September 23, 2026

Dear Friends, 
Building on the success of the Lafayette Fellowship’s launch last year and following a successful Summer Leadership Program with our inaugural cohort, I am delighted to announce that applications for the 2027–2028 Lafayette Fellowship are now open. They will remain open through December 1, 2026. 
This program offers a unique opportunity to join the next generation of young leaders committed to strengthening the transatlantic relationship. The Lafayette Fellowship funds one year of master's-level study in France for up to 30 outstanding American students.  
Open to both Francophone and non-Francophone candidates, the program partners with leading French universities and grandes écoles across STEM, the humanities, the social sciences, and the arts, with degree programs offered in French or entirely in English. 
In addition to their academic studies, Fellows participate in the French-American Leadership Program, which provides an immersive introduction to French and European innovation, culture, and public policy, alongside mentorship opportunities. 
Last summer, our inaugural Fellows traveled to Paris, Avignon, Arles, and Marseille for the opening chapter of the program. Through masterclasses with leading figures, visits to major institutions, and unique cultural experiences, they discovered France from multiple perspectives while building a strong community of their own. Their journey will continue throughout the year, with additional sessions in Strasbourg and the Paris region. You can learn more about the inaugural cohort's Summer Leadership Program here. [ https://villa-albertine.org/va/lafayette/inside-the-2026-lafayette-fellows-leadership-program/ ]
As our inaugural Fellows now begin their academic year in France, we look forward to identifying our next cohort of Lafayette Fellows.  
Learn more about our upcoming informational webinars and additional program updates on the Lafayette Fellowship website.  [ https://lafayette.villa-albertine.org/ ]
If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to Florence Botello at lafayettefellowship@villa-albertine.org. 
Warm regards, 
Mohamed Bouabdallah
Cultural Counselor and Director of Villa Albertine
Founder of the Lafayette Fellowship 
French Embassy in the United States 

Event details

Movies That Move We- Sounder
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9WlL2KAjlg

 

My Thoughts To the Minutes
Movies That Move We, the third generation:) 
Lis + Kim+ Manda with Nike looking at Sounder.
Manda/Kim/Nike/Lis
2:10 interesting that Kim had to read The Secret Garden.  3:22 Nike question, a question of a black family written by a white man? Lis: don't feel it is well received Kim: if he grew up in a family different than him, or have a different  . But  Manda: a product of the time. He had editors. the gaze in the story is for a certain audience.  6:14 Nike couldn't find any interviews. She cites a note: "fifty years ago i learned to read at a round table at a country school house, the teachers name was Charles jones. After school he worked for my father and in the summer he drove a hay rake and a mowing machine. He had a deep rich voice and he loved to tell stories, I have never forgotten them. Out of the stories he told me and the boy who sat next to me in the round table came the story in this book" 7:42 Nike didn't like the unnamed characters 10:20 Swampy the dog had no other roles in a movie:)  11:21 Nike asked what do you think about the dog? Kim, she liked the dog in the book becoming part of the family.  17:14 Nike, is this a radical story? Lis, the screen writer was black for the film did that make a difference.  Kim, felt the film was tame. Manda, she turned it on and told her kids to go away. 22:45 The performance of Cicely Tyson  24:54 In the book, the author didn't have the ability to write the energy , so in the movie, a black woman was able to bring life in it. 27:11 in 1972 women couldn't have a credit card on their own in the united states of America, good point by Nike. 28:29 Lis, good point, god is the higher male and the pastor used god in that part. 29:55 Nike, when the boy went to the teachers house , he felt she was rich good question about whether he got that from a first hand source 31:32 Nike, what are your thoughts on the education scene? Kim, excited but sad. The teacher was considered rich for having her own home. A simple thing.  Manda, in the book, we saw his progression. he lamented he couldn't read. In the movie he already can. And in the book the teacher was an older white guy, while the teacher was a younger black female. 33:48 Overview call from Nike 34:19 Manda, ask, does the movie exist as a reclamation of the story.  37:56 The ending,  in the book the father was paralyzed very badly while in the movie, it was made more gentle. 39:15 Good point that the father and dog died in the book at the end. 39:42 Nike asked how did it feel Kim mentioned how she never lived in such a financially poor housing as the black characters in the book and she was spoiled as a child and when she was subjected to stories like this, she said thank god i am not in this situation. 41:36 Unike Sounder roots was very visible with the violence.  41:56 before Roots what story was the media standard?   43:28 Nike can't recall to many films with a black child at the center.
 
