“I will tell you what I will do and what I will not do. I will not serve that in which I no longer believe, whether it calls itself my home, my fatherland, or my church: and I will try to express myself in some mode of life or art as freely as I can and as wholly as I can, using for my defense the only arms I allow myself to use -- silence, exile, and cunning.”
~ James Joyce, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
Joel Bowman, with today’s Note From the End of the World...
“Political disaster... currency collapse... economic decay... corruption... inflation... general ruination... why on earth would you choose to live in such a place?”
It’s a common enough question, dear reader. Ever since we began visiting Argentina, more than a dozen years ago, friends and family, equal parts vexed and perplexed, have wondered aloud at our voluntary exile to the End of the World...
Hailing from the golden sands of Mermaid Beach, Australia, the bustling capital city of Buenos Aires is not exactly an intuitive destination for a natural-footed antipodean. And yet, we’ve made a home here, and had a family of our own.
Perhaps it’s the capital’s 300+ live theater venues, including the crown jewel, Teatro Colón... or its plethora of belle epoch-style book stores and cupola adorned buildings... or its lazy café afternoons and unhurried parrilla lunches, complete with postprandial libations drifting into warm summer evenings...
Or hidden gems like the newly opened restaurant nearby, as captured in the flânuer clip, above...
Of all the places to witness the refulgence of liberty burning anew, what we’ve been referring to as the “greatest political experiment of our time,” this is the place for us.
Next week, we’ll take a closer look at what just such renaissance of thought might portend for the rest of the world. After all, if it can happen here, couldn’t it happen...anywhere?
In the meantime, please enjoy our musings from this past week... including a VERY important public service announcement pertaining to The Bowman Pub.
MEMBERS PLEASE NOTE:
Your credit card billing for this Substack subscription may indicate: Leonard Bowman Pub.
It will be addressed: Mermaid Beach
(Please do not dispute this charge. Anya Leonard, dear wifey, runs the Classical Wisdom Substack, a business we share... “Pub” is an abbreviation for Publishing... and Mermaid Beach, as mentioned, is your editor’s place of birth.)
And now for the articles…
And what about you, dear reader? Could you live in a country not of your birth? Undertake a lifelong adventure far from home? And does it really matter where one lives, if they are surrounded with people they love and an eye towards a better future?
Have your say in the comments section below. And stay tuned for more Notes From the End of the World…
Cheers,
Joel Bowman
"Why on Earth Would you Live There?"