le blog

To say I cannot wait for my trip to Paris in January is a gross understatement.  I am looking forward to being in the city I love and experience it with Bill and other teachers, but above all else, I am bubbling over with excitement to share it for the first time with my children. As I was engaged in one of my daydreams about Paris, I noticed an emerging pattern. I do think about Paris numerous times a day, but there are some parts of Paris that manage to nudge their way into my nostalgic, obsessive thoughts more than others. Of course I will share, for what is the purpose of this Blog if not to wax poetic about all things Paris?! So here is my gift to you - the top ten things I daydream about most when I am not in my beloved Paris: The Eiffel Tower. Or as pronounced by my nine-year-old, the “Ite-full Tower.” Yes, it is cliché, but I do adore the 1,063 foot-tall iron structure that has come to symbolize Paris. Each time I imagine my future Paris apartment, I walk onto

Author's Note:   In case I do not make this abundantly clear in the essay below, let me take a moment to make clear that   there is NO historical evidence whatsoever to support the many false legends of  blood libel & ritual murder . It is blatant anti-Semitic propaganda that, to this day, is wrongly perpetuated by an ill-informed and ignorant minority.                Medieval Europe was no friend to those of the Jewish faith, and France was no exception.  In May 1171, the Jews of Blois, France were accused of ritual murder. According to a Christian soldier-servant in a report to his master, the Jews of Blois had crucified a Christian child as part of their Passover ritual, then dumped the body in the Loire River. The servant claimed to bear witness to this horror when he was at the river watering his horse and saw a Jewish villager dispose of said corpse. This event, chronicled by Ephraim ben Jacob, provides modern historians with a rare primary source account of Jewish