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The Pont Levant de la Rue de Crimée and its Sounds
WHEN IT WAS BUILT in 1885, this pont levant, or lifting bridge, was at the cutting edge of technology. With its mechanism hidden in the sewers below and using pressurised water from the Paris drinking water system to power it, this was the first hydraulically operated bridge in Paris.
The Pont Levant de la Rue de Crimée crosses the junction of the Canal de l'Ourcq and the Bassin de la Villette in the 19th arrondissement and it's the fifth bridge to stand here.
The first bridge was built in 1808 upon the completion of the Bassin de la Villette and it was a wooden pont à double bascule, a double-leaf bridge with a deck composed of two spans joining each other in the middle of the bridge and pivoting around a vertical axle at each abutment. During the Second Empire this bridge was replaced with another wooden bridge, this time a drawbridge. The third bridge, also in wood came to an ignominious end when it, together with two of the warehouses alongside it belonging to the Entrepôts et Magasins Généraux de Paris, were burnt down during the Paris Commune of 1871. This bridge was replaced by a pont tournant, a metal swing bridge.
Some twelve years later, the creation of a new road, rue de Crimée, together with the widening of the channel connecting the Canal de l'Ourcq and the Bassin de la Villette, meant that the swing bridge had to be replaced and the option of a lifting bridge was adopted. This is the bridge we see today and it was opened on 2nd August, 1885.
This bridge worked continuously from 1885 until 2010 by which time it was beginning to show its age. Towards the end of 2010, the bridge was temporarily closed for a much-needed makeover to make it more economical to operate, more environmentally friendly and safer.
The steel deck was suffering from corrosion so it was replaced. The hydraulic system, which was buried in the sewers and had leather joints that were constantly leaking, was modernised so that it no longer depended on the Paris drinking water system for its operation. The moving parts of the bridge were completely refurbished, the sidewalks widened and a cycle lane was incorporated.
Great pains were taken though to ensure that modernising the bridge didn't detract from its historical significance, it is after all an official monument historique.
I went to the Pont Levant de la Rue de Crimée to see and listen to it in action.
Pont Levant de la Rue de Crimée in action:
The movement of this bridge is controlled remotely from the control room of L'Ecluse du Pont de Flandre, the first lock on the Canal Saint-Denis, which is a considerable distance away and completely out of sight of the bridge.
The first indication that the bridge is about to embark upon a lifting cycle is when the signs at each end of the bridge indicate 'Pont en Manoeuvre'. A beeping sound then indicates that the two arms of each gate at either side of the bridge are about to close. The gates close one arm at a time so that those caught on the bridge have time to escape before the lifting cycle begins.
Once the bridge is clear of traffic and pedestrians and the gates are closed, a gentle thudding sound is heard as the bridge separates from the roadway and begins it journey upwards.
Since the overhaul of the hydraulic system the operation of the bridge is very smooth. Two hydraulic rams, one under each end of the bridge, push it upwards and then lower it once the lift is completed. Four metal cables gliding over the wheels mounted on iron pillars above the bridge, two at each end, help to support the bridge during the cycle.
There are no spectacular sounds from the bridge itself during the cycle, just a slight groan as it begins to lift, a gentle purring of the hydraulics during the lift, a gentle thud as it begins its descent, more purring as it comes back down and a final sigh of relief as it nestles back into position joining the roadway.
And, of course, the reason for all this is to allow the canal traffic to pass to and from the Bassin de la Villette.
The length of time the bridge stays aloft depends on how much canal traffic needs to pass. During this particular cycle a Canauxrama tourist boat passed followed by these guys …
Once the canal traffic has passed the bridge is lowered and locked into place, the gates open and the pedestrians, the cyclists and the traffic can resume their passage along Rue de Crimée.
I think there's something really fascinating about bridges that actually move and so I stayed around to watch and listen to this one manoeuvre through several more of the 9,000 or so lifting cycles it completes every year.
Le Temps des Cerises
AS PART OF MY RESEARCH for an audio project I'm working on about the Paris Commune of 1871, I found myself in the 13th arrondissement in the Butte-aux-Cailles area of Paris. My intention was to visit the office and bookshop of Les Amis de la Commune de Paris (1871) in rue des Cinq-Diamants to browse the literature they have about the Paris Commune and see what might help with my research. I should have known though that it would be folly to turn up without checking first to make sure that the office was open and, of course, it was not!
Office and bookshop of Les Amis de la Commune de Paris (1871)
Still, thanks to the tail end of our Indian summer, the weather was delightful and so I decided to stay and spend the rest of the afternoon exploring this part of Paris including doing a soundwalk along the main street, rue de la Butte-aux-Cailles.
Rue de la Butte-aux-Cailles – A Soundwalk:
I began my soundwalk at the little square at the western end of the rue de la Butte-aux-Cailles, Place de la Commune de Paris 1871, one of twenty-three squares and streets in Paris named after the Paris Commune or the people associated with it. There's another example at the eastern end of the rue de la Butte-aux-Cailles where another square, Place Paul Verlaine, is named after the French poet and member of the Central Committee of the Paris Commune, and yet another at the foot of the Butte-aux-Cailles, Boulevard Auguste Blanqui, named after the French socialist and revolutionary who was one of the group that briefly seized the reins of power on 31 October 1870 for which he was condemned to death in absentia on 9 March 1871.
Place de la Commune de Paris 1871
As I walked along the street listening to the everyday sounds around me, I couldn't help reflecting upon the Paris Commune of 1871 since that's what had brought me here on this sunny October afternoon.
Place de la Commune de Paris 1871
In 1870, thanks to his increasing unpopularity at home and France's waning power abroad, Napoleon III decided to embark upon an ill-fated war against a coalition of German states led by Prussia. On 1st September 1870, France was defeated at the Battle of Sedan, Napoleon III was deposed and the Second Empire collapsed.
After the debacle of Sedan, Prussian forces advanced on Paris and the city was besieged for four months until it was finally captured in January 1871 bringing the war to an end.
A new French government of National Defence was quickly established and an armistice, ratified on 1 March 1871, included a provision for the election of a French National Assembly, which would have the authority to conclude a peace with Germany.
However, provincial royalists dominated this new French national government and when the government moved from Paris out to Versailles republican Parisians feared a return to a monarchy.
Adolphe Thiers, executive head of the provisional national government, disarmed the National Guard, a citizens' militia organised to assist in the defence of Paris during the siege and made up primarily of ordinary working people – and another French revolution was born.
The revolutionaries dominated municipal elections in March 1871 and organized a communal government, the Commune de Paris. Commune members included Jacobins who followed Revolutionary traditions of 1793, Proudhonists who supported a nation-wide federation of communal governments, and Blanquistes who demanded violent action to bring about change.
Following the quick suppression of several communes across France, the Versailles government attacked the revolutionaries, the Fédérés as they became known, completely crushing them. In what can only be described as a spectacular act of state terrorism, some 20,000 Communards, as well as those suspected of being Communards, were massacred during a single week known as La Semaine Sanglante, Bloody Week. And, as if that wasn't enough, the national government continued to take harsh repressive measures following their victory, imprisoning and exiling many of the remaining Communards.
In the short time it existed as a communal government, the Paris Commune implemented the separation of the church from the state, the introduction of free and obligatory primary education, the remission of rents owed for the entire period of the siege (during which payment had been suspended), the abolition of night work in the hundreds of Paris bakeries, the granting of pensions to the unmarried companions and children of National Guards killed on active service, the free return by the city pawnshops of all workmen's tools and household items valued up to 20 francs pledged during the siege, the postponement of commercial debt obligations and the abolition of interest on the debts, the right of employees to take over and run an enterprise if it were deserted by its owner (the Commune, nonetheless, recognized the previous owner's right to compensation) and the prohibition of fines imposed by employers on their workmen.
What else the Paris Commune might have achieved had it not been so brutally repressed we can only guess.
Rue de la Butte-aux-Cailles
Of course, what I've set out above is only a thumbnail sketch of the events leading up to the Paris Commune and the life – and death – of the Commune itself. But it was this sketch that I had in my mind as I walked along rue de la Butte-aux-Cailles. And I also had in mind that, in the fight to suppress the Paris Commune, the Bataille de la Butte-aux-Cailles took place hereabouts. The Polish politician and Communard General, Walery Antoni Wróblewski, successfully defended the advance of Thiers' forces, the Versaillais, here for some time until he was eventually pushed back which enabled the Versaillais to capture the entire Left Bank of the Seine and enter the eastern suburbs of Paris where the dénouement was finally played out.
And as I was thinking of all these things, I looked across the street and saw this restaurant, Le Temps des Cerises.
Le Temps des Cerises – The Time of the Cherries
This seemed to be entirely appropriate because Le Temps des Cerises is, in the spirit of the Paris Commune, a Société Coopérative Ouvrière de Production, a workers cooperative. But the name, Le Temps des Cerises, also has another significance.
In 1866, a French socialist, journalist and songwriter, Jean-Baptiste Clément, wrote a song called Le Temps des Cerises which was to become inextricably linked with the Paris Commune. Clément was very active within the Paris Commune and was present at the barricades during La Semaine Sanglante. But, facing the risk of arrest or worse, he managed to flee Paris, went to Belgium and then to London and was then condemned to death in absentia. Parisians had sung Le Temps des Cerises during both the Prussian and Versailles sieges but now Clément dedicated it to:
"Valiant Citizen Louise, the volunteer doctor's assistant of rue Fontaine-au-Roi, Sunday, 28 May, 1871"
Standing in rue de la Butte-aux-Cailes looking at this restaurant and reflecting on the Paris Commune and particularly on La Semaine Sanglante, the words of Le Temps des Cerises, a sentimental love song that became the anthem of the struggle, and defeat, of the Communards, came back to me …
I will always love the time of the cherries.
I will keep this time in my heart,
An open wound.
