I woke up on Saturday morning to the realization that we have monsters living among us, some of whom were born and raised in France, as I was. Seven coordinated terror attacks : 129 people dead, 352 injured — 99 in critical condition. Those are the facts.I am a 34-year-old French woman who was raised in a Paris suburb and who has lived in the city most of my adult life. I have resided in London since March of this year, and have also spent time in Tokyo and New York. But I have never felt like anything other than a Parisian, and I know today that I will always be a Parisian.That sense of belonging comes from my love of social and political freedoms, irreverence, and nonconformism. I am proud to be a part of a city that celebrates the values I cherish. It also stems from a feeling of shared experience. Today, I am wounded and grieving, just as Paris is wounded and grieving, for the second time this year. The attackers have betrayed me as they have betrayed our city and country.The neighborhoods they targeted, the 10th and the 11th arrondissements, where I once lived, are symbols of the ethnic and social diversity in eastern Paris, home to much of the city’s liberal, educated, and creative youth. These are the same youth who avoided looking for easy scapegoats following the attacks on Charlie Hebdo in January, the same youth that fiercely opposed the war in Iraq, the same youth who believe that a plethora of beliefs and backgrounds are positive for society. These are the same youth that are profoundly attached to the values of equality, freedom, and democracy.