Art/Poezi

On the Beach at Night
Walt Whitman (1900)

On the beach at night,
Stands a child with her father,
Watching the east, the autumn sky.

Up through the darkness,
While ravening clouds, the burial clouds, in black masses spreading,
Lower sullen and fast athwart and down the sky,
Amid a transparent clear belt of ether yet left in the east,
Ascends large and calm the lord-star Jupiter,
And nigh at hand, only a very little above,
Swim the delicate sisters the Pleiades.

From the beach the child holding the hand of her father,
Those burial-clouds that lower victorious soon to devour all,
Watching, silently weeps.

Weep not, child,
Weep not, my darling,
With these kisses let me remove your tears,
The ravening clouds shall not long be victorious,
They shall not long possess the sky, they devour the stars only in apparition,
Jupiter shall emerge, be patient, watch again another night, the Pleiades shall emerge,
They are immortal, all those stars both silvery and golden shall shine out again,
The great stars and the little ones shall shine out again, they endure,
The vast immortal suns and the long-enduring pensive moons shall again shine.

Then dearest child mournest thou only for Jupiter?
Considerest thou alone the burial of the stars?

Something there is,
(With my lips soothing thee, adding I whisper,
I give thee the first suggestion, the problem and indirection,)
Something there is more immortal even than the stars,
(Many the burials, many the days and nights, passing away,)
Something that shall endure longer even than lustrous Jupiter
Longer than sun or any revolving satellite,
Or the radiant sisters the Pleiades.

Literature/Gjuhesi

Vdekja e Historisë së Letërsisë
Agron TUFA
Shekulli 01-02-2008

Dekomunistizimi i shkencave tona letrare mbetet një utopi e rrezikshme. Miti i socrealizmit me figurat dhe idolet e veta është ngritur. Shkrimi i një teksti të Historisë së Letërsisë nuk po ndodh as sot. Duhet guxim intelektual të çrrënjosen mitet e propagandës socrealiste.

Nevoja për dekonstruktimin e miteve komuniste në një përditshmëri të tensionsionuar konjukturash politike, është detyrë e inteligjencies, sidomos kur këto mite në momente të caktuara pretendojnë të bëhen jo vetëm argumenti i ditës, por edhe instanca politike e publike shantazhi, revansh për të fituar status legjitim. Ringritja e nostalgjisë komuniste për "parajsën e humbur", duhet të marrë përgjigje njëkuptimëshe, nëse kemi vërtet ndërmend të ndahemi nga trashëgimia e rëndë enveriste, e cila sikundër e dimë mirë, shpaloset sot me të gjitha ngjyrat e palloit, në çdo ekran dhe të përditshme shqiptare.

Syri i Fotografit

Deshmite Fotografike te Lewis Wiskes Hine
Altin Topi

Kane kaluar mbi dhjete vjet, kur rastesisht, duke kerkuar ne internet per te mesuar dicka me shume perreth emigracionin shqiptar ne Amerike, u ndesha per here te pare me emrin e Lewis Wiskes Hine. Fjalet kyce qe perdora ne kerkimin tim, qe me nxorren ne bregun e ri te historise te emigracionit shqiptar ishin: Amerika, Ellis Island, emigracion, shqiptar. Nder gjerat e reja qe me befasuan, ishte nje fotografi e titulluar ne anglisht: An Albanian women from Italy at Ellis Island – 1905. Negativi i kesaj fotografije ruhet ne arkiven e bibliotekes publike te New York-ut, ne Manhattan. Ne nje vizite te mevoneshme ne kete biblioteke, qe ndodhet ne cepin e kryqezimit te rruges 42-te me avenjune e 5-te, pasi shfletova albumin fotografik te punimeve te ketij fotografi, te ruajtur ne nje seksion special ne njeren nga sallat e bibliotekes, bera kerkesen kundrejt nje pagese, per nje kopje te nxjerre nga negativi origjinal.

Rite de Passage

Ne Kerkim te se Vertetes
Altin Topi

Ne jaudite kohaime duke iu permbajtur kthjelltesise te mesazhit te Librit te Shenjte, nuk kemi rreshtur perpjekjet tona per te zbutur konfliktin midis qendres dhe periferise, midis lokales dhe universales. Kjo per ne ka qene mjaft e thjeshte. Si raca e zgjedhur prej vet te madhnishmit Zot, gjithmone kemi predikuar monoteismin tribal. E verteta e Zotit, ne kete menyre perjetohet tribalisht, duke krijuar ate universalitetin kaq te domosdoshem etnik. Kjo eshte e verteta jone, e ne mbetemi besnike mesazhit te profeteve tane; packa se historia e njerezimit ne kerkim te se vertetes, nuk fillon e mbaron me ne. Ne e dime shume mire kete gje. Kjo eshte edhe arsyeja qe nuk harrojme te hedhim veshtrimin rreth e qark, per te pare se, c’ka eshte pertej monoteizmit tone tribalor. Kjo na ben qe te shohim pertej hundes tone; per te mesuar pertej te vertetes qe besohet e predikohet nga ne.

