This week, I’m breaking out the champagne and adding a shot of St~Germain! My blog, cas d’intérêt, just landed at #32 on Feedspot’s list of 100 Best French Blogs and Websites in 2025. There are some great sites in the Top 100, and I’m honored to be included. If you’re…
Until reading Barbara Kingsolver’s fictional novel La Lacuna, I would never have envisioned Russian revolutionary Leon Trotsky, French surrealist author André Breton, and Mexican muralist and painter Diego Rivera as part of the same squad. Their commitment to Marxism drew these three extraordinary men together and, for a brief period,…
Without question, the hardest period of my life came after giving birth to twins. My son was two when his sisters were born, and the physical demands of caring for three humans under the age of three were unending. I was on a perpetual hamster wheel, averaging 28 diapers per…
One of the contenders for this year’s Oscar for Best International Film is The Seed of the Sacred Fig. Secretly filmed in Tehran, the fictional screenplay takes place during the weeks of protest that followed the nonfictional death of Mahsa Amini, a 22-year-old Iranian woman who died in police custody…
People worldwide will be tuning into the 2025 Grammy Awards on Sunday night. With my kids now out of the house, I’m no longer in the loop regarding this year’s list of nominees. However, this week I want to resurface a Grammy-winning ballad from 2023—Baraye, by Iranian singer-songwriter Shervin Hajipour.…
With help from Le Chat and Belgian cartoonist Phillippe Geluck, below are wishes for a happy 2025 accompanied by a short vocabulary lesson. Je vous souhaite une anneé pleine de joie…I wish you a year filled with joy… Mais aussi de Réussite Bonne humeur Délices Volupté Douceur Euphorie Succès Amour…
December being a month for merrymaking, I thought it was a good time to introduce the great printmaker and caricaturist, Honoré Daumier, to my blog. I look at his work as an early precursor to comic strips like The Lighter Side of…, by Dave Berg of Mad Magazine. As you’ll…
This week I’ve been looking for something to celebrate and a particular milestone related to this blog stands out. Last Friday’s post was my 200th, a bicentenary of sorts. You may have wondered (as I have) why I maintain this random assortment of loosely coupled brain dumps. The answer isn’t…