Le Temps des Cerises:
Le Temps des Cerises:
Quand nous chanterons le temps des cerises
Et gai rossignol et merle moqueur
Seront tous en fête
Les belles auront la folie en tête
Et les amoureux du soleil au cœur
Quand nous chanterons le temps des cerises
Sifflera bien mieux le merle moqueur
Mais il est bien court le temps des cerises
Où l'on s'en va deux cueillir en rêvant
Des pendants d'oreille…
Cerises d'amour aux robes pareilles
Tombant sous la feuille en gouttes de sang…
Mais il est bien court le temps des cerises
Pendants de corail qu'on cueille en rêvant !
Quand vous en serez au temps des cerises
Si vous avez peur des chagrins d'amour
Évitez les belles!
Moi qui ne crains pas les peines cruelles
Je ne vivrai pas sans souffrir un jour…
Quand vous en serez au temps des cerises
Vous aurez aussi des peines d'amour !
J'aimerai toujours le temps des cerises
C'est de ce temps-là que je garde au cœur
Une plaie ouverte!
Et Dame Fortune, en m'étant offerte
Ne pourra jamais fermer ma douleur…
J'aimerai toujours le temps des cerises
Et le souvenir que je garde au cœur !
Maximilien Luce – A Street in Paris in May 1871 – Google Art Project
The Canal Saint-Denis and its Sounds – A Postscript
MY LAST THREE POSTS have covered my recent exploration of the Canal Saint-Denis and its sounds.
In Part 1, I walked along the western side of the canal from its starting point in the Parc de la Villette to the end of the Quai de la Gironde in the 19th arrondissement of Paris. In Part 2, I crossed over the Pont MacDonald, left the Paris city limits, and walked along the eastern side of the canal to the swing bridge, the Pont Tournant du Canal Saint-Denis, in the commune of Aubervilliers. In Part 3, I left Aubervilliers and continued walking along the eastern side of the canal until I reached the heart of Saint-Denis where I had to cross over to the western side again in order to continue to the end of the canal at L'Écluse de la Briche where the canal discharges into la Seine. As I walked along the canal I stopped from time to time to capture the sights and sounds of the canal and I made several detours to look at and to listen to other things that caught my interest.
I've included some of the sights and sounds I captured along the canal in my previous three posts but now I want to add something else I captured, something that I think captures the very essence of the Canal Saint-Denis.
As I passed the penultimate lock on the canal, Lock N°6, L'Écluse Saint-Denis, I discovered that my way was barred because of renovation work to the walls of the quay and so I had to cross over the Passerelle de la Gare to the other side. As I crossed over this footbridge I had no idea that it would be a further hour before I continued my journey along the canal.
My diversion over the Passerelle de la Gare, across the Place de la Gare, then over the Pont de la Gare Saint-Denis and back again to the western quay
Saint-Denis; Place de la Gare
I crossed the footbridge and entered the Place de la Gare, the concourse outside Saint-Denis railway station, when I came upon something completely unexpected and something that occupied me for the next hour or so.
I found that I was in the midst of an African street market complete with its colourful sights and sounds.
Street Market in the Place de la Gare – Saint-Denis:
The market stretched across the Place de la Gare and over the Pont de la Gare Saint-Denis but it's not an official market, on the contrary, it's an ad hoc and technically illegal market that appears most days of the week. The police though seem to tolerate it, they patrol the area regularly, always in groups of three, whereupon the vendors hastily pack their goods away and wait until the police leave before they get back to work.
Of course, the police haven't always been so tolerant and I was reminded of this when I saw a sign attached to lamppost with an alternative name for this space – Place des Victimes du 17 October 1961.
October 1961 was a particularly inglorious time for the police as the two memorial plaques I found explain.
Memorial plaque in the Place de la Gare
Memorial plaque on the Pont de la Gare Saint-Denis
I've referred to these events elsewhere in this blog so here I'll just leave the plaques to tell their own story.
In my walk along the entire length of the Canal Saint-Denis, I photographed many images and recorded many sounds but, for me, it is the sounds of this market that capture the real essence of the Canal Saint-Denis.
At the end of Part 3 of my exploration of the canal I said:
"My walk along the canal made me think not only about my immediate surroundings but also about history; the medieval history of the fertile Plaine Saint-Denis, the industrial revolution in the nineteenth-century and the more recent de-industrialisation with the urban decline and attempts at renewal that have followed in its wake."
With a little imagination, I think the contemporary sounds I discovered in the Place de la Gare illustrate some of that history.
At first glance, it might not be obvious how to connect these sounds with a medieval past but markets and their sounds are nothing new to Saint-Denis or to the surrounding area.
The first market hereabouts, la foire de la Saint-Denis, the Fair of Saint-Denis, dates back to the seventh century when an autumn fair was held beginning on October 9th each year, the anniversary of the martyrdom of Saint-Denis and the date of the annual pilgrimage to his tomb. The fair was held at the Place Panetière and in covered markets, but also in the main cemetery of the Abbeye de Saint-Denis. It lasted for seven-weeks, from October 9th to November 29th, Saint Andrew's Day, and since it was held well after the harvest and during grape-picking it allowed the abbey to sell its grain and surplus wine produced by its extensive vineyards.
The subsequent arrival of the Vikings interrupted this annual fair but the monks of Saint-Denis revived it again in 1053 with the Lendit Fair. In the early twelfth century, the market was moved to the La Plaine Saint-Denis, halfway between Paris and Saint-Denis, where it began on the second Wednesday in June and lasted until June 23, the eve of the feast of Saint John the Baptist. The market returned to the Place Panetière in 1556.
Today, as well as the ad hoc street market in the Place de la Gare, Saint-Denis is well-known for its thriving indoor and street markets clustered around the former Place Panetière, now the Place Victor Hugo.
When it was opened in 1821, the Canal Saint-Denis created a ribbon of water cutting through the edge of the 19th arrondissement of Paris and stretching across the agricultural Plaine Saint-Denis and through medieval Aubervilliers as far as Saint-Denis. In its wake came the railway and a wave of industrialisation. The canal became a major artery feeding the burgeoning industries; it became the lifeblood of the communities along its banks.
Today, save for the stretch along the Quai de la Gironde in the 19th arrondissement, a walk along the Canal Saint-Denis reveals little of the sonic environment that might have existed in the nineteenth century. Of course, barges still pass up and down the canal and trains cross it, there is mechanical activity – trucks take on loads of ready-mix concrete and JCB's load and off-load construction materials, but there is little of the bustle of human activity that would have characterised the canal during the hundred years from the mid-nineteenth to the mid-twentieth century.
The sounds I came upon in the Place de la Gare reminded me that this canal, in its hey-day, would have had a pulse reflecting the heartbeat of the human communities along its banks.
After industrialisation came de-industrialisation along with its bedfellows, increased unemployment, increased poverty, the flight of the wealthiest part of the population and increased immigration.
Issues around immigration seem to make big headlines today but immigration is nothing new along the Canal Saint-Denis. Nineteenth century industrialisation saw waves of immigrants arrive just as de-industrialisation has. The sounds I found in the Place de la Gare seemed to me to reflect the ebb and flow of these populations.
I've said that the sounds I happened upon in the Place de la Gare were sounds that for me at least captured the very essence of the Canal Saint-Denis. Out of context they are simply the sounds of yet another street market but in the context that they are the sounds of human activity lying alongside and straddling the Canal Saint-Denis they seem to me to represent a series of footprints stretching from the present day to the distant past.
The essence of the Canal Saint-Denis surely rests with its location, its history and the activity on and around it. The sounds of this ad hoc market in the Place de la Gare with accents from the Maghreb, sub-Saharan Africa and elsewhere may represent this stretch of the Canal Saint-Denis today but I would argue that they are also a reflection of the medieval markets in the Plaine Saint-Denis which themselves were not attended exclusively by the French.
The modern-day sounds I think also represent a similar heartbeat to that which might have been found alongside the canal at the height of industrialisation – bustling activity against a background of competing accents. The period of de-industrialisation, of course, is to some extent represented by the very people I found in the Place de la Gare.
The one piece of history that is perhaps not represented by these sounds is the retrieval of the dead bodies from the canal in October 1961. Maybe that's appropriate though because I suspect that they would have been treated with a respectful silence.
Place de la Gare – Place des Victimes du 17 October 1961
In my exploration of the Canal Saint-Denis I recorded many sounds all of which are a faithful record of the canal as it is today. But, for me, none of them conjure up as much of the essence of the canal as the sounds in the Place de la Gare.
The Canal Saint-Denis and its Sounds – Part 3
MY EXPLORATION OF THE Canal Saint-Denis and its sounds began at the head of the canal where it parts company from the Canal de l'Ourcq at the Parc de la Villette. In Part 1, I followed the canal to the end of the Quai de la Gironde on the edge of the 19th arrondissement of Paris and in Part 2, I crossed the Paris city limits and followed the canal across the western edge of Aubervilliers to the swing bridge, the Pont Tournant du Canal Saint-Denis.
Having completed a little over half my journey, I'm now going to follow the canal into the commune of Saint-Denis to the final lock on the canal, l'Écluse de la Briche, where it discharges into la Seine.
My route for the final leg of my journey along the Canal Saint-Denis
Walking along the quay from the swing bridge, I crossed from Aubervilliers into the commune of Saint-Denis and the French National Stadium, the Stade de France.
The Stade de France, the French National Stadium
With a seating capacity of 80,000, the Stade de France is a major international sporting and concert venue. It was opened in January 1998 in time to stage the 1998 FIFA World Cup Final in July of that year, a final which appropriately France won beating Brazil 3-0.
Built on the site of a former gasworks and costing €290 million, the stadium took just thirty-one months to build during which time some 800,000 M2 of earth was moved and some 180,000 M3 of concrete poured. The stadium has retractable seating, which moves to reveal an athletics track around the central playing field.
The most notable feature of the stadium is the elliptical roof, which is suspended some 42 metres above the ground, covers an area of six hectares and weighs 13,000 tons.
The one glaring omission in the design of the stadium is the lack of any under floor heating, something that was highlighted, much to the stadium's embarrassment, when in 2012 a Six Nations international rugby game between France and Ireland had to be cancelled just before kick-off due to the pitch freezing.
