Field Notes

Field Notes

Student Writings from the Marseille Study Abroad Program LaGuardia Community College Summer 2017

Field Notes

Student Writings from the Marseille Study Abroad Program LaGuardia Community College Summer 2017

INTRODUCTION

As a magnet for immigrants across the world, the United States offers a well-known model of economic, cultural and social integration. Many LaGuardia Community College students and their family members have intimate experience of this model’s beneficial aspects. Yet Americans as a whole still experience the long-term impact of failed policies in racial and cultural integration.

As we seek to understand the challenges of living and working together in a global economy, it is important to consider alternative models of integration and what we can learn from them.

Combining a one-week intensive at the LaGuardia campus and a two-week stay in the ancient Mediterranean port city of Marseille, France in July 2017, the Marseille Study Abroad program invited a cohort of twelve students to observe and compare U.S. and French approaches to forming identity and national unity out of cultural and racial diversity. Their study and travel began in New York, including tours of Lower Manhattan, the Museum of the City of New York and Harlem, and then expanded in Marseille through tours of Le Panier neighborhood and the Museum of the City of Marseille, as well as excursions to Aix-en-Provence, Avignon, Arles and a weekend in the rural Lubéron mountains. We were graciously received by Dr. Corinne Flicker and her colleagues at the University of Aix-Marseille as well as by the U.S. Consul, Mr Seth Snyder.

Students lived in university dorms and studied the cities as “contact zones” through the lens of literature (ELF 250 French Literature in Translation) and creative nonfiction (ENG 274 Creative Nonfiction). All work and visits focused on common questions about how large cities establish cultural integration, where division and strife tend to erupt, and how individuals can nurture a cosmopolitan identity.

Poignantly, this journey developed a triangular dimension as it probed and elicited students’ identities as immigrants and children of immigrants and enslaved and indentured peoples from Columbia, Puerto Rico, Pakistan, Ecuador, Haiti, West Africa, and Trinidad. Students furthered differed in age and developmental and academic stages; some were eighteen and on their first trip away from home; others were in their thirties taking a break from heavy family responsibilities.

Together, we also moved between wide differences in learning contexts – from American-style participatory discussions to French-style lecture, from traditional classroom settings to learning in situ in trains, parks, museums, boats, and dorm hallways.

The choice of location led students to grapple with and correct their own lenses. Marseille’s poor reputation as a hotspot for poverty and crime is a racist stereotype of a city that has always embraced foreigners. As our students learned from the expert lectures organized by the University of Aix-Marseille, the city’s geographical terrain prevents it from pushing its immigrant poor into the notorious banlieue or immigrant suburbs like Paris or Strasbourg, which draw more tourists and more study abroad programs. Instead, it must constantly reinvent itself as a terrain of integration, allowing its neighborhoods to become palimpsests of ethnic stories. Our hunch that this Mediterranean mix of people and cultures in the most ancient city in France would challenge LaGuardia students and ignite their sense of justice and humor, proved true.

The selection of final essays and reflections collected here are filled with observations of this multi-layered cosmopolitan diversity – with the food, colors, smells, attitudes, stories, and people of three or more lived places. They give proof of LaGuardia’s mission statement: “to graduate one of the most diverse student populations in the country to become critical thinkers and socially responsible citizens who help to shape a rapidly evolving society.”

We believe this transformative experience, part of a shared commitment to educational equity and social justice, can lead to a powerful and positive shift in self-image and academic commitment as student risk engagement in the world in new ways. We invite you to read their writings and imagine just how large the journey has been.

Program leaders: Dr. Habiba Boumlik, Associate Professor, ELA Dr. Lucy McNair, Associate Professor, English Ms. Candiece Goodall, Associate Director for Global Learning Initiatives

CONTENTS Desiree Denis 6 Kenneth Sousie 10 Karina Guerrero 14 Kadeem Joseph 16 Nicole Sanchez 20 Soleil Griffin 24 Writings From ELF 250 30 From the Reflection 44 ENG 274 Syllabus 49 ELF 250 Syllabus 51

DESIREE DENIS “You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.” 1 Peter 3:4 To the Woman Whose Womb I Inhabited,

Being your daughter has been the greatest lesson about what it means to be part of a generation of strength. From the time you became a mother, at seventeen, you gave your life to be strong for your children. If I conquer the world, it’s because you showed me that I could do it.

Everything that flows from the top of your head to the tips of your fingers is a breath of life for the people you serve. I aspire to be as in touch with our creator as you are.

I’m walking through the city of Aix-en-Provence, and I can hear singing in the distance. I know from a childhood filled with church going that I’m hearing a choir. I walk toward the sounds and come across a cathedral. With a detailed exterior and two large red doors. I feel a tug at my heart as I come to a place that I’ve associated so much of my childhood with. I walk in and the ceilings are so high, the acoustics are perfect. The choir is singing, and their sounds are angelic. I sit in wonder for a while, at the feet of God, and I cannot stop the tears. I am absolutely mystified about how I got here. These walls tell stories about a faith so contained within the four walls of a church that it cannot begin to describe the wonder of Jehovah. I cry tears of amazement, that the daughter of a teen mother, the daughter of an abused woman, the daughter of a lineage of people who struggle with addiction, incarceration, and circumstance is discovering the world in unimaginable ways.

Growing up, I didn’t understand why you were so hard on me. And I didn’t understand how a God so big would want to keep me inside a box of rules that felt so tiny. As a young woman, I now understand how religion, not relationships, would shape the way you began to teach your daughters about faith. Sometimes, when you live in a city such as New York, you can lose sight of the beauty around you and lose the connection you may have with your faith. This cathedral was the perfect reset button for me. It does not matter where you are, it does not matter what country you are in, God is everywhere. Even in the places the system of religion tells you He isn’t. Including the life of a seventeen-year-old mother, who chose to have her first daughter out of wedlock, in a time where the church would have cast you out.

Everything about religion tells people like us that we’re no good, a 17-year- old, unwed mother. The cards dealt to her made her unfit for the Kingdom of Heaven, right?

She and I now know that this is a lie. We now know that God above us gave us purpose, gave us life lessons and skills that we would take out into this world to show people the beauty of what we discovered. A joy so limitless, it will leave you breathless. You ever wonder what it is that drives a woman? The force and the will given to her by God to walk through life? To have your mother’s womb be chosen as your home? To stretch her body, separate her hips, travel through her so that you may have breath. What is it that God has planted inside us women that all over the world we empathize with the agony of loneliness, of childbirth, of the injustices against women? Isn’t it beautiful to know that God chose a woman to make his entrance into the world? Isn’t it beautiful to know that we too take that journey through a woman to enter the world, that we as women may go on that journey to give life and bring a child into this world.

It should give us a sense of comfort to know that when we cry out, in desperation, in sadness, in contempt, in joy - that other women hear our cry, and cry out in response. To strengthen us, to comfort us, to support us, to keep us going when we can no longer go ourselves.

I go out into this world now with the confidence that you’ve etched into my spirit everything that I can be in life. I go with the understanding that my gender and my race aren’t a mark that religious institutions may use to belittle and oppress me, but a gift from God, a gift of knowledge that I will be exceptional. You once told me that God designed me the way he designed a bumblebee. Bumblebees are aerodynamically unfit. Science says they shouldn’t be able to fly, and that’s the way I was created. Statistics say I shouldn’t have made it out of high school without being a teen mother. Our environment said I shouldn’t have made it out of our neighborhood with an education, a thirst for knowledge, a desire to see the world… yet here I am, walking the streets of France, the glimpse of a Bachelor’s degree on the horizon, with a plan to fight the system of injustice that plagues women all over the world. You are my inspiration, my safe place, my home. What you have taught me is priceless. I will honor you always.

Love you always, Desi “Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.”

1 Corinthians 13:7 Dear Sunshine,

I sit on the edge of a rocky hill, I’m on an island called Frioul. I look out at the ocean and wish desperately that you could be here, the beauty of it all is unlike anything I’ve ever seen. I take in the ocean breeze, appreciating the way the seagulls caw above me, letting my mind drift to you. When I look at you, I see my future in your eyes. I see all the hopes and dreams we have for a family, a marriage, a home and I smile. Loving you has been a learning experience.

When you wrap your arms, and your love, around a Black man, you begin to learn that he will need more from you than most other men, because the world around him has thrown him away. I will never throw you away. I pray for you most often. It’s not easy doing your job when the color of your skin screams out about the injustices against your people. I often wonder if you believe that you’re standing on the right side of justice.

When you were a young man, I would wonder if you saw your own potential the way that I saw it. I wondered if you saw God the way I see him. So many times, I try and show you who he is through my eyes, forgetting that you must encounter him every day. He’s in the little boy’s eyes you let go for jumping the turnstile, he’s in the older woman’s trembling hands that you hold in comfort, he’s in the tears of the women who call you about domestic violence. Sometimes I fail to acknowledge that the God you know has given you the strength to do your job, and so you must have a particular understanding of him anyway, and mine isn’t any better or worse. Just different.

One would think that navigating an interracial relationship in the 20th century would not pose a lot of problems. But this has not proved true. I have to love you differently, show you relationships differently, because historically you’ve been deemed unworthy. I think this is what

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connects us so strongly. The system you’ve been placed in has out cast you, in many of the ways that it has cast me out. And often I forget that we’re seen as the minority in the world. Strolling through the streets of Marseille remind me that we are an oddity to many. Yet when I walk through one of the most romantic countries in the world, my mind can’t help but to wander back to you.

I know you’d love it here. Somehow it seems like we could escape the racial tension of the states and live quietly in the mountains together, hidden. We could grow a family, pretend these issues didn’t exist. You’re stronger than that, and we both know you can’t run from race issues, they exist everywhere, but the grass always seems greener, doesn’t it? Whatever the world throws your way, I promise to always have your back, be your biggest ally, fight your battles with you, and hold you up when you want to quit.

I thank you. For how you protect me, encourage me, nurture me, and for all the ways that you’ve watched me blossom into a woman so confident and sure of herself, that she often takes up all the air and space in the room. You’ve given me the space to be exactly who I am, someone with a desire to see the four corners of the earth and change the worst things about it, expressing that your only care is that I come back home to you. And I always will.

Our lives are constantly changing. You always adapt, and accept who I am evolving into.

Lesser men would be threatened by my drive, and lesser women would be ill equipped to stand by your side. When we met, I was a 15-year- old girl who didn’t know a thing about what it meant to be a woman, a partner, a believer. Nine years, 3 changes in major, and 4 colleges later – you are still as patient as ever about my evolution. My hopes and prayers are that we always have the tools to care for, protect, defend, and unconditionally love one another.

You’ve taught me a lot about what it means to believe in a God of grace. And in some ways, you’ve helped me navigate what it truly means to show the world around me what that grace can do in your life. For that I’m grateful.

Forever, Your Luna “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.”

Psalm 139:14 Dear Desiree,

All my life, I had this abstract idea of who God was, and what he was supposed to mean.

Now, as a young woman, I have such a profound take on what it means to live in my faith, and walk through life. All the things I’ve seen, have been a result of the favor that’s been shown over my life.

What a journey I’ve embarked on. I close my eyes every day and I thank the God above me for the things that I cannot seem to wrap my head around. The way my skin stands up with goosebumps at something beautiful, the way my toes feel wiggling in the sand, the way the ocean kisses the earth, and the moon lights the night. I want this letter to be about reminding yourself that you deserve to enjoy all the blessings you have. You have grown up in a place that made it hard to see outside of the situations in front of you. Learning how to just survive isn’t a skill set that prepares you for stepping outside of your comfort zone. This is what I’ve learned in Marseille. That I must step out, no matter the place, and I must challenge whatever it is that the world has tried to throw at me. I want to never forget that there is a divine power at work, opening doors that are meant for you and closing ones that aren’t.

