Why I do Paris in July

 Paris in July is a  month long blogging event that my friend Karen and I dreamed up more than 6 years ago. Karen has been a mentor to me for a long time, particularly for encouraging me to read more and to enjoy books. As a child I struggled to enjoy reading, and had greater opportunities to enjoy the outdoor lifestyle and my music studies - so outdoors or music always got more of my attention than books. However, as an adult, i realised that there is so much to learn from books, and there is a vast world of amazing history, thinking, politics, story telling and so much more that can be enjoyed from books. So when I watched Karen devour books (long before her little one appeared), I sought her encouragement. She introduced me first to book club, which I loved - the motivation to read something so I could join in the discussion. I read things I would never have chosen, and learnt to be honest about how I reacted to those books. When book club folded, Karen introduced me to blogging, and a whole new world of book readers.

However my blog is more about the wide range of things I think about in life - books, films and live performances are one subject I bring here, but also my gardening, permaculture and social justice thinking too. So Karen and I proposed to bring her book blogging friends, and mine, together to celebrate all things Paris in July. As a side, here in Australia, July is a cold and dreary time, so dreaming of Paris in July makes us feel happy.

 This year, Karen has taken a break from co hosting, but she's never very far from me and has supported this event in the background - thank you K. So hosting this year fulltime has in fact been just that - a very busy month. I was trying with all my effort to read and comment on all the posts - and loving what I could get to. The participants list was growing, and there were some wonderful contributions. But for me, I didn't get much of a chance to do my own Paris in July Posts, and I found myself feeling a little stressed about that. However, on reflection, hosting, reading all the posts, and visiting Paris with you all, is just what Paris in July is about for me. I'm a parasite of sorts...virtually traveller.

 I've reflected on why I do Paris in July, and why I love it, and it seems to me, my strongest motivation is that I do love Paris - the real city, and also, the romantic notions that have been associated with Paris for centuries. I've been studying French, in a very part time way, for more than 8 years, and in these studies we learn about the culture, the politics, and the society - we study events like the Charlie Hebdo shootings, the many strikes that occur in Paris, the refugee crisis and Calais, the elections - and I've come to like the way Parisians and the French are very public about their opinions.
The Parisians live their life in the streets - the markets, the cafes, the protests, the shops, the metro.... we can observe all this - as authors have done for centuries. I reflected on that this year as I read your book reviews, and as I enjoyed Patti Millers "Ransacking Paris", where she introduced me to literary heros of the past who enjoyed visiting Paris - I think I love Paris because it challenges my Aussie upbringing - where private is private....  I love watching people.... and Paris is where people live in the streets..

When I was a child, my parents were world travellers, and I spent the first 5 years of my life amongst some of the worlds busiest and intense cities, moving alot, but I was always watching people, learning about the world through other peoples public lives. When we returned to Australia, we moved to a very quiet and remote rural setting where public lives were hard to observe - Australians, and country folk at that, are not very social creatures - and I missed that.

There's so much to love about Paris - the artists that come from Paris, the artists that are inspired by Paris - fashion, film, food, literature, architecture, music, and the lists goes on - they all share with us their take on the character of Paris.
Paris in July is an event that brings observers of that to a forum where we can share and learn more... but for me, it's a new window for me to observe life in Paris through your eyes....