As well as hosting the 1998 FIFA World Cup Final, the stadium also hosted the 2003 Athletics World Championships, the 2007 Rugby World Cup Final and the UEFA Champions League Finals in 2000 and 2006. Had Paris won its bid to host the 2012 Olympic Games, the Stade de France would have been the main Olympic stadium.
As a major concert venue, the stadium has hosted the likes of The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, Madonna, U2, Céline Dion, Coldplay, Beyoncé, Eminem, Lady Gaga and many more.
Having stopped for a while to look at the Stade de France from across the canal, I moved on a short way and followed the canal to the next lock, Lock N° 5, l'Écluse de la Porte-de-Paris.
Lock N° 5, l'Écluse de la Porte-de-Paris looking downstream.
This lock is enveloped in sound, not only the sound of canal traffic though, although plenty of canal traffic passes through the lock, but rather the sound of endless traffic passing over two road bridges adjacent to the lock.
One of these bridges, the Pont Wilson, carries l'avenue du Président Wilson, part of the trunk road running from Paris to Calais, and the other is the huge bridge carrying the France's busiest Autoroute, the A1, which runs from Paris to Lille.
The Pont de l'A1
Despite the fact that Aubervilliers and Saint-Denis are probably the poorest municipalities around Paris and both have a very high crime rate, I never felt uneasy walking through either as I explored the Canal Saint-Denis – at least not until I arrived here. And it wasn't the people I encountered that made me uneasy, instead it was the atmosphere around where these two major arteries pass overhead. Both bridges feel oppressively low to the ground. One, probably because of its size, feels as though it is – and the other just is! The base of the Pont Wilson in fact forms the roof of the downstream entrance to Lock N° 5 and I couldn't help feeling claustrophobic and very uneasy as I walked underneath it. In addition, the noise pollution here from the traffic passing overhead is particularly oppressive and certainly didn't add to my sense of well being.
The downstream entrance to Lock N°5 with the Pont Wilson forming the roof
The downstream entrance to Lock N°5 with both the Pont Wilson and the A1 passing overhead
On the downstream side of Lock N° 5, the canal makes a left turn and widens out to form le bassin de la Maltournée, a zone de débarquement, a zone for loading and unloading construction materials, mainly sand and aggregates.
Looking back from here you can see both the Pont Wilson and the A1 passing over l'Écluse de la Porte-de-Paris with the Stade de France just beyond.
I can't account for the clothes draped over the rail. They didn't seem to belong to anybody and there were many other items of clothing scattered around along with much assorted detritus.
Le Bassin de la Maltournée looking upstream
And this is what le Bassin looked like in former, busier, times.
Le Bassin de la Maltournée courtesy of Wikipedia
Because of the width of the canal at this, its widest point, vessels are able to manoeuvre to and from the landing stages whilst allowing other vessels to pass in and out of the lock.
The barge 'Diane' heading for the lock while a barge behind her manoeuvres alongside the loading quay
The fifth lock on the Canal Saint-Denis, l'Écluse de la Porte-de-Paris, takes its name from the nearby Porte-de-Paris. Before the industrial revolution of the nineteenth century, Saint-Denis and Paris were separated by a vast agricultural plain, la Plaine Saint-Denis. Two gates, the Porte de Saint-Denis in Paris and the Porte de Paris in Saint-Denis, allowed access between the two cities.
Today, we should think of Porte de Paris as a neighbourhood rather than as a gate. With a population of around 9,000, Le quartier Porte de Paris – Stade de France, links the historic city of Saint-Denis with the modernity around the Stade de France and there are plans to bring an urban continuity between the two. New private and social housing is planned along with a new school and a new hotel project and improved accessibility will be provided when the new Tram Line 8 comes to town later this year.
Le Bassin de la Maltournée – zone de débarquement
From le Bassin de la Maltournée I walked on to the penultimate lock on the canal, Lock N° 6, l'Écluse Saint-Denis in the heart of the commune of Saint-Denis.
Lock N° 6, l'Écluse Saint-Denis
What we now know as Saint-Denis actually dates from the 2nd century AD when it was a Gallo-Roman village named Catolacus or, Catculliacum.
Somewhere around the year 270 AD, during the period of the Christian persecution under the Roman Emperors Decimus and Valerian, Denis, a Christian missionary and Bishop of Paris, was martyred on the hill of Montmartre. He was beheaded and it is said that, after he lost his head, Denis picked it up and walked six miles or so preaching a sermon as he went. The place where he eventually fell and died was Catolacus and his grave became a shrine. Around 475, Saint-Genevieve purchased some of the land around the shrine and built a church. This became a place of pilgrimage and in the 7th century, King Dagobert I had this church replaced with something grander, the Abbey of Saint Denis. By the 12th century it had grown to become one of the most powerful Benedictine abbeys in France. The abbot of Saint-Denis, Suger, rebuilt portions of the abbey church using innovative structural and decorative features turning it into a masterpiece of what came to be known as Gothic art. This abbey church, the Basilique Saint-Denis, provided an architectural model for the cathedrals and abbeys of northern France, England and other countries.
From the 6th century onwards, the Basilique Saint-Denis became the necropolis of French monarchs. Most of the kings and queens of France were buried there. The list is impressive: 42 kings, 32 queens, 63 princes and princesses and 10 great men of the realm. With I think three exceptions, all the French monarchs were buried here from Hugues Capet onwards.
Some of the Royal tombs in the Basilique Saint-Denis
And at some point in all this, although we're not sure precisely when, the Gallo-Roman village of Catolacus became Saint-Denis.
Industrialisation first came to Saint-Denis in the seventeenth-century under le Roi-Soleil, King Louis XIV, when weaving and spinning mills and dye houses were established. But it was not until the mid-nineteenth century that industry really took off. A combination of an expanse of flat land easy to build on together with the arrival of the canal in 1821 and the railway in 1843 facilitated the easy transportation of coal from the mines of northern France and Belgium, metals from Lorraine and raw materials from abroad.
The proliferation of industry changed the face of Saint-Denis, not least its political face. In 1892, Saint-Denis elected its first socialist administration and by the 1920s, the city had acquired the nickname of la ville rouge, the red city.
But, as with neighbouring Aubervilliers, (see Part 2), the de-industrialisation of the 1970s and 1980s took its toll. There was a shift away from manufacturing to service industries with the concomitant mismatch between the qualifications required for the new industries and those of the local population leading to increased unemployment, increased poverty, increased immigration and the flight of the wealthiest part of the population leaving the poorest concentrated in dilapidated older housing in the centre and social housing projects at the periphery.
During the 1990s, some rejuvenation of Saint-Denis began with the building of the Stade de France and the associated infrastructure improvements and since then, there have been attempts to attract more new industry and to initiate renovation projects not only in Saint-Denis itself but also throughout the wider Plaine Saint-Denis. The Saint-Denis website outlines some of the projects underway.
Lock N° 6, l'Écluse Saint-Denis
From l'Écluse Saint-Denis I walked on passing this rather nice cottage on the quayside.
A little further on I discovered that my way on this side of the quay was blocked and so I had to cross over the Passerelle de la Gare and continue along the canal on the other side. This brought me to a bridge carrying several railway lines and an elevated roadway over the canal.
I paused under the bridge to record some sounds only to find that two men, complete with the obligatory white van, were busy shovelling concrete. I could have waited until they'd finished before doing my recording but I didn't, I carried on and to good effect as you will hear.
Men at Work
And I was also able to capture the sounds of this barge passing.
I spent the best part of an hour under the bridge capturing the various sounds before moving on to complete my exploration of the Canal Saint-Denis.
Walking along the quay, I paused to look back at the bridge that had occupied so much of my time. It not only carries the RER trains of Line 'D' but also the Transilien trains of the SNCF-owned railway network operating within the Île-de-France region, as well as SNCF and Thalys high-speed TGV trains.
Looking in the other direction I was able to get a good view of the final lock on the Canal Saint-Denis, Lock N° 7, l'Écluse de la Briche.
Lock N° 7, l'Écluse de la Briche
I continued along the quay to the downstream end of the lock where I found a sign listing the destinations that can be reached from here together with the distances and the time taken to reach them.
I could see that from here to the Canal de l'Ourcq was 6.6 kilometres and it would take a barge 2 hours and 20 minutes to get there. But I already knew that because I'd just walked all of those 6.6 kilometres. But to cover the 113.3 kilometres to the far end of the Canal de l'Ourcq from here would take a barge 21 hours … and who knows how long by foot!
So now that I'd reached the final lock on the Canal Saint-Denis I couldn't leave without seeing the point at which the canal discharges into la Seine. Unfortunately, I couldn't pass the lock by walking further along the quay because the way was barred so I had to divert away from the canal to the road that would take me up to the bridge that crosses the canal close to the lock, the Pont de la Briche.
On the way to the bridge I found this plaque, which reminded me that Saint-Denis was occupied by the Germans from June 1940 until it was liberated by General Leclerc on 27 August 1944. Sadly, this unfortunate soul didn't live to see la libération, he was killed just two days before.
Standing on the Pont de la Briche I looked over l'Écluse de la Briche and thought about the things I'd seen and what sounds might represent this third leg of my journey along the canal.
l'Écluse de la Briche from the Pont de la Briche
Canal Saint-Denis from the Pont Tournant du Canal Saint-Denis to the Pont de la Briche – A Sound Portrait:
This sound portrait begins with the sound of a barge manoeuvring in la Bassin de la Maltournée and another barge negotiating the entrance to Lock N°5, l'Écluse de la Porte-de-Paris. Then comes the sound of long the Lafarge barge carrying a load of sand exiting Lock N°6, l'Écluse Saint-Denis. We then move to underneath the railway bridge with the sound of trains rumbling overhead, a barge passing under the bridge and the men shovelling concrete. All these sounds conjure up images for me of this final leg of my journey.
But my journey wasn't yet quite complete. I couldn't walk all this way and not visit the spot where the Canal Saint-Denis actually enters the river – and simply to see it from on top of the Pont de la Briche wasn't good enough, I had to see it from ground level just as I'd seen the rest of the canal.
