Each evening I sit here making this blog, only these last couple of days I've had to do it from a café. It costs me 2euros to sit here and mooch their internet (the cost of a coffee), but its also a bit nicer atmosphere than slouched in my room at my desk. Its more genuine, or something... There are a lot of moments where I feel "authentically french," or I see something and I think to myself, "wow, thats authentically french." I'm not quite sure I know what that means. In Canada, authentically Canadian can sometimes be a slander, even more so referring to americans. Is it a tourist's sense of freedom in a stranger's land that to be "authentically" regional is somehow romantic? Maybe france is just different too, it has a bit of charm that even the french can't ignore. Playing a game with my students today, two truths one lie (where you write two truths on the board and one lie, duh, then they guess which one is the lie, the winner gets to go up... simple, but it gets them using english, and it also uses up time), one student's truth was "France is magical," and the other students teased him about how obvious that was. Maybe I'm just disaffected by Canada. That said, I love it there, and I have only good things to say about Canada. So maybe its something else, maybe its that I've never really been connected with where I was, a first generation diasporic hybrid, I was an exile at birth. Also, that being said, I've also felt at home almost everywhere I've been(half the time).
What does authentically french mean though? Does it mean everything that has become a caricature in north american mythology. I'd hope to think it wasn't, there really is something special about France. Maybe its all the clichés of love, sometimes there are loves that clichés are made of, maybe Paris isn't cliché, but so grand that it is the stuff clichés are made of.
Two themes I can't get over - cliché and authenticity.
The two seem to come up in everything I write. Some day, i'd like to discover the essence of these two words, but I imagine it'll take a lifetime before I can distinguish the two.
Anyways, enough rambling, enough sentences ending with a rhetorical question mark. Here, have some authentically American music.
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Wait, one more thing. If you'd gathered from reading my blog that I'm relearning how to cook. I would love any readers who read this subtext to leave a comment with any good suggestions, secret techniques, favorite recipes... etc.
edit:
My ex-roomate/neighbor-combo Caleb (who coincidentally rules the kitchen), has started up a blog to share his secret techniques and recipes. Check it here!
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Cliff Gober - A Poor Wayfaring Stranger
Burial - Wayfaring Stranger
Etta James - You Got It
Four Mints - Too Far Gone
John Coltrane - After the Rain
The Hollies - Elevated Observations?
Bo Diddley - You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover
Chuck Berry - Havana Moon
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