Paris, Pittsburgh, And More

Earth Day 2021: When You Plant A Tree

2021-04-19T18:40:00.000+02:00

In April 1973, to mark the third annual Earth Day, my 13-year-old self planted a tree in front of my Pittsburgh middle school, St. Canice. Two teachers, eyeballs rolling and audibly sighing, accompanied me outside. Students watched from their classroom windows. It was over in about 10 minutes. “Ecology” was trendy, along with maxi skirts and long hair for girls as well as boys.

Nearly 50 years later, where are we? Ecology is no longer a fad, it’s a science. Humans are ruining the planet, causing climate change. The sea level is rising, glaciers are melting, species are falling into extinction. We have been irresponsible stewards of creation.

As Earth Day approaches, on 22 April, what can we do? Locked down for the most part and discouraged to mobilize, our scope of action is limited. Could we plant a tree in some way? We could learn, feel, and do. Learn about climate change. Feel the pain of vulnerable people who work in dumps or cannot escape the climate destruction of their homes. Do much more.

As an individual, I’m trying to take bolder steps. I stopped buying clothes after reading a book about the toxic fashion industry, "Fashionopolis: The Price of Fast Fashion and the Future of Clothes," by Paris-based author Dana Thomas. “Any more than you need is greed,” is what I remember the conservationist Jane Goodall saying in an appearance at the American Church in Paris in May 2014.

Beyond clothes, I’m trying to refrain from “impulse” purchases. We needed a living-room rug, so I went online to my favorite big box store. But wait a moment, I said to myself, isn’t there a greener choice? I ended up purchasing a 100% wool rug from a company that is working with suppliers (in this case Turkey) to ensure care of workers and climate.

And I joined our neighborhood composting group, where I am both getting to know my neighbors and reducing what goes into the garbage and the incinerator. It adds up! One group of 30 participants means about one ton less garbage a year, according to l’Agence Parisienne du Climat. To find a local group in Paris, search on the Internet for “composter” and your town or arrondissement. Yinzers go here: https://archive.theincline.com/2018/03/09/how-to-compost-in-pittsburgh-a-beginners-guide/

What will you do this year for Earth Day? Why don’t we examine our reflexes and instead flex for the planet? Perhaps think, feel, and do differently. Start here: https://www.earthday.org/earth-day-2021/. Pittsburghers can also go here: https://twitter.com/PghEarthDay.

Nearly 50 years later, where is that tree I planted? It stood there for at least 25 years. Today it is gone. The small patch of green where the tree stood was remodeled to become a drive-up accessible entrance to a community center. I’m not upset, however. The building now offers free preschool to children in need and houses the headquarters of the Council of Three Rivers American Indian Center.

More than 1 billion people in 192 countries now participate in Earth Day activities each year, making it the largest civic observance in the world. Why not join the party? You never know what will happen if you plant a tree.

Covid, the climate, and Christians

2021-01-02T17:59:00.005+01:00

Photo: Rose Marie Burke

(Originally published in the ACP Spire, November 2019)

The covid-19 pandemic to date has killed over 1 million people worldwide and caused immeasurable suffering. And it will continue to do so for months to come.

Meanwhile, there is a conversation about silver linings. Personally, now that I work from home, I am overjoyed to have two extra hours a day that previously went to commuting. I’ve grown closer to my spouse ‒ literally. And as you might remember, something truly amazing happened during the lockdowns early this year that lowered the COVID-19 curve. The planet began to breathe. Even in Paris, the smog lifted.

Indeed, air pollution fell so much in 2020 that it also lowered the emissions curve: According to a study by S&P Global, lower economic growth, changes in behavior, and policy combined will bring down energy-sector CO2 emissions by 27.5 gigatons ‒for the next 30 years! That’s so huge it’s hard to imagine, but just 1 gigaton is equivalent to 10,000 fully loaded US aircraft carriers.

And yet.

The world needs more than 10 times that reduction through 2050 just to meet the target set out in the Paris Agreement to limit global warming to 2 degrees Celsius, according to the study.

And yet.

It shows that society ‒ that we ‒ can do it. This period in history is a great opportunity “to build a new social contract that honors the dignity of every human being,’’ according to the World Economic Forum, which is calling this chance “The Great Reset.” Companies and countries are thinking about how to grow with more grace and less waste. The EU is launching a Green New Deal, to stimulate a rebound in environmentally friendly economic growth.

What can people of faith do? Some are already at work. The UN Environment Programme’s Faith for Earth initiative is a partnership with faith-based organizations to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals, and it recently joined forces with the Yale Forum on Religion and Ecology, a wealth of information on the topic.

The American Church in Paris could join that effort and others to hold a “Climate Sunday” service, where, as organizers say, “we learn to explore the theological and scientific basis of creation care and action on climate, to pray, and to commit to action.”

The most effective actions you can take are to live car-free, avoid airplane travel, and eat a plant-based diet, according to a 2017 study that ranked 148 individual actions on climate change according to their impact. You’ve probably heard the phrase “reduce, reuse, and recycle,” but these efforts have a moderate impact. Among low-impact activities are buying organic food and composting, but that won’t stop me!

One person can make a difference. That’s because what we do affects others. When one person makes a green decision, others follow the example. For instance, patrons at a US restaurant who were told that 30% of Americans had started eating less meat were twice as likely to order a meatless lunch, according to a study mentioned in the BBC article “Ten simple ways to act on climate change.”

These steps may not be that simple and the problem is huge, and yet, it’s important to hope. “We might feel overwhelmed by the tragedies around us, but we refuse to give up, remembering the assurance of 1 Corinthians 15:58 that our labor in the Lord is not in vain,” says theologian and environmentalist Ruth Valerio. With great hope and hearts, let’s not waste this precious opportunity during the Great Reset to rebuild a way to live that is in greater harmony with all of God’s creation.

(The photo was taken at Le Croisic, in the aftermath of storm Bella at Christmas 2020.)

Berlin: Three Scoops

2020-08-16T15:13:00.010+02:00

In a city charged with so much history, what was astounding and refreshing about Berlin was the ice cream—or in my case, the sorbet.

This lightness melts instantly and stays only as a blissful and fleeting memory, which contrasts with the weight of the German capital’s monumental and bombastic architecture, some of it intended to last for 1,000 years.

That fleeting pleasure was also an escape from a heat wave and the worry of COVID-19, which emptied the city of most tourists—except us. It wasn’t the perfect moment for a big city vacation, which we timed to see our daughter who was on the move.

While we didn’t center our trip on an afternoon ice cream break, it allowed us to skip lunch, saving time and money, and see more of the city. However, the strategy assumes a big German brunch to start the day—also to be recommended.

