Tag: news

Say it ain’t so, Joe

I cannot remember the last time I cried.  It was undoubtably over something stupid like stubbing my toe because I didn’t lift my foot high enough when coming inside the apartment from the terrace. Or perhaps reading something to my writing group that unexpectedly went deeper than I’d realized.

Sunday night I cried in shock.  Joe Biden has stepped down from running for President 2024. 

Yesterday, I cried again while reading the hundreds of accolades that important people are saying about him.  Someone sent me a parody of Kamala (Camelot) and I cried and laughed at the same time.

Where is the cynical Sara who thinks every move a politician makes is selfish, self-aggrandizing, and narcissistic?  I’m in shock at myself as much as in shock at this turn of events.  Since I’ve paid attention to these things, I have said that Joe Biden was a decent human being.  In 2008, when he was campaigning for President (stepping aside for Obama), I remember watching him at a fireplace during a fundraiser, speaking, making his usual gaffs, and loving him.  I also liked Obama and had no trouble switching my allegiance. Obama holds his cards very close to his chest.  We really don’t know much about him except what he has shared in his two memoirs.  Joe? We know Joe because he is an open book.  We watched him suffer with tragedy after tragedy. We’ve watched him pull himself together and work for the US because that was his job as an elected official.   We’ve watched him work with his stutter which tends to come back when he’s stressed.  We’ve watched him outsmart many of the MAGA Republicans during his SOTU addresses.

Joe Biden is not only a decent man, he is also a great man.

Yesterday, Hunter Biden wrote that there wasn’t much distance between the public Joe Biden and the private Joe Biden.  I believe him. 

When I learn too much about a famous person, for example JFK who I idolized as a teenager, I want to stuff it all back in Pandora’s box.  I want to hang on to my fantasies that these ambitious people who have to stoop to many compromises to raise money for their campaigns, who tend to misuse power the minute they have it, really are as good as they seem.  Then we have Jimmy Carter and Joe Biden.  They say that Jimmy Carter is the greatest ex-President the US has known.  I met him once at a conference on Aging.  My mother was getting an award, one I had nominated her for.  Carter was the keynote speaker.  He was very accessible, shaking everyone’s hand.  He didn’t need to.  He wasn’t running for anything. 

Joe Biden made gaffs.  TV and media made fun of him.  What you saw was what you got.  During these last three weeks, we’ve watched a defiant President try to tell the world that he still had what it takes.  I was convinced.  Heather Cox Richardson was convinced.  Defiance wasn’t a good look on him. He was angry, he was defensive, and he let us see it all.  That’s who he is.

It will take me a couple of days to make the switch to Harris.  I have an innate fear that the US will never elect a woman, much less a Black woman, or an Asian woman, to be President.  White Supremacists, who have an inordinate amount of power, believe a woman’s place is in the kitchen and there she should shut up.

Much of the news says Biden stepping aside has changed the whole geography of the election.  Now, Trump is the old man, the crazy man, who can’t finish a sentence, who rambles on and on not making any sense.  They are implying that Trump will receive the same treatment that Biden has been receiving.  But there aren’t any Republicans willing to stand up to Trump.  They are terrified of his retribution.

There isn’t a Joe Biden amongst them.  A man willing to make one of the most difficult decisions ever. A decision that serves his country and not his personal ambition.

I subscribe to Good News from The Guardian.  Every Sunday, I get four or five articles of good things that have happened in the past week. After a week of bad news, horrifying news, deadly news that fills up every page for seven days.

Maybe this is why I’ve been crying.  When I was in my early 20s and studying for my licensing exam (Psychology), I used to watch an episode of Bonanza (which I hadn’t seen it’s first time around) every day. Every day I’d cry at the end of the episode. I quickly figured out that I cried because it was about family, love in the family being a priority, and justice always won in the end.

I think I cried about Joe because I like him. And this man that I like did a courageous and selfless act that if unheard of in this day and political climate. In the end, he showed us his integrity.

I have a vision now that with nothing left to lose, our President will achieve more great things in his last six months.

And then?  Please stay alive, Joe.  Don’t let this be one tragedy too many.  Please muster that working class Delaware boy who has a real spine and served the country well for over fifty years. Be a great ex-President.

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A bientôt,

Sara

C’est Ouf or What the heck happened in France

Four weeks ago, June 6-9, there was a parliamentary election in Europe, the tenth since the formation of the EU, the first since Brexit. The Far Right won the most delegates in France. Marine Le Pen and Jordan Bardella, her handpicked ersatz leader of RN (Rassemblement National), began to crow. Within one hour of getting the results, without any warning to his deputies or his “friends”, President Macron dissolved the standing Parliament and called for new elections. They would be held on Sundays: June 30 and July 7. 

