calvisson-leblon

  As you know, I flew to France at the end of June when Rio de Janeiro was in the middle of the Covid onslaught.   The first day of my tropical-style lockdown was March 15 and I had been wearing a face mask since.   Mask-wearing was mandatory in the city (apparently still is, but mask fatigue is taking a toll!).   I landed in mask-free Montpellier, breathed deeply the blissful Covid-free air and felt safe for the first time in three months.   Finally, I enjoyed a welcome taste of normality.   The French looked oblivious and care-free as if they had forgotten that Covid -19 had sent tens of thousands to intensive care units, killed 30 000 people and caused an economic mess that will take years to fix. Tropical Rio never sleeps, and a tropical-style lockdown is more akin to self-confinement for 30% of the population who can afford to stay home and toiling as usual for the other 70% less fortunate people.   All non-essential shops and businesses were cl...

When I decided to retire in Brazil in 2003, my friends and colleagues envied me.   Now in June 2020, they all beg me to get out.   Over the years, Brazil’s benevolent external reputation gradually eroded to reach its current pariah status.   The Coronavirus pandemic has exposed to the world a country in a downward spiral and the moral decay of its political leadership.   Back in the early 2000s, Brazil was regarded as a paragon of democratic values, a progressive Latin American country on the verge of becoming an influential world player.   I still remember the November 12, 2009 cover of the Economist magazine of London roaring that Brazil was taking off.   I was so proud to live in Rio at the time.   I had chosen to retire in this tropical city because I liked its charms, culture and relaxed atmosphere and I had friends and an apartment.    Despite Rio’s endemic violence, I felt very much at home among the Cariocas, Rio’s residents. ...

Covid started as a virus, it has now morphed into an addiction.   We chat Covid, we Zoom Covid, we Skype Covid, we email Covid and we WhatsApp Covid.   My addiction is nerve-racking: as soon as I get out of bed, I grab my cell phone to check the latest coronavirus developments.   Among my immediate concerns are the spread of the virus, the number of deaths, the expansion of new hotspots, the evolution of the R factor in Europe, the hottest academic finding on the virus behavior, Dr. Fauci’s latest warnings, the progression of the hydroxychloroquine hysteria and the coverage of the face mask disgrace, etc.   Meanwhile, I desperately avoid to breath Covid, a death certificate in my tropical dystopia.   Brazil is the 6 th worst affected country by cases and fatalities, 260 000 and 18 000 respectively, still counting. I also check the development of Brazil’s other virus, President Jair Messias Bolsonaro, the most toxic Covid denier in the world.   The ...

Really, at my age I did not need this additional aggravation.   The clock is already in full countdown and this self-isolation is precious time wasted.   Since mid-March, our freedom to go as we please has been curtailed for our own good.   The worse part is that it is an open-ended situation and we may be locked down for months on end.   Not to be able to make up for lost time is very frustrating.   Time passes by, I work out in the morning, read, watch opera, visit virtual museums, write to friends but do nothing really concrete.   I particularly miss my routine of going to the movies and restaurants, and making travel plans.   The Russian roulette health aspect of the pandemic is stressful enough, but being unable to plan ahead is disheartening. Not only, has Brazil not been spared but we are totally kept in the dark.   Many people, sick with the virus are certainly under the radar.   Three of our reception staff are sick at ho...

I am totally incapable of putting pen on paper during this stressful coronavirus lockdown. I wish I had 0,0001 % of the imagination of the Bard who supposedly wrote some of his best works in quarantine.   In the early 17 th century, the bubonic plague was raging in London, and the theaters were in lockdown.   During his self-isolation, William Shakespeare had time on his hands to write the dark drama King Lear , and for good measure Macbeth and Anthony and Cleopatra.   Twenty years later, Flemish painter Antoon Van Dyke was marooned in plague-stricken Palermo, Sicily and painted the allegoric Saint Rosalie interceding for the disease.   Do you recall any other pandemic-linked works of art?   Being part of the categorized “vulnerable population”, ten days ago, I started a self-imposed confinement in my small flat in Rio.   Covid-19 has drained my senior citizen energy, and instead of writing a blog, I would like to know what you are doing to figh...

Visiting Vald é s has been at the top of my bucket list.   Since 2017 I have been going down this list visiting as many places as possible.   Vald é s Peninsula cannot be missed on the map of Patagonia: it sticks out like a mushroom in the Atlantic Ocean.   The peninsula is semi-arid, flat with salt flats and no rivers.   It is linked to the mainland by a narrow isthmus which separates two calm gulfs, Golfo Nuevo on the south and the smaller Golfo San Jos é on the north.   The isthmus is the gateway to the nature reserve, an UNESCO World Heritage site.   This spectacular place with its rugged coastlines is for lovers of marine mammals. The Vald é s Peninsula is a refuge for lovers as marine mammals congregate there to have sex.   Vald é s also plays the role of a maternity ward and a kindergarten.  The peninsula is the meeting point of big marine mammals like Southern Right whales, orcas/killer whales, dolphins, elephant seals, sea lions,...

At the outset, let’s focus on shelf-life.   I am not writing about a fresh-baked French baguette carried under an armpit, but about the lot of actresses on both sides of the Atlantic.   Male actors have no expiry dates as exposed by the 2020 Academy Awards nominations.   Four of the ten nominated actors are septuagenarians.   On the other hand, the oldest female nominee is 72-year-old Kathy Bates in the best supporting actress category.   As a result, the median age difference between men and women nominees is a whopping 21 years!   At the Oscars, age bias has been a constant [1] , but in this period of Time’s Up , 21 years seem to be a provocation.   If the male actor geriatric club is alive and kicking, leading roles for actresses over 70 are few and far between.   Only Meryl Streep, Helen Mirren and Catherine Deneuve get a chance. Last week, on friends’ recommendations, I went to see the film Judy .   As the name indicates, it is a...