 
IN AMENDMENT
Sounder 2 supposedly was barely released which i argue is how the film industry producers historically kill films they don't want any to see but were forced from whatever reason to produce. Think John carter of mars for disney. IT was made , but Disney killed that film in advertising in the media mechanics of what a film needs. And Disney did it cause they bought MArvel and didn't want to waste any future money on a john carter series 
link
https://books.google.com/books?id=X7ZYsnTPIhwC&lpg=PA78&vq=annazette%20chase&pg=PA78#v=onepage&q&f=falseembed

 

referral
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Part_2,_Sounder
The Dandridge Sisters n 1940 Irene
https://youtu.be/CTeabecj_4o?si=BQ2qgnGQ6_1bTeYs


Bright Road
Directed by    Gerald Mayer
Screenplay by    Emmet Lavery
Based on    "See How They Run"
1951 short story Ladies' Home Journal
by Mary Elizabeth Vroman
Starring    Dorothy Dandridge
Philip Hepburn
Harry Belafonte
Barbara Ann Sanders
https://youtu.be/278qbMmPpPI?si=eqML-s-coYm5Wmwo


https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bright_Road
Four Shall Die is a 1940 American supernatural crime film directed by William Beaudine. It features Dorothy Dandridge in her first credited film role.
It says in the black cinemaconnection that the film is presumed lost. Damn!
https://blackcinemaconnection.com/2018/10/29/four-shall-die/
 
My Comment
Nike, you don't like stories with characters absent a name? Lis, the problem is, the producer of the film was white and controlled what could be done or emitted, to this day producers dictate the parameters of artistic expression of directors/thespians or others? Manda, what later films are inspired by Sounder's stylistic conversions from book to screenplay, if any? Manda ask is the film a reclamation.  I argue, yes absent deviating from being an intended feel good story.  A sounder 2?  My first question to you four is, with so many people, black in particular, desiring not to see films involving enslavement of blacks to whites, in the usa in particular, or seeing black struggle in an environment controlled by the non black, does Sounder fit the desire of some film goers , black or non black, to see a film absent black suffering or black struggle?  My second question to you four is, the film industry ever since the code came in has always pushed films based on literature to be less violent, less fornicative, less depictive of negativities than the books themselves, the two oppositions to that are the Frankenstein films and Glory from spielberg, where Frankenstein is written as a creature fully functional or pleasant in appearance as a human male, the movies make the creature, crude, disgusting looking, incapable to be with a woman, OR the fifty third regiment mostly made up of free black men who can read but are depicted more negatively in terms of their status or condition. But, from fifty shades to Sounder to lord of the flies, to journey to the west to the statian film adapations of "men who hate women" ninety nine percent of films are never allowed to go as far as books. So my question is, what do you say to that? Has the film going audience in the usa been trained to expect a lighter touch on violent scenes, so much that to do as the books most violent parts will be unacceptable?  Kim, roots was made in 1977, five years after , and Manda's question is interesting. If Sounder had not been made, would Roots be made? I think Roots is interesting cause even though Roots is well known , it isn't something shown alot today. And I argue it is because it isn't uplifting. Overall it doesn't allow non blacks to think of the usa as this country of egalitarianism, not does it allow blacks to think of the usa as some wanted home by their forebears, who were forced to immigrate.  Nanda, asked before Roots what was the film dealing with the past of blacks in the USA considered the "standard" and I argue Sounder was it.  Nike, check out the film Bright Road with Dorothy Dandridge, the question I pose to all four of you is, if no "Bright Road" 1953 happened would there be a Sounder film?


referral
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9WlL2KAjlg&lc=UgwTgyYJo5BPjxYaWzB4AaABAg 

Event details

PRIOR ENTRY
https://aalbc.com/tc/events/event/824-art-comments-09092026/

NEXT ENTRY
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COMMENT URL
https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/1378707286/5310200140

COMMENT CONTENT
Thank you @WritingDD2R
slick idea getting followers to go on the ride of creation with you. smart.


