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Living Madly: Lost Worlds

Photo courtesy of burcubyzt 85

Living Madly: Lost Worlds

By Emilie-Noelle Provost

On my website, I often write essays about places, and sometimes people, that were once an integral part of my life but today no longer exist. Some of them are part of what I call the Lost World Series, but there are others that aren’t titled this way. I write a new one every so often when an idea strikes me. But they are difficult to write, as they inevitably dredge up old feelings and memories I’d forgotten about, which almost always makes me feel nostalgic and wistful.

The idea to write about vanished places was inspired by a photographer I knew when I was younger. He had a website dedicated to photographs of places he’d once visited that were gone: the Word Trade Center in New York; Soviet Moscow; pre-revolutionary Cuba; old movie theaters; the Berlin Wall. Sometimes the photos had people in them: a gas station attendant checking someone’s oil; women hanging laundry on a clothesline.

Looking at these images, I couldn’t help but think about the people these lost places had touched, what their everyday lives had been like. I also felt grateful that this photographer had shot these photos, and that he had decided to make them available to the public. Because people—all of us—have a tendency to lose sight of the past, to forget the places, their sights and sounds and smells, both good and bad, that make up the building blocks of our lives, our families, our cultures, even ourselves.

It’s also important, I think, to share memories of lost places with people who weren’t around to see them. It helps the places live on in way, and it fosters a better, more ground-level understanding of where and from whom we came, and how we arrived where we are.

It’s good to know the grocery store parking lot used to be a corn field, for example, that the asphalt wasn’t inevitable. Knowledge such as this helps us appreciate that although the sacrifices of those who came before us have made our lives more convenient, they have also sometimes made them meaner.

On a personal level, writing about lost places that were once part of my life has helped me see significance in things I never considered valuable. It’s helped me understand where many of my ideas, preferences, and opinions originated.

Last year, for instance, I wrote an essay about how my elementary school, which my grandfather and his three brothers had also attended, was bulldozed by a real estate developer when I was eleven years old. I was sad about it at the time. I knew it was incredibly unfair, but I wasn’t able to put my finger on why that was.

In writing about it, I was able to see the circumstances surrounding the school’s destruction more clearly: My neighborhood was mainly made up of poor and working-class immigrant families; the school building had been neglected and needed costly renovations; there was money to be made by building houses on the land.

Today, the people living in the neighborhood where I grew up are upper middle class. Few of them are even aware that there was once an elementary school on the corner of Greenhood and Colburn. They don’t know about the families who once lived there, how they emigrated from Quebec and Ireland, Poland and Italy to give their children a chance at a better life. When they sit out on their porches in the evening, they don’t hear French or Gaelic. They don’t smell sausages and tomatoes and garlic cooking.

I’ve come to understand that when a place is lost, even if it’s a rundown elementary school in a poor immigrant neighborhood, an entire world vanishes. It might not disappear all at once. Usually it fades away slowly, like a newspaper left out in the sun, which is worse in way because it makes it harder for anyone to notice when it’s finally gone.

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Emilie-Noelle Provost (she/her) – Author of The River Is Everywhere, a National Indie Excellence Award, American Fiction Award, and American Legacy Award finalist, and The Blue Bottle, a middle-grade adventure with sea monsters. Visit her at emilienoelleprovost.com.

Seen & Heard: Vol. 15

Book Review: The Wounded Generation: Coming Home After World War II by David Nasaw. This 2025 book popped up in my Kindle (the e-reader) recommendations recently, so I downloaded it, mostly because of my current research project on Lowell residents who died in the military during World War II. I found Wounded Generation to be fascinating and a counterpoint to the “Greatest Generation” theme of previous decades. This book proceeds logically through many issues. Here’s a sampling: The psychological trauma and its after affects suffered by hundreds of thousands of service members was poorly understood and ineffectively treated, if treated at all, which gave rise to alcoholism, domestic violence, and societal difficulties. Casualty rates during the fight across Europe in 1944-45 were so high that very young men and older men with children were shoved into a draft notice to frontline infantry pipeline at rapid speed with tragic consequences. The dread of those who survived the fight in Europe of having to go to the Pacific and endure further combat there led 85% of Americans to support the use of the atomic bomb against Japan. After the war, the military planned to keep large armies in Europe and Asia but public pressure to rapidly demobilize and let servicemembers get on with their lives forced those plans to be scaled down substantially. President Roosevelt wanted a societal-wide social welfare program at the end of the war to ease the transition from a war economy to a strong peacetime one that would not continue the Great Depression, but conservatives in Congress wouldn’t support that and instead mandated that all benefits go solely to those who had served in the military. Furthermore, Congress insisted that those benefits be administered by the states, not by the Federal government, which ensured that existing racial and gender hierarchies were affirmed and strengthened. The most successful portion of the GI bill was the education benefits provided to (white male) veterans. By putting millions in college, it kept them out of the work force which prevented unemployment from becoming an issue, and the monthly cash stipend given to these veterans was sufficiently large to support a family living frugally, so all of that government money was redirected into the economy which helped drive a surge in consumer spending. 