Art/Poezi

Desiderata
by Max Ehrmann

Go placidly amid the noise and haste,
and remember what peace there may be in silence.
As far as possible without surrender
be on good terms with all persons.
Speak your truth quietly and clearly;
and listen to others,
even the dull and the ignorant;
they too have their story.

Avoid loud and aggressive persons,
they are vexations to the spirit.
If you compare yourself with others,
you may become vain and bitter;
for always there will be greater and lesser persons than yourself.
Enjoy your achievements as well as your plans.


Keep interested in your own career, however humble;
it is a real possession in the changing fortunes of time.
Exercise caution in your business affairs;
for the world is full of trickery.
But let this not blind you to what virtue there is;
many persons strive for high ideals;
and everywhere life is full of heroism.


Be yourself.
Especially, do not feign affection.
Neither be cynical about love;
for in the face of all aridity and disenchantment
it is as perennial as the grass.


Take kindly the counsel of the years,
gracefully surrendering the things of youth.
Nurture strength of spirit to shield you in sudden misfortune.
But do not distress yourself with dark imaginings.
Many fears are born of fatigue and loneliness.
Beyond a wholesome discipline,
be gentle with yourself.


You are a child of the universe,
no less than the trees and the stars;
you have a right to be here.
And whether or not it is clear to you,
no doubt the universe is unfolding as it should.


Therefore be at peace with God,
whatever you conceive Him to be,
and whatever your labors and aspirations,
in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul.


With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams,
it is still a beautiful world.
Be cheerful.
Strive to be happy.


Max Ehrmann, Desiderata, Copyright 1952.


Max Ehrmann was born in Terre Haute, Indiana on September 26, 1872, to a an emigrant family from Bavaria, Germany.

Ehrmann received his early education from the Terre Haute Fourth District School and the German Methodist Church. Upon graduation, Ehrmann studied law and philosophy at Harvard and edited 'The Rainbow', a national college fraternity magazine. It was at Harvard, that he published his first book, A Farrago, in 1898.

Ehrmann practiced law as Deputy States Attorney for two years. He then worked for a number of years as credit manager and attorney for his brother's manufacturing business.

At the age of 40, Ehrmann left the family business and returned to writing full-time. Throughout his career, he wrote more than 20 books and pamphlets and many essays and poems that were published separately in newspapers and magazines. His most acclaimed work was "Desiderata", originally published in 1927. "Desiderata" has been published in numerous magazines, newspapers, and anthologies and was produced as a single record by Warner Brothers in 1971.

Max Ehrmann died in 1945, well before "Desiderata" gained its popularity.

Rite de Passage

Kronike Ballkanase
Nga Altin Topi
Shekulli Jan 28, 2008

“Kronike boshnjake”, novela e Ivo Andricit, eshte jo shume e njohur per lexuesin e huaj. Per me teper, mbetet pothuajse e panjohur per lexuesin shqiptar. Europianin, si vezhgues i jashtem i “enigmes ballkanase”, kjo veper, mund t'a ndihmonte sadopak; per te mundur te kuptoje, e per t’i vene emrin qe duhet, trazires, konfuzionit, e kompleksitetit ballkanas te dy dekadave te fundit. Ngjarjet zhvillohen ne qytetin boshnjak Travnik, nje pike periferike, ku e ndajne fatin tre emisaret e fuqive te kohes, konsulli i Bonapartit, atasheu austro-hungarez, e veziri turk. Ky qytet i parendesishem, gelon nga intrigat e tyre e pergojimet e vendasve.

Syri i Fotografit

Gjon Mili - "Theologian" of Photography
by Artan Kafexhiu
Illyria, April 10-12, 1995


A photograph is a brief collusion between foresight and chance. It need not invite reflection, so much as create a shock which alerts the viewer to the strangeness of the passage. - Gjon Mili

Undoubtedly, it is my special attachment to and passion for photography which led me to the master of the "calculated accident". Gjon Mili. The man Sean O'Casey called, "the genial Albanian."

Syri i Fotografit

Nudot e Edward Weston
Altin Topi

Edward Weston eshte nder fotografet me te admiruar amerikane. Karriera e tij, e cila filloi ne Los Anxhelos, zgjati kater dekada. Pergjate kesaj periudhe, Weston-i perjetoi fillimin e mbarimin e dy luftrave boterore, depresionin ekonomik amerikan, ngritjen e artit te fotografise si nje medium dominues, dhe daljen ne skene te SHBA-se si qendra boterore kulturore. Wenston-i, si nje nga pioneret e fotografise artistike, mbeti njekohesisht, konservativ e progresiv, ne kontributin e tij ne kete gjini te artit pamor.

Ne 1934, Weston 48 vjecar, u njoh me Charis Wilson, nje 19 vjecare kulturalisht te avancuar per kohen, vajze nga nje familje me emer ne Karmel, te Kalifornise.