What have you been up to these last two months? Feel free to share your work or adventures below
A number of challenges on eviantart as you know. I still have a short story collection to finish, and some other writing I really need to get to some programming.


here are some of my recent challenges aside adjacent art examples and one poem
Happy 60th Birthday Star Trek!
Sep 8, 2026
[DEVIATION] Live long and prosper because it's

🌅 Europa Gothic: September 2026 Contest 🌅\nBrought to you by:\n\n[EMOTE][EMOTE]\n\n[EMOTE]\nJoin @color-me-club in coloring or creating coloring pages about themes that enliven our spirits. Coloring can be meditative fun or a communal activity, open to anyone at any skill level. Making a coloring page is like making a ticket for another's imagination into a place they have never been. Get inspired to color a world you have never seen but isn't complete without your prismatic touch!\n[EMOTE]\n\n🎯 THE CHALLENGE\n1. For the Line Art Creators: Create an artwork, black lines and white space, depicting a scene , of any time or place or fantasy, indicative of European art in the period commonly called gothic. Please look at the example work below and the inspiring gallery below to comprehend.\n\n2. For the Colorists: It has two paths. 1) During the lineart challenge, If you make an acceptable lineart, you can color the lineart you make and it wil be an entry for the coloring challenge OR you can use","html":{"type":"tiptap","features":"[{\"type\":\"TIPTAP_FEATURE\",\"data\":{\"tiptap\":true,\"version\":1}},{\"type\":\"WORD_COUNT_FEATURE\",\"data\":{\"words\":672,\"chars\":4192}},{\"type\":\"MEDIA_COUNT_FEATURE\",\"data\":{\"emoji\":17,\"emotes\":8,\"images\":14,\"mentions\":7,\"video\":0,\"galleries\":1,\"gifs\":0,\"ids\":[1375494965,77409639,131330685,334645710,833756049,914491222,99912023,1284003118,1289384960,1286745083,1317038393,1289531986,1348613517,1359936387]}},{\"type\":\"IS_EMPTY_FEATURE\",\"data\":{\"isEmpty\":false}}]"}},"filetype":"png","entityId":"5-1372765524"}" style="font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: 186px; height: 186px;">
September 2026 Contest: Europa Gothic
Sep 1, 2026
🌅 Europa Gothic: September 2026 Contest 🌅 Brought to you by: [EMOTE][EMOTE] [EMOTE] Join @color-me-club in coloring or creating coloring pages about themes that enliven our spirits. Coloring can be meditative fun or a communal activity, open to anyone at any skill level. Making a coloring page is like making a ticket for another's imagination into a place they have never been. Get inspired to color a world you have never seen but isn't complete without your prismatic touch! [EMOTE] 🎯 THE CHALLENGE 1. For the Line Art Creators: Create an artwork, black lines and white space, depicting a scene , of any time or place or fantasy, indicative of European art in the period commonly called gothic. Please look at the example work below and the inspiring gallery below to comprehend. 2. For the Colorists: It has two paths. 1) During the lineart challenge, If you make an acceptable lineart, you can color the lineart you make and it wil be an entry for the coloring challenge OR you can use

