Looking Out from Le Select on a Sunny Sunday Afternoon
Your taste of life in Paris and France
ParlerParis.com
Monday, March 7, 2011 • Paris, France
You might not recognize Paris for the rays of sun and blue skies we've had the past few days and predicted to continue through the week. In fact, it was so bright yesterday that it fooled Café Charlot into thinking it was spring as they opened their terrace completely forgetting that the temperature was less than 40 degrees Fahrenheit. We ate brunch with our coats on, but no matter, thanks to the warm rays of sunshine.
That afternoon a small group of friends of the recently deceased author, Hazel Rowley, gathered in the very back room of café "Le Select," void of sunshine, to express their feelings about their loss of their friend and exchange stories. Among them were such Paris notables as Odile Hellier, proprietor of The Village Voice Bookshop who will be organizing a special tribute to Hazel in the spring; author, poet, teacher Kathleen Spivack who is speaking at "Parler Paris Après Midi" on Tuesday and David Burke, author of "Writers In Paris: Literary Lives in the City of Light."
ROWLEY--Hazel Joan of Manhattan passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday March 1, 2011 aged 59. She was a much loved daughter, sister, aunt and friend to many in Australia, Britain, France and USA. Hazel was an accomplished and admired author and biographer, and died tragically at the peak of her career. A memorial service will be held at the Church of the Transfiguration, One East 29th St., New York, 2 p.m. Saturday 12th March. In lieu of flowers, please consider pledging to an endowment in Hazel's name (pledging book at the service). Hazel will be sadly missed.
What haunts Paris these days, in spite of the glorious weather, and the loss of our friend, has been the scandal of fashion designer John Galliano's anti-semitic ranting recorded on video at La Perle, a bar just a few blocks from my apartment. The outburst during Fashion Week, in a drunken stupor, such as "I love Hitler," "people like you would be dead" and "your mothers, your forefathers would all be gassed," caused him to be fired from the House of Christian Dior and arrested for the crime. Yes, the crime.
What is fascinating about this scandal is that for all the publicity about anti-semitism rising in France, and for the all mail I get questioning what it feels like to be Jewish living in what is perceived as an anti-semitic environment, I'd like to point out that racial hatred is less tolerated on public level than Stateside.
If you don't believe me, just have a look at David Duke's Web site. Here's an American who is a former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from the 81st district (where my mother and sister live!), is a white nationalist activist, a former candidate in the Republican presidential primaries in 1992 and in the Democratic presidential primaries in 1988, a former Grand Wizard of the Knights of the Ku Klux Klan, and who describes himself as a "racial realist." Would his words be tolerated in France? I think not.
Saturday night I watched a DVD of the movie, "Crash." Co-written, produced, and directed by Paul Haggis, who I came to know here in Paris about the same time as the film's release, was a "passion piece" for Haggis who took a real-life incident and turned it into an Oscar-winning film about a host of characters dealing with racial and social tensions in Los Angeles, another one of my home towns. It reminded me that we live with hate all around us, an emotion I have yet to understand.
The question is: Do we allow it by virtue of standing behind "freedom of speech" or do we punish it spreading a 'disease' that is harmful to all humanity?
Adrian Leeds
Editor, Parler Paris
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