This is the first message I am sending through this channel. If you are reading it, you saw the invitation on social media, went through the website and decided to subscribe. I’d like you to feel welcome here. In a society where attention has become a precious commodity, I feel privileged that you decided to lend me some.

C'est le temps que tu as perdu pour ta rose qui fait ta rose si importante - St. Exupéry.

So here is why I sent it : we are living in a time where walls and wars are more likely than bridges and parties.

I have decided to go against this flow.

A few months ago, I started something. I called it #talktoclaude. An open invitation to share ideas. Live, open conversations. It worked. And one thing kept coming up, in different words, from different people: the idea of a République des Lettres — the belief that ideas passed between people, carefully, with trust, can change things.

This website and newsletter is my response to that idea. Not a broadcast. A letter. With it, I want to share ideas, start new dialogues, spark initiatives and break down walls. I seek inspiration and hope to inspire in return.

This is a firestarter. Joyful, human, a little impatient, a little silly, a little somber.

The website is still a work in progress — much like this whole endeavor. I'm building it as I go, and I'd rather do that honestly than arrive polished and silent.

Which brings me to the only thing that matters in this first letter:

What are you hoping to find here? What would make this worth your time?

I mean it. I hope you’ll write back. This only works if it goes both ways.

À vous.

Claude .