Election Night, a Paris Photo Op

The upcoming week is going to be very exciting and very busy, for Expats, the world and for photography buffs, so get ready.

We’ve been listening to U.S. election news for way too long and heard way too much mudslinging rhetoric from the two candidates as well as the press for my taste. The entire world is waiting anxiously for an outcome so that we can go back to our lives and the business at hand. Even the Mairie (City Hall) of the 3rd district in Paris is sponsoring an all night event on Tuesday/Wednesday November 8th/9th in honor of the elections. (Read our recent Nouvellettre®  to learn more about it.)

Democrats Abroad has its own all-night events, too…of course. The Youth Caucus is meeting at Palais Maillot starting at 11 p.m. and there are still tickets left for that. At Maison de la Radio France, the older Democrats will be watching the results come in, and in Nice, Democrats Abroad is holding a breakfast meeting at 6 a.m. at the Negresco Hotel (wish I could be there to watch the sun come up over the Mediterranean!) To learn more about all these events, visit Democrats Abroad.

To give an equal voice to the Republican Expats, I searched high and low for some sort of event taking place here, but came up empty-handed. There is a Facebook page,  but no events are noted, as per what is written on the site: “Republicans Overseas France does not have any upcoming events.” According to today.yougov.com, Europeans would choose Hillary Clinton by a landslide and that they are terrified of Donald Trump. Clinton gives them hope and optimism, while 71% of Europeans believe Trump would make a bad president.

No doubt the outcome is sure to affect all of us. It will be interesting to see how the stock market and exchange rates fluctuate. If I were a betting woman, I’d be speculating…but it’s still a bit too soon to tell. The mudslinging is far from over.

The French presidential elections are scheduled for April/May 2017 with a two-step process and there’s not near the amount of press devoted to the subject. Incumbent president François Hollande is eligible to run for a second term, however all the polls say he hasn’t a chance of re-election. Meanwhile, the Republicans have declared a whopping 11 candidates PLUS good old Nicolas Sarkozy. Marine Le Pen, the far right leader, is sure to make a strong showing. “Sarko” will be up against ex-ministers Alain Juppé and Francois Fillon, as well as “rogue” lawmaker Jacques Myard who has been dubbed “the French Donald Trump” by Le Parisien newspaper. Juppé is the front-runner and is considered to be the only candidate who has a chance of beating Le Pen in the first round.

I doubt the French elections will be as exciting and nerve-wracking as our own! While I have residency, I don’t have citizenship or the right to vote, so I’ll be watching more from the sidelines.

The moment the U.S. election is over on Wednesday (our time), the annual Paris Photo art fair opens its doors that evening with its 20th edition. For those who love photography, this is the event of the year with 153 galleries represented and 30 international publishers, including the publisher of Erica Simone‘s new book, “Nue York: Self Portraits of a Bare Urban Citizen,” Damiani from Italy. The book consists of 50 of the images from the artist’s Nue York collection.

Simone is coming to Paris for the fair as well as for her book-signing at Club Rayé on Friday, November 11th, from 7 to 9 p.m. Everyone is invited! Kein Cross, owner of Club RaYé promises to have a special drink in her name. This is your chance to get your signed copy of the book, so do stop in and share a cocktail with us! We’ll celebrate it all, one way or another!

Club Rayé
26 Rue Dussoubs
75002 Paris
Phone: 01 40 13 72 93
7 to 9 p.m.
Friday, November 11, 2016

A la prochaine…

Adrian Leeds
Adrian Leeds Group

(all smiles)

 Respond to Adrian

P.S. Be sure to join us at Après Midi on Tuesday, November 8th, from 3 to 5 p.m. at Le Café de la Mairie, just across from the Mairie de 3ème, for a really fun afternoon pre-election with James Navé, poet and storyteller, who will do the “Aprés Midi StorySLAM” under the theme of RISK — Come tell a five-minute story with a theme of risk! Visit Après Midi for more information and do join us for all the fun!