And now what?

Yes, the Republicans won, but, let’s face it, my Democratic party has blown it big time. It is time for a hard look in the mirror. What happened was a long time in the making. Ignoring or making fun of the uneducated, struggling multitudes had its price and we, the coastal Democrats, paid for it. Wanting to put a positive spin to it, I like to think that this brutal wake-up call will allow the Democrats to clean house, face issues they have neglected for too long and build a party the nation badly needs.
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2015 A stage odyssey

A dream cast, Vinnie Marano the director and Robin Lane the producer.

My only ambition when I translated and self-published my novel “Te souviens-tu de moi?” previously published by Buchet-Chastel of Paris, was to enable Toni, my American wife, as well as our New York friends to sample a taste of my writing and I chose that particular novel because it had just been well received in France. I also I thought that “Do you remember me?” a story of friendship, love and betrayal was universal even though it takes place in Nazi-occupied France. I could not imagine where this translation would take me. Read more →

Just a smile

Having spent my whole life in European and American cities, I am well aware of the laws governing interaction between strangers. Avoiding eye contact is now second nature.
Here I should add with a wink that ignoring other people comes naturally to a Frenchman, but I do not agree that this trait is one more evidence of arrogance or dislike of strangers. I strongly challenge the latter and ascribe the apparent French aloofness to a lack of social training early in life. Things have changed, I’m told, since I left Paris, but the fact is that social-bonding events such as proms and graduation ceremonies were totally unknown when I was a student. My business school diploma came in the mail. Campus life was nonexistent – there were no campuses – and organized mingling events were rare. As a product of that system and era, I came to America less than adept at dealing with strangers in social settings.
But, again, one law makes perfect sense in a big city crowded environment and it is even more strict between genders: Don’t make eye contact. Period. Unless, of course, you do want to make eye contact, but this is a different matter. Read more →

Je suis Charlie made me homesick

Like millions around the world I was horrified by the massacre at the offices of Charlie Hebdo in Paris, but, as I was watching at home in Manhattan the crowds massed in mourning all over France, I realized that this tragedy, as strange as it may seem, made me miss my home country. I wanted to be over there, shoulder to shoulder with my fellow countrymen. Yes, I have lived in New York for more than 30 years and I am also a citizen of the United States, but I guess something in the blood doesn’t care about passports.

This realization didn’t come unannounced. Over the last few years I have felt my roots, for lack of a better word, gain strength, vitality, and push up to the surface. I then think of the slabs of concrete that crack or are forced out of joint on the sidewalks by the roots of the trees, maples, birches or oaks. Read more →

Three weeks in Alaska

It’s been a while since I returned to New York after 3 weeks of kayaking among the icebergs of Prince William sound, camping in the snow and looking out for bears and I still regard my time in the “last frontier” state with a group of friends as one of the most impactful experiences of my life.
Those of us who have been raised and live in a large metropolis and whose only contact with a less comfortable and shielded life is through movies, documentaries or vacations to third-world countries, really don’t know firsthand what it feels like to survive without running water, electricity, heating – not to mention TV, radio, telephone and the internet. It was rewarding to discover that it is possible – and indeed not that hard – to adapt to a tough environment. None of the comforts we take for granted and often think essential is really necessary to feel truly alive and wake up looking forward to the day. A meal eaten out of a can heated over a propane burner is no gourmet fare, but devouring it on top of a hill overlooking a snowy, empty expanse where a bear or a moose may be spotted in the distance, can be pretty satisfying. Read more →

Let’s face it my friend, you can’t write!

Years ago, as I was still a marketing executive spending a great deal of time traveling all over Europe, I nurtured my life-long dream of being a novelist by writing on airplanes, in hotel rooms and yes sometimes during boring meetings. And so it was that one day I completed the manuscript of my first novel entitled L’entre deux vies (Between two lives), a story that foreshadowed the direction my life would later take, but of course I didn’t know that at the time. Read more →

The day a civil war was prevented

How transistor radio prevented a civil war

The opening sequence of The Wooden Gun, a movie I directed years ago, features a speech President de Gaulle broadcast on April 23^rd 1961. History was made on that day when the transistor radio, an invention only recently available to the general public, prevented a civil war. The story is worth recounting. Read more →

First Girlfriend

The French are a hard lot to shock. Remember the funeral of President Mitterand where his wife and the mother of his illegitimate daughter stood side by side, the image of a grieving family? Very few Gallic eyebrows were raised then.

More recently, what happened just a few days after François Hollande’s inauguration as President of France didn’t shock the French either, but sent the people I talked to in Paris roaring with laughter. I hereby invite you to share in the fun, but be cautioned, you will need to really pay attention to fully appreciate the story for it has more twists and turns than a Feydeau comedy.

Where should I begin? Read more →

From Russia with memories.

It had been many years since I had last visited Russia. Since then TV has shown us how life was changing over there, so I was prepared. Moscow’s Gum is no longer a sinister market lined with empty shelves, it is now a high-end emporium where the world’s most prestigious  – and expensive – brands are on display and St. Petersburg’ Nevsky Prospect is the bustling equivalent of Fifth Avenue or the Champs Elysées, but it is what has not changed that is really worth the trip. Read more →

Reunion Island, the dreaded Q&A.

Say I just met someone at a party. As we chat, glass of Chardonnay in hand, I know what will eventually happen, once the what-do-you-do’s and the where-do-you-live’s have been dealt with. It will go like this:

Q: “Do you have children?”

Me: “Yes, two sons and one daughter.”

Q: “Do they live in New York?”

Me: “No, they live in Reunion Island.”

Allow here for a few seconds of silence and a blank stare, then:

Q: “Interesting. Where’s that?”

Me: “East of Madagascar and west of Mauritius in the middle of the Indian Ocean.”

Q: “Really?” Read more →