Patchwork quilts: an American folk art

The fundamental idea of quilting came to America with the first settlers, especially from northern countries, such as Holland and England, where women had quilted petticoats, jackets and bedcovers for extra warmth since medieval times. They even developed such elaborate and beautiful quilting patterns that sets of bed furnishing were often mentioned in wills. Certain patterns grew up in specific areas and became so easily … Continue reading Patchwork quilts: an American folk art

From the Liberation to the Cold War

In this post, I invite you to read two essays in American civilization that I wrote at University. The first one, ‘The dark side of Liberation‘ is quite short because it was written to prepare an oral presentation. I wanted to broach an aspect of WWII which was hidden for decades: the rapes and abuses committed by some GIs during Europe’s Liberation. The second essay … Continue reading From the Liberation to the Cold War

An excursion into American literature

From Thoreau’s Walden and Whitman’s Song of Myself to the adaptations of Tennessee Williams’s and Arthur Miller’s plays for the cinema, I invite you to follow me in a short but personal journey of discovery… In this attachment I gathered a few exercises and essays—most of them written when I was an undergraduate (Licence L1 to L3). They only represent a quick dip in America’s … Continue reading An excursion into American literature

New-York and more: the architect’s eye

In 2011, my children and I made our second trip to the United States. My daughter was a first-year student in Nancy’s School of Architecture and wanted to see or visit several buildings in NY City that she had heard of in her classes, quite recent and/or famous for their architecture. My son, still a teenager, and I agreed to follow her steps in NY … Continue reading New-York and more: the architect’s eye