It was a text message conventionally delivered but brimming with meaning. An old friend, describing the necessary task of pruning a 2m-tall weeping fig that had outgrown its space in her flat, ended with “
il faut cultiver notre jardin” – literally, “We must cultivate our garden”, figuratively, “We must attend to our own affairs”.
Those five words in French conclude
Candide, the most famous philosophical tale by Voltaire, one of France’s – and the world’s – greatest writers and philosophers. Born into an affluent Parisian family in 1694, François-Marie Arouet disdained following his father and elder brother into the law. His education at the city’s leading Jesuit college had prepared him for a life of iconoclasm and non-conformity, instilling a love of literature and the theatre while provoking through its religious instruction the scepticism that was to characterise so much of what he thought and wrote.
Cuando la ciencia es racista: Todavía hay académicos que piensan que los negros son innatamente menos inteligentes que los blancos eldiario.es - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from eldiario.es Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
The committee narrowly voted in favor of the project by a 4-3-1 vote.
Committee Chairwoman Lynn Bruneau, Vice Chairwoman Elaine Baird and members Nicholas Athanassiou and Roger Pearson voted to support the project. Members Robert Renn, Edmund Mahoney and Russell Lavoie voted against the project, and Timothy Counihan chose to abstain.
Those who voted in favor of the project cited the need for repairs and renovations at the nearly 50-year old school building; the laborious planning already done by the School Building Committee, architects and civil engineers; and the assurance of $36 million in state aid for the project, which can be claimed if the project is approved by May 31.
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