12:01am - Jazz! - By AH

“Midnight. Harlem. Once it was true, that in 1932, Harlem’s heartbeat was a drumbeat.” Thus began After Midnight, the first of two shows for this year’s institute. After Midnight is a high-energy revue celebrating the music and dancing of Harlem’s famous Cotton Club from the 1920s and ‘30s, an era known as the Harlem Renaissance. With a live 17-piece jazz band and performers such as Dulé Hill, Patti LaBelle, and Adriane Lenox, this show aimed to replicate the screaming trumpet, the libidinous dancing, and the vocal gymnastics of club performers.

The word jazz in its progress towards respectability has meant first sex, then dancing, then music. It is associated with a state of nervous stimulation, not unlike that of big cities behind the lines of a war. To many English the War still because all the forces that menace them are still active – Wherefore eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die. - F. Scott Fitzgerald, ‘Echoes of the Jazz Age’

After Midnight will have served as an introduction to jazz on this visit for many of the scholars. Attentive listeners will have heard many important forms for Black culture, including syncopation, call and response, scat, humour, and improvisation.

“You hear this music simply because music is heard and seldom seen, except by musicians.” – Ralph Ellison, Invisible Man

We will come across jazz again in our tour of Harlem, the Louis Armstrong House Museum, and a lecture on American music. We will also see the influence of jazz and blues on wider American art forms: As Jack Kerouac notes in On the Road, "Holy flowers floating in the air, were all these tired faces in the dawn of Jazz America." Ironically, despite the centrality of African American music and performers in drawing spectators to the Cotton Club in the twenties and thirties, the establishment was white-only for patrons, demonstrating the gross inequality of segregation in the United Stated post-Plessy v. Ferguson. There is, therefore, a tinge of sadness in several of the songs. And more than a hint of protest in others, as in the Billie Holiday-performed ‘Strange Fruit’ with its striking lyrics:

                        Southern trees bear a strange fruit,

Blood on the leaves and blood at the root,

Black body swinging in the Southern breeze,

Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees.

“What happens to a dream deferred?” Thus ended After Midnight, coincidentally across the street from the production for A Raisin in the Sun, which also contains the famous line from Langston Hughes’s poem, ‘Harlem.’ Though this was less an elegy than a celebration. As the applause from the second standing ovation died down and the participants returned to the present – and the bright lights of Times Square on an oppressively hot night in the city – we hope the music and the spirit of the performance will stay with us well into the future.

The Tablets in Deering, New Hampshire By: Nicoleta Stanca, Romania

The tablets on the desks (the prayer and the one for writing) in Deering, New Hampshire are very far from what we would call a tablet today yet, I am more comfortable with these former ones because they reinforce a number of values I hold dear.

This is exactly the kind of schooling that my grandmother experienced in the thirties in a small village called Olteni, in south-east Romania. It was all about memorizing and wiping out the tablet for the next day; it was about praying and storytelling, complete discipline, the students often in awe of the teacher.

My grandma could only attend primary school then; as much as she wanted to go on, her impoverished family and ten siblings needed her, so she quit school unwillingly and joined the rest of the family to work the fields. Up to this day, at the age of 88, there is this regret that she could have been stayed in school longer because she was a gifted child. However, the lessons on the tablet remained with her and by lessons I mean not only the list of Romanian rulers and mathematics, but discipline, respect, curiosity, generosity and warmth.

Being in Deering, New Hampshire, as a participant in the 2014 MIAS program, in front of the tablets on the desks in the old school, I imagined children in the 1930s in America. Some may have quit school, like my grandma, some others stayed, like Professor Donald Johnson and pursued further education.

Apart from being a great professor, Don Johnson graciously imparted, during the tours of Boston, Lowell and Deering, the same beliefs and values amy grandmother’s Romanian education: discipline, respect, curiosity, generosity and warmth. Otherwise, he and Professor Philip Hosay would not have set up  the MIAS program; they would not have gathered the wonderful staff around them and they would not have brought together the 2014 MIAS visiting academics – my new American family – and the amazing community in Deering, New Hampshire. This is “old school” and this is why I like the old tablets better.   

America: Paths to Deeper Understanding By: Mohamed Koudded, Algeria

Before being in the United States I was always hearing about the impressive American liberty, democracy, freedom , justice and so forth. Once I arrived to the States, I felt that the struggle for democracy, freedom, equality, liberty, justice, real political representation is considered among the major concerns for most citizens of this country. My major impression is  that the American Dream could not be fully achieved, that it was no more than a challenging daydream; or that the sense of full achievement is a pure American nature.

