Join 10,450 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, Have you ever been hit like a ton of bricks by the realisation that all of a sudden, with no fair warning, lo and behold: you're old? Not to be overly dramatic (yeah, right...), but this happened to me this week. Let me back up a bit. This week I was finally, after months of relentless rain, enjoying a dry stroll through my university. No hair drying necessary at the end, daffodils blooming everywhere, sun shining, whimsical statues merging...
11 days ago • 6 min read
Join 10,450 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, Was this past week the best week that the Earth has ever experienced? Not by a long stretch. But was it an average week? Also not. It was likely one of the most worrying, disconcerting and [enter properly negative adjective] ones ever. Which of course doesn't mean we give up; on the contrary, I believe that events like the ones we're living through make our role as teachers all the more important. We don't have all the answers and we can't...
25 days ago • 6 min read
Join 10,450 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, As a general disposition, I don't think I would describe myself as an especially belligerent person. Yes, I'm willing to fight for injustice, and I will fight you (with words) for the last pack of orecchiette on the shelf during the Italian week at Lidl - a time honoured unmissable tradition here in the UK where I have made many a friend. However, much like our wise Constitution, I abhor war in all its forms. And given the times we live in, the...
about 1 month ago • 6 min read
Join 10,450 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, I could intro my way into this email by telling you it's currently snowing here in England after it has rained literally (and I don't use the word literally lightly) every single day since the beginning of the year, in what Secret London has aptly called rainfall of Biblical proportion. I mean... you can't blame a girl for her increased consumption of hot chocolate However, I won't do that, of course. Instead, let me tell you I've received all...
about 2 months ago • 8 min read
Join 10,450 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, There's an interesting expression I've been mulling over this week: a balancing act. Metaphorically speaking, a balancing act is a (challenging) situation in which you have to dedicate yourself roughly equally to two ore more things. Also known as being pulled in different directions, and in more extreme cases, being spread too thin, a balancing act requires you to, well, balance how you distribute your attention and energy. Why was I thinking...
about 2 months ago • 8 min read
Join 10,450 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, Raise your hand if you're also overjoyed albeit slightly incredulous that January is finally gone! It seemed impossible, it felt like it lasted 87 days, it rained the vast majority of it, but hey - we made it through. It's now gone, and it left us the new season of Bridgerton as a parting gift, so what more could we want? Tough but fair Today, I am very pleased not only to welcome February, but also to give you some good news: the updated...
2 months ago • 5 min read
Join 10,450 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, If you've been feeling a little overwhelmed by, well, *the world around us* with its geopolitical instability, dystopian forecasts about AI-induced mass unemployment and then, to top it all off on a difficult week, the Beckham family feud, let me ressure you: you're not alone. On the flip side, when the world seems to scream at us with no regard for our mental health, sometimes small things will pop up to remind us that not all hope is lost....
2 months ago • 7 min read
Join 10,450 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, Writing this on a Saturday might not be ideal, but it wouldn't be so bad if looking outside my window didn't resemble this: Am I being dramatic? Perhaps, though it is foggier than one would wish (and I appreciate that speaking about myself in the third person like a Bridgerton character is probably not helping my non-dramatic image). But the silver lining is that at least I get to write to you, dear teacher, and that is always a pleasure...
2 months ago • 10 min read
Join 10,450 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, How was your inbox feeling without my newsletter for two (!) consecutive weeks? I for one hope that both you and your inbox were too busy stuffing your face with pandoro that you didn't even notice. But now that I'm back, here's a platitude you hadn't already heard 5,407 times this month: happy new year! I hope your holiday break was, if not wonderful, at least mildly restorative and that you are now, if not enthusiastically ready to start the...
3 months ago • 7 min read
Join 10,450 readers (and counting!) Dear Reader, In keeping with the frankly inescapable-these-days Christmas mood, imagine me as your Dickensian ghost of Christmas past: I could have chosen a slightly more intellectual adaptation of A Christmas Carol, but I think we both know I was always going to go with the Muppets. Why? Because I'm writing this email on Thursday, 18 December, and at this time, I'm still technically a year younger. But once you receive my missive, I will have turned one...
3 months ago • 8 min read