Paris Will Always Be Paris
In briefAI summary — tap to read
Terrance Gelenter, an American writer and tour guide living in Paris, shares stories of building community through weekly Sunday café gatherings, guided tours, and his memoir about life as an expat. He explains how Paris inspires authentic human connection and offers visitors an experience focused on memory-making rather than tourist destinations.
Key takeaways
- Gelenter hosts a weekly Sunday gathering at Café de la Paix where travelers, residents, and locals connect and form friendships across borders.
- Paris offers a cultural environment that celebrates individuality and eccentricity in ways different from American society, allowing people to be comfortable in their own skin.
- His approach to tour guiding prioritizes personal connections and tailored experiences that create lasting memories rather than rushing through famous landmarks.
- The covered passages of Paris from the 1830s–1840s represent the city's first department stores and offer insight into historical café culture through literary and architectural exploration.
- Meaningful travel moments often come from spontaneous human interactions, not strict itineraries—such as sharing wine with strangers instead of checking off tourist boxes.
About Terrance GelenterTerrance Gelenter is an American writer, filmmaker, and tour guide based in Paris who was formerly a widely syndicated Latino film critic in America and has authored a memoir about expatriate life.
AI-generated from the meeting recording — AI can make mistakes, so check the recording for anything important.
Meeting for the Week of January 23, 2023
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: Paris Will Always Be Paris
Speaker: Terrance Gelenter
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Message from our president
Dear members and friends,
Happy New Year to you all! How were your holiday celebrations? Are you back into the swing of things or still taking it slowly?
During this break, I have been reflecting on all that we have accomplished since the start of the Rotary year. Our club has seen significant change and expansion in the past six months. Among some of the highlights, we invigorated our membership and engagement efforts ⎯ We inducted four new members and had one of our long-serving members, Phil Dean, awarded the Paul Harris Fellow recognition. In addition, we hosted FANTASTICALLY FUN club socials, including the Italy-themed online social and the annual Holiday party.
I am also pleased to share that our social media presence has grown, and we're exploring new strategies to reach our target audience and drive traffic to our website and programs.
Our objective to disseminate healthcare information and increase awareness was backed by some of our fantastic programs, which were carefully arranged by our Programs Committee. And speaking of healthcare, I'd like to request your assistance in inviting healthcare experts to speak to our club. Our goal is to establish a virtual community where healthcare experts, club members, and general program viewers can talk to one another about how to best address health needs. The spread of the coronavirus has accelerated the adoption of digital health, a term that encompasses a wide range of technologies and services, such as those used in telemedicine and teleconsultation. Being a technologically savvy club has its benefits, so why not put those skills to use by assisting in closing the gap between healthcare knowledge and innovation?
Finally, the Mini e-Grants project is back, and I couldn't be happier to share the news with you. This initiative has been laboriously developed by our club's Rotary Foundation Committee, and is now accessible to all club members. For those who are new to our Club, this program grants USD $1,000 to club members who want to do community service projects with a partner organization (who also needs to contribute at least USD$1,000). In the last few years, we've seen people from all around the globe produce some amazing results! This is a great opportunity to do service in your community or in any community around the world!
In 2023, we have the opportunity to rededicate ourselves to Rotary and to our fellow club members. Join our initiatives, and please don't forget to invite a friend (or two, three...or more) to one of our programs or social event this year so that we can all spread the word about what a wonderful organization Rotary is.
If you're reading this and you are not already a member, I hope you'll consider making a new year's resolution to "do good" by joining our Rotary family in 2023. When it comes to making an international impact, serving with passion, and bonding with people from all over the globe, trust me…we are the best!
Please accept my sincere gratitude for your membership in our club. Again, I hope this new year brings you all the best in health and happiness.
Yours in Rotary Service,
Angelica Marotta, PhD
President 2022-2023 Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley
Rotary International District 5170
Weekly Funny with Shags
We believe laughter is an important part of life, and we should all make time to laugh a little. This segment of our meeting is meant to tickle you just enough. These funnies are curated by member Steven "Shags" Shagrin!
Fire Exits
Two lady school teachers from Brooklyn, spending their sabbatical year exploring western Canada, stopped at a small and old-fashioned hotel in Alberta recently.
One of the pair was inclined to be worrisome when traveling, and she couldn't rest until she had made a tour of the corridors to hunt out exits in case of fire. The first door she opened, unfortunately, turned out to be that of the public bath, occupied by an elderly gentleman taking a shower.
"Oh, excuse me!" the lady stammered, flustered. "I'm looking for the fire escape." Then she ran for it.
To her dismay, she hadn't got far along the corridor when she heard a shout behind her and, looking around, saw the gentleman, wearing only a towel, running after her.
"Where's the fire?!" he hollered.
Inspiration
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If you make it to age 96, will you be retired or still working? Here's a story about a lady who is still working at that age, and about the video that allows us to know about it.
Learn something new
Works Like Magic! Pour Super Glue on Thread and Be Amazed
This time of year I use a lot of super glue -- on my fingertip edges that start to split in the dry, cool weather. Here's another use!
Service report
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Happy dollars is an opportunity to share something positive that has happened in your life whether it is personal or business. Think of it as your opportunity to brag a little, but also put a little bit into a karma jar. The money donated through happy dollars is put to charitable use, and the message that you leave for happy dollars will be posted in our online meeting the following week for the entire week for folks to see! (Pending that it’s appropriate!)
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This section is usually updated in the early hours of Saturday, so contributions made over the weekend may not be listed here.
powered by TypeformProgram: Paris Will Always Be Paris
Speaker: Terrance Gelenter
Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, and how those contribute to service to others.
The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley seeks to explore perspectives on service from across the world. The views of the speakers in our programs are their own, and unless stated otherwise, are not necessarily reflective of the views of our eClub nor Rotary International.
If you have an idea for a cool speaker, please feel free to reach out to them directly or submit THIS FORM so our Program Committee can contact them!
This week's speaker, Terrance Gelenter, bills himself as Your American Friend In Paris, and will speak about his life as an American living his dream in the city he loves.
He is the founder/director of Paris Through Expatriate Eyes, an English-language website supported by six weekly newsletters dedicated to delivering cultural content about Paris, highlighted by books, films, gastronomy, and interviews with authors and filmmakers to Anglophonic Francophiles.
Gelenter is the author of Paris par Hasard: from Bagels to Brioches, a spirited, anecdote-filled memoir that has its poignant moments as we follow Terrance's life that began in post-war Casablanca, continued in the coal mining country of western Pennsylvania, acquired definition on the streets of Brooklyn, added polish in San Francisco, and ultimately ended in the Paris he was born to inhabit.
Members and guests, please welcome Terrance Gelenter!
To learn more, go to:
https://terrance-paris.com/
https://terrance-paris.com/cafeterrance/
https://www.amazon.com/Paris-par-Hasard-Bagels-Brioches/dp/061539230X
Upcoming program recording schedule
All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online over Zoom video conference. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 minutes long and are subject to change without notice.
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