Finding a way down from the bridge took some time but eventually I discovered a set of very uneven stone steps some way away from the bridge. I ventured down and this was my reward – the junction of the Canal Saint-Denis and la Seine.
The Canal Saint-Denis discharging into la Seine
And this was the end of my exploration of the Canal Saint-Denis. I'd walked from the head of the canal in the Parc de la Villette where it parts company from the Canal de l'Ourcq and followed it through the 19th arrondissement of Paris and then through the communes of Aubervilliers and Saint-Denis to the point where it discharges into la Seine. The canal stretches for 6.6 kilometres, although I walked much further than that if you count the detours I made to look at things that caught my eye and to find suitable places from which to record sounds. It took me almost seven hours to complete the journey, much longer than a serious walker would take of course, but then serious walkers seldom stop to hunt for sounds!
My walk along the canal made me think not only about my immediate surroundings but also about history, the medieval history of the fertile Plaine Saint-Denis, the industrial revolution in the nineteenth-century and the more recent de-industrialisation with the urban decline and attempts at renewal that have followed in its wake.
Next time, I shall add a postscript to my exploration of the Canal Saint-Denis and its sounds, something I came upon by chance and something I think captures the very essence of the canal.
The Canal Saint-Denis and its Sounds – Part 2
IN THE FIRST PART of my exploration of the Canal Saint-Denis I followed the canal from its starting point at the Canal de l'Ourcq in the Parc de la Villette to the end of the Quai de la Gironde in the 19th arrondissement.
In this second part, I'm going to leave the Paris city limits and follow the canal as far as the swing bridge, the Pont Tournant du Canal Saint-Denis, at Aubervilliers in la Plaine Saint-Denis .
The green arrow shows my route from the end of the Quai de la Gironde to the Pont Tournant du Canal Saint-Denis. The horizontal line shows the Paris city limits.
Tram stop, Canal Saint-Denis, on Tram Line 3b at the end of the Quai de la Gironde
To continue walking along the canal it's necessary to cross the bridge at the end of the Quai de la Gironde, the Pont MacDonald, and walk down to the canal on the opposite side. But before I did that I wanted to take a short detour.
Before crossing the bridge, I crossed the road by the tram stop and walked along the canal as far as the Boulevard Périphérique, which is as far as you can go on this side of the canal. There I found the newly opened first forest planted within the city of Paris.
Occupying a strip of land between office buildings on one side and the Boulevard Périphérique on the other it's perhaps a little early to call it a forest but these young saplings are expected to grow into something much more substantial over the next fifteen years or so.
This new urban forest is intended in part to shield the neighbourhood from the noise pollution generated by the constant ribbon of traffic passing by on the Périphérique.
The Boulevard Périphérique lies directly above and behind these saplings beyond the wall and the lamppost.
It seems that the Paris city authorities are not expecting the root cause of the noise pollution problem, excessive traffic, to reduce any time soon.
Having had a look at this new urban forest I walked back to the Pont MacDonald, crossed over and went down the steps to the canal towpath just in time to catch this barge passing under the bridge.
This type of barge is called a 'pusher' and it's quite common to see them on the Canal de l'Ourcq, the Canal Saint-Denis and, of course, on la Seine. They comprise a pusher tug and barge combination combining the operational capabilities of a non-propelled split hopper barge together with the capabilities of a pusher tug. This one was empty but I was to meet it again on my walk along the canal, this time heading in the opposite direction when it was full of sand.
Pausing under the Boulevard Périphérique to record some sounds (of which more later) I happened upon this sign. The towpath along the Canal Saint-Denis forms part of l'Avenue Verte, the 406 km cycle route stretching from Paris to London, a good part of which follows special traffic-free greenways.
On the opposite side of the canal just beyond the Périphérique I came upon the shopping complex Le Millénaire which you can get to by road but it's also served by a fleet of electric powered ferries, or navettes fluvials, which you can see and hear in Part 1 of my exploration of this canal.
On my side of the canal I discovered a wall covered in colourful graffiti.
At the end of the wall I crossed the Paris city limits into the commune of Aubervilliers and the second lock on the canal, l'Écluse des Quatre Chemins.
Lock N° 2, l'Écluse des Quatre Chemins
This lock, like all the locks on the canal, is a dual-chamber lock remotely controlled from Lock N°1, l'Écluse du Pont de Flandre, at the head of the canal.
The quay leading from l'Écluse des Quatre Chemins
After leaving the Paris city limits, the Canal Saint-Denis crosses the western edge of Aubervilliers from south to north before reaching Saint-Denis.
Originally a hamlet called Notre-Dame-des-Vertus, the first reference to Aubervilliers comes in the mid-eleventh century when it was known as Albertivillare. These names live on today with the thirteenth-century church still called the Église Notre-Dame-des-Vertus, the fourth lock on the canal is called l'Écluse des Vertus and the residents of Aubervilliers are still known as Albertivillariens or Albertivillariennes.
Up until the early nineteenth-century Aubervilliers' claims to fame were the miracles that were supposed to have happened in the parish in the Middle Ages and the quality of its vegetables, notably cabbages and onions, that were much sought after in the Parisian markets.
Once totally dependent upon the large, fertile, agricultural plain on which it stood, the nineteenth-century marked a turning point for Aubervilliers. The years following the arrival of the Canal Saint-Denis in 1821 and the removal of the barrières d'octroi (the tax barriers) in 1860 saw a medieval peasant village transformed into an industrial city with much of the industry centred along the canal.
Lock N° 3, l'Écluse d'Aubervilliers
Among the industries that sprang up were factories manufacturing soap, sulphuric acid, matches (the former match factory is now preserved as an historic monument), glass, tripe, chemicals (the buildings of La Pharmacie Centrale de France still remain), and ceramic, plaster and cork tiles.
All this changed the face of Aubervilliers. At the end of the 19th century people from Belgium, Lorraine, Alsace, Brittany, Spain, and Italy arrived in successive waves seeking work in these new industries. The Quatre-Chemins district, which straddles the boundary of Aubervilliers and Pantin, was pejoratively nicknamed La Petite Prusse (Little Prussia) due to the many immigrants coming to work in the Saint-Gobain glassworks established in 1866 next to the canal.
Just as the industrial revolution changed the face of Aubervilliers, so has its de-industrialisation.
Today, the large manufacturing industries have gone to be replaced by a network of service industries including the Rhodia and Saint-Gobain research laboratories, Orange S.A., Documentation Française (housed in the former match factory), some workshops of the Paris Métro and a large RATP bus depot. New areas have developed in fields such as telecommunications, audiovisual and cinema (Euromédia, Studios d'Aubervilliers, Ciné-Lumières), and textiles and fashion (Kookai, Redskins, Hugo Boss, Afflelou, etc.). Wholesale activities have also become a strong sector with more than 300 establishments concentrated around the Port of Aubervilliers importing cheap manufactured goods (textiles, watches, toys, etc.), mainly from China, which are distributed throughout France.
But, despite the rise of these service industries, Aubervilliers still suffers the blight of de-industrialisation since most of the people employed by these industries don't live in the commune. With a population of over 70,000, around 40% of whom are immigrants now mainly from Africa, Aubervilliers is one of the poorest municipalities around Paris.
Today, it's only the depots for cement, concrete and aggregates for use in the building industry that line this part of the Canal Saint-Denis.
Lock N° 4, l'Écluse des Vertus
The railway bridge crossing the canal next to l'Écluse des Vertus
So, I'd now walked from the start of the Canal Saint-Denis in the Parc de Villette (see The Canal Saint-Denis and its Sounds – Part 1), I'd explored four of the locks on the canal, walked under six road bridges, one footbridge and one railway bridge and I'd covered a little over half the length of the canal. Now I'd come to a bridge that I couldn't walk under, the Pont Tournant du Canal Saint-Denis, the fascinating swing bridge.
I was lucky enough to arrive as a barge was waiting to pass through and so I was able to watch the bridge in action.
The barge waited on the canal until a signal from the control room at Lock N°1, l'Écluse du Pont de Flandre, at the head of the canal set the bridge in motion. Very sedately it swung open until it was completely aligned with the opposite bank allowing the barge to pass.
Once the barge was clear, another signal set the bridge in motion once again and it began its return journey.
I took up a prime position to record the sounds as the bridge swung gently back into place.
A set of hydraulic bars acted as guides to enable the bridge to slot into position.
Once returned to its place, the bridge was still higher than the adjoining roadway and so with a hydraulic driven clatter it was lowered into its final position to make a seamless connection with the road.
Once the bridge was locked into place, the gates were opened and the traffic began to pass.
I found all this fascinating not only to see from such close range but also to listen to, which brings me neatly onto my sound portrait of this stretch of the Canal Saint-Denis.
The Canal Saint-Denis from the Quai de la Gironde to the Pont Tournant du Canal Saint-Denis – A Sound Portrait.
This sound portrait begins at the Pont MacDonald at the end of the Quai de la Gironde with the sounds of the 'pusher' barge passing under the bridge. Then come the curious sounds I recorded under the Boulevard Périphérique, a clattering as traffic passes overhead over a joint in the road. The delicious sounds of the engine of Puebla, a barge berthed at the side of the canal opposite the ready mix concrete works, comes next with the purring sound of the barge's engine interspersed with the whistling sounds of trucks reversing under the ready mix concrete hoppers. Next are the sounds of a barge manoeuvring into l'Écluse des Vertus accompanied by the sounds of trains crossing the railway bridge overhead.
And then … well, then comes what will undoubtedly be one of my sounds of the year – the sounds of the barge passing and then the Pont Tournant du Canal Saint-Denis closing. Capturing sounds like these make all the countless hours I spend walking in and around Paris hunting for sounds worthwhile.
Next time, I will complete my journey along the Canal Saint-Denis from this swing bridge to Lock N° 7, l'Écluse de la Briche, where the canal discharges into la Seine. That will include exploring three more locks, walking under two more road bridges, one of which is absolutely huge, two footbridges and a railway bridge as well as pausing on the way to look at France's National Stadium, the Stade de France, and the commune of Saint-Denis.
