Teodora Marinescu's Writing and Digital Assets Samples

By Teodora Marinescu

Eat your way around the world in 1,572 km².

Brightly colored stalls, a melange of inviting aromas and an assortment of melodious accents, all perfectly describe the majority of London’s street food markets, which have now become representative of the city’s food scene.

London is a city bursting with life and culture. Vibrant, diverse and epic are all words that come to mind when talking about the British capital’s cuisine. 

The food culture in recent years has greatly evolved, keeping up with Londoners’ ever changing palates and ever-growing infatuation with food. The city has grown to be  more than just the old fish ‘n’ chips and meat pies ( although you can still find that plenty). Nowadays, the city celebrates an incredibly vast spectrum of global cuisines and is home to some of the best chefs in the world. Furthermore, Londoners, influenced by “foodie” culture have slowly moved on from the traditional pub and restaurant setting and are now enjoying getting their nourishment among narrow streets lined with exotic cuisine.

The medley of cultures in Great Britain has introduced an abundant diversity of foods in British towns and cities. Nowadays one does not need to look far to find Polish delis, Indian curry restaurants, Jewish bagel shops or Korean barbecue spots, to name a few examples. At this point ethnic foods have been so embraced by the British that many even consider chicken tikka masala a traditional British dish. 

Continue reading “Diversity Lives in London Street Food Markets”

“It is what it is”. How Love Island became one of the most quotable shows on television.

“Sure, she’s a ‘fit bird’ but there is no way that’s her real hair or that those are her real lips”, I say, skeptically to my friend as I point to one of the several fit, bikini clad, bleach blonde girls on my TV screen. “ Also, that guy looks bronzed to a crisp.” We are sitting in her living room watching Love Island, a reality TV show which (to me at least) has come to symbolize British culture as much as corgis, football and royal weddings.

For the uninitiated, Love Island is a British reality TV show that was rebooted in 2015, and which recently started taking off  in the U.S. as well after the first three seasons showed up on Hulu. The premise of the show is pretty easy: to help beautiful people find love amongst other beautiful people. It features 12 contestants, or Islanders, as they are referred to, who show up on day one wearing bikinis or swim trunks, the near-constant uniform of the series. The men are invariably musclebound, the women pouty-lipped, and almost everyone is sporting a glistening spray tan. Upon stepping foot in the villa, they are promptly made to “couple up” with a partner based on looks alone. Each couple then shares a twin bed in the privacy-free, mass-bedroom of the villa.

The couples compete for the public’s affection , as well as for the grand prize of £ 50,000.

The show has become somewhat of a national obsession, regularly pulling around 6,000,000 viewers, according to TellyMix. People have come to (sometimes even unironically) use phrases and terms coined by the contestants such as grafting (trying to attract or seduce someone), mugging off (being made a fool), pied off (dumped), fit bird (slang used to refer to an attractive woman), etc. Viewers can even express their love for Love Island  by purchasing water bottles, coasters and T-shirts bearing the aforementioned terms at Primark.

The idea is not novel. It’s been done before with shows like Big Brother and The Bachelor in Paradise. However, Love Island seems to have perfected and almost transcended the genre of reality dating shows. One of the reasons why the show works so well is the regularity with which it airs. Love Island is on six nights a week, meaning every evening the audiences get to experience and share the same feeling of escapism obtained by watching the interactions between the contestants. At precisely 9 p.m. every night, just as the sun sets over the United Kingdom, Twitter comes alive, as fans pour out their feelings about the drama that unfolds as their favorite fit birds and handsome lads uncouple and re-couple amongst themselves.

Furthermore, the show is enjoyable because it is not malicious. There’s no pointing of fingers or laughing at someone’s misfortune. Yes, it is essentially a competition, but it doesn’t bring out the worst in the contestants. I actually consider it feel good TV as the Islanders are usually friendly and supportive of one another.

