Beth Arnold

Greed Heard Round The World

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This column first appeared on HuffingtonPost.com.  Comments not included here.

My husband, Jim Morgan, and I were cutting a wave in our brisk walk on the quay along the Seine. We had come home from the U.S. over fed and over drunk, over spent and over socialized. I needed the cold fresh air to snap me awake. I wanted Paris to soak me back up in her skin again, so I could slip through her veins and ride in my bubble of her full-bodied blood. I was getting energized. The sky was winter gray, but I didn't care.

We were beginning to cross the Pont Neuf, just past the opening to the Place Dauphine, when right in front of our eyes, the blocky woman stooped to the sidewalk, and miracle upon miracle, opened up her hand with a golden ring in it. A big smile spread across her round face, catching the edges of her ear-length black hair, as she presented her palm to us. She opened her mouth and started to say something, but I beat her to the punch. "Scammer," I yelled as we kept walking. "Con woman," I hollered, turning back in her direction so she could hear me.

Elisabeth Hasselbeck Is Still Annoying

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This column first appeared on HuffingtonPost.com.  Comments not included here.

I don't even watch The View. When it was new, I loved it. Let's say I might have been close to addicted. Then I moved to France, and when I come back to visit, I don't have time nor do I want to see it anymore. Has The View run its course?

The show became less interesting for many reasons -- Elisabeth Hasselbeck being a prime one. Now, really, I only see clips of The View on the Internet -- and that's enough.

Hasselbeck was and is the Token Conservative on the show, and maybe The View should have one -- if it wasn't her. What does Ms. Hasselbeck add? A shrill and poofy, often misinformed bouncy ball of commentary (which is really too big a word to use for her) pinging off the more substantial walls of Joy, Whoopi, and Barbara. I can't speak about Sherry, who seems to be a more or less a convivial member of the group. But I don't believe the hype that they all really get along.

The New American/French Revolution

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This column first appeared on HuffingtonPost.com.  Comments not included here.

As Obamamania gripped the United States with our new president's taking this iconic ritual of our democracy--his oath of office--American citizens in Paris were overwhelmed as well, and not just with the fulfillment of what was and is a new American Revolution, as far as I'm concerned. We were also touched by the kindness of Mayor Bertrand Delanoë and Pierre Schapira, his deputy in charge of International Relations. These progressive Parisian officials hosted a gala reception for Americans and French in the magnificent city hall of Paris, its Hôtel de Ville.

Hôtel de Ville

Don Davis and The Satirical Politcal Report

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The month of December rushed by me and through me as I left Paris for the U.S., where I spent the month in this holiday-ish month.  I say holiday-ish, because we all know how it is.  In the midst of feeling festive and Christmasy (if you've worked up to that, whether one is or isn't a Christian) and getting the green card to spend money madly (even if this year was weird), there's the rushing, carting, buying, decorating, cooking, trudging, eating, drinking, socializing, and running errands that never seem to end. 

I love Christmas.  It was a magical time of my childhood, and I tried to make it the same for my daughters, Blair and Bret.  Okay, for me too.  I need magic in my life, and I don't want it to end.  If I have to--better yet, I want to--make it up, which is one of my great pleasures in life.  It's called "fiction" in writing.  It's called creation in just about everything else.