The country went into a tailspin. Journalists tried to guess why he did this. Most thought it was suicidal. In France, there are many parties from the Far Left to Center Left to Center Right to the Far Right. Macron first ran as Center neither left nor right but has turned out to be far more Right. He won his second election by a hair, many French voting against Marine Le Pen than voting for Macron. His newly formed party, Ensemble (Together) did not win a majority in the Parliament in 2022 so Macron has had difficulty passing many of his reforms. In many cases, the government has used the Article 49 of the French Constitution, paragraph 3 (Article 49.3) which allows the government (essentially Macron) to pass a law without a vote. Some journalists think that he knew he’d reach his limit of doing that. People were angry. He seemed to be favouring the wealthy. If he hadn’t dissolved the parliament, there could have been a call to pass a motion of No Confidence.

My friend, Fatiha, has been explaining to me what has happened day by day. The voters of France were galvinized. For many, the goal became ‘keep the Far Right from getting power.’ The same night as the dissolution, spurred on by François Ruffin, four parties on the left banded together and called themselves Nouveau Front Populaire. These parties do not agree on many things but they do agree that letting the Far Right get power would be disastrous for the country. They put aside any disagreements they had and campaigned as one party They agreed on a social program determining how much each piece of the program would cost. They worked on this for four days. They were the only party to think out and present a detailed plan. Fatiha and her friends were out on the street every day passing out flyers. They went door to door (mostly apartments, they would start at the top floor and work their way down) and talk to people. I asked Fatiha if people slammed doors on her. No, she told me. Some didn’t want to talk but many did. She would send me a photo of the campaigners at the end of the day all happy and exhausted.

Then came the first vote on Sunday, June 30. The outcome was 33% for the RN (Marine Le Pen), 28% for NFP (the Left), and 21% for Macron’s party. All the rest had under 12%. If a delegate received over 50% of the votes AND 25% of the constituency had voted, they were in. Marine Le Pen was in on the first vote. On July 7, all the delegates that had received over 12.5% would run against each other. This meant a triangle. There was real fear that votes would split between Ensemble and the Left giving the Far Right the majority. The left suggested and then followed through with the idea that if their delegate was in third place and RN had a chance of winning, they would drop out making it a two way run off. Macron’s party wasn’t so good. Many did drop out but many stayed. Historically, the Left has helped Macron against Le Pen probably giving him the presidency in both years 2017 and 2022. The favour has not been reciprocated or acknowledged according to Fatiha. I was now caught up in the breathtaking drama of this election. At the first election, 66.7% of France showed up to vote. “63% of French voters turned out to vote for the second round of the country’s snap parliamentary elections on Sunday, July 7, slightly less than for the first round (65%). It is the highest turnout since 1981. These figures confirm intense interest in the vote.” Le Monde

We all know the outcome. Nouveau Front Populaire won 182 seats. Macron’s Ensemble won 168 seats. Marine Le Pen’s Rassemblement National won 143 seats. A hung parliament. “A hung parliament with a large eurosceptic, anti-immigration contingent could weaken France’s international standing and threaten Western unity in the face of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. European Union officials, already learning to deal with far-right parties in power in Italy and the Netherlands, are watching France closely. And in Rome, Pope Francis chose the day of the French vote to warn against “ideological temptations and populists”, adding: “Democracy is not in good health in the world today.” Le Monde—July 8.

The last time this kind of thing happened was in Mitterand’s Presidency. He honoured the French vote by choosing a prime minister from the party that got the most seats even though it wasn’t a majority. Fatiha has no faith that Macron will do the same. She is ready for anything sneaky, egotistical, and anti the French people. A majority of people now feel as she does. I asked her if she thought anything would happen before or during the Olympics. My common sense says it all should wait. The Olympics are fraught enough. No one knows. The French want a Parliament. Macron may try and stall. So far, he has not made an appearance on television. So far, he has not talked to the French people.

My sister wrote to me and wanted France to send NFP to the US to galvanise them. I wrote her back that there is a fatigue in the US. Much as I detest Marine Le Pen and her beliefs, she is not a criminal, she hasn’t stirred up the kind of violence that Trump has, she seems to keep her language in check. Americans seem inured to the most detestable way of speaking, they expect lies on a daily basis. We, in France, have watched stunned as all the news after the Biden-Trump debate has been about Biden and his age. Nothing about Trump’s criminal acts, his inflammatory speeches and actions, and he seems much more deficient in brain cells than Biden. WTF is going on? (Read my friend Pamela Drake’s Substack for an opinion: 

https://pameladrake.substack.com/p/the-ice-floe-or-the-endtimes

And what the heck does “C’est Ouf” mean? It’s a wonderful expression!