New places, like Marseille, aren’t so different from the places you grew up in. I danced around at a party in La Panier, the crowd spilled out into the street, an actual DJ played Hip Hop and old school jams and I laughed. How naïve of me to believe that I had to travel across the world to change the systems around me. Different cities, countries, continents, all deal with the same issues, it’s how we choose to face them that matters. The people in Marseille may be as outcast and oppressed as some of the people living in the states, but they do the same things that we do, fight against it- and carry on. They have voices for change, and then they go to a house party, where they dance the stress away.

To see another part of the world after having grown up in a space where there was a ceiling, a limit put on your capabilities, is incredible. I have come to a junction in my journey where I’ve ripped the preverbal ceiling from my life. I will no longer operate in that space, and my life going forward will not either. The world likes to tell us many things about who we are and what we can accomplish and I will reject all of it. This experience has changed me greatly. I have a new understanding of the world. No one in Marseille knew where I had come from or where I was going – I was just me. So, I’ll take that knowledge, and just be me all over the world, talking to people, taking in what it has to offer, falling to my knees in gratitude. My heart is full.

-Des

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KENNETH SOUSIE The Warning Signs (Tell It Slant page 161)

“In your own work, always be on the lookout for sections that seem weighted down by the emotions from which they spring. Here are some warning signs. Read the piece aloud and see if the prose has momentum. Where does it lag and become plodding? Those are the sections that probably haven’t been refined enough to avoid melodrama. And seek out any sections that too directly explore your feelings about an event rather than the event itself. Where do you say words such as “I hated,” “I felt so depressed,” “I couldn’t stand”? The “I” here will become intrusive, repeating itself into infinity: a monologue of old grievances.”

This is something that resonates strongly with me. In writing about something that I feel passionately about, especially a memory, I find myself sometimes (not as much as before) relying on cliché words to describe my feelings. It becomes more of a rant than something intelligible that I can communicate with my reader. Not only am I depriving them of something rich to read, but I am stunting myself in writer’s growth. This is important as well as inspirational, because if I stop using phrases like “I hate” and actually take the time to explore and map out the emotions in that phrase, maybe I will come up with something that helps me learn something new about myself, and give the writer a new perspective themselves.

Quote from Annie Dillard (Tell It Slant page 163)

“I was delighted to find that nonfiction prose can also carry meaning in its structures and, like poetry, can tolerate all sorts of figurative language, as well as alliteration and even rhyme. The range of rhythms in prose is larger and grander than it is in poetry, and it can handle discursive ideas and plain information as well as character and story. It can do everything, I felt as though I had switched from a single reed instrument to a full orchestra.”

This. This absolutely is what I need to read to reinforce my chosen medium of storytelling.

Even with the sentence that came before this one, could I do that with poetry? I have nothing but the utmost respect for poetry; it’s a mastery of literature, but it doesn’t necessarily help me with my need to rebel against form. Hearing Dillard refer to prose with such power, comparing it to an orchestra, gives me faith. With prose I can tell my story my way and still give it a unique flavor. Movements in an opera that I fully control. If I wanted an intermission after Act 1, I can do so, and there is no one to tell me that I can’t.

Specificity and Detail (Tell It Slant page 167)

“Scene forces us to use specificity and detail, elements that get lost in the quick wash of exposition. Even in discussing the largest ideas, our brains engage with the small workings of the senses first. And the specificity of a piece of nonfiction is generally where the sensory details lie: the aroma of honeysuckle, the weak film of moonlight. While it is possible to go overboard with detail, generally in drafting it’s best to keep going back and sharpening as much as possible.

You leaned not just against a tree but against a weeping silver birch; the voice at the other end of the phone sounded like the Tin Man’s in The Wizard of Oz. Your readers or writing group can tell you when you’ve gone too far.”

One of the first things I learned on my first day of my first creative writing class, was to go out to the New York City Library and write my surroundings down in as much detail as possible. I didn’t realize at the time how important this would be to writing. It’s also something that I forgot along the way (getting lazy), and this passage helped me to remember. It reminds me of George Orwell’s 1984, where he didn’t write about a page of a notebook, but rather a creamy white page of a notebook. Remembering to add as much detail as possible also aids the first passage in my scrapbook.

Instead of “I hate this”, or “I love this” I will try to describe in full detail the reasons why I feel these ways. I will show, and not tell.

Image and Metaphor (Tell It Slant page 173)

“Janet Burroway, in her text Writing Fiction, describes metaphor as the foundation stone “from which literature derives.” Image--any literary element that creates a sense impression in the mind-and metaphor-the use of comparison-form the heart of any literary work. … Clustering thoughts through images and loose associations (and metaphors are, the most basic level, associations) seems fundamental to the way the human mind works. You may mentally jump from a look at a leaky faucet to a memory of watching the 1970’s show ‘Charlie’s Angels’ because of the name of the actress Farrah Fawcett. You may then glide effortlessly from that thought to a sense memory of the powdered hot chocolate with marshmallows your mother made for you on the weeknights while you watched television. As we grow more aware of and sophisticated about the way human consciousness operates, it makes sense that our literature will come closer to these basic though rhythms.

YES YES YES YES YES!!! This is exactly what I needed to read. I always thought that my tendency to use metaphors frequently was a handicap. Realizing that it’s a way of sense memory association, and can be used as an aid and tool, makes me so happy and I will no longer be ashamed of using metaphors. I won’t overuse them, but I will still use them. Maybe I can use them to help me in transitions with my writing. Who knows. It just feels mighty mightful to hear someone give credit to a writing style and way of thinking that I have sometimes felt ashamed of using.

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15

SEARCHING FOR MY VOICE IN MARSEILLE

KARINA GUERRERO

I’m on the Q39 bus going home after acing my statistics final, completely unaware of the massive news that will change my life forever. This was real. The first thing I saw when I looked down at my phone was an email from the study abroad coordinator, Candiece, with the subject titled “Congratulations!” I stopped for a second to look out the window and mentally prepare myself before actually opening the email that beheld my future. I had actually gotten into the study abroad program in Marseille, France. I couldn’t help but reload the page just to double check that this was my reality. My mind, my heart, and my stomach, were all in different places and we couldn’t seem to come to terms. My mind wanted to scare me and tell me I wasn’t strong enough, my heart wanted to tell me that nothing is impossible and I was chosen to go France for a purpose much larger than I can ever imagine, and my stomach was simultaneously battling nerves and excitement. However, I somehow knew that this was my time. My time to prove to myself that I can travel the world regardless of the agonizing feeling of anxiety that constantly creeps up my throat and doesn’t allow me to discover new things.

July 28th finally arrived. I struggled to lug my bags into the airport after filling them up to the top with anything my mom considered a necessity, but to me it all just seemed like a bunch of junk. But I wouldn’t realize how much I would need those things until I found myself in a foreign country, alone for the first time. We hugged each other, almost as if it were the last time we would ever meet again. She was releasing me into the world. As she tried to make up anything so that she could stay just a bit longer with me, I somehow found the courage to tell her it was time to go. This was a big step for both of us. Her youngest child was no longer a child and it was time for both of us to finally understand that.

“Flight 8276 to Paris will begin boarding in 10 minutes,” said the woman at the gate desk. At this point I was not sure what emotions I was feeling. All I knew was that we were going to France and there was no turning back. As we piled onto the double-decker aircraft that left me completely astonished by the technological advancements that humans have been able to achieve, I couldn’t help but think, “Wow Karina, you’re really going to France.” Although this little mental note did nothing in helping me realize that I was flying across the world, it was a step in the right direction.

I thanked God for not making me fear airplanes and long flights because eight hours in the air is a challenge for many and could have people stuck with their head’s in a barf bag or overdosing on Benadryl.

The pilot announces that we have landed in Paris. Myself, along with my classmates and professors scurried off the plane, grabbed our bags, and ran to catch our connecting flight to Marseille. Reality still had not hit me at this point. There was nothing in this moment that could be more real, but my mind just could not comprehend my existence in France. Maybe it was because I didn’t think I was cut out for it, or maybe I just thought everything was happening so quickly. As we arrived in Marseille, I couldn’t help but feel surprised by this new image of France that isn’t heard of quite as often. Everyone tends to assume that if you’re going to France, you’re going to Paris or that you need to see the Eiffel Tower to have something “cool” to show off. As I looked out at the beautiful mountainous scenery and the colorful architecture, I began to understand that this mindset has sadly closed us off to many of the wonders that France has to offer.

We struggled to get into the tiniest European taxi ever and began our journey to Aix Marseille Universite. The drive to the university is one I’ll never forget. I would have never expected to see so much graffiti in France; I guess that’s where the whole Paris brainwash shenanigans comes to play. As the driver failed to say a few words in English, I was completely focused on my surroundings. The highway sign that signaled an exit for Aix-en-Provence, the oddly shaped license plates, the surprising amount of people wearing Hijabs and Thobes, and the men who I would soon learn were refugees that lived in front of the train station because they had sacrificed themselves so the women and children can stay in shelters. This was the France no one spoke of.

This was going to be my biggest adventure.

Before arriving in Marseille, I didn’t have any interest in my own identity, or self-discovery for that matter. I needed to go on a journey. I didn’t need to “find myself” quite yet, but I needed to start seeing the world so that I could be able to see myself. Marseille revealed to me that I need to start embracing my cultural and religious identity. Up until this point I had not realized how much my identity relied on my roots and the languages I speak. I’ve also learned that my next adventure does not necessarily mean flying to another country. I will start traveling through food in New York.

There are hundreds of different restaurants from all over the world and I could travel to Vietnam one day and travel to Venezuela the next. I’ve opened open my eyes to a whole other world aside from my little bubble in Brooklyn, making me feel like I’ve been missing out on so much. I have discovered that looking for my identity means considering the history of my parents and the journeys that they have taken. Marseille sparked something in me. A craving for exploration and finally being able find my voice. To discover my purpose. To listen to the world and the stories that have become foundations to cultures and families. To discover my story and what I believe needs to be heard.

As I waited at Terminal 1 in JFK airport, I could not help but smile as I hummed Frank Sinatra’s song “New York, New York.” This city is wild in the most beautiful way. Full of opportunity and dreams. I was welcomed by my mom, brother, and his fiancé, who clung onto me like magnets.

My mom had completely ignored my dinner request of Spanish steak or bistec encebollado with white rice and brought me sancocho instead because she thought I needed to slowly ease into my old eating habits after nearly a week of juicing. As we drove home, I looked out the window at everything I didn’t think I would miss. The aggressive taxi drivers, the people playing music loudly, people cursing, men sagging their pants down to their knees, and my pesky neighbors who sit on their porch all day and smoke their lives away. This was New York and this was my home, but now my eyes no longer viewed New York the same. They were searching for something more, they were searching for my voice — my identity.

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A JOURNEY THROUGH TIME

KADEEM JOSEPH

Light brown stone streaked with golden honey undertones interconnect to form structures. Structures often glittered with vibrant colors, blues as vivid as the sky itself.

There’s one neighborhood that stands out amongst the masses; La Panier, a vibrant narrow road, long steep staircases, with endless alleys that are flourished with boutiques. Soap shops, knife shops, bakeshops, and tourist stops all line the narrow roads of La Panier; then there’s the art gallery. A neighborhood filled with artists, or vandals? The beauty of stones that rise from the ground are often concealed by colorful works of art; fashioned to form words and symbols, others portray the landscape. The endless alleys will take you on a journey, if you look up, each window is encased with an outer door, painted in contrast to the walls, plants then add a bit of finesse to entrap the viewer. As you walk deeper, a mosaic of cobble stones provides a bridge to the past. This is the oldest part of the neighborhood. Big or small, this landscape of structures forms a community, a metropolis of buildings and roads filled with innumerable moving parts - boats, cars and people. Most importantly people. But where am I? Who am I? What makes me or any person or a city different from the next? That’s the question I want to ask myself as I embark on this journey from New York City to Marseille. I want to explore how infrastructure and geography shapes identity and community. How have they shaped Marseille, a city in France? How have they shaped my hometown, New York City? How have they shaped me?

