Natura Morta or Still Life

How is life? Is it a canvas? Do we just slosh the sunset on a piece of plaster? Yes, it is. We can change what we want to, erase that black smudge, but we cannot change what we have done in the past. With focus and determination, your painting can be as well-known as DaVinci's greatest masterpiece. There is no limit. I created both paintings with a bit of assistance and patience, which is hard to seek in a character like I. Your canvas lies in your artistic hands. You make the most out of it.

Ide Kayla

Rags or Riches....which is better?

Two girls. What stands between them are riches, piled to the brim. Lovely gold coins spill on oak floors covered with elegant carpets. Velvet seats, smooth are scattered. What is another life? How is it like, to step into a different world. Friends, let us find out. Picture sitting on a coal box, the harsh, bitter wind beating your face. Feet bare, resting on ice, causing to create black and blue gashes.

There is a girl, spoiled rotten, tresses expensively curled and bursting with ribbons. Never exposed to the world of hard work, leave out that she worked at all. Treated as well as a king, this girl hides within the lavish furnishing and never has met a peasant.  There is a girl, clothed in rags and a slick of mud. Once being handsome, life treated this girl despite her gentle nature, as a torrent. Stomach growling loudly, the child bypasses through the bust streets of yesterday's London, scavenging for something to engulf.

Now, the story I tell you, you would think how a wealthy girl can meet such a poor child. "Why, your dressings are absolutely filthy!" she gawks. Having nothing to defend herself, the scrawny girl shrugs, in attempt to drive the other child away. What's she lollygagging in a place like this, anyways?

The otherwise rich girl shook her head, muttering: "Oh, lord, what sorts of family do you own anyways?" Repeating her gesture, the other child mumbles, "Got no family..." Scowling, the wealthy heiress says, "Impossible, you damned, wretched thing. There has to be some family of yours." The poor "thing" glared at her.

"I'm sooo unhappy! My lame father treats me like a dog," whined the spoiled one. "I suppose you feel the same," she continues, unsure of her footing. Sticking her snout in the air, the poor one uttered a whisper "Then I am much happier than you." Surprisingly, the whiner's face crumbled as she burst into tears. The day faded long ago, foreign to history.

What is better readers, you tell me. Why did the wealthy one cry? Which side would you choose? Question at your own limit.

Ide Kayla

The universe in a couple of words.......

Sometimes I wonder what the universe is exactly, just a silky back drop over a variety of marbles? Life has taught me well that everything is not what it seems to appear. For example, that nice boy over the street murdered 3 others. No, it appears more practical. "Does god exist?" Young readers would ask me. My message to you, The universe has no limit. As I have watched on the television, you need three ingredients to create a universe. One- SPACE. You need SOMEWHERE to put this universe. What else? Two- Matter.  What are you going to make it out of? Three- Time. Ah, yes, the dreaded time is needed. Go ask Father Time to get you an hourglass. Not easy, right? Are you going to pull space out of your pocket? Take my advice, young-ins. Just leave a piece of fruit in the sun and very soon you will have your own colony of ants. Trust my expertise, you would be way better off.

No one knows where the universe came from. Scientists believe what they call "The Big Bang" theory. This says that the universe just came out of......nowhere?? I was stupefied at first....all this pulled out of nothing, out of a murky pit? It is told god existed BEFORE time, which was during this period. One thing....that could not happen. Nothing existed before there was the universe, leave out god. This is caused for there being no time. A confusing puzzle, is it not?

All before time. This is just a measly theory, so don't go beating down doors for it. I always wonder if there is anything beyond space. Is there? Choose your own path. Choose wisely.

Writer, Smart-Aleck and yours truly,
Ide Kayla

Art/Proze

Shejzat, - midis Mitologjise e Shkences (pjesa e trete)
Nga Altin Topi


Many a night from yonder ivied casement, ere I went to rest,
Did I look on great Orion sloping slowly to the West.

Many a night I saw the Pleiads, rising thro' the mellow shade,
Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies tangled in a silver braid.

Here about the beach I wander'd, nourishing a youth sublime
With the fairy tales of science, and the long result of Time;

Locksley Hall Alfred, Lord Tennyson


Duke lexuar vargjet nga poema e njohur e Tennyson-it, Locksley Hall, kridhem perseri habitor si dikur, ne thellesi te hapsires e te viteve. Buze ujrave e ne reren e plazheve, mbremjeve pranverore, neteve te kthjellta, atehere kur syte e mi nuk kishin nevoje te ndihmoheshin nga teknologjia, shpesh ne endjet e mija, hidhja syte nga qielli.

