In a bid to manage her activities as an entertainer, China l Free Art He opposed the HADOPI law[1] in and has supported the French free software community saying that the purpose of art is not to make money but conscience, and it is the duty of any author to promote the free dissemination of this conscience. Rentre chez toi Toi mon vieux copain Amis d'en France Coup de foudre Lettres persanes is a literary work, written in , by Charles de Secondat, baron de Montesquieu, recounting the experiences of two Persian noblemen, Usbek and Rica, who are traveling through France.
During the trip and their long stay in Paris — , they comment, in letters exchanged with friends and mullahs, on numerous aspects of Western, Christian society, particularly French politics and Moors, ending with a biting satire of the System of John Law. Over time, various disorders surface back in the seraglio, and, beginning in Letter [] , the situation there rapidly unravels.
Usbek orders his head eunuch to crack down, but his message does not arrive in time, and a revolt bri In short, Barruel wrote that the French Revolution was planned and executed by the secret societies. He entered the Society of Jesus, commonly known as the Jesuits, in , and taught grammar at Toulouse from The storm against the Jesuits in France drove him from his country and he was occupied in college work in Moravia and Bohemia until the suppression of the order in He then returned to France and his first literary work appeared in Ode sur le glorieux avenement de Louis Auguste au trone.
Ode to the glorious advent to the throne of Louis Auguste. That same year he became Delphine Minoui born is a French journalist specializing in the Iranian world. She has also directed and collaborated on several documentaries. She recently wrote about Nojoud Ali, the first little girl to get divorced in Yemen. Jeunesse d'Iran; Les Voix du changement.
Demay, Layla; Watrin, Laure. Seized vessels and cargo were sold at auction, with the corsair captain entitled to a portion of the proceeds. Although not French Navy personnel, corsairs were considered legitimate combatants in France and allied nations , provided the commanding officer of the vessel was in possession of a valid letter of marque lettre de marque or lettre de course, the latter giving corsairs their name , and the officers and crew conducted themselves according to contemporary admiralty law.
By acting on behalf of the French Crown, if captured by the enemy, they could in principle claim treatment as prisoners of war, instead of being considered pirates. Because corsairs gained a swashbuckling reputation, the word "corsair" is also used generically as a more romantic or flamboyant way of referring to privateers, or He was known as the composer of the Seychelles national anthem from until , Fyer Seselwa. He also envisaged the Seychelles Music Festival in Retrieved August 22, Hodoul, Jacques July 12, Publications Lettres sur la Bibliographie instructive de M.
Lettre International is the title of a number of cultural magazines published in various languages in Europe. The history of Lettre International dates back to , the year that the original French edition Lettre Internationale first came out. Publication of the French magazine ceased in The corresponding German Lettre International, founded by Frank Berberich, has come out continuously since its inception in This was followed by the establishment of an Italian edition, Lettera Internazionale and a Spanish one, Letra Internacional The German Lettre International was founded in Shortly after the upheavals of , intellectuals in Central and Eastern Europe joined the project and established editions of Lettre International in their respective languages.
At most, Lettre International came out in twelve different versions at once, but some editions eventually Arnaud Giovaninetti 3 July — 25 January was a French actor. His father Reynald was a composer. Retrieved 23 February Overview From to he travelled in France, Switzerland and Italy, and on his return to Paris published a paper entitled Essai critique sur la topographie de Syracuse, designed to elucidate Thucydides.
Thoroughly English words of French origin, such as art, competition, force, machine, money, police, publicity, role, routine and table, are pronounced according to English rules of phonology, rather than French, and are commonly used by English speakers without any consciousness of their French origin.
This article, on the other hand, covers French words and phrases that have entered the English lexicon without ever losing their character as Gallicisms: They are most common in written English, where they retain French diacritics and are usually printed in italics. In spoken English, at least some attempt is generally made to pronounce them as they would sound in French; an entirely English pronunciation is regard He became a laureate of several of France's highest literary awards and also won the U. After being demobilised from the French Air Force, he travelled to the United States to help persuade its government to enter the war against Nazi Germany.
Following a month hiatus in North America, during which he wrote three of his most important works, he joined the Free Frenc He was mainly responsible for translating the philosophy of Immanuel Kant into the French language. Life Villers was born in Boulay-Moselle, France. He attained the rank of captain.
Like other officers of that era, such as the artillery colonel Armand Marie Jacques de Chastenet of Puysegur, he became interested in animal magnetism. Dorothea was a pioneering female intellectual, the first woman to gain a doctors degree in Germany. Villers moved in with He composed a tragedy entitled Orphanis , which was favorably received, but could not stay in the theater.
He made several works, among others a Histoire de Russie, in 2 vol. He was preparing to give a complete ed He was a member and a vice-president of the Front National, and was among the Non-Inscrits until the formation of the Identity, Tradition, Sovereignty Group in the European Parliament. He sits on its Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development. Martinez is also a substitute for the Committee on Budgets, a member of the delegation to the Euro-Mediterranean Parliamentary Assembly, and a substitute for the delegation for relations with the countries of Central America.
He had a filial relationship with Henri Arnold Seyrig who became and remained his mentor. He was a member of the Institut de France. He also headed a research center until Biography Rivarol was born in Bagnols, Languedoc. It appears that his father, an innkeeper, was a cultivated man. The son assumed the title of comte de Rivarol, asserting a connection with a noble Italian family, although his enemies said his name was really Riverot and that he was not of a noble family.
