French kiss
Seeing as how I'd touted it here, and even though it was raining and I had somewhere else to be, I had to make it over to the Beckman Institute at Caltech Thursday night to hear the Honorable Philippe Larrieu, consul general of France in Los Angeles, as he examined the future of French and American relations.
I also had to work late, and to grab a bite before I got there, so I was glad to see that M. Larrieu was running late as well (rain, traffic, Beverly Hills startpoint), and that noted Francophile Bill Bogaard was just introducing him at 7:30 for a program scheduled to start at 7.
Mon dieu, there were a lot of people braving the elements! Over 100 people were there. A testament to the Alliance Francaise de Pasadena, which sponsored it. And to some hunger to connect better with the Frenchies' way of life, a culture in which the president immediately releases a mash note when Marion Cotillard wins an Oscar.
Some high points of his talk: "It is no great secret that this decade has been one of great diplomatic ups and downs between Paris and Washington.. The main point of contention is no secret either. America’s second war in Iraq has been a great source of bickering between our two governments, and at one point between our two greater societies as well."
"As American public opinion shifts against the occupation of Iraq, citizens on both sides of the Atlantic are rediscovering our receptiveness to one another. It looks as though the days of 'Freedom Fries' and 'Freedom Kisses' are finally behind us. Americans proved this as last year : three million of them, roughly equivalent to the entire population of the American States of Iowa or Connecticut, visited France."
"Today, France is working hard to combat clichés. Some are positive and praise the excellence of France’s cuisine and wine, its genius for creating luxury clothing, cosmetics, leather goods and jewelry, its savoir vivre and the charm of its landscapes and people. Other clichés highlight a certain arrogance, a nostalgia for past glory, a difficult social climate and a distaste for work. I won’t reject all these clichés outright, which, after all, contain a grain of truth."
"Former American Secretary of State Colin Powell said it well when he likened the Franco-American friendship to a 200-year-old marriage, that over the centuries, has needed its fair share of marriage counselling. Great minds think alike, and I believe that the same applies to great nations : Where France and America stand together, great things are possible."
Afterward, in the lobby, everyone schmoozed over French cheese and French crackers and decent, cheap French wine, which absolutely no one poured into the gutter.