I’m busy is the worst excuse not to see someone or do something. Being busy is another way to say “it’s not my priority”. It is actually my excuse to have missed so many rendezvous for this Monday Morning chronicle recently. Yes, the blog is still an important part of my life, both professionally and as a hobby, but it takes a lot of energy.
Anyway, here I am. You can’t see it, but I have a new computer, a 27″ iMac and the mere fact of typing in front of the huge screen makes me want to spend even more time in front of it. I guess my life is already really computer-y, but now it’s gonna be extra-comfy.
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Last week, we had some guests visiting from France: Manu’s mom, sister and 2 aunts came to tour New England and spend a few days in Boston. We were able to join them a couple of times along their tour. It’s nice to be with people who have never been in the US before: everybody gets excited for the smallest things. I’ve lived here for 6 years, and I still love it, but still: I get used to things. We saw covered bridges, country stores, the Flume gorge and quaint villages with a new eye. We were lucky enough to be in the White Mountains during the peak of the fall foliage season: the colors were crazy, despite the rainy weather.
Fall foliage in New Hampshire
Covered bridge in Flume Gorge
First night together in Marblehead
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Read, Seen, Heard
- One of the heated debate right now in the US is about getting rid of some statues from the Civil War. I was surprised to hear some of my clients in the tours of Boston I’m leading (in French): people are not ready to hear the arguments in favor of not having these statues. “Why? It’s part of the history!” seemed to be their biggest argument in favor of a status quo. To me, it’s not about deleting history at all – it will remain anyway, as well in books or museums, and collective memory. But we can pick as a society who we want to glorify in the public space. I liked the piece of John Oliver about this issue.
- Cool pictures of the Mean streets of New York in the 70s; it reminds me of the show The Deuce on HBO, a show from the same writer as The Wire. The first episode was 90 minute long and took us in a flanerie in the streets: a barman trying to meet ends, prostitutes and their pimps, a young girl coming to New York and trying to make it, a student at NYU not wanting to follow the path that her parents want for her… The story is thin, it’s just about the characters and their lives. The decor are awesome, the streets are mean and the actors are great, specially Maggie Gyllenhaal
- I love, love, love listening to Blank Space a Taylor Swift song (which I never heard of before) Taylor Swift sang by Imagine Dragons (a band I’ve never heard before either)
- On my blog, you have a long read to do: a recap of the summer road trip in Utah and Nevada
What about reading What Happened?
I found the Hillary Clinton book What Happened on the “it’s your lucky day” table at the Boston Public Library, where you can find books, fiction or not, that are “hot” right now. I’ve heard Hillary Clinton on several shows on the radio and I was intrigued about what she had to say. What happened is a good title, I guess many people asked themselves that same question on election night in November 2016 – I was in a bar in Cambridge with a bunch of friends, it was strangely very quiet. We left around 9pm, and then spent the night refreshing the New York Times homepage. Whether you like Hillary Clinton or not, I think this book is worth a read, at least for the whole chapter titled Sisterhood, which is about feminism, and women in politics. She also tries to make sense, draw conclusions and warn on upcoming elections about everything that has switched in politics lately.
