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a favorite blogumn by Gudrun Cram-Drach
Gudrun Says: I decided to rerun The Loulou Edition because now, nearly a year later, it’s good for me to see how things have changed. I’ve come a long way in my French step-mothering, and I have a long way to go. I may not have the patience that comes [...]

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a blogumn by Gudrun Cram-Drach

Just to warn you, I’m in a very bad mood. I’m in one of those places where life sucks and I don’t have the energy to do anything about it. I’m also quite sure that it’s a geography thing. Being in France, that is. Sure, it’s great to live in (near) [...]

I used to be the biggest coward. I was terrified of standing up in front of other people. Of having the class stare at me when we had to do speeches in 7th grade. Of playing in violin recitals. But music was easier, I played in a youth orchestra and I loved being on stage [...]

I didn’t cry when my great grandmother died. It freaked me out that death had come, leaving her empty body in the laz-y-boy, smelling like old lady and old clothes. The air that lingered in her mouth would have been cold and dry and sour. That’s what bothered me. But a few days later, I [...]

Fête de la Musique is a now international music festival that started in France 28 years ago. The idea is to celebrate and make music, and  amateur and professional musicians are invited to play concerts anywhere and everywhere that they can. Orchestras play in parks, concert halls open their doors, and restaurants provide amps and [...]

“I was happy enough doing my rebellious, nerdy, arty thing, but resented the popular kids, I guess because I wasn’t one of them.”
From arty rebel to awesome expat, click on the pic to read the rest of Gudrun’s THEN and NOW story at 32Candles.com!

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a blogumn by Gudrun Cram-Drach
It is ironic that I should start reading the restored edition of A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway, the unfinished, posthumously (originally published in 1965, annotated, rearranged and republished in 2009) published account of his early years spent in Paris during the 1920s the same week that Ernessa should declare this [...]

I’m in the final days of a very long three week period of solitude. M has been working in Montreal, taking part in the filming of a special-effects laden movie you’ll hopefully go see next year. I’ve spent many years of my life living alone and loving it, but now that I’m married, three weeks [...]

Three years ago, before I had even submitted my film to the animation festival in France where I met my husband, I lived in Los Angeles. I had finished grad school, and I felt old. I listened to a lot of NPR. I know it’s not the coolest way to discover a band, but one [...]

When job hunting, once I actually resort to desperate measures, something often comes along. Two or three times I have found work the day after signing up with a temp agency. This time, feeling hopeless about ever finding a job to get me out of the house, I commit to paying [...]