Au revoir, Peter Mayle - Toujours, Provence

In the fall of 1992, my future wife and I moved to Taiwan to teach English after graduating from the University of Illinois and realizing the idea of travel and living abroad seemed far more enticing than going to work teaching high school English - a career we weren't ready to embrace at the fresh young age of twenty-two. While living with a few roommates in Taipei, we ran across a paperback copy of a truly delightful expat memoir A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle. Thought it had been published a couple years before, the paperback had just been released, and I believe it was a gift from home for one of our roommates. Being an English major living an expat experience in a rather exotic locale, I became fascinated by Mayle's voice and his reflections, and developed a bit of writer's envy as I decided that what Mayle had seemingly effortlessly done was exactly what I wanted to do. Alas, that imagined life has never materialized, though I've remained inspired to someday grow up to be a writer, and I will always look back to Mayle as an early inspiration for non-fiction writing. Twenty-five years later, I was saddened to learn of Peter Mayle's passing back in January, and I only became aware of it as I sat down to craft this post after recently requesting Mayle's last book about Provence, My Twenty-five Years in Provence. The book offers Mayle's final reflections on the region and the lifestyle that inspired and supported a second career for him after moving to the south of France in his early fifties. I can't wait to read the book and get lost in his "Reflections on Then and Now," and I will look once more to Mayle for inspiration to maybe get on with the writing and living the life I've long imagined. Au revior, Peter. Best wishes and many thanks.

"The beloved author Peter Mayle, champion of all things Provence, here in a final volume of all new writing, offers vivid recollections from his twenty-five years in the South of France--lessons learned, culinary delights enjoyed, and changes observed. Twenty-five years ago, Peter Mayle and his wife, Jennie, were rained out of a planned two weeks on the Ĉôte d'Azur. In search of sunlight, they set off for Aix-en-Provence; enchanted by the world and life they found there, they soon decided to uproot their lives in England and settle in Provence. They have never looked back. As Mayle tells us, a cup of cafe might now cost three euros--but that price still buys you a front-row seat to the charming and indelible parade of village life. After the coffee, you might drive to see a lavender field that has bloomed every year for centuries, or stroll through the ancient history that coexists alongside Marseille's metropolitan bustle. Modern life may have seeped into sleepy Provence, but its magic remains. Withhis signature warmth, wit, and humor--and twenty-five years of experience--Peter Mayle is a one-of-a-kind guide to the continuing appeal of Provence. This thoughtful, vivid exploration of life well-lived, à la Provence, will charm longtime fans and a newgeneration of readers alike"-- Provided by publisher.

The Battle for and against Public Education

From the expensive and fruitless edu-experiments by corporate edu-philanthropists Bill Gates and Mark Zuckerberg to the legislative and litigious initiatives by groups as varied as the DFERs and the Koch Brothers, the complicated enigma of education reform is a challenging story to report. However, the reliable journalistic mantra to "Follow the Money" is an invaluable guide to the issue. The week the WashPo's education writer Valerie Strauss has given column space to an extensive bit of long-form investigative journalism from writer Joanne Barken:  What and who are fueling the movement to privatize public education — and why you should care

When champions of market-based reform in the United States look at public education, they see two separate activities — government funding education and government running schools. The first is okay with them; the second is not. Reformers want to replace their bête noire — what they call the “monopoly of government-run schools” — with freedom of choice in a competitive market dominated by privately run schools that get government subsidies.

Public funding, private management — these four words sum up American-style privatization whether applied to airports, prisons, or elementary and secondary schools. In the last 20 years, the “ed-reform” movement has assembled a mixed bag of players and policies, complicated by alliances of convenience and half-hidden agendas. Donald Trump’s election and his choice of zealot privatizer Betsy DeVos as U.S. secretary of education bolstered reformers but has also made more Americans wary.

What follows is a survey of the controversial movement — where it came from, how it grew, and what it has delivered so far to a nation deeply divided by race and class.