Memory

It is the end of 2008, and I've noticed around me, in my life and the media, a lot of concentrating on the year we have passed, rather than the year ahead. I think it's because we're so uncertain as to what the future holds that we can only be sure of what has happened and feel as proud and comforted as we can.

Today's word is "[the] memory," as in the idea of remembering. Not a memory that you have.

Français: la mémoire

Español: la memoria

Italiano: la memoria

Deutsch: die Erinnerung

日本語: 記憶 (きおく) [kioku]

Border

Today's post is "about" the tragic events in Gaza. The border to Egypt needs to be re-opened to that supplies can get in and the wounded can get to hospitals outside of the strip. So, today's word is "[a] border".

Français: une frontière

Español: una frontera

Italiano: una frontiera

Deutsch: eine Grenze

日本語: 国境 (こっきょう) [kokkyō]

Pirate

Due to the surge of attacks on different nations ships this year and the sudden deployment of Chinese ships to counter these attacks, I have chosen, for today's word, "[the] pirate".

I should use words that are related to current events more often, as they tend to be less mushy and...revealing.

Français: le pirate

Español: el pirata

Italiano: il pirata

Deutsch: der Pirat

日本語: 海賊 (かいぞく) [kaizoku]

Love

So, it's cheezy, and my last post was just as bad, but I was walking around D.C. today and saw couples everywhere, and everyone kept smiling at me. Also, I miss, very much, some people back home that I cannot wait to see ASAP and am thinking about contantly. So, my word for today is "[the] love" [noun].

Français: l'amour

Español: el amor

Italiano: l'amore

Deutsch: die libe

日本語: 愛 (あい) [ai]

Joy

As the seasons holidays approach (the end of Hanukkah, Christmas Day, and Kwanza), I was tryign to think of something that connected each of them.

I chose "[the] joy" because it's what I hope everyone feels during this time before a new year approaches and we strive to improve our lives the those of others in the near and distant future.

Français: la joie

Español: la alegría

Italiano: la gioia

Deutsch: die Freude

日本語: 喜び (よろこび) [yorokobi], or 嬉しさ (うれしさ) [ureshisa]

I got it!

I know what I'll do!

I'll choose a word related to current events in the US/World and I'll post it in several languages! Interest + Accessability = Learning!

There have been a lot of flight delays lately du eto inclimate Winter weather, so today's word is "a blizzard".

Français: une tempête de neige

Español: una ventisca

Italiano: una tormenta

Deutsch: ein Schneesturm

日本語: 吹雪 (ふぶき) [fubuki]*, ブリザード (ぶりざあど) [burizādo]

Now that it's over...

So, I created this blog for French Civilization and Culture, and now I'm done with the class, but I hate the idea of taking up space on the Internet for no reason at all.

So, I want to do something with this blog. But, what?

I need some interesting point of view, or a topic a blog about habitually to write something interesting.

Unless people really want to know what I have for breakfast every morning, and the emotional quirks that make me neurotic and awkward.

But, in doubting that this is the case, I need to think of something. Maybe current events in France, but in English for the non-francophone people out there. Or, a fashionisto blog. Just not my poetry or me being emo. None of that.

Any ideas?

Le dernier jour...

C'est le dernier jour du semestre!

Je suis content, mais tout le monde me manquera. Plusieurs étudiants serons en France en Janvier et il n'y a plus de cours avec M. Dola.

Donc, je dois rendre visite bien tôt à tout le monde!

Un moment très important dans ma vie...

Je suis si content aujourd'hui, parce que je parlais à une manifestacion contre Proposition 8, qui a annulé le mariage homosexuel en Californie. C'était super, et il y a une article dans le journal de Greensboro, The News and Record.

http://www.news-record.com/content/2008/11/15/article/gay_rights_advocates_rally_downtown

Au-dessous, j'ai affiché mon discours (c'est en anglais).

"I am twenty-two years old. I have, and have been able to, vote in two presidential elections and one Democratic Primary. I was eighteen years old in 2004, and filled with hope and conviction. I was going to be a part of a movement that would remove a president from office during wartime for the first time in our nation’s history. I was going to change everything, and the movement to bring Gay Marriage into the fronts and trenches of our war for equality would be successful and inspiring. My voice would be heard.

That year, things didn’t quite go as I had planned.

I was twenty-one years old this past May, and I was certain that I would cast a vote for bringing a woman into the election of President of the United States to represent the Democratic Party.

That month, I realized I would lose often when making my voice heard.

Just under two weeks ago, I was twenty-two years old, and I cast my vote in a historical election. I planned to, and did, bring the first African-American into the White House. I helped turn North Carolina blue for the first time in thirty-two years. I made a difference, because we didn’t win by much.

That week, and the weeks following until today, I have been elated, and proud of myself and of my country. I have been carrying with me such immense joy that I feel ready to burst at a moment’s notice. I have found it difficult to find words or images in art, music, or literature that can accurately express exactly how much jubilation has perpetually been residing inside of me.