The Canal Saint-Denis and its Sounds – Part 1
ALONG WITH THE Canal de l'Ourcq, the Bassin de la Villette, the Canal Saint-Martin, and the Bassin de l'Arsenal, the Canal Saint-Denis is part of the 130 km Réseau des Canaux Parisiens – the Parisian Canal Network.
The Canal Saint-Denis looking from l'Écluse du Pont de Flandre to the Pont de Flandre
The Canal Saint-Denis links the Canal de l'Ourcq at the Parc de la Villette in the 19th arrondissement to la Seine in the commune of Saint-Denis, 6.6 km to the northwest. From the Canal de l'Ourcq to la Seine the canal navigates seven remote-controlled locks and one remote-controlled swing bridge and it drops some 28 metres.
The route of the Canal Saint-Denis from the Canal de l'Ourcq to la Seine showing the locks, or 'écluses' in French
The canal is 3.2 metres deep at its shallowest point and 3.5 metres at its deepest and its width varies from 30 metres to 140 metres. It can accommodate vessels with a beam of up to 8 metres and a maximum displacement of up to 1,000 tons. It takes about two and a half hours for vessels to navigate the full length of the canal.
Like the Canal de l'Ourcq, the Canal Saint-Denis was born in the mind of Napoleon Bonaparte. Both canals were intended to provide an efficient means of communication for provisioning Paris but whereas the Canal de l'Ourcq was also intended to provide Paris with a plentiful supply of water, the Canal Saint-Denis was designed as what we might think of today as a 'by-pass', a means of reducing the number of ships and barges passing through the centre of the city. As well as being a by-pass for river traffic the Canal Saint-Denis was, and still is, a by-pass for water. By diverting excess water from the Canal de l'Ourcq to the Seine, the Canal Saint-Denis serves to maintain constant water levels in Paris's canals thereby helping to prevent flooding.
The building and operating of the Canal Saint-Denis was achieved through what we would now call a public-private partnership. The City of Paris purchased the land and then tendered contracts to private banking firms requiring them to build and operate the canal in return for which they were permitted to collect tolls from traffic using the canal for a term of ninety-nine years.
Work on the Canal Saint-Denis began in 1805 under the supervision of the French ingénieur des ponts et chaussées, Édouard de Villiers du Terrage, and it opened in May 1821, on time and, at an estimated six million Francs, under budget.
I've been to explore the Canal Saint-Denis by walking from one end to the other and in this and in subsequent blog pieces I will share with you what I observed.
I began at the beginning, where the Canal Saint-Denis parts company from the Canal de l'Ourcq at the Parc de la Villette and runs alongside the Quai de la Gironde.
The green arrow runs along the Quai de la Gironde. The large rectangular building on the right is the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie, the Museum of Science and Industry
The intersection of the Canal de l'Ourcq and the Canal Saint-Denis at the Parc de la Villette
Not only is the Parc de la Villette a large green space (at 35.5 hectares it's the third largest park in Paris) it also houses one of the largest concentration of cultural venues in Paris, including the Cité des Sciences et de l'industrie (Museum of Science and Industry), three major concert venues and the prestigious Conservatoire de Paris.
The beginning of the Quai de la Gironde
From my starting point at the head of the canal, I had the beginning of the Quai de la Gironde on my left and the entrance to the first lock on the Canal Saint-Denis, l'Écluse du Pont de Flandre, on my right.
The start of the Canal Saint-Denis and the entrance to l'Écluse du Pont de Flandre. On the right is the Cité des Sciences et de l'Industrie and the circus Big Top of the Cirque Plume
When the Canal Saint-Denis opened in 1821 there were twelve locks along its length. Between 1890 and 1895 the canal was rebuilt to accommodate bigger vessels and the number of locks was reduced from twelve to seven each comprising two adjacent chambers. The largest lock on the canal is the first lock, l'Écluse du Pont de Flandre, with a rise of 10 metres which, when it was built, was a world-record. Today, all seven locks and the swing bridge on the Canal Saint-Denis are remotely controlled from l'Écluse du Pont de Flandre.
L'Écluse du Pont de Flandre
Work is underway to renovate the quays on either side of the canal between l'Écluse du Pont de Flandre and the Pont de Flandre so it was not possible for me to walk close to the water along this stretch. But I was able to walk alongside the canal along the Quai de la Gironde, which has its own history.
In the early nineteenth-century, the Parisian flour and cereals warehouses were limited to the granary at Bastille and the Corn Exchange at Les Halles but with a rapidly growing population new storage facilities became necessary. The area around La Villette was chosen because of its canals, which provided easy and inexpensive transportation. In 1858-1859, two stores docks and additional warehousing capacity were built along the Quai de la Gironde to store flour, starch, grain, oil, alcohol and commodities from the French colonies.
In May 1871, during the last days of the Paris Commune, the warehouses were burned to the ground but they were rebuilt soon after and served Parisians for the next century.
These warehouses alongside the Canal Saint-Denis, together with those at the pont du Crimée and alongside the Bassin de la Villette, were known as the Entrepôts et Magasins Généraux de Paris. Today, they are being redeveloped and turned into up-market office space.
From the Pont de Flandre onwards, both the canal and the Quai de la Gironde take on a different feel. The slow moving, lumbering barges and the occasional leisure craft contrast with the sleek, high-speed (although not high-speed at this point) TGV trains crossing the railway bridge. And the Quai de la Gironde ceases to become a road and is transformed into a paved thoroughfare accommodating both pedestrians and cyclists.
The sleek trams of the fairly recently opened Tram Line 3b pass by on one side …
… while the navette fluviale taking visitors to and from the Millénaire shopping complex further downstream passes by on the other side.
And all the while the sound of construction work echoes in the background as the former Entrepôts et Magasins Généraux are rejuvenated.
It was from here amidst all the redevelopment work that I decided to pause and listen and to record a sound portrait of this stretch of the canal and the Quai de la Gironde.
The Canal Saint-Denis and the Quai de la Gironde – A Sound Portrait:
Next time, I will explore the canal from the end of the Quai de la Gironde to the swing bridge, the Pont Tournant du Canal Saint-Denis, but in the meantime, I will leave you with a view looking back along the canal from the end of the Quai de la Gironde – a very different view from that at its beginning.
Sousa Comes To Paris
I WAS WALKING THROUGH the Jardin du Luxembourg heading for my 82 bus when I came upon something quite unusual, something I couldn't possibly walk past without stopping to record.
Unfortunately, I didn't have my camera with me on this particular day so here's a picture of the Jardin du Luxembourg I prepared earlier!
A group of young musicians were assembled on the bandstand and I just caught the very end of their performance. They were high school and college students from the United States called the Virginia Ambassadors of Music and they were on a summer European tour.
Virginia Ambassadors of Music:
Unfortunately, this was one of those rare days when I didn't have my camera with me but no matter, their spirited performance of John Philip Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever more than makes up for that.
As you can hear, the audience gathered around the bandstand were very enthusiastic. And special congratulations to the two young lady flute players who earned their own well-deserved round of applause.
The Virginia Ambassadors of Music don't seem to have a web site, or at least I can't find one, so if anyone knows more about them perhaps you'd like to get in touch.
Parisian Thunder!
YESTERDAY, I CAME HOME to find that that the workmen had finished erecting the scaffolding on the apartment block on the left of my little courtyard. This was good news because can there be anything worse than the constant clanging of scaffolding poles? The bad news was that I discovered work had started on erecting scaffolding on the apartment block to the right as well.
All this portends weeks of endless noise as they begin to clean the front of these apartment buildings by sandblasting them. It's not something I'm looking forward to!
Still, the sight of scaffolding on the apartment blocks in my courtyard is a little unusual so I though I would capture the scene.
I had just taken this picture from my balcony and gone back inside when the clouds darkened and it began to rain. During September we've been enjoying a glorious Indian summer in Paris but for the last couple of days the wonderful sunshine has been accompanied by uncomfortable humidity, a sure sign that thunder is in the air.
Parisian thunder from my balcony:
And thunder there was!
Thunder is not uncommon in Paris but I seldom seem to be in the right place at the right time to capture the sound of it – but yesterday was an exception. As the rain poured down and the workmen scurried for shelter I set up my microphones on my balcony and listened to nature's dramatic performance.
After twenty minutes or so the thunder abated, the rain stopped, the sun shone again and life returned to normal. But what a dramatic twenty minutes it was!
Rue du Grenier sur l'Eau and its Sounds
I WAS RETURNING from an expedition to the Pont Marie, one of the oldest bridges in Paris, where I had been on my feet for a little over three hours collecting material for my Paris Bridges Project. It was a sultry afternoon, I was tired and in need of a sit down and some refreshment. I was heading for a café I often frequent when I'm in these parts when I happened upon a short, narrow, medieval Parisian street I've walked along many times but never really stopped to take much notice of, rue du Grenier sur l'Eau. For the first time, I was intrigued by this street so I paused to absorb the atmosphere.
Rue du Grenier sur l'Eau lies along the green arrow
The street runs parallel to la Seine and it's bordered to the east by the rue du Pont Louis-Philippe and by the rue des Barres to the west with the Êglise Saint-Gervais-Saint-Protais de Paris just beyond.
Rue du Grenier sur l'Eau looking from east to west
As I've said, rue du Grenier sur l'Eau is a short, narrow, medieval street and I was particularly intrigued by its name.
In French, the word 'grenier' means attic or loft so to my mind, "street of the loft on the water" didn't seem to make much sense. All became clear though when I got home and consulted my bible on these matters, Bernard Stéphane's 'Dictionnaire des Noms de Rues'.
It seems that in the early thirteenth-century, a Monsieur Garnier or Guernier owned some houses in the passage between the Êglise Saint-Gervais and the river. In 1241, all of these houses were acquired by the Knights Templar save for one in which Garnier's goddaughter lived.
The records show that in 1257 the street was known as rue André-sur-l'Eau but by 1391 it had become rue du Garnier-sur-l'Eau. It seems then that the present day rue du Grenier sur l'Eau is a corruption of the fourteenth-century name, rue du Garnier sur l'Eau. So nothing at all to do with attics or lofts then!