PART 1

I am a native New Yorker. This is a common statement one hears a lot. But what does it actually mean? I am of this land, yet I am culturally influenced by lands far away. I speak a language brought here only a few hundred years ago. I follow a religion which, if it were not for King Henry the VIII, would have been Catholicism. Considering just my own multiple heritages, what does it mean to be a New Yorker? Perhaps I am just a traveler, an observer, a curator in my own quest for enlightenment; I am within, and without. I am New York City. Even as I walk through Marseille, I am still New York City.

There is a young man who lives here within me. He goes to school here, he works here. He contributes to my growth, he keeps me alive, yet I made him who he is. I shaped his thoughts. I am his nemesis, I am his friend. I am the one who stole his bike, I am the one who sold him a new bike. And so, he rides up and down my street, taking pictures of me. He captures my beauty, he lives through my decline. I am the joy he felt when he acquired an internship. I am also the fear he felt when he found out his mother had cancer. Yet he comes to me in moments of solace. I am a teacher, a nurturer. I instill fear. I am New York City. I want him to stay home, I want them all to stay home.

There’s a group of students traveling; they are leaving me, yet they are bringing me with them like a shadow. I am now a shadow, trailing along for a ride. Traveling, I feel the excitement in the air weighing me down with some apprehension and nerves. They are leaving me, leaving for an adventure, to explore, to learn. It seems they all have their own unique reasons, unique, yet united by a common thread. They are leaving home for a foreign land. But why exactly?

Why do they leave me? I have so much to offer, and so many want to come. I am often described as “the city that never sleeps,” which is true. You can always get a slice of pizza or find people bustling to and from work no matter what time of day or night. Tourists come with their cameras to “the city of dreams” as they call me, excited to snap a picture, to capture a moment in time, to bring a part of me back to their friends and say, “Look, I went to the Empire State Building!” “The what building?” “The Empire State Building, the tall art deco building, with the antenna on top, King Kong climbed up in the movie!” Everyone knows something about me, I’m famous. I’m featured in movies, TV shows, people read about me in a magazine or newspaper, but the fact is they do not know me.

PART 2

I am the traveler. I leave NYC and visit France. I travel to the city of Marseille, France’s oldest city, founded more than 2,500 years ago. If I am a young child, Marseille is a great grand cousin twice removed. I arrive at the airport, I look around. Nothing much to admire. The streets are filled with small rocks, which made it a bit harder to roll my suitcase to the bus, but wait - I’m in France!

I’ve traveled miles upon miles to get here, and many hours. Nearly ten hours of traveling, if I’m not mistaken. It’s not like I was alone: there are 12 of us. Not 12 other cities, but 12 other people who are just a part of me, as I am a part of them. We are all travelers, we all students at LaGuardia Community College. Seeking adventures, to mature, to learn a new language, a new culture. Our trip was the same, but our journey will be different. For some, the first time away from home. For me, it has been too many to count. I’m here because, traveling opens my eyes, with each journey I see a whole new world, a dazzling place I never knew; but the journey begins at the airport, where only the sun dazzles on the tarmac.

From the airport, we took the bus to Gare de Marseille Saint Charles, and then, with suitcases in hand, we hiked. Yes, we hiked up “Mount Doom!” This strange land greeted me with an uncarved landscape, as if a bulldozer couldn’t level the land. The journey uphill wasn’t as treacherous as I first thought, but it was tiring. We rolled our suitcases up the hill to get to Residence Gaston Berger, the dorm of the Aix Marseille Universite where we would be sleeping. As I looked out the third story window, I found myself admiring the landscape. Time, traveled from left to right, the buildings became modern, narrow streets turned into wide highways. One building stood out, a black and blue glass skyscraper dazzled me every evening as the sun bounced between the water and glass. In the distance, another highway encased in a promontory of rocks stretched for miles, I could not help to wonder what the city looked like from there.

PART 3 I’m back home, I’m back in NYC. I missed home but now I long to be in Marseille.

Do I actually miss the city, or do I miss the people? Or are they one and the same? If we say that people make a city, but a city shapes people, what exactly do I miss? I think I miss both, the different faces from around the Mediterranean; the architecture, the narrow roads, the colorful buildings, sail boats drifting away into the horizon. My journey for enlightenment has come to 19

an end. Many questions have been answered, but those answers only lead to new questions. I wonder, was there a Robert Moses of Marseille, who built the city? Was there one person, or does their Robert Moses span multiple generations? A city as old as Marseille knows how to adapt. The small roads mean small cars, or no car at all. People walk, they ride their bikes, they sail their boats, they swim. They build monument to honor their past, and usher in the future. Does New York have a secret monument built to honor any infrastructure improvement? Maybe. I will continue my search of enlightenment, but I would still admire my own home, wide roads that fit on a grid, a tall building anchored in time, immigrants from the far corners of the world flock here to build here, to adapt, to grow. Two different cities, two different formats, but they complement each other.

I am New York, I am Kadeem, I am the 8 million people that inhabit me. I am the traveler seeking enlightenment. I live in NYC, a place where millions of people from all over the world live and play. We are a young city, we still have a lot to learn, and so we must travel, and learn from older cities, how to adapt, how to grow, how to accept change, and how to make our weaknesses our strengthes. In the future, I see a bigger city, I see a greener city, a city filled of people walk, and driving. Traffic flows smoothly, cyclist cycle through the isolated road next to the pedestrians. The sunlight is captured and reused to powers buildings, rainwater is captured and used daily, a city of harmony, of innovation - a utopia for the masses.

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GROWING OUT OF COMFORT ZONES

NICOLE SANCHEZ

We are always told that we must push ourselves beyond our comfort zones if we expect to change anything in our lives. Traveling in Marseille, France for two weeks with LaGuardia Community College, as part of Professor Lucy McNair’s Creative Nonfiction class, I let myself be a pair of new eyes and quickly learned while walking down the streets from the Saint Charles station to Le Panier, that like New York City, Marseille is a city of diversity. People from different countries of origin reside and are capable of finding streets and corners where they bring with them a piece of home.

While in Marseille, I was unable to find a Hispanic community that I could superficially relate to. Although this caused a panic at first as to what I could write about for this project, I believe it was a blessing in disguise. This panic came from the belief that I wouldn’t be able to relate to the people around me, that I would be incapable of finding a home in Marseille. This idea of an immigrant’s need for a comfort zone came into play when analyzing the people of Marseille and how its members, different in the same way, were more likely to stick together just like in my own comfort zone in Jackson Heights. Although a comfort zone is something people say is dangerous, I believe that they are necessary for people, especially immigrants, to feel some sort of ease when they are in a state of constant stress that stems from the pressure of knowing they need to learn how to be socially accepted in a new home, while still mourning the one they left behind. However, through letting go of this need to find a comfort zone in Marseille, a city that is new to me like Queens once was, I allowed myself to make connections with people who were completely different from me, people that I couldn’t even hold a proper conversation with. In a world where hate and judgment due to differences forces communities to isolate themselves, it was through not having a chance to isolate myself that I was capable of opening my mind to the idea that no matter how different someone is from me, there is at least one thing that we might find we have in common. I believe that is one step closer to viewing the human race as just a human race.

The first person that comes to mind when I think of the words ‘first friend’ is a girl named Pantita. Her last name was thirteen letters long, half of the alphabet, a name I never learned how to spell but I know and will always remember was pronounced sun-dah-rah-hee-tahnan-dah. She was from Thailand, a country that at the time I had never heard of before, and was very private about her family life. I know Pantita was my first friend because she was the person I liked talking to most. Even though there were people in my school who spoke Spanish, Pantita was the person I wanted to spend all my time with. I was aware of the fact that she lived at home as an only child, but the people she lived with weren’t her parents. She never fully established with me who they were; but she’d show me pictures of her mother that she’d carry with her and confided in me that she still lived in Thailand. She always said she was very kind. Pantita and I met in 2nd grade. She was new to the school and I knew how hard that had been for me the year before and so I immediately befriended her to hopefully make her life a little easier. She was this skinny, bony girl with straight black hair that had brassy yellow highlights. I remember thinking her jawline was perfect, and that she had these big beautiful dark brown eyes that looked a bit empty. She wore colorful tights under a denim skirt because she hadn’t bought the school jumper. Pantita and I liked to draw a lot. She was always better than me at it and was even selected to have her

drawings included in our school’s writing magazine, something I remember being jealous about as a child, but I know I loved Pantita very much. Pantita would show me how to do origami, bringing in origami paper for me, and we’d play with my coongies during lunch. I remember I’d worry for her bony hands when they’d slam on the lunch table. Pantita and I would get into fights sometimes, but we’d always make up and call each other on the phone when we got home. I remember she was the first person to invite me to her house, not because she was forced to invite all the kids over from her class for her birthday party, but because she wanted to play dolls with me. Through my friendship with Pantita, I was able to experience an innocent unbiased connection to someone from a country that differed greatly from mine - a country where language, culture, dance, mannerisms, and ideals have no superficial similarities to my Caribbean coast in Colombia.

I never learned the truth behind why Pantita’s mother remained in Thailand while her daughter was in the U.S. I never bothered her about it because whenever she was asked about it by anyone else, she never gave straight answers. Something in me understood that this was simply information Pantita could not disclose; that maybe it was something she was told to not share with others. As a girl whose family was made up entirely of illegal immigrants on visitor visas that had expired 6 months previously, I understood that Pantita probably had a fair share of secrets to keep from people as well. So we played and laughed instead of thinking about things that we didn’t know how to explain - things we were scared to share with anyone for the sake of our families. I believe Pantita and I were each other’s comfort zones; we had a mutual understanding that there were some things, as immigrants, that we couldn’t ask each other. Although we came from very different countries, I found comfort in Pantita’s secrecy; it was a friendship in which I could forget that my family could be deported at any moment and that my father and mother no longer loved each other. It was with this bony girl from Thailand that I could be a kid, that I could drown out the things that were eating me inside, and feel accepted for my character, not my background or out of pity for what was happening in my home.

It was very hard for me at first to take notice of who was who in France because I didn’t know how to identify accents in French as I could in English and Spanish. By communicating with shopkeepers and restaurant owners, I was able to take note of these populations in Marseille and have moments in which I felt our differences were put aside and we were able to build a friendly rapport, even if we couldn’t understand one another completely.

One of my favorite places to go to in Marseille was a pizza place that I only ever ordered burgers from. The chef asked my friend and I where we were from, and along with letting him know we were visiting from America, I also informed him that my first home was Colombia. This invited the chef to then tell me that he and his partner came from Italy, and he then said a couple of words in Italian to me in hopes that I could understand since our first languages are very closely related.

Whenever my friend and I passed by the shop, we waved at our favorite chef and he’d wave back with a smile. Although my friend and I might just be another pair of customers to these shop owners, to me, this friendly behavior was an acceptance on behalf of the chef to a group of people that were different from him.

Another memorable encounter I experienced in Marseille was with a shopkeeper who had 23

an ‘I heart Lebanon’ sticker on one of the walls of his Tabac shop. Knowing that Colombia has a notable Lebanese population, I mentioned to the shopkeeper where I was from, and before I could finish my sentence making the connection, the man yelled “YES, YES, LOTS OF LEBANESE PEOPLE THERE!” and smiled really wide. We then wished each other good day after he taught me how to say “pack” in French (paquet), and parted ways.

Although I certainly did not find a Latin American community in Marseille, through these daily interactions with shopkeepers and walks through the city streets I was able to connect this vital part of myself to strangers in Marseille. By letting myself be ok with the fact that I would not be able to find my beloved comfort zone in Marseille, I was actually able to learn more about the people in Marseille and their attitudes towards people that are completely different from them. The only thing I experienced from complete strangers in Marseille was kindness. One of the faces I will remember for the rest of my life is the face of a bartender whose origin I never learned anything about. He would give me and my friend a free drink every time we went to his bar, after we paid our bill. This was not something brought about by my friend and I purposely attempting to make friends with the man, this was something that the man did out of kindness. Perhaps it was because my friend and I tipped well or maybe because we were supporting his business on a nightly basis, but I remember this one day, he gave us a small container of cheddar Pringles, and I started to believe that maybe the man just wanted to add a pleasant touch to our day.

