Since the last episode of this show, I can report two positive things: First, I did indeed spend less time doom scrolling and therefore alleviate much of the anxiety and stress I had been feeling for months. And second, I finished a number of excellent books, many of which you can find on my Bookshop.org page which I’ve listed in the show notes, and also returned to review a few other books I’ve enjoyed in the past few years, including the excellent work by today’s guest. Jess McHugh is an American journalist in Paris and the author of Americanon: An Unexpected U.S. History in Thirteen Bestselling Books. With smart storytelling anchored in unbelievably detailed reporting, the book explores the history of thirteen bestselling books and also how these ubiquitous titles have informed, influenced, and updated American ideals at crucial moments in history.

Mentioned in this episode: 

My Bookshop.org selection 

Americanon: An Unexpected U.S. History in Thirteen Bestselling Books 

Jess McHugh on Twitter

Jess’s story on bison

Read an excerpt from Americanon

There’s no guest for today’s episode. Instead, I wanted to talk about a topic I was recently asked to write about for Elle magazine in France. And that’s the subject of tipping and tip culture. Given that tourism across France is back in a big way and the French themselves are back to traveling beyond their borders, the question of if and how much to tip has resurfaced. Because my story was in French, I had some requests to discuss the theme in English. So here we go! I hope it helps as you travel. 

Mentioned in this episode / Sources:

Faut-il laisser un pourboire? Combien? 

Danny Meyer ends his no-tipping policy 

Minimum wage in France

I was reared on stand up comedians. Growing up, I was exposed to the greats: George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Robin Williams, Eddie Murphy and Chris Rock. My near religious weeknight ritual with my father was watching the Daily Show with Jon Stewart and being permitted to watch The Chapelle Show even though the subject matter was Arguably a bit inappropriate for a young teen. But when I first moved to Paris, I all but lost that connection. The bonding power of comedy. The most beloved french comics just didn’t hit the same way. It wasn’t until years later, when an English comic named Paul Taylor came up for his What the Fuck France series, that I started to seek out more of that world. And fortunately, there’s now a robust English language comedy scene in Paris that feels on the cusp of international recognition. One of the leading voices of that movement is todays guest, the very very funny American comic Sarah Donnelly.

Mike Birbiglia 

Paul Taylor 

God Save My English series on Audible 

Sarah on TikTok 

Picard take on TikTok 

The Only American in Paris show (tickets)

Shirley Souagnon 

Drôle on Netflix (Standing Up) 

Barbès Comedy Club

Paname Comedy Club 

I’m back after a little break to visit family in the states and return to Paris just in time to get knocked out with covid for a week. I’m sounding more like myself and ready to record new interviews for the remainder of season 5! So thanks for your patience. To kick things back off, I’m joined today by someone with a mission to fill in the gaps where French authorities fall alarmingly short. Kryssandra Heslop is the co-founder of the non-profit called Soul Food, an organization she launched in 2018 to expose migrant youth to cultural events and artistic environments, meals, and language activities, in an effort to provide intellectual and cultural stimulation, facilitate positive integration experiences and encourage novel levels of autonomy in their new home country. On top of that, they also create opportunities for cultural exchange between migrant youth and local French teenagers. Kryssandra joins me today to talk about building this mission, who she and her co-founder are helping, and the challenges specific to carrying out this project in France.

Soul Food 

Support Soul Food

Soul Food MERCH

This episode was recorded April 25, the day after the conclusion of the 2022 French presidential election. That means, the first day of knowing Macron will continue to govern France after his first term officially ends on May 13. To some, this feels like a bandaid on a gaping wound. To others, a sign that reason has won. Whatever your perspective, there’s a lot to discuss about this experience and what Macron means for us moving forward. I’m joined today by someone I’ve wanted to invite on the show for a long time — Chris O’Brien, an American journalist in the Paris region who has reported about technology, innovation, and entrepreneurship for more than 20 years. He previously covered Silicon Valley for the LA Times and brings a deep understanding of start-up culture and technology to the French landscape. We talk about the way the global media has helped normalise extremists, Macron’s highs and lows, the French tech scene’s evolution, and what to know about Macron’s second chapter.

