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In the FAWCO community, many of us 'migrated' to another country either for work, love, or adventure .... we did so by choice. Displaced persons/Refugees do not share this privileged experience - most faced life-threatening circumstances forcing them to leave their homes and many continue to endure great hardship.
Our Target Project, Hope Beyond Displacement, seeks to build better futures through education, vocational and leadership training for refugee women and girls in Amman, Jordan.
The summer issue of FAWCO's Inspiring Women is out, featuring our own Anna Eklund-Cheong! The theme of this issue is "Women of Words and Language." Anna's specialty is haiku, but this issue also features a novelist, a cookbook writer, a journalist, and more women who use the written or spoken word to influence or interpret the world around them. And all of them are members of FAWCO clubs, as are you.
Check out the link here: https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/fullscreen/60289784/inspiring-women-summer-2018
Hello Members! The new EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) requires that we receive your Specific Consent to use your personal data. Unless you update your profile preferences, AWG will not be able to continue to communicate with you about AWG activities, news, announcements, event reminds & upcoming membership renewals. You must update your profile page and consent to our privacy policy, otherwise we cannot continue to communicate with you! Below is a step-by-step overview to help you through the process of updating your profile. 7yu8 1. Log in to the AWG website. Your name appears on the upper top right of the screen. Click on your name. 2. You must click on the "Edit profile" button. 3. The next screen will be the fields of data that you can edit. 4. Scroll down to the section titled "A Little About You" to see the blue consent line. (See below) 5. Click on the little box- (not the blue link to the policy) you will see a green check mark pop in. 6. IMPORTANT - scroll back up to the top of the page and click the "Save" button. If you see a red X on the box, you are not in Edit mode- click the "Edit profile" button. If you only link to the “Privacy Policy” when you try to consent, don’t click on the blue line, just click on the little box.
Thanks to everyone who came out to our special evening "April in Paris" membership meeting. We had a great time catching up with members, taste testing the blind wine tasting table and raising over 6,000 euros with our "Pampered in Paris" raffle!!
Congrats to all of our raffle prize winners!!
Prize
No.
1
New Orleans Brunch for Six—Winner: Diana Levaton
Donated by Rebecca Defraites
2
Galleries Lafayette Gift Card (100 euros)—Winner: Cathy Farnan
Donated by Petra Graf
3
Gift Basket No. 1 – France—Winner: Diana Levaton
Donated by Mary Saubestre
4
One Framed Photograph by Eric Hian-Cheong Photography— Winner:
Maureen Miller
Donated by Eric Hian-Cheong Photography
5
I Santi Vintage Purse— Winner: Chris Kolyer
Donated by Mary Louise Rynski
6
Chateau Mouton 2012 + Chateau Lamothe Guignard 2013— Winner:
Elaine Tonkens
Donated by Chantal Gassain
7
“Eiffel Tower and Ms. Liberty” Pen on Paper by artist Kate Saubestre—
Winner: Amy McCarthy
Donated by Kate Saubestre
8
Magnum of Wine + Bottle of Champagne— Winner: Sandra Gogel
Donated by AWG Paris
9
One Ultimate Facial— Winner: Valerie Metzger
Donated by Skincare by Kristina
10
30-minute Portrait Session with Photographer Krystal Kenney— Winner:
Valerie Metzger
Donated by Krystal Kenney Photography
11
Two Tickets for Sinfonietta Paris, Music by the Glass— Winner: Debra
Mourad
Donated by Sinfonietta Paris
12
Gift Basket No. 2 – Mexican— Winner: Mary Louise Rynski
13
Framed Photograph No. 2 by Eric Hian-Cheong Photography— Winner:
Monica Meyer
14
Wine Tasting Lunch for Seven to Nine Participants— Winner: Clydette de
Groot
Donated by Hélène Goble
15
Gift Basket No. 3 – USA— Winner: Sara Sautin
16
Luxury Beauty Products— Winner: Carrie Gabriel
Donated by Lisa Sussman
17
Champagne High Tea for Two at Le Bristol Paris— Winner: Lisa Morgan
Donated by Le Bristol Paris
18
Two-night Stay for Two at Villa La Riante, Breakfast Included – Winner:
Sandra Gogel
Donated by Jim and Kristie Worrel
19
One Lymphatic Drainage Treatment— Winner: Helen Woodford
20
"Le printemps" Pen on Paper by artist Kate Saubestre - Winner: Catherine
Hewitt
21
Private Tour for up to 10 Participants, “Black History in and Around the
Luxembourg Garden”— Winner: Petra Graff
Donated by Dr. Monique Wells, Wells International Foundation
22
Le Bon Marche Gift Card (100 euros)— Winner: Clydette de Groot
Donated by Sara Sautin
23
Two-night Stay for Two in a Deluxe King Room, American Breakfast
Included at the Four Seasons Hotel George V, Paris - Winner: Cindy Slater-
Smith
Donated by Four Seasons Hotel, George V
The American Library in Paris is one of my favorite institutions. It's been around only a few years longer than the American Women's Group in Paris, and like AWG, plays the role of a bridge between the United States and France. It's a resource for its members and the larger community.
