HARVARD UNIVERSITY

I was really excited today about going to Harvard University situated in Cambridge, MA. Of course, this Cambridge has nothing in common with Cambridge, UK, apart from it being a university town.

We were dropped off near the campus - see picture - and walked between the buildings, feeling inspired by the great minds who lived and studied here "for real".

After some obligatory pictures of our group near the statue of Harvard we walked to our class for a session on Islam in America given by Jane I. Smith, Senior Lecturer in Divinity, Harvard Divinity School. I learned a lot on the history of Islam and the present situation of Muslims in America, which seems, to my surprise, somewhat different from the European situation.

During our lunch break, we headed back to the center and the Coop to buy gifts for family and friends with the Harvard logo - of course!

The second session about the Changing Religious Landscape in the US was introduced by Kimberley Richards from the Pluralism Project. This project started in 1991 at Harvard University. Throughout their network of affiliates, they document the contours of the multi-religious society, explore new forms of interfaith engagement, and study the impact of religious diversity in civic life.
They try to create a greater understanding between the different population groups and mainly need to fight ignorance to do so.
Although President Obama has proclaimed that change will come, I am afraid it might still take a little while before it's actually here.

Back to Beautiful Boston

Although Paola and I visited Boston last week, I was very pleased to get another opportunity to discover this wonderful city.

Bruce accompanied us to the Museum of Fine Arts, where we first visited the exhibition of Titian, Tintoretto and Veronese. Then, we strolled through the permanent collections of the museum and admired - as always - the French impressionists and in particular the statue "la petite danseuse" by Degas. Of course, we didn't travel all the way to the US to look at European art, so we quickly walked to the first floor and the gallery with the Art of the Americas. We discovered masterworks by Revere, Copley, Sargent, Casset. I specially liked Boston Common at Twilight by Childe Hassam, John Singer Sargent's painting of the four young sisters, the self-portrait of Ellen Day Hale and of course, Edward Hopper (unfortunately only two paintings by him in the museum). I will know what to look for now in the bigger museums of Washington and New York!

While we visited the MFA, another group went to the Aquarium and were really impressed by the three-dimensional movie they watched.

After a quick lunch at Fauneuil Hall we walked through the Common and the Park along the most exclusive shopping street of Boston (looking straight ahead for fear of temptation) to the Prudential tower. This tower is with its 52 floors the second highest of Boston. We took the elevator and I couldn't believe my eyes. A 360 degree panorama unfolded for us under a radiant sun. We could look down on the miniature buildings below, see the swanboats in the park, the sea in the distance, the river, Cambridge on the other side...

From here, we were escorted to our Holiday Inn hotel. I shared a comfortable room with Sandra from Paris - France. Half an hour later, THE tourist attraction of Boston picked us up: a duck boat. These amphibious vehicles date back to the second world war when they were used to transport army material. Now they are used to transport tourists through the city center and on the river. A wacky captain welcomed us aboard and asked us to "quack" from time to time. His Bostonian accent and jargon wasn't always easy to follow, but we got the general gist.

As during our previous visit, I had located some lobster restaurants, I invited some friends along and with a party of eight we walked back to the city center. We booked a table at the Union Oyster House, the oldest restaurant of Boston and had a heavenly lobster.

On our way back to the hotel, Dai called us into a bar, so that we could meet his friend Dean from Minnesota. The girls were unanimous: this was a very nice American guy!

So, at half past eleven we hit the pillow but we only switched off the lights after reading another chapter or two for our next day.

4th of July

The 4th of July is Independence Day in the USA (but for me it's first of all my youngest daughter's birthday - so congratulations Laura!).

The vans arrived at 9 this morning and brought us to Chesterfield, 45 minutes from Amherst.

The Parade in this little town has a longstanding tradition and people come here from all over the area to watch it.

Just as Bruce promised, the weather was sunny and dry - so perfect for the 4th of July. We flocked together under the old town hall, next to the brass band, in front of the country singer.

People were sitting along the main streets and we had done our best to wear the colours of the nation. Little flags were handed out and at 10.30 am the parade started with the Star spangled banner sung by a young woman with a good voice (so we wisely hummed along).

The parade itself consisted first of all of the honouring of community members, among which volunteers, which I thought was a nice token of recognition. All associations were represented: boy scouts, brownies, the cycling club, the most original car, the firebrigade, the police force, the veterans, a Scottish band, a wagon drawn by oxen, the local riding club, the Harley Davidson fans, old timer cars and tractors of every shape and colour. They all waved as they slowly passed by, we all waved back and took picture after picture.

