{ chrislip.com/matthew : blog }
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28 July 2007
{ À la piscine }
Today I bought a real swimming suit—not shorts—and a swim cap so I could go to the public pool behind our building. (They may not shower every day, but the French take their pool hygiene very seriously.) Putting on my suit and stepping out into the immensity of the unknown (the public pool) was a most gratifying experience. Apprehension turned to hesitation, then to a sense of determination, liberation, and exhilaration.Happiness, thy name is Speedo.
[ posted by Matthew Chrislip at 13:07 : 1 comments :
]18 July 2007
{ Ce que j'adore }
1. Drive-by love affairs with towns that have names like 'Moon sur Elle.'2. Towns with medieval architecture and solar-powered parking meters.
3. Pausing in the middle of an early morning run along the beach to go swimming.
4. Short shorts.
5. Bibs.
[ posted by Matthew Chrislip at 18:22 : 0 comments :
]16 July 2007
{ Civilization }
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[ posted by Matthew Chrislip at 17:38 : 1 comments :
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{ D-Day }
Three years ago, as I walked through the American Cemetery at Omaha Beach in Normandy (site of the allied invasion of occupied France on D-Day), I had almost no emotional reaction. Now, returning to the cemetery and passing the thousands upon thousands of small white gravestones, I couldn't keep myself from crying. It wasn't out of nationalistic pride or gratitude that I cried. Rather, I ached with a more universal grief, a grief that resented my own inability to comprehend.My reaction was even stronger at la Pointe du Hoc, where clusters of tourists weave through mortar craters and shattered cement fortifications, complaining about the weather through forced smiles while they pose for photos next to piles of splintered debris now partially obscured by grass and weeds. To photograph the landscape seems almost redundant, in that it perfectly captures and documents its own sudden, total devastation. Visually, the similarity to ancient ruins is striking; contextually and historically, the contrast is sobering. These are the ruins of modern "civilization," erected and destroyed almost simultaneously.
[ posted by Matthew Chrislip at 17:30 : 0 comments :
]
{ Accessorize }
A round, gray-haired man sitting across from me on the train fiddled with his narrow metro ticket. Two pairs of glasses hung around his neck, their cords slightly tangled. He titled back his head, glanced at me from under his sagging eyelids, and looked back down at his ticket. He very carefully slid the ticket under his wedding ring, adjusting it until he was satisfied with its placement. He smiled, discreetly, and inspected his outstretched hand. He eventually grew comfortable enough with his new accessory to focus his attention elsewhere, but he looked down at the ticket every few minutes to remind himself of his own ingenuity.
[ posted by Matthew Chrislip at 16:00 : 0 comments :
]12 July 2007
{ La bicyclette }
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[ posted by Matthew Chrislip at 12:10 : 1 comments :
]
{ La maison }
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[ posted by Matthew Chrislip at 12:08 : 0 comments :
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