16.25 - The France That Doesn't Make the Brochure
FRANCE AS IT HAPPENS—Coco Chanel's Moulins, a goddess sleeping beneath the Seine, and a Seattle life exchanged for something truer
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Bonjour mes ami(e)s !
It’s wonderful to have you back here with me today. Bienvenue !
In this newsletter, you’ll find these wonderful fresh articles taking you to France beyond the cliché.
Don’t miss the PAID subscriber edition of le Bulletin in your inbox: “16.25.a - What France Keeps in the Cold - It’s not too late to upgrade & read it←
À bientôt !
Warmly,
Judy - 27.6.2026
1. MyFrenchLife™ Magazine new articles
“There are many talented contributors to MyFrenchLife Magazine and I thank all of you for sharing your experiences with us in such an engaging manner.
You take us right across France & deep into many worm-holes. We delight in discovering
and learning more about France beyond the cliché”
Merci
Judy
Our list of valued Contributors →
A reminder that ‘The Writers Room’ now resides here →
a) Belle Epoque treats in Moulins, Allier
by Betty Carlson
Moulins, Allier, in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region, is a slightly sleepy préfecture that doesn’t see a lot of tourists.
However, it reveals fascinating vestiges of a showy Belle Epoque past.
A truly grand Grand Café
Considered one of the most beautiful cafés in France, Le Grand Café was built in 1899. Coco Chanel, who lived and worked in Moulins from 1900 to 1906, was a confirmed regular customer.…” writes Betty Carlson
b) Sequana: The Forgotten Goddess of the Seine
by Patricia Russo
Inspiration
Every river has a soul. Every soul remembers the source.
Before the Seine was lined with stone, she moved freely. Before Paris rose from her banks, there was a woman, a goddess, whose name is nearly lost to time.
Her name was Sequana.
And if you listen closely, beneath the sounds of traffic and tide, you can still hear her - and maybe even feel her too. I’ve been curious about this legend and the source of the Seine for many years; I’m sharing my findings with you in today’s post…” writes Patricia Russo
c) I Didn’t Leave the Stage. I Just Changed Venues.
by Jenny Becker
The life still looked right. The script just wasn’t mine anymore.
There was nothing obviously wrong with my life in Seattle.
That was part of the problem.
From the outside, it looked like a well-run production. Lights on. Cues hit. Lines delivered on time. I knew where to stand, what to say, how to move through a room without knocking over anything expensive or emotional.
I had systems. Structure. A calendar that could have qualified as a minor military operation.
I was efficient in a way that made people say things like, “Wow, you really have it together,” which is both a compliment and, in hindsight, a quiet warning.
Because I did have it together.
I just wasn’t entirely sure why…” writes Jenny Becker
d) American Library in Paris: Interview, Executive Director — Kristina Vér Foley
by Elisabeth Sauvage Callaghan
Even though I was born and raised in France and lived there until I was 23 years old, and returned to my native country many times after I had moved to the USA permanently in 1975, I was never aware of the existence of the American Library in Paris until four years ago or so. “
A great friend of mine, Claudette Boudreaux, told me about a novel that she had just read and loved. This book, The Paris Library by Janet Skeslien Charles, was “based on the true story of the heroic librarians at the American Library in Paris during World War II.” This story, which was featured recently in MyFrenchLife™ – MaVieFrançaise® in an article titled “The Woman Who Stayed” – that woman being Dorothy Reeder, the American Library in Paris Director during WWII, who “kept it open, ran an underground book network to Jewish readers banned from entering,” and returned to America “without making a fuss” when the war was over…” writes Elisabeth Sauvage-Callaghan.
2. Merci mille fois
“Thank you for subscribing to ‘le Bulletin’, the newsletter of MyFrenchLife™ Magazine.”
Judy MacMahon
Merci mille fois d’être ici, mes ami(e)s. Thanks for being here.
I noticed it only after reading all three pieces together. Betty, Patricia, Jenny — and threading through their stories, quietly.
I noticed the other women: Coco Chanel in her Moulins years, still Gabrielle Chanel, singing in a grand café before she became a legend. Sequana, a goddess whose name the Seine still carries, even if we forgot to say it aloud. And these wonderfule female contributors: Betty, Patricia, and Elisabeth, with her wonderful interview about ALP and Jenny, watching her own well-ordered life from a slight distance and asking the question that changes everything: but is this mine?
France has always been good at that. Giving women a place to become something. Or to remember something. Or to find the name for what was already there.
And that, perhaps, is FRANCE AS IT HAPPENS this week
À bientôt,
Judy
judy@myfrenchlife.org
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