Here’s my top three scoops:

Chipi Chip Bombon. Warschauer Str. 12. This Italian-Argentinian-inspired cream shop uses organic hay milk to turn out ice cream such as Dulce de Leche and no milk for the pineapple and parsley sorbet. A great break after seeing the scary Stasi Museum or the delightful East Side Gallery, a stretch of The Wall painted by artists in 1989.
Jones. Goltzstraße 3. Established by an award-winning French pastry chef, Jones churns out small batches and makes its own waffle cones. The flavors are as trendy as the Schoeneberg neighborhood where the place is located, like black sesame. I choose the cucumber and tonic sorbet, which I swore was spiked with gin. Check it out on a Saturday after enjoying the outdoor market at Winterfeldplatz.
Fraulein Frost. 3 Manfred-von-Richthofen-Straße (with two other locations). The corner shop with ample outdoor seating was a local family refuge on this summer day for organic flavors like strawberry basil sorbet and peach gorgonzola ice cream. Perfect after exploring nearby Viktoriapark.

For our next get-away, we're thinking of a weeklong bike trip in France. We're drooling over the routes on this amazing website for discovering France by bike--in French, English, and other languages.

Photo: Courtesy of Jones.

Paris to Pittsburgh: The Film, The Future

2018-12-16T16:09:00.000+01:00

What a week for Paris to Pittsburghers, and honorary citizens everywhere who are working to prevent and protect against climate change.

• Last week, National Geographic aired “Paris to Pittsburgh,” about how localities in the U.S. are moving toward a green future. If you missed it, there’s still a few days to stream the movie for free on YouTube.

• Just last night, the U.S. and 200 countries agreed on the “rule book,” the next steps in the Paris Agreement on climate change.

The U.S. was there even though President Donald Trump last year said the country was pulling out of the agreement—it hasn’t done so yet. (For more on that, see last week's post here.)

In the film, Pittsburgh Mayor Bill Peduto described his doubletake in June 2017 when his phone pinged with President Trump’s news that he was elected “to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris” as his reason to exit the Paris Agreement.

The film was for me was a horrifying but also hopeful look at what Miami, Pittsburgh, and Iowa, for example, are doing to move to combat climate change. For many, going green is making common and economic sense. For Miami, though, it may be too late.

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Rose Marie Burke, an editor and journalist, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." You can also find her on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.

Paris to Pittsburgh: The Film

2018-12-09T11:27:00.001+01:00

Source: ParistoPittsburgh.com

President Donald Trump famously said in June 2017 that he was elected “to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris” as the reason why the U.S. wouldn’t agree to a world-wide deal aimed at curbing climate change called the Paris Agreement. (Read more about that here.)

That has a nice ring to it, but global warming doesn’t care whether you’re from the Steel City or the City of Light.

That’s why cities like Pittsburgh across the U.S. aren’t waiting for Washington to wake up to climate change. They have been moving toward green futures and acting to save or protect their communities from extreme weather.

Their words and work are featured in the new documentary “Paris to Pittsburgh,” to be released at 9 p.m., Wednesday, Dec. 12, in the U.S. as a National Geographic film. You can see the trailer here. Later the film will eventually make its way to Paris as well as 171 other countries.

Source: https://www.paristopittsburgh.com/

The mayor of Pittsburgh, Bill Peduto (pre-beard!), gets a lot of air time in the documentary. “There are now more jobs in renewable energy in the state of Pennsylvania than coal, natural gas and oil combined,” he states in the film, a factoid that made me take note. Who would have thought?

When I’m in Pittsburgh, as I was in October, one of my favorite places to hang out is the South Side. I enjoy taking walks along the South Side Riverfront Trail, all the way to Hot Metal Bridge, the last vestige of J&L Steel. The air is deceivingly clear.

I say deceivingly because Pittsburgh’s air quality is still one of the worst in the nation, with a major contributor being the Clairton Coke Works of U.S. Steel, which has long been in violation of air pollution rules. “The EPA ranks areas downwind … in the top 2% nationally for cancer risk from toxic air pollution,” according to the Clean Air Council. Why doesn’t the company invest and clean up the plant?

My native Pittsburgh and my adopted city of Paris both have a long way to go. Backwards is not a viable option. It’s true that Mr. Trump doesn’t represent the capital of France. But the U.S. is one of the top two polluters in the world, and when the smoke comes out of the pipe, it knows no borders.

Related post: Paris and Pittsburgh: Together Forever

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Rose Marie Burke, an editor and journalist, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." You can also find her on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.

The Grand Jury Report: Making Sense Of It All

2018-09-02T18:38:00.000+02:00

St. Canice elementary school, 3rd grade, 1942

From Pittsburgh to Paris, there’s been one awful story dominating the news and troubling my mind in the past few weeks: the Pennsylvania grand jury report showing that more than 300 "predator priests" have been credibly accused of sexually abusing more than 1,000 child victims.

Although I’ve known about these crimes for years, this time they hit home. I grew up Catholic and went to diocesan schools from 1st through 12th grade, St. Canice and Hilltop Catholic. During my four years in high school, four priests that I remember were listed in the report! That's not nothing. That's not a small problem. And the pastor was certainly involved in shuttling predators to other churches.

Our alumni have been trying to make sense of it all via our Facebook group. I wasn’t a victim, but these crimes affect me deeply as a person of faith and mom. The child victims, now adult, cry out.

What can be done to make our religious institutions for the faithful and not the fakes? Many of Hilltop’s alums say they’ve simply left the church. Or they are no longer donating. Or they try to distinguish between the church and the people. Or religion and faith.

Here’s what I think needs done. Pennsylvania lawmakers should adopt the grand jury’s recommendations, with voters and the church lending full support:

Stop shielding child sexual predators behind the criminal statute of limitations.
Let older victims sue the diocese for the damage inflicted on their lives when they were kids.
Improve the law for mandated reporting of abuse.
Fourth, adopt a law concerning confidentiality agreements that makes them illegal for crimes.

What I’m saying is do right by the victims and no more secrecy.

What can we do? What are you doing? Let me hear from you.

Here are some concrete steps suggested by David Clohessy, the former national director and spokesman for the Survivor's Network of those Abused by Priests (SNAP) in an opinion article in USA Today.

First, help expose more wrongdoers. Every single Catholic should ask every other Catholic: "Have you ever seen, suspected or suffered clergy misdeeds, crimes or cover ups?" Help the person report this to independent sources like police, prosecutors or journalists. (If you contact me, I promise to help.)
Second, set up whistleblower reward funds. Catholics (by lay people for lay people) should band together to set up funds to financially help and emotionally support those who find the courage to speak up.
Third, donate elsewhere. People in the pews should give generously, but not to their bishops. Instead, they should donate to independent non-profits that fight against child sexual abuse.

Translation: Wake up people and do something!

Lastly, I think the church needs to devote itself to its people instead of to its hierarchy. The Catholic Church should act as a beacon on the hill (Matthew 5:14) for the future of society.

The only way our institutions (church, schools, political parties, you name it) will serve the people is if we vote with our feet and leave, or work inside them for change.

Sermon over!

Rose Marie Burke, an editor and lecturer at the University of Paris 8, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." You can also find her on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.

My Best Books Of 2017

2017-12-29T13:25:00.001+01:00

My best books of 2017 are an odd bunch but they have this in common: Once I got started, I couldn't put them down.

And, oddly enough these days, only one was purchased on Amazon, which is how most books are sold in the U.S. In France, bookstores are still popular, mainly because by law books must sell at a single price--no discounting. (See the infographic at the end of this blog post and “Amazon pèse lourd sur le livre, mais moins en France qu’ailleurs.”)

