Pardonez, Y'all - Is it done yet? (by N D)

Bethany and the Pompidou

Neil: What is your feeling on the Pompidou Center?
Bethany: The buildings are the ugliest in all of Paris. They are in disrepair, ultramodern, and don’t suit the classical, old, and just….refined attitude that Paris has.
Neil: What are your feelings on the Pompidou Center, particularly?
Bethany: The Pompidou is gaudy, it stands out but not in a good way, I thought it was still under construction and when I realized it wasn’t, I didn’t even have the thought of going in.
Neil: So you didn’t go in, do you think you ever will?
Bethany: Well I don't really feel safe in that area, and try to avoid it, It is very dirty, and I don’t really like going alone, gangs of people just hang out all around, there are drug dealers everywhere, and I was accosted there very aggressively, guys kept grabbing my arm and saying stupid stuff
Neil: Do you think Rue St. Denis fits there well?
Bethany: Well I would prefer if it wasn’t in Paris at all, but I think Pigalle is enough, it is a shame that such a good part in the center of Paris goes to waste, there is good shopping there and the churches, but the dingy part of it kind of ruins the whole area.
Neil: Do you think the drug dealers and stuff are there because of the sex shops?
Bethany: Yeah, I believe they attract a similar crowd, the kind looking for that sort of dirty side of entertainment, all of it in one stop you know. The people, who go and are into drugs, seem like they would be the same people who would go for sex.
Neil: What do you think the reason the area sprouted up considering the triangle of churches that surrounds it?
Bethany: Well the churches were obviously built much earlier, before it was seedy, but once the churches were consecrated, I guess that is what happen. But it isn’t too uncommon. We learned about Palais Royal in one of my classes, that they used to have their own private strip clubs and such in the past. It was looked upon as a more high-class thing, which is maybe why the strip clubs sprouted up near the churches. They might have grown out of the time when strip clubs and such were more for the rich and were gentleman clubs, not that it makes it better or anything. It was classy back then. Also, the area is really highly traveled, with the churches and all, making it have a lot of people and tourists walking by looking for some kind of cheap thrill or something.
Neil: Thanks B!

Bethany is an AUP freshman who lives across the hall from me. She is from the mid-west in the USA. Her father was a missionary in Africa and now a Pastor. She is very religious, well traveled, and very observant of things. I choose to interview because she told me that when her and her mother went to the Pompidou center, they thought the building was still under construction, and when she realized it wasn’t thought it was a hideous and out-of-place building. Bethany clearly disliked the building, but her inclination to older architecture might be a reason. She is knowledgeable of older architecture, and decides that because the Pompidou isn’t old, it isn’t Paris. This is a very interesting idea, and one that makes a lot of sense. Many European cities have experimented with modern architecture, but combining the old with the new is a hard concept to get right. Besides the Forum De Halles, another example might be the Guggenheim museum in Bilbao which looks very awkward and gaudy amongst the older red-roofed buildings of Spain. Combining the old and new can be successful as well, looking at the Rasedu restaurant in Prague, which is an older building with a modern part jutting out it’s side that makes it look like a woman and man dancing. It is tasteful, and though modern, it has molded the old with it to produce a brilliant piece of architecture. Modern work has the problem of appearing tacky amongst older buildings. It has a certain image popularized by 70’s television such as Star Trek or Superman’s Fortress of Solitude. It is something out of comics and cartoons, not something tangible. This is why the Pompidou has had a tough time adjusting to the Paris scenery, once more of an influx of the modern style is felt, it will find it’s place amongst the city.