May

Crossing Cultures: To France with a Sheltie

by Sheron Long on May 16, 2013

A Sheltie in the markets of Provence prompts aha moments while crossing cultures

Chula the Sheltie loves the windy Wednesday market in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence.
© Sheron Long

Aha Moments in the Markets of Provence

Our Sheltie, Chula Wula D’Augue, has never been inside a grocery store in her home state of California. She’s not allowed on the grounds that dogs and food do not mix.

But every year when we take her with us to France, the cultural differences work in her favor. Crossing cultures means she can stay in hotels, from simple to chic, and go with us to restaurants, where the kind waiters bring her water and sometimes an amuse-bouche.

And she can make her favorite foray into the big outdoor food markets where dogs and food DO mix. Here in villages across Provence amid the chatter of buying and selling and the tasting of everything from cheese to paella, is where Chula and I have one aha moment after another.

In fact, I’m pretty sure of this one revelation:

Everything I need to know about life I’ve learned from my dog in the markets of Provence .

After crossing cultures to France, a Sheltie steps out her gate and heads to the markets of Provence.

To market! To market!
© Sheron Long

Such as, you ask? Here are my top 6.

1. Follow Your Passion

In our village of Saint-Rémy-de-Provence, we live only a short block from the market. From the time we step out of our gate, Chula strains at the leash, trotting left then right then left again to the sausage table by the centuries old church. She knows the way because, you see, sausage is her passion.

After crossing cultures to France, a Sheltie finds tasty morsels under the sausage table in the markets of Provence.

The deep dive under the sausage table nets Chula some satisfying morsels.
© Sheron Long

And Oh, I see too: Once you find your passion, go for it. The reward is immense.

2. Respect Everyone

Chula looked down her long Sheltie snout into the flat face of this Boxer and said, “Bonjour!” With his short fur, he must have wondered how Chula stood the heat of a Provençal summer. But they found common ground here by the flower stand and shared their secrets on which vendors give treats to canine friends.

After crossing cultures to France, an American Sheltie bridges cultural differences and makes friends with a French Boxer in the markets of Provence.

Sheltie meets Boxer by the flower stand.
© Sheron Long

Oh, I see. Bridging differences can enrich your life.

3. Sniff Out Opportunities

Not much gets by Chula. Like other dogs with long, wide snouts, she has about 225 million scent receptors. Compare that to the human who has 5 million, and you get a sense of her talented nose, which she uses to interpret her world.

This day, Chula sensed an opportunity and stuck her neck out. She didn’t get the roast chicken inside the sack, but she did get a great scratch and those welcome words joli chien (pretty dog). Befitting words, too, since her name Chula means “pretty” in Spanish.

After crossing cultures, a Sheltie sniffs out food in the markets of Provence and provides an aha moment.

Chula sniffing out opportunities at the big outdoor market in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence
© Sheron Long

Oh, I see when you know your talents and put them to work, unexpected good comes your way.

4. Own Up to Your Mistakes

No matter how talented, every dog comes a-cropper from time to time. Chula’s downfall is tomatoes. She loves to steal them out of kitchen gardens, from market crates, off plates left unattended. When she lifted a tomato from this vendor and got caught, she looked up at him with soulful eyes and pledged a reparation. I handed over a euro, and knew she’d do it all over again.

After crossing cultures to France, a Sheltie steals a tomato in the markets of Provence and has an aha moment.

Chula lifts a tomato from a market crate and tries to say she’s sorry.
© Sheron Long

Oh, I see. It’s one thing to say you’re sorry and another to mean it.

5. Live Life with Friends

Chula knows the value of friendship. Good friends help each other put their best paw forward, they watch each other’s back, and they show each other the way. On this sunny market day, two dog friends savored the moment, trotting through the crowd on their way to the paella skillets.

After crossing cultures to France, a Sheltie strolls through the markets of Provence and has an aha moment.

Nothing beats padding through the big Provençal market with a friend.
© Sheron Long

Oh, I see. Time with friends puts a smile on your face.

6. Keep an Open Heart

Chula paused in front of the lovely linens on sale at every market in Provence, perhaps to show that she thinks about things other than food. I like to think she was making a statement about her love of France, her joie de vivre at living life in a different culture, the pleasure of the time away with us.

After crossing cultures to France, a Sheltie admires the linens in the markets of Provence.

Chula loves her life in two cultures–American and French.
© Sheron Long

Who can ever know for sure what a dog is thinking, whether at home or crossing cultures? But no one can doubt the shared love and adventures that transpire when you keep an open heart. Oh, I see!

Visit AngloINFO Provence for a schedule of market days in the different villages.

Sheron Long and Chula Wula D’Augue are authors of Dog Trots Globe—To Paris and Provence, a visual account of their adventures through France, including a chapter and video on the markets of Provence. Chula shares her dog’s-eye view of Provence in these postcards, which she offers to you as a free gift.

Sheron Long 4 Comments

Crossing Cultures/France/Secrets to Life

May

Firsts Happen When There’s Courage of Conviction

by Sheron Long on May 2, 2013

Sky showing behind zipper, illustrating firsts that can occur when you show courage of conviction

Reveal the courage of conviction, and push the limits to the sky.
© Hemera

Jason Collins and Wilcox County Teens Push the Limits

Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage. —Anaïs Nin

Two recent events, startling by both their similarity and difference, make for this week’s “Oh, I See” Moment in the news. Both events show the courage of conviction, the stuff that firsts are made of.

