France

On Nov. 28, 2017, French President Emmanuel Macron called for the “temporary or permanent restitution” of objects of African cultural heritage that reside in French museums during a speech at the University of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso.

I closed Americanah three years ago. It was my first time reading a novel in which I could see myself through the main character. Just like the protagonist Ifemelu, I had struggled with my kinky, untamable, and frankly, impossible hair. Just like Ifemelu, I had been subjected to microaggressions from my peers. And just like Ifemelu, though I didn’t know it back then, I would also set foot in the United States three years later.

Niels Chardon-Boucaud, a masters student in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, died Friday, SEAS Dean Mary Boyce announced in an email sent to SEAS graduate students yesterday afternoon. He was 21 years old.

The belly of the cathedral is cavernous. Buttery light streams through stained glass and pools on the concrete floor. It’s hollow and holy, and the echoes of tourist footsteps fill the space where kings were once crowned. They seek tranquility or spirituality, or a postcard to show to friends back home. The cathedral is in the center of Reims, in the Champagne region of France, a city a train ride away from Paris. I spent my first two years of college living in Reims, a walk away from the cathedral.

In a strip mall off Virginia Beach Boulevard in Virginia Beach, Virginia, nestled between a smoke shop and a laundromat, you can find J Mart Japanese Grocery. The entire store is only about the size of an average suburban kitchen. At the front of the store are two standard refrigerators, with the ’90s-style grainy white doors and a top-loading freezer with a glass cover. Shelves stocked with dry goods, like soy sauce and rice vinegar, line the back walls. To the left, behind the single cashier, is a display of beckoning lucky cats, sake sets, magazines, and English-subtitled anime DVDs.

It is rather exceptional, to say the least, when the dean of the School of General Studies unexpectedly appears halfway across the world on a quiet Friday morning.

"Par le côté obscur de la force séduite tu as été."