Dr Jennifer Jones: 'Academic Yarn Spinner'

It is a good thing that Susan and I are not relying on my high school French because it is slightly worse than ‘nonexistent’. When I was twelve and in year 7, I studied one term of German and one term of French at The Rock Central School. Five students chose languages as an elective,… Read more.

Step out of a Bangkok train and your glasses immediately fog up, just like opening the oven to check your cake. The key difference being that we stayed in the oven for nearly 48 hours! En route to Paris and the beginning of a Camino pilgrimage, my cooking companion is my sister Susan. We haven’t… Read more.

My intention was to fully surrender, to the Vipassana method, Seriously, ardently, patiently, and persistently Emptying and observing, And accepting what insight ten days of practice might bring. Day 1 Adjusting to silence, averted gaze, and predawn rising, fifty tired women, new and old students, queue for lunch. Careful to gather sufficiency, for there is… Read more.

I learnt to spin in junior high school, in Textiles and Design class at The Rock Central School. It must have been 1983. I was fifteen and sufficiently impressed with this new skill to ask for a spinning wheel for my sixteenth birthday. Mum and Dad ordered an Ashford from New Zealand. It arrived in… Read more.