess Cartner-Morley explain all here.
Fabulous.

Mine is a grey one (Selfridges sale right at the end when everything was 70%) and I love it.
Next, puffy sleeves.
Again, not popular with men, just ignore them as these are key.
I have a Peter Jensen dress which has huge sleeves which is excellent.

This is the actual dress as shown on the catwalk above.
Grey or neutral dresses is another key trend.
Luckily I have a grey and neutral one so I am relaxed on that score.

I hope you all follow my advice.

There are also some trends you should ignore at all costs.

Futurist dressing

Yellow, and

Minis

You have been warned.

There is something thrilling about

blogging on the train.
It must be the heady combination of Leonard Cohen and this wonderful book which is so inspiring.
Dr Joolz and I are madly publicizing our new course.
We have contacted these organizations:
NIACE
The Basic Skills Agency
The National Literacy Trust
RaPAL
UKLA
Skills for Life

and they are all happily helping us.
This reminds me of when I was a literacy outreach worker in Hammersmith.

Who would be a spy?

Molly will.

This is her list of Gagets and Acsores.

It is part of her computer game but it is good to see she has her career already PLANNED OUT.

Also, it is part of my ongoing fascination with the nature of narrative and how narrative is changing as computer games drive spatial design of stories.

Also, have you read Clarice Bean?

You should.

It is all happening

here at Sheffield.
First there are all these marvellous books everyone keeps bringing out.
Blink and you miss them.
Jackie Marsh's book with Eve is packed with wonderful chapters and
Colin and Michele's sampler is really enticing.
A must-have purchase, especially since me and Dr Joolz are devising the most exciting course ever.
It is an on-line course in new literacies and will be profoundly cutting edge.
Taking our cue from the ever hip world of craft it will invite students to fill in a patchwork quilt which is our map of knowledge and gradually make a wonderful sedimented pattern of meaning.
Wow.
This remind me of my article to be published here with Jennifer on sedimented identities in texts.
Our on-line course will ofcourse be a trace of identity.
Everywhere you turn there will be
handbags
Tecky stuff
beauty tips
and ofcourse us, in glamorous poses.
Can't wait.
PS I am writing this ON THE TRAIN.

it is difficult not to get obsessed by

our new kittten who is now a boy.
Luckily lots of other bloggers are too.
here is one.
Flickr has millions of kitten pictures as here.

Molly of course is his favourite.

The myths we live by

was one of the key themes I took from the wonderful Domesticity conference, held at Sheffield.
I have decided to go back to Raf Samuel and Paul Thompson's book, where we learn that,

We need as historicans to consider myth and memory not only as special clues to the past, but equally as windows on the making and remaking of individual and collective consciousness, in which both fact and fantasy, past and present, each has a part.

(Samuel and Thompson 1990: 210. )

I also learned abour ritual in house building and how inscription could be woven into the very fabric of the house. I liked thinking about how values and practices could be inscribed into the fabric of the house. Ritual mediated this experience.

I also learned about ritual by reviewing this book, which argues that we need to re-think the category of ritual as a sensitising concept for thinking about classroom discourse that falls into a regular pattern, such as the question and answers involved in learning German.

I was able to see how our data on 'knocking through' fell into the category of inscription. People re-made their own houses, and, in doing so, inscribed their identity into the fabric of the space.

I was also interested to note that tidiness is associated with Facism and also with South African Germans and their racist ideologies.

Very cheering as my house has been utterly turned upside down by the new kitten.

Dr Joolz' paper called 'Chilli - stylists' own' about Flickr and domesticity was particularly inspiring. I learned about fridge doors as a site for meaning.

I also did lots of thinking about my new research project, of which more in the future.

Thank you to Karen Harvey and Susan Reid who did all the work.

today we went to collect

our new kitten, Sasha. This is her.
Martin wanted to call her taxi because then he could call 'taxi'! to the neighbours.
We felt after 2 weeks of silence and the sad demise of the hamster that our house was too silent.
We needed somebody else to cheer us up.
She is currently asleep by the fire.

Home is where the heart is

is our working title for our paper for this conference.

We hope you can all come.

Andy and I have realised that homes instantiate complex emotions.

This is how he puts it more eloquently than me:

The home and the house are at the centre of family life. Running from the family are these connecting identities between the family’s identity leading to these objects and artefacts which are imbued with special meanings of the family. They tell stories of intergenerational significance, which, if they can be deciphered, paint a picture of whole family and individual identities.

•These household items are visual triggers for oft-recounted tales which, through embellishment, over time, have taken on mythical status, with shared family legends, which, when unpicked, reveal a great deal about that particular family’s values and its individual members and the broader culture of which they are part.

•Narratives bound up in ornaments, décor, artwork, clothing, jewellery, reveal the traditions, values, mantras, passions, challenges, faith, that forms the basis of that family’s past present and future existence.

(Andy Pollard)

This is so good that I don't need to add anything.

I have however been reading Bachelard The Poetics of Space.

In there I read:

A house constitutes a body of images that give mankind proofs or illusions
of stability. We are constantly re-imagining its reality: to distinguish all
these images would be to describe the soul of the house; it would mean
developing a veritable psychology of the house. (Bachelard 1958:17)

I like that idea, that houses have souls.

At the moment, our house is in mourning for our cat, Lizzie, whose shadow is everywhere.

Even the fish is off its food. The hamster is quiet.

As Molly rather heartlessly said, 'One down, two to go!'

Our cat

died today. She was 17 years old, same age as my daughter is going to be on Sunday.

Obviously I am very upset.

This is a picture of her.

She was, however, old and much loved.

Happy New Year!