The Long Road Out

We were eating dinner at Bespoke, a fun tapas restaurant on Rue Oberkampf in the 11eme in Paris, the night of November 13th.  We crossed Richard Lenoir and walked down Oberkampf at 9:51 that evening--past the corner of the Bataclan.  We didn't notice anything unusual--nor did any one else on the street that we noticed.   The first we heard of the "hostage situation" was a text we received from a friend in New York City at 10:52. We then had our own drama, not knowing much, but knowing from international messages that something was happening around the corner on our block.  The steel gates of the restaurant were closed (causing a Canadian woman next to us to start smoking--really woman?   We're all locked in a space under police alert and you light up a cigarette?).   Soon the blue lights of riot and rescue vehicles were bathing the empty street outside us, and then riot police...singly and in jogging formations--started to pass. We assumed we were locke...

I won't try to explain the science of love, or interpret the oft-sited understanding that love in temporary insanity separating us from the reality of loneliness and less impassioned emotions. But thanks to the French relator of fables old and new Jean de la Fontaine , I can at least explain why Love is never seen (at least not by my friends) without the companionship of Folly. As La Fontaine explains: Love and Folly are gods, and they often played together.   During one such game, a dispute arose.   Love suggested that a panel of the gods be called, but Folly, being impatient, disagreed.   Instead Folly hit Love in the head so forcefully that Love lost his sight forever. The gods then did, in fact, meet, to determine what the punishment should be.   They were very upset.  Of course, Venus, who you might recall is Love's mother, was the most vocal and angry about the need for justice because she knew her son would never walk again without a stick.  ...