Two graphic novels topped my list. “Isadora,” by Julie Birmant and Clément Oubrerie is a French biography of American dancer Isadora Duncan (1877-1927). I purchased this beautifully illustrated book at my neighborhood bookstore as a way to read more in French, and previously blogged about that here.

The other illustrated book is the inspirational “Together is Better,” by Simon Sinek. He challenges us to be leaders who watch others rise, who cheer for others and watch them grow. That one I pinched from my husband who received it as a gift.

Another one I “borrowed” was “The Power of Habit,” by Charles Duhigg. If you agree with the author, we are mostly the sum set of what we do each day, those ingrained habits from drinking several cups of coffee or not, from working out daily or not. Don't make resolutions, build habits. They stick.

I lifted "Habit" from the huddle room at work. But instead of reading it, I listened to it on Audible where I’m testing out a three-month subscription. It’s a great companion for the commute! And much more refreshing than constantly reading the news. (Note to self: take the book back to work!)

I also listened to the 1959 classic “Man’s Search for Meaning,” which people have been recommending to me for decades. After listening to it on Audible twice, I bought the physical book so that I could linger over some of the passages. Like this one:

“For the world is in a bad state, but everything will become still worse unless each of us does his best.”

In the genre of French noir, I heard about the prize-winning novel “Chanson Douce” by Leila Slimani, on French breakfast TV and was intrigued by the plot: a perfect Mary Poppins of a nanny goes rogue and kills the little darlings. I knew how it ended, but wanted to see how the author got there. Chilling.

Another chilling book was “Between the World and Me,” by the writer Ta-Nehisi Coates. It’s a love letter to his son about growing up black in the U.S. I can’t get into a black person’s skin, but I think this is the closest I can come to understanding how it must be. I bought that book at the great independent Harrisburg bookstore, Midtown Scholar.

Why do I still read books? Because fiction or nonfiction, they open up my mind into the souls of others. I'm challenging myself to read 18 books or more in 2018, inspired by Gretchen Rubin's idea to make a list of 18 things you'd like to do in the New Year.

Any recommendations? I especially could use a recommendation for a book in German. What were your best reads of 2017? What do you have on the shelf for 2018?

Source: http://www.post-gazette.com/image/2017/02/04/booksalesbig

Rose Marie Burke, an editor and lecturer at the University of Paris 8, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." You can also find her on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.

The Best Neighborhoods: Make Up Your Own Mind

2017-09-17T18:41:00.000+02:00

When Pittsburghers ask me about visiting Paris, some common questions are: What is the best neighborhood to stay in? Which are safe? Which ones should I avoid?

I usually answer that unlike U.S. cities, where the urban core is usually seen as unsafe, in Paris it’s the opposite. Here, central Paris is safe and well-protected by France’s security forces, partly of the importance of tourism. Because the city is so rich, the poor have been priced out.

You’ll notice that Paris is more multicultural than Pittsburgh, which still suffers divisions from a long legacy of redlining.* In France, mixité, loosely translated as diversity, is a national value. I’m not saying the country has reached that goal—far from it.

However, for a long time France has intentionally woven housing projects, called “social housing” here, throughout cities. In contrast, intentional redlining in the U.S. created ghettos in Pittsburgh and other cities that only deteriorated over time.

Even those Paris is through and through an amazing city, Parisians and long-time residents like me have maps in their minds of the “best neighborhoods.” When I moved to Paris, I wanted to live in the trendy Marais, but ended up in the staid 16th arrondissement, with a high concentration of pearls and poodles (so the joke goes).

What map do Pittsburghers have in their mind? See the one below by Judgmental maps, which I consider “ignorant” (rude) as Yinzers would say, but reflects what some think. My old neighborhood of Knoxville is now considered “old people and white trash.” (I told you it was rude!)

Knoxville was considered a second-tier or “blue” neighborhood according to the 1937 Residential Security Map (see below), which was the basis of redlining. Only new developments fell into the top “green” tier. My old 'hood started to develop in 1872 and its homes attracted many middle managers of the South Side steel mills as residents in the 1920s and 1930s.

Blue neighborhoods "… as a rule, are completely developed. They are like a 1935 automobile still good, but not what the people are buying today who can afford a new one,” according to the Federal Housing Administration's description of the tiers. Well that’s harsh! The guidelines then go on to comment that banks typically impose tighter mortgage terms on blue neighborhoods than green ones. Getting a mortgage in a red area, the worst, was either impossible or expensive. Geez, there was no way for a neighborhood to go, except down!

The silver lining to the long and horrible history of redlining is that housing prices in Pittsburgh have gone so far down over the decades that today the only way is up. Coming to Paris? Moving to Pittsburgh? Explore, break down the lines, make up your own mind!

*See Devin Rutan & Michael Glass (2017) The Lingering Effects of Neighborhood Appraisal: Evaluating Redlining’s Legacy in Pittsburgh, PA, The Professional Geographer.

Pittsburgh Pops Up A Parisian Dinner

2017-09-09T19:35:00.001+02:00

For the third year in a row, about 1,000 Pittsburghers on Friday dressed up in white to attend a very Parisian pop-up “white dinner” -- a Dîner en Blanc.

The idea was born in the French capital in 1988 and has become a global phenomenon, with about 70 cities holding the event.

It’s a formal version of the très Pittsburgh tailgater, a food fad that informally gathers sports fans around the end of a truck or SUV for a spread. In the 'Burg, the dress code is black and gold.

The location of the White Dinner changes each year, and is kept secret until the last moment. In Pittsburgh this year, the flash mob assembled in Highmark Stadium in Station Square, the open-air room decorated with the city’s stunning skyline. Go here for video.

While in Pittsburgh the food was catered for people who registered ahead of time, diners usually bring everything from the three-course meal, to the wine, fold-up table, tablecloths and candles.

The first event started simply enough. The Frenchman François Pasquier invited friends to an outdoor dinner in a public park in Paris, the Bois de Boulogne. With a thought to practicality rather than refinement, he asked them to dress in white so they could find each other.

These days, the event has unfortunately become more exclusive and regimented as the crowds have grown. It’s hard to get an invitation, at least in Paris, where the dinner takes place in June. Registrations for new members are closed. The only way to attend is to know someone, a member or an organizer.

It’s easier in Pittsburgh, at least for now. Go to the website https://www.dinerenblanc.com/, choose your city, and pay: $34 for the dinner and $9 for the membership fee.

Maybe because the town is home to the federal government, the event in Washington, D.C. is highly regulated. Heaven forbid your white outfit is ivory, off-white, or beige and if your white square folding table isn’t between 28 and 32 inches! See “Why do people hate Diner en Blanc? The word ‘pretentious’ keeps coming up.”

Maybe I’ll just have a little old potluck at my place. Dress code: As long as you wear something, that’s fine with me. But please take your shoes off at the door.

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Rose Marie Burke, an editor and journalist, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." You can also find her on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.

