Welcome to Seeking Tranquillity in France! I’m delighted you’re here.
Seeking Tranquillity is a way of saying seeking a better life. A life with the peace of mind that comes from living without worries about availability or quality of healthcare, public safety, or the stress of an unforgiving and heartless work culture. A life where your values are shared with the community in which you reside. A life where you can find happiness, quality of life, and opportunities to flourish in previously unattainable ways.
In 2008 my family and I made the decision to leave the United States on a quest for a better life in Europe. In my Substack essays I reflect on experiences that change the trajectory of one’s life—professional changes and work culture, adapting to life in different lands, moving between countries, and entering retirement. Some such topics have a social and political element and I hope to contribute occasionally, in a modest way, to public discourse about the issues that feel closest to home—such as healthcare, the decisive issue that provoked our departure from the U.S.
What to Expect
Subscribe if you’re interested in …
Leaving your homeland - I offer perspectives that are grounded in the reality of experience and understanding of what it means to start a new life in a new culture
Working (and retiring) in a new culture - and understanding that, no matter your job, in a new country it will be very different from what you’ve known before
Language learning - For me it’s a lifelong passion, but it’s also the most practical change to master if you move to a non-anglophone country (or even if you are!)
Social policy - If the topics above interest you, you’re probably also interested in social policy issues, and I comment from time to time on issues that are important to me and my family, and possibly to you as well.
Stories from a lifetime of work and play - because there’s no tranquillity to be found if you can’t laugh, dance, and occasionally shout for joy!
I post weekly or fortnightly, generally on Fridays, with the occasional “Note” at other times.
Thanks for joining me!
Subscription details
For now, access to Seeking Tranquillity in France is free to subscribers. Notifications are sent for new long-form Posts, short-form Notes, and the occasional podcast. All earlier material is accessible in the publication archives.
About me
I am musician who became an academic, a librarian, and a scholarly jack-of-all-trades. I’ve worked at major universities in the U.S. and Ireland, pursuing an unusual career in libraries that allowed me to engage with research collaborators across many disciplines—music and other domains of the humanities, medicine and biosciences, archaeology, anthropology, and computer science. I led a national research centre in music in the U.S., and was head of a national social sciences data archive in Ireland. But after a lifetime in academe writing grant proposals, scholarly articles and endless administrative memoranda, I’m enjoying having free rein and finding a community with shared interests here on Substack.
Professional details here: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4433-7209.
Feedback is appreciated
You can let me know you enjoyed a piece by clicking the heart-shaped “Like” button. But comments that contribute your own thoughts are especially welcome, and you can always share a link to Seeking Tranquillity in France with friends and those who follow you on Substack.