All in all, I say please America stop bothering my thoughts, you’re still too difficult to be totally understood... But, you may be raising inspiring questions furnishing paths to deeper understanding.

A Visitor's Impressions of New York By: Aby Hamzaoui, Tunisia

New York City: A little bit of Everything.

"America is the greatest engine of innovation that has ever existed, and it can't be duplicated anytime soon, because it is the product of a multitude of factors: extreme freedom of thought, an emphasis on independent thinking, a steady immigration of new minds, a risk-taking culture with no stigma attached to trying and failing, a non-corrupt bureaucracy, and financial markets and a venture capital system that are unrivaled at taking new ideas and turning them into global products."                             Thomas L. Friedman

All the striking features of American society listed by Friedman above can clearly be felt, experienced, and lived by any well-observing, meticulous visitor to the country. For me, although, a few days can never be sufficient to make that claim, I have found New York, however,  full of charms as well as contradictions. Before coming to the USA, and like any traveller trying to find out something about the host country, the Internet was the easiest place to look. Two main ideas I had in mind about New York; ideas that at that seemed to epitomised the city, possibly because they were presented in a light, and witty manner. The first idea was a picture I downloaded, the second was a list of facts about New York.

41 RANDOM FACTS ABOUT NEW YORK THAT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND

http://bigappled.com/2014/03/31/41-random-facts-about-new-york/

Beginnings

A few weeks ago, I was at my office back home in front of a list of random names about whom I knew hardly anything except where they were from. Today, with only eleven days into the 6-week program, these people have come to mean something for me, and for every member of the group. During these few days, we seem to have done so many things together; we shared a small life experience that entailed sharing food, trips, subway rides, hotel rooms, breakfasts, walking tours, and the list goes on. Of one of the loveliest moments we've had together was a night at the 18th century Maple-hurst Inn, in Antrim, New Hampshire a few days ago.

These wonderful beginnings could never have been realized without the patience and professionalism of two of our lovely guides, Donald Johnson, and Carol Krinsky.

246 Greene Street, Room 301

Despite the fact that the building never seems to free itself from the presence of builders all day long, we've kind of built a special attachment to a lovely room on the third floor. On weekdays, and during 4 hours, on two separate sessions, the room is full of life, buzzing with lively interactions and heated discussions after some very insightful lectures by well-known professors in a variety of domains. Half-way into our second week, and there is hardly any area of research that has not been touched upon: political science, religious studies, philosophy, education, history, and many others. Even though the paste of the lectures have not been very demanding from us in terms of prior readings, or homework, the group seems to be taking every presentation with a serious tenor, depth, and critical interaction.

The following is a short list of some of the distinguished speakers we have had over the last week or so.            
               

Alyshia Galvez                       Rene Arcilla

                   Daniel Flamberg                   Thomas Halper

                        Gabriel Moran                        Richard Pious

                                 Ralph Engelman                    Philip Hosay

                                    Marilyn MacMillan                  Karen Kupperman

                                                Terence Moran            

Art

One can never write about New York in isolation from art. During the last couple of days, I was so lucky to attend two lovely events that have certainly left their impact on me, and engraved a picture of New York deeply steeped in art and culture. The first event was at Bryant Park, with an international display of accordions, and the second was last night at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, showing the Broadway musical " After Midnight".

                            
Accordions Around the World

Despite being a regular event every Tuesday, Bryant park gives the impression that something special is going on everytime one visits it; this was, at least, what it felt like last Tuesday. What is striking about the park is the beautiful feel it has, the chairs surrounding its several walking ways it has, while the clean grass lies in the middle. People seem to do different things: some enjoy a drink or something to eat, others simply sat and watched the beautiful views across the imposing building of New York Public library. The park has even a couple of book stands for people to read there; the stand, I think, is sponsored by HSBC bank as the sign on the umbrella says on top of the stand. The idea of reading struck me, as something innovative and liberating; innovative, as inbringing books to green places, where people may love to read, and liberating as

it turns people from passive spectators and consumers of pleasure to critical thinkers and knowledge lovers. People from all walks of life: different ages, races, nationalities; Bryant park

seems that evening as a little New York! Below, I sat with my friends, Lydia, Umut, and Nicoleta, enjoying a good Irish band. A highly recommended location to visit!

