January 25, 2023 | THE ATLANTIC
Why the French Want to Stop Working
If you want to understand why the French overwhelmingly oppose raising their official retirement age from 62 to 64, you could start by looking at last week’s enormous street protest in Paris. “Retirement before arthritis” read one handwritten sign. “Leave us time to live before we die” said another.
December 12, 2022 | FINANCIAL TIMES
An ode to the churro, Madrid’s favourite snack
I’m drawn to churros because they feel integral to Madrid, as bagels are to New York and croissants to Paris. Yet like Madrid itself, churros lack the hype and iconic international status of these other foods, and residents mostly take them for granted.
February 01, 2022 | NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
An Impromptu Experiment in Social Democracy
Less than a month before the pandemic began, on the morning of February 17, 2020, my brother called me from New York. He said that our mother had fallen while on vacation in Iceland and was at that moment in an ambulance headed to a local hospital in Reykjavik.
December 11, 2021 | BERNARD VAN LEER FOUNDATION
Early Childhood Matters – Guest Editor for 2021 Edition, The Climate Issue
Conceived and edited articles by leading policymakers, researchers, urban planners and activists, on how climate change is especially dangerous for young children, and how child-friendly measures can make cities more climate resilient.
November 15, 2021 | FINANCIAL TIMES
How Miami became a great Latin American city
Radio announcers report the local news in Cuban-accented Spanish; billboards tout Spanish-speaking personal-injury lawyers; telenovelas and Spanish church services play on TV.
November 15, 2021 | FINANCIAL TIMES
Eating Latin American Food in Miami
Most restaurants in Miami are at least a little bit Latin American. Practically every seafood joint has fish tacos on the menu. There’s even a Jewish bakery on Biscayne Boulevard called El Bagel, where in addition to classic toppings like lox and whitefish salad, they offer jalapeños and guava.
November 15, 2021 | FINANCIAL TIMES
Miami Beach: an insider guide
When I was growing up in Miami in the 1970s, we’d visit my great-grandmother on Miami Beach (then, as now, everyone just called it “The Beach”).
August 11, 2021 | PANDEMONIUM U
PANDEMONIUM U
Host of a series of online conversations with leading authors and intellectuals, often but not only about France. Co-sponsored by Alliance Française USA, the Cultural Services division of the French Embassy in the U.S. and the American Library in Paris.
May 13, 2021 | 1843/THE ECONOMIST
My covid epiphany
I’d become less of a writer who dabbles in sport, and more like a bourgeois lady who’s obsessed with her backhand.
March 11, 2021 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
Book Review: How Do Maya Parents Handle Temper Tantrums?
“Hunt, Gather, Parent” — a book about what harried Western mothers can learn from their supposedly serene Indigenous counterparts — opens in the style of an addiction memoir.
March 03, 2021 | FINANCIAL TIMES
Game, set and Paris match: where and how to play tennis in the French capital
The first dozen times an opponent announced “égalité” for deuce, I resisted the urge to shout back, “Liberté! Fraternité!”
February 28, 2021 | 1843/THE ECONOMIST
What if we’ve forgotten how to socialise?
During a rare excursion to a clothes shop I took last month, an older woman walked in, looked around at the other shoppers and exclaimed, “humans!”
January 06, 2021 | 1843/THE ECONOMIST
I Feel Bad About My Lockdown
It’s too late to have a productive pandemic.
January 06, 2021 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
Paris by Bike
In a feat of urban chutzpah, Paris — though not yet a cyclists’ paradise — is becoming a cycling town.
December 31, 2020 | NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
The Consolations of Philosophy
I recently found myself on a metal chair in the Jardin du Luxembourg, in Paris, submitting to my first-ever session of “philosophical therapy.”
October 05, 2020 | 1843/THE ECONOMIST
Adventures in Nudist Paris
I’ve seen my share of penises, but never so many at once.
September 05, 2020 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
Lockdown Left My Mind and Body Flabby. Then Came Tennis Camp.
What playing doubles with a Parisian urologist taught me about how to get my life in order.
August 02, 2020 | NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
Pandemic Marriage, Ménage, & Me
What would happen when we were cooped up for weeks or months with what the French government was ominously calling our cellule familiale?
April 24, 2020 | 1843/THE ECONOMIST
It’s hard to buy a dress in a pandemic
With coronavirus closing in on Paris, Pamela Druckerman admits defeat
April 07, 2020 | NEW YORK REVIEW OF BOOKS
Why Is This Year Different From All Other Years?
I only learned about the no-bread rule in my twenties. But I immediately embraced it. Lurking crumbs seemed like a metaphor for everything I disliked about myself: my failures at love and work, my penchant for wasting time.
