tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-72303878090040807362026-04-19T08:11:55.732+01:00Things I've Found In PocketsI'm a global citizen and anthropologist with a masters in international law and decades of experience in teaching, research, and storytelling to make the social and legal issues that shape our world understandable for everyone.
This website was born in 2007, when I kept coming across terrified rainforest creatures in pockets, which my sons had determined were appropriate pets. My work is dedicated to all the young people who ask excellent questions to which I don't always have the answers.Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.comBlogger905125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-31886903490492337742026-03-23T18:05:00.006+00:002026-03-29T18:08:37.073+01:00What is International Law? The world seems a bit bananas at the moment, but this isn't the first time, and every time the world has gone bananas before, we have managed to pull through and be better human beings. I know it doesn't feel that way, but we have. One thing that helps us to come together as a human race, is international law. International law protects you. It might seem like some faraway, complicated thing thatNan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-26231942110572000492026-02-11T21:52:00.001+00:002026-02-11T21:52:18.180+00:00Emergence: menopause and international lawA few weeks ago, a woman I know died unexpectedly. She was a writer, singer and poet, and crashed a party at my house in December. We sang ‘bye, bye, miss American pie’ in a gazebo at the top of our lungs with a crazy bunch of tipsy guitarists, and had one of those noisy dancing kitchen conversations over a sink full of margarita glasses. She’d been through a rough time, and was so excited about Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-68583253100900373232026-01-30T13:47:00.006+00:002026-02-26T11:32:55.822+00:00AI Policy and Disclosure After a lot of testing, thought and research, including asking ChatGPT about its own role in shaping society, I've decided to actively restrict my use of AI in my research and writing. This is tricky, since I'll need to convince my browsers, devices and so on to stop automatically using AI. I think that for me, this will reduce distractions and allow me write in the way I always have. Thus, Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-66224886041363944042025-11-07T16:36:00.010+00:002026-01-30T14:01:29.849+00:00An Interview with ChatGPT I've worked in IT on and off since 1997, and I've seen a lot of changes, but never one so fast or so thorough as the AI revolution. I am currently working in the NHS, where AI technology is seen as one of the best ways to save clinicians' time, so they can focus on patients. We have done a lot of training, in an effort to be as safe and thoughtful as possible about this. I have tried out our Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-68885108047128574472025-05-02T12:31:00.001+01:002026-02-11T16:15:25.880+00:00'Mission Control'It's Spring, and everything is green! I've updated my calendar and blocked out next January to March with 'hibernate and naps', to remind myself not to set deadlines or take on loads of extra work. I'm solar-powered, sometimes I forget that. When I sit down to work, I'm generally focusing on one thing at a time, with specific days blocked out for work, study and down time. Colleagues can seeNan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-30875902663905683782025-03-18T17:39:00.003+00:002025-05-02T11:18:15.032+01:00What to expect in the rainforest, and what you’ll need to pack when you goThe Child in QuestionWhen my son Chas was little, I lost him in the rainforest. This wasn’t as exciting as you might expect. I asked around and people said ‘nope, haven’t seen him for hours, he’s probably gone up the river’. He turned up later, barefoot, with some biologists he’d befriended. They were looking for a particular type of crayfish, he knew exactly which river pool those crayfish hung Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-70958396796811775982025-03-06T12:38:00.006+00:002026-02-11T16:20:30.711+00:00Old School: A Menopause ManifestoMenopause seems to be in the news a lot these days, in a 'have you tried HRT yet' sort of way, and while I'm really pleased that the conversation is happening, I'm not so sure about the focus on 'symptoms'. It feels as though menopause is an illness, which isn't actually how I feel at all - personally, I'm having an adventure: swamps, sweat, dragons, occasional sunshine, and wise old women Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-77096803635558128742025-02-27T10:19:00.001+00:002025-07-19T15:02:30.458+01:00Things I've Found in PocketsAnd