Peace and green shifts

I’m on my way back to France for the first time since the 13/11 attacks. I’ve been trying to keep track of the mood of the country, and it’s been interesting to see that mood evolve over the course of the past two weeks. What I have to go on in that respect is my cousins’ Facebook posts, and the news stories that show up from BFM TV. To give you the flavor of how much the attacks seem to have moved off of la une (the front page), here are some words from the top stories on the BFM TV iPhone app today. (Definitions from WordReference.com.)

• en cause: in question, involved.
  • être en cause: to be involved in; to be party to a suit
  • …so, the second story is “COP21: it’s peace that’s in question,” warns Hollande.”
• le virage: bend, turn, curve; (figurative) shift.
• minière (adj.): mining.  So, the last story is about the shift towards “greenness” of a former mining town.

As you can see, stories about the attacks are no longer à la une.  The top stories are all environment-related—Ségolène Royal (current French Minister of Ecology); COP21, the United Nations climate change conference that is more or less paralyzing Paris today; more on COP21; a mining town turned green.  You have to scroll down a couple screens to get to a story about the attacks.  Seems like a good thing…