The Tunisian Cafe: Caffeine Oasis in a Wayward Urban Desert (Part I)

“I’d much rather hang out in a cafe. That’s where things are really happening.” – Joe Sacco My husband, Ahmed, promises me a special treat: he’s going to take me to his favourite café. My vision of an incense-clouded grotto with belly dancers twisting to the dherbouka and mezwed is soon vaporised by the sight of a grimy cafe with a grimier, all-male clientele, one big room furnished with old plastic garden furniture whose original whiteness is embarrassed by stains and scratches. The thick tobacco smoke fails to mask a melange of unsavoury odours. “This is your favourite cafe?” I … Continue reading The Tunisian Cafe: Caffeine Oasis in a Wayward Urban Desert (Part I)

Recent Findings

Kaja Perina Brainstorm Cognitive Signatures of Creativity and Genius Deconstructing the creative feats of Nobelists and Pulitzer winners. “Nobel laureates in the sciences share more than just bragging rights and the knowledge that they’ve demonstrably advanced human understanding in their chosen field. Nobelists in medicine, physiology, physics and chemistry tend to have written poetry as teens and to be avid fans of classical music, according to Albert Rothenberg, a professor of psychiatry at Harvard who has conducted extensive studies with 45 Nobel laureates, alongside matched controls . . .” Continue reading Recent Findings