Emily in France 🇫🇷 Back to Normal
What is normal, really?
This native Manhattanite was fourteen years old on September 11, 2001. I was the oldest of four children being raised like a small army, which meant that many of the things my youngest sister, six years my junior, wasn't allowed to do (listen to the radio, watch most TV, see most movies) I also wasn't allowed to do. Unknowingly, I was right on the cusp of the journey that would change my life: my original ticket to Brussels, the closest airport to the village of Mouvaux, where I lived for three months with a local host family and fell in love with the French language, was for September 12, 2001. Suffice it to say, I did not get on that plane.
But I digress.
With hindsight, I can see that, at fourteen, the rules were starting to soften, and this was even more true on 9/11. Since my sister was not allowed to watch television, but I was merely discouraged from it, immediately upon returning from school halfway through that infamous Tuesday, I barricaded myself in my room, watching the news and furiously messaging friends on AIM (welcome to 2001, folks) as we attempted to make sense of what was happening. I cried a lot. I asked a lot of questions of friends better informed than I. And when it got to be too much, too many times of watching the footage of people jumping to their doom, ties flapping in the wind, I would change the channel to Disney – Boy Meets World was on. It allowed me to feel, for just an instant, that the world was normal, again.
I sought that feeling for a long time, but the truth is, the world – both the greater World and my little one, at fourteen – would never be the same. There was no going back, after that day, to the innocence of days before, innocence I'd retained far longer than I probably had any right to.
These days, I get a whiff of that same sensation: Times are changing; attitudes are changing. The global political sphere; our perceived connectivity and flexibility... these things have all evolved far past comprehension in the past few weeks, months, years. And yes, things are coming to a head right now. And yes, there's a promise for something slightly more stable on the horizon. But I can't help but feel that there is no going back to "normal." There's just here; now: the communities we've built, the coping mechanisms we've relied on, the values we've held dear. This is a pivot point. We're not going to be able to go back to the way things were, Before.
I, for one, have a hard time watching serious dramas on TV, these days. My screen time is reserved for jokes: the nostalgia of Gilmore Girls; the never-cruel humor of Schitt's Creek. There's enough drama, in the world, for me.
Do not be afraid of your own righteous rage, friends, but hold yourselves gently. And if you need a moment of normal, don't be afraid to watch a little Boy Meets World.
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Things I'm Writing
1. We're cooking more than ever before, and if you have multiple mouths to feed, chances are you have multiple palates to please. Cooking for picky eaters doesn't have to turn you into a short-order cook: here are six ways to cook for picky eaters without making multiple meals, for AllRecipes.
 2. French food doesn't have to be fancy, according to this YouTube star. Learn how he dolls it up and dresses it down it for EasyJet Traveller.
3. It's always a good idea to give your immune system some TLC, but especially now. Find out how for Organic Authority.
Things I'm Reading
1. My lovely friend Jade has a book she fell so hard for, as a child, that she carried with her for months afterwards. I'd never quite understood that sentiment until I read Giovanni's Room, and now the only reason I can bear to be away from my copy is if I've lent it to someone who might love it as much as I do.
2. "People deserve empathy not because we see our own suffering in theirs but because they are people who are suffering." Yes, and. In the Washington Post.
3. One of the most heavily anticipated books in publishing this year also became one of the most detested. More in Vulture.
A bientôt !