Not only was I intrigued with the name of the street, I was also intrigued by its atmosphere. When I arrived, the street was practically empty save for the occasional passers-by pausing to look at the shop at the bottom of the street. Apart from the shop, the only one in the street, and the occasional traffic passing along the rue du Pont Louis-Philippe the street had a very medieval feel to it.
I was also keen to explore the sound tapestry of the street. After all, quiet streets in Paris are relatively rare things.
Those of you who follow this Blog regularly will know that I often use the technique of soundwalking to explore the city's sound tapestry but the rue du Grenier sur l'Eau is not a street that lends itself to soundwalking. It's a short street and it takes no more than a minute to walk from one end to the other. In my experience, the best way to capture the sound tapestry of a street like this is to do the reverse of a soundwalk, that is to say, stay in one place and let the street walk past you.
And that's exactly what I did. I positioned myself in the narrowest part of the street, about two-thirds of the way up towards rue des Barres, and from there I began to record and to see what would happen.
Sounds of rue du Grenier sur l'Eau:
As is so often the case, things seldom turn out the way one expects. My microphones revealed that, what appeared to be a quiet, medieval street was in fact a hive of sonic activity.
Ordinary Parisians passing by, some chatting to friends, some purposefully walking from one place to another, some carrying their shopping and looking rather weary and some simply strolling and enjoying the sunshine. Small children gambolling within sight of but not tied to their parents and testosterone-fuelled adolescents jockeying for position in life's pecking order. And then there were the tourists, mostly in groups, receiving yet another commentary about yet another 'site of interest'. The sounds of voices, footsteps, children running, a car horn, things falling over, a breathless jogger and rustling shopping bags were all now evident whereas they had been inaudible from further down the street. A bicycle rickshaw rattled past with the driver giving a fleeting commentary on the architecture. And another, more detailed, commentary came from an English-speaking French tour guide who was escorting a small party of Japanese tourists.
This commentary is actually worth listening to in some detail. The tour guide was talking about this timber-framed house. He tells us, or rather he was telling his tour party, that all the houses in Paris were like this until the seventeenth-century. Wood floating down the river was retrieved and used either as firewood or to make timber frames for the houses. The problem was that, because the streets were very narrow, a fire in one house could easily leap across and set fire to the neighbouring houses. To avoid this hazard, a law was issued around 1600 saying that the wood had to be covered with plaster. It's only in recent years that some of the plaster has been removed to expose the wood. In the picture above you can see that the timber frame is exposed on the rue du Grenier sur l'Eau side of the house but the plaster remains on the rue des Barres side. This house is now a youth hostel but it's so popular, especially in the summer, that guests are only allowed to stay for three nights.
I'm not quite sure how much of all this was absorbed by the Japanese tourists but it fascinated me!
I spent well over an hour standing in rue du Grenier sur l'Eau observing, but observing through active listening. I suspect that most of the people who passed by were aware to some extent of the soundscape around them but probably only as something in the distant background. For those engaged in conversation, these 'background' sounds would probably have passed by largely unnoticed.
For me though, the rue du Grenier sur l'Eau, small as it is, seemed to be huge canvas upon which was woven a colourful and captivating sonic tapestry depicting the fascinating contemporary atmosphere of this medieval street.
Soundwalking in Paris with Antonella Radicchi
LAST MONTH I HAD the privilege of spending a delightful afternoon in Paris with the Italian architect and researcher in urban design, Dr Antonella Radicchi.
Antonella Radicchi
Antonella studied at the MIT School of Architecture and Planning (USA) and at the Faculty of Architecture in Florence. She has taught and lectured both in Italy and abroad and since 2011 she has collaborated on research projects with Tempo Reale, the Florence based Centre for Music Research and Education. She has eight years teaching experience at university level and a distinctive record of publications in the field of soundscape studies and urban design.
Her primary research interests centre upon the interaction between people and the environments they inhabit focusing on the involvement of the population into the planning process of urban soundscapes through the development of open source platforms and open data sets.
Antonella is also the editor of the firenzesoundmap, an interactive, open source tool, which has become a collective sound map of the city of Florence through the involvement and the participation of the Florentine population, city users and tourists.
Antonella has kindly agreed to share her reflections about our meeting and also to share the Parisian sounds she recorded.
Soundwalking in Paris by Antonella Radicchi
I have been following the work on Parisian soundscapes by Des Coulam for quite a while and when I was about to leave for Paris in the middle of August I thought I'd drop him a line to ask whether he would be up for soundwalking in Paris. To my great delight, he replied offering to meet up the following Friday. We were to meet in front of the Porte Saint-Michel entrance to the Jardin de Luxembourg at 2pm.
I couldn't wait!
Since 2007, Des – who describes himself as "a flaneur, endlessly walking the streets of Paris, observing through active listening" and, […], capturing "that gratuitous, never-ending show for which no ticket is needed." – has been recording and archiving the "contemporary sound tapestry" of Paris so carefully and comprehensively that the British Library has been acquiring Parisian field recordings from his archive. Yet, his interest in recording sounds dates back to Christmas Day 1958 when he woke up to find that Father Christmas had brought him a tape recorder!
His idea of a "contemporary sound tapestry" is extremely fascinating: he prefers "sound tapestry" to "soundscape", which is the widely accepted term, since it always reminds him that our lives are immersed in a complex system of interwoven sounds. Des is used to exploring and binaurally recording the Parisian soundscape through "active" soundwalking, which is quite different from the traditional method – usually practiced along a predetermined path at slow pace with the main purpose of listening to the environment. Whilst Des soundwalks along a predetermined path, which constitutes kind of a reference, he records sounds as if painting a picture: if he hears something special, he immediately goes off the route looking for that, "giving the sounds time to breath and to speak as they all have a story to tell" – as he insightfully commented while we were soundwalking.
So, on August, 15th at 2pm we met in front of the Porte Saint-Michel entrance to the Jardin de Luxembourg and I was immediately surprised by this generous man who offered to let me conduct the soundwalk taking advantage of his binaural recording equipment, which I was very excited to experiment with as I have never used this method before.
Des' binaural recording equipment – Marantz PMD 661 Mk11 sound recorder and Soundman OKM II Classic in-ear microphones
He also gave me lots of inspiring suggestions about how to soundwalk and about binaural recording techniques.
Me wearing Des' binaural microphones and listening to Des' suggestions about how conduct the soundwalk
Then, he was patient enough to answer to all the questions I asked him about soundscape studies, field recording and audio archiving techniques and we ended up debating and formulating hypotheses on the difference between listening to soundscapes in real time and listening to the recorded versions – which so far has remained an open ended question I am still thinking about!
Me and Des chatting about soundscape studies, field recording, and audio archiving techniques.
Finally, it was time to do some soundwalking and recording. We started with a first soundwalk at the Jardin du Luxembourg, which you can listen to here.
Antonella in the Jardin du Luxembourg:
My soundwalk route around the Jardin du Luxembourg
Then we moved to the Latin Quarter, close by the Pantheon and we did two more soundwalks, one along rue Descartes and one along rue Mouffetard, which you can listen to here.
Antonella in rue Descartes:
My soundwalk route along rue Descartes and Place Contrascarpe. Note the domed Panthéon on the left and the oval-shaped Roman Arènes de Lutèce on the right
Antonella in rue Mouffetard:
My soundwalk route along the rue Mouffetard from Place Contrascarpe to the Eglise Saint-Médard. Rue Mouffetard was originally a Roman road running from Roman Lutèce (now Paris) to Italy
I am very grateful to Des for the time he dedicated to me and for having so generously shared his passion and knowledge of field recording the Parisian "sound tapestry". I came back to Italy full of energy and enthusiasm from the afternoon we spent together and I am still benefiting from that.
I hope I will have the chance to meet Des again to do more soundwalking together before too long.
And please, if you stop over in Paris, do not miss the chance to meet him. It will be a deeply rewarding experience!


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"One man's word is no man's word we should quietly hear both sides.
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subset: commoncrawl


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Home > Sport > Football
Tuesday January 14, 2014 MYT 9:08:00 PM
Tuesday January 14, 2014 MYT 9:10:29 PM
by k. rajan
Fans throng a mall in Shah Alam for the unveiling of the new Selangor squad.
SHAH ALAM: New Selangor skipper Bunyamin Umar reckons they can achieve the two-trophy target set by the management for this season.
The Kedah-born player will be the first person who wasn't born in Selangor to captain the side since Shukor Adan (Malacca) donned the armband in 2008.
The 26-year-old Bunyamin, a versatile defender who joined Selangor in 2009, said that he understands the responsibility that comes with wearing the armband and that he's ready to help end the team's three-season title drought.
On Tuesday, nearly 5,000 Selangor fans thronged a mall in Shah Alam to witness the team unveiling their new jersey and to show their support.
"I have captained the national Under-17 and Under-19 teams before, so I know the responsibility. Besides, I have been with Selangor for some time," said Bunyamin after being officially announced as the team's skipper.
"The armband comes with added pressure, more so when you are representing a big team like Selangor. But I'm ready and looking forward to leading the team."
The new-look Red Giants will start the season without talismanic striker Amri Yahyah, defenders Mahali Jasuli and Asraruddin Putra Omar and goalkeeper Norazlan Razali. The four have joined cash-rich Johor Darul Ta'zim.
Selangor, however, have boosted their squad by signing goalkeeper Farizal Marlias, Hamsani Ahmad, Azmi Muslim, Rizal Fahmi Abdul Rosid, Shahrom Abdul Kalam, Abdul Hadi Yahya, Ahmad Hazwan Bakri and A. Thamil Arasu.
Coached by Mehmet Durakovic, the team will be banking on Brazilian forwards Paulo Rangel and Junior Aprecido to lead their attack with Indonesian winger Andik Vermansyah.
Australian Steve Pentelidis is expected to help shore up the defence.
Bunyamin, fondly called Bun by his team-mates, believes they have a better team compared to last season.
"I think our squad is better this season ... we have better depth and there are no stars in the team," said Bun, who attended a two-week trial with Chelsea in 2007.
"Everyone is fighting hard to make the team and I believe this is the type of commitment that will help us deliver the titles."