Art/Proze

Shejzat, - midis Mitologjise e Shkences (pjesa e dyte)
Nga Altin Topi

Sic mund te merret vesh, nen tisin mistiko-artistik, mitologjemat gjithmone fshehin shtresa te ndryshme nenteksesh e nenkuptimesh te “korrektesise, ujdhesave e intrigave politike”, te rrymave te ndryshme e nevojave per te ekuilibruar qendrat e ndryshme te gravitetit te pushtetit politik e fuqise ekonomike, ne periudha te ndryshme te historise njerezore.

Miti i Pleiadave te ndjekura nga Orioni, i perjetesuar nga astrologjia e i demostruar nga astronomia, eshte nje mit i fillimeve te njeriut per te kuptuar mahnitjen e tij me universin, natyren e vendin e vet ne te. Fjalet e Zotit drejtuar Xhobit(Book of Job 38:31): “Can you bind the beautiful Pleiades? Can you loose the cords of Orion?” , - te permendura ne Bibel percjellin vecse nje mesazh te vetem, mesazhin e paevitueshmerise, pamundesise per t’iu shmanguar ciklit te jetes: njeriu do te

Art/Proze

Shejzat, - midis Mitologjise e Shkences (pjesa e pare)
Nga Altin Topi

Pleiadat apo sic njihen ne shqipen e gegeve, shejzat, jane nje grumbullim yjesh ne kostelacionit e Buallit. Shejzat kane qene e mbeten pjese e mitologjise te kulturave e qyteterimeve te ndryshme. Ne mitologjine greke Pleiadat ishin shtate vajzat e Atlasit dhe Pleinones; per vikinget ato ishin pulat e Freias. Ne Europen e epokes te bronzit, keltet e popullsi te tjera perreth, i kujtonin Pleiadat ne raste pershendoshjesh e funeralesh, kur ato ngriheshin e shendritnin nga lindja, ne qiellin e nates, midis ekuinoksit vjeshtor dhe solsticit dimror, periudhe pergjate te ciles mbahej festivali pagan ne kujtim te te vdekurve. Acteket e kishin ndertuar kalendarin bazuar ne levizjen e Pleiadave ne qiell, ndersa per japonezet shejzat quheshin Subaru "sebashku", emer i huazuar ne kohet moderne nga prodhuesi japonez i automobileve.

Art/Proze

Fytyra Njerezore e Shkrimtarit
Nga Altin Topi
Shekulli Shkurt 25, 2008(botuar me shkurtime)

Perseri e perseri, duke iu rikthyer leximit te autoreve qe kemi per zemer, bindemi se ata edhe pas rileximit te vepres se tyre, kane aftesi te na befasojne serishmi. Shkrimtaret e medhenj na mahnisin me universalitetin e tyre, sepse ata nuk jane thjesht nje miniere apo forxhe ideshe, por gjithmone edhe nje "kuti e magjikeshme" prej ku dalin panderprere gjera te reja e te befasueshme, qe ne jemi ne gjendje t'i percojme sensualisht, apo t'i abstragojme vetem pas nje ripertypje te gjate te vepres se tyre. Te pushton frika se ndoshta, kurre nuk mund te depertosh plotesisht ne boten e tyre. E larget, e huaj perngjan magjia e tyre ne njohjen e pare, shume larg ne rete e pafundesise eshte mendimi i tyre, shume i vecante mesazhi i tyre.

Art/Proze

Biography - A Traveller's Tale
by Lloyd Jones

Interviewing "The Black Cat"
Excerpts

In the morning we saw him off. Then we walked back to
the Dajti, where Diani was waiting to ring Nexhmije.

We rang the telephone number which Ilir had scribbled
down, and Nexhmije answered - which was to expected,
of course. But for Diani Nexhmije belonged to the old
pantheon of saints. Nexhmije had shared the royal
podium. It was scarcely believable that she should
answer her own telephone and ask that we avoid the
back entrance.

"She did stress the 'front entrance,'" said Diani.

Five o'clock, and although it was dark I could see no
sign of security.