The show, of course is not without its faults. There is a major lack of diversity as the majority of contestants are straight, white and thin. Fans have taken to Twitter to call out this issue. It feels as though every season the producers include a token POC, however, they rarely make it into the finals. When confronted about the lack of  representation of plus size body types, creative director, Richard Cowles responded by saying that in order for the show to work, “contestants need to find each other attractive”, setting back the clock on recent efforts of body positivity advocacy.

Despite it being based on superficial attraction, the show presents  a real element of wholesomeness and you begin to root and somewhat relate to these people emotionally.  Yes, they do all more or less look like real-life Ken and Barbie dolls, however viewers feel that they can relate to the thoughts and emotions of the people on screen. The contestants hold up a mirror to our own love lives, so whether it’s identifying that you too have a short fuse, like Olivia from season two or that nice guys, like Marcel (also from season 2) do get the girl, they bring out familiar issues and flaws, making this show about attractive airheads unexpectedly enlightening.

A job that offers free snacks, impressive Roman artifacts, and a perfect view of St. Paul’s Cathedral? Where do I apply?

Bloomberg LP is one of the most important financial companies in the world with over 20,000  employees world-wide.

Here are seven things I learned from my trip there.

1.     The Bloomberg, London office building is one of the most sustainable buildings in the world.

In 2018, The Bloomberg European Headquarters office building won, among many other awards, the Stirling Prize for architecture. The building was designed by Norman Foster and it features an array of elements that support sustainability, such as a system for natural ventilation, and a chilled ceiling. The over £1 billion building’s interior architecture is representative of a vortex which suggests the swooping character of the space, according to Bloomberg News editor Zimri Smith. Furthermore, the building has an enviable view of St. Paul’s Cathedral.  

2.     The building sits atop the Temple of Mithras, one of the most important Ancient Roman archeological sites in the UK.

The exhibit is open to the public and it features a showing of the temple, entitled the Mithraeum as well as other artifacts found on the site.  A huge glass case displays more than 600 of the 14,000 of the objects found, including a wooden tablet with the oldest record of a financial transaction from Britain.

3.     The history and the creation of the Bloomberg News department. According to Smith, Bloomberg was founded in 1981 by Michael Bloomberg. Their news department came about in 1990 and initially had just a little over 120 employees. Now the company employs 20,000 people across the world, with 2700 of them in the news department alone. Bloomberg news is now a multiplatform news source, including digital and print journalism, TV and radio media outlets and TicToc.

4.     “Follow the money!”

When writing a financial news or feature story, Smith advises to “follow the money”. He elaborates by saying that if you look closely at who is financially involved and who earning and who is losing money, a journalist might discover an unexpected story or angle and come up with a more compelling piece.

5.     Bloomberg is committed to fairness and diversity.

The company tries to maintain as diverse a staff as possible as they believe different cultural perspectives help broaden and change their outlook in certain stories, thus allowing for better, more encompassing writing. At the moment they are trying to improve their women representation in the newsroom.

6.     Despite its current success, Bloomberg news is continually changing and improving.

“If you’re not still learning in the job that you’re doing it would be an awful place to work”, says Smith.

“Although we are an established news source and do not have to prove ourselves, we do a lot to maintain that scrappy upstart felling because we believe that’s when people strive and work best”, he adds.

7.     Working at Bloomberg has its perks.

Finally I think one of the most impressive things I learned from my trip to Bloomberg was that employees get free snacks any time they want. As Smith guided us through the tour of the building, we stumbled upon a large, futuristically designed break room with stands filled with healthy snacks such as cereal bars, fruit, and digestives. Needless to say my peers and I were very intrigued by this and when given permission we took advantage of this opportunity to stock up on snacks.

London is so much more than the perfect Instagram post backdrop.

