It’s this weird thing that my thoroughly continental childhood had a slight Asian flavor to it, although it’s not something I generally discuss. This influence is due to the fact that my grandparents lived in Manila and Macau during part of my childhood and sent me all sorts of fun things from that part of the world. This was at a time when Asia was still very far away from North America or Europe. Here is a typical childhood photo of me in Paris extolling my like for Hong Ko

Tax season. I had a chat with a Canadian accountant about how I would deduct all expenses when I lived in the USA so I would pay, effectively, as little tax as possible to the state and federal governments. She looked at me askance and said, “In Canada, we pay our taxes. It benefits our friends and neighbours.” And then I thought about how paying tax is one of the most patriotic things you can do. I will add that it’s an easier justification when I know I’m getting a lot for

There are a host of frequent refrains you hear from American conservatives around elections and one of them is laughing at celebrities who don’t move to Canada after the Republican candidate manages to win the US presidency.They’re right. You hear a lot of noise from artists who say they’re going to move away, but then they don’t. So it got me to thinking: why not? Apart from pure patriotism, what makes them stay in the USA? I think I may know. The ones who are middling weal

I had a fair number of technical difficulties with this entry as the reel-to-reel from 1959 was damaged. You’ll hear some interference despite my best efforts to clean up the audio. In any case, this is an 8-minute interview my grandmother did on talk radio in Chicago in 1959, a mere 17 months after arriving in the United States. It’s delightful to hear her broken English and thick French accent. She’s talking here of her process as a portrait artist as she launched the caree

I love seafood. I have always lived by the ocean apart from those six months in Alberta, Canada. My favorite restaurant as a child was the one that sold me 3lbs lobsters and a bottomless bowl of mussels. I greatly enjoyed our vacations to the Coromandel and the delicious seafood found there. Living in New Zealand, you’re never far from the coast and this is an area of New Zealand that produces famous green-tip mussels. Here, I point to an area where they’re growing the mussel

Immigrants to a new nation are often the most ardent in their love for their new country and my family was a classic example of the streak of conservatism that runs through newcomers. I think it’s the desire to follow rules and blend that immigrants tend to be conservative in their politics. Radicals are homegrown–safe in their citizenship enough to become critical of their nation. [Helene with a painting she did of Reagan in 1981. Yes, that’s a small painting of me in blond

Virtually everyone I know, in a virtual manner, has renamed themselves Charlie this week. #jesuischarlie The gruesome murder of staffers at the Charlie Hebdo office in Paris has created a solidarity among writers and comics and fans of freedom. Unfortunately, it does mean that we’re also defending the freedom of a publication that frequently behaved like assholes. Comedy–particularly the crude machete that is satire–can punch down. On a normal day I don’t give a crap about th

My mother and her parents were the first members of my family to immigrate to the new world, and they did it with their usual glamor. Aboard the ship. Her new step father moves my nine-year old mother and his new wife to America from southern France. The first people in my family to hit the new world. New York City, 1953. Roger the engineer’s love of gadgets is the reason I have so many wonderful photos to share with the world. #HélèneLasserre #HélèneBaronnie #vintagephotogra

You’d think, with eight months of winter and -40 degree temperatures, my biggest problem with living in Alberta would have been the weather. It wasn’t. In fact, the brutally cold temperatures and blankets of snow have a stark beauty. I appreciated the alpine rabbits changing their fur from brown to white and the tiny red squirrels. Farming, rodeos, cross country skiing, and harvest festivals? Sure! Bring it on. We’ll adapt. [Backyard snow piles and -28 C, January. That’s outd