It was through these faraway interactions with people who I did not know anything about that Marseille truly captured my heart. By being put in this environment where I did not speak the language, I realized that though our cultural differences may be a part of who we are, these things do not necessarily define us as individuals, and it certainly never stopped the strangers I met in Marseille from establishing faraway friendships. Although we can bask in what is well known to us for the sake of having a safe space, we won’t truly learn about one another if we look at everything in relation to our narrow comfort zones. It is important to humankind that we step out of these safe spaces that we’ve created for ourselves for there to be growth and development in our mentality. It is important to be vulnerable, to allow ourselves to let go of our selfish needs and understand that by sharing the parts of ourselves that we don’t want to talk about, we open up a door for a complete stranger, someone you might believe has nothing in common with you, to have a voice and be a part of a conversation they’ve meaning to have with someone, anyone that would actually listen, for a very long time.

I think of Pantita when I think about this idea of vulnerability. Although our circumstances and fear didn’t allow us to touch upon certain topics during conversation, it was through this strange mutual understanding of not asking each other questions that hit too close to home, that we were able to show our true characters and personality with no shame, without feeling like we had to constantly hide something. Although that was exactly what we were doing, through this rule we had invented for ourselves of leaving our issues at home, we were able to behave like regular kids, a freedom I knew I didn’t have since I had left Colombia. In a lot of ways, it was exposing my personality that was the biggest show of vulnerability of all. Pantita may have been culturally different from me, with an appearance that was nothing like my own, but she was the first person to make me feel like I had a friend, which to a small child who doesn’t really feel like they have a place in an environment, really meant the world. Only by putting aside our differences and letting go of our desire to feel in control of situations, can we really take note of the behaviors and emotions that are present in all humans. Doing this not only puts us on the path to make true connections with others, an important and beautiful part of the human experience, but it lets us find that our problematic homes also have imperfect neighbors.

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LIVING THE FRENCH DREAM VS. THE AMERICAN DREAM

SOLEIL GRIFFIN The Armor my Mother Gave Me

This past July I was invited to spend two weeks in Marseille as a student who was studying abroad. This experience had a strong impact on my view on how black people are treated. In the US, police brutality and discrimination triggers the mind to always be on guard. On the first day of my arrival in France I had that “on guard” mentality. It wasn’t because of the high level of petty theft; rather it was the armor that my mother ingrained in me to have. Her experiences led her to protect me from experiencing situations that were unjust. Overtime, this suit began to grow stronger after constantly listening to black people getting killed on the news. Trayvon Martin, Sandra Blande, and Eric Garner are the few stories that the media publicizes. However, after a week of airing, the stories become old news and people start to forget about them.

As I walked along La Canebiere and Quai de Rive Neuve, I passed coffee shops, restaurants, ATM machines and small stores. The people would be laughing, smiling, waving, sipping coffee and gathered amongst friends. I never once felt as though I didn’t belong. I slowly began to realize that I felt like a normal human being. I didn’t feel as though I should be constantly on guard, rather I felt at peace. It felt like the bliss. Having a perspective of life as a black person in the United States, life in Marseille opened my eyes on how Americans treat blacks. Although I heard and saw unjust treatment there too, I never felt so passionate about staying in France. There’s a part of me that felt scared of going back to the States. This is because I got a taste of a better life. A life without stress.

A life without people always rushing. A life of being treated like a normal person. A life that felt worth living since I was no longer in fear.

My Judgement

I had to have been fourteen when I met my former friend Shane. He was of a darker complexion and really fit. I never cared about his skin color since that’s not the first thing that I look at when it comes to getting to know a person. What amazed me was his smile and his ability to make me laugh. Someone with a sense of humor makes me attracted to them; but that wasn’t good enough for my mother. Then there was a guy named Ryan. I didn’t have an interest in dating him, but he was able to make me laugh. He had a darker complexion and was a bit over weight.

When it came down to my views about him, I felt as though his personality weighed more than his outer appearance. However, that didn’t work for my mother or my younger siblings. The final guy was Lance. He was from South Africa and had a dark complexion. He also had a sweet personality.

Once again, however, my mother and sisters still weren’t content.

I mention these three guys because they all have something in common: their dark skin. I never cared about people with dark skin until my mother began to bring it up. She would make rude comments that my sisters would then repeat. The comments included: “Oh, he’s too dark” and “If you have a baby with him it’ll look like charcoal.” The last comment is the most interesting.

I wasn’t sure what made her feel as though I was going to run off and marry these guys. But it was a bit frustrating to hear it all the time. I started to become known as “the sister who dates dark and ugly guys.” I’m not sure when being dark became ugly; however, I no longer pay them any mind.

According to an American writer and philosopher, W.E.B Dubois, comments like these are

known as the “slave mentality.” This mental division that black people have was devised in 1712 in a letter called “The Willie Lynch Letter and the Making of A Slave” by Willie Lynch. Lynch was a British slave owner in the West Indies who was invited to the colony of Virginia in 1712 to teach his methods to slave owners. In his letter, Lynch gave detailed information to slave masters on how to keep their slaves in check. Most of the information he provides talks about separating blacks and making them believe that one set of black was better than the other. This mentality was imbedded long ago, but is still in the mind of black communities today. One example, between the years 2013-2015, was when high school students started the so-called Light Skin vs. Dark Skin challenge.

On social media, they made different comments and suggestions as to what makes up a light skin person. The most interesting comment that I remember was that, “You are light skin if you squint your eyes in the sun.” This was the most idiotic comment that I ever heard. Unfortunately, statements like these are what divides the black community.

It was the week that I was about to leave Marseille that I decided to conduct an interview with the locals. I wanted to gain a better understanding of who they were and why they were there.

I also wanted to gain an understanding of the environment that I was in through the eyes of those people. I was fortunate enough that a student, Evans, who stays at the university decided to help me translate what the people said. He started off by telling me that he came from Gabon which is in Central Africa. He then clarified the difference between black and colored people. Colored people represented the mixed ethnicity of people. That means that a colored person is a black person who is mixed with a white person. This is at times looked down upon, and can affect the amount of opportunities they could get. He then went on by informing me that black people get treated better than colored people.

The first group of people that we interviewed came from Algeria. According to the article “The Colonial and Post-Colonial Dimensions of Algerian Migration to France” by Jim House at the University of Leeds from the Institute of Historical Research, Arab-Berber Algerians, who were officially called French-Algerian Muslims, gained their independence from France in 1962. During World War II, men were allowed to migrate to France and work in coal mining, iron, steel, or car manufacture, which was concentrated in Marseilles and other places around Europe. However, their living conditions were horrendous. The article states, “Algerians, although now French citizens, were at the bottom of the queue for social housing, and many local authority agencies openly discriminated against them.” This lead them to live in shady areas with muddy conditions.

I then asked Evans about the educational system in France so that I could compare it to the one in the States. Since our public schools are known to have unequal amount of resources that hinder the children’s interest to learn efficiently, I wanted to know if that was the same in France.

Unfortunately, he didn’t grow up under the schooling system in France; but his friends did. He claimed that the quality of education was the same no matter what area in France you lived in. I then asked if the children learn about the Apartheid and the slave trade. I was then sadly informed that it’s not taught so much in schools because they want to leave it in the past. He also mentioned that people in Africa don’t talk about the slave trade since it happened in certain regions in Africa.

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However, those people in those regions don’t like to talk about since it’s too painful to bring to light.

This then lead me to raise the question of how much does the United States influence the people coming from Africa. Evans assured me that the black community in the States has a strong influence on the people coming from Africa. When I asked him if any black artist influenced him in any way, he claimed that one of his favorite artist was Kanye West. This was both concerning and interesting situation on how the American “culture” can affect people from all over the world. When I asked him if people liked rap music, and he said that it’s practically the most amazing thing they have ever heard. Usually people in the States view rap music as something that shouldn’t exist. Its depiction of violence, sex and drugs gives the people in the black community a bad reputation since other ethnicities in the States have negative views on that. However, I was still surprised to hear that they enjoy the music.

Crystal Pinconnat, a professor at Aix-Marseille University, said that people in Marseille consider themselves to be Marseillais first, so it’s difficult for them to accept people from other countries. According to an article called “Corrupt, Dangerous and Brutal to its Poor – But is Marseille the Future of France?” in The Guardian, France is “a country still struggling to integrate immigrants from its former colonies and striving under its new president for a new direction.

Perhaps the most important question it faces in the 21st century: is it prepared to let its “outsiders” in?” On the way back to the dorm, I then decided to interview the people who scared me the most, the dark skin men at the square. I told Evans that they made me feel uneasy since they looked suspicious. We then found a group of three boys who were willing to speak to us about where they came from. All I knew was that they came from a certain part African that was in a horrendous political situation. Some of them men either walked to Marseille or took a boat. Coming to Marseille was unintentional since their goal was to go to Paris so that they could get permanent documentation. They currently live in the streets since they are undocumented and can’t obtain a job. Some of the women were left behind since the boats are too dangerous and expensive; or the distance was too much for them and their family to walk. Some of them would shower using the water fountain, or if they could go to the shelters they would take a shower there. Mainly, they used the shelters for women and children since the women are more prone to getting raped.

They obtained food through an organization that would come every night at 9 p.m to feed the homeless people in that area. Speaking with those young boys opened my eyes to how I was being closed minded toward them. I didn’t once think those men were possibly refugees. I came with a preconception about what their intentions were because of the color of their skin.

From this entire experience, I realized that I personally have some work to do when it comes to my way of thinking. I started to realize that I’ve developed the American way of thinking when it comes to dark skin people. I thought that I was better than that since I don’t like to judge people.

However, now I know that I need to continue to mentally coach myself. New York and Marseille has many similarities and differences. I thought that being a black person traveling to France would be a challenge. This was because I wasn’t sure if I would encounter racist people. Although my experience was different from my classmates, I will continue my dream of going back to French since I finally got a taste of what the American Dream was supposed to be.

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MARSEILLE IN THREE NOVELS

Marseille in The Count of Monte Cristo, The Mysteries of Marseilles, and Total Chaos

KENNETH SOUSIE

The common theme that Marseille plays in “The Mysteries of Marseille”, “The Count of Monte Cristo”, and “Total Chaos”, is that the city is more than just a setting. It is a character. There is no disputing that claim. Just as the characters of the novel are important, so is the city. It is its own character. The way that the three authors write the city, it comes alive as an enigmatic nest that either comforts or betrays. It serves as a cocoon for metamorphosis for the main characters, and it almost feels like a force of inevitability in the face of conflict. Marseille, in the text, is something that happens to you. It’s almost supernatural. Each author has their own observations from Marseille, their own inspiration they gather that inspires them to write about the city in a certain light, but they also seem to write a critique about how they see the city. Not from inspiration, but rather, how it has touched them. For better or for worse. In “The Count of Monte Cristo”, Dumas, through his own experiences, has chosen Marseille for the backdrop of his epic, inspired by his real life wanderlust.

He paints Marseille, at least on the surface, as a jewel by the sea that is vibrant and dancing with hope. However, that hope is taken and used as beacon of hope, or revenge, however you want to interpret getting even. In “The Mysteries of Marseille”, Zola paints a pessimistic view of Marseille that stinks of crime and corruption, and ultimately death and disease. In “Total Chaos”, Izzo paints a bittersweet Marseille that encaptures the struggle of the modern person in a world of prejudice and immoral deeds. However, he never speaks ill of the city itself, rather what the people and atmosphere do to it. He is able to separate the dirt from the sidewalks. In exploring Marseille as a setting throughout the three novels, I would like to explore from what I believe to be the most pessimistic depiction, to the most optimistic depiction, to ultimately the depiction that embodies both pessimistic and optimistic.

