It has been a long time since my last entry - I actually can't believe that it has been nearly four years - but I have decided to once again try and write a few entries to the cyber world.
As a first entry I would like to try and explain the new name of my blog. 'Cafe Aleph' is both a tribute to a little cafe in Panama and a short story written by one of my favourite authors, Jorge Luis Borges.
The 'Cafe Aleph', as far as I am aware, was the first of its kind in Panama - a cultural and creative hub that attracts (I am assuming it still exists) all kinds of artists. In my mind I have some sort of romanticised memory of sitting there drinking coffee and playing chess or listening to gigs. For me it was part of the cultural revolution that slowly tapped into Panama's unique cultural heritage - a blend of American and Latin influences not found anywhere else in Latin America. In my opinion Cafe Aleph dragged Panama into the 21st century and made being an artist, a hippie or anything non-conventional for that matter, cool. Being away from home (Europe), this was always as good as it got!
The connection to Borge is both straightforward and abstract. In 1949 Borges wrote a short story called 'The Aleph'. Without going into too much detail, like many of Borges' stories it deals with the author's personal conflict with time and language. The Aleph is a small point of space which contains the entire universe and everything within it is apprehended simultaneously. It is because of this that language cannot and never will be able to accurrately represent it. Borges once said of it that infinity is to time what the aleph is to space. You cannot really countenance its existence, it is beyond man's finite mind to comprehend it. I guess the Internet sort of fits that bill and I have, since I was a child, for some reason had some sort of obsession with infinity (and time).
Anyways, I will try and post regular updates on just about anything and everything. For now, though, Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
MM
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