It started off as a joke. A laugh between friends and family. The little Southern girl who got so flustered over cultural idiosyncracies that she one day exclaimed during a rant, "As soon as I have my French citizenship, I'm running for President!"
While I still lack the citizenship, and probably the money and sponsors, I've decided to share the laughter and dreams through the written word.
Do you dream of service with a smile instead of customer service that makes you (almost) cry?
Do you long for ice cubes in your local grocery store to allow for hours of party rockin' with cold beverages?
Do you feel that if a Parisian were to say "excusez-moi" in the métro when knocking you over during the morning commute, they just might explode?
If you want change you can believe in...come join the fun bus that is Flamby vs. Cupcake.
Overly processed flan ain't got nothin' on cake and icing made with love and Southern hospitality.
Showing posts with label French politics. Show all posts
Showing posts with label French politics. Show all posts
28 May 2012
15 April 2012
Double Nationalité
The other night, as I was walking hand in hand with my Frenchy husband, we happened to be behind a group of three young Frenchmen. As we walked past the legislative house of France, we heard the following conversation:
Frenchy 1: "What's that building there?"
Frenchy 2: "It looks like the Madeleine [a church bearing similar architectural characteristics on the other side of the Seine]. Yea, I think it is the Madeleine."
Frenchy 3: "Yes, it is the Madeleine."
Hubby and I cracked up, but we were also crying inside. Here are 3 young French people walking past a building, that even if it were not marked "Assemblée Nationale" in big gold letters across the front, they should have been able to recognize it as the heart of their government's lawmaking function. I commented that it is sad that these three people have French nationality, when they don't even know certain things about their own government, yet I, and other immigrants, have to fight every day to prove that I am worthy of one day having French citizenship. I won't even go into the rocky relationship that Socialist Presidential candidate, François Hollande, has with the subjunctive. All I can say is someone needs to send him a copy of Les chevaliers du subjonctif stat.
Frenchy 1: "What's that building there?"
Frenchy 2: "It looks like the Madeleine [a church bearing similar architectural characteristics on the other side of the Seine]. Yea, I think it is the Madeleine."
Frenchy 3: "Yes, it is the Madeleine."
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| Ceci n'est pas la Madeleine... |
Hubby and I cracked up, but we were also crying inside. Here are 3 young French people walking past a building, that even if it were not marked "Assemblée Nationale" in big gold letters across the front, they should have been able to recognize it as the heart of their government's lawmaking function. I commented that it is sad that these three people have French nationality, when they don't even know certain things about their own government, yet I, and other immigrants, have to fight every day to prove that I am worthy of one day having French citizenship. I won't even go into the rocky relationship that Socialist Presidential candidate, François Hollande, has with the subjunctive. All I can say is someone needs to send him a copy of Les chevaliers du subjonctif stat.
04 December 2011
Bureaucracy is Fun!
Almost six months after getting married, I am finally going to my appointment at the Préfecture de Police. Fab and I have been racing to get all of my/our documents ready since if even just one little document is missing or not up to their standards, they will cut off my head and feed me to the sharks in the Seine make me come back in two or three months. Which isn't kosher for numerous reasons that I shan't renumerate here.
I look forward to my annual Immigration visit about as much as I look forward to a root canal.
I have been really dreading this year's immigration process because Claude Guéant's Interior Ministry is tightening up on immgration. I know that this has yet to apply to me, but it is still disconcerting. He (Guéant) hopes to reduce professional immigration by 10%, given the current economic conditions in France and its high unemployment rate. It has caused quite the scandal among the nation's student population and university administrations, since it mostly concerns those who come to France to do their studies and then try to apply for jobs afterwards. It's a xenophobic and racist policy, meant to play to those voters who might go for Marine Le Pen (France's borderline Facist political party leader) in the 2012 Presidential election. She's got a softer discourse than her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, which means she has been appealing to more people (but not by wide margins...) The Euro crisis ain't helping things either (who do people blame when unemployment is high? Immigrants). Basically, she has made Sarkozy's UMP party nervous about her performance in 2012. Few people wish to repeat the election run-off between Jacques Chirac and Jean-Marie Le Pen of 2002.
