Rosecrans Baldwin: Of course, there's no reason that Paris should have...

There should be a name for the syndrome that occurs when you're in Paris and you already miss it.

Rosecrans Baldwin

paris missing names

The best thing about candy is that it can't be spoiled by the adult world. Candy is innocent.

Rosecrans Baldwin

creativity adults world

In Europe, it's common to hear about young professionals living with their parents. With the continent's high rents and taxes and its population density, it makes sense.

Rosecrans Baldwin

population parent europe

I never had the idea of moving to Paris and becoming something. I liked the idea of living in Paris because it seemed to have so many parts of life I really enjoyed. The people there seemed to prize literature and art, food and drinking, a more hedonistic way of living. My ambition was to be cosmopolitan. I grew up in the suburbs. I went to college in Maine. I had a dream in my head that if you wanted to be the most urbane, living-life-to-the-fullest kind of person, Paris was the place to be.

Rosecrans Baldwin

drinking dream art

I never had the idea of moving to Paris and becoming something. I liked the idea of living in Paris because it seemed to have so many parts of life I really enjoyed. The people there seemed to prize literature and art, food and drinking, a more hedonistic way of living.

Rosecrans Baldwin

drinking art moving

I like to find music that shares a rhythm with the sentences I'm working on. And though I'll probably regret saying this, I think some songs actually don't sound too bad when they're played through lousy speakers.

Rosecrans Baldwin

regret song thinking

Thanksgiving, our eminent moral holiday, doesnt have much for children. At its heart are conversation, food, drink, and fellowship - all perks of adulthood.

Rosecrans Baldwin

holiday heart children

I think there's tons of life and excitement in Paris. There are lots of old people and young people creating sexy new culture, but they're having to do it in the middle of a theme park. Paris is so dedicated to preserving its sense of itself, "we were great once upon a time," that it's hard for people who are making work right now to have to struggle in this sort of museum.

Rosecrans Baldwin

sexy struggle thinking

That's when I began drinking coffee. I was hung up on every little thing. I loved Paris, and felt straightaway at home. Not to be grandiose, but it seemed like all the city had been waiting for me.

Rosecrans Baldwin

coffee drinking home

Americans continue to visit Paris not just for Paris, but for ‘Paris.’ As if out of some collective nostalgia for what Paris should be, more than what it is. For someone else’s memories.

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paris nostalgia memories

And all Halloween candy pales next to candy corn, if only because candy corn used to appear, like the Great Pumpkin, solely on Halloween.

Rosecrans Baldwin

candy-corn halloween next

Nicholas Sarkozy made the point that both America and France have political systems that they want to share with the world. There's an emphasis on being a unique person. Screw you if you don't like it. But the problem is, they're all the same.

Rosecrans Baldwin

political unique world

I was 23 when I learned how to cook; I grew up around the same time. It was precisely then that Thanksgiving started to mean something more. Growing up, Christmas was always about me, and eventually you, when I finally started to enjoy the giving part. But Thanksgiving is always about us.

Rosecrans Baldwin

growing-up giving mean

For me, the experience of being in other culture really set up a longing. When I'm traveling, things seem really sharp. You learn things ten times faster.

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longing culture

The great thing about candy is that it can't be spoiled by the adult world. Candy is innocent. And all Halloween candy pales next to candy corn, if only because candy corn used to appear, like the Great Pumpkin, solely on Halloween.

Rosecrans Baldwin

great like innocent world

My grandmother died from Alzheimer's, and it was a big shock. For the families left behind, it is not an easy closure. It's not a gradual fading. The person is losing so much of their humanity as they're dying. Losing your memories, you lose so much of who you are as a person.

Rosecrans Baldwin

you losing humanity memories

My ideal vacation isn't about complex maneuvers. I want to arrive somewhere foreign where I don't speak the language, go hiking, then plop down in a sunny square, have drinks, read a book, and see what happens.

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down language speak book

Frankly, it's depressing, each night sleeping in someone else's home. I miss having a roof to my name. Our situation isn't an 'All in the Family' cliche, but it's still easy to see reality in plain terms: I live with my in-laws, and I can't say when that will change.

Rosecrans Baldwin

family change home night

Loving relatives and home-cooked meals are solid levees against a recession.

Rosecrans Baldwin

recession relatives loving against

Venice, Italy, is one of my favorite cities, a place I've been lucky enough to visit twice.

Rosecrans Baldwin

place venice lucky enough

Of course, there's no reason that Paris should have decent Mexican food. It's a silly expectation - there's a Mexican population in Paris, but they're not exactly traveling there from across the border. Paris also doesn't do Peruvian all that well, either.