August 31, 2017 – Today marks the 20th anniversary of Princess Diana’s death. She, along with her boyfriend, Dodi Fayed, died as a result of injuries sustained after their driver, Henri Paul, slammed into the 13th pillar in the Pont de l’Alma road tunnel in Paris. Henri Paul also died. Trevor Rees-Jones, Diana’s and Dodi’s bodyguard, suffered permanent injury.

I previously wrote a tribute to Diana for The Washington Post Magazine, and I do not believe I can improve upon it. Since it is jumbled together with other letters to the editor if you view it here, the letter, printed on December 21, 1997, is reprinted below in its entirety.

I AM 36, THE SAME AGE DIANA WAS when she died. Although I was born six months earlier than she, it was I who looked up to her. She helped me find myself; I would not be the woman I am today without her influence. Contrary to what Richard Cohen would have you believe, a person need not negotiate a peace treaty or be elected prime minister to make a positive impact on the world. Princess Diana radiated love to the world around her. She touched the lives of two generations of women, and we will remember her grace, her style and her loving heart for the rest of our lives.

ELSA L. FRIDL

There will never be anyone like her. May she rest in peace.

Princess Diana’s final resting place, an island on the Althorp Estate, which belongs to her brother, the Earl Spencer.

Au revoir.

Image of Princess Diana by Trish, courtesy of Flickr, CCBY 2.0. Image of Princess Diana’s island on Althorp by Jon Merler, courtesy of Flickr, CCBY 2.0.

Learning or relearning a language as an adult can be difficult, but it can be done. Find tools that work for you, practice practice practice, and NEVER give up.

When looking for the right tools to learn French, don’t forget the most important: commitment.

Bonjour ! Comment ça va? (Hello! How are you?) I have been away from blogging about Paris for too long. I have many reasons for this — excuses, really — but one reason is that I have been focusing on learning French. Some day, I hope to move to France, whether it is to retire or to work, or both. Although more French people than ever are learning English, it is important to me to learn their language, for it is the only way to truly immerse myself in the French culture. And what better way for me to show how much I love France than to learn French?

I am the first to acknowledge that different people learn differently. That said, here are my tips on how to learn French.

1. Focus on learning French like you learned English, learning sounds (phonics), words, and putting together short sentences. Yes, this is how a child learns their first language: Since this method works for them, it will work for you. Look for children’s books on teaching French (see below). No need to be embarrassed: no one will know.

2. Watch “Learn French With Alexa” Videos. Click here: Overview of Learn French With Alexa Lessons 1-55.  Many people offer free French lessons on YouTube. Even though I took a year of French many years ago, I wanted to start from the very beginning, as I’ve stated above. Most lessons have you learning phrases without learning sounds or grammar. I found what I was looking for in Alexa, who teaches French from the ground up. After her first lesson on greetings, she teaches sounds, words, small sentences…everything I was looking for in a French teacher. She is also very funny: an added bonus. I highly recommend using ear buds to listen to language videos. You can miss the nuances of pronunciation without them.I watch her videos a minimum of 3 times: once as introduction, then to take notes, and a third time to go over the notes. I often also write words and phrases on flash cards to let the words sink in and become part of my way of thinking. I have watched at least one verb video 50 times to make sure I grasp it; after all, reciting what I’ve learned while watching a video is one thing — to be able to call upon it in the moment of conversation is something else. Repetition is key! I can still hear Miss Dawson, my first English teacher, saying,”Attention ! Écoutez, répétez après moi!” (Attention! Listen, repeat after me!) And we repeated and repeated and repeated…

I found these flash cards on Amazon. They include words in 17 categories, such as Travel, Time, Clothes, Food and Drink, and The Body.

3. Use French Vocabulary Flash Cards. This is just another way for me to build my French vocabulary. I have copied the flash card words onto my own flash cards to carry with me during my commutes (so as not to ruin the originals). The only problem with the flash cards is that they don’t give you the pronunciation. Which brings me to #4…

4. Use the French to English, English to French tool on Google. I love it! Again, use your ear buds to hear the nuances of pronunciation. Click here: Translate French to English Google link.

I found this book on Amazon. Once you start building your vocabulary, I recommend getting children’s books in French to help learn French grammar.

5. Look for books aimed at children learning French, such as French for Middle/High School by Carson Dellosa Education. The book basically reiterates Alexa’s videos. But that’s just the point. There’s no such thing as redundancy in language learning: You have to go over lessons over and over and over again until you think in French.

6. Watch movies with more child characters than adults in French and in English with French subtitles, such as the Harry Potter series. Children, even in middle school and high school, are still developing their vocabulary and sentence structure, so they express their thoughts with less complexity than adults. This lower language complexity, when translated into another language, is perfectly suited for an adult to learn the new language. Also, since children tend to be less sophisticated speakers, they don’t generally talk so fast that you can’t hear individual words.