After various vicissitudes, he went to Paris in and won some academic prizes. She had translated some works by Samuel Johnson and Johnson had become a friend of her family. Antoine Rivarol abandoned his wife after a short relationship which resulted in the birth of a son. Antoine was unable to q The show is a contest to determine the best young singer in La Francophonie. It was hosted by Benjamin Castaldi. After the first season the show was renamed Nouvelle Star. Sartre wrote that she was one of the reasons that his friendship with Albert Camus went sour.
The story of a friendship and the quarrel that ended it. University of Chicago Press. In he launched a similar but more luxuriously-produced journal Mesures, with the patronage of Henry Church. One of his most famous works of literary criticism was The Flowers of Tarbes, or Terror in Literature , a study of the nature of language in fiction. Although known for his beekeeping activity, he's mostly the inventor of the rescue bomb[1][2] at the end of 18th century.
Historian, Dena Goodman thinks it started as a manuscript newsletter emanating from Paris. Thus, although the entries bear exact dates, they were not published until long after the events they describe. Noma Award for Publishing in Africa To see what your friends thought of this book, please sign up. To ask other readers questions about So Long a Letter , please sign up. Indeed this is a very interesting book which is thought provoking. Asking what are the specific challenges women go through and how do women cope with such challenges?
Francis Muleya Perhaps it may be more specific to refer to these challenges within their cultural context. It also asks what the specific problems men cause in …more Perhaps it may be more specific to refer to these challenges within their cultural context. Society should redefine morality lest we exacerbate tyranny of men to the darkest hue.
See all 7 questions about So Long a Letter…. Lists with This Book. May 09, Brina rated it really liked it Shelves: I am part of the goodreads group by the same name, and I have made it a long term goal to read as many of the choices as possible. Ba was born in Dakar, Senegal in She attended school and achieved a profession at a time when women in her country had few choices outside of marriage. Ahead of her time, Ba fought for equal rights for men and women both inside of and outside of the home.
So Long A Letter is an autobiographical novella, in which Ba professes her desire to see equality amongst all people come to her country. Ramatoulaye is in the mourning period for her husband Modou. Prior to his death, he abandoned her for a woman half of her age despite having twelve children with her.
Rather than divorcing Ramatoulaye, she becomes a co-wife, which is legal in Muslim Africa. Even though she should be afforded the rights of a head wife, Ramatoulaye does not receive anything from her husband, who is supposedly in love with a new wife young enough to be his daughter. At Modou's funeral, both women are given equal treatment even though he had been married to Ramatoulaye much longer, and in the eyes of her community, she should be receive the majority of compensation.
Unable to cope with her depressed feelings, Ramatoulaye composes a long letter to her dear friend Aissatou, who broke through Senegal's glass ceiling, and is now an ambassador in America. Ramatoulaye pours out her frustration that in Senegal the social system is in place that a girl can either get married out of school or be destined to work in a low paying job as midwife or elementary teacher.
At the time of publication, there were only four women out of one hundred in the Senegalese assembly, assuring that men make the laws that keep women subservient. It is little wonder to Ramatoulaye that her co-wife would marry her husband while still a school girl. This realization does little to mask her feelings, that of a wife abandoned by the husband of her children, who is now struggling to make ends meet.
Suitors come to Ramatoulaye following her mourning period. They assume that she would rather be married to someone she does not love than single. Yet, Ba through Ramatoulaye writes that women should strive to be more than wives and mothers and hope to achieve jobs as doctor, teacher, ambassador, or any profession that a man also does. Ba wrote this in the post colonial period when Senegalese women were first thinking about equality.
Her writing was a means to generate more thinking of this issue in hopes that African women strive to be on equal footing as men. Mariama Ba created a strong female character in Ramatoulaye. She ushered in an era of African women writers who voiced their concerns about treatment of women in society. Unfortunately, Ba passed away shortly after the publication of her second book, but she left a legacy with So Long a Letter, the first African book to win the Noma Award.
A first of its genre, So Long a Letter merits inclusion as a great book by women, and rates 4. View all 12 comments. Jan 09, Cheryl rated it it was amazing Recommends it for: I close my eyes. This is an epistolary; a meditation on life and life's choices. It is an anguished plea from one conservative woman, to her li "Ebb and tide of feeling: It is an anguished plea from one conservative woman, to her liberal best friend who, when faced with the same choice, chose freedom: I listen to the words that create around me a new atmosphere in which I move, a stranger tormented…Cross sections of my life spring involuntarily from my memory, grandiose verses from the Koran, noble words of consolation fight for my attention I read this book as a high school student in Liberia, and I still remember how it seemed to taunt me: Une si longue lettre.
The ebb and flow of this book is somewhat unique, as is its syntax and nuance. It is also one of those books that loses some of its power through translation, but there is no mistaking its cultural and universal penetration. She is not just an African woman a Senegalese ; she is not just a Muslim woman. She is every woman. The moment you start reading this book you understand how her problems are universal, and why this book has become a statement of gender struggles; an ode to the inner turmoil any woman could experience at such a midlife change: I had lost my slim figure, as well as ease and quickness of movement.
