Tag Archives: france

Planned Parenthood and The Marseillaise: Aux Armes, Citoyens!

To arms, citizens, Form your battalions Let’s march, let’s march Let an impure blood Soak our fields This is the refrain of the Marseillaise, forever the battle-song of oppressed humanities. It was composed by Claude Rouget de Lisle in 1792 … Continue reading

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Refugee, But Not Forever

The other evening, after a satisfying dinner, I was lazily surfing the net when I came across a photo of a beach filled with Syrian refugees running across the sand, trying to climb aboard a rickety ship. Suddenly my heart … Continue reading

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Visiting the Musee Rodin in the Wake of World War II

For me, the reopening of the Musee Rodin unleashed floods of memories. In April 1946, a month before my nuclear family was to immigrate to the United States, my mother, who was somewhat of a tyrant, surprisingly let me visit … Continue reading

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World War I: August 3, 1914: Germany Invades Belgium

World War II defined my life, but it was actually a continuation of  World War I, whose 100th birthday we “celebrate” this year. The hostilities took a while to get underway. They began with the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand … Continue reading

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Arles Revisited

Fifty years ago, when my children were eight and ten, they, my mom and I drove from Oxford, England to Rome. We had a week to cover a thousand miles via Europe’s then old, double-lane, tree-lined highways. The trip was … Continue reading

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