It’s an Osasuna sticker in Cockfosters station. I might make a montage of all my football sticker pics and put it online when I’ve got spare time.

God bless, Jenni xx

I’ve entered that 3 Seriously Social Party competition (see my previous note for the idea I entered), and would quite like some of my friends to do so ‘cos it would be more fun, and we could all help each other out if one of us got shortlisted. The deadline is this Sunday, 22nd November. 25 ideas will be shortlisted and their protagonists will then have to compete for public votes.

I was talking to Caroline about this and trying to come up with an idea she would like. I’ve found one she thinks is funny, but she doesn’t want it, so here goes!

We get a huge building and fill it with sweets, chocolate etc., possibly arranged in strange and artistic ways, but in a way that remains edible (not like that edible skoda which according to the expert baker went in the bin - NOOOOO!).

We then hide 5 tickets to the party in Dairy Milk wrappers or something (we could make a point by putting them in Divine Fairtrade chocolate, actually). The winners get to experience the sort of thing Homer Simpson fantasizes about!

I’ve already entered, so if someone else thinks this idea is cool they can have it. They just have to condense the rubbish I just wrote into 100 words - there’s your intellectual contribution

As I said, I would love it if one of my friends did enter, cos it would be an awesome project to work on together. If you have other ideas - you know what to do! Or you will when I’ve pasted the link by which you can enter the competition. Thus:

http://www.facebook.com/pages/3s-Seriously-Social-Party-Competition/33984787548#/3seriouslysocialparty?ref=mf

Have fun!

God bless, Jenni xx

A GIFT OF LOVE - WORKS MIRACLES!!!

Copy paste blogging, but I thought this was awesome. God helps those in need even though they don’t call God the same name as I do.

HI & The story of 23 US$….

To set the scene, many know of HI’s (Global Help Initiative for Palestine) support of many issues regarding the terrible situation in Gaza, how, many don’t know that they receive very little funding. The following story will hopefully warm your heart and hopefully, also inspire your active participation in the worthy programs that HI undertakes for the people of Palestine, more specifically, the people of Gaza.

Several weeks ago, an Indonesian sister emailed HI telling us that she wanted to raise funds for the Palestinian people. She wrote articles about Gaza and HI in her native language, Indonesian, asking her people to help Palestine. Her message and passionate delivery swayed the people to action without any hesitation. Though, they themselves were suffering from the aftermath of several earthquakes and severe floodings in their own country.

After conversing with HI representatives and thanking her for her kind offer, this gracious sister set out to accomplish her mission. One week later, we received a message from her, “she had raised 23 U.S. Dollars, that she would be sending the funds to HI!” For those who don’t know about the current situation here in Gaza, specifically, the economic situation (Due to imposed restrictions by the Israelis; the cost of goods, medicines and materials is very expensive.) There is not much you can really do with 23 U.S. Dollars, but, this is where the miracles begin.

Because of the love that was given from a people who themselves were in need, when HI received the 23 U.S. Dollars; we wanted to help put some smiles on some school girl faces with the purchase of uniforms. We went to an owner of a clothes outlet and asked, “How many school uniforms could be bought with the funds?” The answer was, “Four!” However, God was looking down at us during this time. The kind owner said, “he had some extra uniforms that were available, valued at over $300 dollars that he would donate.” So, the first miracle was realized, the 23 U.S. Dollars provided 53 school uniforms for some lucky unsuspecting girls. The first miracle concerning this donation was realized.

HI representatives made an appointment with school officials of ”Sabra and Shatila,” The director indicated a need for some 180 girls that needed a school uniform. HI representatives indicated they would work with others to acquire funding for the remaining girls. On Thursday, 22 October 2009, HI team representatives went to “Sabra and Shatila Girls School” to hand over 53 school uniforms…You should have seen the beaming smiles. The first miracle was completed.

Shortly after presenting the school uniforms to the school, our Indonesian sister sent a message to us: ”HI, I have good news, I’m pregnant ^_^! This happened shortly after sent you the funds.” That was the “second miracle!”

There is still another miracle pending and that is the need for the remaining 127 female students to obtain their uniforms. Will you give us a helping hand?

Thanks to God who helped our sister, who in turn obtained the support of her people to provide funds for some much needed school uniforms. Thanks to God who provided a gracious owner of a clothes outlet to donate “school uniforms” for (53) of the (180) students that needed the uniforms. Thanks to God for the gift of life soon to be part of this world and lastly…Thanks to God, who will help provide the inspiration for others to make the required donation to purchase the remaining (127) girls’ school.

