...just can't come up with a title as wit-fabulous as "Dog Shit"...

I'd like to prefix the following with a disclaimer--for the amount we seem to be complaining about Paris, it's mostly for comedic effect. I am truly beginning to love it here. But there are some large cultural differences worth pointing out--par example, the extraordinary amount of animal excrement that made an appearance on our blog in the last week.

To follow Renée's brilliantly witty rant on dog shit, I would like to talk about another distinct Parisian phenomenon I've been taking note of just recently. And that is the location of the "Badasses." To clarify what we mean by that term, it usually is any large group younger people, mostly men, who hang around on a street corner making comments at the passers by. We do not mean gun-gangs or knife-fighting. Anyway, these "Badasses" can be found in a wide variety of odd locations, three of which I'll present for you at this very moment.

1. McDonald's. Oh yes, boys and girls, MacDo is home to it's very own fast-foody gang. When we first got here, we wondered why every McDonald's had a big, burly bouncer underneath it's happy golden arches. After witnessing two minor spats settled by fist-fights within Ronald McDonald's house, we get it. We like our Big Macs protected by Big Macs. There's a group of men who heckle women outside the Cadet McDonald's--that was our first hint at the wonderment that is Paris counterculture. We were puzzled. Why McDonald's? What makes it attractive for a group of young men who gather together as regularly as a church congregation for the sole purpose of loudly appreciating women in slang French? Is it just to play evade the bouncer all night?

2.The Opera. Curiouser and curiouser! The Opera by the Bastille is home to the punkiest looking gang of boho/skaters I've ever seen. Complete with multicoloured hair and chains. They don't seem to mind us sitting on the steps, which is a plus, because it is, indeed, an excellent sitting spot. These are perhaps the most cultured group of Badasses ever! And the best part is...no catcalls thus far!

3.Church. Not kidding. The last gang of men to catcall Renée and I were in front of a church at about 10 pm. We went to check what time mass was...and there they were. Badasses at church. Their grandmother's must be so proud.

So what's the appeal of all of these places? No one asks them to leave--they aren't really doing any harm. But why? Why church? Why any of it? Here's the theory. There isn't really a "ghetto" area in Paris like there are in most cities--that's outside the city here. Instead you have grand places...like the opera. And pretty much the most not-grand place one could pick is McDonald's(even with Ronald McDonald's hit-men menacing at the door.) So for all the young men (and sometimes women) who aspire to be badasses but alas, don't live in inner-city New York, they must make do with what they've got. Church.

Now to make it clear, I am not bashing counterculture. Not in the slightest. I like to see real humanity juxtaposed with the grandeur of Paris (as long as humanity isn't telling me how nice my rear is.) It just isn't something I'm used to. People don't pick those places in the U.S.

And maybe that's because they're asked to leave. So I suppose the real phenomenon for me is not the exact locations chosen for "just hagin'," it's that French youth are allowed to speak their mind so freely in so public a place. That would never occur in the U.S.

...I just wish their "minds" didn't seem to continually spout phrases beginning or ending with...well...I'll leave that one up to your imagination...