Magazine Article: “My year as a degenerate gambler.” – By McKay Coppins in The Atlantic, April 2026. For me, Coppins is a must-read author. Off the top of my head, I can’t cite particular articles of his, I just know most of them have been quite good so I always read his stuff. This continues that trend and was especially interesting to me because I’ve been fascinated by the rise of legal gambling in our culture in recent years. When Coppins’ editors assigned him to write an article on gambling, they wanted it to be participatory journalism with him gambling himself then writing about it. This presented a problem because Coppins is a Mormon and that religion forbids its followers from gambling. The editors had an answer: They would stake him $10,000 of the Atlantic’s money to gamble with over the course of a year, he could pay back that advance and then he and the magazine would split any winnings. In that way, he wasn’t really gambling but was doing research for his article. Coppins got his bishop to grudgingly sign off on the arrangement and he was off. After a random early bet won him some money and gave him a false sense of confidence, he hit a losing streak which led to consultation with gambling experts who basically said, to come out ahead, you must obsess over this and even then if you only win even a little, you’ll be ahead of 95% of the gamblers in the US. The obsession part came easy because the now ubiquitous gambling apps and the wall-to-wall advertising that leads people to them proved as addictive as every other addictive (and harmful) practice from drugs to alcohol to tobacco. At the end of the year, Coppins had lost the entire $10,000, and struggled to extricate himself from the mental cage gambling had constructed around him. Finally, he not only deleted all the gambling apps from his phone, he also filed a self-exclusion form which is a state mechanism which bans online gaming companies from allowing the filer to do business with them. 

Magazine Article: “Could the girls of Camp Mystic have been saved?” by Kerry Howley in New York magazine, April 5, 2026 – In the early morning hours of July 4, 2025, a catastrophic flash flood struck Camp Mystic, a long-running all-girls Christian summer camp located along the Guadalupe River in Hunt, Texas, resulting in the deaths of 27 campers and counselors. The event was part of a larger, devastating flood system that claimed over 100 lives across Central Texas, but the tragedy at Camp Mystic was especially notable due to the high number of children lost. This article reviews what happened but it does it primarily from the perspective of several of the parents whose children died. Several have sued the camp alleging negligence in that the camp was in a known flood-prone area and that the camps’ inadequate response at the start of the flood contributed to the deaths. However, as the article makes clear, the clientele for this camp for decades has been the daughters of the Texas elite so there was a strong support for the family that owned and operated the camp. That sentiment won out and the camp will reopen this summer. The bigger picture was a depiction of a philosophy of life that treats life – to me, at least – in a cavalier fashion, reasoning that whatever happens is a manifestation of “God’s will” whether that be making guns freely available at the cost of mass school shootings, or disregarding reasonable collective safety measures in the face of a deadly pandemic, or allowing young kids to spend four weeks of the summer in a place that will predictably flood in a way that is hazardous to life.

“Let them eat …” Croissants!

A photo of a large, eye-level billboard of different shop scenes (butcher, cheese shop, florist, café, etc.) in rue Cadet. It hides construction/renovation work being done on that particular building and the billboard was given over to this street artist “femmestabilo 2025”

“Let them eat …” Croissants!

By Louise Peloquin

In a world where the wild whirlwind of war blows needless destruction, it seems frivolous and callous to think about the pleasures of sampling food. This post, written by a “Nam generation” baby who participated in a Boston sit-in for peace in 1969, is respectfully dedicated to all of the battered peoples who cannot sample croissants and for whom we pray daily.

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Official statistics state that France has been the number one tourist destination for several years. Sights include the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre (1) and renovated Notre Dame cathedral (2) which, since its reopening last year, has taken the top spot away from Disneyland Paris.

April has come to Paris and, as the song goes, “chestnuts are in blossom” and tourists have arrived in droves to enjoy “the charm of spring.” (3)

     A myriad of tours offer visitors a myriad of experiences. They have their  pick of museum passes, river boat cruises, walking tours, private shopping sprees, beauty make-overs, spas, fitness challenges, rooftop terrace discoveries, you name it, it’s out there.

