The Bel Esprit Project, co. est. 2020
BEL ESPRIT
"Either you had Bel Esprit or you did not have it."
- Hemingway, A Moveable Feast
"We're getting out of the bank!"
- The People at Bel Esprit
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 18, 2022
Your Guide
TODAY: This is where you can read the daily news, updated M-F, and where you will find all the latest content, updated monthly.
MUSES: Search all past and present content categorized by genre.
CHARACTERS: Meet the artists and explore their work.
ARCHIVES: Here you will find all the content we've ever published.
NEWSLETTER: Read the latest monthly newsletter including a letter from the editor in chief, Emily Menges
WRITE TO US: Want to send in your own work? Have a suggestion? Well, don't keep it to yourself.
SHOP: Shop.
NEWS
-
QOTD: Instead of a quote, I present to you a full article: "With just 720 days to go before the next election, a Florida retiree made the surprise announcement Tuesday night that he was running for president." The New York Post wrote a hilarious article reporting Trump's 2024 campaign. "In a move no political pundit saw coming, avid golfer Donald J. Trump kicked things off at Mar-a-Lago, his resort and classified-documents library. Trump, famous for gold-plated lobbies and for firing people on reality television, will be 78 in 2024. If elected, Trump would tie Joe Biden as the oldest president to take office. His cholesterol levels are unknown, but his favorite food is charred steak with ketchup." Wait, it's not over. "He has stated that his qualifications for office include being a 'stable genius.' Trump also served as the 45th president." It takes a fantastic news aggregator like myself to recognize incredible reporting, and I don't say this often, but well done New York Post. I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did.
-
Nancy P is stepping down as the leader of the the Dems in the House. She shattered the "marble ceiling" by becoming the first woman to run the U.S. House two decades ago. In her speech, she called democracy "majestic, but it is fragile" and said how "the hour has come for a new generation to lead the Democratic caucus that I so deeply respect." Adios Nance. Kinda, she will still lead her district in San Francisco. After the year this woman has had, ya can't really blame the lady.
-
The James Webb telly has gifted us another image of the cosmos. And in that picture there is a tiny square, and in the square is a red dot. That red dot is one of the earliest known galaxies formed just 350 million years after the Big Bang. Another example of just how insignificant we humans are in the scheme of all time. Enjoy the day:)
THE LATEST
THE ARCHIVES
TERPSICHORE
/THE WAY WE SEE IT
Untitled
By Lisa Finegan
Sick of staring at a screen? Get the Bel Esprit Newspaper delivered to your door each month.
Subscribe here
ESPRIT OF THE BEL VARIETY
Writing Prompt 25
The key slipped from her hand and cascaded in slow motion down her jacket, bouncing almost, evading her fruitless attempts to grasp the little metal object that held her last remaining hope, her final opportunity at a fresh start; an opportunity that, alas, dropped neatly through the crack in the manhole cover and disappeared out of sight, tinkling happily in the darkness as if laughing at her doomed fate.
Consider submitting here and we'll pick our favorites to publish.
The struggle is lonely, the cause is worthwhile, the artists are emerging, and the outcome is in front of you.
.png)
All funds go to costs involved in keeping The Bel Esprit Project
up and running, and paying the writers for the pieces you enjoy.
The Experts on Day Dreaming:
“The cost of oblivious daydreaming was always this moment of return, the realignment with what had been before and now seemed a little worse. ”
- Ian McEwan
“A dream is a short trip into the mind’s museum.”
- Michael Bassey Johnson
“It's foolish to let my thoughts wander this way," he said, drawing himself up, "but daydream is the only good thing in life. Everything else is vulgar and empty.”
- Joris-Karl Huysmans
“How do you smuggle daydreams into reality?”
- David Mitchell
“In a world crowded with the white noise of other people's narratives -- the collective narrative of social media; the multi-strand narratives of binge TV -- having your own, singular, internal narrative is nothing short of essential.”
- Pandora Sykes
"If you've never stared off into the distance, then your life is a shame."
- Counting Crows, Mrs. Potter's Lullaby
“There are certain half-dreaming moods of mind in which we naturally steal away from noise and glare, and seek some quiet haunt where we may indulge our reveries and build our air castles undisturbed.”
- Washington Irving
“Lying in bed and daydreaming was the best thing I did all day.”
- Marty Ruben
MEET THE CHARACTERS
/MARK NADEAU
.png)
People make art. You knew this.
Meet Mark!
Read about Mark in his own words, then go back and read his work here.
As you knew all along, there are hilarious and quirky and extremely intelligent people behind the art you receive each month on Bel Esprit. Read about them in their own words here!