The reason I believe “The Mysteries of Marseille” to be the most pessimistic is because I believe it comes from one of the most shameful personal voices. In the back of the novel, it is written “Les Mysteres de Marseille appeared as a serialized story in Le Messager de Provence in 1967, while Zola was writing Therese Raquin. As a work of his youth, it was thus also a commissioned work on which Zola “cut his teeth.” In it, he himself saw the ‘amount of will and work’ that he had to expend to elevate himself to ‘the literary effort of the Rougon-Macquart novels.’” Imagine being a young writer and having to depend on a serialized novel, when you are inexperienced to make ends meet. The amount of pressure that must weigh on you for your pride and finances. As a student, getting a good grade alone from my writing affects both pride and reward, and although the pressure is high, I am thankful to have other employment opportunities to sustain my living. Serialization is much like comic book writing. Legendary comic book writer Stan Lee in his documentary “With Great Power”, recounts a time in his youth when comic book writing was shameful, but it was his passion as well as his employment. He remembers being in a party with “real” writers, and the embarrassment of telling someone what he wrote when asked, as people would laugh, scoff, and write his efforts and livelihood off as “children’s books.”

I believe this is something that Zola could relate to, if he knew of the account. Throughout the novel, the main themes of money, the lack of money, and economic imbalance, those with and those without power stay prominent. It’s an insecurity for Zola and it is a part of his critique on his Marseille, which I believe is a reflection of his own reality.

“Humbert is the brother of a Marseille merchant, a dealer in oil, an honest man who holds his head erect and whom every poor devil salutes. Twenty years ago their father was but a struggling clerk. Today his sons are millionaires, thanks to his skillful speculations. One year he sold a large quantity of oil beforehand, at market rate. A few weeks afterwards the cold destroyed the olives trees, the crop was lost, and he was a ruined man if he did not deceive his customers. But he preferred deceit to poverty.” (Zola, 40)

Much like the novels protagonists, Zola’s main goal was to attain money for a certain lifestyle.

He may not have been a crook, but he absolutely dreamt of a life that was greater than what was his during his youth. Why else would someone write an arguably incoherent narrative for serialization?

Sometimes to make money, things must be done. This was his reality, and while not necessarily for money, this is a common theme shared with Dumas and Izzo. In the quote above, Zola writes of a man with noble intentions is met with unfortunate circumstances and must resort to deceiving his clients in order to maintain with a head above water. There is no judgement, it is just simply a fact of the character. Living in New York, we have it turbulent. It is a rough city, there is no doubt about it. Sometimes things knock us to the ground and sometimes our dreams seem unattainable. The option is always available, more or less, to move somewhere more simple and choose a different lifestyle and existence, but for many of us that is completely out of the question. I believe this is how Zola felt. When writing “Mysteries of Marseille”, I believe that his main goal was to fulfill a quota, to leave his readers with a cliffhanger just so that his publishers and readers would be just enough entertained with the smallest curiosity to anticipate the next installment in the serialization.

Just like the man with the destroyed olive trees, Zola was giving his audience whatever came to mind just so he can stay afloat. Do I blame him? Absolutely not. No judgments. I do however believe that this is how he views Marseille, and is the basis of the reason why he writes it as such a rich vs poor city. It is simply a reflection of his own reality, and he is trying to fight for a place above where he was while he was writing the novel.

In Izzo’s “Total Chaos”, Marseille is written in a bittersweet voice. It’s almost like someone writing about a home that they love that has been covered in graffiti and dilapidated over time by circumstance. Through the protagonist Fabio, we are given an image of Marseille that is noir not by the city itself, but by the way that the protagonist sees it. Perhaps that is the way that Izzo sees it. Perhaps that is the way that many people see it. Sometimes the way we see our home can be a reflection of how we see ourselves. Marseille in the novel is a place of economic and political imbalance. There is a tension between the immigrants and the local French. Furthermore, there is an underbelly of crime that moves through the place that Fabio loves most. There is a contradiction to the way that Izzo writes Marseille as well. I believe he is able to get away with himself being a walking contradiction through the thought process of Fabio.

“Marseilles isn’t a city for tourists. There’s nothing to see. It’s beauty can’t be photographed. It can only be shared. It’s a place where you have to take sides, be passionately for or against. Only then can you see what there is to see. And you realize, too late, that you’re in the middle of a tragedy.

An ancient tragedy in which the hero is death. In Marseilles, even to lose you have to know how to fight.” (Izzo 39)

Here Izzo is taking Marseille and painting an image from the eyes of a tired optimist. I do not want to say pessimist. His eyes on Marseille are tired and somber. He feels like the city is a place where it divides not only people, but the sense of self. Unlike Zola, he doesn’t feel an anger towards Marseille, but here he is expressing a similar sense of divide. Not of money, but of ideals.

He compares Marseille to “an ancient tragedy”, perhaps thinking that just like a Greek classic, or Shakespearean classic, the theme is a common one with an inevitable outcome. The “hero” is 33

death. Maybe he is telling us that death is not something that is evil, but something that just is. For someone to compare his city to death being not a villain, this is coming from the voice of a tired optimist. Izzo views Marseille like a classic story, a movement if you will. This is evident in the final chapter of the story.

“At last Marseilles was revealed. From the sea. The way the Phocian must have been seen it for the first time, one morning many centuries ago. With the same sense of wonder. The port of Massilia. I know it’s happy lovers, a Marseilles Homer might have written about Gyptis and Protis.

The traveler and the princess. In a soft voice, Lole recited: O procession of Gypsies may the sheen of our hair guide you… One of Laila’s favorite poems. Everyone was invited. Our friends, our lovers.

Lole placed her hand on mine. It was time for the city to burst into flame. White at first, then ocher and pink. A city after our own hearts.” (Izzo 252)

With this movement, Izzo is speaking from the same passion as the prior selection, but from a voice of rebirth. He is not talking about Marseille from a defeatists voice, but from a voice of soothing rebirth. A calm after the storm. The ancient story motive is still present, but from a more colorful light. Here, Izzo shows us a Marseille that is stripped from its impurities that man has bestowed upon it. He is showing us a Marseille that is more elemental. More close to the heart. He recalls how the Phocians must have seen it for the first time. Untouched and unharmed, untampered with and pure. He is showing us that although Marseille has its dirty side, there is still very much a pure soul that is alive deep within its core. You can find it’s beating heart.

Dumas does something a bit different in “The Count of Monte Cristo” He uses Marseille as a beacon of hope in a way that serves as a weapon and anchor for the novel’s protagonist Edmond Dantes. “Immediately and according to custom, the ramparts of Fort Saint-Jean were covered with spectators; it is always an event at Marseille for a ship to come into port..” (Dumas 1)

We are given a stark difference from the other two novels. With Zola and Izzo, we are immediately introduced into a world of looming doom. Introductions of worlds where darkness may be lurking around the corner. Unlike those, Dumas gives us an image of Marseille where the collective spectators are full of joy and curious. We get the grand feeling of a ship rolling into town, and something that today is so commonplace, is in the novel such an event. This is an older Marseille. This is not to say that this is a Marseille without corruption, because as the novel unfolds there is absolutely corruption, but the city itself is just different. Zola’s Marseille is divided between the rich and impoverished, Izzo’s Marseille is full of crime and social unrest, but Dumas’ Marseille is really depicted as that jewel by the sea.

The interesting thing about Dumas’ Marseille, which is similar to the way that Izzo writes Marseille, is that Dumas uses Marseille as a tool of hope. Similarly to the way that Fabio depends on Marseille on some level as a symbol for his spark of love for humanity, or whatever is left of it, Dantes also uses Marseille as a reminder of what he needs to get back to.

“The prisoner glanced at the windows - they were grated. He had changed his prison for another that was conveying him he knew not whither. Through the grating, however, Dantes saw that they were passing through the Rue Caisserie, and by the Rue Saint-Laurent and the Rue Taramis, to the port. Soon he saw the lights of La Consigne.” (Dumas 28)

I feel that this is deliberately written so that we start to feeling the city slipping away from

Dantes. Marseille has been home to everything he loves and has become reunited with. Mercedes, his father, a new career prospect, and silently into the night we are seeing it slip away landmark by landmark as we are taken back to the port. Ultimately, when Dantes is trapped inside the Chateau, it is this information, our last look at the jewel by the sea that makes the imprisonment so frustrating, because we know that Dante’s’ heaven rests just around the corner from the place he cannot escape. Even though Dantes is in a dark place, it is not the fault of Marseille, but rather a few people in it, unlike Zola and Izzo who paint portraits of the people bleeding their filth into the city and blaming the city itself.

Through the novels, it is clear that Marseille is a city that is worth thousands of words.

Spanning through time, we are able to catch glimpses of what it means to these authors. What can only be gathered from these works, is that Marseille has been, is, and forever will be an enigma; an enigma that exists to aid the romantics.

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THE REAL MARSEILLE

ARUBA AHMAD, MIGUEL MIRANDA, CATHERINE LEON

Marseille was depicted in the three novels, The Count of Monte Cristo, The Mysteries of Marseille, and Total Chaos as dangerous, beautiful, mysterious, full of tragedies, and a considerable gap between social classes. Alexandre Dumas’ novel The Count of Monte Cristo, discusses the themes of corruption and injustice that can be displayed as issues that occur worldwide as it did in Marseille. Emile Zola and the novel “The Mysteries of Marseille” discusses a love story and the difference among social classes while the country was going through a political tumult. Total Chaos which was written by Jean-Claude Izzo depicts Marseille as the “modern Marseille” because it illustrates the crimes that occur in the neighborhoods of Marseille.

The Count of Monte Cristo written by Alexandre Dumas exhibits various themes throughout the novel such as jealousy, corruption, and injustice. These themes occur universally. After reading the first few chapters of the novel, it increased my excitement to see the city of Marseille, where the setting of The Count of Monte Cristo takes place. The novel begins with the arrival of the ship in Marseille. And that is when the main character of the book is introduced, Edmond Dantes. Once the Pharaon is aboard, Monsieur Morrel is told the news that the captain of the ship had died along the way back to Marseille. Who leaves behind Dantes with a letter to deliver to Paris. Dantes accepts the letter as a last dying wish from his captain and promises to have it delivered. The ship’s owner Monsieur Morrel gives Dantes a promotion for being responsible and leading the ship back home safely.

Furthermore, we meet new characters, Danglars, Fernand and Caderousse. All who are jealous and envious of Dantes’ capability. A young man who is naïve and trapped into the lies built

by Danglars, Fernand and Caderousse. While his three enemies plan strategies to defeat Dantes’, he is soon about to get married to Mercedes. On the day of his wedding, Dantes is arrested by the police and accused of treason and being a Bonapartist. Where Villefort, a Royalist and the crown prosecutor, comes in along to see the letter; without a second thought, Villefort orders the gendarmes to take him away to the Chateau d’If, a jail surrounded by the Mediterranean Sea with no way of escaping. Without knowing why he was being punished he found himself on deep disbelieve, but still hoping he would be a free man soon.

The Napoleonic era is depicted in the novel when Dantes promises to deliver the letter he retrieved from the island of Elba. During this time, Napoleon Bonaparte was exiled to the island of Elba. Noirtier is Monsieur de Villefort’s Bonapartist father. It was to Noirtier that Napoleon’s’ letter, which Dantes was to deliver before his arrest, was addressed. On page 69, “if a bolt of lightning had struck Villefort, it could not have done so with a greater suddenness or surprise. He fell back into the chair from which he had half-risen to reach over to the bundle of papers from which he had taken from Dantes; and, hastily going through them drew out the fatal letter, on which he cast a look of unspeakable terror”. When Villefort noticed this, he quickly imprisoned Dantes, to save his father and more so, for his own reputation. Page 77 “To Dantes, who had not been thinking about it at all, the sudden appearance of this strange shape, this prison shrouded in such deep terror, this fortress which for three centuries has nourished Marseille with its gloomy legends, had the same effect as the spectacle of the scaffold on a condemned man” This implies how injustice and

corruption were depicted in Marseille. An innocent man, who is on a journey to fulfill his captain’s last wish of delivering the letter and yet does not know what the letter consists of; comes to face all these obstacles thrown his way, in a way he will pay for his loyalty making overt the theme of injustice.