Art/Proze

Albanian Self-Parody

Excerpts from an American traveler's notebook:

.... On the following day we went to see the Prefect and the Mayor, to whom we explained the object of our journey. Every visit was, of course, celebrated with coffee and spoonfuls of jam. Each time that we spoke of painting Albania, or of writing about Albania, the Mayor, a very fat man, struggled to his feet, made each one of us a low bow, and said, "Thank you, thank you." There seemed to be a general idea that we were writing a book of propaganda in favor of Albania. "The Greeks, Serbs, and Italians have poured contumely upon this innocent little land," they said. We tried hard to explain the sort of book we really wanted to write, but of course they have never seen, heard, imagined, or could perceive the use of a mere travel book. We said that we would tell the truth as we saw it. "Precisely, " they replied, "Thank you. That is what is needed -

Art/Proze

Skenderbeu i Vertete
Altin Topi
Alb-Club Nentor 2005

Marlow, ishte nje dramaturg anglez, rreth te cilit prej kohe, eshte hedhur hipoteza se eshte autori i vertete i trashigimise shekspiriane. Nese nje dite do te mund te provohet kjo hipoteze, do te dale se edhe vepra e pare e shkruar e Shekspirit(pra Marlow-t) do te jete drama mbi Skenderbeun: The True History of George Scanderbeg. Sot nuk ekziston, as edhe nje kopje e vetme e kesaj drame.

Ndoshta duke u nisur nga vet titulli(Historia e Vertete e George Scanderbeg) do te mesonim shume rreth Skenderbeut, perderisa sic edhe dime nga vepra shekspiriane, ai na i ka zbuluar te vertetat njerezore fare lakuriq. Po te kishim vepren Dhe te provonim se autori eshte Shekspiri, do ta kishim zgjidhur paq kete punen e Skenderbeut, e te vertetave rreth tij.

Art/Proze

For the cultural elevation of the Albanians

Faik Konitza

A lecture excerpt of Prof. Namik Ressuli delivered in 1976 at a Seminar organized by Vatra in NYC on the occasion of the centennial of
Konitza's birth.

To properly appraise Konitza's contribution to the cultural elevation of the Albanians we must consider the subject he dealt with. The secondary and higher education he received in French schools had an fundamental influence in shaping the course of his cultural and literary activity. It provided the gateway for him to open new and broad horizons for Albanians, and to develop his talent as a writer,

Art/Proze

Filistinet e une Josi Kohen
Nga Altin Topi
Alb-Club May 2001

Miqte e mi, une jam Josi, Kohen ne gjak e Kohen ne mbiemer. Sipas Torah-s, Bibles tone ne Kohaimet, te gjithe kemi nje prejardhje te perbashket, nga mesonjesi i pare i Torah-s, Aharoni, i vellai i te madhit Mose. E marr me mend se shume nga ju, akoma se keni harruar kohen e femijerise, kur hiqnit picirin per te mesuar pemendesh verse te tera te Torah-s. Tani po tundni kokat me nenqeshje duke mermeritur: -"Ja edhe nje Kohaim, mesonjes tjeter i fandaksur." Por iu siguroj se perngjasimi eshte shume i pangjashem, krejt i pasakte. Nese disa syresh do t'iu kene detyruar,nen fshikellimen e thuprave te thanes mbi kurrizin e pellembeve te duarve te njoma, t'a mesonit permendesh Librin e Shenjte, jam gati te rrezikoj me nje bast rrogen e nje viti(jemi te gjithe jahudi ketu besoj, e ky perbetim i imi eshte vetshpjegues - no comment) duke ju siguruar se mesonji-predikues i juaj nuk ka qene nje Kohaim, por thjesht nje rabi medioker e frikacak, si ato mullahet fshatarake afgane te shendrruar ne muxhaedine noksane, qe kane marre persiper me penden-kallashnikov e duke rrafshuar perdhe dy koloset kaq te pafajshem si dy ndrikulla te Budas, te ri-interpretojne Kur'anin e vellezerve tane muhamedane.

Art/Proze

Kritike dhe Letrare
Nga Altin Topi
Shekulli Janar 2006


Nje histori qe ilustron sensin thjeshtezues te filozofise te Zen-it, tregon per nje mjeshter japonez qe kishte ftuar ne shtepine e tij nje profesor universiteti. Profesori kishte ardhur te mesonte me shume rreth Zen-it. Nani, keshtu quhej mjeshtri, po i sherbente caj. Megjithese filxhani ishte mbushur deri ne buze, mjeshtri vazhdoi t’i hidhte perseri caj ne filxhan. Profesori me habi po verente cajin qe derdhej jashte filxhanit, por pastaj nuk duroi.- “Filxhani eshte mbushur plot, caji po derdhet. Nuk mund te vazhdosh te hedhesh me ne te.” Mjeshtri qetesisht iu pergjigj. - “Ashtu si ky filxhan caji, ju jeni i mbushur plot me opinionet dhe spekullime personale. Si mund t’iu mesoj une Zen-in ne se fillimisht nuk boshatisni filxhanin tuaj?”