Church yesterday was unsettling in the extreme. On Friday I’d been to see the lady vicar, who gently told me that I needed to redevelop my idea of God as that of a loving God who isn’t so demanding as I think. However on Sunday, I’m in church and I start feeling like… I’ve got to pray like this, I’ve got to make sure it’s been answered, I mustn’t assume, I mustn’t relax…

And I can’t shake this off. I think I need to accept that I’m confused and that warm words, which I want to believe so much, won’t become real to me at the moment.

It has messed with my plans, though. I had a bad experience on Sunday afternoon. You know my last post? I posted it onto a football ultras website, expecting some negative feedback - after all, I need people to tell me if my ideas are stupid. However, I got the kind of negative feedback that made me feel like those who had read my post would never respect me again. This made me brood - I was annoyed with myself, had once again forgotten that I’m unique and that normal people think my ideas are wrong, had spent too much time on my own daydreaming, and too much time with other students and friends who think I’m great and so have become “yes men”, with the best of intentions.

I made a decision: I was going to get involved with redACTION, the Arsenal fans’ group which aims to increase atmosphere inside the stadium, and try and add my ultraness to the mix. I was aware that instead of trying to change things at Arsenal I’ve moved on a bit, and that if everyone did that we’d just all go to Dinamo Zagreb games once a year and nothing would ever change in the UK.

After church, as I got on the bus feeling a bit better, I had the strongest feeling that a) God didn’t want me to do that and b) God didn’t want me to pray about it, question, or argue at all. This put me off talking to God.

My friend Rachel would say this was therefore not God speaking, because it is discouraging. But the feelings are so strong at the moment that I can’t ignore them. This morning I asked God for permission to explore the redACTION thing, and to physically stop me if I wasn’t allowed. I then felt bad about it on the bus. I always feel spiritually terrible on First buses, perhaps because I know I waste time on them - I could be reading the Bible or praying, and rarely if ever do. Or maybe it was because I felt a little of the feelings I’d had on the 66 last night and felt guilty for ignoring what could have been God’s voice.

So I will see if I get any feedback on this post, and go from there. If you think you have some advice for me, please speak.

God bless, Jenni xx

I’ve been obsessing over football ultras for a while now and the fire is only getting stronger inside me… we need to do something to address the lack of atmosphere at games in this nation, particularly in England.

It occurred to me that it might be worth trying to get lots of people who:

a) consider themselves ultras and belong to a group,
b) would like to start a group at their club or
c) just want to see what it’s all about

together in one place.

This could happen over a weekend - I was thinking mid-July 2010, before any country’s league has started (well, obviously apart from those which do Feb-Nov) but after the World Cup has finished.

The aims of the conference would be:

a) To bring together people who have built ultra groups at their grounds with those who would like to or are generally interested.
b) To generate a sharing of ideas which could then be implemented in time for the 2010-11 season.
c) To meet fans from all over Britain and, hopefully, Europe.
d) To have a great laugh.

I need ideas for the following:

a) Which city should we have it in?

I have considered this question and there’s no easy answer. Aberdeen would be significant as the first place in the country to have Ultras, and it would be just as difficult for everyone to get to so there would be no complaints about London-centrism. York is one of the latest teams to have Ultras and it’s bang in between Glasgow and London (211 vs 203 miles), making it a good central location. Please suggest other ideas.

b) What sort of venue should we look for?

There’s a building at the end of my street called Langside Hall which has lots of different meeting rooms. if we took over a building like that, we could have lots of stuff going on at once - and they don’t tend to be extortionately expensive. It would be good if the building had a bar, but if it’s in a city centre this wouldn’t be necessary. I also think it would be awesome if there were football pitches nearby so that we could have a tournament - maybe we should have the event in Glasgow, since Langside Hall is surrounded by pubs and has a five-a-side centre right next to it! Also, it would be good if there was a cheap hotel nearby to help people find convenient accommodation, or failing that, good transport links to the city centre.

c) Most important - ideas for events!

This is what I have come up with so far:

- Invite people from clubs with organised ultras to form a platform to speak about how they did it and offer encouragement and advice.
- Get the invitations translated into as many languages as possible and invite people from other countries to share their experiences.
- See if we could get a couple of the players who have overtly supported the ultra groups associated with the teams they play for or support to come and speak - Cristiano Lucarelli (who pays Livorno fans’ fines) and Artur Boruc (who sticks up for Legia Warsaw fans when they clash with the authorities) come to mind.
- Send a call for papers round as many universities as possible. I don’t want to turn this into an academic talking shop, but I’m a Masters student and planning to do my dissertation on political affiliations of football firms - I can’t be the only one writing a paper on something interesting. I would stress in the letter composed that workshops based on papers should be accessible and preferably interactive, not like lectures.
- Have a banner-making workshop!
- Fun ideas for the evening - 5-a-side tournament, pool tournament, curry tasting, beer tasting…

Obviously this isn’t enough and I really, really need the help of everyone who’s interested to make this a GREAT idea rather than an OK idea.