The American Library has a fascinating history that dates to World War I. Its past members, speakers, and contributors have included Edith Wharton, Gertrude Stein, Ernest Hemingway, Colette, Henry Miller (you could find a copy of Tropic of Cancer here when it was outlawed in the U.S.!), Richard Wright, and Mary McCarthy.
There are programs for every age, book groups for many interests, speakers, and workshops. And it provides a quiet space for browsing English-language newspapers and magazines, the cookbook collection, the art history and fashion sections, or whatever takes your fancy. For me lately, that means the murder mystery section -- the inimitable Agatha Christie and Elizabeth George!
Luckily for us, we have secured a private tour of the Library. We'll meet and greet the staff and new director Jeffrey Hawkins, see a selection of the library's archives, and tour the recently-renovated building. It's not too late to sign up -- please see the Events calendar on the AWG web site. And afterwards, lunch nearby at La Fontaine de Mars, one of the oldest Parisian bistros, on rue St. Dominique. Please come join me!
I have been remiss in not continuing to publicize this magazine -- Inspiring Women -- which is so relevant to so many of us.
Inspiring Women is an on line magazine profiling the lives of FAWCO members around the world, who have used their skills, talents, and passions to make a difference in the global community. It was created by our own Elsie Bose, a longtime AWG Paris member and FAWCO Advertising and Sponsorship Manager.
Click here for the spring issue: https://www.yumpu.com/en/document/view/59850697/inspiring-women-spring-2018. Women in Sport and Fitness is the theme!
Each issue has a special feature on one of the FAWCO regions, with local recipes, and a focus on one FAWCO club. All of the magazine's advertising is interactive, so if you are interested in what is on offer, just point and click!
If you would like to suggest a member to be interviewed, contact editor Liz MacNiven at inspiringwomen.editor@fawco.org. To advertise, contact Elsie at advertising@fawco.org.
20+ Wonderful, Exclusive Prizes!
Grand Prize: Luxurious Two-Night Stay at the George V!
Sign Up + Purchase Raffle Tickets Through the Activities Calendar
Fun For All!
Please join us for a special AWG Paris evening membership meeting to celebrate April in Paris and support AWG charities.
This fun evening will include snacks! wine tasting! surprises! plus plenty of chat and catch up time—and the Prize Draw for the April in Paris Raffle.
An important component of AWG Paris is offering support to community organizations, both locally and globally. To facilitate this, dedicated AWG Paris members have gathered 20+ great prizes for this fun event. Buying tickets is easy! Simply purchase Digital Raffle Tickets on the website. The more tickets you buy, the better your chances to win! The more you buy, the cheaper the ticket price! But every bit helps! Every ticket goes to support AWG charities!
Prizes include:
All proceeds will go to select charitable groups supported by AWG Paris.
The digital tickets will be transformed into paper tickets that will be drawn live! at the April in Paris event on April 12.
1 ticket: 30 euros; 3 tickets: 75 euros; 5 tickets: 100 euros; 10 tickets: 175 euros
Winners do not need to be present to claim their prizes, but of course, we hope you can join us.Watch for more information in the coming weeks! If you have an item to donate to this worthy cause, please contact msaub6@gmail.com
Sign up and purchase tickets today on the website.
Date: Thursday, April 12, 2018
Time: 6:30 to 9:30 PM
RSVP: Sign up directly through the Activities Calendar
You will receive an auto reply with full details on the address.
By popular request, I'm adding the rest of the books that Wednesday Afternoon Book Club will be reading this year. There are some thought-provoking selections here. Consult the Events calendar for dates when Book Club meets.
