Conversation on a Plane

Once, about 20 years ago, I was on a long-haul British Airways flight, probably from London to San Francisco, or vice-versa. I don’t sleep much on planes, so during a quiet night I ended up in the galley, chatting with one of the flight attendants. We exchanged the usual origin stories. He was half Indian, half Pakistani, a situation whose complexities I could intuit, given my own history in India and Bangladesh.

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The Makeup Problem

A couple of years ago, I took part in an all-woman training session at my company on “how to present to executives.” A small part of the session consisted of the trainer giving us advice on “dressing for success,” including: “You should wear makeup – otherwise it looks as if you don’t care [about how you look].” I pointed out that wearing makeup is not an option for everyone. For me, it mostly isn’t. Continue reading The Makeup Problem

Living with Terrorism

Vietnam

The possibility of violent death – my own or that of a loved one – has been a part of my consciousness for as long as I can remember. My dad was in Vietnam during the war. He was there as a civilian, but was nonetheless a target. I was young and understood next to nothing about any of it, except that my daddy could be killed.

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Scholarships for Peace

I have long said that, if more people could attend Woodstock School, there would be fewer wars in the world. (The photo above, of some of my graduating class at a reunion in 2016, may give you a clue why.)

The school is now offering Scholarships for Peace. “So far recipients of the Scholarships for Peace programme have come from countries including Syria and Afghanistan, but Woodstock welcomes applications from students from any regions which are affected by war, violence and oppressive or fragile regimes.”

If you can help us find students who qualify and would be likely to thrive in an English-language learning environment, please get in touch with the school, details here.

Deirdré Straughan on Italy, India, the Internet, the world, and now Australia