two more years whooshed by, with basically the same things in English pockets. Parts of 2023 and 2024 were exciting though, with pockets full of things made from interesting seeds, airline boarding passes, different sorts of shells, rebel chocolate, and more. As you can tell, blogging isn't happening. Instagram is, sometimes. My real musings and thoughts go into Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-33144871003724347522024-10-03T16:22:00.000+01:002025-03-07T10:48:38.818+00:00Why Teenagers Act Like ToddlersPoor adolescents. I was one myself once, and it was not a pretty sight. My own kids weren't too bad... usually... But even they were known to reach astounding heights of toy-throwing to rival the worst toddler. It can be baffling to parents when their child goes through this after the sweet wonder years of primary school, but new advances in neuroscience are giving us a peek into the adolescent Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-89545135050893845012023-01-05T16:08:00.006+00:002025-07-19T15:00:39.584+01:00Things I've Found in PocketsTesting... testing... This blog is 14 years old. Have I documented 14 years of things we found in pockets here? Pretty much, yes, give or take a year. Recently I popped over here to check some admin bits and noticed that thousands of people come here every month. This says a lot bout the busy-ness of the internet, for a site that hasn't updated in ages. Some visitors seem to be looking for books,Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-60588312369382136842021-03-24T12:50:00.002+00:002021-03-25T13:17:20.515+00:00Funding for your Charity or Community Enterprise - What you'll need if you're applying for a grant I've come across many wonderful groups of people in the last year of weirdness and lockdowns, doing essential volunteer and charity work in their neighbourhoods. Many of them could use a bit of extra cash, but aren't sure how to go about applying. You can hire a bidwriter (rather expensive) or ask someone to do your bidwriting for free, but they will need some information from you first, and you Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-50251229112080577722020-07-20T21:36:00.002+01:002023-01-04T15:21:07.372+00:00Things I've Found in Summer Pockets
Today, I swam in the sea. It's definitely colder than the Caribbean here in the English Channel, but it was delicious to float and gaze up into the blue sky and feel grateful for many blessings.
We have many beachy things in our pockets - sand as usual, shells, two sweet heart-shaped stones, wrappers from ice cream cones. Money, because cards don't work at the ice cream kiosk on the beach.
Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-84166292972682365072020-04-30T16:06:00.001+01:002021-03-24T08:34:06.525+00:00Things I've Found in Lockdown PocketsIn these strange times, there are no tickets, coins, bills or interesting oddities in our pockets, which is unusual and this blog is suffering an identity crisis.
However, there are things afoot. It's been so interesting to see the outpouring of optimism and community strength everywhere. In a YouGov poll, most Britons don't want things to go back to the 'normal' we once knew. The Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-74555835437521479772020-03-30T15:43:00.002+01:002023-09-08T09:04:54.326+01:00Sudden Stop A couple of weeks ago, I was working at one university, teaching a group of second year students about globalisation every week, whilst holding down a job at another nearby university in the widening participation department, which helps young people from diverse backgrounds to see the path to higher education. Meanwhile, I was peripherally involved with creating international mass grave Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-47463372162495108142019-11-24T14:19:00.006+00:002025-04-15T15:00:40.332+01:00Tips for Mature Students
Getting my degree and my masters was one of the hardest, most rewarding things I've ever done. There are a few things I learned along the way which made my life easier.
To begin with, visit the university nearest to you. Is it close to support systems and existing flexible work? Can you get around without a car? Go to an open day, mooch around, talk to people. If it seems like a goodNan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-4463535321136605592019-10-29T17:38:00.001+00:002019-10-29T17:41:07.524+00:00Sustainable Resistance - Chocolate Makers in Trinidad and Tobago My BA dissertation was probably the most fun I've had, ever. And people now bring me chocolate from all over the world, because apparently I'm an expert on chocolate? Just to set the record straight, while I LOVE CHOCOLATE, I'm not an expert, alas. Do feel free to continue sending me chocolate, though.
