Chicago
Connected Through French Language
Meet Jin Jin, better known by her family and friends as Kitty! When she first stepped into the Alliance Française de Chicago four years ago she didn’t know any French, not even “bonjour.” She had just quit her job and moved to Chicago where she knew no one. Now she is an accomplished French speaker who wants to continue to perfect her skills and share her love of the language.
Read more »
Christiane Taubira, « On n’y échappera pas »
Taubira… Ce nom porte des consonances différentes pour chaque personne vivant en France, mais il est rarement inconnu. Il évoque souvent une loi, celle de 2013, qui a valu à son auteure les insultes les plus féroces d’une grande part de la population et du personnel politique mais aussi le sincère respect d’une autre part de la population, probablement plus nombreuse encore. Mais pourquoi une personnalité aussi importante dans le paysage politique français vient-elle ici, à Chicago, dans un pays dans lequel son nom ne suscite le plus souvent ni la colère ni le respect tant il n’est que rarement prononcé ?
Read more »Irène Jacob for a live jazz concert at the Alliance!
Irène Jacob is a singer and an actress of stage and screen. She doesn’t seem to be one to shy away from any genre and her career so far is a rich tapestry woven with a little bit of everything, from dramatic TV shows to Shakespeare to French art-house films, all of which she shines in.
Read more »Dolphins become bilingual in their sleep. What does that mean for us humans?
At the Planète Sauvage in Port-Saint-Père, France in 2011 it was observed that captive dolphins were talking in their sleep. While sleep-talking in general can be rather alarming, what made this even stranger was that they weren’t speaking the same dolphin language they speak during their waking hours. Instead they the sounds were closer to a whale language!
Read more »Cheesy cheesy melty food
In the mid-west we are known for our casseroles and hot dishes. If you grew up here you might have memories of eating mounds of tater tot hot dish or green bean casserole. These recipes probably involved some variation of vegetables and/or tater tots swimming in a pool of condensed mushroom soup.
Read more »Read our interview with Sophie Loubière!
[caption id=“attachment3110” align=“alignleft” width=“231”] _Sophie Loubière[/caption] Sophie Loubière is a French journalist and writer who already published more than ten novels. She is urrently working on a new one, B__loody Coffee and this one will be set in Chicago! Before listening to her next week, come read about her in our exclusive interview;
Read more »When our Programs Director meets Dany Laferrière and tells us all about it!
I met Dany Laferrière at the Salon du livre de Quebec in April 1986, where I was peddling my first publication, a collection of bad poems hesitating between French and English. I think it was called Turtleneck and Black Slacks. Nobody was showing much interest so I had plenty of time to walk around and check the competition.
Read more »