An Exclusive Message From Alex to You!
Sep 10, 2024
Hey,
I hope you’re doing well! It’s under a cloudy sky that I’m writing down what will be the last missive written in Tangier for this stretch, as we are already reaching the end of what has been an incredible 6 weeks filled with loads of magic and wonders! Our hearts are also filled with hope, greatness, and freedom following one of our greatest passages in this mystical city that, once again, fulfilled us by its own rhythm, spirit, dark blue sky, salted fresh air, and countless smiles and laughter.
I decided to celebrate this unforgettable moment in time by listening to Nass El Ghiwane, which truly impacted the Moroccan youth culture in the 1970s through their rich poetry that didn't know the fear of pointing out inequalities, corruption, and the dark sides of colonialism as they grew up in one of the poorest areas of Casablanca. Martin Scorsese called them The Rolling Stones of Morocco, also adding that the band really reveres cultural universality!
Driven by this very similar passion and love for art, music, culture, freedom, and humanity, and under this new theme for which I received many comments all week long — A Light Too Bright to Hide — Alex wanted to personally share some thoughts and reflections on what gave birth to those very inspiring and powerful six words! I’m really thrilled to see where those words will lead us all throughout the new Club year!
I’m also inviting you to send me any questions or comments you might have following this reading since I’ll have the opportunity to sit down more with Alex and ask him a few questions about the new theme!
Let’s be great to one another!
Your Host and Friend,
Jeff
A Message From Alex to You
Dear brothers, sisters, friends, and loved ones,
After several months in the making, I’m very proud to finally publicly announce the new theme for The Club, its visuals, and the membership package details for the year 2024-2025, our 13th edition, which is quite an accomplishment in itself.
Every year, I’m looking to find a theme that will encapsulate elements of what I’m experiencing or meditating about at that very moment while adding tints of where and how I foresee myself after a year. I have always been highly fascinated by light and its various forms, may it be its physical components or its spiritual inclinations. I often reflect on the global sense of life and its nature, as much as I muse on our individual existence and its essence. There’s a lot to look into when we dare pay attention to what gravitates beyond our conception of self. That’s why I’m so intrigued by the sky and absorbed by its projection on every single one of us; I find an intimate universality in it, a sort of heterogeneous harmony even, where we are all made of equal components yet revealed as diametrically unique. It’s a paradox designed by endless perspectives and innumerable points of view, just like human nature itself.
“A Light Too Bright to Hide” is that gift of life we all bear within us, what shines beyond our imperfections, our regrets, our grieving, our failures, and our desperation. It’s that place where humanity and divinity collide, creating something, may it be the “soul”, the “conscience”, or the “awareness” that ultimately defines every one of us, regardless of what we want to believe in, perceive that we are, and of whatever others think we may be or not.
It’s that everlasting hope that designs every morning we are freely offered as a canvas awaiting to be daubed with our own specific colors. It is so pure that no matter how hard we try, we can’t truly deny it, as it's glowing too flamboyantly to be concealed. It defies logic and beliefs.
It has the ability to dispel doubts, fears, and insecurities, to reshape senses or meaning when we are shambling to foresee that our existence has a purpose. I like that idea of a “light”, whatever we want to call it or not, that has never failed to be, even if we fail it on too many occasions to remember the when, the why, the how, and everything in between anymore. It’s a comforting and empowering presence.
- Alex
