A heaven. A gateway. A hope.

 

f you're trying to communicate and are tired of being misunderstood, then Babel is meant for you. If you like your arts served up with hummous, spice and chocolate liqueur spoons, then Babel will reach over and the rest is up to you. And if you've grown frustrated and weary trying to find a website where you feel relaxed and comfortable rather than anxious and estranged, then welcome to Babel.

 

ently and simply we'd like to make it clear from the very start: If you're a solipsist and found this site by mistake, please pass us along to someone near you and get back to your weapons, greed and lack of mercy. Let someone else come and take a ride on a ferry cross the Mersey.

 

uestions of whether there ever was one language from which all others came have fascinated people for thousands of years, so we've built a multilingual, multicultural online journal of arts and ideas. Within our pages you'll find articles, humor and special features culled from many languages, countries and disciplines, to form an interactive journal styled for the passionate.

 

ost of today's information spends its time in a terminal in a windowless room being clicked on by the socially retarded sighing hopelessly and objectively surfing from a sports site to a game site to a porno site. Why not, instead, find adventurous nomads through Babel and ask about finding a way to get from Austria to Jordan, splashing about in the canals of Amsterdam, or thrashing through thorny thickets in Africa or Adelaide?

 

ow lonely and boring it must be to approach the Internet like it's some landless, anonymous, singular experience through an electrical nowhere with baubles and bangles and whistles and bells and an overwhelming onslaught of information. We'd rather concentrate on the quality, depth and length of our content as opposed to merely tossing quantity at you at a breakneck speed.

 

leep deprivation and impatience we'll leave to other websites, while we concentrate on treasuring our circadian rhythms, not to mention our eyesight, and foster an arena where educated discussions and the social intercourse of ideas is more important than trying to keep the shredded attention span of an addicted websurfer.

 

ublishing Babel online, we are filling a need only slightly less important than the one just taken care of by the mid-list report’s blow to accessing book titles. So many websites place so much emphasis on fashion and attitude that the archiving of the past and a platform for the future of the arts has been all but neglected and pushed from this blooming rose of a medium.

 

owtowing apathetically to the general cynical malaise of the era doesn't interest us. We recognize that the Sixties was the beginning of an artistic renaissance the world hadn't seen the likes of for hundreds of years. Our vision is to use the technology of the day to further enhance this renaissance, but we don't plan on worshipping high-tech anymore than a twelve-string guitar.

 

recting this fulfillment of the ancient dream may lift us above many prejudices, but we're not content to have the bravery of being out of range from the real world, so we'll be out there in the galleries, theatres, opera houses, cinemas, clubs, taverns, cybercafes and house parties, writing down what happened at closing time so we can initiate, analyze, notice and whisper what we're starting to see now that it’s the beginning of a whole new two thousand years.

 

oving the world is second nature to us. We enjoy meeting and impressing strangers, and offering opportunities to those who inspire us in return, mixing up cocktails and inviting in some friends for a discussion with John Woo, Peter Greenaway, Patricia Rozema; or about Arthur Rimbaud, Italo Calvino, Jerry Garcia, Kurt Cobain, opera, erotica and exquisite corpses everywhere.

 

esides emphasizing the oral tradition with our chat rooms, bulletin board and language center, we also offer a plethora of flippable webpages with expansive content on this, a coffee shop table discussion in a bookmark tucked inside your browser wherever you are, in Basque, Brazilian Portuguese, Bulgarian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Finnish, French, German, Glosa, Greek, Hungarian, Italian, Luxembourgish, Norwegian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovenian, Spanish, Swiss French, Swiss German, Tagalog, Turkish, Ukrainian...

 

enmark, El Salvador, England, France, Germany, Hawaii, Israel, Italy, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Slovenia, Spain, Switzerland, The Netherlands, Turkey, Ukraine, USA, Venezuela, Yugoslavia, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Brazil, Bulgaria, Canada, Chile...

 

hicago, Delft, Gilroy, Hollister, Horst, Kailua-Kona, Leeds, Liverpool, Ljubljana, Louisiana, Madrid, Manchester, Melbourne, Modena, Montpellier, Moscow, Mt. Waverley, Naples, New York, Oakland, Olathe, Oporto, Ottawa, Pontevedra, Portland, Poznan, Pyatigorsk, Quebec City, Ranica, Rome, Rosario, San Antonio, San Francisco, San Salvador, Santiago, Sao Paulo, Sarasota, Seattle, South Korea, Suceava, St. Vincent de Tyrosse, Ste-Brigitte-de-Laval...