If this were to go ahead, we would need volunteers for translating invitations, leafletting stadiums, building a website, selling tickets etc. and at the conference we would need a small team to chair meetings and sort out any administrative issues. We could reward volunteers with a free ticket.

If you’re interested in participating in any way, please either reply to this thread or email me (vieira4@gmail.com).

The next step will probably be a further online discussion, maybe in a chatroom which all potential volunteers are invited to at a certain time. After that, we could try and arrange basic details and organise some open public meetings in different cities to collect more ideas and volunteers.

Over to you!

God bless, Jenni xx

Ideas Blog by Jenni Hutchinson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.jennihutchinson.com/hhhh/?p=168.

I decided weeks ago to blog my ideas, but haven’t had time. Before I start, here are some rules.

1) You may not take these ideas and use them to exploit people. This is not to say that you cannot take these ideas and use them to do anything which generates surplus value, but as an anti-capitalist I would want to see that any such revenue would be a) used to pay people properly and b) used to invest properly in the project to ensure its success and the widest possible accessibility.

To this end I have licensed this work under a Creative Commons Licence. I’ve selected non-commercial, but as I said I will allow certain commercial uses. I have provided a link to this page for those who have questions.

2) Beyond the conditions outlined above, my life is only going to be so long, so I really want people to take my ideas and make them work for fun, and for everyone!

So, without further ado:

Idea #1 is that you should be able to do an MSc in Ideas. The format would be something like this:

Every week or month you have to come up with a proposal for a business or community project. You then have to investigate its appeal, financial viability, avenues for funding, required manpower and degree of paid/voluntary, etc. etc. and produce a report. You would be the sole owner of the work, but perhaps the university could have first refusal if you did decide to make it available for commercial purposes.

I’d get an A on this course But seriously, if a Dean is reading this - give it some thought!

God bless, Jenni xx

Ideas Blog by Jenni Hutchinson is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Non-Commercial-Share Alike 2.0 UK: England & Wales License.
Permissions beyond the scope of this license may be available at http://www.jennihutchinson.com/hhhh/?p=168.

My old friend Stef wrote one of these years ago, and it was great. Here’s my crack at the same sort of thing. If you like, please copy, provide your own answers and invite your friends to do the same.

Football survey

1. What team do you support and why?
Arsenal and I fell in love with them for no apparent reason 14 years ago. It was a dramatic penalty shootout against Sampdoria and a crush on Ian Wright that did it.
2. Any other teams you follow, and why?
Dinamo Zagreb - went to see them in 2007 and the atmosphere knocked me off my feet. I go to Arsenal for attractive football and Dinamo for the rush.
3. Which team do you hate the most and why?
Tricky one… I vacillate between Spurs and Man United. I think it’s Spurs atm. Not only are they local rivals, theyr’e actually winning sometimes. And they are accumulating players I used to like at an alarming rate. Gah.
4. Which other teams do you dislike and why?
Man U (annoying), Chelsea (rich and annoying), Hajduk Split (Dinamo’s rivals), Lazio (racist), MK Dons (plastic franchise football team)
5. Favourite all time player
Patrick Vieira. And also Ian Wright.
6. Favourite current player for your club
I love Gallas and Eduardo. They both push my buttons. I would have favoured Gallas until the last couple of weeks but the ridiculous way Eduardo’s been vilified has made me love him extra much!
7. Favourite current player not at your club
I think Artur Boruc right now. Also Patrick Vieira obviously, and Cristiano Lucarelli.
8. If your club had to sell one player, who would you sacrifice?
Almunia. We’d sign Boruc as a replacement.

9. Current favourite goalkeeper
Artur Boruc
10. Current favourite defender
William Gallas
11. Current favourite midfielder
Patrick Vieira
12. Current favourite forward
Eduardo
13. Current favourite manager
Slaven Bilic

Who do you prefer…

14. Arsenal or Spurs
Arsenal
15. Liverpool or Everton
Everton
16. Man U or Man City
City. JUST.
17. Real Madrid or Barcelona
Barca
18. Milan or Inter
Erm… I like both. Historically Milan but now Inter have Vieira!
19. Celtic or Rangers
Celtic
20. Rhyl or Bangor
Rhyl, having seen them play. I wouldn’t care otherwise.
21. Linfield or Glentoran
Linfield, because Stevie Baxter scores 26 billion goals a game!
22. Dinamo Zagreb or Hajduk Split
VOLIM DINAMO!
23. Legia Warsaw or Wisla Krakow
Don’t ask awkward questions! I still haven’t got to the bottom of my dilemma about Polish teams to favour!