Naeema and I sneaked away to the quilt exhibition which was absolutely incredible. This age-old craft is clearly alive and we saw some exquisite pieces of art.

In the afternoon the parade in Amherst took place. It is a little less impressive, though the sirens of the many police cars and fire brigades tried to make up for this. In this parade, there was a slight political hint by the women's movement for birth contol, less pollution, health care.

At 5.30 pm we were invited to ITD House for a lovely barbeque prepared by Kaye and her husband. We were spoiled with food and drinks and chatted on the porch with families and professors. Then we were called inside to sing "happy birthday" for José Luis. There were yummy desserts and a cake with many candles.

Darkness set in and we walked to Umass to watch the fireworks. On blankets spread out on the lawn, huddled together against the cool evening air we watched Independence Day 2009 come to an end in a colourful spray under a star spangled sky.

Project Research day

On Fridays our schedule is not so tight. This morning we evaluated the past week with Bruce and Julie and we received our programme for next week.

In the afternoon we had optional appointments with our professors concerning our projects. As Beatrice, Jose Luis and I are planning some lessons about Emily Dickinson and her poetry, we had a joint session with Barbara. Although we approach the topic from different angles, depending on the kind of students we teach, it was very interesting to listen to each other's ideas. There is always more in four heads than in two! Professor Madeloni put us on the right track to continue our research.

Earlier this week, the Liaison Committee decided to plan a meal with the whole group. It was agreed that we should go to Route 9 Diner, an archetypical restaurant with a huge choice of burgers in every imaginable size, giant salads and a million different toppings. We sat in little booths; it felt a bit like sitting in a train. The food was good, the atmosphere even better. We walked all the way home to the ITD House or the Dorm in a very good mood.

The wise people went straight to bed, tired as they should be after a long and busy week.
However, Dai, Naeema, Snjezana, Paola and I decided to practise the American national anthem. Of course we needed some help. Julie had sent us the lyrics, but we couldn't find the right tune.
So, we opened YouTube and tried to find a solution: Whitney Houston's voice was far too high to imitate, Mariah Carey has more lung volume than the 5 of us put together, but then we found a Karaoke site that set us right. Dai's booming voice filled Charles Drew dormitory like rolling thunder in a star spangled sky.

I try to put the result here and hope it works...

Women at the top

Following Tuesday's movie "Crash", Frank Couvares was our moderator for a lively debate on this topic, analysing the many layers and various messages conveyed by the producer. American society as one big "crazy salad", stereotyped characters, bad guys showing their good heart, good guys committing crimes, people trying to integrate, assimilate and risk losing their own identity, wealthy people being unhappy, poor people being misunderstood, loving mothers, caring fathers and an angel to protect them.

Laura Lovett, professor of History at the University of Massachusetts, gave us a lecture on "Women in the 21st century: Hillary Clinton and Michelle Obama", giving the background of the women's movement, the changing expectations of women's roles, segregation issues, housing policies, ... very interesting but too much perhaps to fit into 90 minutes. During our short Q&A time the women in our group learned that not all men in our group seem to believe in equal opportunities ... Personnally, I was shocked to learn that in the USA of today, and not even in progressive Massachussets, women don't have the right to a paid maternity leave.

After the lunch break - still at Valentine's where young kids on tennis camps are being catered for and the food is reduced to burgers, burgers, and burgers - we were treated to an enthusiastic talk by Judie from Judie's. She told her personal story of how she started baking cakes at the age of 10 and now runs a very successful restaurant with a staff of 92. She has ADHD sydrome and has put it to her advantage, doing lots of multitasking and working many hours to succeed as the unbeatable popover queen of Amherst. We received a popover with applesauce and I'm sure that it will convince the ones who hadn't been to her restaurant to pop over soon.

(a popover is something between a cake and bread and hollow inside)

Judie illustrated women leadership in the profit sector whereas Leslie Laurie talked about the non profit sector. Leslie is the Executive Director of Tapestry Health Services. This NGO organises health services for people who are not covered by any other system. They run programmes on family planning, from contraception to abortion, HIV/Aids screening, needle exchange and others. In Amherst, for example, a shot of heroin is cheaper than a six pack of beer which explains why the center is visited frequently. Ellen Story, Massachusetts House of Representatives was supposed to talk to us as well, but because the government has recently cut down the budget of this NGO, she had to go to Boston to set things right. Everyone reading this blog is invited to visit the website http://www.tapestryhealth.com/ to find out more and perhaps make a donation for this worthy cause.

My personal conclusion of today is that succesful women don't only work with their head; they also use their heart!