Tags / Keywords:
football, Selangor, Bunyamin Umar, Red Giants
Suarez to return in clasico, says Barca coach
Costa may return against United, says Mourinho
ANALYSIS-Why always me? Balotelli might have a point
Real have Ramos back for clasico but Bale sits it out
Mourinho is a very Special One, says Van Gaal
Exasperated Rodgers plays down Balotelli incident
Doctor-comedian Jason Leong scores gig with Harith Iskander and Papa CJ
Sabahan passenger wins global KLM photography contest
Wenger affords a smile as he remembers Battle of the Buffet
Copyright © 1995-2014 Star Publications (M) Bhd (Co No 10894-D)


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Barcode Generator – Noble Application that Congenially Creates Bulk forms of Barcode
Barcode software is customized barcode creator with the help of distinct features allows to generate flexible tags, asset tags, ribbons for commercial and non-commercial use. Cost-effective application is highly designed with clear interface to make barcode operation effortless in batch process for developing barcode images in various images file format. Strategically, efficient barcode label maker is very important for industries sector to create label in affordable price tag with best quality in different barcode symbologies. Tool supports wide range of barcode fonts including Code 39, UPC, EAN, ISSN, ISBN, Postnet, Planet, Code 11, Code 128, and Codabar. Reliable software allows user to create customize barcode label image through distinct barcode option such as, Text Font, Alignment, Bar Code Setting like Height-Width, Color, Size, Color, Margins. Powerful software integrated with barcode preview option before commencing barcode process.
Barcode image creator is a Windows based application program that quickly develops barcode in trouble free manner without too much of human interference. Easy barcode generator is simplest application for naïve users and veterans that works without technical expertise or training to generate customized barcode label.
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I am SUPER EXCITED for the completion of my good friend Mercy Bell's album entitled "All Good Cowboys"!!!! :D
The album surpassed my high expectations… It's all together lovely and honest and it seriously speaks from her heart directly to yours. Mercy's voice drips as sweet honey and yet is low calories.
On a serious note, you should buy this album. Yes I am talking to you!!! Every single one of you should go and buy it now! It's not even going to make a dent in your bank account to purchase it. So go why are you still reading this?


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There are four Neighbourhood Beat Managers that cover the areas of Camborne, Redruth, Illogan, St Day and Lanner.
They are committed to tackling issues that you as a community feel have an effect on you. This could by tackling or preventing crime and anti-social behaviour.
The Four Neighbourhood Beat Managers are:
PC 6516 Susan Buckley PC 6910 Geoff Streatfield
Based at Camborne Based at Camborne
PC 2481 Mark Pearce PC 6976 Stuart Church
Based at Redruth Based at Pool
Along with the Neighbourhood Beat Managers, we have Police Community Support Officers that make up the other half of your local police team. Although the PCSO's have their own areas of commitment they will often branch out to other areas to support objectives such as areas suffering from anti-social behaviour or to gain awareness of other areas. Therefore the PCSO's gain an overall knowledge about most areas in which they patrol.
The PCSO's that are dedicated to your area are:
PCSO 30456 Zoe Smith PCSO 30641 Ashley Fuller
Neighbourhood Team Leader
PS 5629 Gavin Barnes
A message from the Neighbourhood Team Leader
2014 continues to be a busy for the Camborne Neighbourhood Team particularly with our partnership work aimed at dealing with alcohol related disorder in and around the town centre. This remains an important focus of our work as the violence with injury type of offence often associated with alcohol is a crime category that others in the community can also help reduce. We are fortunate in Camborne that we have a strong and influential Pubwatch scheme attended and run by those that work in the licensing trade. In addition we have received significant support for our work by both our national and independent off-licensed premises.
High visibility foot patrols across the Camborne North, West and South beat areas continue with the neighbourhood officers aware that the communities like to see officers out and about as often as possible. These patrols provide an excellent opportunity for officers to meet people from our neighbourhood beat areas so next time you see us out and about please feel free to stop us and have a chat.
Another area of our work that continues to dominate is our ongoing work with statutory and voluntary partners in dealing with issues of vulnerability occasionally although not specifically associated with homelessness. Fortunately, this winter (so far) has been relatively mild and where we see an opportunity to assist, neighbourhood officers will work with our partner agencies and organisations to help reduce harm. Looking forward to the rest of 2014 then retail theft will become an increasing focus of our work in and around the town centre. Meat products are high on the list of target items and the police are keen to work with the retail sector to encourage more effective crime prevention measures where that may be necessary.
If you wish to speak with me or any other member of the Camborne Police Neighbourhood Team or have information that may assist us with our work please contact the team via the details on this page
Neighbourhood Team Leader - Camborne
If you would like to help us prioritise work in your neighbourhood, tell us your priorities online or come and join us at one of our regular events or meetings.
Our top priorities for your neighbourhood are as follows:
You Said: 1 Jun 2014
You have shared you concerns to the neighbourhood policing teams that there are a number of individuals in the town centre area of Camborne that are having a serious detrimental effect on the town, most noticibly in and around the Square. Most these people are involved in street drinking and general anti social behaviour. The Police also receive alot of complaints from Tesco, Wesley Street, Camborne regarding youths hanging around at the front of the store being abusive and intimidating to shoppers.
So far we have:
The neighbourhood team have responded to these concerns by using anti social behaviour legislation in order to stop this negative behaviour. The use of ASB Warnings have increased, but seen to curb the behaviour of those causing an annoyance. These warnings last for a set period of time and highlight the behaviour of the individual. Should their behaviour then escalate then so shall the level of sanction given to them via the ASB escalation process. The police are also using powers given to them to disperse any individuals involved in ASB for a period of up to 48 hours. Should they return to the area within a given time they can then arrested. This tool is very affecting in removal those likely to cause ASB from a designated area for a set period of time.
The team has also worked hard in order to secure Drink Banning Orders (DBO) on individuals due to their excessive and abusive drinking behaviour within the town. The team's hard work has also made one person the subject of the Habitual Drunkards Act, which is very old and hard to use legislation.
We have begun a robust approach to nuisance behaviour, and as a result have begun to serve ASB Warnings to a mutlitude of indiviudals. Research has shown that 65% of adults and 75% under 18 in Cornwall are not reported for further ASB related incidences in the three months the warning is in force.
Back to top.
Recently resolved priorities for your neighbourhood are as follows:
You Said: 8 Oct 2013
There are concerns from the public about vehicles used by foreign nationals who work in and around the Camborne area.
We Did: 31 May 2014
Police enquiry offices in your area:Camborne Police enquiry office Falmouth Police enquiry office Truro Police enquiry office
You can view a full list of police enquiry offices in Devon & Cornwall here.
Gavin Barnes
Geoff Streatfield
Susan Buckley
Zoe Smith
Ashley Fuller
Welcome to the Camborne North Neighbourhood. The neighbourhood has a population of approximately 7000 residents and has a mixture of residential and commercial premises. The Camborne North patch covers from East Hill at Tuckingmill out as far as Roseland Park and up to the border of Pengegon. Camborne Town centre sits within the Camborne North Neighbourhood and has both a daytime and night time economy with pubs, late night bars and late night refreshment establishments.
The Neighbourhood has a relatively low level of crime when compared to other parts of the country and the population is made up of residents from a cross section of different age ranges, genders and cultures.
Devon & Cornwall Police
Middlemoor, Exeter,
Devon. EX2 7HQ.
Tel: 101
Textphone 18001 101
Be social, follow us:
The Devon & Cornwall Police are not responsible for the content of external websites
Non-emergency number 101 for Devon & Cornwall Police or Textphone 18001 101
Devon & Cornwall Police, Police Headquarters, Middlemoor, Exeter, Devon, EX2 7HQ
Non-emergency number 101 for Devon & Cornwall Constabulary or Textphone 18001 101
Emergency number 999 or Text 80999 for deaf, hard of hearing and the speech impaired
© Devon & Cornwall Constabulary. All rights reserved.


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Move over boys. When it comes to dairy judging, these Spencer County girls know their stuff and they're not afraid to prove it.
SCHS seniors Kelli Smitha, Whitney Owen, Michella White and Casandra Petersen now hold the title of being first in the nation for winning the Dairy Cattle Evaluation Career Development Event at the National FFA Convention held October 22-25 in Indianapolis.
The word emergency has many meanings for many people, but in the case of Taylorsville Waters Works, a water main leak doesn't require a call to 9-1-1.
"That's not what dispatch is for," said Fire Chief Nathan Nation of the Taylorsville-Spencer County Fire Department.
For those in the law profession, being a college graduate is required before going on to the difficult task of law school. After which, one must pass the bar exam and then hopefully snag a great position in an upstanding law firm – work for a few years, get to know people in the community and then, maybe, run for judge.
One would think after all that schooling, judges would be done with sitting inside a classroom.
But that is far from the truth.
Spencer County voters turn out in force Election Day to select candidates from U.S. President to county coroner. In all, 8,253 people went to the polls which translates to a 72 percent voter participation.
Below are the results for Spencer County:
U.S. President
John McCain (R)– 5,378
Barack Obama (D)– 2,519
Ralph Nader (IND)– 73
Chuck Baldwin (CON)– 41
Bob Barr (LIB)– 31
U.S. Senator
Mitch McConnell (R) – 4,811
District court
The Honorable Judge Linda Armstrong presided over the following cases in District Court on September 9, 2008.
Capital One Bank v Frank Hoben. Summary judgment for Capital One Bank.
The Honorable Judge Donna Dutton presided over the following cases in District Court on September 30, 2008
Doctor 4 Closure, LLC v Michael Cain. Judgment for Doctor 4 Closure.
Capital One Bank v G.K. Husband. Summary judgment for Capital One Bank.
Spencer County students who took part in the statewide mock elections last week may have had differing opinions on the issues facing Americans, but the majority agreed on who should be taking the top spot. Many of the students voted for John McCain for president and Mitch McConnell for senate.
Three local men have been charged with criminal mischief after police received reports that vandals were shooting paintballs at passing cars, parked vehicles and road signs.
