calvisson-leblon

  Black Spartacus is one of the monikers given to Toussaint Louverture (1743? -1803).  He was also labeled a Black Jacobin and even portrayed as a Black Napol é on.  “Toussaint is the first black superhero of modern age” according to Sudhir Hazareesingh [1] who wrote an impressive and intelligently detailed biography of a man who, since his death in 1803 has been rediscovered or reinvented by many of his biographers.  If Toussaint was a de facto Jacobin and displayed Napoleonic military and administrative talents, he was not a Black Spartacus.  Although born a slave in Saint Domingue, now Haiti, Toussaint embarked on his slave emancipation and revolutionary, military and political career as a free French man.  During his short but multifaceted career, Toussaint endorsed the values of the French revolution and became its only Black general-in-chef and colony governor.  In 1802, Toussaint was taken prisoner by the order of First Consul Napol é on Bon...

                                   Weekend Walks with Social Distancing On weekends, I go for walks alone or with a friend. Regrettably, Leblon where I live, offers few options for secluded and social-distancing walks.   Last October, to improve his chances of re-election, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro reopened all economic activities and as expected, Covid contamination rose again.   Despite this, the mayor was defeated during the November elections.   As a result, keeping social distancing when walking has become a bit of a challenge.   The walk along the iconic Ipanema-Leblon beach is a time-honored social activity for Cariocas, as the local residents are known, but on sunny weekends it is mobbed.   The stunning scenery is spoiled by a crowd of bikers (including the reviled electric bikes), rollers, joggers, peddlers, strollers with nannies and parents with unruly kids...

  At the end of June, Rio de Janeiro was reeling under Covid-19’s deadly onslaught.   I left my home confinement there to fly to seemingly virus-liberated France.   Now I am back in Rio.   The city is harnessing its bondless creativity to live with the lingering virus.   Minimizing the risks is a steep learning curve because contrary to Europe, Covid-19 was not contained.   Brazil is still battling a persistent first wave which seems to show signs of slowly ebbing (see graph below).   Except for Cariocas wearing face masks in the streets, life looks very much back to normal.   The locals convey the impression that the worse is behind them.   After a week in my home in Leblon, I feel like I ran away from the pandemics.                                                                 ...

  And foie gras for breakfast. For me, a summer in the south of France without classical music is a summer without zest.   My atypical 2020 summer needed even more classical music than usual to reduce my Covid-19 stress level.   Sadly, but expected, most of the region’s music festivals had been cancelled and it was mission impossible to find tickets for the still maintained festivals like the famous piano Festival of la Roque d Anth é ron in Provence.   Out of desperation, I joined a four- day-music tour and drove five hours to the village of Rocamadour to join the small music-loving group.   For the love of sacred music, I exposed myself to possible Covid contamination as I anticipated the village to be overrun by the August tourist hordes.   August is the climax of the tourism season in France. But Rocamadour appealed to me: Although one of the most visited sites in France, I had never traveled to this cliff hanging medieval village located in Occitan...

  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 ...