Sustainable resistance and structural inequality, though, is my thing. For a downloadable PDF Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-57430534549247894522019-09-21T16:47:00.000+01:002019-09-21T16:47:18.051+01:00Sand and Other Things I've Found in Pockets
When I started this blog in 2007, it was full of things I found in my sons' pockets, pre-facebook escapades and book reviews. This blog followed us from the rainforests of Trinidad to to beaches of Bournemouth. Not much changed about us, but the things we found in pockets did, from interesting beetles and snakeskins to conkers and bus tickets. Now, those boys do their own laundry, but my Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-49719176329407304292019-09-02T17:35:00.013+01:002025-05-11T09:09:57.471+01:00The WHO Code of Marketing of Breast-milk Substitutes in International Law
Global Human Rights and Corporate Social Responsibility
The international ‘Human Rights’ concept has been part of the UN Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights since 1945, and was built upon in subsequent covenants, with the concept of human rights focused initially on protecting individuals and groups from abuses by states in the aftermath of WWII. The idea that Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-59965087855902312612017-06-17T19:51:00.001+01:002019-05-29T15:33:02.385+01:00Archaeology: Come for the Dig, Stay for the Puns A few months ago, I emailed one of my lecturers and asked if I could please, since I had to do more classroom archaeology next year, despite my degree being sociology and anthropology, for complicated reasons, pretty please would they let me come on the Durotriges Big Dig, three days a week? After some discussion and my reminding them that I'm a star student, they said yes.
EAT SLEEP DIG Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-4253470930124805622017-02-20T20:07:00.004+00:002025-03-07T11:07:30.538+00:00Calais, Refugees and Thinking
"Mrs. Sheppard, where I come from, there is a saying: 'The patient man will be patient until he dies." (Anon, pharmacist from Afghanistan living in the Jungle in 2015)
When I went to the Calais 'Migrant Jungle' in 2015, it affected me enormously. I meant to really write something. But other things kept happening, internationally, politically, (gosh, a lot has happened in the world since Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-40424341607073317672015-06-18T14:49:00.000+01:002017-01-26T14:38:57.951+00:00These Dangerous Women
28th April, 2015: A hundred years later, following
in the footsteps of those amazing women.
See Flickr for album
"On the 28th April 1915, 1300 women, who had been organising internationally to get the vote, met together at the Hague to try to find a way forward to peace. They advocated continuous mediation as an alternative to armed struggle. Envoys from the Congress visited 14 Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-84660643730688795432015-05-21T14:39:00.003+01:002023-01-05T15:51:59.033+00:00Relaxing Holiday BooklistFor sunshiny reads among the garden weeds:
The Tao Te Ching : A Book About the Way and the Power of the Way, a beautiful edition by Ursula Le Guin. I highly recommend this, especially for reading in the garden while the bees buzz among your weeds, despite occasional drizzle.
I read The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan, with fascination. This book Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-46608630460299235792015-05-14T16:34:00.002+01:002023-01-04T15:22:10.091+00:00There were so many things that she wanted to do, that whenever she thought it was time to begin, she couldn't because of the state she was in... - Title Adapted from 'There Was an Old Sailor my Grandfather Knew', by A. A. Milne.
It's been a week like that, I'm afraid. Even the poor cat has been ignored. I have been hopping from one project to another, decluttering, studying, dancing, jogging, painting and repairing my home, and loving every bit of it, but the really important things that have deadlines are starting to loom out of Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-77886395933810930902014-09-19T15:27:00.001+01:002019-05-21T16:10:19.048+01:00On My Bookshelf
Yes, my bedroom wall is MANGO YELLOW.
And the orchids are all flowering madly.
At home with a cold with time to blog! I have quite enjoyed the peace and quiet this week. It would have been better to have a few days off and NOT have a cold, but hey. I have been catching up on my reading this week, and realised I haven't updated my book list here for EVER. So without further ado:
The Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7230387809004080736.post-24832181688389924422014-08-02T17:56:00.000+01:002017-02-20T20:48:58.833+00:00Keep Working on Love - Lessons From Another DimensionToday I moved two teenage boys' beds and vacuumed under them. One boy helped, doing the heavy lifting. It was like entering another dimension and having wake-up calls of various sorts. If you find yourself travelling there, take a good vacuum cleaner and proceed with your eyes shut.
One of the various things I discovered in that alternate universe was "Jonathan Livingston Seagull", and I Nan Sheppardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02526627128978409559noreply@blogger.com1