The Taylorsville man who allegedly struck his estranged wife with his truck, has been charged with attempted murder by the Spencer County Grand Jury.
Michael L. Grubb, of 411 Main Cross, Apt. 1, was charged with the Class B felony for actions reportedly committed September 25.
For the first time in the four years that Jill Whitehouse has led the effort to distribute canned goods to local residents in need, last month she completely ran out of food.
Several factors contributed to the dilemma, said the program coordinator for Spencer County's Multi-Purpose Action Committee (MPAC). Contributions by area churches were down and requests for food that month were up.
The only complaint heard through-out the county on this election day from voters was the long lines at the precincts. Which can only mean there were lots of people voting.
"We have had an awesome turnout," said Election Officer Sheriff Brent Baker as voters streamed steadily in and out of First Baptist Church on Main Street.
Copyright © 2014
The Spencer Magnet is your source for local news, sports, events, and information in Spencer County, KY and the surrounding area.


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Specialty Focus: Abdominal Ultrasonography
Conducted by Dr. William Tod Drost
Ultrasonography is an integral component of providing an optimal standard of patient care. Beginning with the basics, you will participate in interactive discussions on ultrasonographic anatomy and disease recognition, receive an orientation to the ultrasound machine and how to optimize its performance, and learn scanning principles and the ultrasonographic appearance of normal abdominal organs and artifacts.
At CVC, you'll gain hands-on abdominal scanning practice under the guidance of imaging experts who will help you hone your ultrasonographic examination skills. Several types of machines will be available for your use in evaluating the liver, spleen, kidney, bowel, and bladder. You will also have the opportunity to evaluate regions of the pancreas, adrenal glands, and abdominal lymph nodes.
Whether you are a beginner or already have experience, this extensive Specialty Focus course will show you how to get the most out of your abdominal scans.
Date: Saturday, December 6 - Sunday, December 7
Sponsored by Cuattro Digital Imaging, Hot Dog Patient Warming, Jorgensen Laboratories Inc., scil animal care company/Hitachi Aloka Medical, Sound-Eklin, and Universal Imaging.
Return to CVC Clinical Technique Course listings


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Sig Alert issued for north I-805 at Telegraph Canyon Rd
Crash reported at 8:02 a.m.
CHULA VISTA, Calif. - A Sig Alert has been issued for northbound Interstate 805 near Telegraph Canyon Road due to a solo vehicle crash.
The crash occurred at 8:03 a.m.
Two left lanes were blocked while crews responded to the incident.
10News will update this story as more information becomes available.


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...for the jazz cats ...
View Single Post
Anon La Ply
Join Date: May 2012
Location: Cyberspace
Posts: 4,704
Re: ...for the jazz cats ...
Originally Posted by
Im going to try to do the same.....just with an herb that is not legal (in most places)
Im a bit too defensive sometimes......Ill get it under control one of these years....
I know what you mean. For a while I felt defensive myself, feeling that people considered me a bit of a lightweight. Then, after some cones of legal herbiage I thought, "Okay, I'm a bit of a lightweight. No drama," and everything flowed from there.
That's one area where I totally related to what Kenny Werner talked about in
Effortless Mastery
- get your ego well away from your music. The moment your feelings of self worth get wrapped up in your drumming you've created a barrier between you and the music. I'm still working on that one.
Originally Posted by
con struct
Those standards prevail to this very day. I could sit down and play any of them in my sleep, only please don't make me do that.
Bugger when it comes to that - where pros without the luxury of artistic control are in a situation not miles from the average office shmuck (of which I was one for many years) - paying the bills by doing things that don't interest you for someone who you don't much like or respect.
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"I see that the house lights are still on. Let us not deprive the neighbours any longer of the chance to deplore how drunk I am."
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Discuss this Paul. F. Meekin quote with the community:
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text:
Bailamosx, on 18 September 2014 - 06:00 AM, said:
Assorted Thoughts:
1. Get a job.
2. You cover the base of your excuse by highlighting your "serious" online relationship at 18, which, compared to others, makes a Tinder fling look like a wedding vow.
3. Enough with the euphemisms. Stop painting the problem as merely playing "god comp", and, start admitting that you had a ringer pilot the account. How is it "scummy" to queue an overpowered composition in a cash prize tournament? Is it somehow more honorable to fight a suspenseful, close match? If so, Skill-Capped played it wrong last year when their Blizzcon winning team was the equivalent to Mike Tyson knocking out opponents with his first swing.
I could continue to slice off your head verbally and serve it on a plate for the jury of ArenaJunkies, but I'll show mercy because at least you pretend morality, which, is a notch above most socially marginalized rejects in this community.
Hey, Bailamos, at least his internet girlfriend doesn't cheat on him with another streamer


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Write you updates here
#72 There's nothing more beautiful than a smile that struggles through tears.
I do not own anything
#68 There are people we can't live without but have to let go.
I do not own anything
#67 what hurts more than losing you is knowing you're not fighting to keep me.
I do not own anything


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A community of Latina teens hosted by LatinitasMagazine.org
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Thanks for joining the Latinitas community by and for Latina teens 13 & up. In our community, you can read blogs from teen reporters, add your own blog posts, ask for advice, ask questions by creating a discussion and voice your opinion by commenting or blogging about whatever you want. Comment, upload a photo, discuss, add a video, create a group or invite your friends to join. Get started now!
Click on the about us and our community rules tabs to learn more about who we are. We are a GIRLS-ONLY COMMUNITY (sorry, no boys allowed here). Remember, to always be net safe. Want advice? Ask our resident advice columnists in our discussion forums.
Gracias por formar parte de la comunidad Latinitas. Aquí tu puedes leer blogs de editoras Latinitas y de reporteras jóvenes; crea una discusión preguntando por algún consejo y da tu opinión comentando sobre lo que tú quieras. Comenta, sube una foto, un video, crea un grupo o invita a tus amigas a que participen. ¡Empieza ahora mismo!
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Posted by Selina Bonilla on October 13, 2014 at 8:00pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
I never use to get so stressed out until I came to college. The balancing act of school and a social life is possibly one of the most difficult things to do. When things start piling up on me, from multiple tests and papers due all in the same week, my reflex is to hide under my blanket until it's all over. Not the best way to handle stressful situations, so I've learned to do other things instead.
When I am studying during tests and I get overwhelmed and feel like I can't do it, I…Continue
Posted by Anna-Alizette on October 2, 2014 at 11:30pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
"Women's progress is human progress." –Hillary Clinton
Trending this past month was the word "feminism" and what it means to be "feminist." We were brought to tears when Emma Watson moved us with her #HeForShe campaign speech at the UN. Clapped out loud when Lena Dunham called out to women to join together instead of being pitted against each other. What is the use of the word "feminism" if we aren't all standing together for it? Instead we are debating on…Continue
Posted by Selina Bonilla on October 6, 2014 at 1:43pm 0 Comments 1 Like
"When you are in college, we won't be there to make you do your work. As a matter of fact, when you are in college, odds are you will not have a professor that will allow you to make up your work or even turn it in late. It is your responsibility, no one else's, and you need to start getting into that mindset already!"
I have heard that speech uttered countless times from numerous high school teachers' lips as they preached to our juvenile minds about the expectations that await us at…Continue
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Latinitas First Code Chica Conference
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, by the time girls in middle school now attend college, there will be one million more computer science jobs than computer scientists to fill them. When we look at the number of girls and women pursuing that career path, things look bleak, women of color, worse. Less than…Continue
Posted by Sara Eunice Martinez on October 4, 2014 at 2:30pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
Hola muchachitas!
Sorry for not being able to update my blog here b/c so many things have just happened in only a matter of months!
I will admit though, that they are good things :D…
Posted by Alicia on October 2, 2014 at 12:00pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
Have you heard of Carmelita Torres? She was a part of the Bath Riots of 1917. She has been compared to Rosa Parks because she took a stand against discrimination and inhumanity. In the early 1900's, it was common practice for U.S. health officials to force Mexicans crossing the bridge into the U.S. to bathe, strip naked in front of an inspector and undergo a lice treatment. These toxic and harmful chemicals were used to kill lice and prevent typhus. A 17-year-old Mexican maid crossed the…Continue
Posted by Cynthia Amaya on September 27, 2014 at 8:48pm 0 Comments 0 Likes
Being a Latina means being resilient. It means working hard and not letting bumps in the road, no matter how big or small, stop us from reaching our goals. It means putting our utmost effort to everything we do because people are expecting us to fail and we're going to prove them wrong. It means working twice as hard to make ourselves, our parents, and our families proud. It means ignoring stereotypes that claim we are lazy and being the hard workers that generations of Latinos have proven…Continue
Posted by Claudia B. Mendoza on September 29, 2014 at 9:18am 1 Comment 0 Likes
Throughout my life I have been at a constant limbo between my roots (Mexican) and my birthplace (American). Struggling to identify myself was never fun and even more so now that I am attending a university. I grew up speaking Spanglish and when I do so at school I am looked at funny because of it. People either enjoy it or get annoyed by it. Now that I am a 20 year old I now understand what it is to be a latina. I have the best of both worlds: the modern American world mixed with the…Continue
Posted by Selina Bonilla on September 30, 2014 at 8:27am 2 Comments 1 Like
I've never been so immersed in my culture until this semester. On top of being an intern here at Latinitas, I am currently taking a 'Chicano Educational Struggles' course and a 'Minorities in the Media' course. I've learned so much about my roots in this semester than any other semester of school in my life.
How crazy is that? I'm twenty years old and have lived my entire life in South San Antonio, where my community is entirely Hispanic. Approximately over 90% of my friends…Continue
Posted by Andrea Barreto on September 30, 2014 at 11:14pm 3 Comments 2 Likes
Books are quite literally my kryptonite. There is nothing I love more than walking down the aisle in a library or bookstore and seeing the hundreds of stories at my fingertips. But as I started growing older and viewing my world in a more critical way, I was able to apply that same perspective to the books I would read. In a society where women are still treated as second-class citizens, no matter how subtly, I was suddenly searching for contradictions…
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