Art/Proze

Perspektivat e Lirise te Fjales
Nga Altin Topi
Shekulli Dhjetor 2005

Per shkrimtarit turk Orhan Pamuk, deri diku, arti i tij pararend jeten e vet autorit. Autori turk, tashme me nje stature nderkombetare, i perkthyer ne mbi njezet gjuhe, duke filluar nga kjo e premte, me 16-te dhjetor, do te perballet me akuzen: fyerje e identitetit turk. Akuza e ngritur bazohet ne nje interviste te tij e dhene ne shkurt te ketij viti gazetes zvicerane Tages Anzeiger ku nder te tjera ai thote se. “tridhjet mije kurd dhe nje milion armene u vrane ne keto toka, e askush nuk guxon te flase rreth tyre”. Turqia zyrtare eshte shume e ndjeshme dhe e kujdeshme ne trajtimin e te dy temave. E ka pranuar si nje fakt te mireqene vdekjen e mijra armeneve gjate Luftes se Pare Boterore, por masakrat ndaj armeneve nuk pranohen te karakterizohen si “gjenocid”; ashtu sic edhe ka shpjeguar se numri i te vrare ne luften kunder terrorizmit kurd i perkasin te dy aneve, duke perfshire civile, terroriste, ushtare, etj. Separatizmi kurd i drejtuar nga Partia Kurde e Punetoreve(ose e njohur me inicialet P.K.K.) eshte konsideruar njezeri si terrorizem(i drejtuar nga kjo organizate terroriste e jashteligjeshme), jo vetem nga Turqia, por edhe nga Bashkimi Europian dhe SHBA.

Art/Proze

The "Verdict of Time”
Altin Topi
Memes Exodus Jul 2002

The "Verdict of Time”: The leading note of every age is struck by those creators who are the most robust and intense. Our own era, it might be called by our successors "The age of Proust or "The age of Joyce," or the "The age of Spielberg," it may be defined above all as the age of poetry and movie, or... who knows. While more ephemeral productions are buried in oblivion, only a few masterpieces may emerge marked by intense energy imparted to them by their imaginative creators. Guillaume Apollinaire, a charming and delicate poet, but e robust critic, who interpreted Cubism to the 20th Century generations and is considered the father of Surrealism declared before his death: "All the artistic works of an age mold themselves, in the end, on the most energetic, the most expressive, the most typical creation of the Age."

The "verdict of time" is in fact the judgment of a very few enthusiasts, and as Arnold Bennet define it: - "Why does the great and universal fame of classical authors continue? The answer is that the fame of classical authors is entirely independent of the majority...It is made and maintained by a passionate few... It is the passionate few that the renown of genius is kept alive from one generation to another... The majority can make a reputation, but it is too careless to maintain it... The few conquered by their obstinacy alone, by their eternal repetition of the same statements."

The ancients were aware of this and dismissed the "profanum vulgus;" Voltaire, whom some moderns revere as the ancestor of the democracy, wrote to the chief of the police Herault in 1734 that he should only listen to the opinion of a few chosen minds on his books, "because the vulgar is always and everywhere led by a small number of exceptional men, in literature and politics."

The passionate few, single out a few symphonies by Beethoven, a few overtures by Wagner, a few "Lieder" by Shumman or a few cantos by Verdi, to be heard forever. The passionate few, if they are successful, are soon joined by the snobs and the publishers, and/or the art dealers; the public opinion creators are submissively followed by the public and the crowds who are only too glad to echo the verdict of the "experts."

The public can never express a sincere opinion on Oedipus Rex, Divine Comedy. King Lear, Andromaque, or War and Peace. The "experts" are the gregarious troop which tyrannizes over timid souls under the name of posterity.

The Impressionist "movement" in painting began in obscurity and ridicule. Manet, in 1863, was hated and abused; gradually he won to his vision Pissarro, Monet. Monet in his turn won Renoir and Bazille; Cézanne joined the group in 1874, for their first group exhibition. The public, remained bitterly hostile until 1887, it accepted Renoir only in 1892 and Cezanne much later. Four or five enthusiasms admirer of these painters (Dure, Durand-Ruel, Vollard, Geffroy, etc.) succeeded in getting them accepted by an unanimous adverse public. This is the power of the public opinion creators.

