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DiAnne's Lettre de Paris
Elie Wiesel: “Peace is not a gift from God to man, but a gift from man to himself”. 
Peace
This peace monument is located near the Eiffel Tower. The glass features the word “peace” written in many of the world’s languages. The park in which the monument sits, the “field of Mars” was a training ground for the Ecole Militaire, which is reflected in the monument’s glass in this picture. Since then, the park has been the site of five world expositions, including the one in 1889 for which the tower was built.
The Original “Letter From Paris”: Janet Flanner
If I remember correctly, “Letter from Paris” was the name of the column written weekly from Paris by the American Janet Flanner. Unlike me, she had more than one week to do it, and did not have to write from a MacDonalds on the Champs Elysses on a rapidly-draining laptop! Janet Flanner (1892 - 1978) was a journalist who served as the Paris correspondent of The New Yorker magazine from 1925 until she retired in 1975. She was part of the group of American writers and artists who lived in the city between World War I and World War II. During the 20s and 30s, under the pen-name “Genêt”, she was a member of the expatriate community which included Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, E. E. Cummings, Hart Crane, Djuna Barnes, Ezra Pound, and Gertrude Stein. She introduced Americans to the work of Pablo Picasso, Georges Braque, Henri Matisse, André Gide, Jean Cocteau, and the Ballets Russes. In 1948 she was made a knight of Legion d’Honneur. Her work during World War II included pieces on Hitler’s rise (1936) and the Nuremberg trials (1945), and a series of little-known weekly radio broadcasts for the NBC Blue Network during the months following the liberation of Paris in late 1944. She covered the Suez Crisis, Soviet invasion of Hungary and strife in Algeria which led to the rise of De Gaulle.
The Modern Version: I can only tell you the following: The dollar is weak but our spirit is strong! My husband had an attack of sciatica that made him unable to sleep and he could barely walk. He consulted a physiotherapist on the advise of a friend and we will see if the American health care system will reimburse us. Many of the Americans that we have seen were at Pere La Chaise cemetery, looking for the tomb of Jim Morrison. It is still there, but the bust of his head and shoulders has been stolen and police now guard the site. Friends tell us that France has its own version of “Faux News” that comes straight out of the office, practically, of Sarkozy, who is being called “America’s New Lafayette” in some articles. He has not only been high profile in the news, and people were complaining that he “received Tom Cruise” (disliked because of his affiliation with Scientology). In addition, a tv docudrama loosely configured around the life of “Sarko” was shown, in which he saves school children from a terrorist with a bomb strapped to his body. As La Liberation wrote, “We are indeed talking too much about him. But if we abstain from doing so an important declaration or a decision that counts might escape us. … A balance needs to be struck between being totally weaned off him and overdosing. … The problem, in this system, is that Nicolas does not run a newspaper, he runs France. This tactic of omnipresence has a major defect: it allows those in power to control the public theatre as they wish. A bad decision ? A policy that doesn’t work ? No matter, dim the lights, switch to another channel ! There is only one option for the press now : … to take the remote control and hit the ‘pause’ button.”
Statue of Liberty: The Original
The Statue of “Liberty lighting the world” stands proudly at the end of the Île aux Cygnes and was inaugurated on July 4th, 1889 (the anniversary of France’s Independence Day) in the presence of the American ambassador at the time. This Parisian version is an exact reproduction, but 1/3 the size of the one in NYC. As many people are aware, the large version was built by France, then offered to the United States in 1886, in honor of the 100th anniversary of the victory against the United Kingdom in the American Revolution. For both countries, it is the universal symbol of democracy and human rights. Does the “Statue of Liberty” still have relevance in America? Before we left, we saw this article, which you may have seen as well. I don’t think that it should stop people from traveling, but it is certainly a policy of intimidation.
Agency’s Collection of Traveler Data Challengedlink to articleEllen Nakashima, The Washington Post, reports: “The US government is collecting electronic records on the travel habits of millions of Americans who fly, drive or take cruises abroad, retaining data on the persons with whom they travel or plan to stay, the personal items they carry during their journeys, and even the books that travelers have carried, according to documents obtained by a group of civil liberties advocates and statements by government officials.” In closing, I offer this quote, which I will have to think about further, on this my 9th trip here in 13 years. (I never travelled out of our continent until age 40). Travel is strange in that we do things in different orders. For instance, today I have ridden a bus to the outskirts and seen crowded tenements and then gotten onto a modern subway which went past the lavish Louvre and Champs Elysees but had armed Marines on it. I have been through the cemetery to see the graves of Mozart, Gertrude Stein, Alice B Toklas and Jim Morrison but I have not seen or heard any form of news or media (other than street ads). I will do that last, if I don’t run out of power (or buy a newspaper).
“People come to Paris to work out something, to try a dream that may very well have failed at home. They believe they can either forget themselves, or find themselves…it was these extremes I wanted to explore, margins where cultures and beliefs collide. That’s the thing about Paris: you may not be changed in the way you dreamed of, but you will certainly be altered…[Paris is] a city that is both beautiful and brutal.”— Lauren B. Davis, on The Radiant City
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Bonjour, DiAnne! Thanks for your update from Paris!
Speaking of peace, the news is buzzing regarding the inter-Korean summit in Pyongyang, which the US supports on paper, but secretly opposes (along with the Korean-American community whose opposition is more blatant). It is my belief that the South Korean "sunshine policy" will bear fruit when North Korea's Kim Jong Il dies, creating a leadership/cult vacuum in that society.
Until then, patience is the best policy. And in any case, a peace treaty in Korea will help tremendously in the entire Asia-Pacific region, and will be of help to the US as well (unless, you are a weapons maker, that is).
Bonjour DiAnne,
Comment allez-vous?
Merci pour le lettre and gros amour to Ken aussi!
Another YOu Tube vid:
Bonjour Dianne,
THank you for sharing those wonderful pictures and the stories too.
I love the picture near the Eiffel Tower. And though my eyes were immediately drawn to the Elie Wiesel story, I enjoyed hearing what you and ken have been up to.
I'm sorry to hear about his Sciatica but I hope he's more comfortable soon.
It's cool you mentioned the French Statue of Liberty just after Vic's post.
Well, DiAnne. Loved the stories and what you're doing in France. Je m'apelle woz. All of my other French phrases are already used in the posts above. Except for the poem I had to learn in French.
Il pleure dans mon coeur
Comme il pleure sur le pain
Or something. It's very sad - nah - melodramatic. So, all that education comes to naught unless you have need to use it often. Karen - your sentences were very impressive. DiAnne..... it is great to read this and know just where you were when writing. I too, hope your husband gets well enough to enjoy the time in France.
My parents were in Nice in 1979 when my father got really sick and was hospitalised. They weren't prepared to treat him unless they were paid $700 in advance. My parents were country farmers and had no idea how to speak French and my mother is a nervous wreck at the best of times.
That was in the days before instant overseas transactions could be made online. I was paying all the American Express monthly accounts but they weren't allowed to use the card either. Cash only. So, mad panic on 3 continents - France, Australia and America - to get the money to the hospital immediately. My sister was ready to jump on a plane (she lived in New Jersey at that time) and go to take care of Mum and pay for Dad.
However, my brother and I got the money there and Mum was completely over being nervous and upset by that stage because she met a young Scottish woman and a young English woman had decided to take care of her. She was having good fun! They both had fluent French.