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" I think, in writing a memoir, you kind of give order to your life. "
Pamela Druckerman
You
Think
Writing
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" The French don't think everyone should have the same bank balance, but they're offended by extremes of inequality. "
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" The main thing my bookcase says about me is that I'm not French. "
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Main
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" I was scared to say I was in my 40s because at that point, it sounded really old, and to out myself as a middle-aged human - I felt very awkward about it. "
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" The whole point of a commencement speech is to say something encouraging. "
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" In the English books, the American kids' books, typically, there is a problem, the characters grapple with that problem, and the problem is resolved. "
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Books
" I spend much of my free time listening to podcasts of American comedians talking to each other. "
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Time
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" Around my neighborhood, I'm known as the American who talks to her computer while she types. "
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She
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" The French aren't known for being hilarious. When I told Parisians I was interested in French humor, they'd say 'French what?' "
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Known
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Interested
" When I was 41, I had a very bad back pain, and it turned out to be Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. "
Pamela Druckerman
Back
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" I've gotten used to being a foreigner. "
Pamela Druckerman
Gotten
Being
Used
" The French view is really one of balance, I think... What French women would tell me over and over is, it's very important that no part of your life - not being a mom, not being a worker, not being a wife - overwhelms the other part. "
Pamela Druckerman
Life
Women
Balance
" As an American married to an Englishman and living in France, I've spent much of my adult life trying to decode the rules of conversation in three countries. Paradoxically, these rules are almost always unspoken. "
Pamela Druckerman
American
Conversation
Rules
" I always knew the French had a penchant for criticism and abstract thought. Usually, that just meant they complained a lot. "
Pamela Druckerman
Abstract
Always
Criticism
" When I tell French parents that I know lots of American kids who will eat only pasta or only white rice, they can't believe it. I mean, they can understand how the kid left to his own devices might do that, but they can't imagine that parents would allow that to happen. "
Pamela Druckerman
Believe
Parents
White
" I guess we're all supposed to get used to living in a more dangerous world. "
Pamela Druckerman
Dangerous
Used
More
" When people used to ask me what I missed about America, I would say, 'The optimism.' I grew up in the land of hope, then moved to one whose catchphrases are 'It's not possible' and 'Hell is other people.' I walked around Paris feeling conspicuously chipper. "
Pamela Druckerman
Say
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" Where Americans might coo over a child's most inane remark to boost his confidence, middle-class French parents teach their kids to be concise and amusing, to keep everyone listening. "
Pamela Druckerman
Confidence
Parents
Listening
" Practically every time I speak up at a school conference, a political event, or my apartment building association's annual meeting, I'm met with a display of someone else's superior intelligence. "
Pamela Druckerman
Intelligence
Political
School
" America's parenting customs can shock foreigners. "
Pamela Druckerman
Parenting
America
Foreigners
" When my mother in Florida mentions that she's off to play golf, I think: Golf? In the age of Trump? "
Pamela Druckerman
Think
Age
Golf
" I'm always hoping no one is following me around with a camera. "
Pamela Druckerman
Always
Around
Me
" When we're in the U.S., my kids instantly start snacking all the time. I don't know how it happens. There is just more food available all the time. There aren't all these little different varieties of snack foods in France. "
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Start
Time
More
" Here's some news you might find surprising: By and large, the French like Jews. "
Pamela Druckerman
Some
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Here
" Discrimination was a problem before terrorism. Now, the bad deeds of a few people have made life worse for millions. "
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Life
Terrorism
Problem
" I don't like rules, because rules, you have to follow. "
Pamela Druckerman
Because
Rules
Like
" Just as dressing well in your forties entails making choices that reflect who you are and not just wearing generic basics, looking good as you get older requires accentuating and enjoying what's specific to you rather than striving for cookie-cutter perfection. "
Pamela Druckerman
Perfection
Looking
Choices
" Teach your kids emotional intelligence. Help them become more evolved than you are. Explain that, for instance, not everyone will like them. "
Pamela Druckerman
Everyone
Help
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" Parisians won't admit that they go to the gym, let alone that they're scared of terrorists. "
Pamela Druckerman
Admit
Alone
Go
" What you can say, what French parents say to their kids is, 'You don't have to eat everything, honey, you just have to taste it.' And it's that tasting little by little by little that gets kids more familiar with the food and more comfortable with it and more likely to eat it the next time. "
Pamela Druckerman
Parents
Food
Time
" Early childhood offerings vary, but everywhere in Europe and in Canada, they're far more generous than in the United States. Ukrainian dads may not change enough diapers, but their government offers paid maternity leave; practically free preschool; and per-baby payments equivalent to eight months of an average salary. "
Pamela Druckerman
Government
Change
Childhood