Leaving the US
Starting from Zero - Unfurnished Apartments in France
How a bare apartment, an old lamp, and a secondhand sofa taught us the true cost—and charm—of moving abroad.
Keith Christiansen
Soundtrack
Songs About England (From the Wrong Side of the Channel)
Featuring Petula Clark’s big-screen optimism, Nino Ferrer’s psych-funk wanderings, and Robert Darthez’s radio-age charm — a little chanson, a little pop, a little strange
Leaving the US
The Distance from America, Measured in Headlines
From France to England, revisiting the decision not to return to the U.S.—and what’s changed since
Table & Foraging
Road Wine & Mealtime Mysteries
What to Drink, When to Eat & There’s Always a Sausage in France
Leaving the US
This is Not America
Memory, myth, and what burns after the fireworks
american culture france
Claude McKay and Banjo: A Story Without a Plot in 1920s Marseilles
Claude McKay, Marseille, and Visible Lives in a decade of erasure
Soundtrack
Second Life Disco and France's Alternate Musical Universe
Disco is different in France - and so are a lot of other genres
Soundtrack
The Immortal Schmaltz of Johnny Hallyday
Ubiquitous, committed and completely without irony, Johnny was France's rock icon
leaving america
Not the plan, but the routine
Living in Europe was never the dream. But here I am, sorting archives, mispronouncing things, and learning how to stay.
american expat
Fighting with Scissors
Currency math, collapsing trust, and a kid with no depth perception: why I paid full price for a bad haircut and can’t finish a single thought anymore
american culture france
Hemingway, Myth, and the Paris We Thought We Knew
Paris, on Hemingway’s Terms - Masculinity, Myth, and an "American" France
Expat Life Challenges
Fragments of a French Life
For the curious, the relocated, and anyone making sense of a new place, one story at a time.