My stomach protruded from beneath the wrapper that hid the calves developed by the impressive number of kilometres walked since the beginning of my existence. Suckling had robbed my breasts of their round firmness. I could not delude myself: She is not just the product of a polygamous marriage.
She was the other half of a two-decade marriage, when she was suddenly informed by relatives, that her husband had just married her daughter's best friend. She was not only forced into becoming a first wife--as is often said in blurbs of this book--but she was abandoned and her twelve children forgotten, when her husband left his home to parlay the town with his young wife. This is not about a woman who must become the head wife of a bigger family, this is about a woman discarded by a man who pretends to do right by his religion, but in actuality, has done right by his vital organ.
Every night when he went out he would unfold and try on several of his suits before settling on one. The others, impatiently rejected, would slip to the floor. I would have to fold them again and put them back in their places; and this extra work, I discovered, I was doing only to help him in his effort to be elegant in his seduction of another woman. The idea that she still loves this man, is searing, but understandable. The thought of her still holding on to that life, unbearable.
This theme of choice is an educational debate and exploration that takes place through the mothers and daughters of this novel: A daughter who wants her mother to leave an unhealthy marriage; a best friend who did leave and start a better life away from home; a woman who left her country, only to find that she would never be at home in her husband's country; an unmarried daughter who had to decide her unborn child's fate. There is a saying that discord here may be luck elsewhere.
Why are you afraid to make the break? She became a pioneer for women's rights. A Senegalese writer and schoolteacher who believed that the writer of a developing country needed to be the voice for the voiceless and speak out against archaic customs, she chose to do so through her fiction and main character, who is thankful for the women who were able to accomplish what she could not: I am not indifferent to the irreversible currents of women's liberation that are lashing the world. This commotion that is shaking up every aspect of our lives reveals and illustrates our abilities.
My heart rejoices each time a woman emerges from the shadows. View all 19 comments. Sep 11, Paul rated it it was amazing Shelves: A brief, well-crafted novella in the form of a letter between two middle-aged friends. The writer is Ramatoulaye; her husband, has died suddenly and she is has to remain in seclusion for four months and ten days as per her religious strictures Islamic. The recipient is her friend Aissatou. Both women have had husband problems. She had divorced him as a result and had left to make a new life in America.
She recounts and comments on the history of herself and her friend, setting out the role of women in Senegal pre and post-independence. It is beautifully written and is a testament to friendship. Ba is also analysing polygamy and the way men use religious tradition to gratify and justify their desires. The two women manage the problem differently, but both respect the others choices. Her behaviour is conditioned: The end of the letter focusses more on the next generation and the way Ramatoulaye manages the tensions of a new generation with different expectations.
Ba also focuses on how the traditional cycle can change and be broken, but in a way that reflects her own culture rather than importing western solutions. Various signs associated with sound: Juxtaposition of words from which springs the idea. Though, History, Science, Life, Sole instrument of interrelationships and of culture, unparalleled means of giving and receiving. Books knit generations together in the same continuing effort that leads to progress. They enabled you to better yourself. What society refused you, they granted: The School of Interpreters, from which you graduated, led to your appointment into the Senegalese Embassy in the United States.
You make a very good living. You are developing in peace, as your letters tell me, your back resolutely turned on those seeking light enjoyment and easy relationships. The letter progresses from colonial to post-colonial times and Ba notes how for women to progress they to access education and there is a similar movement from oppression and towards freedom. The novella could easily be read in one sitting, it is full of human warmth and wisdom and well worth taking time to read.
View all 7 comments. Jul 27, Aubrey rated it it was amazing Shelves: Each profession, intellectual or manual, deserves consideration, whether it requires painful physical effort or manual dexterity, wide knowledge or the patience of an ant. Ours, like that of a doctor, does not allow for any mistake. You don't joke with life, and life is both body and mind. To warp a soul is as much a sacrilege as murder.
A comparison to Sleepless Nights is not too far apace, for what is more familiar of the epistolary form is counterbalanced by a less novelized perspective, exp Each profession, intellectual or manual, deserves consideration, whether it requires painful physical effort or manual dexterity, wide knowledge or the patience of an ant. A comparison to Sleepless Nights is not too far apace, for what is more familiar of the epistolary form is counterbalanced by a less novelized perspective, expanding that much often abused 'difficult' to include a reader's blinkers with the usual linguistic fireworks.
There is also the saturation to consider; ninety pages of pedagogy, politics, much maligned Islam and a little less so emotional turmoil, complete with footnotes to account for the barriers of language, culture, skin and gender. In this, one must consider all the works of this country and continent that did not make it to the lists of GBBW, , all those one will never know on what schemes of quality they fell short.
The best of the best of the best are the only ones fit for global perusal, perhaps, but the childhood favorites? The soap opera pleasures? The quick and easy casual reading that says much more of a writer who reads them than the factory produced lists of classics, enough to necessitate a covering with 'guilt'? I wonder, sometimes, what works the elite of Senegal scoff at, which ones they covet with false delight, what familiar lines of public engagement with literature I see only in the Anglo world and am missing everywhere else.
I read a piece like hers that pulls out from my subconscious names like Woolf and Evans Eliot for those who have not yet caught up and wonder whether I am understanding the inspired or translating a familiar breed of inspiration. Perhaps it is because this work has less of fellow Senegalese lit God's Bits of Wood 's preoccupation with what is Euro and what is self, but when one searches a rare combination of demographic and finds a love, one must not be content with a lone mascot.