🍂🌰\n \nYou have a couple ways you can earn the #FallForArt profile badge:\n \n\n\nCreate a fall-themed line art deviation and include the tag #FallForArt before you submit the deviation\n\nColor a free-to-use line art featuring a fall-theme and include the tag #FallForArt before you submit the deviation (please credit the line art creator in your deviation description)\n \nThis is the profile badge you will earn when you","html":{"type":"tiptap","features":"[{\"type\":\"TIPTAP_FEATURE\",\"data\":{\"tiptap\":true,\"version\":1}},{\"type\":\"WORD_COUNT_FEATURE\",\"data\":{\"words\":324,\"chars\":1967}},{\"type\":\"MEDIA_COUNT_FEATURE\",\"data\":{\"emoji\":4,\"emotes\":0,\"images\":11,\"mentions\":1,\"video\":0,\"galleries\":1,\"gifs\":0,\"ids\":[1283996947,1369973568,1375489305,820474919,987129235,41925755,919712955,40510301,10914962,1326962377,1344333250]}},{\"type\":\"IS_EMPTY_FEATURE\",\"data\":{\"isEmpty\":false}}]"}},"filetype":"png","entityId":"5-1372769484"}" style="font: inherit; vertical-align: baseline; color: inherit; border: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; text-decoration: none; width: 206px; height: 206px;">
Earn the September 2026 Group Profile Badge!
Sep 1, 2026
No AI generated entries in this group. Check out @DeviantAI for AI specific contests. Thanks! [DEVIATION] Join @color-me-club as we celebrate the coming Autumn season in the northern hemisphere. For a lot of us living north of the equator, September means fall: cooler days, changing leaves, pumpkin spiced everything. But “fall” isn’t merely a season, it’s also an action: falling from the sky, falling down, falling overboard, falling leaves. So whether you are celebrating Autumn or falling down over it, @color-me-club wants you to #FallForArt with a profile badge this September! 🍂🌰   You have a couple ways you can earn the #FallForArt profile badge:   Create a fall-themed line art deviation and include the tag #FallForArt before you submit the deviation Color a free-to-use line art featuring a fall-theme and include the tag #FallForArt before you submit the deviation (please credit the line art creator in your deviation description)   This is the profile badge you will earn when you



@Kat-Zaphire thank you
@Malintra-Shadowmoon thank you
@idogmatik beautiful eyes, was the portrait from a live model or photograph? either way do you know what she was looking at?
@SeaNaARTS nice convex lens perspective
@NikKanOwl the antlers on the owl, magic i wonder if that means the bones of this owl are lighter, more fragile. beautiful graphite, and i like the story of the all seeing owl... the devourer!!!
@NataliaSwietekArt I instantly recognized all but one, I see: mushrooms/sunny side up eggs/sausages... I saw sausages that color/tomatoes... baby tomatoes cut/ toast with no butter or jelly/beans. I dont know what the green things are, maybe an herb. but you do have an issue where is your mother's drink? haha! I hope she loved it, and I am glad you eventually did.
@Estheryu that is a big cat beautifu imagination
@Pulkit0712 nice use of pointilissim, I have to use that more
@Kohobee beautiful virginia creeper, but where is that lovely photo taken? the architecture intrigues me
@Dieffi falforart alert thanks , how did it smell there? I bet good




https://www.deviantart.com/writingdd2r/tier/Reader-s-Club-1335385857


Angels Without Wings September 2026 ~ AWWs
Sep 2, 2026
[DEVIATION] [EMOTE] AWWs for September 2026
Daily Deviation Round-Up: August 2026
Sep 5, 2026
I am glad to present my daily deviation Round-Up for August 2026 which showcases all the deviations I featured in this time. Actually, this Round-Up covers the areas I DD from Traditional Art, Literature, Artisan Crafts/Cosplay as well as AI (in this feature two AI pieces). If you like any of the works, so please give these talented artists some love. Suggestions and self-suggestions are always welcome. At the end of the journal you will find my DD Suggestion Guidelines on how to send me your art suggestions. Thanks to the following suggestors: [EMOTE] [EMOTE] [EMOTE] Please send me your DD-Suggestions (Self-Suggestions are absolutely encouraged!): [DEVIATION]


COMMENT URL
https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/1375895776/5310168091

COMMENT CONTENT
Congratulations to @rendermuffin @Cyklopi @AstraLiaMoon
Thank you for featuring @Kat-Zaphire

@rendermuffin the red side is the rat side what inspired the image, you didn't say?
@Cyklopi when did your mom's cat pass away? adoreable acrobat
@AstraLiaMoon imagine if the mouse door was locked



COMMENT URL
https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/1377300568/5310191189