March 14, 2020 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
Yes, I’m Turning 50. No, I’m Not Really Ready.
Someone does still want to sleep with you, but you don’t get to decide who that is. And other lessons for my next decade.
March 04, 2020 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
Anatomy of a Parisian Sex Scandal
There’s a big difference between knowing that your politicians cheat and seeing their sexts.
January 21, 2020 | 1843/THE ECONOMIST
Shopping with Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Pamela Druckerman meets Nigeria’s most famous living author
November 19, 2019 | 1843/THE ECONOMIST
A lime-green dress turned me into a sexpot
Pamela Druckerman recounts the outfit that prompted an orgy in her absence
August 10, 2019 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
Parlez-Vous Anglais? Yes, of Course.
Europeans speaking perfect English sounds like good news for native speakers, but it may also be a threat.
May 28, 2019 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
Should You Be Able to Disinherit Your Child?
This is the question at the heart of a case over the French celebrity Johnny Hallyday’s millions.
April 30, 2019 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
Why It’s So Hard to Learn French in Middle Age
I knew I’d never sound like a native. But shouldn’t I be much better than this?
February 07, 2019 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
The Bad News About Helicopter Parenting: It Works
New research shows that hyper-involved parenting is the route to kids’ success in today’s unequal world.
January 19, 2019 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
The Revenge of the Middle-Aged Frenchwoman
‘I would like 50-year-old women to stop sending me photos of their bottoms and breasts,’ a French writer pleaded.
December 21, 2018 | MARIE CLAIRE
The Life-Changing Magic of Marie Kondo
Marie Kondo’s decluttering technique has always been refreshingly strange: Make a pile of all your clothes—down to the last pair of socks—then discard anything that doesn’t “spark joy.” Repeat this with books, papers, and the contents of your kitchen cabinets.
November 24, 2018 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
The Woman Who Still Finds Louis C.K. Lovable
The French comedian Blanche Gardin is taking on all of feminism’s orthodoxies.
November 01, 2018 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
The News Is Bad in Hungary
Viktor Orban didn’t like what the press was reporting, so he took it over.
August 17, 2018 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
To Live and Die in Paris
People have been dying for millenniums. Why should there be great surprises now?
May 04, 2018 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
How to Survive Your 40s
If you want to know how old you look, just walk into a French cafe. It’s like a public referendum on your face.
May 03, 2018 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
Are the French the New Optimists?
Americans used to be full of hope. No longer.
April 10, 2018 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
What Are the French Doing to Protect Jews? A Lot.
This isn’t World War II all over again.
March 08, 2018 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
Are iPhones Bad for Kids?
Two new books — Anya Kamenetz’s “The Art of Screen Time” and Naomi Schaefer Riley’s “Be the Parent, Please” — offer advice to anxious parents.
April 21, 2017 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
How Do You Say ‘Hail Mary’ in French?
I’ve lately been telling French people about the Hail Mary pass. I explain that it’s a desperate move in American football: You’re running out of time to score, so you lob the ball toward the end zone and hope for the best.
March 17, 2017 | THE ATLANTIC
Podcasts Are the New Xanax
I’m not an early adopter. I’ll only start wearing new styles of clothing once they’re practically out of date, and I won’t move into a neighborhood until it’s fully saturated with upscale coffee shops. I was the last person I know to download music and to stop paying for long-distance phone calls.
October 02, 2016 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
‘If I Sleep for an Hour, 30 People Will Die’
It’s 1944, in occupied Paris. Four friends spend their days in a narrow room atop a Left Bank apartment building. The neighbors think they’re painters — a cover story to explain the chemical smell. In fact, the friends are members of a Jewish resistance cell.
July 08, 2016 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
Why Rich People Make the French Squirm
With Paris now competing to become Europe’s post-Brexit financial capital, France’s fraught relationship with wealth is under global scrutiny.
November 17, 2015 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
How to Talk to Children About Terrorism
Even in tough times, parents should tell them the truth — often in simple terms — and help them process it.
April 23, 2015 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
Eat Up. You’ll Be Happier.
My father-in-law, an anthropologist, likes to talk about the time he ate dog penis. He was visiting a remote town in South Korea, and the mayor invited him to lunch. Once they’d finished the dog soup (not a big deal), a waitress carried out the boiled penis on a silver plate. The mayor cut it lengthwise with scissors, then served half to each of them.
March 16, 2015 | THE NEW YORK TIMES
Decoding the Rules of Conversation
As an American married to an Englishman and living in France, I’ve spent much of my adult life trying to decode the rules of conversation in three countries. Paradoxically, these rules are almost always unspoken.