More so, after seven years of praying to God and hoping to get out from the Chateau d’If, Dantes’ loses hope and starts to starve himself because he no longer wants to live. When suddenly, sounds coming from the other side of his cell invade his mind and made him wonder where those noises are coming from. He then meets his neighbor Abbe Faria, who is a priest and was imprisoned for his political beliefs. Abbe Faria turns out to be a resourceful man who teaches Dantes several skills. Seven different languages among numbers of other skills Dante was able to learn from this incredible man. When Dantes tells Abbe Faria his past, he comes to the realization that he had been framed by his enemies. Under those circumstances, Dantes turns into a vengeful person, who escapes from prison to seek revenge. This symbolizes his rebirth as he is thrown into the sea by the gendarmes.

With this in mind, Alexandre Dumas illustrates the idea of Romanticism. Romanticism started to originate in the late 18th century, emphasizing the idea of inspiration, subjectivity, harmony, religion and the individual. The Authors of romanticism expressed emotions through art, paintings, music, and literature. Some of the main characteristics of romanticism focus on nature, beauty, imagination, self- expression and overlooking the negative characteristics and seeing beauty in everything. Authors of romanticism era were in awe of nature and saw the natural goodness of humans. This is depicted in the Count of Monte Cristo when Edmond Dantes was being taken to the Chateau D’If. Throughout the chapter, Dantes was seen confused, naïve and patient. “And so, in spite of M. de Villefort promises?” (Line 66) states that Dantes has no idea about the fact he was being lied to. He is seeing the goodness in Villefort and believing what he had told him. Another factor that shows romanticism is when M. Morell asks Dantes to evaluate Dangler; Dantes disregards Danglers hatred for him and gives an honest opinion on Dangler.

Another factor that implies romanticism in the Count of Monte Cristo is Dantes’ strong faith in God. Page 132 “Inevitably as we said earlier, he turned to God. Every pious notion ever sown in the world and gleaned by some wretch, bowed beneath the yoke of destiny, now came to refresh his soul. He recalled the prayers that his mother taught him and discovered significance in them that he had not previously understood: to a happy man, a prayer is a monotonous composition, void of meaning, until the day when suffering deciphers the sublime language through which the poor victim addresses God. So he prayed, not with fervour, but with fury”. This explains the saving of Dantes from prison by God. How religion had played an important role in the characters of Romanticism. Dantes being able to escape from the Chateau d’if signifies God’s will for him to take revenge on those who wronged him. Therefore, it shows the justice for the common people in characters of Romanticism.

Is Marseille, a port city with lots of beauty and lots of mysteries and resources, or is a city that favors those in the power creating, therefore, a bigger gap among social classes. Emile Zola and his novel “The Mysteries of Marseille” aim to portray a city that has suffered from inequality among its citizens. The characters that are portrayed in the novel are a vivid example of what Marseille actually looks like in reality. Marseille, a multicultural city that can be compared with only a few ports around the world with its unique history and originality that makes the port a city lots of people dream about. However, the context of the novel could be unique to The south of France and it showcases parts of their culture and its beauty described as women. “Fine, was one of those Marseille brunettes, small and the plump, whose refined features have preserved all the delicate purity of their Grecian ancestors”(Zola 11)(L21,23). In addition, the depiction of a love that is 37

impossible along with the hunger for liberty creates a perfect scene for a love and political history that goes hand in hand in the novel.

Due to political beliefs that pretended to transform Marseille into a Republican city an economic crisis, the revolution of 1848, and the cholera epidemic placed Marseille in the middle of an economic disaster. Despair was all around the city and of course, the ones who suffered the most were the working class and the poor. An extraordinary background that allowed Zola to paint an incredible love story that resembles the love for liberty.

The entire city was under a lot of stress conservatives by instinct merchants did not care for other than their own material interests, after all, they were entirely devoted to the dynasty of the Orleans who were the primarily responsible for the commerce and industry development in Marseille.“On Friday, 25th February, a thunder-clap burst upon Marseille. The news came of the overthrow of Louis Philippe and the proclamation of the Republic at Paris”(Zola 230) (L 20,23).

Under these circumstances, Marseille receives a terrible commercial disaster. Prosperity was gone and it felt like the city was wounded. The majority was at despair about losing the little they had.

It was up to Marseille to counter-revolution, but instead, Marseille decided to accept the republic from the first movement perhaps without trust but with the idea of reducing the impact as much as possible. Elements of the revolution dominated the city making a very active center of opposition.

Furthermore, on the second part of the novel, the story takes an unexpected turn becoming a more politically than a love story making it blurry and unfortunately as the reader, found myself lost in the story. Nevertheless, the political problems that weakened Marseille told a fascinating history those intervals along with the impossible love story that did not have a happily ever after complemented a story that portrayed a city with its up and downs. The inclusion of powerful characters, as well as characters with limitations, depicts the Marseille of the past the present and perhaps the future. Marseille, a beautiful port used as a transition city for those looking for a better life. Fine for example represents the strength of a hard working “second class citizen” women with a selfless spirit able to live from a different perspective and with the ability to sympathize with others at the same time. Along the novel, this character evolves and becomes one of the protagonists. However, due to unknown reasons, the necessary importance is not given to Fine, maybe because of political beliefs or sexism something common to the time period.

The author of “The Mysteries of Marseille” portraits the difference on the social and economic level that still exists in Marseille. However, the evolution of the characters that represent the underprivileged is significant and it encourages readers and followers to keep on going and fighting for a brighter future. The difference among social classes still exists not only in Marseille but all around the world making the novel appealing to the reader because it is easy to relate to a problem that we are familiar with. The novel “Mysteries of Marseille” a novel that uses elements of naturalism, some of the elements used by Emile Zola can establish the taste of the author for real life. The implementation of vivid imagery along with strong feelings including indignation and injustice gives the novel a special twist and its naturalist idealism. Naturalism, used in the novel refers to the usage of vivid imagery, deep human feelings that are meant to create a deeper connection between the novel and the reader. Moreover, by explaining in detail deep feelings like love, death, remorse among others it creates a clear perception of what the author’s point of view and the time in which the novel was written.

Fine and Marius are perhaps the two characters that represent the hard working class, even though the rich and powerful had always been dominant it is clear to see the fear or perhaps the envy when a “second class citizen” succeeds. “His indomitable pride suffered at the thought of

lowering itself to their level” (Zola 13)(L22,23). The Marseille I got to experience is in fact not so different from the one depicted in the novel, it is eminent the difference between social classes on the streets and across the city from Le Panier to Notre Dame de la Garde even from the old port to the train station St Charles the amount of homeless is an example of inequality among social classes. In addition, those in power seemed to believe that every problem they have is because of those who sacrifice their freedom and families to be able to provide for their loved ones and have no remorse when they decided to step on someone in order to succeed or to clear their names.

“Her confusion, her anguish, his mother fear, which made her hesitate, were no doubt considered so many proofs of complicity.” (Zola 14)(L35,36). M. de Cazalis uses his power to incarcerate Philippe’s’ mother as a form of revenge for the disappearance of Blanche.

The level of audacity displayed from M.de Cazalis was overwhelming and his pride was wounded, in his mind, there was no other way out than gating rid of the bastard that had stained his name.”Ugly to the eyes become beautiful to the heart ”(Zola 133)(L35). Blanche’s son was the reason for M.de Cazalis discomfort, however, this child represented something more important it represented the, forbidden love of those who are not allowed to see or to share with the “rich or powerful” this child represented the rebels the immigrants, the poor, the working class, and all of those who had to struggle to survive.

Even though, the end of the novel can be a bit confusing it portraits the reality of a city and a country that was being ruled by those in the power aiming for the prosperity of a few instead of the well being of the whole country. With its mysteries and shapes that are captivating to those who have the pleasure of visiting her. Marseille is a fantastic city. It was an honor to have experience the wonders of such a wonderful port. Personally, I found that a city of this magnitude should be better known by the world. The novel we read can perhaps give a bad impression of Marseille, but in contrast, Marseille is a city with great history and an awesome future.

Marseille is portrayed as real, diverse, beautiful, tragic, and deadly in the novel Total Chaos

by Jean Claude Izzo. Marseille in Total Chaos is much more modern than in the novels, The Mysteries of Marseille, and The Count of Monte Cristo.The novel Total Chaos goes in depth about the crimes that occur in Marseille, France. The main character Fabio Montale is a cop, who seeks revenge for the murder of his childhood best friends. When they were all younger they would commit crimes themselves like robbing drug stores. Throughout the novel, he is portrayed as a cop whose personal life gets involved with his job. He meets Mouloud who is from Algeria, and who has moved to Marseille with his 3 kids and has had to learn how to adapt to a new environment.

One of his children Leila disappears and Fabio promises him that he will find her but unfortunately, they find her when it’s too late because she had been killed. Mouloud and his family would often get discriminated because of their background.

Marseille is described as real because when the author Jean Claude Izzo depicts a street of Marseille he has no filter and describes it to the reader as if he was standing in the middle of the street. The streets are described vividly and are much more relatable to the modern times. In the beginning of the novel the street, Rue des Pistoles is depicted twenty years after. “The ground was littered with garbage sacks spilling their contents. There was a pungent smell on the streets, a mixture of piss, dampness, and mildew. The only big change was that even this neighborhood was being redeveloped. Some houses had been demolished; others had had their fronts repainted ocher and pink, with Italian-style and blue shutters” (Izzo 17). The depiction of this street describes one of the real neighborhoods of Marseille. There are poverty and wealth in the city, but in many of the cases, the poor neighborhoods are not always mentioned.

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The wealthier neighborhoods tend to be the most popular because people will always visit the neighborhoods where they feel safer and trendier.

The other side of the spectrum, Le Panier was depicted as it is, in reality, a neighborhood that hosts those of a lower social status.“Living in the Panier wasn’t something you boasted about.

Ever since the nineteenth century, it had been a neighborhood of sailors and whores. A blight on the city. One big brothel. For the Nazis, who’d dreamed of destroying it, it was a source of degeneration for the Western world’ (Izzo 22). Le Panier is depicted as a diverse neighborhood and it is inhabited by the poor. The depiction of the neighborhood is known for their sailors because the Vieux Port which means “old port” and many people migrated to Marseille by the old port. It is also known for prostitution and when people hear that there is prostitution in a neighborhood, they don’t brag about that neighborhood.

Marseille is filled with diversity but often people are discriminated. Marseille is well known for being diverse because of the many immigrants that reside there. The streets are filled with people who come from all over the world according to the author. “A whole mass of kids who have no story other than they were born here. And that they are Arabs. Or blacks, or gypsies, or Comorans. High school kids, temporary workers, the unemployed, public nuisances, the sports fans. Their teenage years are spent walking a tight rope. A tight rope from which they’re almost all likely to fall” (Izzo 52). Marseille is depicted as diverse and full of people with different backgrounds, that live together and they are often looked down, just because of where they are from. They are usually sent to projects that have been made for them even though the living conditions are terrible.

It is also described as beautiful, because of everything the city has to offer. Its main attractions are breathtaking and the author makes sure to mention it in his novel. “He could see out over the harbor. The whole sweep of it from L’Estaque to Point-Rouge, with the Frioul islands and the Château d’If. Marseilles in Cinemascope. Beautiful” (Izzo 27). The depiction of Marseille is described as beautiful, and the places which are popular in Marseille are also described because people from all over the world have traveled just to get a glimpse. Since the author was born in Marseille, he is able to connect and appreciate his city as well.