This is, of course, due partially to the fact that I did not vote for Gay Marriage to be banned from or accepted into my state’s Constitution. Had this grave decision been in my hands, I am afraid that loosing for the third time in a row would have been just disheartening enough to eclipse the pride swelling inside of me. However, my outlook was not bleak. I assumed that a large state that was overwhelmingly Democrat wouldn’t dream of passing anything denying rights to a minority group, or anyone else.

I am twenty-two years old, and for just over ten years now, I have been dreaming of getting married. I deigned brides-maids dresses when I was fifteen. I chose baby names when I was twenty-one. I’m a romantic, and clearly a homosexual and it shows in almost everything that I do.

I am twenty-two years old in 2008, and if I had wanted to be married when I was nineteen, and I had I been a citizen of Spain, I could be married right now. President José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero was able to pass laws legalizing same-sex marriage in 2005 in a country with a much longer history of its hand being in the lap of the Pope.

I’m twenty-two years old in 2008, and ever since I learned about Civil Rights and the Civil Rights movement, I have wished that I had lived in an era of Change. I have wished that I was able to march and fight for the rights of my fellow man who was done an immense injustice for far too long. I have wished that I could raise my voice, formidably loud and undeniably present, to help pave the road to the future, sharing in the struggle with those who never deserved to suffer.

I am now given the opportunity to fight for something. People have been done an injustice, and not only do I know them, and care about them, and love them, but, I am one of them.

My rights have been taken away, although clearly guaranteed in documents drawn up maybe years before my family even set foot on the soil of the great nation that I call my home.

When our forefathers were faced with injustice, they rose together in unity to fight a ruler that was unfair and unacceptable. It is now the time that we look to our past, and learn from the lessons of our ancestors. We cannot stand idly by while other people, most of whom I have never met and may never know, tell the government, and myself, that I cannot express to everyone that I am eternally committed to one person that I love and will honor until I die. We must act now, as our predecessors did, because our actions cannot take time, since it is the time to take action.

I am twenty-two years old, and it has been thirty-nine years, four months, two weeks, and four days, since the riots at Stonewall Inn made it clear that gay men, lesbians, and their supporters were fed up with the government that was not righting rights. The government that was taking advantage of and undermining its citizens, creating a group of second-class people that was classified as “unstable” and “abnormal.” In those years, months, weeks and days we have fought for and changed much. However, it is clear from the recent passing of Propositions, Initiatives, and Amendments in different states that we have much more for which to hope, pray, and fight.

Our cries, our hopes, and our prayers will be heard from the Atlantic, to the Pacific, up to the Great Lakes and down to the Gulf of Mexico. Even in yesterday’s dark, damp winter, or today’s hot, blustery one, our voices cannot, and will not, be silenced. We will cry for freedom, equality, and our basic, guaranteed rights, and those cries will be heard, and will ring, in the ears of every man, woman, and child until the day we can say that equality is not only our own, but belongs to every person in this great nation of ours that has no choice but to side with its people.

I am twenty-two years old, and I am relatively young to some, and old to others. My generation has seen a lot for being alive for just so long. We have been long counted out, up until this year, for not having strong voices of Change, for not having the power to bring about the things of which we dream and think, and for being uninterested and uneducated.

The truth is, however, that we are strong. We are just as strong as everyone else here, and I am certain that every person before me is just as capable and willing as the next. Every one of us is strong, and every one of us has a voice. We hold the power, as citizens of a nation that we can believe in and that can believe in us. We are the power. We are not one small group of people wishing the gain the acceptance of others, but we are the people.

I believe in our future, and I believe in our ability, but none of that can come to fruition without us acting as one voice created by many people who have the right, and need, to speak.

This is a call, to anyone than can hear me, for starting another Era of Change. The air is right and the time is now. The first time we stood up and made ourselves heard, we were amid the protests against the Vietnam War and against segregation. Now, we have the momentum of Change happening all around us. Let us turn the electricity running through us all, for having brought our first African-American into office, for feeling disenfranchised by our own economy, and for fighting war being unnecessarily fought, into heat and energy to take our voices, and hopes, and aspirations directly to Capitol Hill. Our government can fight for us, and it will have no choice but to as long as we are strong and clear. Tell our representatives that the future of marriage in this state, or any other, cannot have the same fate. Tell Kay Hagan, Bev Perdue, and Barack Obama that we deserve better, and a more just and bright future. Tell strangers that you fear for the future of your loved ones and friends. Tell friends that they must help you. Tell family and loved ones that their support is better than anyone else’s, for you and for all of us.

Let it be known that this is the first step onto a road that will be rocky and uneven. We cannot be sure of how long it will take, and we cannot predict the perils that await us, but we can be certain that as long as we are strong and never give up, the road will have no other option than that of ending in our success. We are strong, and we believe in ourselves, and just as those before us that felt the same way, we will have our day of victory, where we can cheer in elation, saying to each other “We are no longer a part of a mute second-class, but we are boisterous, jubilant citizens just as everyone else.” "

Une nouvelle partie de notre Histoire...