Of course, pleasures linked to the palate are synonymous with the French joie de vivre et qualité de vie. Consequently, café-hopping, cuisine classes, wine-tasting and cheese sampling are always popular. In the last couple of years, another epicurean activity has skyrocketed in popularity: viennoiserie sampling.

Croissants, pains au chocolat and pains aux raisins are traditional French breakfast staples. Why are they called viennoiseries? History embellishes everything under the sun just as lots of butter enhances a croissant.

 Viennoiseries are flaky dough baked goods made with eggs, milk, butter and, depending on the pastry, sugar and cream. Recipes date back to the 17th century, more precisely, to 1683 Vienna. While the Ottoman Empire was trying to attack the city, a local baker warned the Austrian soldiers about the unusual noises he was hearing, thus allowing them to thwart the attack.

To celebrate the Austrian victory, city bakers created a pâtissserie shaped like the crescent on the Turkish flag. How did it become part of French culinary tradition? Apparently, Marie-Antoinette of Austria, who was married to Louis XVI, introduced the croissant to the French court. Viennoiserie refers to any action or object related to the city of Vienna, pastries included.

To get off of the historical tangent and back to the increasingly popular Paris tour option, sampling viennoiseries in trendy boulangeries in touristy parts of town like Montmartre has become a must. Tour guides, often university students in search of extra income, need not be art history specialists to run these tours. On the contrary, required skills are simply mastery of English slang variables, a dose of enthusiasm and good humor.

Here’s a virtual viennoiserie tour illustrated with our own Paris boulangerie photos and comments gathered from eavesdropping tour groups.

The viennoiserie scene began with le croissant. Characteristics of a really good one are: a shiny, crispy outer crust, slightly chewy and moist texture inside and a strong buttery flavor. Le croissant is best enjoyed by eating with one’s fingers. When they become gloriously greasy, finger-licking is never frowned-upon.

Wooden board with 11 croissants

      Six months ago, a famous Paris pastry chef had the brilliant idea of opening a small viennoiserie shop on la rue de Steinkerque, the street leading up to Sacre Coeur Basilica on Montmartre hill. The small venue is now perpetually crowded by tourists lured in by the fragrance of oversized croissants sold for 30 euros apiece. (4)

Huge croissant with a small one on top

No tours patronize this particular shop because the sidewalk cannot accommodate the cafe tables and chairs necessary for comfortable sampling. Guides therefore opt for stopping at boulangeries with pavement space on Montmartre side streets.

The next favorite viennoiserie is le pain au chocolat, made with buttery flaky pastry rolled around a couple of dark chocolate sticks. The outside is crispy, the inside moist and the melted chocolate is deliciously tongue-coating.

An ongoing debate in France is this pastry’s name. Some insist on calling it une chocolatine and others un pain au chocolat. As the great Will wrote: “what’s in a name?” Tour guides insist that a pain au chocolat by any other name tastes as sweet. (5)

Pains au chocolat

Young woman placing pains au chocolat in a tray

     Next is le pain aux raisins, a puff pastry brioche with a bit of vanilla cream and raisins. Outer crispness and inner moistness combine with a bit of cream and scattered raisins to create a unique culinary delight.

Pain aux raisins

     Le chausson aux pommes is another classic viennoiserie. This is not your usual apple turnover. Its flaky pastry is light and its filling is pureed apple. Eating a chausson invariably makes a great deal of crumbs. Whether these dust the table or stick to one’s fingers, gathering them up for consumption is encouraged in order to prolong the pleasure.

Chaussons aux pommes

     One last pastry to close our virtual viennoiserie tour is le pain suisse, a variation of le pain au chocolat. Rectangular in shape, it contains crème pâtissière, a type of custard, and chocolate chips.

2 pains suisses

     All of the above have variations, modern takes on the traditional breakfast pastries. Today’s tourists will find croissants filled with, for example, almond paste, lemon curd, fruit jams and pistachio cream inspired by the Dubai chocolate fad.

Croissants amande & pistache

Tour guides certainly have an expanding selection of viennoiseries to offer their clients. Even so, the stars of the breakfast pastry show remain the classics.

Should future Paris visitors book a viennoiserie tour? Why not? But buttery wafts from simple boulangeries with alluring window displays suffice to trigger the urge to step inside and spend a couple of euros on  a warm, standard-sized croissant. Therefore, we choose not to list names of trendy places. Instead, leave it to serendipity, the best compass.

Paris now boasts of Krispy Kream franchises and, most recently, Dunkin Donut shops. Will Sorbonne students turned into culinary tour guides now tout American donut sampling tours? Nothing is unimaginable in Paris.