Photo: Pittsburgh's Diner en Blanc (2015). Source: Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

On Hurricane Harvey And Paddleboards

2017-09-03T17:49:00.000+02:00

I watched in horror this week as “Harvey” turned from a hurricane into one of most devastating natural catastrophes to hit the U.S. Amid all of the destruction, however, were many acts of bravery. What warmed my heart was this paddleboard rescue. To me, the boarder symbolizes neighbors helping neighbors. I was going to say it symbolized Americans helping their neighbors, but in digging into the story I found out this man is actually a Parisian and moved to Houston only last year!

As a fan of the sport, I could almost see myself out there like this Frenchman, braving the waters on dangerous missions, saving lives.

In Pittsburgh this summer, I headed down the mighty Allegheny River on a paddleboard. I wasn’t there to pull people out of the water, but to enjoy it. We explored the beaches and calm coves of Allegheny Islands State Park, just a few miles upriver of the city, thanks to SurfSUP Adventures. The rowing was tough for me as we paddled against an undertow created by a small dam. Could I really rescue a person, even a small boy, against the worst that Mother Nature could throw me? Floods do occur in Pittsburgh. Over the course of its 250-year history, the city survived 15 severe floods that put downtown under water. However, since flood controls were put into place after the Great Flood in 1926, a 1-in-500-year event, the city has had only two 100-year floods since 1942.

In Paris, we live a stone’s throw away from the Seine River on a flood plain. Last year, we feared the Big One. In June 2016, the Seine rose more than 18 feet above its normal level, but crested without threatening our apartment (see my post about that here). The river’s record high was nearly 27 feet above normal during the devastating floods of 1910. Some say that means we’re long overdue for a 1-in-100 year event, which would probably come up to our first-floor apartment—and disable of the heating and electrical equipment in the basement.

We were assured that our apartment complex was designed to withstand a 1-in-500-year flood event. By contrast, Harvey is being called a 1-in-1000 year event. I can’t imagine either happening, but happen, I’m afraid, it will. These calculations aren’t forecasts, but are statistical averages that experts develop from historical data. But the times and the weather are a’ changing.

In Pittsburgh, my paddleboard was an inflatable version, but felt solid as a rock. I hinted to my husband something about a Christmas gift. I could stow an inflatable board in my tiny place in Paris (if I clean out a few closets). It would be fun to paddle around the Seine once in a while. And who knows, one day I might need to rescue a small child—or myself.

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Rose Marie Burke, an editor and journalist, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." You can also find her on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.

The Tiny Country Between Pittsburgh And Paris: Wow!

2017-08-26T23:08:00.001+02:00

Last year I wrote about an amazing layover between Paris and Pittsburgh. Iceland, with its lava and glaciers, called us back with the beauty of its unspoiled countryside and nearly alien landscape. Would we be able to afford it?

We did, partly thanks to Iceland’s new budget airline, Wow! (The exclamation point is part of the name.) We put the $1,800 we saved on our usual round trip toward five days in the country.
Like all budget airlines, Wow! can kill you with fees. We saved gobs of money because we opted out of carry-on bags, assigned seats, and food. We flew on the cheapest dates. We did spring for one checked bag—with a strict 44-pound weight limit—per person.

Warning: No free pretzels or drinks, or in-flight entertainment. It was actually a blessing! Our nearly full flights were eerily quiet. No flight attendants constantly walking the aisles. A good many people like me dozing instead of binging on movies in a zombie-like state.

The real wow factor is the country of Iceland itself! (This time, a real exclamation point.) This year we decided to book two tours to the furthest possible points doable in one day.

The first was a four-hour hike in the highlands of Landmannalaugar (see photo above), where we saw one of the world’s few “rainbow mountains.” The night before, we purchased gloves and leggings in Reykavik as there was a chill in the air. Hearing the weather report on the bus to the mountains, we added wool hats to our wardrobe on a pit stop. While we enjoyed nearly 90 degree F. weather in Paris, it was 32 degrees on the mountain with the wind chill. But it could have been much worse. Hikes like ours are regularly shortened by body-drenching Arctic rain and gale-force winds (waterproof jackets and boots are a must). Instead, we had sun and clear views from the mountaintop. We were lucky, as more than one Icelander told us.

Craggy cliffs in Snaefellsnes

The second tour was to the Snaefellsnes Peninsula, scattered with fishing villages, rugged cliffs, glaciers, and lava fields. It was like the west coast of Ireland, though with sparse vegetation. My favorite stop was to Djúpalónssandur beach, featuring the untouched remains of a 1948 shipwreck—a memorial to the people who lost their lives there.

This is just one small example of what is amazing about Iceland: the people’s respect for nature, history, and of course, the weather. Streams in the outback that still boast drinkable water. Stretches of highway, beach, and countryside with no litter. Nature unruined by the erosion of animals or human activity.

Wow!

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Rose Marie Burke, an editor and journalist, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." You can also find her on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.

By the way, Iceland's heated outdoor public pools, featuring hot tubs, are a great inexpensive way to soak the feet tired from hiking or site-seeing. Before or after a cinnamon bun from Bread & Co. at the new Hlemmur food hall.

Part of a mural at Keflavik airport

Presidential Encounters

2017-07-14T12:02:00.000+02:00

Yesterday I came this close to seeing U.S. President Donald Trump, here in Paris for Bastille Day, and French President Emmanuel Macron.

It wasn’t intentional. I was having my own presidential moment in a café in central Paris near Galeries Lafayette. You see, I was just elected president of my Toastmasters club, Paris Speech Masters, and I was meeting the past president for a formal transition of power. This amounted to handing over the club banner, and chatting about life as president over a drink and dinner.

Seriously, I’m proud to preside over the club, which boasts two International Speech Contest finalists. I definitely want to keep the bar high!

On my way to the meeting, I noticed a huge national police presence near the Eiffel Tower, but all was relaxed for the moment. The officers, in their vans, were being served hot dinner trays, airplane style. Baguettes graced the dashboards. They folded down their seat-back tray tables, spread napkins on their laps, and ate with cutlery. The only thing I didn’t see was the wine.

On the way back from my meeting, banner in hand, the police had long finished dinner. They were mobilized around the Eiffel Tower, their vans blocking all but two lanes of traffic to slow and check vehicles. It was an impressive show of force.

Source: AFP.

The reason? Up high in the Eiffel Tower, the two presidents and their wives were having dinner in the Jules Verne restaurant, one of France’s finest. I imagine that Trump and Macron, over drinks and dinner, were trading notes about their first months in office and life as president.

Photo above: Source: The Independent.

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Rose Marie Burke, an editor and journalist, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." You can also find her on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.

Radio Days In Pittsburgh And Paris

2017-07-01T15:15:00.005+02:00

Mired in a tedious task yesterday at work, I reached for some music therapy through my headphones. Via the internet, I usually tap into my favorite French station, but why not take a trip back home?

I tuned into Pittsburgh-based WYEP just in time for an unusual show, “Pairings with Chef Fuller.” On the sound platter was Son Little’s latest song, “Blue Magic (Waikiki).” The chef suggested, of all things, a frozen daiquiri. But hold the umbrella and blue curacao! Instead go for a mix of better white and golden rums. The cocktail definitely captured the '70s surfside vibe of the song. I was started to sway and develop quite a thirst, though Son's smooth style isn't my natural inclination. (For the amazing food pairings, why not listen to the rest of the episode yourself?)

