The Underground Man

golden boughs

Took this while on vacation on the Appalachian Trail last month.

I've got to say that what little I saw of the Appalachian Trail looks a heck of a lot easier to hike than the Pacific Coast Trail. Very park-like. Much less rugged
(at least in Virginia).

I look forward to spending a week or two hiking it in late fall.

civil unrest in France

I'm kind of curious what my friends in France think of their recent civil unrest.

I spoke with my French teacher here. She is definitely from a relatively entitled class, having gone to the Sorbonne and graduated with high honors. In her opinion, this unrest has a lot to do with the children of immigrants not adopting French culture and values. They don't seem to value the meritocracy and the educational system that France has. Because they don't participate they find it difficult to find more than menial labour. To participate in French business circles (or government for that matter) one has to speak French well, write French well, have good manners and dress properly (conform).

The children of immigrants rarely meet this bar. So they don't find the jobs that they want and this dissatisfaction is the predictable outcome.

I don't know that I wholly agree with her but I see the point. When I lived over there, I found it difficult to obtain a job. However, I see that as my lacking both a social network and complete fluency with the language. I certainly didn't blame the French for my shortcomings. I expect that if I go to a foreign country to live that I have to fit myself to their norms.

I've often thought that America needs a basic literacy test (written and spoken) to be part of the citizenship requirements. I suppose that's both politically incorrect and a sensitive matter because of the history of poll taxes in this country. Still, it seems like a reasonable requirement to me.

I guess I don't have a lot of sympathy for these gangs of kids burning cars in France. But then I probably fit in pretty well with the attitude of 70% of France.

People find it out that the Chirac government took so long to install a curfew. I've learned however that it isn't a curfew as we understand it. It is much closer to the imposition of martial law, allowing police to enter homes without warrants and even detain parents of minors who have misbehaved.

No wonder the law hasn't been used since the Algerian crisis.