Road Trip in the American Southwest // #2: Sedona

Leaving Flagstaff in the morning, we head out to spend the day in Sedona, about 45 minutes away. After a few switchbacks to go down the canyon, we first end up in a narrow and verdant valley. Just a few more miles and we arrive in the town of Sedona, where we quickly stop only to buy something to eat for our pic-nic. Then we continue on driving a little bit further south until the Chapel of the Holy Cross. It's a pretty vista point with a tiny modern chapel built in 1957, at the top of a small hill. A very small dirt path starts from the parking lot and leads you away from the crowd of tourists who come up the hill to the chapel. We walk down the path for a few minutes to take advantage of the views. The contrast between the lush vegetation and the red rocks formations that surround you is what makes this place so beautiful in my opinion. It's different from the other typical arid landscapes you can see in this region. 

View of the mesas from the Chapel of the Holy Cross

After this quick stop, we get back on the road to go further south, and stop in the parking lot located just north of the village of Oak Creek. The hiking path (4.5 miles) makes a loop around Bell Rock and Courthouse Butte, two huge rocks, one of which known to be a "spiritual vortex". A lot of people in pursuit of spiritual harmony come to Bell Rock to revitalize themselves. Sedona is considered a "New Age" capital, and its touristic industry is catering to supporters of this spiritual movement. It is possible to climb up Bell Rock, or you can also simply go  around it. We haven't walked into a lot of people when hiking the 4.5 miles loop, which made the experience even more pleasant. Plus the path is more or less flat all along. 

 

In the end, this was a very good foretaste of the rest of our journey... I highly recommend it.

Rodeo at the Penitentiary!

Matt Mayfield Photography

Welcome to Angola, the Louisiana State Penitentiary, the largest maximum security prison in the United States. Yes... No less. That makes you dream doesn't it? It's also the only prison in Louisiana authorized to apply death penalty. We  are an hour and fifteen minutes north of Baton Rouge, surrounded on three sides by the Mississippi and on the other side by a forest plagued with snakes. 

In the past the site was a plantation where most of the slaves were from Angola, in Africa. Then at the end of the 19th, beginning of the 20th century, the State of Louisiana purchased a number of those plantations to convert them in penitentiaries. Prisoners continued to harvest the same kind of culture, mainly cotton and sugar cane. 

Dreadful fact, Louisiana imprisons more people than any nation in the world... 
In the early 1990's, Louisiane was ordered by the Federal Court to decrease the inmates overcrowding in State prisons. Because the State didn't have money, The Department of Corrections encouraged local Sheriffs and private companies to build new prisons by allowing them to receive part of the profit that will be generated. The whole thing became a business. There are today 160 local prisons (vs 12 State prisons). The State pays Sheriffs about $25 per day and per inmate. Which means that there's not much left after paying for food, lodging and personnel costs. Profit is used to buy patrol cars, fire arms, bulletproof vests, etc... And of course, there is nothing left to finance programs that would be beneficial to prisoners. In short, if the number of inmates decreases, the Sheriff's office makes less money. Lobbies make sure to scuttle any reform that would result in less criminals behind bars. Half of the prisoners in Louisiana are incarcerated in local prisons, when there was only a quarter in the early 1990's. They are often transferred from  a prison to another to fill the gaps and make sure everybody make as much money as possible, and without getting any opportunities for rehabilitation, which you can imagine, doesn't reduce their chance to reoffend. Only State prisons offer programs to learn mechanic, welding, plumbing and other useful trades. But State prisons only receive the worse offenders, who, often, will never be set free. How absurd...  

Louisiana is one of the six States where life sentences are given without parole. Sentences are much heavier than elsewhere. An armed robbery or a trio of drug convictions can be enough to land you at Angola for the rest of your life. A two time car burglar can get 24 years without parole. Local prisons, that have proliferated in rural areas, are full of people who have been sentenced for non violent crimes such as drug possession, theft, or simply writing bad checks. And while prison population doubled, New Orleans still leads the nation in number of homicides. To make it short, this is a revolting clusterfuck!  

With this sad and alarming observation, let's get back to our Angola rodeo... 

AP Photos/Gerald Herbert

At Angola prison, you'll find the worse convicts, murderers, rapists and other people condemned to very long sentences. There are over 5000 prisonners and more than three quarters of them are serving life sentences or heavy sentences that will keep them in there all their life. It's the highest ratio of life sentences in the United States.  

