Fragments of a French Life
For the curious, the relocated, and anyone making sense of a new place, one story at a time.
I’ve been meaning to write a kind of introduction page to this site for a long time. I’ve got a kind of manifesto below, for folks who like that. Everybody’s got one these days. It seems like good press and it’s only fair to give folks a sense of what they’re signing up for.
What it is
A collection of notes for the curious, the relocated, the restless.
It’s for people who want to know strange and weird things just because they’re strange and weird or curious and a bit undiscovered.
Not necessary the people are weird, but you could be. It’s okay.
I love paying attention to what is overlooked.
I write about France because I’m in France. I’m not a full-on Francophile, just France-adjacent
I’m an American, so my stuff has an American perspective a lot of the time.
Sometimes it’s insight. Sometimes it’s cheese. Sometimes there are insights about cheese.
Always music.
(Almost) always something you won’t find anywhere else.
And if you do—send it to me. I’d love to read it.
K
What it is Temptations (1974)
What It Is? is a gritty, funk-driven track from the Solid Rock album, released during the Temptations’ politically charged, psychedelic soul era. This was a big shift from romantic ballads, with themes of social unrest, disillusionment and confrontational, message-heavy material. The lyrics are all about feeling misled or manipulated, asking again and again: What is it you're trying to do? There’s a sense of betrayal, of disillusionment with systems or people that promised one thing and delivered another.
I keep looking for echoes in the past.
I keep finding them.
What It’s Not
It’s not a travel guide, but I reserve the right to make one later.
I won’t tell you where to get the crispiest croissant in Paris or how to pretend you’re Parisian with a scarf and a disinterested look.
I am not a fashionable guy. I should try harder…
It’s not lifestyle content. Or at least not a lifestyle I’d suggest.
There are no capsule wardrobes. No aesthetic morning routines. No “just moved to France!” haul videos.
It’s not therapy, though if you’re living abroad and quietly losing your mind, you’ve got company.
And it’s definitely not a Toolkit for Resistance, though if this helps you feel slightly more grounded, slightly more equipped, or slightly more human in a weird time—that’s cool.
I might accidentally help you sort out your insurance, to survive a dinner party, or get past an existential reckoning in the supermarket. But I promise you: that’s all coincidental.
No culture is a monoculture.
Culture is never just one way or about one people. it doesn’t arrive with a welcome packet. It slips in sideways—through failed jokes, wrong turns, and forms you didn’t know needed three copies. The things everyone here already knows—but you don’t, etc.
But thread by thread, you build something that starts to looking like a new life. If somebody saw you from the outside, you might just look like you have it all together.
What it is
I like research. I ask dumb questions. Half my research starts with “what’s weird about that?” and then finding out.
I collect stories. I track patterns until they tell me something. I write things down before I forget them.
I like personal, small, individual discoveries.
These are some of mine.
What You’ll Find Here
I’m not writing a guide on How to Escape America (should I? they’re very popular these days…).
If I did write a guide, it would likely be title something like…
Moving Abroad With Low Expectations and a High Tolerance for Confusion.
I explore culture and causes
There’s context.
It’s helpful to see what other people have gone through, and what they’re learned, but it’s not advice.
There’s footnotes. Field notes. Research.
And some things that won’t make sense until one day you find yourself at a party or in a bakery and you think,
Wait—I know this song…
…and you feel, for just a second, just a little more connected.
Was there something small that connected you to a place?
For me, it was mostly music and thrift stores at the start, but there’s a long list of stuff now.
New Here? A Few Words First.
A lot of new folks have signed up recently, and I should properly say hello.
So… Hello. Thanks for being here.
Look around, ask questions.
Play well with others.
I’m not great at promotion (working on it). But if you’re curious about French culture, daily life, and the small, strange things no one puts on TikTok—this might be your thing.
Mostly, I just hope it gives us something to talk about.
Last Thing: Tell Someone
Pass it on. Word of mouth matters. You never know who’s quietly trying to make sense of a new place—or a new self.
Thanks for being here.
–Keith
Not sure where to start? Try one of these:
• Sunday Stopped Being Work in Disguise
How moving to France rewired my relationship with time, rest, and the invisible labor of weekends.
• Les Routiers: France’s No-Nonsense Truck Stops
What French highway culture teaches you about food, class, and the pleasures of being out of place. This was one of my favorites to write – and research.
• French Days: Navigating Life, à la Française
A practical but poetic reflection on the rhythms of life here—from lunch breaks to late dinners.
• One Day, It Is Not Going to Be Like This
The emotional cost of leaving, staying, and living in between.
• Second Hand France
Charity shops, flea markets, and how objects carry stories across borders. How to rebuild a home on the cheap in France – and where to find stuff.
Appendix!
Manifesto (Kind of)
Online declarations!
Bold fonts!
Lists of global wrongs and what you should do by Thursday!
Act now!
“Read this before it’s banned!”
The algorithm demands conviction.
But I mostly believe in doubt.
In taking notes.
In asking people what song is in their heads and writing it down when they’re not looking.
In finding out where things came from before they disappear.
I believe in archives.
I believe cultures are complex and dynamic
not what you see on TV
not just made for export.
I believe in unfinished thoughts. But I’ll get back to that later…
I like reading plaques that no one’s standing near, then finding about the people on the plaque, then who made the plaque, then just who decided it would be put there and what that process was like.
I like doing boring things in interesting places.
But I do know a guy that can send you 5 emails a day telling you how to get a hundreds of thousands of followers on the Internet.
To be fair, he’s got a lot of followers…