calvisson-leblon

For ages, the womb has been a battlefield, where faith leaders, authorities (all males) and later feminists fought.   The keywords were conception control, dynastic purity, social hierarchy, sexuality, birth control, contraception and abortion.   After a short lull, when women seemed to have been left alone to take care of their womb, the peach shaped organ is again becoming a political flashpoint. In several countries, notably in the United States, womb owners are facing interferences from meddling conservative policymakers, this time males as well females.   Energized by the enactment of abortion restriction policies, these busy body lawmakers are now concerning themselves with women’s basic biological functions and nosing into their bathroom cabinet.   Fascinatingly, women’s periods and the modest products used to deal with them are the focus of a fierce cultural war.   The rallying call ranges from the absurd: to ban girls younger than 12 from talking ab...

  Cats fascinate me, big and small; I love Felis catus , the house cat.   In the 1970s, I spent five years of my life with Arsouille, my Siamese cat.   I still vividly remember his feline and not so feline antics.   I was born in a dog family which, later, became a cat family.   My first baby sitter was named Qamra and I spent my infant years with her son Xao.   Apparently, my busy mother often transferred her maternal duties to Qamra who was the family’s stay-at-home white poodle.    My first baby steps were taken in a playpen in the company of Qamra’s puppies.   She did not seem to mind having “um estranho no ninho”, a stranger in the nest; family records indicate that she coolly looked after her unusual brood.   Obviously, I have no recollection of this unconventional chapter of my childhood.   By chance, I have photos to prove it.   Father had hounds but they were not allowed in the house.   When both parents became...

As soon as you land at Carrasco international airport, you feel good, the shell shaped terminal is airy, architecturally attractive and traveler-friendly.   Carrasco is one of the most exclusive neighborhoods of Montevideo.   However, the name is hardly appropriate to welcome Brazilian visitors.   In Portuguese, a carrasco is both a state executioner and a tyrant.   Fortunately, Uruguay has neither and capital punishment was abolished in 1907!   The airport is ideally located and the visitors reach the central part of the city by driving along the ramblas, a picture-perfect 30 km-long promenade alongside the beaches of the Rio de la Plata.   By Latin America standards, Uruguay is a tiny state, the second smallest; however, it is still twice the size of Portugal! Two third of its 3.4 m inhabitants live in the Montevideo area.   Montevideo hosts the headquarter of the Southern Common Market better known as Mercosur.   Uruguay is considered the...

  Sadly, the night of December 31 was the low point of an otherwise very pleasant trip to Oman.  In a fluke, I decided to travel to the sunny sultanate to avoid hardships in France: transport strikes and energy shortages were predicted during the holidays.  Strikes there were but I managed to avoid them and the weather was far too warm to force power outages. Oman is about eight hours from Paris and the day flight over Anatolia was mesmerizing: Barren valleys and snowcapped mountains, the rugged sea coastline of the Black Sea.  We flew near the snowcapped Süphan Volcano and Lake Van.  What was equally fascinating was the dense air traffic.  In one hour, I counted 12 planes flying at different levels.  The war in Ukraine has forced many airlines to divert flights and use the Turkish airspace: President Erdoḡan is ripping a nice profit from these overflight fees.                           ...

Bargaining a taxi fare.                                                                                                                               Sharing a turkey meal with a homeless man.                                                                                    Petting a dog at the opera, and using a gender neutral toilet.  My luck! When in New York, the city was officially named the most expensive city in the world.  Even if tied with Singapo...

A Carnival of fake news! I landed in Rio de Janeiro on the eve of the first round of the presidential elections.   Jair Bolsonaro, the right-wing president lost to come-back kid Luiz Ign á cio Lula da Silva.   The incumbent had about six million votes less than Lula; but it was not the rout the polls had predicted.   This result made Brazilians either anxious or elated depending on one’s politics.    I was behind with my blogging and eager to write something, but the tense and poisonous situation worked as a creative block.   One month later inspiration returned:   Lula had won the runoff, but barely.   Alleluia all the same: Bolsonaro had been ousted.   Between the Bad and the Ugly, the Bad had won!   For the Good, Brazilians will have to wait a bit longer.   In Brazil (as in the United States) presidential elections take place every four years.   Until now, they played more like a soccer game with passionate fans and sp...

  Part I The roasting started early June when the first heat wave hit France.   We humans were being baked with average daily temperatures above 35 ⁰ C (95 ⁰ F), and commonly in the 40s during the afternoons.   To add insult to injury, not a drop of rain. This hellish situation is the new normal along the rim of the Mediterranean Sea.   Nimes, the capital of our county ( department in French bureaucracy) has earned the unsavory title of France’s hottest city: 60 days above 30 ⁰ . This is actually inaccurate: temperatures were above 35 ⁰ ! Consequently, wildfires were ravaging entire regions and water is so scarce that it is being rationed in many villages.   Blame global warming, climate change, people’s green gas emissions, run away and profligate consumption in industrialized countries, etc.., and you get this beastly cocktail which makes life in Provence feeling no longer Proven ç ale.   Even the Cicadae, the true symbol of Provence, were too stres...