Marseille has been a witness of a tragedy of an innocent woman, who wanted to prosper in life. Leila, who was the daughter of an immigrant and was studying in College, had been killed and her body had been found, but the people who killed her had no compassion. Fabio had been investigating, trying to figure out where she was but unfortunately, it was too late. “I’d seen a lot of ugly things in my life but nothing to compare with this. Leila was lying face down and naked in a country lane. Her clothes were bunched together under her left arm and there were three bullets in her back. One of them had perforated her heart” (Izzo 94). Leila had been killed in the worse way possible, she had been gang raped and then when she thought she was free, she ran naked for help and that is when they shot her three times, the third shot was the one that killed her. Marseille was a witness of this cruelty, and the worst part is that this is only one of the crimes that Marseille has witnessed. The author provides this scene so vivid so that the reader can feel the impotence that Marseille felt when there was no way to help Leila.

In addition, Marseille has also been a part of tragedies because of the crimes that occur in the city. The mafia has done its best to give the city a bad name and has taken many lives with them.“The Marseilles underworld was finished. Inter-gang rivalry had weakened it, and there was nobody around these days who had the caliber to be a boss. Marseilles was just a market now, coveted by the Neapolitan Camorra, whose activities centered on the heroin and cocaine traffic”

(Izzo 110). Marseille has also witnessed the gangsters die and betray each other. Ugo who was one of Fabio childhood friends killed Zucca a gangster because he had Manu killed who was another childhood friend of Fabio. When people enter the criminal life or like in many times, people have no choice they end up either dead or in jail. Unfortunately, in this novel, the author has chosen death to be repetitive throughout the novel.

Furthermore, the main character Fabio has had to go through the death of his childhood best friends has a neighbor named Honorine who is depicted in the book as his second mother is scared that he will end up the same way as his friends. Manu and Ugo have both taken justice into their hands and have both ended in the gutter. “She could already see me lying in the gutter.

With five bullets in my back like Manu. Or three like Ugo. Three or five, the number didn’t matter.

Just one was enough to end up face down in the gutter” (Izzo 70). The crimes in Marseille have increased massively and Fabio was there to witness it along with Marseille, in first hand. His childhood best friends were already gone and he knew he had to get to the bottom of it until he would find their murders.

In conclusion, all three novels portray Marseille through binoculars and show the reality of the city and not only it’s beauties. Moreover, the eminent struggles of immigrants that use Marseille as a transit city are overt among the novels on hand. Injustice, tragedy, fatality, and many mysteries are a constant among the novels. To sum up the attention to the detail paid while describing crucial moments on all of the three novels is important to the depiction of Marseille as majestic, mysterious, and dangerous as is portrayed by the authors. The authors have all shown the real Marseille, even though the novels take place in different time periods. The Count of Monte Cristo provided me with a clear pathway and a gain in perspective of seeing Marseille thru completely different lens. It gave me a better understanding of the history of Marseille and the interesting information that comes along with it. Especially, seeing the Chateau d’If in reality allowed me to illustrate the scene through my imagination where I was able to picture Edmond Dantes and Abbe Faria in the prison, scratching through thick brick walls and making their connection through a small opening. For us as writers and students who got the opportunity to witness the many places that the authors depicted in the novels was a great experience because we were able to feel what the writers were feeling. Being able to walk in Le Panier, I was able to picture many scenes of the novel Total Chaos and it was very helpful to understand the novel because I saw the diversity in immigrants that the author Jean-Claude Izzo spoke about. Le Panier is not one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in Marseille but it is one of the richest in culture. For example, the diversity in food was amazing and the graffiti in the streets brought back memories of being in New York. We even had the opportunity to enjoy some delicious shish kebabs and bought over ten because the taste was beyond amazing. For us as foreigners being able to see the cultures from people that were so foreign to us once was amazing. One of our classmates even spoke to someone in the Bar 13 Coins which is mentioned by Jean-Claude Izzo and was told that he would drink and say that his novel would never be a success. All three novels had an impact on how we viewed the “real Marseille ” which was amazing to be able to witness in person.

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KADEEM JOSEPH, KARINA GUERRERO, SOLEIL GRIFFIN

The Count of Monte Cristo, Total Chaos, and The Mysteries of Marseille, are novels that depict the evolving city of Marseille. Although they were written during different time periods, Marseille was still depicted as being a diverse city. Throughout this paper, we will explore how the city evolved, the themes, the genres of literature and the author’s approach.

All three novels share the same setting in Marseille. However, each take place at different times and each author has distinct styles of writing. Dumas describes each scene with very descriptive language. He utilizes a wide range of literary tools in his writing as well. For example, Dumas uses allegory throughout his novel by selectively placing the title, “The Count of Monte Cristo,” which translates from Italian to English, The Mountain of Christ. He also uses foreshadowing, and allusion.

Each author, born in different time periods naturally have different styles of writing.

Considering Dumas’ experience as a playwright, he tends to use dialogue often throughout the novel. As a writer of romanticism, his work displays an appreciation for nature, it has an exceptional figure and focuses on passion and inner struggles.

Alexandre Dumas was born on July 24, 1802 in Villers-Cotterês, France. However he was born with the name Dumas Davy de La Pailleterie, his father was General Thomas-Alexandre Davy de la Pailleterie. General Dumas the father, is the highest ranking man of African descent to serve in any European Army, unfortunately he died when Alexandre was four years old. Although Dumas received very little education, he was fortunate enough to join the household of the future king, Louis Philippe, where he later furthered his education. He later entered the cenacle of Charles Nodier where he started to write. This Cenacle was a group of young romantic writer who met during the 1820s to 1830s. This group consisted of Theophile Gautier, Vigny, Musset, Saint-Beuve, Merimee, Balazac, Nerval and of course Dumas. They all met with Charles Nodier, as well as Victor Hugo. It was here that he acquired a rival Victor Hugo, who Dumas work was often compared to, though Dumas wrote in a romantic style and Hugo in contemporary.

Dumas was a brilliant writer, he wrote essays, plays, novels, and short stories, all of various topics such as wars of religion and the revolution. However, he was not a wealthy man. As a result, he would also write for newspapers on a daily basis to help him pay off his debts. Throughout his tenure as writer he also wrote travel journals.

One of most notable work was The Count of Monte Cristo, which was written in a series of short texts meant to be included in the daily newspaper. As a result the chapters in the novel are extremely short. No doubt because of the manner in which it was written. Nevertheless, this novel along with The Three Musketeers are some of his most renown work.

Marseille is an ancient city that thrived during the medieval period and survived well on into the modern era. Marseille is one of the oldest cities in France, however it was built by the seafaring Greeks sometime during 600 BC. Marseille is located in the southern most part on the Mediterranean Sea. Marseille was an independent city until 100 BC. Naturally it has been a port city

since the beginning and to this day it remains an important port.

All port cities are similar. Fixated near an open body of water, whether a sea, river or ocean.

They are places where ships can load and unload cargo. As a result, port cities are well diverse in terms of goods being traded and diversity amongst people. During the age of wooden sail ships, it would have been normal for many men to have a job working for a shipping business.

During the 1800s when The Count of Monte Cristo was written, Marseille was a developed port city. In the novel a Dantes, who is a sailor, lives in poverty with his father. He is also betrothed to a young lady by the name of Mercedes of the Catalans. Given the time period this is completely feasible, Dumas wrote a historical fiction novel, hence the normality of his use of allusion.

Throughout the book there are many biblical references, in both his actions and thoughts.

For an example in chapter 4 “The Plot” lines 18-19, Caderousse says , “ Seek and ye shall find, the Gospel says. Chapter 1, Dantes while speaking with Monsieur Morrel , said,” because I think that he has not liked me since the day when I had the folly, after a trifling dispute between us, to suggest that we should stop for ten minutes on the isle of Monte Cristo to settle the matter.” In this dialogue Dumas both foreshadows that Dantes will eventually stop on the island , while explaining that Monte Cristo is an island in the nearby seas

On the other hand, The Mysteries of Marseilles was a popular novel that was comprised in the 19th century. During this time, the genre of naturalism became a national phenomenon for literature. Emile Zola, who was noted for his theories of naturalism, used the techniques of realism to focus on the instinctual behaviors aided to the plot and setting that the book took place. His use of determinism and Darwinism led to a novel that depicted Marseille as being corrupt, unjust and vengeful. However, his descriptions of the places mentioned in the novel were ancient, calming, and beautiful.

The novel starts off by mentioning a place called “Saint Joseph Quarters” near Aygalades.

Aygalades was known as being an ancient village that was full of wealth within the 15th district of Marseille. Saint Joseph Quarters is in the 14th district of Marseille. The narrator mentioned that the area was “occupying a neighboring farm, and was going in the direction of a large, solidly built square house.” Now a day, Aygalades is regarded as being a poor area that is surrounded by apartment buildings similar to the projects. Saint Joseph Quarters is now more diverse and is where one of the busiest hospital in Marseille is located (Saint Joseph Hospital).

During the elopement of Blanche and Phillippe, they headed to Saint Just Quarter. In the novel, Philippe was debating on taking a vehicle or walking on foot to Marseille. He decided to walk on foot to Saint Just Quarters, which is as far as his mother’s’ country-house was. The narrator stated, “they passed through meadows, ploughed fields and pine woods, taking short cuts and walking very quickly.” Nowadays, Saint Just is a neighborhood surrounded by cafes, pubs and restaurants. It’s modernized infrastructure still contains the old French traditions, however, it’s a more populated and diverse area. It is also an area that no longer has open fields but busy streets and roads for people to commute from place to place. Thus, the area is more accessible.

Then there’s the church of Saint Victor. This used to be a church for monks, nuns and others living under religious vows. The name that was used during that time was called Abby of Saint Victor. The church goes back to the 5th century. It was segregated into two monasteries, one for me and the other for women. The novel describes the church as being “one of the oldest churches in Marseille; it’s dark, high, and crenulated walls give it the appearance of a fortress.” The church 43

is surrounded by apartment buildings. It’s considered as one of the most attractive religious and touristic sites of the city of Marseille. It is also by Rue Sainte which is a street above Le Vieux Port.

The street has Marseille’s oldest bakery which is opposite of Abby of Saint Victor.

Before we are able to dive into Jean-Claude Izzo’s novel Total Chaos, we must understand the history of noir and why he used this method of writing in particular when crafting this novel.

“Roman noir” in French or “black novel” in English, is a genre that has a plot based on crime laced with cynicism, nihilism, fatalism and moral ambiguity (Google Search). Many relate roman noir to the “hard-boiled” genre which also focuses on the criminal underworld and usually contains sex, violence, and corruption. “Noir is dark and grim, no matter its style. Hard-boiled is gritty and unsentimental, no matter its outlook” (English Language & Usage). Noir is described by Lee Horsley as a “popular expression of modernist pessimism.” Horsley emphasizes that in noir fiction “the reader is kept close to the mindset of the protagonist who struggles to make sense of the world…” this technique is very apparent in Izzo’s novel as we are constantly on an emotional trip with Fabio as he battles with obstacles around him. Horsley also reveals that the noir genre exposes violence and disorder that makes up everyday life, and challenges the record of the police and the judiciary as “moral arbiters of the nation” (Gorrara). Izzo incorporates many encounters throughout the novel that expose corruption in the criminal justice system such as portraying cops such as Perol who played a dirty cop.

As we look deeper into the themes of Izzo’s novel, one that plays a major role is immigration.

With Marseille as a port city, there is a wide range of immigrants. At the end of the 19th century, Italians and Greeks were the first to began immigrating to Marseille. By the 1950s, Italians made up 40% of the city’s population. There were major waves of immigrants from Russia, Armenia, Vietnam, Corsica, Spain, North Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. Today Marseille has the second largest Armenian and Corsican community with a large population of Chinese, Comorians, Turks, Maghrebis, and Vietnamese (World Population Review). Now we begin to ask ourselves: Why the huge desire to migrate to Marseille? The most obvious reason would be in hopes of finding a better life and guaranteeing a better future for the children, but there are more specific reasons as to why people started migrating. Armenians escaping genocide in Turkey began immigrating after 1915, Italians escaping fascism started settling in Marseille in the 1930s, and Jewish immigration from North Africa began after World War II. By 1962, white French citizens who were fleeing from the newly independent Algeria after France has given up colonial control (National Geographic).

Like Izzo stated, “immigrants, exiles, they all came full of hope (21).