In the evening, Bruce and Leslie Laurie took Naeema and me to NACUL Center where Tullio Inglese and his wife Judith have their studio in an old church they renovated.

Tullio is an architect specialising in ecological architecture. He showed us maquettes of houses and a futuristic Andromeda project in China. He was also one of the runners-up for the Ground Zero competition in New York City. Judith is a ceramist artist whose work depicts multicultural and multicoloured scenes. In Amherst a number of her plaques decorate the streets with words by people of the town; for example Emily Dickinson : "I'll tell you how the sun set, a ribbon at a time".

From the church, we drove to Tullio's house set in the middle of nature: simply breathtaking.

The light and airy wooden house looks out to the woods and the hills behind; a lily-covered pond, wild flowers, a terraced garden with a pizza oven, a vegetable patch, Tibetan peace-flags over the chicken run. We were welcomed by the whole family. Ariana and her husband and beautiful baby James, who really stole the show. Francesca and her - Belgian ! - boyfriend, whose name was ... Jan De Wilde ... (like my brother - but we don't think we're related). We had a lovely meal and a fantastic evening. I enjoyed speaking to Jan and I think he's very lucky to have come into this warm and loving family. After spending just one evening with these people, I felt so comfortable as if I had known them for a long time.

Center for New Americans / The Orangeburg Massacre 1968

Jim Ayres, Director of the Center for New Americans, welcomed us in Northampton and introduced the teachers and students of three different classes to us. This Center is operated as an NGO and organises English courses and computer classes for immigrants. We met people from Puerto Rico, Mexico, Ecuador, Japan, Tibet, Thailand, China, etc. They told us their name, where they live and why they have come to America. The answers to the last question were varied: for the health care of a family member, to escape from violence, to have a better chance to education, to send money home, to be reunited with a loved one, in other words, for their own American dream. It was a moving testimony and we were all impressed by the work of Jim and his team.

In the afternoon, we went back to Smith College for a joint session with US history teachers. Today, we watched the poignant documentary movie "Scarred Justice: The Orangeburg Massacre" by Judy Richardson.
This "black" page in the history of America tells the shocking story of how young black students at South Carolina State university were shot at by policemen in February 1968. The "Power" the black students had been asking for, to give them equal rights, had scared the white community and led to the terrible event of that particular night. 3 students were killed and 28 were wounded by bullets in their sides or backs. Until today, no real investigation has taken place. Although the Orangeburg Massacre has been excluded from most history books - to our astonishment even the US history teachers hadn't heard about it - it is commemorated every year at the university where it happened.
The film will soon be released on television and is available on DVD. I would recommend it for any classroom.

At the end of this busy day, we decided we deserved some time out to go shopping. At Holyoke Mall you can easily spend a week without getting bored ... if your wallet can keep up with you!
But we were lucky, the sales are on! Sandals, trousers, T-shirt and a new suitcase to take them home in...

Immigration Issues

Frank Couvares, Professor of History and American Studies at Amherst College was our lecturer today. He started by giving us the many different nationalities of his forefathers and went on to explain how America was shaped throughout history by different waves of immigrants; from the first settlers upto the wide variety of nationalities today. The Immigration stop of 1924, the decline of immigrants during the Great Depression, the opening of the borders under certain "conditions" in 1965, all help elucidate the situation of today. We were shown how political choices influence these migrations and what ends they serve.
In the second half of the morning, Professor Jose Angel Hernandez spoke to us about the same topic but more specifically about the shifting Latino/a identity. By tracing the history of the conquest of the West, giving numbers of immigrants (legal and estimated illegal) he brought the issue back to its real proportion. Shocking headlines of magazines and books written by highly praised writers deserve at least a critical reader.

During lunch the Liaison Committee met. This committee is composed of 5 participants and changes every week. They meet with the ITD staff to give and ask feedback on diffent practical aspects. Their main concern is to make life for everyone as enjoyable as possible.

In the afternoon, Bruce Laurie moderated a debate based on 4 newspaper articles that were selected by ourselves from the Sunday papers. Two articles concerned the health care programme, one was about the inauguration of a mosque in Boston and one about the bill on global warming.

These articles were interesting as they were, but, for me at least, they became "hot" thanks to the lessons I attended during the past week. It was a revelation to see how much more sense every article made, read against the background of political and historical information which I gathered from our lectures and our readings. Thanks to Bruce's guidance, linking the events together, I am slowly starting to "get the picture".

The icing on the cake today was without any doubt the movie "Crash" about culture clashes that take place in modern America. Moving, shocking, disturbing, are adjectives which could certainly apply. Something to sleep on and to discuss in Thursday's class.

I can't wait!