It does a disservice to literature to treat with it as a fill-in-the-blank, rather than a living entity that existed long before you and will continue long after you're gone. I see I've gone and not talked much about this work I say is amazing. Well, the prose is beauteous, the plot treats with an entirety of life probed in a delightfully full and empathetic manner, intellect couples wondrously with love, different choices of life do not feel the need to compete with the other, the old is there and is understood, the new is there and adapted to, pain heals slow and sure and friendship is raised to the heights it deserves.
A personal bonus was the Muslim feminism that the temper of these times call for so desperately along with so many other categories of the written word, but I've spent enough time on the quagmires of representation. For more practical folk, this is rather short and super cheap a tome, so without reservations, experience away. The power of books, this marvelous invention of astute human intelligence. Juxtaposition of words from which springs the idea, Thought, History, Science, Life.
Sole instrument of interrelationships and of culture, unparalleled means of giving and receiving. View all 6 comments. Mariama Ba has crammed into less than one hundred pages a luminously beautiful reflection of an intelligent, wilful, self-assured middle-aged woman painfully conscious of the limits of her power in a patriarchal society, that is also a hymn to the glory of friendship between women and to the strength, courage, imagination, tenderness and sensuality of women as whole human beings interconnected to lovers, children, family members and friends.
The language is elegant, fragrant of the rich, ringing Mariama Ba has crammed into less than one hundred pages a luminously beautiful reflection of an intelligent, wilful, self-assured middle-aged woman painfully conscious of the limits of her power in a patriarchal society, that is also a hymn to the glory of friendship between women and to the strength, courage, imagination, tenderness and sensuality of women as whole human beings interconnected to lovers, children, family members and friends.
The language is elegant, fragrant of the rich, ringing tones and delicate formality of French. Ramatoulaye comes across as educated, forceful, passionate yet self-controlled. The strength and depth of her character are what make this so essential in my opinion, it is her voice, sounding out with her whole, mature, self-knowing being behind it, adding to its resonance. He who scorns her or seeks to dominate her can only be held in contempt. Readers might object that she is just too perfect a character, but her ability to analyse, critique and narrate her situation and make choices against the grain is a radiant contrast with the images of women as hapless or helpless victims in so much literature.
Jan 16, K. Mariama Ba was a Senegalese novelist, teacher, activist and feminist. During her lifetime she was only able to publish this book. The book is basically a long series of lette Mariama Ba was a Senegalese novelist, teacher, activist and feminist. The book is basically a long series of letters that a newly widowed woman, Ramatoulaye wrote to her friend Aissatou. The two women have basically different views on many things related to being a woman in Africa. For example, Ramatoulaye is the martyr-type as she tolerates that her philandering husband Modou Fall falls and marries a younger woman Binetou.
Aissatou on the other hand, leaves her husband Mawdo the moment Aissatou learns that Mawdo has another woman. They are Muslims in Africa so it is allowed to have many wives and this, plus the many gender-discrimating issues, are what Mariama Ba fought when she was still on earth.
The book is written in an sad-outpouring-of-emotions kind of way. Ramatoulaye has just been widowed and her pain can be glimpsed from Ba's incandescent prose. It is like Ramatoulaye's reevaluation of her life as she is about to start a life without her husband that despite all his shortcomings, she misses. It tackles not only about their husband and wife relationship but also the place of African women in all the schemes of things. Through Ramatoulaye, Ba was able to state her case: They for me, are among the extremely talented female feminist novelists.
View all 8 comments. Oct 12, Christopher rated it liked it. If I'm being honest, I want to like this more than I do. And it's not the subject matter or prose, it's the orientation. There's an awkward angle I just can't shake. This novella is in epistolary form: Both women have been transformed by their husbands' decision to make them co-wives. Ramatoulaye, our heroine, recounts her strug If I'm being honest, I want to like this more than I do.
Ramatoulaye, our heroine, recounts her struggles, and seems to gain strength as the novel-time progresses. She is not preachy or polemical. She emanates a solid core of determined self-respect whose authenticity provides the spongy outer layer which soaks up difficulties, insulating her from the criticism of her life-ways and decisions that are often at odds with her patriarchal society.
So what's wrong then? Well, and I admit this may be a minor quibble, I guess I just wanted it to be better crafted. I kept looking for ways to justify awkward details in the letter i. Ramatoulaye recounts details of her relationship with Aissatou that would be needless if the letter were truly written for her. We want to empower our students, and focus on the joy of learning. These classes are free of grades, tests, and formal assignments. Instead, students are able to design their own work, collaborate with peers, and turn to instructors for guidance as needed.
Classes range from yoga to geometry, social justice studies to sculpture, and songwriting to cooking. The students are able to select. In the spring, she proudly shared her completed three-video series. So even though our videos are only about 30 seconds each, they took a lot of work! We want to empower our students, and focus on the joy of learning," shares Fabrice Urrizalqui, Middle School Principal. One of her favorite projects centered around the sculpting of foods, in which everyone in the class participated. We got to run the program ourselves, just like it was CNN.
We wrote all of our scripts, picked the subjects, and even got to use the camera. The program is not predominantly focused on theory; rather, the goal is to make the students feel like musicians. Theory is a part of making music and being a musician, but so is, perhaps most delightfully, feeling. In lower school music classes, students in grades work on rhythm, create melodies, and experiment with sound on xylophones, drums, and other percussion instruments.
