City of...FLASHING, FLASHING...Lights!

This moment was captured by Ms. Tinkue a couple of nights ago after we had class.
We were in Mairie - The 3rd Arrondissement - off of the Hotel De Ville train stop.
For those that may not know - Paris is known as "The City of Light(s)."
I put parenthesis around the "s" because sometimes it is plural and sometimes it's singular.

This is an actual shoe store.
We were just messing around because Paris Noir - the summer program - is NO joke!
It's very critical and pushes me to really think.
I can't/won't forget the 1st day when we were sitting in Cafe de Flore and having our 1st seminar and Dr. Mayes asked us what we think of when we think Paris/France.
And it many instances it has been associated with mainly romance, beauty, berets, art, croissants, etc.
But rarely is the notion of colonialism and even recent immigration and this complex history of people of African descent, and even Asian descent come up in discussion.
And it all tied in the quote by Toni Morrison when she says along the lines of "...because something is invisible doesn't mean it's necessarily NOT there." It's something to that nature.
Basically, it translates to because something is invisible doesn't mean it is non-existent.
So these are things that I think about each day.
Our days are full and heavy - in a good way.
From panel discussions of what Blackness, Africaness, Ameristrocacy, etc...is...I find myself confronting thoughts an emotions all centered around identity from myself to my counterparts that make up and embody this world.
It is a multiplicity of contradictions.
The African Diaspora didn't only fuck with black folks it changed the entired world...forever.
Now, that's heavy.
Language, Culture, Plantationism, Colonialism, Sexuality, Religion, Spirituality, and SO much more are...

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