lundi 22 novembre 2010

What On Earth Are They Talking About?

(cartoon by David Horsey, 2009)

As a long-time expat in France, I need to pose several unanswered questions which have been causing me some sleepless nights, lately:

1) When some groups of people demand that they intend to take America back, who exactly do they feel has invaded and whose culture do they feel has come and colonized our own?

2) When did this begin?

3) Are Native Americans asking this? Americans of European descent? Of African descent? Of Asian descent?

4) Who are they talking about?

5) When I read that some other groups are demanding that they get their country back, who exactly is demanding this? People who are victims of our previous foreign relations? Reluctant immigrants and other refugees perhaps?

6) Who are they talking about?

I would appreciate the feedback, since it is probably apparent to you that I have become completely out of touch.

School me on this one people!

(Post script : I have just been informed that America does not actually have an official language. “ English is the de facto national language of the United States, with 82% of the population claiming it as a mother tongue, and some 96% claiming to speak it "well" or "very well".[3] However, no official language exists at the Federal level. There have been several proposals to make English the national language in amendments to immigration reform bills,[4][5] but none of these bills has become law with the amendment intact.” Wikipedia

People…help me on this one as well…

Which English are they talking about? American English? British English? Australian English? Canadian English?

What are they talking about? It appears to me that the majority culture for hundreds of years were so preoccupied with repressing minorities and policing foreign nations that they forgot to give themselves an official language! Geeez...)

lundi 15 novembre 2010

Aging Gracefully






Recently an acquaintance of mine who lives in Germany commented on my blog concerning the “Chic of French Women.” To encapsulate his quite lengthy response which was sent to me through my private email, he basically stated his opinion on what he felt was the self -deprecating tendency of American women to use facelifts as beauty enhancements in order to combat the aging process.

What came to mind was how ironic his opinion was considering the fact that we both live among the antiquities of Europe.

Image what living here would be like without the nips and tucks of European restoration efforts. The way I see it is that we’d all be living as if we were in the bowels of the slums of Cairo.



(photos from google images)