Every sundays in October and the third sunday of April, the prison organizes a rodeo and a craft fair. Prisonners that prove fit enough to compete can participate if they want, and others sell their art to the public. Depending on the level of trust they gained, they sell their stuff either directly behind their booth, mingling freely with visitors, or behind a fence, with their goods laid on a table on your side of the fence. There are a lot of sculptures, wooden furniture and toys, paintings, jewelry, leather objects, etc... Wandering among prisoners feels wierd to me. Nonetheless I ended up buying a very beautiful raw wood vase, signed by the artist. A friend asked me later if I had googled the name of the guy to see why he was incarcerated... That's something you could do... or not...  

AP Photos/Gerald Herbert

During two hours inmates participate to several games. For example, the hula hoop challenge is about being the last man standing in his hula hoop without getting knocked down by the bull. For the Poker game, four prisoners are sitting at a table playing cards, until the bull is released in the arena and takes everything apart. There are also the classic riding competition of bucking horses and bulls. It's a hard enough challenge for rodeo professionals, so I cannot imagine what it's like for people with no training... Lots of them get hurt. Their motivation: small prizes to win: money, a steak dinner, belt buckles, or an article in the prison magazine. 

AP Photos/Gerald Herbert

Here the goal was to catch the red thingy between the bull's horns...

AP Photos/Gerald Herbert

Advocate Photo/Mark H. Hunter

This year, the revenues from the rodeo were estimated to 4 millions dollars. Profits are reinvested in services such as education programs for the inmates. 
Fyi, it is forbidden to bring your camera of phone inside the prison. Everything has to be left in your car. Though I've seen several people using their phones anyway. I'm a little pissed I wasn't able to take photos.

AP Photos/Gerald Herbert

Selection of oddities at the supermarket

I'm only gonna nurture the typical stereotype which is that food is horrible in the United States, but nevermind. It's just to show you the weird stuff we can find at the supermarket. It was too tempting. Of course it is possible to eat well here too, if you buy the rights products and cook a little bit. 
Almost all the pictures were taken in Walmart, which is the furthest you can be from sophistication. Although all those items can be found elsewehere, Walmart is just really good at giving an unbeatable choice of monstruosities.   

Springles galore... in a whole array of crazy fake flavours: Pizza, Hamburger, loaded potatoe, to name a few. 

Who wants gallons of chemical juice?

"I can't believe it's not butter!" Uhhh Yes I can... They don't know what real butter is. The butter aisle is mostly filled with giant containers of substitute butter, cheaper and easy to spread. "I can't believe it's not butter": It's a brand, and it seems like they want to make you believe that their produce has the same taste than butter. Bullshit. 

Mickey shaped cheese or sticks of blended cheese? MMmmm

The rest of the cheese aisle: sliced and under plastic. Yes, Walmart doesn't really have a cheese aisle. Everything is pre-sliced, ready to put in your sandwich. In the "gourmet' section you can find some very pasteurized goat cheese, brie or camembert, at best. 

If you want to find sliced ham, they sell it to you without the rind and cut in square. You wonder where the "ham" comes from... 

If you find it not convenient to cut a piece of margarine and make it melt to grease your pan, no problem! Here it also comes in a spray bottle... wtf!

Cute mini marshmallows (I like a few in hot coco... for real, it's not bad.)


Left: the snack that everybody seem to swear by: fake jelly in a fake cookie with fake frosting on top.
Right: some kind of sandwiches with ice cream between two layers of soft cookie. Meh.

Here is an ice cream brand I like. I won't speak for the weird flavours like "birthday cake", but I'm satisfied with Cookies & Cream. 

Frozen cakes aisle: lots of stuff with cream. I'm not a fan, except for the cookies and cream pie. But it's fair to say you can give me cookies and cream under any shape and form.

The dressing section got to be the most staggering of the supermarket. So much variety of vinaigrettes and other ranch sauces that it takes a whole aisle. It's sad but out of all the people I know here I must be the only one able to make vinaigrette myself. 

Cookies are always disappointing. Why aren't they able to make a BN or Pepito??! Cookies are all so bad here that I don't even take an afternoon snack anymore! 

When I saw that thing the hair stood up on the back of my head! Potatoes individually wrapped in plastic paper. You can cook that thing directly in the micro wave in its wrapper and in 6 minutes it is said to have the same taste than baked in the oven. It's magic. 

At  Target (another supermarket) they downright wrap EVERY vegetable in plastic. It's clear they don't know the concept of wrapping savings... What a shame. 

Well, after that I'm sure that everybody is comforted in their ideas. So yes, i do know that it's much better in France, no need to remind it to me and make me suffer! Otherwise I'll stop bringing back Peanut Butter M&Ms! ;)

Road Trip in the American Southwest // #1: Jerome Ghost Town

We started our trip from Phoenix, Arizona. As soon as we landed and got our rental car, we quickly got out of this ugly stifling urban area in the middle of the desert, and headed north on Road 17. It is already well past noon so we don't have much time to spare. We have to spend the night in Flagstaff, about two hours away. But on the way there we want to make a detour via the old mining town of Jerome and get a view of Sedona landscapes, which makes us go through smaller roads and will require more time.  

