"Open field", a holiday workbook. A welcoming address
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This Sunday, July 19, 2026, the french actor Jacques Bonnaffé's first "spreading of the word" launches our "Open Fields," which will captivate les humanités throughout August. At least, we hope so: a parade of articles—and why not a brass band? Now it's YOUR turn.
Chronicles, analyses, stories, "off-the-beaten-path" pieces: to stay informed:
This is a trailer , even if we're not putting on a show.
In August, we will be majestic, respectable, that is to say, august . But without imperialism.
It will be a participatory project: the more the merrier…, etc. It is not about being reasonable, but about continuing a path outside the paths (Henri Michaux).
This is an invitation
"We cannot invite the wind, but we must leave the window open." Jiddu Krishnamurti (1895-1986), " Freedom from the Known"
This is an invitation - from the Latin verb invitare , "to invite, to convene, to entertain", linked to the idea of being pleasant to someone, especially by inviting them to a meal.
Our meal will consist of words, images, and sounds, to your liking.
This invitation is primarily reserved for our subscribers and donors, but since nobody is perfect, there will naturally be some exceptions.
"Freedom is a word that has traveled the world and never returned." - Coluche (1944-1986)
What is this about?
The title says it all: Open Fields .
From August 1st to 31st, les humanités course will be like a summer workbook. But it won't be so much about revising – although, why not? – but about inventing .
Inviting everyone to come and share their holiday experiences: a landscape before their eyes or under their eyelids, a thought that rises from the cellar to the attic, a digression, a poem - with or without inclusive writing -, a rant or a thunderbolt that escapes the constraints of conventional norms, a story, a testimony, a dream of…
In short, to keep a chronicle , for once – or more if there is a connection – at the guest table of a firefly-newspaper.
Throughout the month of August, the humanities offer you hospitality .
“Hospitality is not an isolated act; it is a way of life.” Robert Louis Stevenson (1850-1894)
Each of these chronicles could begin with: "Hello les humanités, I am writing to you from..." (a landscape, a workplace, a mental space, etc.)
There is no set format. We say "writing," but it can be in images (photography, painting, drawing, video…) or in sounds (recordings, sound clips, music…).
We don't accept the excuse "but I don't know how to write." For those who might be afraid (of not succeeding), we'll offer good advice (on how to refine an idea, how to give it shape).
Instructions for use
An email address: contact@leshumanites.org
Here, you can submit a completed article , or just a draft (idea, proposal, etc.)
Any questions?
Until then, slow down.
Until then, until July 31st, the small, still volunteer-run les humanités editorial team will take a bit of a break.
Lately, we've given a lot, in terms of articles and investigations. Frankly, considering our modest resources, we have no reason to be ashamed.
The next two weeks won't be a complete vacation. There will be a few publications in the works, which are still being finalized.
But we also need to take the time to get a few things back on track internally, not to mention a proposal to draft, budget, and submit by the end of this month in the hope of receiving some crumbs of public funding (for online press) later on. This comes after we've fought hard to obtain accreditation for political and general information.
We will also give updates on our crowdfunding campaign on HelloAsso ( HERE ), which we have to continue and grow if we want to have a chance to continue.
“Now it’s war, a game where you push from one side, hold the door from the other! / I’m suffocating from being surrounded by nothing but this! / Let me breathe! / Open all the windows! / Open more windows than all the windows in the world.” Fernando Pessoa, “Ultimatum” (1917)
We had to fight over the meaning of words (vocabulary is political) to argue, for example, that a poem by Fernando Pessoa (which we published in May 2023, HERE ) is not just poetry to make a statement , but that it also falls under "political and general information" - moreover, no restrictive decree limits its scope, everything depends on the interpretation.
"We don't talk enough about the stickleback, this small fish from our small European rivers, which has become famous for the complex gestural procedures of its reproduction." Jacques Bonnaffé, as an introduction to "Open field".
Jacques Bonnaffé, a master of poetic exceptions—who never considered himself a cultural exception —had joined the festival des humanités we had so amicably organized in September 2023 in Cenne-Monestiés, in the Aude region ( HERE ). It's a real shame we weren't able to repeat the experience. But since then, we've occasionally exchanged a few pleasantries with Jacques Bonnaffé.
As a curtain-raiser, a first peddling by Jacques Bonnaffé
A few days ago, a phone conversation led us to the horizon of these open field . And then, without overthinking it, the idea came to us that a Jacques Bonnaffé column could take the form of a short audio clip, transmitted by telephone. "I'll think about it," he said. And fifteen minutes later, the following recording arrived. Bonnaffé is a quick thinker, when it makes sense.
Yesterday, he wrote to us: “I can probably shorten it and offer a bit of additional writing. At least say that this isn’t just another joke, a borrowed role, but the feeling of a vague duty, like going where one doesn’t go, being transient and alive.” We trust him to fail better , as Beckett would say. But for today, this first peddling will serve as the curtain-raiser for our (your) open fields .
In the mid-1990s, Jacques Bonnaffé created, with a fanfare to boot, a wonderful show, Cafougnette et l'défilé , based on texts by Jules Mousseron, miner and poet from the North ( HERE ).
That's where we are. We're opening the balcony, waiting for the parade of your upcoming columns. If there's a fanfare too, we won't say no.
Jean-Marc Adolphe and the editorial committee of the humanities .
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