Je suis Charlie, Je suis Ahmed

Aujourd'hui, je suis Parisienne. Je suis d'accord avec le peuple de Paris, in solidarité contre la violence, la haine et l'intolérance.

Today, I am Parisian. I stand with the people of Paris, in solidarity against violence, hatred and intolerance.

I wish I could write my whole post in French, but my language skills are too-long dormant for a serious post. (I used freetranslation.com to help me here.) To join with the people of Paris, and indeed, reasonable people everywhere, I'm wearing scarf that a friend of mine brought me from Paris several years ago.

scarf from Paris - Pantone color 2013 - Emerald

It's impossible to make sense of what happened in Paris - violence, fear and chaos were the aims of the extremists, so there is no sense. To a generation that grew up in a golden age of progress and enlightenment, this kind of barbarism seems to signal the end of the world. I can't even begin to analyze the various implications of these attacks - and others - to freedom, religion, racism, society, nationalism, multiculturalism, women...

current work-in-progress - a Parisian cafe

Then the stories of the unity of people in Paris, and world leaders setting aside their differences, give me some hope that tolerance will override intolerance and divisiveness.

Source

Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité

Linking up and spreading the love at SpyGirl: 52 Pick-me-up, and Not Dead Yet Style: Visible Monday.

Val

Red, Blue, Pompidou!

In my last post I told you about my first trip to Europe, fifty years ago. Well, twenty-five years ago I went to Europe for the second time. I spent three months studying in Rome, then traveled to Greece with a friend, spent some time with an Italian man in Firenze (that's all I'm sayin'), and eventually went to Paris on my own before flying home.

In Paris I took a really cool picture of the Centre Pompidou and made a necklace with it.

This set my color scheme for a recent outfit.

top - JCP; skirt - Docker's, thrifted; tights - Target; shoes - Dexter

I took more photos in this outfit, but I'm bored with my own backyard and too self-conscious to go out in public to take pictures. Sooooo, I decided to revisit Paris in 1989.

It was the centennial of the Eiffel Tower, so they had lights on it spelling out "100 ans." It was also the bicentennial of the French Revolution.

 The Louvre - so much to see, it would take more than one day and you'd still be overwhelmed.

Luxembourg Gardens - I stayed near here in the Latin Quarter. My little room and lumpy bed were under the eaves, up six flights of stairs, with the toilet and showers down the hall. I loved it!

And then we're back where we started, at the Pompidou Centre.

All these photos were printed on paper - I cut out paper dolls of me and glued them to the printed photos, then photographed them. Thanks again to Melanie for this idea!

It's time to get together for Visible Monday, so don't forget to head on over to Patti's on Sunday evening or Monday. Or Tuesday. And there's a Shoe Shine at Bella's, so here's the money shot for that.

 

A bientot, mes cheries!

Val