Today I retraced the steps of a walk I took last night in Paris. Friday, November 13th, at 9:30 pm, a series of violent attacks struck this city, the details of which you know better than I do because I didn’t see it from the other side of a t.v. screen. Instead, I was there. Panicked communication with friends and family outside of Paris has shown me that what you are consuming in the news is a distortion of reality, not because it isn't true, but because it doesn't tell the whole story. At 9:40 pm I was walking less than three blocks … [Read more...]
Paris, France: On the Ground at a Mass Shooting
Just got off the street. Sirens were blaring from all directions. Police cars with officers in every seat wrapped around corners without even a tap of the breaks. I didn't know what happened, but I knew it was something big. On the sidewalk I was instructed by an officer with a machine gun to turn around and walk in the other direction. I don't speak French, but those statements that mean- get out of here- translate fast in any language. I was trying to retrace my steps home, but the streets I had walked less than an hour … [Read more...]