I’ve covered stories about the Eiffel Tower on this site perhaps more than any other topic. This week I thought I’d serve up depictions of the famous monument by some of France’s renowned painters and illustrators. To liven things up, I thought I’d offer readers a challenge. Below, I’ve listed…
Last week, I wrote about the importance of art during times of oppression, focusing on how art has the power to expose society’s flaws and portray a better world. However, art is also a source of pleasure-laden escape. I recently discovered a French textile artist, Sandrine Torredemer, whose work provides…
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,…
I’ve been traveling for the last two weeks in a warm and welcoming country, internationally renowned for its beautiful gulf. People speak Spanish here, which has rendered my language skills largely useless until yesterday’s lunch when I sat across from a charming French couple and was able to chat en…
One of my favorite French films is Les Saveurs du palais, the English version is Haute Cuisine. The movie is based on the life of Danièle Mazet-Delpeuch, the first-ever female chef of a French president. The trailblazing Malzet-Delpeuch was François Mitterand’s private chef from 1988 to 1990. In addition to culinary expertise,…
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.…