7. Listen to French music. Many people have told me to watch French news and movies to learn French. While I frequently see French movies at the French Embassy in DC (with English subtitles, thank heavens), the characters speak much too fast for me to hear individual words. French music is better for me at this stage of my learning French: it’s much easier to hear individual words, and I’m becoming familiar with French artists while I’m at it. I listen to the RJM French Music app: I  love Avance by Garou, De L’amour le mieux by Natasha St. Pierre, and Les Matins D’hiver by Gerard Lenorman, just to name a few.

8. Join a French group. Chances are, there are groups of native English speakers in your area who want to practice their French. A friend introduced me to one that meets in DC once a week: they meet in a church and go out to dinner together. I don’t feel I am quite ready for it, but I will attend their meetings when I am ready.

Surround yourself with French things and you will start to think in French.

9. Surround yourself with French things. To learn a language, you have to learn to think in that language. I can think of no better way than to surround yourself with French things, such as a comforter with French words and pictures, French tea towels, a French clock, a Page-A-Day calendar of French locales, even a print from a French master painter, such as Monet or Renoir. These things help to transport you to France — at least in your mind, anyway — so you can think in French.  I am the first to admit that learning a language as an adult can be tough for a variety of reasons, especially because of the time it takes. All I can say is: Don’t give up. View any progress as real progress. Use any down time you can to practice or recite what you know. While I cook, I try to name all the kitchen items I use. While vacuuming, I recite all the parts of the room I can. I’ll review a small stack of flash cards while I’m waiting for my dinner to cook. If ever I start to feel hindered in my lessons, I think about how much I want to speak French when I travel to Paris the next time. It keeps me going. Find your own motivation to learn French and keep it in front of you. It will help you when you feel like quitting. It certainly has helped me.

Au revoir !

Learning French image by CanStockPhoto. French Vocabulary Flash Cards from Amazon, CCBY 2.0. French Workbook from Amazon, CCBY 2.0. Vintage French poster from Pinterest, CCBY 2.0.

Today many women in the U.S. and elsewhere will be taking the day off work as a way to show people — and the man in the White House in particular — how important women are to everyday life. Life won’t stop, but their lack of presence in their usual places will be felt: many classes have been cancelled because of requests for the day off.

I, for one, will not be joining them. Not because I don’t think the cause is worth it, or that I am uninterested, but the fact is, if I don’t work I don’t get paid. My hard work over the course of my career has never paid off: I’ve given everything in me to every job I’ve ever had, and it’s never been enough. I’m back to making an hourly rate I made 22 years ago. I’m not working in the field of my choice, event planning, but I am working  — and I am grateful for that. Maybe someday someone will give me a chance, but being an older woman whose most immediate experience isn’t event planning doesn’t exactly make me the most viable candidate. Employers don’t understand that event planning is in my blood: it’s like I was born to do it.

Perhaps I don’t have the power to take the day off, but I have lived through many ordeals in my life. And I’m still standing. I keep moving forward. In that way, I am powerful. I am woman.

Salut !

Salut !

Is there a secret agreement between Trump and Putin regarding climate change?

While I write about traveling to Paris and France in general, I also write about political and cultural issues that are important to France. It is only natural that France is the leading voice against climate change since Claude Lorius, a French glaciologist, was instrumental in proving man-made global warming. [See the trailer for the documentary about his work, “Antarctica: Ice and Sky” (2015) by clicking here.] France also does not deny what is right in front of them. As a supporter of France and an American horrified by what I view as an assault on American values coming out of Washington, I feel it is my duty to add my observations and questions to the discussion. I hope I am dead wrong about the suppositions I write about here.

There is evidence that Russian President Vladimir Putin had a hand in electing Donald Trump as U.S. president this past November by conducting a widespread cyber operation directed at the election. In fact, some believe the Russians changed voter counts, and while this fact has been disputed, as a former election judge, it wouldn’t surprise me after seeing firsthand just how temperamental voter machines can be. Computerized machines are supposed to do what people program them to do; these machines seemed to have a mind all their own. Whatever the method, it is clear the Russians are guilty. The expected response from Trump by many is that he would be outraged over outside influence in our election process, even if he is the declared winner; after all, he has alleged that the Clinton Foundation illegally received millions of dollars from foreign powers in exchange for special treatment. One would think Trump would want to avoid similar accusations. But instead of condemning Russia’s unlawful actions, he wants to ease U.S. financial sanctions against Russian individuals and groups, such as those put in place in 2014 after Russian military aggression in Ukraine. Why would Trump do this?

Images like this of a lone Polar Bear floating in the Arctic are not faked. How can it be denied?

