In Which we have the tone for 2026 more defined: Dialogue of the Jane Jacobs

Good afternoon, dear friend, reader of this post! Hope you are okay? Of course, do let me know! As for me, I am okay. One hour at a time, at moments I am okay, at others I am exhausted, turbulence. Never quite good, I think I will be above okay when I can chat with dear friend. And with so many dear friends, and I will chat for hours and will have stimulating convos with so many handsome people. I love handsome people, unfortunately most, it seems, do not love me back, but anyway... even if this good state that I envision is not to be achieved that easily, frankly not even to be that much chased actively, if I can feel somewhat comfortable on my skin and have some hobby on the horizon, as well as a soft place to rest my body, I suppose this is okay enough. What can be said... I can ask for much more but I also will not insist. Could be worse... it is what it is. 

Summer proceeds, the weather varies from some days with rain and a bit of relief, and much more with the heat being quite suffocating. Even just laying down, you end up sweating, as if the air is cooking you slowly. Quite unsettling... in any case, I am happy to say it was not an unproductive week. Even with the heat, I did manage to finish listening to two works of music, one is the quite exhuberant and jazz inspired Opera by the famous and sort of legendary George Gershwin, Porgy and Bess, the closest one can say Opera reached of pop music, and of quality. But it goes beyond that, this work is immensely immensely creative, and it is bigger than life, and I never saw one work praising Jesus as loudly as this work, in the fashion of the american baptists, that I tend to see myself in the spectrum of. And the other is the theme of the next paragraph...

Finished listening to the opera by a composer that I was not aware of before: Francis Poulenc. The opera is The Dialogue of the Carmelites, and it is an immensely tragic tale of the resilience of faith and staying true to the truth facing the lie, the evil, that in this opera, and in real life, takes shape as the french revolution, that destroyer of worlds, that societal suicide, of whichs have never been seen in such scale before. I am torn between telling how it ends, and saving you from spoilers... it is a balance, because I do think this work is spectacular, though gruesome, and it deserves to be listened. I should look for more works of this composer that seem to represent the other side of France, the one on the right, rather than on the left. 

Even on the right, France has many facets and traditions. I will defend there is a very important classic liberal tradition even in this country that would become synonimous with socialism and central planning later. Why, the word "lasseiz-faire" was originated in France, even, and by a group of, yes, eccentric, but also quite brilliant, in their own way, scholars, the Phisiocrats. They were not really entirely liberal, but were remarkably close to that, even more some may say, than Adam Smith himself! I don't want to, of course, dismiss our dear Adam Smith, he is very important, but I urge you not to ignore the phisiocrats either! Even if they were wrong about some fundamentals (as was Smith, let's mention that) they were on the right track on the road of the codification of common sense, of freedom and treating humans not as pawns, but as free beings with agency. 

Of course, the right I refer to, here, is not the classical liberal one, but the more catholic conservative. It is not exactly my position, as I am reminded Charlie Kirk was not exactly the same conservatarian as my kind of conservatarian, but it does not matter, in the grand scheme, they are fascinating and we can very well dwell together, much to mutual enrichment. Of course, as tragically happened to Mr. Kirk, this catholic France has been slaughtered and many times. Such is what happens with many of the french clergy during the disaster of that most evil revolution. Here, I will say, memento mori. Remember: all that is build will be lost. My grandpa talked about the inevitability of enthropy. Seeing how things went in the revolution, and in the most gruesome destiny of dear Mr. Kirk, hard to disagree.

I always worry: will creativity ever plateau? There are only so many videogames out there, only so many works of music, only so many pieces of rococo paintings that I adore. Much has been lost, with the porcelains of Sevres shattered on the hard floor that does not care, at all. That may be so, that it can stagnate, but that is just a theory. In practice, I keep surprising myself by discovering new things. Hopefully some good, hopefully some to make life a bit less daunting. You achieve that by understanding reality, as it sets you free, makes you fly forever and freely so. I love when things make sense and the gnostic words of some bad actors do not frighten me, instead they exhasperate me on how wrong they are. With the month of February, maybe the tone for 2026 is set? I am not sure. What I cannot deny, is that I listened to two beautiful operas, and saw quite an "epic" movie, and I am reading Death and Life of Great American Cities. If this does not set the tone, if it is ephemeral, at least I have something to comfort myself, the achievement.

There is a lot to be said about the first pages of this work by Jane Jacobs. I am not sure if I can correctly access the whole of the book yet, but I will say this: I know now why I am so distasteful of Cities Skylines the game, and much of what I observe on my routine in my joyless gruesome city, Mrs. Jacobs alreadu wrote about, so many decades ago, and in a whole different weather pattern, since she was in New England, I am in the tropical south. It is remarkable how people that refuse central planning in different degrees, from her, to Lady Thatcher, and little old me, reach the same conclusion, as Lady Thatcher put it: 

They [planners] replaced them [familiar city centres] with a wedge of tower-blocks and linking expressways, interspersed with token patches of grass and a few windswept piazzas, where pedestrians fear to tread,’

Remarkably so, Jane wrote this almost word for word, and exactly at the beginning of her work! Such ideas converging cannot just be coincidentally similar.

As such, we reach the end of another blog post! I am starting to feel a bit tired, and frustrated with this heated day of summer, I think both things are intertwined, but anyway, maybe I just need a different more airy shirt. Should get that in sort. Even with lethargy, I want to have some more moments of productivity today, may they be arranged somehow! If not, then I will just sleep... of course, do not distress, I should return to the blog real soon, for more thougths and ideas and routine narration. I pray and hope at some point next week? One good piece of writing invite the next! In any case, I wish yoo the best, my friend!! Stay well, see you again real real soon!!! Farewell!!!