Living in the 20th Arrondissement gives the Lone Wolf and me a wider range of experience of Paris--of the multi-cultural Paris, the diverse Paris, the un-picture postcard Paris--that is a thriving part of the Paris whole. Do we see more signs of revolution here? I believe so...for this is the Paris where creative energy takes a fork in the cultural road and explodes in art and a less inhibited life.
Here are some signs of revolution that are going on in the wider world...
Image via Wikipedia
Love makes the world go round. It fills us up and tears us apart. It heals us, squeezes us, and turns us inside out. It is a noun oozing with verbs, and it's a verb exploding, sizzling, or simmering with emotion.
Love takes our breath away. It breaks our heart. It makes us high as a kite.
Valentine's Day is coming, and I absolutely love it! Not necessarily as a day for romance--but as a day to celebrate love and the people we love--our friends and family. A day to think about love, to express our love, to feel our love. To be our love.
And how do we do that here? France is a country of beautiful unbending culture--and a people buttoned up--but Paris is a city of lovers kissing in parks, on street corners, or riding the metro. Making eyes at a glass of champagne, a bottle of wine, a savory long meal, or some chocolates.
When we first came to France, Valentine's Day was hardly noticeable. But these days the merchants have caught on to the commercial possibilities, and we're seeing more Valentines around Paris. Here are some for you.
From Paris with Love...
Continue reading "Letter From Paris: From Paris With Love" »
The holiday season lingered...
Kind David IV of Georgia, Image via Wikipedia
On our recent visit to the Republic of Georgia and its second ever Fashion Week, the Lone Wolf and I were also introduced to Georgian art. There is nothing I like better than to experience the culture of a new territory by looking through the eyes of its artists, and Georgia was no exception.
We were delighted with an exhibition of Georgian Cinema and Theatre costumes at the Vato Kakhidze Art Center, and the interior of the building itself was an extraordinary example of Art Nouveau. At the Georgia State Museum of Fine Art, the icons we viewed were absolutely stunning (Wouldn't I be in heaven to own one!) even if the matrons who ran the tours seemed a bit old-style U.S.S.R. Communism, which Georgia is trying to eradicate from its national consciousness. The jewelry that had been saved and protected since antiquity was purely exquisite.
Vato Kakhidze Art Center
Image via Wikipedia
CREATIVITY. ALTHOUGH IT may come in different packages within us, we all have it. We use it every day.
Some of us are in the business of being creative, and some are creative in our business. Some of us may not even understand that we're creative. We grieve this lack, and wonder how we find that part of ourselves, or how we can awaken it. In others, creativity sparkles on their surface and resonates as the deepest part of their identities. They live and breathe it. They must create or die.
Some have outlets to the larger world in which their talents can emerge, though many don't. The Internet has helped with this, allowing us to present our digital calling cards in whatever ways we choose. But that doesn't solve the problem. Creators create for themselves and also so other people can see, read, experience, and connect with their work in some way--and be transformed by it.
I am a major proponent of recognizing and encouraging creativity, and I've run across two pieces of media that discuss aspects of this divine atttribution of ourselves--and I believe creativity is at the very essence of our true selves, our deepest me being me and you being you--that we all need to consider, individually and in a larger way.
Some of you may have watched the first one already--a short film called Influencers that discusses the result of someone's natural creativity, how their actions and style--their presence--creates a new wave of culture.
"I think an influencer has a certain confidence that probably not many people have. They know that what they're doing is the right thing, because they're comfortable in it. To me, an influencer is somebody who has a different way of thinking and a different way of expressing themselves...
"There's a group of people that are really just early adopters that really embrace all forms of culture..."
Here it is:
INFLUENCERS FULL VERSION from R+I creative on Vimeo.
"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes--and ships--and sealing-wax--
Of cabbages--and kings--
And why the sea is boiling hot--
And whether pigs have wings."
---(from Through the Looking-Glass and What Alice Found There by Lewis Carroll)
And so it is time to talk of summer in France as the season for festivals. From tiny villages like Conflans-sur-Anille where the Lone Wolf and I just witnessed a wonderful fireworks display, to Saint-Tropez where I marched in the parade of the Fête de la Bravade (how I loved it!), to Paris where our yearly Paris Plage has just begun. (See my Paris Plage piece from last year here.) It is the time of year for people to take lazier days, relax in the sunshine, breathe some fresh air, and for the arts to be celebrated outdoors with music, theater, dance, regional food and drink, and any other artistic endeavor you can think of.
We all get lessons in joie de vivre that have evolved through the history of France when we partake of the rich culture here. Is it merrier in summer? The answer is simply, yes. Citizens and visitors alike are in holiday moods, and this is part of the summer charm one finds from north to south. For me, it has always been impressive that every village provides cultural opportunities for its citizens as well as tourists who might be passing through, whether to watch a flamenco performance or to peruse the local museum.
