Hired at the archives of the college library of Natchitoces, Louisiana. My job consisted in translating, transcribing, classifying and sorting out documents. I also had the chance to participate in the preparation of an exhibit.
One-week internship. There I learned how to catalogue , choose with relevance and then reserve books at the Departmental Library of Sarthe . I also prepared the annual passage of the bookmobile , attended cultural activities and worked at the reception.
Seasonal job. Although far from my academic training, my experience at the campsite allowed me to cultivate a certain contact with customers , while knowing how to remain versatile , organized , accommodating and ready for all eventualities.
This cultural exchange was my second trip to discover the Spanish Basque Country. It was overall a catastrophic week, so it was obvious that it should end with our teachers telling us that the bus that was supposed to take us back to France had been immobilized and that we would have to cross the city, at night, to get back to it. The songs of fifty middle-school children desperate about the ridiculousness of their situation surely still resonate throughout the streets of San Sebastián.
This other school trip was a much better experience than the first. Along with an almost total immersion in the daily life of an English family, I was able to visit fascinating places: Oxford, a coal mine, the docks of Liverpool, Leeds, Huddersfield, the Indian district of Leicester and, my favorite place: The Bradford Media Museum. This museum - interactive, funny and immersive at will - contains my biggest giggles and moments of amazement.
The semester in Louisiana marked the end of my three years of undergraduate studies, and the perfect opportunity to find myself at the crossroads of cultures. My best memory will be the week I was able to spend away from college when I visited New Orleans. Some say that when you arrive to this city, you forget about the rest of the world; I'm afraid that is true. The French Quarter, the music on every corner of the streets, Cajun restaurants, Café du Monde 's beignets… How could you ever feel morose!
Les Misérables, Victor Hugo | V, Book IV.
"Javert passed slowly down the Rue de l'Homme Arme.
He walked with drooping head for the first time in his life, and likewise, for the first time in his life, with his hands behind his back.
Up to that day, Javert had borrowed from Napoleon's attitudes, only that which is expressive of resolution, with arms folded across the chest; that which is expressive of uncertainty--with the hands behind the back--had been unknown to him. Now, a change had taken place; his whole person, slow and sombre, was stamped with anxiety.
He plunged into the silent streets.
Nevertheless, he followed one given direction.
He took the shortest cut to the Seine, reached the Quai des Ormes, skirted the quay, passed the Greve, and halted at some distance from the post of the Place du Chatelet, at the angle of the Pont Notre-Dame. There, between the Notre-Dame and the Pont au Change on the one hand, and the Quai de la Megisserie and the Quai aux Fleurs on the other, the Seine forms a sort of square lake, traversed by a rapid.
This point of the Seine is dreaded by mariners. Nothing is more dangerous than this rapid, hemmed in, at that epoch, and irritated by the piles of the mill on the bridge, now demolished.
The two bridges, situated thus close together, augment the peril; the water hurries in formidable wise through the arches. It rolls in vast and terrible waves; it accumulates and piles up there; the flood attacks the piles of the bridges as though in an effort to pluck them up with great liquid ropes. Men who fall in there never re-appear; the best of swimmers are drowned there.
Javert leaned both elbows on the parapet, his chin resting in both hands, and, while his nails were mechanically twined in the abundance of his whiskers, he meditated.
A novelty, a revolution, a catastrophe had just taken place in the depths of his being; and he had something upon which to examine himself.
Javert was undergoing horrible suffering."
Illustration of a chapter from Les Misérables.
From the band Shinedown
This illustration comes from a series of four. The theme was "hybrid musician".
Mon traître, Pierre Alary and Sorj Chalandon
Sales pitch created as part of a writing technique exercise.
Ceremony, Leslie Marmon Silko
Prototype of a front cover designed as part of a fictitious collection creation on the theme of our choice:
"In order to end the year 2019, in other words the International Year of Indigenous Languages, we had the idea to compose the collection "Words of Pangea". Thousands of years ago, Pangea was the only supercontinent that covered our planet, far away from the fractured, far and border-streaked lands we know today, where every human being is a culture on their own. The goal of this collection would not be to find a kind of universality of culture, but rather to bring together, in a single library, the singularities of forgotten peoples. On this literary and colorful supercontinent, we hope to take French-speaking readers on a journey, while keeping in mind one essential thing: the definition that we have in France of exoticism is obsolete. It is no longer just about reading for the sake of travelling while remaining closed to voices that dare to speak, but also about accepting to see the world from a new perspective. As you already know, the publishing house L'Harmattan is located “at the crossroads of cultures”, and this image aligns perfectly with our idea: the descriptive and immutable approach of “traditional culture” is no longer the right one, and it is time to put forward a dynamic (the crossroads implies intersecting paths) and evolving culture which would be perfectly anchored in contemporary stories. Although they punctuate the text, tradition, rituals, and history of a people are not the only theme of the works that we offer. It is no longer just a matter of collecting and passively exhibiting a culture, but of placing it in a modern context that is accessible to everyone."
Louis Armstrong and his famous trumpet
Double page created for an exercise in writing technique: "In the manner of the Iconic magazine, write a caption accompanying and commenting on the chosen photograph, as well as a short quotation (from the personality/a relative/a journalist, on his style/his clothes/on the iconic object in question…).
Master's degree "Publishing, multimedia publishing and professional writing" . This course aims to train versatile publishing assistants. What we do: General knowledge of the book industry, orthotypography, professional writing, web publishing, digital publishing, management, organization of a Journée des éditeurs.
Master's degree " Languages, Literatures, Heritage and Civilizations " (publishing course). This Research Master is a way to reach the M2 Publising of the University of Angers. What we do: history of publishing, literary theory, general knowledge, professional writing. I also wrote a thesis on the cultural in-betweenness in José A. Villarreal's apprenticeship novel Pocho and its editorial peculiarity.
Double BA " Languages, Literatures and Foreign Civilizations" . This complete training aims to deepen one's knowledge in foreign languages: History, general knowledge, literature, linguistics, grammar and syntax English and Spanish. I was able to complete this course in the United States, at the University of Natchitoches, and thus rediscover my courses in the light of a new academic system.