COMMENT CONTENT
Beautiful feature @Malintra-Shadowmoon beautiful work from all

@MichaelMathews-Art a collage lovely to see, I like how you made the female figure and "earth" how long did it take to get all these pieces together? last question, what will you do with your collages? do you send them?
@Keller-cosplay I first thought this was some sort of computer graphics imaging. But I saw your instagram and I comprehended. you met Mads Mikkelsen , i shared that with a colleague who loves him
I learned from your instagram Photo by @rozzylis, retouching by @alina_takeshi
takeshi is hilarious licking a skull
@Jules2005 what was your prompt or settings? Did you use dreamup or another tool? Cute composition.
@cortneyelznic peter the horse whisperer, nice. what novel is the text from? you tagged nnovelillustration
@rickturf nice utopia, love the arangement of various dimensions, that moon space is brilliant. but what is that triangular thing in the top left quadrant ? it isn't a building in a particular dimension like th eothers.
@Alina-Lovin beautiful colors chosen, really gives a pseudo three dimensional look and it seems from your description the structure came from your imagination. Slick
Hey! fellow poets!!!
@thequiethours beautiful proclamation, there is time for the girl with no face to find one, if you ever make a follow up poem At me
@DaizyChai i like the fifth stanza, the third version of the refrain
I just want to live inside your thoughts
or perhaps just inside your eye
To see what it is you see
The world inside your mind
@exarobibliologist my favorite lines
Let me be no nearer
In death's dream kingdom
Question, are we epeople so empty?
@alanyann haha after such a surreal dream, he needed the toilet


B
Literature
Beholder
I just want to live inside your lens Or perhaps just inside your eye To see what it is you see The world inside your mind Capturing new images Making plain things grand Taking on the journey Viewing from sky, or sea, or land To live inside your camera To see the way you do There could be nothing grander Than viewing things anew I just want to live inside your hand Or perhaps just inside your eye To see what it is you see The world inside your mind Watching you paint such beauty Being within the thought Seeing colors blend fantastic Shining in the dark To live inside your brush To see the way you do There could be nothing grander Than viewing things as you I just want to live inside your thoughts or perhaps just inside your eye To see what it is you see The world inside your mind Running through each story Discovering what might be Walking among the characters Living a life unknown to me To live inside your stories To see the worlds you do There could be nothing grander Than
T
Literature
The Scrolling Man
I We are the hollowed men We are the branded men Leaning together Headphones filled with cache. Alas! Our simulated voices, when We whisper down the feed, Are quiet and meaningless As white noise on a podcast Or thumbs swiping over cracked glass On a looped Spotify playlist.   Shape without form, shade without filter, Paralysed clout, reaction without feeling;   Those who have crossed With direct eyes, to death's offline Kingdom Remember us—if at all—not as lost Violent souls, but only As the hollowed men The branded men. II Eyes I dare not meet in this timeline In the algorithm’s fever dream These do not appear: There, the eyes are Blue light on a fractured screen There, is a cursor blinking And the voices are In the server's pinging More distant and more solemn Than a fading signal bar.   Let me be no nearer In death's dream kingdom Let me also wear Such deliberate disguises Influencer's coat, ring light, crossed thumbs In a viral dance Behaving as the trending sound behaves No
S
Literature
Shadow Dream
“Please don’t do that, it’s disgusting,” my line manager said. I was in a funfair with a person I support and my line manager. We were queuing for the ghost train. The supported individual tried biting me. I gripped his nose and said Stop! That’s when my line manager said those words to me. I didn’t get it. Stop! Is our mantra. I let go of his nose. “I need to bite you!” He said fluently. “Need. Not want. Need!” Normally, non-verbal he had become perfectly fluent … but psychopathic. I felt a sense of dread and fear. I kept my distance. The fight or flight reaction made my skin tingle. Old people pleasing habits came flooding back. I was about so say sorry, but then I realised it is a word I use and abuse too often. So, there were no apologies. He abruptly walked off and got into a carriage of the ghost train and we were away. The train plunged into the darkness and came to a halt. The passengers started to talk: was this meant to be part of the ride? Had it broken down? We were


COMMENT URL
https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/1379614160/5310202406

COMMENT CONTENT
@leothefox congratulations on the word count for nameless sails nice determination as an artist to get you there

The Rocket King
https://www.lulu.com/shop/adrian-aidan-smith/the-rocket-king-in-green/paperback/product-e7q69wp.html
Hard Boiled Gallery
https://www.deviantart.com/dreadful-tales/gallery/102519605/hardboiled-potboiler-contest-2026