24. Describe yourself as a supporter, in ten words or less.
Passionate, loud, community focused, pretty fearless ultra in training.
25. Favourite national side and, if it’s not your country, why?
Croatia, for similar reasons as why I like Dinamo. I fell in love with them around the same time, having visited the country.
26. Who will win the 2010 World Cup?
Erm…… England could actually do it, or Spain, or Brazil.

27. If you could watch any football game in the world, what would it be?
Dinamo v Hajduk. Hopefully I will, maybe as early as next May.
28. List some of the other fixtures you’re interested in.
Any Polish match; Galatasaray v Fenerbahce; Partizan v Crvena Zvezda; any Latin American derby.

29. Favourite… Championship team
Newcastle, for my mum. Also like Doncaster.
30. …League One team
Brighton and Hove Albion
31. …League Two team
Either Dagenham and Redbridge or Barnet. They can both be promoted this year! Also have a soft spot for Bournemouth despite almost getting hypothermia after a game at Dean Court!
32. …Non-league team
AFC Wimbledon. Community owned clubs are my thing.
33. Which is your nearest club, of any size?
Eastleigh. Saw them play AFC Wimbledon last season. 16 minutes of injury time due to an injury to the linesman!

34. Favourite… French team
Lyon I think. Glory hunting but they used to be an Arsenal retirement home so I had a soft spot for them then.
35. …German team
St Pauli. Like my sister, I tend to follow both Hamburg teams which is odd!
36. …Italian team
Livorno. Also have always liked AC Milan.
37. …Spanish team
Barcelona
38. …Polish team
Don’t ask me this, I’m still trying to work it out.
39. …Croatian team
Dinamo
40. …Dutch team
Ajax
41. …MLS team
Don’t know much about it but Adrienne would want me to say Colorado Rapids, so I just did
42. Any other teams you like from unpredictable countries or just those I haven’t mentioned yet?
A lot of teams capture my imagination. If there’s passion in the stadium, I’m interested. I’m also interested in teams with a left wing support base.

43. Best match you’ve ever been to or watched on TV and why?
That’s really hard… I loved Arsenal v Juventus in December 2001. 3-1. Also the 3-1 over Man Utd in the same season, about a month beforehand.
44. Worst match you’ve ever been to or watched on TV and why?
I didn’t actually go there or watch on TV, I listened to it on the radio and it traumatises me for life… Man U, February 2001, don’t make me talk about it anymore!!!!!
45. How many games do you go to per season?
As many as i can. Sharing a season ticket atm, expected to make 7-10 games.
46. Would you go to more games if you afford to?
Yes, if I also had time.
47. How do you think the atmosphere could be improved at football games (especially if you follow the Premiership)?
I’m for anything which doesn’t involve racism or people punching each other. Someone let off flares right next to me at Hearts v Dinamo and it gave me such a rush! Short of such behaviour, I think everyone should take responsibility to join in the chants and generate atmosphere.
48. Do you envy any other club’s supporters, and if so why?
Dinamo and every other club whose fans give it their all for 90 minutes.
49. Have you ever joined in a football related protest?
I used to launch them! I ran a football action group called GRODD as a teenager. Good times. I’ve been involved in the Free Michael Shields (yay, victory!) and Save the Vuvuzela campaigns of late. I am also in favour of safe standing and have argued for it often.

50. If you had a time machine, what football related thing would you do?
Go to an Arsenal game when there was atmosphere at Highbury. Maybe a north London derby in the 70s would float my boat? Terraces would be involved, of course.

51. Do you play?
Sometimes. Not for a year. Must get involved at uni.
52. What position do you play/did you play at school?
Selfish striker.
53. How good are you?
Erm… not very!
54. Who was your childhood idol?
Ian Wright. I’m actually better at playing up front than anything else, so I don’t think I let my idol sway my choice of position.
55. As a player, what are your strengths and weaknesses?
I’ve always been able to get a shot on target and I’m tenacious when it comes to winning the ball. Main weakness is too much time on the ball, hesitation, lack of confidence in what to do with it. I also struggle to get power behind my shots in a competitive situation because I’m over worried about accuracy. Basically I psyche myself out and don’t have the competitive experience to fix this problem.