NBA’s Jason Collins Speaks Up

Jason Collins became the first male athlete on a major professional sports team to share publicly that he is gay. The acknowledgment was a life-changer even for this game-changing basketball player.

Road signs, illustrating firsts that can occur when you show courage of conviction

Jason Collins is moving forward.
© iStockphoto

As he told Sports Illustrated about his decision to come out, ” I felt whole for the first time.”

Four Teens Take Action

At prom time this April in Wilcox County, Georgia, four teens relied on their courage as well. The high school there does not put on a prom. Instead, even after schools were desegregated over 40 years ago, white proms and black proms hosted by parents have been the tradition.

This year, however, Quanesha Wallace, Stephanie Sinnot, Mareshia Rucker, and Keela Bloodworth decided to break through that tradition and put on the first integrated prom, themed “Masquerade Ball in Paris.”

It took courage and great effort by these teens, two who are white and two who are black. Why did they do it? The long-time friends, who attend classes and football games together and who sleep over at each other’s homes, also wanted to build joyful memories of their senior prom together.

In other words, like Jason Collins, they wanted to feel whole. And, because of their courage, life expanded for Jason and these teens.

2013 scratched in sand, showing a modern year when firsts are still happening

A modern year, yet the tide of change is still incomplete.
© iStockphoto

Tides of Change

The fact that these two events happened in 2013 in the United States of America, however, is where the differences come in.

How is it that Jason Collins, a black athlete, felt fear and limitations not because of his race but because of his sexuality, while in the same month four teens were fighting against segregation, which was outlawed in the schools in 1954?

Oh, I see. The tide of change moves slowly. Sixty years from now, there will be people pushing past new frontiers of acceptance while (hopefully many fewer) members of the gay community still feel fearful of acknowledging their identity or even encounter unfair treatment.

But change that lifts the limits on individuals’ happiness and self-respect will come. The way to speed it up is for more people to show courage of conviction, speaking out and taking action to pave the road for the people who follow them. While it is sometimes the hardest thing to do, surely the most important is to

Typography spelling the word "Start," to prompt people to follow the courage of their conviction

It takes courage to start.
© iStockphoto

Comment on this post below, or inspire insight with your own OIC Moment here.

Sheron Long Comments

Making a Difference/Stereotypes

Apr

Guns and Boston Bombs: Is There Safety in Numbers?

by Sheron Long on April 18, 2013

Spectators and runners, like those at the Boston Marathon, seek ways of staying safe from terror attacks

Can we find the “safety pin” that keeps crowds and marathon runners together on our streets?
© Thinkstock (pins, runners); © Ingram Publishing (crowd)

This Week’s “Oh, I See” News Moment

The no vote on gun violence legislation collided with the terror attack at the Boston Marathon. Their coincidence tore at my sense of staying safe and left a rip waiting to be mended by something more than safety pins.

Playing the Odds on Terror Attacks

It used to be that we could step out in the world and expect to stay safe. But now there are questions:

Can my friends and I take in a movie?
Can kids go to school?
Can citizens stand in a peaceful parking lot to hear their elected representative speak?
Can spectators cheer runners at the next Boston Marathon?

Events of our day in Aurora, Newtown, Tucson, and now Boston make me think, “Sure, but you’re playing the odds.”

Terror attacks can and have occurred all over the US. The Guardian reports attacks from 1970–2011 in the US. Click “Play” to see their locations on this interactive map, where circle size shows the relative number of deaths:

[ShaktiIFramehttp://vizzuality.github.io/us_attacks 560px 400px]

Based on the START Global Terrorism Database, which monitors terror attacks around the world

Despite the total on the counter, there is some safety in the numbers. Terror attacks have declined from about 1,400 between 1970–1980 to about 200 between 2001–2011.

While fatalities are higher in the later period, particularly because of 911, the security precautions taken in recent years seem to be reducing the incidents, counteracting the odds, and therefore easing my fears.

Numbers and Gun Sense

On the other hand, it’s hard to find safety in the numbers surrounding gun violence.

Safety-pin home symbolizing ways of staying safe from gun violence

It is true that crime rates have been on a steady decline since 1993, but according to a comprehensive gun violence article in The Atlantic:

America’s 2011 homicide rate at 4.7 murders per 100,000 people is “one of the highest of all developed countries.”
About two-thirds of homicides and half of suicides involve a gun.

Among the countries of the world, the US has the highest rate of gun ownership.

Based on data from the 2007 Small Arms Survey reported in The Altlantic, the US represents “less than 5% of the world population, [but] is home to roughly 35–50 per cent of the world’s civilian-owned guns.”

When you add it all up, we now have more guns in circulation than we have citizens.

Gun graph showing the need for staying safe from gun violence

The numbers are disputed less than the impact that millions of guns have on the number of homicides. To follow the studies and arguments, see “Gun Rhetoric vs. Gun Facts” at FactCheck.org.

My common sense—my common gun sense—though, tells me that America would be a much safer place without so many guns. After yesterday’s Senate vote on background checks and Monday’s terror attack at the Boston Marathon, I want to know two things:

Where do we go from here?

How do we confront our fears?

Moms Demand Action is one group that offers answers: Take action at the state level to get the change we need; raise voices to quiet the fears.

Oh, I see the sense that makes: Moms know how to pin diapers and pin down politicians, and they won’t stop until there is true safety for our citizens, something much stronger than the quick fix of a safety pin.

Where will you go from here?