 

acoma, the Burning Man playa in Nevada, The Dalles, Tokyo, Toronto, Tucson, Untersiggentha, Vanderhoof, Varna, Sao Vinhedo, Vitoria-Gasteiz, Waterloo, Woodstock, Zaporozhye, Aarhus, Ankara, Arlington, Athens, Austin, Berlin, Beaumaris, Belgrade, Berkeley, Boston, Bozen, Bucharest, Buenos Aires, Caracas, Carlton, Cernier...

 

ffairs of the planet will be our province. We have provided a veritable world of a website with thousands of international links and a number of different ways to communicate with as many languages as we can find. If we are able to provide the world citizen a few original thoughts, and a little diversion from the anxieties of the non-stop information age, we'll feel we've justified our erection.

 

or the world is your slimy, chemically-enhanced, bottom-dwelling, bivalve mollusk. In other words, look for the pearl inside because you're one of the lucky ones, with just about everything in the heavens aligning to give you a shot at the world being a better place. Further translation: This is a good thing. No matter how you approach this, you are bound to find that pearl.

 

alentines, it is time to put your foot down. How much is not enough? How much grief and sin can you put up with until your heart caves in? Something needs to be stopped, slowed down or at least set straight. You have the power to do this. You also have the right to use that power. But you may not have the willingness. Maybe you feel you'll spoil someone else's life if you say yes. Maybe you worry that, in asserting your strength, you will spark off a chain reaction, creating an end to something else that you do not want to finish. So be subtle and gentle. But do, still, be strong.

 

emember that with knowledge comes power. With power comes responsibility. With responsibility comes compassion. With compassion comes understanding. With understanding comes information. With information comes knowledge. For the best things in life are free. It's the next best things that cost the money. True love, for example, can't be bought for any sum.

 

f course, if you really want to, you can purchase attention, popularity or even a gesture of apparent affection. Real inner contentment is likewise priceless. For sufficient cash though, you can get a sense of importance, authority, respect and involvement. Almost as good? Not if you've sampled the real McCoy. It's not the lottery that you want to win today. It's the wisdom to see beyond some poor 'second best'.

 

enophobia has caused countless wars and hate crimes. Ultimately, it's not about the myths and legends one's tribe worships or the color of one's skin, it's about one's heritage: unfamiliar customs and invisible deities are no reason to deny other cultures. They are challenges to enlightenment (and also one's understanding of metaphors) that need to be addressed. If the citizens of a race accept the citizens of another race the leaders will realize this and be willing to work with them, not against them. Wars will not cease until we all realize that we are all one. Invite your enemy to dinner.

 

eunes au coeur, unissent et succèdents. Now is the perfect time to get your thoughts together about a vacation you have been wanting to take. You may find yourself on the Internet or in the Library or Science museum, making discoveries, drawing map instructions or making decisions on just which areas will be the most beneficial to some research or some long-time interests.

ou may even discover situations in one country that you think you can help to change. Today you will make a difference. You create your own todays and can make a positive difference by taking the time to help an elderly person or teach a child. Exercise by walking today (perhaps inside a bazaar) for a release of excess energy.

ull out that book you have been meaning to read and turn off the TV or sit on the porch and read. A little fantasy of putting your self in the place of the hero or seducer in the story might be fun. You will be pulled back to planet Earth soon enough with work staring you in the face. You might as well do it and then you will have time to hide yourself back into the mystery of reading until bedtime.

se your wit, taste and intelligence. Find a means of expression. Find a retreat. Get your opinions on paper, online, in the airwaves and to the editor. Reach out and touch someone. Return all those phone calls you have been putting off. Write letters or send out Birthday cards to your friends or relatives. Take a radical step forward. Thank those who support you. Thank those who believe in you. Pay close attention to those who love.

 

elcome to Babel. The healing has begun. The rest is up to you. We believe in the impossible. You know that we do. Take care of each other, Love, Malcolm Lawrence Editor-in-chief

 

E-mail us! Your Name: Your E-mail: Your Homepage: Where are you from? Click on your region. Comments:

 

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