As I am sitting at the little café, conveniently adjacent to the Archway tube stop, and trying to put together a plan for the day, my attention is caught by the shouts coming from the street. The next thing I know I am a spectator to a very impromptu yet suspenseful fight between a man and a woman. I am at the edge of my seat. I look around only to see that the other passerby are seemingly unfazed by the commotion. A few moments later what seems like a comically large number of policemen run out of their cars to handle the situation and arrest the two fighters. This is the first street fight I witnessed in London. My first week in Great Britain’s capital has been nothing short of remarkable, however, not in any way I would have ever expected. Since getting here I saw two street fights and one arrest.  I am not complaining though, and I actually consider myself quite lucky, since beside providing me with great conversation starters, these events offered me an unfiltered image of the daily life in London.

As it turns, the best thing about traveling is that we all experience it differently. A certain place or life scene can be perceived in various ways by various people, depending on how each of us resonate with that sight, and what we are inclined to observe and retain in our memory. Furthermore, the more we have the chance to go beyond the traditional touristic paths the more personal and unique this experience is. I visited London a couple of times before, but this time is different. I am getting the chance to feel the pulse of the  city, through some of the most exclusive “behind-the-scenes” experiences.

In the short amount of time I’ve been here I quickly realized that London is far more than the Instagram-able sights of the London Eye and Buckingham Palace. London revealed to me more than a touristic facet.  Every area has its own distinct personality. I see the calm, quiet charm of residential London every time I make my way up the hill on Winchester Place. As I pass landscaped front yards towards my new home, Princess Elizabeth House, a grandiose building, with an even more grandiose name slowly reveals itself.  I’ve also seen the city’s tough yet artistic character on the streets of Brick Lane, which starkly contrast the opulent, glistening, wisteria adorned buildings of Kensington. I feel the fast paced, yet perfectly coordinated rhythm of the streets in Central London as people frantically pour in and out of the busy tube stations at rush hour. I can’t help but wonder where each of them are heading, how they are part of the life of one of the most eclectic and urban places in the world.

As I make the city of London my home for the next two months I am looking forward to becoming even a little part of the city’s richly woven,  multi-faceted fabric.

As the weather begins to warm up Chicago’s farmers markets begin to sprout around the city. Here Chicagoans can find fresh seasonal produce, flowers, prepared foods, and unique hand made products created by local Chicago businesses. These markets provide a great opportunity for people to support local growers, to shop in a more environmentally conscious way and to obtain locally sourced, organic products at an affordable price.

However, in Chicago not all residents have equal access and can benefit from shopping at farmers markets in the same way.

The Chicago Traveler compiled a list of 15 of Chicago’s most popular farmers markets. The following map shows where these are located:

From this map it can be seen that the majority of markets are located in the Lakeview, Lincoln Park, West Loop and Near North Side neighborhoods. All these are affluent areas. It can be noted that there are very few markets in the lower income neighborhoods such as Armour Square, Washington Park, South Shore etc.

These underserved communities are considered food deserts, where the residents have few to no options of obtaining fresh, affordable groceries. Restricted access to healthy foods results in higher rates of chronic illness like diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease. The disproportionate numbers of markets seems to reflect income and health disparities in the city of Chicago.

On March 19, 2019, Kazakhstan has changed the name of its capital city from Astana to Nur-Sultan. The change was made in honor of President Nursultan Nazarbayev, who stepped down after almost 30 years in office.

According to The Guardian Kazakhstan’s capital city was founded in 1998 after the dissolution of the Soviet Union.
The country’s abundance of natural gas and crude oil attracted large investments from oil companies such as Chevron and Exxon.

With financial revenue coming from international oil companies interested in Kazakhstan’s oil fields, the capital was able to develop very quickly over a short period of 20 years, reaching over 200 square kilometers. Since it became the country’s capital, Nur-Sultan’s population has more than doubled to 750,000.

This Google Earth Engine Timelapse shows how fast the city has developed from 1984 to 2016.

Nur-Sultan is a stark contrast to the rest of the country. Boasting futuristic architecture with grandiose designs by famous architects like Norman Foster and Zaha Hadid, the city has become one of the most modernized capitals in Central Asia.

This interactive image contrasts how much Nur-Sultan has changed in 14 years by comparing how it looked in 2004 to 2008.