Musical performance is a treasured part of the experience, and concerts are performed throughout the year to showcase the talents and milestones of our younger students. In spring, 1st graders presented a Music Around the World performance, guiding parents on a treasure hunt. In one of the regions, parents found students singing in Japanese, playing xylophones, and creating origami. In grades 4 and 5, students presented opera and Charlie Chaplin-themed musical productions, respectively. Outside of the classroom, our 2nd graders joined students from five other Bay Area French schools for the Chorale de la Baie in March.
Listen to their rhythm at www. Through the lower school music program, and with a focus on playing and connecting with music, we encourage collaboration and inspire creativity among our young students, building an appreciation and a foundation for musical development in later years. Under the direction of high school Music teacher Melinda Becker, the Middle School Choir has matured into a finely honed ensemble.
In December, the student singers performed a musical prelude pictured at left to the middle school's bilingual production of The Sacred Hoop, a Native American-inspired play presented later in the spring at the Dallas Multilingual Theater Festival. The concert closed with three film-inspired pieces—including works from Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings—. Still in its early stages, the orchestra, along with the International string quartet and the cast of the spring musical Ghost Quartet, also had the honor of performing for over people at the Academy of International School Heads conference hosted by French American and International.
In Big Love, themes of gender, politics, love, war, duty, and freedom arise throughout the production. Thus, I looked back to the original source material and integrated more of the dense, image-laden poetry from the original Greek play. I worked with the team to create a stripped down production, then encouraged the student-artists to explore full vocal and physi-. The stomping of boots, rolling, leaping, climbing and spinning reflects a raw, physical approach to theater, to create another layer beneath the reasoned arguments and vivid poetry.
Exploring Love With Comedy, Drama, and Satire One of the primary goals of International High School's theater program is a commitment to teaching all facets of theatrical production. In addition to performance opportunities, a key component to the theater experience is learning what is required to put on a show from inception to the opening night curtain. The apex of the four-year International theater program is the opportunity to direct a play. Although granted the freedom to choose their own play, students are encouraged to take on material that not only resonates with them subject-wise, but challenges them artistically.
After reviewing submitted proposals, the theater faculty chooses up to six seniors as student directors, who are then responsible for managing every step of their production process, from auditions to final performance.
Last year's roster of student-directors presented six plays ranging from a lighthearted s drawing room farce, to a complex portrait of loneliness and lost love by the great American playwright, Edward Albee. Wesley reflected on his first-ever directing experience: Set entirely in the back seat of a taxicab, Jay D.
Hanagan's romantic comedy Along For the Ride tells the story of two complete strangers who agree to share a cab, but soon discover that their subconscious selves have come along for the ride as well. Immediately drawn to the hilarity and absurdity of Ives' work, Carly was justifiably pleased with the results. A camera breaks and four friends drink in an interwoven tale spanning seven centuries, with a murderous sister, a treehouse astronomer, a bear, a subway, and the ghost of Thelonious Monk.
First, the haunting contemporary work, with a non-linear and deconstructed structure, was originally written for just four performers. Musical director Phillip Lenberg thus took on. The choice to have student artists not only sing the challenging score, but also play its instrumentation, meant that the team worked relentlessly, starting rehearsals in December. The beautiful vocal work and intricate harmonies were supported by the work of vocal director, Melinda Becker.
To create a flexible, layered staging to support the de-constructed storytelling, director Brad Cooreman staged the piece in the round, using every corner of the Black Box Theater. The production was also supported by a visit from the writer-composer himself, who would be honored with 12 Tony Award nominations just two months later. Malloy came to work with the cast for several days over February break.
Malloy noted his delight imagining the music he had written, playing in our lives and in the background of our minds, here in San Francisco—even as his own life was unfolding far afield, in New York. It also allowed the student team to select the material, including singling out roles and passages that most spoke to them in the casting process.
Brecht holds near mythic status as the socialist and idealist who founded Epic Theater and was exiled by Hitler for his relentless artistic attacks upon the Nazi regime, as exemplified in the two pieces selected. The evening offered a mix of comedic and dramatic, poetic and political, historically rooted and boldly contemporary. It allowed a dynamic ensemble of student artists to expand their artistic palates, and invited audience members to enjoy two great writers—as individual voices, and also in conversation, across time and space.
The annual festival, hosted by the Dallas International School, welcomes students from international schools across the country for a creative, multilingual weekend of theater and workshops. But the preparation of the bilingual production for the festival was entirely student-led; our young thespians were responsible for translating their respective non-Native American parts into French.
As a 9th grader in the school year, she took a more behind-the-scenes role as the assistant director and stage manager. I've made so many new friends and have met so many talented actors. I participated behind the scenes in The Sacred Hoop and it's still so rewarding to see the final product. I definitely recommend all middle school students to try it!
My goal is to direct a scene in the Student-Directed One Act plays my senior year. Nevertheless it was absolutely surreal and amazing to have the opportunity to go to the Grammys and be on stage. When I came to International in 9th grade, my music teacher bought a yangqin for the school so that I could play and, ever since, I've been pursuing this one unconventional passion that I absolutely love," shared Reylon while a senior at International. When Reylon returned to the United States, he spent a couple of months in Cambridge, Massachusetts creating music with the experimental music ensemble San Li.
