What happens to a dream deferred?
Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun?
Or fester like a sore— And then run?
Does it stink like rotten meat?
Or crust and sugar over— like a syrupy sweet?
Maybe it just sags like a heavy load.
Or does it explode?
Langston Hughes, HARLEM

sites for some of my interests will be added in due course

INTERCULTURAL COMMUNICATION

CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGY and Ethnography

Sociology

Religion and Mythology

Politics

German History, Culture and Society

Developments in Language Teaching and Learning
(especially E-Learning and Learning Psychology)

Further Interests and TRIVIA:
If you are interested in this sort of thing or in case you are really struggling with finding me a birthday present, here are a few of my FAVOURITES for inspiration:

ART

I like all kinds of art and crafts and some of my favourite contemporary painters are:
(please click on the name to access the painters' websites)

Zhaoming Wu www.zhaomingwu.com
Harley Brown please refer to www.altermann.com/inventory/i4a19p1.htm
Davy Brown www.davybrown.co.uk/paintings/
Pam Carter www.pamcarter.com
John Mackie www.johnmackieart.com
Mike Svob www.mikesvob.com
Scott Burdick and Susan Lyon www.burdicklyon.com
Huihan Liu www.huihanliuart.com
Kuang Hong (fantasy/sci-fi art) www.zemotion.net/noah/
Ryan Church (concept art) www.ryanchurch.com
Brian and Wendy Froud (World of Froud) http://www.worldoffroud.com/index.html
Melanie Delon www.melaniedelon.com
and many more .........
........ if you are intersted see my personal gallery at www.nadinesaupeart.tk

... and more TRIVIA and personal information, completely unrelated to work (!) ...



CRAFTS
Pick anything crafty and chances are I have done it, altered art, scrapping, anything with paper design, I have to say I have a thing for patterned paper and spend loads of money on it, and the same goes for fabrics, I permanently have to do something with my hands (painting, drawing, quilting, fiddling around with paper, ..), which means that my friends get really annoyed with me not being able to sit still (I can just see you nodding your head(s), haha!). There are a few crafts I don't do, such as knitting or pottery etc, but if I ever have a bigger flat I probably will try that out too.

LITERATURE
I love Harry Potter and lots of Sci-Fi and Fantasy literature ("His Dark Materials" is a favourite), art, films and what not. I also like Drama, such as Bertolt Brecht (obviously !!), Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Lorraine Hansberry .... When it comes to literature another favourite is ethnic fiction, such as Chinese-American fiction (Amy Tan, ..), African American fiction (Toni Morrison, ..), Native American fiction, oh and I guess it is quite obvious that I prefer American literature (after all I minored in American Studies, didn't I). My favourite German authors include Stefanie Zweig (especially "Nirgendwo in Afrika") and Christa Wolf ("Kassandra" and "Medea"). Oh, that brings me to Mythology, LOVE Mythology and anything to do with Religion, in fact I have more non-fiction books than I have literature in the house. Other favourite works of literature include "Utopia" (is much more than literature, isn't it?), "Brave New World", "The Grapes of Wrath" , and any historical fiction (Noah Gordon) ...

FILM/TELEVISION
As I said, I love Sci-Fi and Fantasy, so pretty much everything that falls into that category, I don't have very high standards. M. Knight Shyamalan films are some of my favourites. Of course I like arty farty films as well, the more visual the better ("Mirrormask", "House of Flying Daggers", "Amelie" etc.). I also love period drama (Jane Austen, ..) oh, and anything with a good twist ("Matchstick Men", "Memento", most Hitchcock films). As far as German films go I have to mention "Das Experiment" (makes the sociologist in me come out), "The Edukators" ("Die fetten Jahre sind vorbei", ... oh, those were the times when we had ideals, sigh...), "What to do in case of fire" ("Was tun wenn's brennt"), etc., TV shows: CSI, Carnivale (amazing show, too bad they axed it, says a lot about the viewing public, doesn't it?), The 4400, Brothers & Sisters and Michael Palin shows ("Himalaya") ...

MUSIC
Well, most of you know I like music that is very inappropriate for my age, such as Linkin Park, Skunk Anansie, Papa Roach, Staind, Nickelback, Greed, Evanescence, The Killers, Muse, and more "head bangable" stuff. As for the more age appropriate music, I also like Tori Amos, The Doors, Van Morrison, Counting Crows, Crowded House, Depeche Mode, The Cure etc., and at the moment it is José González' and Newton Faulkner's guitar-y songs that I listen to.

COMPUTER STUFF
Well, I guess it is quite obvious that I enjoy writing websites, whether they are really necessary or not ;)
I also like to fiddle about with digital art, I love Photoshop and am about to try Painter (have to get me a tablet first, working with a mouse gives me finger cramps!) and I can spend hours poring over digital art, be it in form of books (I have a whole (digital) fantasy art library at home), digital art magazines ( Imagine FX is my favourite) or I look at digital portfolios online (deviant art is amazing for digital art of all kinds including photography). For some of my favourite digital artists please see above. Most of my students will know that I have a thing for gadgets and any electronic device, be it a laptop, PDA, Blackberry or just a nice phone; they will make me light up like a candle.

COMPUTER GAMES
As the logical step from an interest in fantasy and Sci-fi art I also play computer games sometimes and I like the ones with the same kind of visual features as the artwork that I like. Gaming comes and goes in phases, I guess, but adventure games are the ones I prefer to play, such as Myst and its sequels (expecially Riven, includes amazing visuals !!), Zork Nemesis, Schizm, Amerzone, etc., but I am usually too impatient to play properly and I cheat big time!

... more information and trivia to be added when I have the time ...