Wednesday, January 23, 2008

Black gurls in Paris

Shay Youngblood has a novel called BLACK GIRL IN PARIS about a young writer who moves to France with little money and the dream of meeting James Baldwin. To keep it cliche': it's an amazing coming of age tale...it was my favorite read for a few years. I read it religiously...annually.
I've always been facinated with international travel.

You'd think that as a flight attendant I'd have more stamps on my passport than pages....But alas. My salary is not proportionate to my debt. I'm reduced to trists around THIS continent. I've always wondered what it was like to LIVE, not visit, in another country. Having been exposed to the likes of Langston Huges, W.E.B. Dubois, Josephine Baker, Miles Davis and others...the IDEA of living in Paris is intoxicating. For a minute there... submerged myself in all things Parisian: food, music, language *limited to two years of high school french*, Canada . Though I've kind of moved on from that minor obsession, the subject is still pretty interesting.

That said, on my news feed today, there's an article frorm the Chicago Tribune about a woman named Rikki Stevens who offers tours of "black Paris". She takes you around to the lesser known spots where Josephine Baker, Langston Huges, and Alexander Dumas hung out...lived..performed. Check the article out. http://www.chicagotribune.com/travel/chi-black_paris_toursjan26,0,4469399.story?coll=chi_home_util

Ironically, yesterday , in totally unrelated visit to the World Wide Web, I added a blog to my personal list of "favorite" websites. It's from another Afi-merican ex-patriate. She's living in Paris and writing about her experiences there. Check out her blog at
http://www.blackgirlinparis.com/.

And speaking of Blk gurls in love with French culture...another homegurl of my mine GLENNISHA M. MORGAN has a magazine coming out called JE SUIS LIBRE (I AM FREE). This baaaad mamma is FLUENT in the language. That's in addition to being a writer, editer, activist, and natural hair care specialist. Has she actually visited Paris? Not sure. Check out her website and ask her yourself!!! http://www.freewebs.com/glennisham/

1 comment:

Glennisha Morgan said...

Thanks for the shoutout! I feel you. I so need to travel more. I haven't even been a real "Spring Break" trip. I do plan on visiting Paris, I've even played with the idea of moving there. Since I'm in love with learning about different cultures the best way for me to do so is to travel. As soon as I get my money right I will be ghost!