@NizeOdDaske don't apologize for creating, keep creating.. what is looking at th eboy, that has him by its.. tentacle?
@NMatychuk smooth illustration, i can see on a book
@SethFitts i wonder what fiver's spirit looks like what are the black things about its neck? Love the scaling with the small moon
@Onirio where was "yet another lovey day for night" taken? it is pretty
@RohelineBear I like your stylevery iconographic



COMMENT URL
https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/1381001130/5310893392

COMMENT CONTENT
Thanks for this fun feature @vagrantscout
these are some of my video game based posts


@XoAngelBeatsoX i thought you had made a statue of that creautre or some sort of automaton
@Alicante-Design I love drifloon's one of the few pokemon i know instantly
@pinkythepink I notice you didn't tag the image crossstitch, it is lovely
@Gingerko what is the maximum amount of coins you can put in that bag?
@CathryneDelamort what video game is asari in
@FallingMist your zelda does have that mucha vibe. what song is she playing?
@Elanei hello.... Hello! Luigi!!
@LayzeMichelle was the little sprite being an after effect, magical glow, nice costuming
@LayzeMichelle i have never seen peach on a motorcycle, wow! does she have a hog in any of the games?
@SpiritgreenArt nice angles, love mobius strips

COMMENT URL
https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/1382150031/5311988783

COMMENT CONTENT
@leothefox smart putting mostly original work in the third book. All my ebooks are original stories never posted online. Hope the publishing situation improves for your third book and hope the best for the fourth.

@KizukiTamura nice poetry
reality
is nothing but an angle
that persists
 
the rest
is nothing but
perspective
Your kaleidoscopism, beautiful view thing, is great. One day I will need to take photographs and try that.
@KatyaKashka does our cute little mouse have a name yet? I can see an african pygmy mouse with a little leaf sail boat.
@KwasiRa what are the dimensions of smolyoid? will you make a larger version or one with its complete body later?
@Bnspyrd did people groom those trees to grow alongside the church wall, in st goerge?
@berryspitfire what inspired the design of wholly? it reminds me of graffiti in streetart. Cool.
@RighiCarlo beautiful design of the frog, the camaflouged style is brilliant coloring.
@lockssteps stretching plus sharpening nails on lilly pads on golden water, nice
@KanchanMahon eye of devoted is beautiful, rare to see collages amongst my connected. question, you said a collage made digitally, what software did you use?
@Will-55 the thing about highly abstract art is the rorschachian aspect. Even if the artist has a clear idea. The artistic style invites each viewer to have their own perspective. If anything, the only factor between abstract works is how often people cann see variance things when they look at them.


COMMENT URL
https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/1383601449/5312314597

COMMENT CONTENT
@leothefox nice honoring your grandfather

@LucienWittwer beautiful composition, I figured this a painting on first glance but on inspection, a beautiful surprise. Where in switzerland was this? it seems like a small water body that used to have stone steps or rails?
@offermoord so much fun, has anyone worn those glasses?
@LucienWittwer apocryphal liturgy, a secret thing's public work, interesting allusion,beautiful composition. Nice choice of the buildings.
@PhotoartBK does it rain in romania heavy? I have never been.What is the name of that hill/mountain in the background?
@Gambear1er nice hatching I saw your gallery, lovely works


COMMENT URL
https://www.deviantart.com/comments/1/1379466911/5312324072

COMMENT CONTENT
@KovoWolf I never heard of Denfur before, thanks for sharing. I can see why you are inspired by the two artists you feature.

@darknatasha
Did you ever finish that pinup gal book?
I knew that was sake before i read your description. by the bottle I know it is older than Dassai, any particular sake brand for a relaxing rat? Have you ever made Templeton?
nice lines from michele light, is she on deviantart? koi drag on
@Goldenwolf
have you ever seen a white wolf in real life in a winter somewhere?
what are your thoughts to deviantart merch? I know you have a dedicated etsy, but what would entice you to use deviantart's new fiscal tool?
Lovely eulogy to Freya, legendary canine.
Nice commission , Takoda and Grim look cute. With the advent of AI art has commissions grown or lessened?

Event details