What’s great about 'YEP (Yinzers say "why-e-pee") is that it’s independent radio. You won't hear the top 40 or commercials. You’ll hear a lot of alternative music from newer local and regional bands, as well as slightly better-known musicians like Little, an R&B-inspired “son” of Philadelphia. (I’m not sure how Son picked his name, but the word means “sound” in French. His birth name is Aaron Livingston.)

My husband has pulled many an all-nighter with WYEP in his ear, and counts as a contributor. Yes, listener-supported means the station is funded by its “members,” people like you and me. What's nice is the community that WYEP aims to create, going beyond programming to stage concerts and other events as well in its South Side studio.

In Paris, we listen to FIP, a similarly eclectic station, which was my mommy therapy of choice while raising my daughter. The three letters used to mean France Inter Paris, but now the station just goes by the acroymn. It's pronounced feep--like jeep. For the month of July the station is featuring Fredda, Babx, J. Bernardt, Charlie Parker, Dan Auerbach, The Rhum Runners, et Quantic. (Should I admit to knowing only one of those musicians?)

FIP is a public station, which in France means that is entirely funded by our French tax dollars. Every year we pay an audio-visual tax of about $150, which goes to a number of TV and radio stations. We think it's a small price to pay to avoid those annoying commercials. (Imagine watching a 90-minute movie in--90 minutes!) FIP is part of the Radio France group that also has its own orchestras and offers a full calendar of concerts. When my daughter was a child, we would walk down to the gargantuan Radio France building for low-cost classical family concerts on Saturday mornings.

In these days of Apple iTunes, what it is about radio? I definitely use it to set a mood and escape the mundane. I want the songs to surprise and come to me—but also to take me elsewhere. To Pittsburgh and Waikiki, for instance.

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Rose Marie Burke, an editor and journalist, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." You can also find her on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.

Bonus: Speaking of rum, see this boozy review of Pittsburgh’s craft cocktail scene; “Whiskey: Pittsburgh’s Fourth River.” You’re bound to find the right rum for your frozen daiquiri.

Photo credit: Classic frozen Daiquiri; Copyright: Ogione | Dreamstime.com

Source: http://www.electronicdesign.com/blog/future-am-radio

Homes For $100,000 In Pittsburgh And Paris

2017-06-24T12:34:00.001+02:00

A $100,000 home
in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Beechview.

The other day, I got sucked into an article about “What $100,000 Will Buy You In Pittsburgh.” Even though I’m happy in my apartment here in Paris, I often dream about moving back “home.”

I think about cashing in my chips, taking my little pot of gold, and settling into a cozy home in that place that’s neither south, west, east, or north in the U.S.--but somewhere over the rainbow.

It’s amazing what 100 grand will buy in the ‘Burg. You’ll find decent homes in solid neighborhoods like Observatory Hill, Bellevue, Troy Hill, and Beechview.

These homes are no exceptions. The median price of a home in the Pittsburgh region is $130,000, compared with a national average of $235,000.

Who knows how long house prices will remain so affordable in Pittsburgh, highly ranked for livability for many years, which is one reason it's attracting millenials. One of my favorite neighborhoods, Brookline, saw the highest increase in home prices last year at 8%.

Here's a 7th floor chambre de bonne.
Includes kitchenette, shower, but no elevator.
Toilet? Unclear. Sometimes that’s down the hall.
Sale price: 89,000 euros or about $100,000.

What will $100,000 buy in the Paris area?

French property consultant Adrian Leeds, whose work has been featured on House Hunters International, says this: “There is NOTHING in Paris for 100K except a chambre de bonne,” or a tiny maid’s room at the top of an apartment building.

“Change that to 500K,” Adrian says, “and then we can talk.”

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Rose Marie Burke, an editor and journalist, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." You can also find her on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.

High School Graduation in France: Not for Party Animals

2017-06-17T17:31:00.001+02:00

Forty years ago this summer I graduated from high school in Pittsburgh, and soon my daughter will do the same in Paris. My senior year ended with a cap-and-gown graduation ceremony (involving a small scandal, read more on that below), parties galore, a class ring, yearbook, high school photos, cards and gifts.

Here in Paris, rien. Nothing.

Instead, the end to high school is marked by the grueling baccalaureate exam for seniors—or “the bac” for short. It’s a marathon of over 10 tests that span two weeks in June, with a few starting in junior year. They consist of written, oral, and practical exams—like lab work or middle-distance sprints for sports.

Exam week officially began Thursday at 8 a.m. Paris time with the infamous four-hour philosophy test, featuring surprise questions. Picture over 700,000 students all over the world sitting with their ink pens and paper at the ready. They open their exam books to choose a question like this: To fight for your rights, is that the same as fighting for your interests? Can people free themselves from their culture ? Explain this text from Foucault : Ultimately, life means being capable of error. …

Class of 2017, anywhere in France

When the exam started my husband—like so many parents here—went online to see the questions, and texted them to me. Newscasts feature students preparing for the exam and interviewing them as they finish. It’s a national event.

Class of 1977, somewhere in Pittsburgh

And it’s a national debate. The bac is a big machine costing taxpayers €1.5 billion a year. The school year for other middle and high schoolers is cut short as teachers are requisitioned to staff the bac. Some teachers specialize in writing the exams, of which there are dozens of variations. There are over 4,000 test centers and 4 million tests to be corrected, by hand!

Seniors focus on the bac to the exclusion of all else. No extracurricular activities, internships, or part-time jobs. At my daughter’s school the yearbook was produced by the juniors, to free up the seniors. Parents hunker down with their children to keep them well fed. There’s no going away for the weekend or on vacation after December.

The new French president wants to trim the bac down to size—to about four exams, with classwork counting toward the degree for the most part. That sounds reasonable, but is a matter of debate. Meanwhile, the parents in my daughter’s class, most of them foreigners like me, have organized a party for our children.

As for the scandal involving my class of '77, we picked “Freebird” by rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd for our class song. It was a bit too much metal for the nuns at our Catholic school. We were banned from playing it during the mass celebrating our graduation. Did we truly think we'd get away with it? You have to admit that the lyrics are rather sweet:

If I leave here tomorrow
Would you still remember me?
For I must be traveling on, now
'Cause there's too many places I've got to see …

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Rose Marie Burke, an editor and journalist, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." You can also find her on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.

Paris And Pittsburgh: Together Forever

2017-06-10T12:13:00.001+02:00

It’s been a whirlwind political romance for the mayors of Pittsburgh and Paris over the past week. They're getting a lot of "kilometers" out of U.S. President Trump’s line, “I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh not Paris,” in announcing an American pullout of the Paris Agreement on climate change (go here for more details).

The mayors both evoked the beauty of their cities, both nestled on riverbanks connected by bridges old and new, in a joint opinion article in the New York Times. Both cities have reclaimed their waterfronts, transforming them into parks and transferring traffic out of the city core. Pittsburgh has its Gothic Cathedral of Learning and Paris has the Eiffel Tower, built of iron, the metal that made Pittsburgh famous.