“C’est ouf – roughly pronounced say oof – is a colloquial French expression to express shock or surprise. 

It is the rough equivalent of ‘it’s wild’ or ‘it’s crazy/mad’ in English or just ‘wow’. (From Fatiha: ‘ouf’ also means “What a relief!” This is what made the front cover of Liberation so brilliant)

C’est ouf can be either positive or negative, depending on the context. 

The word ouf is the verlan, or backwards slang, of ‘fou’ which means crazy. While ouf is colloquial, you can still hear it used by people of different generations – not just young people.”—the local.fr

More excitement (and I’m afraid not the good kind) coming up.

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A bientôt,

Sara

France’s snap elections

Dear Francophiles and Friends

The following is a reprint from an on-line journal that I subscribe to. All my friends in the US seem very confused by what is going on. I hope this helps.

“5-minute guide to the latest on France’s snap elections

written by Emma Pearson – emma.pearson@thelocal.com

Election news: 5-minute guide to the latest on France's snap elections

Protesters gather to demonstrate against the far-right in Paris. Photo by Zakaria ABDELKAFI / AFP

From party alliances to shock announcements and the emerging key figures, here’s your essential roundup of all the latest from France’s snap parliamentary elections.

France will head back to the polls at the end of this month for snap parliamentary elections – called by Emmanuel Macron on Sunday in the wake of his party’s humiliating European election defeat at the hands of Marine Le Pen’s far-right Rassemblement National.

The president’s announcement caught everyone off guard – even key members of his own party – so three days later, political groups are scrambling to get ready and fight the very short election campaign.

READ ALSO What do snap parliamentary elections mean for France?

Here’s a roundup of the latest election news:

Republican front

The most widely-heard call in France over the last three days has been for a Front républicain.

The concept of a ‘republican front’ is not a new one, it essentially means that when necessary mainstream parties put aside their differences in order to combat the extremists in the far-right movement.

Most recently it’s been seen in the second round of the presidential elections of 2017 and 2022 – the final two candidates were far-right leader Marine Le Pen and Emmanuel Macron and in that context plenty of people who detest Macron and all that he stands for cast their vote for him because they considered that the alternative – a far-right president of France – was much worse.

In the context of these parliamentary elections, the Front Républicain is more to do with political parties and essentially involves parties making agreements not to run candidates against each other in certain constituencies, in avoid to avoid splitting the vote and allowing in the Rassemblement National candidate.

Talks on these potential agreements are mostly still ongoing but it would involve, for example, the four left-wing parties who made up the Nupes group agreeing to run a single Nupes candidate in each seat – rather than diving the leftist vote by fielding one candidate from the far-left La France Insoumise, one from the centre-left Parti Socialiste, one from the Green and one from the Communist party.

It’s early days, but most of these agreements are far from being done deals, despite pleas for unity.

Eric effect

One politician who appears to be swimming against the republican tide is Eric Ciotti, leader of the right-wing Les Républicains who has announced that he would be open to an alliance with Le Pen’s party.

Les Républicains is one of the two parties that dominated French politics in the post-war period – the party of presidents Jacques Chirac and Nicolas Sarkozy.

Badly weakened since 2017 and at risk of fading into irrelevance, the party has been steadily drifting to the right for several years, electing in 2022 the very right-wing Ciotti as party leader. 

An alliance with Le Pen would not come as a surprise to anyone who had read his most recent manifestos and policies, but the thought of the political heirs of Charles de Gaulle getting into bed with the far-right has caused shockwaves in France and within the party itself.

Protests

There have been several protests, especially in Paris, this week but unions and left-wing parties have called for mass demos across France this weekend.

Intended as a show of solidarity against the far-right, the protests are intended to echo 2002 when million of people took to the streets after Jean-Marie Le Pen progressed to the second round of the presidential election.

READ ALSO What would a victory for Le Pen’s party mean for France?

Key figures

It’s not only opposition parties and the media who were taken by surprise by Macron’s election call, it also caught senior members of his own party off guard, with several saying privately (or less privately in the ear of friendly journalists) that they think Macron’s ‘grand pari‘ (big gamble) is a bad idea.

This number appears to include prime minister Gabriel Attal who was conspicuous by his absence for 48 hours after the announcement (even failing to post on his usually active Instagram account). However he’s now back and saying that he will do whatever it takes to “avoid the worst”.

Those of Macron’s ministers who are members of parliament – and in France it is not necessary to be an MP in order to be a minister – are also declaring their candidacy in these elections and so far there are no surprises . . .  

Key dates

Candidates have until Friday to confirm that they are standing. The formal campaign period begins on Monday, which is when election posters will start to go up and TV debates will be organised.

