This June Classical Pursuits travels to Dresden, Weimar, and Berlin, all once part of the Soviet Bloc and now part of a reunified Germany. Each city has a unique story to tell about a different aspect of German history: its triumphs and failures, and its vibrant culture in today’s flourishing country. Germany, the […]
In January 2010, Classical Pursuits travelled to Key West, Florida to discuss the work of several American poets for whom Key West figured prominently in their lives and in their verse. We had the great good fortune of spending time with Rachel Hadas who was a presenter at the Key […]
I received a blog comment from Robert Anderson of Los Angeles. To manage the hard times during his daughter’s grave illness, he created a model kit for Monticello, the extraordinary home Thomas Jefferson designed for himself in Charlottesville, Virginia. Anderson created a 1/100th scale paper model of Monticello desgned from the measured […]
Tahrir Square, Egypt’s Newest Tourist Draw By Jennifer Conlin The New York Times, February 25, 2011 LAST October, on my final day in Cairo after a yearlong stay, I walked across the Kasr el-Nil Bridge toward Tahrir Square, stopping for a moment to take in the view. Though the Nile […]
From TIME Magazine, July 5, 2004 By Annette Gordon-Reed Of all the Founding Fathers, it was Thomas Jefferson for whom the issue of race loomed largest. In the roles of slaveholder, public official and family man, the relationship between blacks and whites was something he thought about, wrote about and […]
Jo-Ann Minden and I are watching German films as part of our preparation for our Made in Germany trip this June. By far, the best has been Heimat, a long trilogy of episodic films by Edgar Reitz which views life in Germany between 1919 and 2000 through the eyes of a […]
Dear Friends, I’ve lived in Florence for almost ten years; when I look out my window at the domes, spires, and red brick roofs of this Renaissance city, its beauty still captivates me. As a classical painter, I moved here for the great art of the past and the community […]
Many of my generation awkard and way out of our depth in the brave new world of information technologies. We mourn the decline of what we believe are the more elegant and eloquent forms of the written word and programmed television broadcasts on few networks. But even luddites like me marvel […]
What made me leap at the opportunity to lead the upcoming Travel Pursuits trip to Germany is the prospect of experiencing first-hand the places and people which are the source of so many of my lifelong impressions and interests. Most of us have lived through the decades in which Germany […]
In recent days, the world hs been glued to the unfolding situation in Egypt. The news has been confusing.Perhaps because I was in Egypt in October as part of Classical Pursuits’ trip to Egypt, Rocking the Cradle of Civilization: Egypt Then and Now I feel strongly connected with what’s going on – and hope […]