While Ann Hidalgo isn’t the mayor of Pittsburgh and Bill Peduto isn’t the mayor of Paris – and it’s humorous to picture them swapping cities – they say they’re doing right by Pittsburghers and Parisians to abide by the Paris Agreement. Why? Because it will ensure the future health and prosperity of both of their cities.

The motto of Paris is “fluctuat nec mergitur,” tossed by the waves but never sunk. That could be Pittsburgh’s motto too. One city was nearly destroyed by war, and the other by industrial collapse. But visionary leaders led the way to new futures. Let’s hope these fair cities are never sunk by the rising tides of climate change.

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Rose Marie Burke, an editor and journalist, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." You can also find her on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.

Bonus:
For the full size of the cartoon above, go to: http://timestribuneblogs.com/john-cole/from-paris-to-pittsburgh/

Trump's Speech: Paris Loves Pittsburgh, And The Feeling Is Mutual

2017-06-03T15:28:00.000+02:00

A protestor holds a sign in Berlin (Source: EPA)

World leaders don’t usually mention the words Pittsburgh and Paris in the same breath. But President Trump did that twice in a major speech on Thursday, in announcing a pullout from the Paris climate agreement.

Mr. Trump wanted to show how unconnected Pittsburgh is from Paris. How far they are from one another in physical and political distance. He was trying to “pitt” old-fashioned images of a working-class industrial city against those of a glitzy foreign capital.

I believe my two hometowns have a lot in common—starting with the air we breathe.

“I was elected to represent the citizens of Pittsburgh, not Paris.”
Mr. Trump’s first reference to Pittsburgh has a nice ring to it, but the mayor of Pittsburgh represents its citizens too—and was none too pleased about the speech. Mayor Bill Peduto reacted with his own executive order for Pittsburgh to remain committed to reducing emissions. What’s more, he’s using the media interest that the speech stirred up to dispel old stereotypes: The city of blast furnaces is now a center for robot technology, and the main employers are now health care providers and higher education.

Among those reaching out to the Pittsburgh mayor was the maire of Paris, with a friendly video Tweet, thick French accent and all.

Hi @BillPeduto, #Paris has a message for you and to all the people of #Pittsburgh. #FromParisWithLove #ParisAgreement #Trump pic.twitter.com/GORaseJ40G
— Anne Hidalgo (@Anne_Hidalgo) June 2, 2017

“It is time to put Youngstown, Ohio, Detroit, Michigan, and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, along with many, many other locations within our great country, before Paris, France."
Again, Mr. Trump is giving us a false either/or proposition. The point of the Paris climate agreement is that each country does its part to lower carbon emissions.

What's strange about what Mr. Trump said is that the U.S. scored wins on the way to the Paris agreement, after waffling about climate commitments in the past because it deemed them unfair. So what exactly isn’t fair Mr. Trump? (Read one fact check of Mr. Trump’s speech here.)

I grew up in the Smokey City and worked in the steel mills. The pollution has taken its toll on my family’s health in the form of lung cancer, emphysema, and asthma. I wouldn’t wish the Pittsburgh past for any city’s future.

What Paris and Pittsburgh need and want are clean jobs at living wages, powered by renewable energy--and the jobs that they in turn create. What’s encouraging is that with or without Mr. Trump, the two cities will be working together to stay on that path.

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Rose Marie Burke, an editor and journalist, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." You can also find her on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.

Bonus cartoon fro the The New Yorker magazine by Kim Warp with the caption, "We'll always have Pittsburgh":

http://www.newyorker.com/cartoons/daily-cartoon/friday-june-2nd-pittsburgh-trump-climate-casablanca

Love Locks or Love Litter?

2017-05-27T23:02:00.000+02:00

Source: AP

The City of Paris just auctioned off about a ton of scrap metal, raising $250,000 for charity.

This was no ordinary junk heap, but 165 parcels of “love locks” that the City of Love stripped from the Pont des Arts in 2015. (See the video here.)

The heavy metal, some 50 tons of it, threatened to ruin the Arts Bridge, a Unesco World Heritage site. City officials worried that lock-laden sheets of the bridge would fall onto the heads of tourists below on the bateaux mouches. That would have been a new kind of guillotine, for which France is also famous.

The love lock auction in Paris

It was a cruel fate for these symbols of eternal love to disappear before they had even had a chance to rust. The auction, however, was a twist of fate, a second life for some of the locks. The city, previously seen as heartless for tearing them down, received hearty publicity for the selling them off in an art-style sale.

The love-lock trend started about a decade ago, but has become a global phenomenon and metallurgical dilemma. Locks are found on the Brooklyn Bridge, the Great Wall of China, near the Millennium Bridge in London and on bridges in Stockholm.

Love locks have even made it to my hometown of Pittsburgh. The city takes a no-nonsense approach, routinely chopping off the locks as it carries out work on its bridges (see a story here).

How did it start? No one knows for sure. But in fact throughout history, it was common for travelers who visited ancient sites—like the Pyramids--to leave their mark. With graffiti.

More often than not today, tourists want to take something, which has led to the whole souvenir industry—itself a French word for memory or remembrance.

Tourists are still leaving locks around Paris, for example at the Flame of Liberty at the end of the Pont de l’Alma. The weight of the metal threatens to ruin that monument too. The whole thing is making some people so love-lock-sick that they’ve formed an association: No Love Locks.

OK, I get it. Hanging tons of locks from historic sites isn’t exactly sustainable tourism. But, City of Paris, why not channel this romantic energy in the City of Locks by building a monument where tourists are officially encouraged to attest to their love?

Turn Love Litter into Love Art.

Who knows, if locks are recyclable, and recycled once a year through an auction, the whole project could even pay for itself (and then some). Love Locks Forever!

The annual take-down of the locks isn’t so very romantic, but as we know the bits of metal do tend to get rusty if exposed to harsh conditions for too long. A lot like love.

How To Say "Merci" To Mom

2017-05-14T16:55:00.002+02:00

Whether you’re in France or the U.S., it’s that time of year again to give thanks to the mom of your life. Over 100 years into the holiday, is it time to think more universally about what it is to be a mother?

Mother’s Day is celebrated today in the U.S. and in most countries of the world. In France, where it’s known as fête des mères, it’s the last Sunday of the month.

The founder of Mother’s Day in the U.S. would be upset with the French version, which is Mothers’ Day in translation. (If you missed the difference, one is a singular “mother” with an apostrophe “s” and the other is a plural “mothers” with an apostrophe. End of grammar lesson!) That’s because Anna Jarvis, who started the commemoration in 1908, wanted us to celebrate our personal “mother,” not “mothers” or motherhood in general.

A typical pasta necklace.
Source: Atout.org

Ms. Jarvis came to hate the commercialism of the day. Instead of buying flowers or presents, in her view people should honor their mothers with a handwritten letter. I personally like to be taken out to dinner, but I’m open to cleaning, laundry, and window-washing too!

In France, according to French blogger Clotilde Dusoulier, “children usually craft some kind of project at school for their maman — most iconically, un collier de pâtes, a necklace made of dried pasta — and graduate to buying her flowers, chocolates, or beauty products when they are older.” Hmm. Somehow my teenage daughter hasn’t yet graduated out of the dried pasta stage.