Mentioned in this episode: 

Chris on Twitter

Chris's viral twitter thread about the NYT’s obsession with Marine Le Pen

The French Tech Journal

Understanding life in France and the foundation on which identity is based, requires an understanding of certain words, themes, and ideas. Words like terroir, laïcité, entrepreneur, and travail, among countless others. Grasping their complexity is not only important to cultural integration but to being able to navigate daily life. It’s also the focus of a podcast called Navigating the French, hosted by fellow journalist Emily Monaco. She joins me, the day after the first round vote for President, to discuss the words and ideas worth knowing in order to make sense of this election, the candidates, and how the population feels about both.

Navigating the French podcast

Emily on Instagram

Salon de l’Agriculture: politically charged

One of the first English-language journalists in Paris covering women’s issues both in France and abroad that I first connected with online was today’s guest, Megan Clement. Her reporting has appeared in The Guardian, Bloomberg, The Sydney Morning Herald, Al Jazeera, The New Humanitarian and many other publications. She is now editing Impact, a bilingual weekly newsletter dispatch by Les Glorieuses, which may be familiar to you if you’ve read my second book, covering feminist movements and women’s rights worldwide. She also teaches journalism at the Sorbonne Nouvelle.

Given our impending Presidential election, the repercussions of the pandemic on women and their advancement, and the ongoing struggle to curb violence against women, it felt like the right time to discuss it all with Megan.

Mentioned in this episode:

The Wolfpack case Spain

Malta’s view on abortion

Malta continued

Impact interview with Mariana Ardila on Colombia’s historic abortion victory 

The situation for women in Poland

One of my goals with The New Parisienne was to highlight the richness of talent coming from women in and around the capital. There’s tremendous creativity, knowledge, innovation, and inspiration and it’s these women and so many others who fuel my own work and thinking. Rahaf Harfoush, one of the women in the book and a longtime friend, is one of the women I admire and whose research, writing, and thinking on technology and the culture of work has been endlessly illuminating.

She joins me today to talk about the research she’s been doing, her work with a French commission on the digital space, and how we can all exert control over technology’s impact on our daily lives.

Rahaf Harfoush's work

Running a restaurant in Paris is fraught in the best of times but the last several years have presented additional challenges. Some have closed as a result but I’m happy to report that many of the city’s best independently run establishments spanning street food to fine dining have held on and even grown stronger. I know my own desire to support them has grown — certainly a result of having experienced more than 6 consecutive months of restaurant closures between 2020-2021 — as well as my desire for more immersive, memorable dining experiences. One of two meals that delivered that for me in the last year was at Comice, a contemporary family-owned fine dining restaurant in the 16th arrondissement run by Canadians Noam Gedalof, the chef, and today’s guest, Etheliya Hananova, the sommelier. She talks about the journey from Montreal to Paris, the type of dining environment she and Noam set out to create, and what it means to be working in wine, in Paris, on her own terms.

Links:

With less than three months to the French presidential election, 59 days to the first round to be exact, there are a number of worrying discussions taking place online and in the media that risk distracting from the most pressing issues for French citizens but have taken up considerable airtime. In 2020, that was the controversial idea of islamo-gaucmhisme, or islamo-leftism. Since, the buzzword in heavy rotation trotted out by talking heads and politicians has become wokism, a term that has become completely bastardised and distorted from its original meaning, weaponised in political discourse and used pejoratively to condemn both political correctness and perceived excesses of social and racial justice movements. All across Europe, the anti woke brigade has been in full force and that includes France.

To talk about this term, how we got here, how it has been weaponised, what it means moving forward, particularly as we anticipate election debates, I’m joined by Cole Stangler, a French-American journalist who regularly covers labor and politics.

Mentioned in this episode:

France's New Culture Warriors (Cole for The Nation) 

France is Becoming More like America. It's Terrible. (Cole for NYT)