The French Can-Can-Do Attitude: An Iffy History of a Once-Disreputable Dance
An Immorally Uplifting Experience...
If you say the word “France” to people, they immediately think of looking up women’s skirts. And there’s a perfectly good, logical reason for this: the people you happened to pick are all testosterone-addled straight guys, who never think about … Read More
The Long Gear-Grinding Road: Getting a Driver’s License in France, Part One
No Wonder They Drive Like That!
As anyone who knows me will confirm, probably without being asked, I am something of a neurotic. I tend to be nervous in many situations, like speaking in public. Or in private. Or in my sleep. Or driving. I am … Read More
A Slice of Death: Chasing the Shadow of the Guillotine
The Allure of the Lore of Gore
A few weeks ago I was walking by the Place de la Concorde and happened to notice a young couple who seemed to be wandering aimlessly around the pedestrian areas of the square, pointing and staring in every direction with … Read More
Down and Dirty: A Not-very-close Look at French Toilets
How Low Can You Go?
Sometimes people from my old home state in the Midwest ask me why I want to live in France. Sometimes it’s a real question and sometimes it isn’t. There are two possibilities: 1. If the speaker is merely trying to … Read More
Fashion in Paris: Everything I Know About Style in Nine Easy Lessons
It’s Not Even Skin Deep!
Paris Fashion Week just ended, so naturally I’ve been thinking about the early-20th-century French philosopher Paul Valéry. Valéry coined a term, les professions délirantes (the “delirious professions”), to designate disciplines that have no clear objective criteria of achievement. For example, … Read More
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