After spending a year and a half of my life roaming the streets of Paris, I take any opportunity to obsess over French things. I miss the food and the tangible history. Who knew I would even miss the secondhand smoke? If you’re a fellow Francophile, history geek, or lover of vintage photography then you should pour yourself a glass of vin rouge and peruse this beautiful photo collection, 1914: Paris in Colour, on Retronaut. The ... Read More

Ludovic-Mohamed Zahed is making history by opening Europe’s first feminist and gay-friendly mosque. This mosque, situated east of Paris, welcomes the LGBTQ community and encourages women to lead prayer. So-called “inclusive” mosques exist in the U.S., Canada, and South Africa; but this is a first for the European continent. In 2010, Zahed helped establish Homosexual Muslims of France, a society that seeks to defend LGBTQ ... Read More

While everyone in NYC was attending various CMJ shows and events last week, I was fortunate enough to be visiting Paris. Which was amazing beyond words. The city, the food, the wine, and the people: all c'est magnifique! But no cool rock shows, mes amis. One of the things that saved my evenings from CSI and Bewitched reruns dubbed in French was stand-up comic Margaret Cho, who was performing in town as part of her current tour, ... Read More

Members of FEMEN, a Ukranian feminist activist group, bring attention to their cause by baring their boobies.  The group known for topless protests has now started something of a feminist “international training camp” in France, which opened on September 18. Inna Shevchenko, a prominent FEMEN member, was wearing nothing but salmon-colored denim shorts and the words “Free Riot” painted on her body when she ... Read More

Women take over, reads the provocative headline on the website for the Seattle Art Museum’s new Elles exhibits. Two photographs of blonde women stare out from the screen as a video begins playing: a woman violently displaying her kitchenware as she names it in alphabetical order.   Semiotics of the Kitchen, Martha Rosler, 1975 Elles began in 2009 at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, which holds the ... Read More