Perhaps the answer can be found in Trump’s climate change policy: he flatly denies it exists. He has called climate change “bunk” and a “hoax” and has said that taking measures to halt its pace would “make us noncompetitive in the manufacturing world…” Photographs of melting Arctic ice, estimated to be melting at rate of 13.3% per decade, are not a hoax, nor are images of starving polar bears who can’t find food. How do Trump’s denials about this help Putin? As 60 Minutes reported on October 2, 2016 in the segment entitled “The Arctic Frontier,” the melting Arctic ice means ships will be able to pass through the once-impassable Arctic Ocean, specifically the Northern Sea Route, a possible alternative to the Suez Canal that could mean a decrease of as much as 28 days from northern European markets to Asian markets. The savings for the shipping industry would be a “big boon to business around the world.” The Northern Sea Route runs along Russia’s Arctic coastline, and Russia now has a strong military presence along the route. When 60 Minutes correspondent Lesley Stahl asked Philip Breedlove, a retired four-star general who most recently was the Supreme Allied Commander of NATO with responsibility for the Arctic, what would happen if the Russians gained control over the Northern Sea Route, Breedlove responded, “If the Russians had the ability to militarily hold [it] at ransom, that is a big lever over the world economy.” By denying that climate change is real, Trump has ceded his leadership role to challenge any country on whether this shipping route should even be used, much less challenge Putin on Russia controlling it. This all but guarantees the United States will remain silent as the Arctic ice melts into the ocean and numerous species go extinct – and while Russia gains control over the Northern Sea Route. Russia as a superpower would be reborn.

Unfortunately, unlike Antarctica, which is governed by an international treaty that bars countries from owning or exploiting its land, the Arctic has only a council that meets every six months and issues a non-binding declaration of its business every two years. Only states with territory in that region can be members with voting rights. So if it is in a member state’s best economic interest to allow the Arctic ice melt so as to open the Arctic Ocean to trade ships, no observer state on the council can vote against it. The U.S. is a member state on the Arctic Council due to Alaskan territory contained within the Arctic, so it has the power to be a dissenting voice. But it seems the U.S. is just as anxious to see the Arctic ice melt as Russia. When Lesley Stahl visited the temporary U.S. Navy base in the Arctic for the 60 Minutes segment, the Navy was there to map the bottom of the ice and was “amassing…research to prepare for an expanded presence in the Arctic, as the ice continues to melt.” If U.S. policy prior to Trump being elected was indeed to halt the march of climate change, would the Navy have been there gathering data on how to maneuver beneath the ice? My guess is they would say they were there so they could eventually match Russia’s military presence within the Arctic region, not that they were there to prepare for the U.S. to send commercial ships through the Arctic. It feels like U.S. climate change policy is a kind of doublespeak: Take some actions to show we’re against climate change, but don’t do too much if it impacts us economically in the short term. Remember, this segment aired on October 2, 2016, while Obama was still in office; Trump was elected on November 8. I freely concede, however, that with ExxonMobile CEO Rex Tillerson as Trump’s Secretary of State pick, whose company stands to profit from oil deals in the Arctic region, Trump isn’t double-speaking his climate change policy, he is screaming.

Unless Trump completely changes course, he will likely lose the chance to prevent a climate change tipping point that scientists predict will happen between 2020 and 2030: the defrosting of the Arctic permafrost. Billions of tons of plant material frozen for centuries and containing carbon are slowly thawing out from within the permafrost, but as time passes and more carbon is released, the thaw rate will increase. Excess carbon in the atmosphere heats the planet; excess carbon in the ocean makes the water more acidic and therefore deadly to marine life. Once the plant material has thawed, there is no putting back the permafrost. The cycle will continue, and the earth will continue to heat up at an accelerated pace.

I have to wonder what prevents world leaders like Trump and Putin from seeing what is right in front of them. Is it that they don’t care because they won’t be around to experience the worst effects of climate change? Besides being world leaders and seem to be scratching each other’s back, there are three other things Trump and Putin have in common: They are both older, rich, and have adult and young children. Trump will be 71 years old this year, while Putin will be 65. They are both billionaires, though Putin is far richer than Trump. Trump has four adult children; Putin has two. Trump’s son Barron will be 11 years old this year, while Putin reportedly has three young children under the age of 10 with Alina Kabaeva, who may or may not be his wife. Because of their respective ages, Trump and Putin will unlikely be alive to suffer the full effects of the heating earth. But their young children will – and their adult children are witnesses to their respective father making choices that will impact their lives, and the lives of their children. The earth will one day belong to the children of today. Will it be habitable for them? Do Trump and Putin think their billions will somehow save their children from having to live with the full effects of an overheated planet?

If that is the case, they fail to understand an ancient proverb: “Only when the last tree has been cut down, the last fish caught, the last river poisoned, will we realize we cannot eat money.”

Salut.

Image of U.S. & Russian Cooperation by CanStockPhoto. “The Last Polar Bear” by Gerard Van der Leun, Flickr, CCBY 2.0.

References:

“The Arctic Frontier,” 60 Minutes segment, aired October 2, 2016. “Arctic Council” from Wikipedia, CCBY 3.0. “Claude Lorius” from Wikipedia, CCBY 3.0.

“Global Warming Climate Change Forecasts – 2030” from Global Warming Forecasts, http://www.global-warming-forecasts.com/2030-climate-change-global-warming-2030.php.

“Effects of Changing the Carbon Cycle,” by NASA Earth Observatory,
http://www.earthobservatory.nasa.gov/Features/CarbonCycle/page5.php?src=share.