Paris will always be Paris

 

Here I am in Paris in happier times--back in 2016 when I was writing my French books and leading tours to my beloved city. None of us could have imagined that ten years later the city would be under attack from within (and perhaps without). 

But, I am not going to analyze the reason why we have come this moment in history. I am not going to explain how the schools are underfunded, why the classrooms are shabby and the teachers are leaving. I am certainly not going to explain the politics or the economic factors that have gone into the mix. However, I will refer you to my wonderful writer friend Harriet Welty Rochefort. She's married to a Frenchman and has lived in Paris for many decades.

https://harrietinparis.substack.com/

 

Here's what I believe--Paris will always be Paris.

In tumult and in peace.

In fact, this recent tumult in the City of Light is not such a new thing. I feel this profoundly because I am currently deep in the trenches of a novel about the Paris manifestations of May 1968. Okay, not so deep in the trenches--more like digging my way out of the trenches, cleaning up the mess from eight years of work, putting away the barricades, hosing down the streets--and sadly leaving the scene of the adventure behind me. Sad, because I'm not quite sure what the future will bring. My husband constantly reminds me that I am dragging my feet and I need to get moving because according to him: history is on my side! My story of the May 68 demonstrations, the fires, the cry for change, the romance, the music and art and the barricades--well, it must get out there in the world!

 

Obviously, I have mixed feelings about this. In fact, sometimes in my hubris, I imagine that my novel brought us to this moment where French students have taken to the streets. I conjured it up all by spending so many hours hunched over the keyboard with my wild story. 

 

Crazy, right?

 

And yet, if you ask any writer about the phenomenon of writing something from your own imagination--and then waking up one day to find that it’s actually come true--they will agree that yes, it happens all the time.

 

That's the magic and mystery of making art.

 

Creative Friends--you are an alchemist. You hold the power to take any  moment in history and transform it into something inspiring, surprising and breathtakingly beautiful. 

 

Now, be brave and go forth.

 

Love,

Jamie