August 2010
12 posts
The Journal of the Unknown Founder
I’ve been working with 826DC on the design of its creative writing center, which will open in Columbia Heights in late September. The storefront for the center will be “The Museum of Unnatural History,” and it is, of course, a take-off on the Smithsonian’s Museum of Natural History, or any museum of natural history. Its specific conceit is that it preserves and continues...
Scene from My Last Day in Paris
In the Montmarte District, on a narrow cobblestone street just down from the carousel, and in front of a row of shops and a gathered crowd, two early-20-ish women with accoustic guitars belted out a slow rendition of “Hit Me Baby One More Time.” They sang in English with soft French accents, their voices in perfect harmony, their guitar cases open in front of them for change. They wore boots and...
The Secret Entrance to the Louvre
As you know, there is always a huge line snaking out from I.M. Pei’s glass pyramid in the center of the Court Napolean. There are, however, a number of side entrances, including two by the fake Arc d’ Triomphe that are lacking in signage and look from the ground like abandoned subway entrances. In fact they lead down to the Carousel de Louvre, the collection of fancy shops on one side...
Theories on Why Paris Is So Great
1. The Light.
It’s true what they say — the light here is really great. Everywhere else, the light is good in the hour or so after sunrise and before sunset. Here you get great light all day long. It’s really uncanny. How do they do it?
Here’s what I’m talking about. The first picture was taken AT NOON from an outdoor table at the cafe down the block from my...
The Cold, Elemental Grace That Knows When to Take...
Writing can be a way of exercising one’s demons. It can relieve a specific anxiety, or reveal the answer to a question. In these and other ways, writing can be a point of contact with the half-known world, a way of accessing the powers and truths that shape our world but lie just beyond our ability to put them into words, or a way of revealing what Joy Williams calls “the cold,...
The Advantages and Perils of Ordering in French
Advantages:
1. If done well from start to finish, can give you the satisfying feeling of having a thoroughly authentic Paris experience.
2. My experience has been that when you order in French, you also get French service. This means they generally leave you alone unless you indicate you want something, which I really like.
3. If you complete the entire transaction in French, it feels like you...
Possibly the Best Snack Food Ever
A banana-strawberry-chocolate crepe, prepared by one of the street venders you see in various locations in Paris. Forget cupcakes. America needs Paris snack crepes, and fast.
People Keep Asking Me for Directions
I’ve been in Paris for a total of ten days now, and on every one of those days but one, a stranger has approached me on the street and asked, in French, for directions.
This actually happens to me whenever I travel. I must look knowledgeable and approachable, like someone who knows his directions and won’t mind being asked. That it’s happening in Paris is surprising, but that...
One Week to Get Your Bearings, Two to Really Enjoy...
I bet we’ve all experienced that way in which a vacation becomes somehow magical in its second week. In the first week you get over your jet lag, find the things you enjoy doing in your new location, and generally get familiar enough with your new surroundings to be able to relax and enjoy yourself.
I’ve spent one week in Paris and one week in Tunisia, so this week — the third...
Report
It seems worth reporting that on Friday the 13th, during Ramadan, I flew from Tunis, Tunisia, to Paris, without incident.
A Hard Rain
My entry in the Out of the Storm Bad Weather Writing Contest:
A Hard Rain
It was a hard rain. The kind of rain that pelted a man, that drove him down. Each drop was like a hammer. But a very small hammer. The kind of hammer a jeweler might use, if a jeweler had any use for a hammer. Did jewelers use hammers? Simms didn’t know. But as the drops pelted him he thought, if a jeweler used a hammer,...
Je Parles Solomente un Peu Francais
Here is how I came to visit Paris. I was telling a friend that I wanted to take a couple of weeks off in August or September, but I didn’t quite know where to go or what to do. She said, “Why don’t you go stay in my mom’s apartment in Paris?”
There were several intermediate questions to ask — “What, you’re mom has an apartment in Paris?”...