Sorry Ms. Jarvis, I see nothing wrong about using the holiday to reflect on what motherhood means in this day and age.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette today is running a story about Christie Pham, who lost her mom at 17, and now commemorates Mother’s Day by performing random acts of kindness.

Source: Pinterest.

In “The Birth of The Mother,” The New York Times today published an article by Dr. Alexandra Sacks saying that the becoming a mother in medical terms is largely unexplored territory, and argues for greater understanding of post-partum depression, and other psychological issues that grip women.

That’s not to deflate the role of fathers or grandparents, or aunt and uncles—teachers too--who may not have children but devote countless hours to child care. Now that’s the way to build a “maternal" instinct. Happy Mother’s Day to you too!

Believe it or not, it’s become trendy to affectionately tag these people as “moms” on social media. If a handwritten note is not going to happen, why not log on and reach out each #mom or #mere in your life to say thank you.

Rose Marie Burke, an editor and journalist, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After many years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." Want to follow this blog? Enter your email address into the “Follow me” box. Or find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.

New President, New Era?

2017-05-08T15:16:00.001+02:00

Macron supporter at last night's celebration in Paris.
Source: AP, Francois Mori.

Last night we hunkered down in front of the TV set at 7:45 p.m. in anticipation of the historic moment. At 8 p.m. sharp, the polls were going to close in France, and the name of the new president was going to be announced. (Until then, the country imposes a media blackout.)

I felt a hush fall over France as the countdown proceeded: 3 … 2 … 1 …

It was like watching the countdown on New Year’s Eve, or a countdown to blast-off. Would this be the beginning of an era? Or a countdown to catastrophe? I wedged myself on the sofa between my daughter and husband for moral and physical support.

And then the winner was announced: Emmanuel Macron. The 39-year-old leader of the brand-new party, En Marche!, won by a wide margin with 66% of the votes against the National Front’s Marine Le Pen. However, Macron was weak in rust-belt areas of France like Pittsburgh that have suffered from the decline of manufacturing. And a high number of voters didn't cast their ballots.

For us, as foreigners here in France, it was a relief. For me, who works in the world of finance, it was a relief. And for those who believe that the European Union is (generally) a good thing, it was a relief.

But it won’t be easy for the new president, who takes office in a few weeks. Macron has to build a cabinet and start campaigning for legislative elections. It’s uncertain whether the French people will give him a strong mandate to govern by electing En Marche! representatives.

Macron posters
in our neighborhood

I frankly don’t know much about Macron, but most people don't. He's new to the game and didn’t have much chance to win until the top candidate on the right became tainted by scandal. (Because Macron is so young, he doesn’t yet have a political past!) He’s by all accounts smart, reasonable, and likeable. Just a few days ago, one of his campaign workers handed me his program, a 32-page booklet of campaign promises. Many of them seem, again, reasonable. (By the way, all serious French candidates publish a “programme.” Good idea, U.S.!)

Regarding education, one area where I feel half-way competent to comment, Macron promises access to special needs assistants in schools to all children who need them, which is sorely needed. This in a country where special education is rare and where the educational system is in general denial about special needs. France is definitely behind the U.S. here, which made education a right for special needs children in 1975.

What I like most about Macron is his optimism and genuine love of France. It’s so refreshing in this great country that’s often mired in negativism.

With the election of Macron, I’m hoping that France will enter a new era of economic growth that lifts all boats. And I hope that last night’s blast-off won’t end in catastrophic failure but instead show the country new horizons.

Rose Marie Burke, an editor and journalist, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." Want to follow this blog? Enter your email address into the “Follow me” box. Or find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.

Ça Alors! Learning French Through Comic Books

2017-04-30T22:32:00.000+02:00

I’m always on the lookout for a good book to read in French, but it can’t be too hard, too easy – just right s’il vous plait. And it’s even better if it’s actually interesting and fun, which makes finding the right book nearly an impossible task.

At my local French book store, I gravitated to a new section: a large table featuring comic books, or more correctly, ”graphic novels.”

I was lingering over two biographies about American dancer Isadora Duncan (1877-1927). I had just seen the biopic “The Dancer,” about the life of dancer Loie Fuller, who at one point hires Duncan. And I just saw the miniseries “Zelda,” about the wife of F. Scott Fitzgerald, who knew the dancer. Bios about women and the 1920s were in the air.

So I picked up “Isadora,” by Julie Birmant and Clément Oubrerie (2017). Little did I know was how daring and unconventional this dancer was. She was enamored with ancient Greece, and danced in bare feet and a flowing tunic, improvising her way through music by the likes of Wagner and Stravinsky.

Isadora and later her students often went on tour—including
to Pittsburgh on Dec. 18, 1918, invited by The Art Society of Pittsburgh. In 1921, her leftist sympathies took her to the Soviet Union where she founded a school in Moscow, but the government did not support her work as promised. She died as dramatically as she lived, when in 1927 her long flowing scarf became entangled in the wheel of a sports car in the south of France. She is buried in Paris at the Père Lachaise cemetery.

Graphic novels have become seriously popular in France. Starting in the 2000s, nearly every big French publisher started a line of literary comic books. But then this is a country with a long history in quality hardback comic books such as “Babar” and “Tintin.”

What I liked about reading “Isadora” is that much of the writing is dialog, which is one of my weaknesses. How people speak in France is much different than how they write. Comic books are definitely an enjoyable way to learn some phrases I hear in conversation. And now trendy as well. Ça alors! (Well how about that?) One of the many very useful phrases to be found in a French comic book!

Rose Marie Burke, an editor and journalist, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." Want to follow this blog? Enter your email address into the “Follow me” box. Or find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.

Paris-Pittsburgh People: Michael Keaton

2017-04-22T18:35:00.000+02:00

Michael Keaton in "Birdman"

I recently saw the movie star Michael Keaton – and native Pittsburgher – here in Paris, at the impressive new Paris Philharmonic concert hall.

Keaton was there, figuratively speaking, in a showing of the Oscar-winning film “Birdman” (2014) accompanied by live music. My daughter organized the evening, and I went along without knowing a thing about what I was going to see.

As I exited the nearby Métro, my eyes were stunned as the expansive site unfolded into view. It was more like going to a stadium, the size of PNC Park in Pittsburgh, than to a concert venue.

The new Philharmonic hall in Paris

Inside, I had expected a full symphonic orchestra, but all I saw on stage was a drum kit. My expectations sunk.

The drummer, Antonio Sanchez, dressed in jeans and a T-shirt, told us his story and how he got involved in Birdman. The five-time Grammy Award winner who has worked with Chick Corea and was part of the Pat Metheny group happened to bump into Birdman director Alejandro González Iñárritu.

This was no ordinary drummer, but perhaps the world’s greatest living jazz musician. He was touring the world playing in concert with the film. The drums took us inside Birdman’s disturbed mind as he moved around the backstage maze that was the setting for most of the movie.