Let close this visit to posterity with a remark on Dante by Voltaire: "Dante will always be admired, because no one ever read him".

Art/Proze

Making love in July
Altin Topi
Alb-Club Nov. 2001


As the year rounds up, each season accumulates enough memories to transform my ordinary calendar into an astrological chart. It has been always a cliché that June is the month of romance, and often in poetry and adolescent fancies, love arrives this month, in June, accompanied by starry skies and the awakening of bird song of early mornings. My daytime dreaming has had its different moods, and with passing of years has become more down-to-earth, more hedonistic in nature. It has changed from day dreaming about love to a recall of real life, into love making. Well, that's how it is in my dream now, the other way around, after daytime dreaming, I wake up, and I try to recover it.

Art/Proze

The boy with a kite
Altin Topi
Alb-Club October 28, 2003



Something very strange happened to me yesterday. Do you know those dreams that leave you so perplexed and you do not know exactly what to make about? That's precisely the point. I dreamt about a place, where I haven't been since the days of my boyhood. It is a place where the beach goes on for mile, and because of the thick jungle of trees to pass through, there is no access from the road. The inlet separates one beach from the other; it is no other way to reach the other beach unless you swim across the inlet.

Art/Proze

Abi - Albanian Snow White
Altin Topi
Alb-Club October 14, 2001

Abi, here she is, only a twenty-one years old artist and somehow, - without thinking too much about the logic, - she looked at life as something to sneak up on her and pounce. Over six month ago, nobody knew exactly, when this started, she thought it is not possible for a girl like her to die of chronic dumb judgment, and with this mood of thinking, she slipped away into the Skyway to Tomorrowland. Once welcomed to Tomorrowland, Abi didn't find there the Aladdin's Oasis. It was for sure the country of Disneyland, but the one time, Albanian Snow White Girl, found out that Steven Spielberg didn't exactly come knocking on her apartment door. For a while she dreamt of the school thing, and then worked an array of bad jobs and worse jobs, - starting first as a dishwasher, further waitress, later as a hostess. She had to submit resumes to Baskin-Robbins, JC Penney's, Lord & Taylor, but finally her resume as the Albanian Snow White landed her in a cocktail place on Hollywood Universe as a part-time Disney gig.

Art/Proze

Let's not talk politics, please, let's light a candle tonight.
Altin Topi
Alb-Club
September 11, 2001

If we need to believe in something, why not believe in Heaven. I believe in Heaven, my Heaven - New York. Usually, my Heaven is a place where Islanders boys in fluorescent clothes play reggae, it is a place where cleaning guys as saints with portable vacuum tracks suck up the City's dust and garbage in preparation for tomorrow's tourists to help pay for so much needed gazillion-dollar. My Heaven is a place where somebody paints the front door hot pink and the exterior purple, to show off the orange trumpet roses, and we’d have laughed. My Heaven is a place where you can buy a Gucci loafer with the signature horse bit, a place where tourists from Europe would have been able from the tops of its scrapers to see the Pyrenees. New York, my Heaven, is a place where miracle seekers bring with them dreams of money offerings and in return they find a place to buy candies and teddy bears. My Heaven is a place where sometime the people are mostly black, sometimes mostly white, sometimes mostly Asian, sometimes mostly Hispanic, and sometimes the Citizen thinks about them as Others. But my true Heaven is a melting pot, you see a mixed black or white or Asian or Hispanic among those people. You see brown skin, epicanthic folds at the eyelids, wavy light brown hair. Often beautiful.

Art/Proze

Sensi i identitetit te Kafkes

Altin Topi

Alb-Club 2001

William James shkruan: "Karakteri i nje njeriu del ne pah nga dy komponente te sjelljes te tij, - prej qendrimit moral e reagimit mendor karshi aspekteve te

perditeshme te jetes. Ne keto momente ai ndjen ne thellesine e qenies se tij te qenurit gjalle, aktiv duke vene ne prove ekzistencen e tij. Ne keto momente

eshte ai zeri brenda tij/saj qe i thote: "Ky/Kjo jam une i/e vertet-i/a'." Jung i referohet te njejtin fenomen duke e prezantuar keshtu: "Personaliteti eshte arritja kulmore e teresise te temperamentit dhe intelektit te nje individi te vecante, eshte nje veprim qe tregon kurrajon individuale perballe jetes, pohimin absolut te teresise te asaj qe perben nje individ, adoptimi me i suksesshem i kushteve universale te ekzistences, e ciftezuar kjo me lirine me te madhe te mundeshme per  vetvendosje."