It’s been a cold week, not the worst Bostonian cold ever, but there were some negatives temperatures – celsius-wise. I’m still biking during the day, and biking when it’s windy has been a challenge. I have a pair of ugly mittens, ugly but warm ; in the same idea, I just bought a pair of trousers at Uniqlo that are more defined by “comfort” than style. I guess that’s the deal when you live in Boston. Anyway, I’m among those who like a chilly winter. To be honest, it’s a good reason to enjoy the steamed room at my gym.
This “Monday Morning” article is the last one of the year: thanks again for your warm comments month after month! I have another couple of articles planned until 2018, but Mondays will be festive and quiet until next year.
Christmas in Harvard
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Politics. What a week. I’m glad that the Democrat candidate won the special elections in Alabama. I have a draft in my blog articles about “1 year of trumpism”: as a foreigner and privileged white expat, I’m often told that it shouldn’t affect me. Not true. I’m waiting for the right time to talk about it.
Podcast on this topic: Pod saves America “How to Doogie”
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Movie. I’ve listened to the interview of James Franco on Fresh Air, and it made me want to see the movie The Disaster Artist. The story is crazy: James Franco plays Tommy Wiseau, a man who, at the beginning of the 2000’s wrote, directed and produced a movie – not in that order – called The Room, even though he had never played, written or directed any movie. Tommy may look like a con man: we don’t know where he comes from, even if he has an Eastern European accent, he says he’s from New Orleans, he has no experience in the film industry, and his talent is… peculiar. He financed his movie, with 6 millions dollars, and again, no one knows where his money comes from. With the help of his best friend, who later wrote a book about the making of the movie, he managed to finish the movie; during the first screening, the audience was laughing real hard: it was so bad, than it became laughable. Since then, there’s a cult surrounding the movie, called the best worst movie ever made.
I was intrigued by James Franco interview, saw the movie and loved it!
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I wrote a recap of my experience of Nanowrimo
Habits. I read the latest blog post of Garance Doré about her addiction with sugar. What I love with her is not only her honesty and the intimacy she creates, but also the fact that she’s French and living in the US. The article she wrote could have been written by any American blogger, but there’s her own twist. There are a lot of variations in diets here in the USA, for religious, health, taste, fad reasons. In France, you are never asked if you’re intolerant to certain things, you just have to put aside what you don’t like/can’t eat, on the side of your plate “Don’t be difficult!” Anything that special and not indulgent is seen as strange. I was at first very critical of the more tolerant attitude in the US: why American make things so complicated and seem to want to be so aware of anything happening inside of them? Now I understand it better, and like the tolerance towards food intolerance or “adaptation”. You want to quit sugar? Why not! You need to pay attention to how much coffee you drink? Want to do an intermittent fasting? Why not! oh, by the way, I’m doing a Whole 30 in January, I want my share of food awareness.
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Coziness at Target
Word. This is the season of the word of the year: FEMINISM won! Among the other possibilities, there were also snowflake and complicit ; Merriam Webster picks the most researched word on their website. It’s interesting to see that even if this word looks transparent, it still needs to be defined: and no, it doesn’t mean a crazy bitch who hates men, but somebody who wants gender equality.
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Stories. I came back to see a Slam of The Moth (I went for the first time last February): people come on stage to tell a story on a specific theme. That night, at the Once Ballroom in Somerville, the theme was Esperanza, hope in Spanish. The night began with a journalist telling how it was after the hurricanes in Porto Rico last September. There was a lot of Portoricains in the room who were also able to tell their hope stories about their island. 10 candidates, 10 stories. The guy who won had a compelling story about addiction, the room was quiet when he talked, it was beautiful.
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