the modern city and madeleine

All weekend I sensed "something is not right" - like the nun in the children's book Madeleine. This morning I realized that comments on the 2010 motion picture The Town from two students, Devon and Jasmine, were missing from my last post. I have now included them.

And since I'm on the subject, if you need a lift to start the week, see this short animated clip from unveiling Madeleine: Lost in Paris (1999), which looks and feels both old and modern for reasons about which the students are learning. I was drawn to the subway, which, along with trains in general, often figure into emerging urban life on both sides of the Atlantic.

And speaking of water, one can learn much about urban life in Paris when one considers how the city exploited the Seine, as Mark Girouard writes. While some cities have since the medieval period used rivers for transportation, supplying industry and drinking water, since at least the seventeenth century Parisians have understood how this river could be visually appreciated. Buildings were constructed with their fronts facing the Seine. I found a YouTube clip in which someone seems to have enjoyed looking at both this river and the people, roads, sidewalks, stone pathways and buildings around it. Check it out above. It reminds me of my river tour in Chicago this past summer. Back then, I learned that for a time, Chicagoans constructed buildings facing away from the Chicago River because it was so filthy.  That, as earlier mentioned on this blog, has now changed. The river is cherished.  In the coming weeks, I look forward to watching this class delve into how waterways and trains help define urban life here in Alabama and especially Tuscaloosa. Stay tuned.