Anyhow, I'm really glad that Forest of 52 Martinis put up this video on her Twitter feed. It made me smile as well as shiver in anticipation of tomorrow. I'll share it with you for a giggle. We've all been through bureaucracy, no?
I look forward to my annual Immigration visit about as much as I look forward to a root canal.
I have been really dreading this year's immigration process because Claude Guéant's Interior Ministry is tightening up on immgration. I know that this has yet to apply to me, but it is still disconcerting. He (Guéant) hopes to reduce professional immigration by 10%, given the current economic conditions in France and its high unemployment rate. It has caused quite the scandal among the nation's student population and university administrations, since it mostly concerns those who come to France to do their studies and then try to apply for jobs afterwards. It's a xenophobic and racist policy, meant to play to those voters who might go for Marine Le Pen (France's borderline Facist political party leader) in the 2012 Presidential election. She's got a softer discourse than her father, Jean-Marie Le Pen, which means she has been appealing to more people (but not by wide margins...) The Euro crisis ain't helping things either (who do people blame when unemployment is high? Immigrants). Basically, she has made Sarkozy's UMP party nervous about her performance in 2012. Few people wish to repeat the election run-off between Jacques Chirac and Jean-Marie Le Pen of 2002.
Anyhow, I'm really glad that Forest of 52 Martinis put up this video on her Twitter feed. It made me smile as well as shiver in anticipation of tomorrow. I'll share it with you for a giggle. We've all been through bureaucracy, no?
10 September 2011
10 ans plus tard...
I heard a French news commentator the other day ask his guests if September 11th was even worth commemorating, remembering 10 years later. I'm not overly nationalistic, but his comment slightly enraged me because I found it somewhat disrespectful. And then it got me thinking...
Other than French verb conjugations, I had no idea what was going on that crisp autumn morning. I was barely awake for my 8 AM Sociology course, and during my 10 minute break period, I hadn't heard what was transpiring in my nation's economic and political capitals. I guess because no one really knew. This was a time before 24 hour news cycles and Twitter. Really even before text messages were over utilized. I listened to my French professor in a dimly lit classroom as if everything was normal.
And then I stepped outside into the sunlight.
Yet it all seemed so dark. People huddled together in Humanities Plaza, crying or just staring into the distance. I wondered if someone really famous and important had died. My cell phone, which had been on silent, had apparently been ringing like crazy. My ex-boyfriend, my mom, my dad. All had been trying to reach me. I headed to the University center and saw the collapses being repeated over and over again on the tiny TV screen. My first thoughts turned to my family, as they are mostly concentrated in the DC area. I went over to another part of campus to be with my mom. In the parking lot, I broke down and cried. A stranger walking past, paused, put his hand on my shoulder and said, "I'm sorry for your loss." I hadn't lost anyone, but I was so terribly sad for those who had.
Just like when Kennedy was shot, most Americans can describe what they were doing the day the Twin Towers fell. The day that many Americans supposedly lost their innocence. I was a freshman in college, full of excitement and aspirations. On the 11th of September 2001, my excitement turned to fear. My aspirations to doubt.
September 11 had such a profound impact on the world that it is hard to ignore. Yes, there are larger tragedies elsewhere, but when 3,000+ human lives are lost in an instant like that, when humans become weapons, and when symbols are destroyed, you can't not remember. So yes, Mr. French Commentator, it is worth commemorating. It may not be D-Day, or the day atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, but it was a huge tragedy for us. We are a nation still dealing with the scars and current realities of this attack. We need a day where we can remember how far along we've come in healing and how far we need to go.
If I had one wish, one hope for American 10 years after September 11th, it would be to remember. Remember those we have lost, on that day and in the aftermath. Remember those who are still fighting, whether in the foreign wars that came out of that tragic day or those who fight for their health every day because they risked their lives to save others. But most importantly, remember how we felt that day. Not the anger, the confusion, the fear. But rather the unity. I'll never forget watching Congress, gathering on the steps of the Capitol building, singing "God Bless America" together. Now, you could barely recognize our nation. We were resolved in the days after September 11 to be a stronger, better, cohesive nation that could rise above any national tragedy. That American brotherhood seemingly does not exist now.