Jerome is a tiny village, 5,200 feet high, that barely appears on maps. It is located northeast of Prescott and southwest of Sedona, next to the villages of Clarkdale and Cottonwood. From Clarkdale, we take road 89A, which climbs pretty stiffly, and after a short ascent we enter what is the biggest ghost town in the US. This old mining camp was built on the biggest copper mine in Arizona. First it was only a settlement of tents but then grew into a roaring mining community. 

The town was founded in 1876 and once was the biggest city in Arizona. Population reached 15,000 in 1920. Mining operations slowed down during the Depression but took off again during WWII because of the high demand in copper. Following the war, it declined for good and the mine was closed in 1953. The remaining 50 to 100 inhabitants promoted Jerome as a historic ghost town. It now has become an artist community with a population of about 450. It almost looks like the way it used to a hundred years ago, although some buildings have been renovated. Others have simply felt down the mountainside. Considering the stiff slope that is not too surprising.

 

 

When wandering the streets by feet, one can find a few art galleries, antique shops, pottery and hand made jewelry boutiques, a few restaurants and bars, and here and there out in the street, random bizarre attractions that make for an original atmosphere. 

Why I love the dentist in America

As a lot of people I guess, I've always been scared of going to the dentist. As a kid or a teenager, every trip to the dentist meant I'd get to subject myself to the drill. Painful memory... What I've only figured out since I live in the United States, is that my french dentist (like all the other ones? I don't know) actually had somewhat barbaric methods! Drilling without anesthesia does not exist any more in the US guys!! Needless to say, it's bound to change your life! 

So here is the story. The first time I went to the dentist in America was because I had received a good deal for a check up and whitening. Since back then I did not have any dental insurance, and because honestly, I could barely remember my last visit to the dentist in France, it seemed to be a bargain. Additionally, teeth whitening may be a common thing here in the US, but it is definitely not in France. I had never done it so it was cool. I figured I might finally get my dream white american smile. Well, it kinda happened... Only, even though I thought I had a pretty decent set of teeth, I ended up with a not so joyful diagnosis: cavities at every corner of my mouth, cost estimate to repair the damage: a little over $1000. Even with whiter teeth, it put a damper on my excitement right away. 

As a result I'm quite familiar with the dentist now. But it's a far more pleasant experience than anything I could remember! It doesn't even hurt! Never! I almost hop and hum on my way there, seriously! Plus after they clean, scratch, scour, and polish your teeth at each visit, they give you a little gift bag with toothbrush, floss and toothpaste! They sure want to entice you to come back to visit them! In the end, maybe I have a shitty health insurance, but I get a free check up, scaling and polishing every 6 months... Go figure. 

Actually Americans are a little obsessive about dental hygiene... First thing the hygienist asks you right after you opened your mouth: "Are you flossing every day?" So at that point honestly... awkwardness... You end up spinning the truth to not seem too filthy... (Because French people already have a bad enough reputation when it comes to hygiene...) Then the dentist shows up, and he makes you damned ashamed again: "Wow they still do silver fillings in France?!" - Ok got it, my teeth are really gross I guess. Luckily, over time, after a few visits to the dentist and a few visits in the supermarkets dental care aisles, "the american smile" is not a secret for you anymore! Now I only need to actually do everything the lady said...

"A smile is to the Americans what a handshake is to the French: a sign of welcome and courtesy." (JJ Dupuis)

5 reasons why Americans hate the French

As I promised, after listing the few major stuff French people don't like about Americans, here are the few reasons why Americans talk shit about us. Once again, these are generalities. Plus almost all of the following cliches actually come from old british bias... No wonder Brits and French have never been friends ever in history.

French people are effeminate 

First cliche that comes straight from the English... During the 16th century, they were ridiculing the french language because they found it too delicate, too charming. (Personally I think we don't really have to worry about this since about every english speaking person will tell you that French sounds the sexiest.) 

What's noteworthy though, is that the way american men are educated minimize or eliminate their feminine side because it's considered a weakness. Men are often worried about not looking manly enough. French men dress differently and American men find that very weird. I stopped counting the number of times I've heard jokes about man purses. American men would rather die than wear that kind of accessories, which they consider gay looking. 

French people are cowards

On top of being effeminate, French people are sissies. From what I've read, it's an idea that came up because of the collaboration with the Nazis during WW2. And the caricature got stronger when we opposed Irak invasion. In an episod of The Simpsons, we are even called cheese eating surrender monkeys. Ask any American, he'll know what you're talking about. 