April's book is The Hidden Life of Trees, What They Feel, How They Communicate, by Peter Wohlleben. From The Guardian: "A book called The Hidden Life of Trees is not an obvious bestseller but it’s easy to see the popular appeal of German forester Peter Wohlleben’s claims – they are so anthropomorphic. Certainly, a walk in the park feels different when you imagine the network of roots crackling with sappy chat beneath your feet. We don’t know the half of what’s going on underground and beneath the bark, he says: 'We have been looking at nature for the last 100 years like [it is] a machine.' "
This one is a bit of a departure for me, but one of the pleasures of a book club is that one reads books one might not otherwise. I'm looking forward to seeing how I get along with it.
In May, we have Forest Dark, by American novelist Nicole Krauss. From Amazon: "One of America’s most important novelists" (New York Times), the award-winning, New York Times bestselling author of The History of Love, conjures an achingly beautiful and breathtakingly original novel about personal transformation that interweaves the stories of two disparate individuals—an older lawyer and a young novelist—whose transcendental search leads them to the same Israeli desert."
And our last book of the club year, for June, is Lincoln in the Bardo by American George Saunders, whose original and experimental voice comes through in this, his first novel. I first encountered him through his short stores because as a Southerner, how could I resist a book called CivilWarLand in Bad Decline?
The setting of Saunders' novel, the bardo, is an intermediate space between life and rebirth where the grieving American president visits the crypt of his young son, Willie.
From Good Reads: "Lincoln in the Bardo is an astonishing feat of imagination and a bold step forward from one of the most important and influential writers of his generation. Formally daring, generous in spirit, deeply concerned with matters of the heart, it is a testament to fiction’s ability to speak honestly and powerfully to the things that really matter to us. Saunders has invented a thrilling new form that deploys a kaleidoscopic, theatrical panorama of voices—living and dead, historical and invented—to ask a timeless, profound question: How do we live and love when we know that everything we love must end?"
At the May meeting of Book Club, perhaps we can begin to discuss selections for next year's list. Hope to see you soon.
Even if you can't make it to our monthly Wednesday Afternoon Book Club, you can still read along with us. (And by the way, if anyone would like to start an Evening Book Club, I bet you would find takers).
February's book, due to be discussed on the 14th, is a real journalist's book, by former Time magazine Paris bureau chief Tom Sancton. He first wrote about the complex Bettencourt affair for Vanity Fair in 2010, then just last year, published The Bettencourt Affair: The World's Richest Woman and the Scandal that Rocked Paris. And my question for you, after reading this, is what is the most French thing about this story? Because to me, it seems very French!
In March, we are reading The House in Paris, by Irish writer Elizabeth Bowen, who died in 1973. My Vintage Classics edition of this has an introduction by A.S. Byatt. She first read it as a child, almost accidentally, and has reread it throughout her life, making a new judgement of it each time. She describes it as "...a novel about sex, time, and the discovery of identity." I'm looking forward to rereading it almost as much as I am reading it.
It takes place over one day, and involves two children, strangers to each other. There are secrets, an agitated hostess, and a dying matriarch, so I expect it to be complex in a very different way than our February book, although they both feature, in the end, dying matriarchs. I suppose we all have books that we first encountered when too inexperienced to understand them fully. That could be another interesting point of discussion.
Also for you readers out there, AWG is planning a private visit to the American Library in March. Keep your eye on the events calendar!
Now that you’ve decked the halls and trimmed your tree it’s time to start stuffing those stockings! We’ve gathered some of our favorite gift ideas for everyone on your list.
Stocking Stuffers
1. Chocolate
Every chocolatier in Paris steps up their gift set game during December making chocolate one of the easiest gifts to shop for. There are hundreds of delicious shops both big and small so you really can't go wrong. We like shopping at À la Mère de Famille, the oldest chocolatier in Paris founded in 1761, where chocolate bars are just 5 euros a piece.
2. Confiture
3. Lavender Soap
4. Angelina's Hot Chocolate
5. Parisian Mug
6. Sea Salt
7. Uber Gift Card
For Under the Tree
1. A Year of Reading Membership
2. Tea
3. Paris IQ
4. OMY Paris coloring poster
5. Skincare advent calendar by Susanne Kaufmann
6. Putain Calendar
7. Spirits
8. Candles
9. Harry Potter Illustrated Books
10. Original Artwork