It’s been a month since thieves broke into the Louvre and absconded with a valuable stash of crown jewels. In many of the early news reports, reference was made to an earlier and equally spectacular heist at the famous museum. On a summer morning in 1911, an employee of the…
Yesterday marked ten years since the worst terrorist attack carried out on French soil. On November 13, 2015, eleven terrorists, backed by the Islamic State (Daesh), entered Paris and carried out a series of coordinated attacks throughout the city. Over the last week, French media has been filled with recaps…
What happens when one-fifth of a country’s population participates in a genocide? In the case of the Rwandan Civil War, the horror was so widespread that those left staggering in its aftermath were struck dumb, either vowing to forget the past or silent victims of post-traumatic amnesia. In Jacaranda, Gaël…
Last month, I picked up a gently used copy of short stories by Guy de Maupassant. I’d put off reading his work for too long and was happy when a friend from my book club chose the classic tale, Boule de Suif, for this quarter’s read. The short collection, titled…
This week, I began working on a post about the theft of the Mona Lisa from the Louvre in 1911. I’d read several articles and listened to podcasts about the heist, which is full of surprising twists. However, on Monday morning, as I perused a list of Le Monde’s top…
One of my favorite places to stay when visiting Paris is the bustling town of Vincennes. Vincennes lies just beyond the eastern edge of Paris, north of the Bois de Vincennes, Paris’ largest public park. Lodging in this prosperous suburb generally costs less than in the city of light. And…
For years, my primary source for looking up French words and expressions has been the online language forum WordReference.com. For any French word I don’t recognize, the platform provides synonyms, the English translation, sample sentences, and a range of expressions that utilize the word. If that doesn’t suffice, the same…
It’s been more than ten years since terrorists forced their way into the offices of the satirical French weekly Charlie Hebdo, killing 12 of its staff members. Two of Charlie’s female contributors, Corinne Rey and Catherine Meurisse, survived the horrific onslaught. Yet, both women continue to ply their craft as…