See more about the festival at this link: Accordions Around the World in Bryant Park

“After Midnight”

We left the Brooks Atkinson Theatre at 9 pm last night; my friends were asking me if I liked the play; I could not articulate the awe and joy I experienced during the show; With top class dancers, awesome music, glamorous costumes, a great orchestra, and a synchronised rhythmic atmosphere, the whole beautiful theatre was on its feet.  For me, as a teacher who have lectured a little about America in the 1920s and ‘30s, the play brought alive myriad of visions built from books, films, shows, and figures: Langston Hughes, Frank Sinatra, The Great Gatsby,

Harlem Renaissance, the Roaring Twenties, art, glamour, and best things America stands for.  After Midnight, for me, epitomized everything great about the USA.

First Look at AFTER MIDNIGHT on Broadway - YouTube

With last night’s show alongside all the interesting activities we’ve done, the lovely trips we’ve made, I can safely say that the program, MIAS, has been one of "Great Expectations", to draw on Dickens’ Novel- Dickens himself was in Lowell! The MIAS program has by far exceeded our expectations; well, mine at least!

"After Midnight" tonight on Broadway!

Tonight we will attend our first Broadway show of the program, the Tony Award-winning, "After Midnight"!
To see a preview, click here: After Midnight

American Scholars: Communities in New England By: AH

This past weekend, we fled the hustle and bustle of New York City and our scholars embarked on a journey through Connecticut to Boston, Massachusetts, described by one nineteenth-century visitor as ‘the abode of all that are first in literature, culture, and civilization in America.’[1] With Long Island Sound to our right, we formed a caravan of four vans comprising twenty nations en route to our hotel in the Financial District of the city. Here, we met with Professor Don Johnson, emeritus professor of international education at NYU and resident of New Hampshire, another of the six states comprising New England (Connecticut, Maine, Vermont, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island)– but more on NH later!

Don was the first of New Englander of many who were ‘friends ready to receive us with open arms, though they were friends we had never known.’[2] Don led us on our first of several tours this weekend through the Beacon Hill area of the city, where we learned about the importance of the common in New England towns, the literary heritage of the city, the role of Boston and Massachusetts in women’s suffrage and the abolition of slavery, and of course the famous bar from the TV show Cheers. The evening was free for exploring the city and experiencing the cuisine of the region, including Clam Chowder and Lobster. Several of our participants patronized The Green Dragon Tavern, named after the free house where Paul Revere and others planned the infamous Boston Tea Party of 1773 which precipitated the American Revolution.

The following day saw a rather damp excursion to the Freedom Trail where the participants learnt about the Puritan influence on the region and the importance of Faneuil Hall in the history of Boston and the nation. In the afternoon we visited Harvard University in the imaginatively named Cambridge. Our guide, Daniel, told us about the many dorms, the history of the university, and the statue of three lies… where we were also advised to wash our hands after touching the statue’s shiny foot! The group also had their first photo-bomber!

We were blessed to be hosted by Mitalene Fletcher and her husband Clarke, where we learnt about the history of their home, tried cornbread for the first time, saw a shiny new Tesla automobile, and got down to some tunes – for neither the first, nor last time!

LOWELL! Our trusty wagons next conveyed us to Lowell, MA, where the group experienced the history of the American Industrial Revolution and travelled on a streetcar (named Desire) originally from New Orleans, Louisiana. After Lowell, we crossed state lines once more into New Hampshire and checked in at the ‘rustic’ Maplehurst Inn before the scholars paired off to have dinner with a local family from Deering/Hillsboro. 

After dinner [ed: and a crushing England football loss] we tried our hands (and heel and toe) at contra dancing, with traditional music originally brought over by the pilgrims from Britain. The turnout was one of the largest of recent years and by the end of the evening everyone could Do-Si-Do like the best of them. 

 Here's an example of what Contra dancing looks like.

Don and his lovely wife Jean hosted us for breakfast the following morning, followed by a short lecture and a tour of Hillsboro (a literal City Upon a Hill) including a ‘lesson’ at a traditional one-room schoolhouse.

For the most part it is as solitary where I live as on the prairies. It is as much Asia or Africa as New England. I have, as it were, my own sun and moon and stars, and a little world all to myself.[3]

Many of the group enjoyed the peaceful solitude of New Hampshire and, perhaps channeling the writer Henry David Thoreau, felt that the only ‘medicine [one] needs is a draught of morning air.’ And the sun came out, which helped!

We passed through the fifth state of our road trip, Vermont, on the drive back to the city and arrived safely on Sunday evening with a whole host of new memories and experiences which will inform the conception of the United States and its (mythic) founding region.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
                                    -- Robert Frost

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[1] Marquis of Lorne.

[2] Anthony Trollope.

[3] Henry David Thoreau.