Welcome to The Compère

Welcome, my dear reader, to The Compère.

What is The Compère, you ask? First and foremost, it is a personal blog that will hopefully capture my various, and occasionally incoherent and rambling, thoughts in a slightly more coherent manner. The topics of these thoughts, as I foresee them, will range from food to travel to the meaning of life and everything in between.

I first conceived the idea of a blog while on a trip to Japan, where, unsurprisingly, I found my thoughts overflowing about the food I was eating and the experiences I was undergoing. Hence, in its embryonic form, The Compère was conceived as a travel blog of sorts, a collection of my reflections during my globetrotting. But as my ideas for the blog were coalescing into a firmer picture, I began to realize that the thoughts I wanted to convey were hardly limited to the topic of travel. To do so would be to restrict my opinions, my ruminations, or my newly obtained knowledge to a narrow subset of my experiences, and would ultimately diminish the fundamental desire behind this blog, which is to express, in written form, what I cannot do otherwise.

A friend of mine once said to me that writing is more than about expression – writing is a means for him to formulate his thoughts into an organized format. Meanwhile, Jancis Robinson, one of the wittiest and most authoritative wine critics alive, and one whom I really respect, said this while discussing the reasons for her embarkation on the wonderful world of wine writing:

I have always felt the need to describe, whether orally or literally. Like many others, I suspect, I don’t really feel as though something has happened unless I have described it to someone else, usually trying to amuse with the description and often putting some sort of spin on it by omission or exaggeration.

On the other hand, Virginia Woolf wrote in her diary in 1937 that:

I think writing, my writing, is a species of mediumship. I become the person.

Finally, Anaïs Nin, a French-American writer known for her journals as well as erotica, stated:

Why one writes is a question I can answer easily, having so often asked it of myself. I believe one writes because one has to create a world in which one can live. I could not live in any of the worlds offered to me — the world of my parents, the world of war, the world of politics. I had to create a world of my own, like a climate, a country, an atmosphere in which I could breathe, reign, and recreate myself when destroyed by living. That, I believe, is the reason for every work of art.

It is my belief that all of the above propositions contain an element of truth. At this point at least, I am ill-equipped to proclaim that I can achieve some form of noble cause through my words, and I am not egotistical enough to say I have the ability to educate or enlighten my readers upon the subjects I am about to write. As intimated above, I write at the very least to express myself. And if, for some miraculous reason, I can inspire my readers to take a little step towards someplace new, or even pause and ponder a new perspective, then I would proudly declare my “job” well done.

Thus, for now, I cannot tell you exactly what The Compère will become. Rather, I can tell you what it will be not. The Compère will not be purely a travel blog, where I document each day of my adventures and list popular sightseeing spots; there are a profusion of other blogs who seek to do just that. The Compère will not be purely a food review blog, where I upload photos and descriptions of dishes I consumed or appraise restaurants that I have visited; again you will find such blogs readily elsewhere. Lastly, The Compère will not be a platform where I write about products or services with the intention to gain followers and ultimately sponsorships or advertisers; it is my hope that my writing will be free of such economic pressures. In essence, I will strive to combine my thoughts on a variety of areas in a manner that is as personal, as honest, as unfiltered, and as impartial as humanly possible. I will not mince my words, I will not shun criticisms, and I will reject political correctness, while acknowledging that there is often a fine line between constructive criticism and hurtful discrimination. I will do these not because I am hiding behind the veil of Internet anonymity, but because that is how I desire to express myself.

Why the name, you may ask? The word compere in English refers to the Master of Ceremony (shortened to emcee or MC), someone who introduces or presents in some show, but is actually borrowed from the French word compère, which translates to partner or accomplice. That word, in turn, originated from Old French comper and Late Latin compater, both of which mean “godfather”, according to Wikitionary (link here). So you may choose to interpret the name of this blog as that, with me being someone who introduces you to something new, a place, a dish, or perhaps a perspective. Or you may choose to view me as an accomplice (hopefully in a non-criminal nature). And for those of you who know me irl, or in real life, you would probably figure out another, perhaps trivial reason why I arrived at the name.

And who am I, you wonder? All I can say is, I am a simple man with particular tastes. I come from a small country in Asia that I shall henceforth call That Country. I do not deem myself to be a connoisseur or a well-traveled expert in any form. I am just a person who loves to eat and drink, as well as travel to new places and learn new things in this vast world I call home, a bon viveur perhaps. If anything, I have developed a particular set of preferences over time, which I am certain will continue to evolve. I am almost inclined to say that who I am is irrelevant. Even if only for a moment, my dear reader, forget who I am and where I am from, and just accompany me on my journey and let us see where it shall take us!