Silk Road Music and Interconnectedness The term “Silk Road” denotes not only a geographical place and a practice of trade, but also evokes an experience of interconnectedness of different people dispersed across a vast expanse of land and separated by distinct temporalities. The multiple migrations that took place along this route provided myriad cultural exchanges: music is simply one…
A Day of Art and Joy for Refugee Children in New York, United Nations Association of New York
A Day of Art and Joy for Refugee Children in New York On Wednesday, August 31, the United Nations Association of New York partnered with several organizations to host a group of recently resettled refugee children and their parents at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Originally from Syria and Eritrea, the families…
A DAY AT THE METROPOLITAN MUSEUM WITH THE SYRIAN REFUGEES
Mission Statement: “To inspire moments of optimism and happiness – one child, one family, and a community.” –Mimi Melkonian On August 31, 2016, a group of Syrian Refugee families and children gathered at the Metropolitan Museum of New York, and spent a day full of joy and happiness. The Museum president, Daniel Weiss,…
The Need to Lead — Maestro Andre Hajj
The Need to Lead with Maestro Andre Hajj — New York City
No More The Abstractionist
Zaha Hadid was a woman who had dared to enter a man’s world, and took no shit from anybody, though plenty was offered. She had to be twice as smart and three times as tough as her male counterparts in order to get anything built. And even then she struggled for years to realize her…
“More Light” – Goethe
Design for Living A new selection of Goethe’s work reveals both his vast range and his unity of purpose. Illustration by Boris Pelcer In the English-speaking world, we are used to thinking of our greatest writer as an enigma, or a blank. Though there’s enough historical evidence to tell us when Shakespeare was born and…
I am in accord with the surrealists, searching for the marvelous
“Ordinary life does not interest me. I seek only the high moments. I am in accord with the surrealists, searching for the marvelous. I want to be a writer who reminds others that these moments exist; I want to prove that there is infinite space, infinite meaning, infinite dimension. But I am not always…
“Phenomenon – Based Teaching” in favor of “Teaching by Topic”
Yesterday I presented a lecture about “Phenomenon” teaching as Finns call — or “teaching by topic” in favor of “teaching by subject” and the creation of interdisciplinary projects with Dr. Jaime González Ocaña at the 10th Annual Connecticut Conference for Language Teachers at Central Connecticut State University. Dr Ocaña (a scholar in Greek, Latin and Spanish language and…
My Interview by the AP French Students
Q:Pourriez-vous décrire la ville où vous habitiez quand vous étiez petite? R: Beyrouth était une ville cosmopolite qui a été connue sous le nom « Paris du Moyen-Orient ». Cette ville était, et reste toujours, un endroit où les cultures différentes du monde se rencontraient et influençaient le mode de vie de la population. Beyrouth est une ville progressive compris de plusieurs religions. L’histoire riche et divers de la population et leur nature entreprenante marquent Beyrouth comme une ville d’expérimentes pour l’Asie et l’Europe. Toutes sortes de nouveautés dans le mode, les tendances de mode de vie, les électroniques et les divertissements, ont été introduits à Beyrouth et s’il y avait un succès à Beyrouth, ces tendances circulaient autour de l’Europe et de l’Asie. Beyrouth est une ville connue pour ses universités; un exemple d’une école très connue à Beyrouth est l’université Américaine de Beyrouth, qui suive les programmes d’études et les politiques éducatives des universités…
Why Are Hundreds of Harvard Students Studying Ancient Chinese Philosophy?
Lately, I read this article and made me wonder if with repetition and loving what one does becomes successful? If you are not born an artist, you can never become a painter, musician, etc… It’s true that great artists work hard, but they have this great talent. Their aspiration, inspiration, and creativity feeds their hard work. Picture a…
The years of “l’entre deux guerres” –Ernest Hemingway
” You have the sheet of blank paper, the pencil, and the obligation to invent truer than things can be true. You have to take what is not palpable and make it completely palpable and also have it seem normal and so that it can become a part of the experience of the person who…
A splendid visit to the Temple of Dendur
A magnificent image of God Horus and his wife Goddess Hathor! Horus, the Falcon-headed god, who is almost the only god that had appeared as a local god in many places and under different names. He was the son of Osiris, known as the god of after-life. Horus had gone through a long war with…
The Shade Orchid 