A cloud of cherry blossoms;
The temple bell,－
Is it Ueno, is it Asakusa?
How many, many things
They call to mind
These cherry-blossoms!
Very brief –
Gleam of blossoms in the treetops
On a moonlit night.
A lovely spring night
suddenly vanished while we
viewed cherry blossoms
By Bashu Matsuo
“They keep going higher and higher, so they won’t have to smell the smell down below,” Mr. Kim said of the tower dwellers.
In Seoul, wealth is measured by how high you live, said Kim Nam-sik, a real estate agent in Seoul’s quiet Seongbuk district, home to dozens of foreign ambassadors’ residences and where the rich family lives.
“The taller your apartment tower and the higher floor you live on in the tower, the more expensive your apartment,” he said.
Many of the richest of the rich in Seongbuk, live in luxurious, multimillion-dollar, single-family homes with large backyards, shaded by graceful pine trees. These islands of affluence are secluded behind imposing walls topped with spikes and security cameras."
Extract from the New York Times
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"The apple was delicious. It snapped cleanly to my bite, was crisp without being hard, and was oh so juicy. I sat in the truck‘s cab, savouring its tart, pear-like notes. It was a Braeburn variety that had been hand-pollinated in a boutique apple ranch in Southern Oregon.
The parallels between the dildo-ization of corn and the crunchification of apples are hard to miss. Braeburns grew quickly, produced heavily and stored well. Braeburn was the right apple at the right time. Ufortunately, when the bees vanishes, they were totally fucked." Douglas Coupland
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"Un soir assommé d'ennui et ivre d'envies, Wam embarque pour une virée sur "Paname". Pas d'argent, pas de plan, mais un sens aigu de la vanne et du défi: il ne lui en faudra pas plus pour vivre en quelques heures, ce que beaucoup n'ont pas vécu en une vie. " Wam by Slimane Kader
One evening stunned with boredom and drunken cravings, Wam embarks on a trip to "Paname". No money, no plan, but a strong sense of the valve and the challenge: it won't take more to live in a few hours, which many have not experienced in a lifetime." Wam by Slimane Kader
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Île-de-France, has lost over 100,000 jobs since COVID, with the banlieues hit especially hard. Familial contagion is common here with many families living in cramped spaces. This has been compounded by the fact that starting in March authorities have given the public only four preapproved reasons for venturing out of their homes. With sentiments of mistrust and poor treatment surrounding the relationship between banlieue residents and the police, George Floyd's death brought thousands of protesters into the streets in June, a demonstration against police brutality in France as well.
Despite these turbulent conditions, it appears that changes are on the horizon for the banlieues. The Mayor of Paris Anne Hidalgo has been pushing a new ecological agenda with plans to convert the Périphérique highway, which surrounds Paris and seperates it from the banlieues, into park spaces with reduced traffic. Another promising update is the Grand Paris Express; expected to be completed in 2030, it will be the biggest public transport system in Europe. This will also create a bridge to the banlieues, which are currently lacking in accessible transportation into the city.