Drummer Antonio Sanchez

Although Michael Keaton didn’t win one of the Oscars, I think he should have (but won many other awards). He played an aging movie star known for his superhero films, longing to be taken seriously as a stage actor. Eerily, Keaton himself is an aging movie star perhaps best known for “Batman.” (1989)

Keaton is also a hometown acting hero as well. He first appeared on TV in several episodes of "Mister Rogers' Neighborhood" (1968). Keaton also worked as an actor in Pittsburgh theatre; he played the role of Rick in the Pittsburgh premiere of David Rabe's "Sticks and Bones" with the Pittsburgh Poor Players. Keaton is reportedly an avid Pittsburgh Pirates fan, and has been seen at seen at Steelers and Pirates games as well, but these days called Montana home. (Thanks Wikipedia!)

Michael Keaton, I hope to see you again in Paris, or perhaps at a game in Pittsburgh? For real?

Rose Marie Burke, an editor and journalist, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." Want to follow this blog? Enter your email address into the “Follow me” box. Or find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.

My “Secret” French Recipe For Chocolate Cake

2017-02-24T21:03:00.000+01:00

Source: Seasaltwithfood.com

Stashed in my suitcase en route to Pittsburgh this week was a tattered and torn French recipe for what I think is the world’s best chocolate cake. And it’s so easy.

The dense layer, somewhere between brownie and lava cake, is called a “Reine de Saba” or a “Queen of Sheba” cake.

The recipe came my way via Eve Bark (merci!), at an orientation session to life in Paris called Bloom Where You're Planted. She not only gave us the recipe, but baked enough cake to give everyone in the audience a bite. Oh la la!

If this cake was any clue, life in Paris was going to be sweet.

For the longest time, I thought the cake was Eve’s invention and my personal secret weapon for dessert, even as France fell in love with le brownie, le muffin, and most recently, le cupcake.

Finally, I thought, I’ll bring this recipe to Pittsburgh – to America!

But in converting the recipe to U.S. measures and in Goggling around this past week, I realized that SOMEONE ELSE brought the Queen of Sheba to America a long time ago.

Julia Child in 1961.

She beat me by 56 years!

Julia included the cake in her book, “Mastering the Art of French Cooking.” And she featured it on her TV show "The French Chef." See the vintage video here.

You’ll also see the cake in the film “Julie & Julia,” about Julia Child’s foodie experience in Paris, and Julie’s experience following in the master’s foodsteps, er, footsteps.

Respectfully speaking, Julia’s cake complicates things. You really don’t need the rum and almond extract, or the chocolate-butter frosting, or the slivered almonds decorating the whole thing.

The cake itself is amazing, and if you must, a dusting of powdered sugar or vanilla ice cream will do the trick. It doesn’t have to be difficult. Eve’s variation, and my variation on hers, is a one-bowl one-layer wonder. So here we go. Done the apron, and get to work:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and flour one 8-inch or 9-inch cake pan. In a large microwavable bowl, melt 4 ounces of dark chocolate (or semi-sweet chocolate chips) in a microwave on medium power. Whisk in 1 stick of butter (or margarine or canola oil), 2/3 cup plus one tablespoon of sugar, three eggs, one-third cup almonds ground in a food processor, and ½ cup flour. Bake only 20 minutes for a 9-inch cake or 30 min for an 8-inch cake--until barely done. Cool for 10 minutes. Eat warm.

Bon Appetit!

The United States Of Pittsburgh?

2017-02-11T16:00:00.000+01:00

Source: http://www.unitedstatesofpittsburgh.com/about/

In a week I’ll be flying home to my native Pittsburgh for a week’s visit. Take me home city roads! They say you can never truly go home again, but I'll try.

Tens of thousands of us Pittsburghers left home in the 1980s, mostly for job reasons in what's called the Pittsburgh diaspora. It’s an almost biblical story of exodus.

One measure of the sheer size of this migration is the reach of The Pittsburgh Steelers. Via SteelerNation, the city is known to have the broadest fan-base of any football team in the U.S. That aside, the Internet and social media have made it easier for ex-yinzers to keep in touch.

Apart from seeing family, of course, I hope to check out some new sites. I especially want to see places with Paris-Pittsburgh connections. Like the birthplace of writer Gertrude Stein, who lived in Paris and cultivated artists like Picasso. And the birthplace of Mary Cassatt, the American Impressionist painter who joined a circle of artists in Paris including the Manets and Berthe Morisot.

I’m also curious to see the up-and-coming neighborhood of Allentown, which was spiraling down when I was growing up. My high school, Hilltop Catholic, now closed, had one of its buildings there. Allentown is also home to magnificent St. George church, recently closed as well.

My favorite neighborhood is under-rated Brookline, just a walk from my parent’s place. There I find authentic and amazing donuts for breakfast, Greek sandwiches for lunch, and Mexican sidewalk tacos for dinner. In between bites, I like to stop at the Carnegie Library branch to grab a book or a DVD.

The good news is that the exodus of of Pittsburgh has stopped. The city’s vibrant culture and affordability is attracting millennials, a new generation of workers who are digging in. The Lost Generation of natives that left Pittsburgh can never go home again to exactly the place we remember, but perhaps to a better place, which has become less blue and more white around the collar.

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Rose Marie Burke, an editor and journalist, writes a blog, http://parispittsburghandmore.blogspot.fr/, about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." You can also find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.

Best Books Of The Year

2017-02-01T21:47:00.000+01:00

Let’s skip the nominations and just roll out the red carpet for PPM’s best books of the year. All of these books have either a Paris or a Pittsburgh connection—and sometimes both. If there’s a theme running through the selections, it’s about overcoming difficulties as society changes.

PPM's Best Books of the Year!

1. “Hillbilly Elegy,” by J.D. Vance (2016). For insight into the working class “culture in crisis,” this memoir brings it home. It also hit home for me. Vance’s grandmother left Kentucky for better times in Ohio, but the times they were a changin'. Despite chaos at home that nearly ruined him, with his grandmother’s help, Vance became a Marine and went on to graduate from Yale Law School.

2. “Baker Towers,” by Jennifer Haigh (2005). The author, born in Barnesboro, a coal town 85 miles northeast of Pittsburgh, goes back in time to imagine what it must have been like to live in such a town in the 1940s through the 1960s. In Haigh’s book, men have more opportunities than women than the coal mine and the dress factory.

3. “The Paris of Appalachia,” by Brian O’Neill (2009). This Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist writes lovingly about what’s great about Pittsburgh, and what’s terribly wrong. The people are friendly, housing is affordable and commutes fairly short, and there are sports galore. But the city has been strangled from growing into a functional and modern metro area.

4. In the category of best foreign-language book, the award goes to “Berthe Morisot,” by Dominique Bona, a portrait of the French Impressionist painter (1841-1895) who struggled with Manet, Degas, Monet, and Renoir in Paris to develop a new way of painting and seeing. Where’s the Pittsburgh connection? One of Morisot’s friends in Paris was the Pittsburgh-born painter Mary Cassatt.

What are your favorite books of the year?

Rose Marie Burke, an editor and journalist, writes a blog about her personal insights into life in Paris. After 20 years in the City of Light, she still calls her native Pittsburgh "home." Want to follow this blog? Enter your email address into the “Follow me” box. Or find me on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Google+.