Reylon is back in California preparing to embark on another international adventure. The Physical Education department organized a half-day athletic event for Kindergarten students in the Oak Street Gymnasium on April 28, It is considered an acrobatico-coreografico sport, made up of three core elements: Mainly, it is characterized by group performance in which each participant leans on and supports the other.
Choreography and acrobatic movements of the individuals—and subsequently the group—are harmonious and in synchronization with the music, requiring students to collaborate and listen to one another. Spotters on the ground are ready to support the flyers if needed. Students choreographed their routine in physical education classes and created their outfits in art. Last year, we went above and beyond by creating a collaborative, cross-disciplinary project that was extremely motivating for our students," shared Marion Cohen, Lower School PE teacher. Together, the students created a spectacle of movement and artistry in the dark with black lights.
MariePierre added, "Throughout the performance, the children demonstrated an extraordinary focus, and developed a strong sense of empowerment, which was quite moving to observe. Within our 22 middle school teams, we are dedicated to developing three main competencies in each of our student-athletes: One of the most important mindsets we develop in our middle school student-athletes is the concept of teamwork.
We believe the team is more important than any one individual player. Our coaches often tell our athletes "it's the name on the front of the jersey that matters most, not the one on the back. Student-athletes begin to understand that good teammates work hard in practices and push each other to succeed, making each other— and the team—better.
Supporting each other and being a positive teammate is a big step toward creating trust between teammates. These actions help the team play better against tough competition. The second area we focus on with our middle schoolers is commitment. Athletes are expected to be at all. We understand there might be the occasional conflict with another activity or academics, especially at this age as they explore different passions.
However, our goal is to empower our student-athletes to communicate with each of their coaches and teachers ahead of time, and take full responsibility for their schedule. In addition, our coaches are committed to making each member of the team feel valued and an integral part of each team's success. Last year, this effort led to increased engagement among our athletes, and they missed less practices and games than in previous years.
The final competency that we focus on teaching our student-athletes is the role of competition within each sport. This is not a focus on winning or losing; rather, it is a mindset that encourages our student-athletes to work hard in both practices and games. Competing helps teach student-athletes to put in consistent effort in order to reach their maximum potential. A high level of hustle, focus, and effort should be something they strive for at all times, whether they are down 20 points or up 20 points in any given game.
When individual players push their physical and mental boundaries, they grow as players and, in turn, challenge the players around them. This helps each team grow as the season progresses. Concentrating on competing in terms of focus, effort, and perseverance—instead of winning and losing—helps student-athletes value the process of improvement rather than measuring their growth and success by the number of wins and losses. The school year brought growth for all teams, and the Jaguars won a remarkable three League Championships.
Fifty-six percent of students in high school participated in at least one athletic team last year, representing a three percent jump from the previous year. The graduating seniors laid a solid foundation for the younger players, and another successful year for the team is expected. The Baseball Team won the League Title last. For the first time this summer, the team competed together in the San Francisco Park and Rec League, building camaraderie and improving team dynamics for the upcoming year.
The team continued to build on their accomplishments last season, competing in the City College League throughout the summer. The team also trained and competed in the SF City College League during the summer to continue building teamwork and maintain momentum for the upcoming season. The Cross Country runners trained.
Team made International proud last year. From stormy weather in the San Francisco Bay to two mile per hour winds in the Newport Harbor, the sailors handled the boats well. In their last regatta in , the team was awarded 2nd place in Silver Fleet by placing 1st in three races! The Spring Sailing Team was an all-female team, and placed 26th out of 55 teams at the end of the season.
“Le titre d'époux, nécessaire à sanctifier aux yeux des autres mon amitié pour vous”: Marriage as Friendship in Lettres de Vallière. 4. "Lettre à France" is a single by French singer Michel Polnareff that was the guilt of Polnareff's man of confidence, always on run at the moment of judgment. Cover of the first edition of Lettre à M. Dacier by Jean-François Champollion. .. vie à l'autre Reptile Ouvrir son cœur Blaïte music Live albums .
They placed 2nd at NCS, and are looking forward to competing for the top spot this year. They finished just one point away from earning a section playoff seed. The JV Team finished with , the best record in the League. The Swim Team enjoyed their season,. They all showed improvement throughout the season, with nearly every swimmer clocking in personal best times.
Emmanuel also medaled in the m gold , m silver , and Shot Put bronze , and Isam earned a gold medal in the m. Emmanuel placed 2nd in the m, and Isam finished 3rd in both the m and m races. As the volleyball teams continue to grow, a third team was added. Playing sports at International was quite the experience, especially for basketball. But during my senior year, we completely changed everything for the better. The team went undefeated in League play and went on to win the League Championship. This was probably my favorite year of playing basketball at International. Also, being an athlete at school helped me make many friendships that probably wouldn't have happened without it.
Of what accomplishments are you particularly proud? I think winning the League Championship and getting a banner was probably the best accomplishment. It showed all the hard work that the team put in throughout the year. And a banner is something that hangs forever. Making it to the Meet of Champions for track was also something that had not been done for a few years at International.