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Being that the only thing between immigrants and Marseille is the Mediterranean Sea, it was very easy for the wrong kinds of people to start making there way into the city. Marseille has held up a bad reputation and according to Izzo, Le Panier was not a place you “boasted” about, “ever since the nineteenth century it had been a neighborhood of sailors and whores” (22). Throughout the novel Izzo puts emphasis on drug trafficking and the “underworld.” Because of the economic failure in Marseille, the youth has turned to drugs and crime as a means of survival. Marseille is known as Europe’s “drug-smuggling hub,” neighborhoods are no longer under police control but rather under the command of gangsters (The Washington Post). Many of these impoverished teens are recruited to help smuggle weapons, drugs, and counterfeit goods (Oved). Throughout the novel there are multiple confrontations with immigrant teenagers who live in projects and have already done time in jail more than once. “The punks are teenagers with a long experience of crime behind them. Holdup men, dealers, racketeers. Some, although barely seventeen, have already done a couple of years in the joint, with several years ‘conditional discharge’” (51).

There’s this sense of advocation for young immigrants throughout the novel that really calls on the reader to fully immerse themselves in the culture and atmosphere of the city so that they can truly

understand the measures that were being taken out of desperation and hopelessness.

With the influx of immigration and the crime that has come along with it, there has been a rise of the far-right political party, the Front Nacional. They believe in anti- globalization and anti-immigration and “feed on local misery.” They govern eleven French municipalities, four in the northeast and seven in the southeast, including one of Marseille’s eight boroughs. The FN puts an emphasis on the economy and the “dangers of terrorism and Islam” (Igounet). Marine Le Pen, the far-right French presidential candidate, who pledges to keep all foreigners out of France.

She proudly stated, “Mass immigration is not an opportunity for France, it’s a tragedy for France” (Ramdani). Le Pen’s motives draw close to what Izzo was trying to bring attention to when he said, “The French Republic had decided it wanted to be whiter than white. Zero immigration. The new French dream” (20). Being that Izzo was an immigrant himself, we are able to see his aggression toward the treatment of immigrants through Fabio’s encounters and the attitudes that he had towards immigrants throughout the novel.

The history of Marseille is so rich in each novel and each author does a fantastic job of transporting the reader to the time period and the conditions of each neighborhood. Although the novels differed in style and time, we were able to witness the Marseille of the novel and the Marseille of today. When understanding the purpose of each novel, it’s important to understand the conditions of the setting and how that influenced the creation of the piece. Whether it being understanding the influence of Marseille being a port city in The Count of Monte Cristo, the significance of naturalism in The Mysteries of Marseilles, or the importance of immigration in Total Chaos, each aspect feeds into the development of setting and embodies the meaning of each novel.

FROM THE REFLECTIONS What has the program taught you about yourself? Is there a skill or lesson you learned here that you would never forget?

This program has taught me to relax and let things flow. New York City is so busy, fast, and everybody seems to be hustling all the time. Marseille has allowed me to just relax and not rush things all the time. The lesson that I have learned is slightly cliché however, while in Marseille I learned to never doubt yourself. The second week we were there, the professors, Soleil, Sabrina and I hiked up the calanques and that was my first serious hike ever in life. I was so moved and felt so accomplished that I actually pushed my body to climb up that huge mountain.

-Aleah

What has your participation in the program taught you about the world?

My participation in the program has taught me that the world has a lot to offer us.

Especially because the world is diverse in cultures. I have learned that we all have to accept and respect other people’s differences. I have also learned that no matter what country you are from we can always unite and feel the same thing. As I was walking by in the streets of Marseille, I heard music that was very much familiar to my ears. I heard bachata and people were gathering around to learn how to dance. I felt as if I was at home and it was beautiful to see the smiles on everyone’s faces when dancing. I even saw them mouth the words and couldn’t help but smile. I danced with my friends and the time flew by and it was an amazing experience because I got to enjoy it with people that were once so far away from me.

-Catherine What shocked you the most about the culture or environment of Marseille or France when you arrived? Why? The single thing that shocked me the most about the culture when arriving was the truth behind what we had been hearing and reading about Marseille being a multi-cultural, multi-ethnic city. I was absolutely astonished by the different nationalities and races living there. Walking around the port of St. Charles alone on the first day I saw Gypsy culture, African culture and Arabic culture all within a mile of walking. I was shocked by the people who hung out and slept on the pavements in the midday heat. I was shocked by the children who hung out asking for money and selling items.

I was shocked by this because I did not expect it! As I didn’t expect nightfall to come and still see these people, sleeping on the streets. We see a little bit of this is NYC, but in Marseille it seems to be part of the culture.

-Nisha

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ENG 274 CREATIVE NONFICTION: NYC/MARSEILLE Professor: Lucy McNair lmcnair@lagcc.cuny.edu lucyrmcnair@gmail.com Course Description: This course introduces students to creative non-fiction writing, writing that uses true events for literary effect. In writing and revising creative non-fiction, students will learn and practice a variety of forms, including personal essay, memoir, literary journalism (or narrative non-fiction), and biography. Students will work to improve their technique and develop individual voices, but will also work in groups to discuss ways to improve their work. They will read works by published authors and will also learn how to submit their own work for publication.

Special Focus: Since we are traveling to Marseille, France, this course has a special focus: travel writing. One of our first tasks will be to define creative non-fiction through the lens of travel writing and the traveler. What is the difference between a tourist and a traveler who writes? How is a travel guide different from a lyric or personal essay? How do each approach risk or stereotypes or incomprehensibility, quintessential elements of encountering the foreign? In the course and through your writing, you will develop your own definition of what it means to write about place, movement, and the self.

Required readings: One of the best ways to become a good writer is to read good writing. We will collectively read and examine several examples of creative non-fiction and some travel essays to draw out elements and techniques to practice and incorporate. We will also draw our general understanding of the genre from a common course book which you should buy. All other readings are available on our Google Drive folder and will also be printed in a course booklet. Read with your mind wide awake in order to take in all you can use in your own writing.

•Course book: Brenda Miller and Suzanne Paola, Tell it Slant Recommended texts to buy: Ta-Nesisi Coates, Between the World and Me

Zahia Rahmani, France, Story of a Childhood •A Course Booklet of elected excerpts will be provided, including texts by:

Teju Cole, Open City

Pico Iyer, “Where Worlds Collide”

Ta-Nahesi Coates, “Acting French” and “Between the World and Me”

James Baldwin, “Notes of a Native Son” and “Equal in Paris”

Helene Cixous, Reveries of the Wild Woman

Eva Hoffman, Lost in Translation

Zahia Rahmani, France, Story of a Childhood Your Writing: You will be asked to write in a variety of ways to develop a palette of techniques and ideas, culminating in a final project whose subject you will choose yourself. Informal assignments will include: exercises in class, exercises you do at home and post as blogs, a Style Scrapbook, Field Notes, and a Travel Journal.

Most work should be posted in your Google Drive folder; I will also hand out paper journals. The final project will be a long essay or podcast (with prepared script) that captures your particular experience of moving between New York and Marseille and your examination of a specific global system or issue. A project draft, along with your Style Scrapbook and excerpts from Field Notes, will be due after you return from Marseille on July 30. I will review your draft and give revision comments and feedback on Google Drive. You must then revise your draft and proofread it thoroughly before posting it as a final doc on August 6. Grades will be submitted on August 10.

Writer’s Workshop: A workshop is a place to make or fix things. What is a writer’s workshop? It is a place where writers are invited to listen to other writers at work and get to hear how their own work sounds to readers.

It is also a place to try out new exercises; you will be asked to lead the group in exercise once we arrive in France. In all our workshops, we’ll share our interpretations, confusions, concerns, questions, envy, praise, and moments of sadness or delight. We will not tell you how to fix your writing, rather what works for us and encourage you to do more. It is not a place of competition or selection, rather respect, curiosity, and support.

Evaluation: Because we are traveling together as a group, engagement and communication are essential. You are expected to approach each class and each day of our trip as an opportunity to learn, share, and discover. Use this trip as a way to build your professional and interpersonal communication skills by always explaining your needs and making clear requests. The more we can calmly speak our own perspective and listen to the perspective of others, the more we will all gain.

Your grade will be based on your active engagement in the Writing Workshops, the detailed nature of your Field Notes, Style Scrapbook and other informal writings, and the actual finished project, all handed in on time. If you have questions at any time about assignments or evaluation procedures, please speak with me. Welcome to our workshop in motion!

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ELF 250 CONTEMPORARY FRANCOPHONE LITERATURE IN TRANSLATION Study Abroad in Marseille, France Professor: Habiba Boumlik hboumlik@lagc..cuny.edu Course Goals and Objectives This course is an introduction to modern French literature in English translation. Selected master pieces of French literature representative of broad span of genres and themes will be explored.

Knowledge of the French is not required.

The course investigates some significant French literary works from the 19th century to modern day. It explores a variety of topics such as utopist ideas, love and hate, responsibility and freedom, family and faith, compassion and loyalty, violence and war. You will study different genres: from enlightenment to realism, from naturalism to existentialism and regionalism. Readings are chosen from important literary movements: Romanticism, Dadaism, Surrealism, Existentialism, and the New Novel. Attention is paid not only to the texts themselves, but also to the literary movements and forms they represent. The historical, social and artistic background of each literary work will be examined.

The goal of the course is to encourage students to relate to the French literature and other art forms (painting, film, music) in order to create a wider cultural perspective.

Readings: Alexandre Dumas, The Count of Monte Cristo Read only chapters 1-20 ISBN-13: 978-0140449266 Emile Zola, The Mysteries of Marseilles. ISBN-13: 978-1595690913 Jean-Claude Izzo, Total Chaos. Europa Edition. 2013. ISBN 978-1609451264 Course Requirements: •Participation: 20% Participation includes participating in class discussions and reading questions.

•Three Reading Responses: 15% These reading responses will cover either writers or genres.

•Research paper: 30% The depiction of Marseille in The Count of Monte Cristo, The Mysteries of Marseilles and Total Chaos. This paper will be an interpretive essay using analytical methods discussed in class. The final paper is due on July 30. You will have 2 weeks to work on it upon returning from Marseille.

•Oral Presentations: 15% Character analysis based on the 3 novels.

•Two in-class essays based on course content: 20%

The course bears 3 credits that count as Flexible Core (Individual and Society) of the CUNY’s new general education curriculum (Pathways).

In this course students will: Gather, interpret, and assess information from a variety of sources and points of view.

Interpret translated literary texts holistically in light of the French cultural facts and the historical backgrounds of the time when the literary works were written. Reading translated literature demands integrative analyses of information collected from various sources such as texts, cultural knowledge, historical facts, political circumstances, and geographic facts. The class exercises are designed to achieve such integration of information from varieties of sources through lectures, discussions, and reflective essay writing.

Evaluate evidence and arguments critically or analytically.

The class exercises focuse on the development of students’ analytical skills for translated literary works, with which students read, decode, find patterns, and interpret literature. Students are expected to make systematic analysis of different works of French literature and coherently present writers’ perspectives with some evidence from both within the literary texts and outside of the texts.

Produce well-reasoned written or oral arguments using evidence to support conclusions.

Students are expected to present their ability to make cogent arguments on selected topics of French literature in the final paper and in the final presentation at the end of the course. Students are required to cite evidence appropriately to support conclusions.

Examine how an individual’s place in society affects experiences, values, or choices.

Students will demonstrate an understanding of major French literary works from the 18th century to modern days, and an understanding of how these works reflect the characteristics of their authors, times, places, and cultural diversity.

Identify and engage with local, national, or global trends or ideologies, and analyze their impact on individual or collective decision-making.

In the context of the political and cultural changes of the 19th-21st centuries in France and Europe, students will understand and describe the peculiarities and universality of French literature.

Identify and apply the fundamental concepts and methods of literary analysis exploring the relationship between the individual and society.

Students will to examine critically the range of themes and techniques found in each literary genre in order to be acquainted with the diversity and breadth of French literary expression.

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