Near where I live in Provence, in 1721 they decided to build a wall to protect themselves from the bubonic plague. On my hike to see the vestiges of the 27 kilometers long plague wall, I couldn’t help but think about other walls that may be built with the hope to keep evil out. I don’t blame them for wanting to build it. Read More
Keeping Track
Building a Wall
Comments
Mar 21, 2020 9:05 AM EDT
I love this!
- Mary Callahan
Mar 21, 2020 5:00 PM EDT
Brilliant. Toujours brillante--
- Sylvia
Mar 22, 2020 10:37 PM EDT
Gwen, this is a beautifully written and timely story. Thanks so much for sharing and stay healthy.
- Sas carey
Aug 11, 2021 12:23 PM EDT
My mother was born on rue des Marchands in Avignon, "in the shadow of le palais des Papes" and when we visited I was fascinated more by the walls around Avignon than the palace. My grandfather by then had moved from above the shirt store he owned to a modern apartment blocks away, just across from the wall itself. My favorite activity was clamoring up it and pretending to put a musket through its barrel-shaped holes. (It was 1969 - I doubt you are allowed on the wall now.)
I love the fascinating story of this wall. I almost want to abandon all my creative endeavors at this very second to write the fictional autobiography of a galley slave who frees himself by burying dead plague bodies, and miraculously survives that. There had to have been one!
- Mark Olmsted