Did your team have any pre-game traditions or rituals? Every night before a game I ate a bowl of Honey Bunches of Oats. And before every basketball game, our team would gather around in a huddle in the locker room and slowly build up a chant. This really helped us loosen up before the games. What advice would you give an incoming student? Play a sport mainly basketball! Those are the easiest ways to make friends and meet new people. These relationships you make last for a long time, and are strengthened every day because you see them during school and after school.
I play baseball and basketball, but baseball is my main sport. My dad started playing with me when I was really young, and I joined my first team when I was 5 years old. What did you enjoy most about playing on the baseball team at International? The dynamic of the team was great. The freshmen really knew what they were doing, and we. We meshed well together, and hung out off the field a lot.
This allowed us to play really well together, and as a result we won the League Championship. How did athletics improve your academic experience? Playing sports made me better with time management. I knew I had to get work done before practice. The teachers are really understanding of the commitment athletics requires, but they definitely expect you to make up the work! Why should an incoming freshman consider playing sports at International? A lot of students here take up sports in high school, so joining freshman year is a good time to learn a new sport.
I play basketball and run track at school. I started basketball in 6th grade, and even played in lower school. My dad is a big fan, and my older sister played basketball for International, too. What have you enjoyed most about athletics at International? We have really great coaches at French American and International. They are such positive influences, and help build team camaraderie on and off the court. Bonding as teammates allows us to play as a cohesive unit. How have athletics improved your academic experience? I think this is because I have a specified amount of time to do the work.
When I get an. All of our teachers are very understanding as long as we work with them and communicate our needs. And our coaches always say school comes first. Will you be continuing sports when you graduate? I hope to play basketball at Brown University. My sister plays there, and it would be a unique experience to play on the team with her during her senior year.
I think playing basketball will help with time management in college as well. What advice would you give an incoming freshman who is considering athletics? Also, participate in off-season training workouts year-round. The Performance Lab really helped my strength and conditioning improve, and has made me a better athlete. For me, playing soccer and badminton was about having fun playing sports with my friends. Being a part of a team was a good way for me to get to know people, especially the freshmen and sophomores as I got older. Overall, I was able to manage my work, and did well on my exams.
What advice would you give an incoming freshman considering playing a sport? Find a good way to balance sports and academics. Focus on grades first, and once the grades are where they need to be, you can focus more on sports. Coaches really stress grades first, and will make sure you have time for school. Learn to utilize your time very wisely, and view athletics as a nice outlet after working all day in the classroom. Let your kids try—they can always go back to just doing schoolwork.
But most players have really good GPAs. Of what accomplishments are you most proud? Over the course of my four years at International, our soccer team improved a lot. We might not have been the most talented team in the League, but we never stopped believing we could win, and never gave up. Even when we were losing 4-nil, there were never any complaints or bad attitudes. How did you balance your athletic commitments with your academics?
I got used to having tight time constraints. As a department, we strive to cultivate leadership qualities in every student-athlete, whether they are League MVP or a beginner to the program. We want to empower our studentathletes to take on leadership roles, big and small. It could be as simple as making sure the water is full before a warm practice or communicating which color jersey to wear for the game the next day. A great leader can also dictate the theme of the season without even saying a word—by being industrious, dedicated, and playing with pride every single day.
On this day, we invite all high school student-athletes, regardless of grade or sport, to participate in a fun day of team bonding, leadership workshops, and beach workouts. All student-athletes can benefit from our retreat, but especially the freshmen, who are introduced to our program weeks before their high school career even begins. We joke around a lot, and really try to make things fun. The curriculum uses game-. For the middle school teams, more emphasis is placed on communication, accountability, and sportsmanship.
It's important for our student-athlete leaders to understand their actions represent something bigger than themselves. Throughout the year, we continue our dedication to leadership training with our Student-Athlete Advisory Committee SAAC , comprised of high school studentathletes representing each of the athletic teams. I also had a chance to learn about other sports and find out what were priorities for other teams. Having stayed close to the school, Charlee has seen how much has changed over the years.
But one of her fondest memories of her time at the school still occurs every year—the 8th grade trip to Paris. My correspondent was amazing, and the whole exchange was one of the best trips I experienced while at French American. She stood out as a talented athlete, and absolutely loved competing. During her junior year, Charlee began receiving letters from colleges and coaches, encouraging her to consider playing basketball at their schools.
The recruiting process was new to Charlee and her family, and she found the abundance of information challenging to navigate. Not only did she play in several different countries, she also played with women from around the world. Her time at French American and International prepared her for this unique opportunity, empowering her to embrace and appreciate each teammate, culture, and experience.
Charlee reflects warmly on her time here. I will always remember the dedicated teachers who had such a big impact on my life—some of whom still teach there! Everyone at the school was so diverse, yet we were a family. I was blessed to be able to attend; my life is so different because of the opportunity I was given. And, Charlee is able to remain connected to and share her love of sports that was cultivated during her time at French American and International. At French American, teachers have guided students in timely and respectful classroom discussions, leading them to question the status quo, define their beliefs, and understand the impact of their individual and collective actions.
On January 21, , together with hundreds of thousands of people across genders and nationalities, Amanda and her mother stood for their beliefs about how women should be treated in this country. As part of her education at French American, Amanda has learned to be an independent and critical thinker, and is encouraged to be confident in her thoughts and voice.