French people are elitists

Basically we're snobs, at least our leading elite is, and has been since Louis XIV proclaimed: "I am the State." The fact that most of our senior officials and executives graduate from the same Grandes Ecoles is considered inappropriate in America. It is even dreaded, because in their opinion, this system only perpetuates a class of arrogant, narrow-minded and incompetent leaders. BAM! When an american political figure knows how to speak french, he purposely avoids to show it at the risk of being accused of elitism. And in politics around here, there's pretty much nothing worse! By the way, the average French person gets his share too:  he has the bad reputation to be haughty and pretentious... 

French people are too theoretical

French people think in a much more abstract way than anglo-saxons and prefer theory to practice. It's a fact, and it's an incomprehensible concept for an American person. Also, the french system is very academic, and for a small but loud and powerful category of Americans, being too educated is considered pretentious.

French people are too collectivists 

Don't fool around with the american ideal of individualism and (individual) pursuit of happiness. Because in the american culture people are an individual entity, the ethic is "to each their own problem". While in other civilized countries people don't perceive themselves as individual and solitaries entities but as members of a group, where everyone is part of a whole. Which is why we help the ones in needs more than in the US, and it's why we don't feel like killing the others as much either. We're raised with a higher sense of solidarity so it's just harder to come down to the decision to kill. In politics, french socialism is very frowned upon and is easily  assimilated to communism, which is the worse thing ever for an American.   

To wrap that up on a better note, I'll add that most Americans like France and the French, for our language, gastronomy, culture, architecture, etc...  From my own experience, they admire us more than they hate us, or they find us too cute... So, oh well...

Happy Mardi Gras!

Mardi Gras History
It's because of the french and spanish catholic influences that Mardi Gras is celebrated in the southern states of the US. New Orleans is the most well-known place to celebrate it but there are the same traditions in cities of Alabama, Mississippi, and all the way to Pensacola, Florida. On March 2, 1699, the day before Mardi Gras, French-Canadian explorer Jean Baptiste Le Moyne Sieur de Bienville arrived at a plot of ground 60 miles directly south of New Orleans, and named it "Pointe du Mardi Gras". He established New Orleans in 1718, and by the 1730s, Mardi Gras was celebrated openly in the city. In the early 1740s, Louisiana's governor, the Marquis de Vaudreuil, established elegant society balls, which became the model for the New Orleans Mardi Gras balls of today. The earliest reference to Mardi Gras "Carnival" appears in 1781. That year, the first of hundreds of clubs and carnival organizations formed in New Orleans. By the late 1830s, New Orleans held street processions of maskers with carriages and horseback riders to celebrate Mardi Gras. The two first Krewe were formed in 1856 and 1870. In 1872, to  honor a visiting Russian Duke, a group of businessmen introduced his family's colors, purple, green and gold as Carnival's official colors. In 1875, the Governor signed the "Mardi Gras Act," making Fat Tuesday a legal holiday in Louisiana, which it still is. Like the first krewes, most Mardi Gras krewes today developed from private social clubs with restrictive membership policies. All the parade organizations are completely funded by their members. So bascially it's way cool to have the opportunity to ride a float and throw beads to everybody else! All kind of other knick-knacks are also thrown to the kids. 

Parades start weeks before Mardi Gras. New Orleans is primarily well-know for its Endymion and Bacchus parades on saturday and sunday before Mardi Gras. Themes vary from a city to the other and year after year. Here in Baton Rouge, the main parade, much smaller than any New Orleans parade, takes place in the historic neighborhood of Spanish Town. Krewe members do not really wear masks or costumes like in other parades, but the rose color is a must for everybody. A few weeks before Mardi Gras, the carnaval organizers go, by night, to put up about a hundred wooden flamingos in the middle of the university lake. During the following days, Baton Rouge people turn up with small boats to adopt their own flamingo which they will proudly display on their porches or at their windows. As a result we can see flamingos everywhere on the front porches of this neighborhood's houses, all year long.

Mardi Gras in Cajun country
In rural villages around Lafayette, traditions are slightly different. The local event is called the "Courir de Mardi Gras". In cajun French it means the race of Mardi Gras, and it comes from old french rural rituals. Since it's the last day before Lent, the participants heartily eat and drink. The men of the village get out on horse backs in the morning, wearing costumes and masks to hide their identity, and go from house to house begging for ingredients to make the communal gumbo at the end of the day. Offerings go from an onion to a live chicken, which they'll have to catch. 
Personal advise: If you go see a Courir de Mardi Gras, make sure to have stuff to give away in your pockets in case one of them begs you to pass something... For lack of food for the Gumbo, a few coins, or a bottle of beer will do it. Otherwise you are taking the risk to have to get rid of something you didn't want to give, or to end up head upside down on their shoulders being spanked. I speak from experience. You have been warned, they are shameless...