by Alissa Simon, Tutor at Harrison Middleton University, Tempe Arizona (first posted on the HMU website) Once there was; once there wasn’t….* I am blessed with many things, one of which is an excellent job. I read and discuss literature for a living. Everyday a piece of literature blows me […]
Another wonderful day at Toronto Pursuits! Tonight we had a great dinner (after an amazing Indian lunch). We spent some time looking at all of the places you can go with Classical Pursuits and heard from travelers and tour leaders about the unique experiences offered by these one-of-a-kind trips. Previous attendees […]
A couple of years ago, a friend in Bogota told me a joke that he says Colombians tell on themselves. It runs something like this: “When God was creating the world, He was especially generous when it came to Colombia. He gave it the lush Amazon, the spectacular Andes, the […]
Po’boys and Naughty Girls in N’Awlins October 7-14, 2014 with Lisa Pasold and Ann Kirkland in New Orleans. I’ve been working with Ann since 2002, when she began planning the first Classical Pursuits voyage to Paris. Ever since our initial meeting over hot chocolate at the Café des Deux Magots […]
NOTA BENE: Many of you will know that Sean Forester, classical painter and lover of 19th century Russian art, literature and music, had to cut short his trip due to a death in the family. Sean did get to escort the group through the Tetryakov Gallery in Moscow and lead […]
Dear friends, Each summer for ten years I’ve led a Classical Pursuits art appreciation seminar, but never have I been more excited than I am about this coming July. To promote cross-cultural dialogue, CP founder Ann Kirkland invited a number of us course leaders to address non-Western texts. I was […]
Hello and welcome to Classical Pursuits 2014. I am Rick Phillips and I’ll be leading the seminar Impressionism in Music. I have been at Classical Pursuits for years now, and it’s a highlight of every summer. I’m really looking forward to this seminar. Perhaps it’s a crude analogy and a […]
Dear All, I am very much looking forward to delving into the world of Caribbean literature, under the guidance of two masterful novels by prize-winning writers Jamaica Kincaid and Edwige Danticat. Here are a few tips to help in your reading and preparation for our discussions. Please make sure you’ve […]
We just can’t get enough Shakespeare at Classical Pursuits! In this latest blog post, Katherine Barber, founding editor-in-chief of the Canadian Oxford Dictionary, has a lively discussion with educator and Travel Pursuits leader extraordinaire Gary Schoepfel about our February 25 email blast on words coined by Shakespeare. Katherine is the […]
Dear friends, The Mahabharata comes in many sizes and languages. The author of the version we will use at Toronto Pursuits, William Buck, worked from a 5,800-page Sanskrit version. His goal was not to translate it, but rather to retell it: “I thought how nice to tell the story so […]