Contraception in France, where the Pill is Queen, and the Condom King
Books tell us how the idealized Parisienne dresses, what she eats, where she strolls, how she flirts and how she raises her children. But they fail to follow our perfect pouty-lipped Parisienne to her doctor’s office, where she discusses birth control and STDs, or to the boutique in the 11th arrondissement where she shops for condoms.
Accessible Paris: An Interview with Architect Edouard Pastor
Meet architect Edouard Pastor, one of France’s leading experts on accessibility for those in situations of disability. He has been involved in audits and accessibility programing for a number of high-profile monuments in Paris, including the Eiffel Tower, the Palais Royal and Comédie Française Theaters, the Pompidou Center and others.
Understanding France: National Commemorations of 2018
A selection of 30 of France's 2018 National Commemorations—of saints, queens, and musicians, assassinations, treaties and war, slavery, gastronomy and science—that give insights into various aspects of French history, culture and politics.
Sylvie Deschamps, France’s Master Artist of Gold Embroidery
An interview with Sylvie Deschamps, France's Master Artist of gold embroidery and director of the Bégonia d'Or workshop in Rochefort, an upriver port town in western France. Includes demonstration video.
Camille Claudel’s Great-Niece Shines Light on the Sculptor’s Life and Work
The Camille Claudel Museum in Nogent sur Seine, 65 miles southeast of Paris, not only brings the sculptor out of the shadows of her Auguste Rodin, it also shines light on Claudel’s work as a talented and innovative sculptor in her own right. An interview of Camille Claudel’s great-niece, Reine-Marie Paris, by Janet Hulstrand.
The Painter’s Wife: Aline Charigot Renoir and the Renoir Home in Essoyes
As the village of Essoyes in southern Champagne prepares to open Renoir’s home to the public and the surrounding department of Aube celebrates this as the Year of Renoir, Janet Hulstrand, a part-time American resident of Essoyes, examines the life of Aline Charigot Renoir, wife of the artist and mother of three artists.
Beyond D-Day: Falaise, Normandy Examines the Fate of Civilians in Wartime
Of the 20,000 Normans who died as a direct result of WWII, the majority were killed by Allied bombardments. The effect of war on civilian populations is now the subject of a museum in Falaise, birthplace of William the Conqueror and site, with its surroundings, of the final combat of the Battle of Normandy 1944.
A Couple of Rabbis in Paris
On the morning of January 14, 2015, American Rabbi Tom Cohen and French Rabbi Pauline Bebe, a unique couple in Judaism in France and worldwide, awoke to news that soldiers had arrived outside their respective synagogues in Paris.
A Whiff of Napoleon in Victory and in Defeat
June 18, 2015—Two hundred years ago today Napoleon I (Bonaparte) was defeated at Waterloo. For much of the world (except perhaps for the British) Waterloo speaks far more about the fall of Napoleon and of France’s ambitions in Europe under his leadership than it does of the victory of the forces allied against him and against France.