You don't have to mourn with us. You don't have to commemorate or even think about this day. But show some respect for those who choose to do so.
Other than French verb conjugations, I had no idea what was going on that crisp autumn morning. I was barely awake for my 8 AM Sociology course, and during my 10 minute break period, I hadn't heard what was transpiring in my nation's economic and political capitals. I guess because no one really knew. This was a time before 24 hour news cycles and Twitter. Really even before text messages were over utilized. I listened to my French professor in a dimly lit classroom as if everything was normal.
And then I stepped outside into the sunlight.
Yet it all seemed so dark. People huddled together in Humanities Plaza, crying or just staring into the distance. I wondered if someone really famous and important had died. My cell phone, which had been on silent, had apparently been ringing like crazy. My ex-boyfriend, my mom, my dad. All had been trying to reach me. I headed to the University center and saw the collapses being repeated over and over again on the tiny TV screen. My first thoughts turned to my family, as they are mostly concentrated in the DC area. I went over to another part of campus to be with my mom. In the parking lot, I broke down and cried. A stranger walking past, paused, put his hand on my shoulder and said, "I'm sorry for your loss." I hadn't lost anyone, but I was so terribly sad for those who had.
Just like when Kennedy was shot, most Americans can describe what they were doing the day the Twin Towers fell. The day that many Americans supposedly lost their innocence. I was a freshman in college, full of excitement and aspirations. On the 11th of September 2001, my excitement turned to fear. My aspirations to doubt.
September 11 had such a profound impact on the world that it is hard to ignore. Yes, there are larger tragedies elsewhere, but when 3,000+ human lives are lost in an instant like that, when humans become weapons, and when symbols are destroyed, you can't not remember. So yes, Mr. French Commentator, it is worth commemorating. It may not be D-Day, or the day atomic bombs were dropped on Japan, but it was a huge tragedy for us. We are a nation still dealing with the scars and current realities of this attack. We need a day where we can remember how far along we've come in healing and how far we need to go.
If I had one wish, one hope for American 10 years after September 11th, it would be to remember. Remember those we have lost, on that day and in the aftermath. Remember those who are still fighting, whether in the foreign wars that came out of that tragic day or those who fight for their health every day because they risked their lives to save others. But most importantly, remember how we felt that day. Not the anger, the confusion, the fear. But rather the unity. I'll never forget watching Congress, gathering on the steps of the Capitol building, singing "God Bless America" together. Now, you could barely recognize our nation. We were resolved in the days after September 11 to be a stronger, better, cohesive nation that could rise above any national tragedy. That American brotherhood seemingly does not exist now.
You don't have to mourn with us. You don't have to commemorate or even think about this day. But show some respect for those who choose to do so.
08 September 2011
Coca-Cola vs France
Ladies and gentlemen, it's getting chilly here in France. Like the weather we're experiencing, indicating that we will soon be in autumn, the relationship between Coca-Cola and France is also becoming rather frigid.
Why?
Well, France needs some money. Growth has stagnated, like many other European nations. Public deficits are too high. The country needs to bring its spending in line to meet European standards for 2013. This isn't an easy task and is very much a balancing act. How much government spending do you cut without hurting the fragile economy and discouraging growth? Where do you increase your revenues, especially when your population might just strike at the whisper of cuts to social services?
Why not tax the companies that are making your people fat?
Why?
Well, France needs some money. Growth has stagnated, like many other European nations. Public deficits are too high. The country needs to bring its spending in line to meet European standards for 2013. This isn't an easy task and is very much a balancing act. How much government spending do you cut without hurting the fragile economy and discouraging growth? Where do you increase your revenues, especially when your population might just strike at the whisper of cuts to social services?
Why not tax the companies that are making your people fat?
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| A French passion...and now a money maker for the government? Photo: Coca-Cola France |
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