Hier soir, Barack Obama était élu le prochain Président des États-Unis, et le premier qui est noir.

Je ne pourrais pas être plus content.

En travaillant...

En travaillant heir, j'ai rencontré trois femmes françaises!

Elles se parlaient, et j'ai entendu le français, mais pour être certain, j'ai demandé à une femme d'où elle était. Elle a dit "la France," et j'ai dit "C'est super! J''étudie le français à l'université." Elle a dit, "Really?"

J'était fâché, parce que c'était clair que je parlais le français, et elle continuait à parler en anglais.

Mais, son amie me parlait en français, et elle, une française, m'a dit que je parle TRÈS BIEN le français!

C'est génial! J'était très content à l'entendre.

Peut-être c'est vantand à écrire ça, mais comme le français est ma matière principale et je ne peux jamais profiter de l'occasion pour parler le français impromptu à Greensboro, ça m'a rondu très heureux.

Mon mot préféré...

En lisant le livre "French, or Foe?" j'ai trouvé, dans Chapitre 12, une article de l'émission "Apostrophes." Dans cette article, Platt a parlé de l'émission finale où plusieurs gens respectés ont dit leur mot préféré et pourquoi ils ont choisi ce mot.

J'ai commencé à penser à mon mot préféré en anglais et en français.

En anglais, c'est "explode." J'aime le son de "x," comme "k" et "s". Et, le son de "p" avant "l" crée une sensation verbale comme une explosion. C'est génial, ça.

En français, je crois que c'est "rendu" ou "rendre." Ce mot a beaucoup de sens, mais chaqu'un est très important et fort. Ce verbe laisse suposer qu'il y avait beaucoup de travail pour accomplir quelque chose. Ou, ça veut dire "vomir", et c'est drôle.

La nourriture thaï...

Je viens de mager la nourriture thaï pour la première fois avec ma sœur et ses amis.

C’étais génial. Il y avait du riz, des noix de cajou, des œufs, et des ananas. J'ai trop manger, mais c'étais tellement difficile à arrêter de manger cette nourriture délicieuse.

Et, le restau où nous mangions était à l’émission « Sex and the City » !

Mais, je n'ai pas encore bu de café. Donc, pour aller mieux, il faut trouver un café.

Pendant le début de mes vacances...

Je suis en train de prendre le train. (Haha ! Comprends-tu ?) Je vais à New York City pour rendre visite à ma sœur, Ashley, qui habite à Brooklyn.

La dernière fois que je suis allé à New York City, j’ai pris le train avec Ashley. C’était amusant comme nous parlions et nous regardais les films. Mais, cette fois, je suis seul et, pour la plupart, ennuyé. J’ai beaucoup de devoirs à faire, mais je viens de commencer mon congé ! Je ne veux pas faire actuellement mes devoirs. Donc, j’écoute la musique, j’écris, et je lis « The Economist ».

Hier soir, ma mère m’a envoyé à un magasin pour procurer des feuilles de papier. Au magasin, il y avait un bel homme qui, après me donner les feuilles, parlait par téléphone. Quand j’étais prêt à partir, il s’est levé la main pour m’arrêter. Il a fini sa conversation, et a commencé à me poser des questions. Il connaissait ma mère, donc il me connaissait un peu. Il m’a demandé si j’aimais les arts, et j’ai dit « oui ». Il m’a dit qu’il était poète professionnelle.

Qu’est-ce que c’est, ça, une poète professionnelle ?

Il m’a dit qu’il avait un spectacle Off-Off-Broadway, et que des poèmes des siennes se jouaient sur NPR plusieurs fois.

Ça, c’est une poète professionnelle.

Nous buvions du vin ce soir-là chez lui, et nous écoutions le hip-hop. C’était génial, parce que mon ex me manque toujours. J’ai tant besoin d’oublier ces jours heureux. Ses souris. Ses ris. Ses beaux yeux bruns. Chaque partie de lui qui m’inspire à l’aimer plus. Chaque fois que nous nous parlons, je me souviens les soirs que nous passions ensemble. Ça fait longtemps depuis j’ai aimé quelqu’un comme ça. La dernière fois, mon cœur s’est cassé.

Mais, j’ai trouvé que c’est plus difficile que connaître les autres gens, oublier mon amour. C’est une question de me recasser le cœur et le réparer.

La poète était trop bohémienne, je crois. Il n’avait aucun portable ! Quel diable vit sans portable ?

Un autre clip...

Ces mecs-ci sont super-beaux, et ils viennent de la France!

Le clip "Give It 2 Me" de Madonna

Des images...

Je viens de Washington, D.C., et cette photo et de DuPont Circle, mon lieu préféré à cette ville.

Cette photo est de mes amis et moi prenons des poses.

Le premier jour...

Aujourd'hui, j'aí créé mon blog pendant ma classe de français. Je m'asseyais à côté du garçon que je viens de quitter. Nous sommes amis maintenant, mais il me manque. Nous étions ensemble chaque jour, et maintenant je le vois deux ou trois fois par semain.

C'est la torture, languir après lui comme ça.