Selection of 3 different pastries

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1. Information about last winter’s spectacular robbery at the Louvre here: https://richardhowe.com/2025/12/02/louvre-update/

2) Details about the Notre Dame cathedral renovation here:

https://richardhowe.com/2025/05/16/notre-dame-revisited/

3) “April in Paris” – song written in 1932 for the Broadway musical “Walk a Little Faster.” Music by Vernon Duke and lyrics by Yip Harburg. Although Count Basie’s 1955 version is said to be the most famous, the lyrics Ella Fitzgerald sang stand out:

April in Paris

Chestnuts in blossom

Holiday tables under the trees

April in Paris

This is the feeling

No one can ever reprise

 4) Exchange rate on April 9, 2026: I euro = 1.169 US dollars.

5) In Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, Act II, Scene II Juliet says: “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.”

The Housing Crisis: it never gets better by Marjorie Arons-Barron

The entry below is being cross posted from Marjorie Arons-Barron’s own blog.

Evicted: Poverty and Profit in the American City by Jonathan Weiner is a comprehensive and enormously powerful study of the cycle of poverty in American cities brought about by the eviction of poor people from their homes.

Eviction is not just about eviction in the legal sense, where people get summoned to court for getting behind in their rent or violating their leases’ behavior standards, like engaging in domestic violence or drug use. He also includes those forced out of their homes by fires, substandard living conditions, health code violations, without due process, set adrift to find habitable and affordable housing elsewhere. Too many end up on the streets, sleeping in shelters. Eviction, in Weiner’s telling, deals with the gyre of how housing insecurity accelerates and perpetuates lives of poverty.

Weiner focuses on eight families in different housing arrangements, all of whom were in a downward spiral that only accelerated after eviction. From having a home, we get a sense of stability, a sense of belonging and self-worth, a sense of security. Rents for the poor may end up taking 80 percent or more of family income. Even if they succeed, they may end up with no heat or hot water, broken windows, non-working refrigerators, mice and cockroaches.

When they get behind in the rent and are thrown out, they end up in a constant search for a safe place for themselves and their kids. If they find something, it’s rinse and repeat. They’re hard put to buy clothes for school or put food on the table. Every move the family is forced to make means the kids may have to adjust to another school, sometimes as many as five or six in a single year. Often prospective landlords in the private market will refuse to rent to a family with kids, even if the law bars such discrimination.

When things get bad, the fathers of the children can end up in jail or just move out, leaving single mothers to foot the bills and solve the problems. The neighborhoods these women can afford get worse and worse and expose their children to drugs and violence.  Waiting lists for housing are so long it can take years just to get on the lists, and some of the lists are closed. In their struggles, some poor people turn to alcohol and drugs themselves.

A history of evictions is itself disqualifying in public housing. Private housing landlords in the inner cities get essentially a free hand in determining who stays and who goes.

Weiner describes the cycle of despair in terms that are gritty, graphic, and authentic. He makes us smell the squalor, hear the chaos, taste the fear. Having grown up poor, he has a natural empathy.  As a PhD student in sociology at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, he devoted himself to understanding the problems of players on all sides of the issue.  For nearly two years from 2009-2011, he lived the life, first in a trailer park rental in the outskirts of Milwaukee, where he got to know the very real people he writes about. He was never without a notebook. His subjects knew full well he was writing about them and their challenges. They wanted their stories told. America’s housing crisis is real.

Most of the tenants in the trailer park were poor whites.  He also moved on to live in the innermost parts of the city, mostly people of color. He spent hours in the housing courts learning the flaws of the process. He studied sheriffs, landlords, government bureaucrats, human services workers, addiction counselors and more. He details the shortcomings of the legal system. He developed statistical models to validate his findings from studying the lived experiences of his subjects.

Weiner concludes with recommendations, including especially a universal housing voucher program, not unlike the Section 8 housing vouchers that reach only about a quarter of those eligible. And not all landlords accept them. The waiting list can take at least two years. (In many places, the waiting lists are actually closed.) He maintains that, if fully funded, the nation can afford spending much more – just as the nation can afford the mortgage-interest deduction and other advantages it provides for homeowners.

He also urges that the government pay for legal services for poor tenants facing eviction. The landlords are typically lawyered up; tenants in civil cases are often unrepresented.

Every night of his study, Weiner would type up his notes, ending up with 5000 single-spaced pages. He maintained long-term relationships with some of his subjects, noting in the epilogue that a few of them had actually survived and stabilized their lives. His writing style is simple and direct, fact-driven and heartfelt. His 400-word book is human, moving, and eye-opening, well deserving of the Pulitzer Prize it won in 2017. It is as relevant today.