Voting takes place in two rounds; Sunday, June 30th and Sunday, July 7th.”

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Please leave comments below with thoughts and questions and I will do my best to answer as the elections move closer

A bientôt,

Sara

Writing in Paris – Part 2

The Paris Writers Workshop

In January, I wrote about the first workshop I ever participated in and why it was so valuable to me. And because of the Workshop, I went on to write and publish a book, and call myself an author.  Now that the Paris Writers Workshop is open for registration and only three months away, I wanted to describe specifics. As dry as this writing might be, every word is written with gratitude for the opportunity granted to me.  As my mother used to say to me constantly: “There is no such thing as luck. It’s grabbing at an opportunity when it presents itself.”

Why would Paris residents want to register for PWW? For one, it is so accessible–a metro ride away. It’s affordable—as in the past, there is an early bird registration which I took advantage of each year that I registered. And as WICE is a nonprofit, the price is very reasonable.

PWW will be held at the beautiful Reid Hall in the Columbia Global Centers in the literary Montparnasse neighborhood. There is a large beautiful garden area with plenty of seating. One can write at one of the many tables or bring a bag lunch to enjoy with your cohorts surrounded by trees and summer flowers. Le Select, La Coupole, Le Dome, and Le Closerie de Lilas (one of Hemingway’s hangouts) are in walking distance.

Reid Hall

And non-Paris residents? Who would turn down a chance to visit Paris in the early summer before the craziness of the Olympics starts? We will happily make suggestions for reasonable accommodations (but I’m told you need to make those reservations now as Paris is raising prices in anticipation of the Summer Olympics), and you will have a new literary home away from home.

Now to the really good part:

We have an amazing lineup of teachers for six tracks.

The Novel master class will be taught by Samantha Chang. I know her as Sam.

Sam is the Director of the famous Iowa Writers’ Workshop. She is the author of The Family Chao (she spoke at the American Library Summer 2022), Inheritance and other titles.

The Memoir/ Creative Nonfiction class will be taught by Jennifer Lauck.

Jennifer is the Founder of the Blackbird Studio for Writers. She is the author of Blackbird,a Memoir of her childhood, and 3 more memoirs that followed. Oprah said that everyone should read Blackbird. She also writes a wonderful Substack: Flight School with Jennifer Lauck

Poetry will be taught by Heather Hartley.

Heather, a resident of Paris, teaches Creative Writing at the University of Kent (UK) Paris School of Arts and Culture.  She is the author of the poetry collections Adult Swim and Knock Knock.

This year, we are offering three new tracks:

Speculative Fiction will be taught by Kevin Brockmeier.

Kevin is the author of The Brief History of the Dead, The Truth about Celia and other titles. He frequently teaches at the Iowa Writers’ Workshop.

Screenwriting will be taught by Diane Lake.

Diane has written many screenplays for major studios including the Academy Award winning Frida. She is the author of The Screenwriter’s Path: From Idea to Script to Sale.

Travel Writing will be taught by Don George.

Don is Editor-at-Large for National Geographic Travel. He is the author of How to Be a Travel Writer: the best selling travel writing guide in the world.

Go to our website, https://wice-paris.org/paris-writers-workshop for more details about our amazing faculty. Each track has its own registration page. Click on the photo of the teacher to get to that registration.

Once you register, you will receive an acceptance e-mail unless the course is full. Each Masterclass will have a maximum of twelve students.  You will be given some choices if that is the case.

Your masterclass package includes:

·       Daily small group masterclasses in your selected genre

·       Individual meetings with your faculty instructor

·       Inspirational and practical guidance for your work in progress

·       Panel discussions focused on tools of writing and paths to publishing

·       Readings by your fellow writers and faculty

·       Social gatherings with an amazing community of writers from all over the world

Students and faculty will meet together Sunday, June 2 from 2 PM to 4 PM at Reid Hall.

The masterclasses will meet each weekday from 2 to 5 PM Monday through Friday. There will be literary events each evening.

Monday morning there will be a LITERARY walking tour of the Montparnasse area for anyone who is interested. The whole week will be topped off on Friday evening June 7 with readings by the faculty and students.

And on Wednesday and Thursday, we will have two well-known British agents here. You can pre-send a writing sample to one or both and pitch your project face-to-face.

Registration is now open. The earlybird registration fee is €975.

After March 15, the fee for the workshop will be €1100.

This is a wonderful opportunity to write, to meet other writers and authors, to organize writing groups at the end of the week, and to pick the brains of published authors.

If you know anyone who is a writer who wants to write as I did or is a secret writer please pass on this information.

A group of people raising their hands Description automatically generated

Participants of the Short Story track at a PWW.

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A bientôt,

Sara