Floating above it all, for once

“YOLO!” At 85, I’m not throwing away my shot.

Ever since my son and his family moved to this part of France, I’ve watched these specks drift lazily down from the hills behind his house like colorful dandelion fluff on the breeze. I’ve been up to the top of the cliffs to watch the paragliders launch from what looks like a beach of astroturf—except it’s 3,000 feet above the lake, everyone is wearing a helmet and large backpack, and the blankets are the wide silken wings of the sails.

My two sons and my ex-husband have raved about the experience, but until last week I sided with my daughter-in-law, who prefers to keep both feet on the ground. However, I’m working on a book about being “a little bit brave,” so it was time to put my money (~$100) where my mouth was.

While we waited for the van to take us up to the top, my son—my supportive son, asked: “So, do you have any last words to impart?” “Is there anything you’d like to get off your chest now?” and “What’s your computer password…just in case?”

They paired me with a guy who spoke enough English that he could tell me what my part would be in hurling the two of us over the cliff and into the air. “We will run like hell as the parasail catches the wind behind us,” he said.”Because there’s resistance as it fills, two guys will run along side us, pulling us forward.” As you can see from the video my son took, it was a good thing, my legs were useless.

I really really wanted to take photos, but my co-pilot insisted I keep my phone zipped in my pocket, in case I dropped it in my excitement. He had a Go-Pro on a stick and would handle the pictures. Which he did—of the lake and villages below, of us, and of us swooping in for a landing. All fantastic.

However, if I ever do it again, I will risk dropping my phone for the chance to catch a shot of the sculptural wall of treetops on the side of hill, right after we took off. It’s hard to describe the surreal experience of that moment—it was like being a human video camera as the scenery scrolled by, but not a drone. Very trippy.

I got the opportunity to control the sail…pull down on the left side grips and lean that way, and the response was almost instantaneous. Ditto to the right. Lift both arm grips and we went faster and up. Pull down and we slowed and tipped toward the earth. I loved it. It was not at all scary.

He took a video of our landing. (Because of how he held the Go-Pro stick it looks a lot swoopier than it actually was.) He’d said if the wind was a certain way, we would run as we landed, and if it was another way I was to stretch my feet out in front of me and we’d land on our butts. Butts it was, but super gentle—the kind of landing jet passengers would clap for.

---

Back down to earth with what’s happening in my home country…

Trump who is functionally illiterate, really hates higher education—witness his escalating attacks on Harvard. He’s sharp enough to understand that people who are educated know something about history, they’ve been exposed to ideas and cultures beyond whatever they grew up with, and they’ve learned to think for themselves. Authoritarian regimes thrive on people who are poorly don’t know how to think for themselves, and will fall for the regime’s propaganda and false promises. Hence he is also siccing the DOJ on the legitimate press, government officials who have spoken out against him, and he even wants to investigate celebrities like Bruce Springsteen, who criticized him during a concert in Europe.

The House of Representatives passed Trump’s tax bill by just one vote, a Project 2025 wet dream, officially titled the Big Beautiful Bill (really!). The bill amounts to the largest redistribution in history from poor and working-class Americans to the wealthy and super-wealthy. Hidden inside are also many treacherous landmines, like ones that would restrain the courts from restraining Trump, allow him to remove tax-exempt status from non-profits he doesn’t like, deregulate gun silencers, and allow more drilling and mining on public lands while prohibiting the courts from challenging the impacts.

The bill goes to the Senate this week, where the GOP can afford to lose only 3 votes. The following Republican senators are most persuadable and vulnerable because they’re up for reelection in 2026 if not before.

Here’s what we can do:

If you live in their states, appear at their town halls, their rallies, their news conferences. If you don’t live in their states, pretend you do and call their offices to voice your opposition. Tell them how this bill will affect you and the people you care about. Find any member of Congress here.

• Susan Collins (ME) - blue state, voted against April Senate budget resolution over Medicaid cuts

• Thom Tillis (NC) - faces competitive reelection bid and has spurned Trump on US Attorney nomination.

• Dan Sullivan (AK) - race could become competitive because of Alaska's ranked-choice system, the impact of Medicaid/SNAP cuts, and if former Rep. Mary Peltola runs.

• Jon Husted (OH) - replaced Vance, has to win a special election to finish term in 2026. Race could become highly competitive if Sherrod Brown runs.

• Ashley Moody (FL) - replaced Rubio, has to win a special election to finish term in 2026.

• John Cornyn (TX) -- facing a tough right-wing primary challenge from Ken Paxton, who could put the seat in play if he wins

• Joni Ernst (IA) - race has the potential to be competitive in an anti-GOP cycle without Trump at the top of the ballot

---

PUT YOURSELF IN THE WAY OF BEAUTY

Let’s go all in with beauty this week—Patrick Bringley’s All the Beauty in the World, a book about the author’s ten years as a museum guard at the Metropolitan Museum of New York. If you’re even remotely interested in the artistic expression of human beings since forever, this book will give you new eyes, a fresh perspective and a deeper soul. I am totally enchanted. Gretchen Rubin, a prolific writer who lives in New York City not far from the museum, has written about her year of visiting every day. I can see why. Here’s a photo I took the last time I was there:

And I’ll leave you with something sweet from the neighborhood boulangerie.

If you appreciate “Alive! with Joy”, I welcome your “Like” clicks, sharing, subscribing. Even more I would love to know what’s keeping you aloft this week—I respond to all comments. We’re in this together.