If everyone did that there would be no march, no historic event, and no big step for our country," expressed Amanda. Memories of this march will be a part of me for the rest of my life and I will never, ever forget this historic movement. Students worked in teams to envision, plan, and design urban communities of the future. They were asked to consider services provided, architectural style, the role of nature and the environment, and to define what makes a city great.
Creativity and self-expression were welcome and evident in the students' imagined future cities, designed to build and support sustainable communities. I was impressed by their ability to analyze, innovate, and col-. It was really neat to see what everyone in the class did and how we can make the cities more environmentally friendly. It was cool that we got to think about and design the world of our future. For the vast majority of our students, this means attending college nearby, traveling to a new state, or taking the thrilling leap to an international destination. Making decisions about college is both exciting and pivotal for our students, and as such, we invest deeply in this process so that both students and families are supported during this rite of passage.
College counselors are instrumental in guiding students through the application process. By developing relationships with each student and drawing from a wealth of knowledge and experience, our counselors identify the students' goals, hopes, and expectations for the future, and offer suggestions that may include schools the students have never considered.
They aim to broaden the search and give students the opportunity to conduct authentic research, either reinforcing initial assumptions about a top choice university, or expanding a list of possibilities. They are able to succeed because their curriculum has already given them the skills and tools many students do not have an opportunity to develop until they arrive at college. As the level of competition rises among university admissions, strong applications become even more important.
The counselors work with students to distinguish themselves on applications, and to showcase their remarkable talents and accomplishments. Most sections within applications are few more characters than a tweet! Congratulations to the Class of ! Louis 2 Whitman College Williams College. You are a very special class to us; to me, you are the class that welcomed my family to International several years ago.
Quite literally, you took us in, and I will always be grateful. Describing you is daunting—you are terrifically talented, and distinctly diverse, excelling in academics, athletics, and the arts. You are opinionated and outspoken—debating philosophically in class and demonstrating politically in the streets. You are world travelers, with trips to Tahiti and Malawi, India and France, under your belts before you could drive. You are smart, preparing your Bac and your IB while pursuing your passions—for music and MUN, dance and drama, sports and service.
You are funny, you are lively, you are lovely. You are also noisy— you laugh a lot and complain not a little, you never stop talking, and, oddly, you are always ready to start singing. Yet you listen hard, and take things to heart. You have needed to listen, because in the course of this education we have told you a great many things. And you have tried to do them all. Did we tell you, I wonder, what really matters, as you set out to make your lives?
You have made it through the IB, and the Bac. You have made it into college, and your college acceptances are so strong that it seems that you have not only made it, but that you have it made. Did we tell you the point of all this making? Did we tell you that the purpose of making good is to be able to make a difference, and that that difference lies in doing good for others rather than simply doing well for yourself?
Did we tell you that purpose is measured in meaning—that your life is not a balance sheet, but a story, and that only you can determine its moral? We have told you how to do so many things—how to balance an equation and argue a proof, how to conduct an experiment. But did we tell you that the most powerful thing you will learn to do is love, and that no other action will be as singularly important in deciding the significance of your lives? You must love something, of course, and we have made much of helping you find your passions. Your lives will be the richer if you do work about which you are passionate.
But loving something is not enough. No one ever wrote a great story about someone who loved her job. You must love someone—you must care for, and about, others. We have told you how to succeed, evidently. But did we tell you to how to fail? Did we tell you that your real achievements will result not from certain knowledge and safe, sensible steps but rather from your readiness to risk not knowing? Did we tell you that it is your ability to sustain unease and to entertain uncertainty that will distinguish your dreams and determine your success?
And if that means you fail sometimes, you fail, and live better for it. Did we tell you that the only thing you must not fail is your character—the quality that has, as Joel says, so singly distinguished your class? Did we tell you that character is determined not by magnificent moments, but by the accumulation of small choices; not decided by powerful performances and home runs in the last inning with the bases loaded though those were magnificent moments, and we loved them , but by the choice to put in hours of practice?
Did we tell you that most of life feels like rehearsal, until you look up and realize that the performance is on? Did we tell you that the quality of your practice—your daily decisions, the choices you. Learn that early, and you will not only do well, you will do good. Did we tell you that one choice you can always make is joy? You will not always be happy—often, in fact, you will not.
But you can cultivate delight in your daily life, so that when frustration, disappointment, and even grief come, as inevitably they must, you will be armed by your capacity for joy. Do that daily, and you will live better over the years. We have taught you to travel. Many of you have been immersed in more than one language most of your lives, most of you have visited more than one country during your time at International, all of you have navigated more than one culture as you moved through our classrooms.
You have been given the gift of cross-cultural cognition. You are prepared to go out into the world— but did we tell you to come home? Did we tell you that home can be many things—a place or a person; a language or a way of living—but that you must have one, an Ithaca toward which your life bends, a point toward. Did we tell you that we will be here, waiting, while you wander, and that we want you to come back to us— to your families, your teachers, your beautiful city, your wonderful school—so we can learn from you?
Did we tell you that we will miss you? We will miss you all terribly. Did we tell you that no matter how much we will miss you, we cannot keep you a moment longer, for the world needs you? Did we tell you that you matter? Recipients of an international education, you have been reared to question authority and to interrogate assumptions, to see from a multiplicity of perspectives and to take principled action.
In a world that needs critical thinkers and principled citizens more than ever, your quality of mind and character will make a necessary difference. Did we tell you that we believe in you? That we love you?