What would we find in the U.S.? Not that. The closest thing we have to compare to these yearly fêtes are our County Fairs. I haven't made it to one in years, though the Independence County Fairs in Batesville, Arkansas, are almost mythological in my memory. We celebrated our local life and the men and women who lived it. We rode carnival rides and ate cotton candy. We ogled the prize-winning cakes and admired the livestock.
Continue reading "Letter From Paris: A Season for Festivals" »
Cover of An Education
A few months ago, the Lone Wolf and I hightailed it to the cinema to see the film An Education . In case you haven't seen it, the movie is a coming-of-age story--the autobiographical memoir of British journalist Lynn Barber who has quite a good story to tell.
We were knocked out by it. We loved the way the film was shot. The period of 1961 England was captured as pure charm as were the performances of the perfect cast (as far as I was concerned), including Carey Mulligan who stole the show. Watch out world. A new Audrey Hepburn has arrived. Ms. Mulligan is dripping with star-power.
When the film began, Mulligan was a schoolgirl, working extremely hard so she could get into Oxford. By the end of the picture, her school work was hardly the education that she had received.
I recently watched a very funny and visionary TED talk of Sir Ken Robinson, who believes that we're educating people out of their creativity. Robinson referred to this crisis of human resources as our "second climate crisis" and asserted that we needed to address it with the same urgency as global warming.
Crossposted at the HuffingtonPost.com. Comments not included here.
By guest columnist Carla Chanel, an American actress and writer who recently returned to Ventura, California, after living in Paris
for the last four years.
I asked friend Carla Chanel to report on what it has been like for her to return home to the USA after her expat life in Paris. Here's what she said:
My friend's email written a day after the Presidential election was short and to the point. "It's safe to come home now."
A touch of bleeding heart liberal humor but nevertheless fitting.
As expatriates living in France for several years, we had seen Barack Obama become a sign of change not just for our nation but for the international community as well. The shops along the tourist-driven streets of Paris were filled with Obama tee-shirts. His face was on the cover of every magazine. His name was part of every café conversation. 
Continue reading "Letter From Paris: It's Safe to Come Home Now" »
Image via Wikipedia
Last summer the news was full of deadly algae washing ashore on the Brittany coast of France. It was disturbing to read about toxic fumes (potentially) killing a worker who was removing it. Dogs have been reported dying after interaction with this algae. In another incident, a horse died in seconds while the rider was saved on the beach of Saint-Michel-en-Grève.
From The Seattle Times:
On July 28, Petit, 28, a researcher in a state-run virology lab, had just finished riding his thoroughbred Sir Glitter, a retired racehorse, on the Saint-Michel-en-Grève beach, when the two were mired in muck as he led the horse on foot.
"The horse and I slid in," said Petit, who is also trained in veterinary studies. Petit said he watched as his horse stopped breathing and died within about 30 seconds, and then he himself passed out. Petit was pulled from the mire by a bulldozer shovel after a man who witnessed the accident gave the alert.
The algae are not said to be dangerous in the sea but release toxic fumes when they rot on the beach. Researchers warn that inhaling the fumes can prove fatal within a matter of minutes.
Brittany
is a beautiful agricultural region in France with a coastline that defines the territory. Flat beaches, sunlight, and shallow waters along with chemical and natural fertilizers loaded with nitrates and phosphorous (that have been used on the land for many years) evidently create the perfect conditions for the deadly algae. The perfect algae storm is ready and waiting on Brittany's Cote d'Armor, but this is happening in numerous other places around the world.
We are killing our oceans, and what will we do when they are used up and polluted beyond redemption?
Continue reading "Letter From Paris: The Perfect Algae Storm" »
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It was a holiday weekend (which accounts for just about the whole month of May), and the Lone Wolf and I were headed out to see Iron Man 2. Why not, we said. We had so much fun at the first Iron Man --good acting, big fun, a script I would have been thrilled to have written, and great special effects--that we happily would sit through another.
Ladies, isn't Robert Downey Jr. pretty much always dreamy?! You men like him, too, and why wouldn't you? (I'm leaving out that horrible Tropic Thunder which should never have seen the light of day, even if he gave an Oscar-nominating performance.)
So L.W. and I are padding our way along the rue Montmartre to cross rue Etienne Marcel and head on over to Les Halles, when I spot one of the worst advertising campaigns I've seen in ages. It happens to be under-thought by Diesel. The brand has been renovating its store and put the revolting message billboards up to hide the work as well as (theoretically) to tantalize the passers-by.
This is a perfect example of the dumbing down of our culture. No doubt the point for Diesel was to be uber cool. Well, they missed their mark by the whole city (in its density and complexity) of Paris.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen. Diesel has created an ad campaign enticing people to "Be Stupid."
Exhibit A
Continue reading "Letter From Paris: Diesel and Their Stupid Campaign" »