56. What problems does the team you support have (i.e. money, administration, board issues)?
Finishing 4th over and over and over and over again. Not having a plan B on the pitch, thus being vulnerable to teams who only want to kick us.
57. What problems do your club’s supporters have (i.e. racism, apathy)?
Complete apathy and general silence, unless you’re in block 6.

58. Everyone answer this question, even the straight boys, for a laugh… if you had to date one player from your club, who would it be?
Just one? Hmm, that would have to be Gallas.
59. Same question, but with a player from another club?
At the moment, Artur Boruc. Players aside, Slaven Bilic pushes my button too.
60. Ever had a serious crush on a footballer?
I was in LOVE with Ian Wright for 2 years as a teenager, in a “crying when he handed in a transfer request and wanting to marry his wife off to my IT teacher so I could have him” kinda way. I get very defensive when I have a crush on a player and want to fight their corner! I also write songs about them!
61. Which club side has the most attractive players?
Tough question that. Used to be unquestionably Arsenal but they’ve sold a few hotties. Villa are quite interesting. Barcelona because Henry alone is worth half a dozen cute players at another team.
62. Which national side has the most attractive players?
Croatia of course! Because when Corluka and Kranjcar have Croatia shirts on, they’re not disgusting anymore!

63. What do you think of your team’s current kit?
Home kit is fine, away kits are rancid. White one looks like school uniform and blue one is Facebook blue, which is a Spurs colour!
64. Do you buy the kits? If so, how often, and how many do you own?
I don’t buy new Arsenal kits anymore, but used to and have taken to buying random kits. I’ve got about 10.
65. What’s the most random kit you own?
Dinamo home shirt (2008-9).
66. What do you think of your club’s current sponsors?
They probably pollute the environment quite a lot. I think there are further issues but not quite sure what they are, to be honest. Not keen on shirt sponsorship in general.

67. Funniest thing you’ve ever seen at a football match?
People singing “are you Schmeichel in disguise?” at some diving Wimbledon player in 1997, days after Schmeichel had been pretending to have been fouled by Ian Wright.
68. What would convince you to streak at a football match?
Artur Boruc.

69. Who will win… the FA Cup this season?
Man City
70. …the League Cup?
Villa
71. …the Premiership?
Arsenal would be nice. Real answer = Chelsea.
72. …the Champions League?
Arsenal would be nice and more plausible than the League. Arsenal, Real Madrid or Barca.
73. …the Europa League?
Someone who gets dumped out of the Champions League… I’ll go for Rubin Kazan. At least then I can stare at Savo Milosevic a bit.

74. What would you really, really like to happen in football this year, even though you know it won’t?
Dinamo winning the Europa League.

75. First match you went to:
Arsenal v Blackburn, 26/11/1995, 0-0.
76. Last match you went to:
Hearts v Dinamo Zagreb, 27/08/2009, 2-0 (2-4 on aggregate *yes*)
77. Favourite stadium visited:
Highbury.

Heavy policing of crowds is bad, and so is acting individualistically in a disaster situation - how unsurprising. Sorry I haven’t written in a while. No excuses.

Why cops should trust the wisdom of the crowds

God bless, Jenni xx

I just found this thanks to the Famous Three Kings’ newsfeed on Facebook. I personally think the police force as a whole should be prosecuted, if anybody, as a lot of individuals were put under pressure to lie.

I’ve been having an interesting week spiritually. I didn’t go to church, but went for a walk and prayed instead, and so far this week have managed to pray every day except Tuesday. I think I am more spiritual than I think I am, but don’t really want to be. I don’t want to feel what God wants of me: I just want to be told. Except that I don’t really, I just want to do what I want. I’m sure Paul rants about this (in Romans?) and concludes that God is to be praised, because He saves us despite this mess. What do other people think? Any similar or different ideas? I also feel that I should become more a part of my church community - I do feel like an outsider, and feel as if I have created that situation because I like feeling different, but now I need people to pray with, and to straighten me out when I go wrong. I find prayer alone very difficult, but when I pray in company, people find me very difficult, as I get overemotional. Is there a solution to this? I know that God is always here when we pray. Maybe I just need to love Him more and want Him to talk to me more, rather than shoving Him aside and talking to myself/a brick wall instead.

God bless, Jenni xx

I’m going to try and do good things for people as an expression of Christianity rather than getting so caught up in the fact that I don’t want to pray that I don’t do anything. This especially applies to finding a relevant career. I just get so caught up in the having to repent aspect of prayer. Saying sorry to God hurts me to the core and I just don’t want to do it. Usually I don’t really think I’ve done anything wrong anyway. Do you have to “feel” repentance for it to count? Can I just say sorry and move on?

God bless, Jenni xx