A hot topic in the US and in Italy

We held the meeting of the Amici Italiani di Fairfax at my house. We had a very stimulating discussion about immigration in Italy. About a dozen people attended. I forgot to take photos and no one else did. We need an official photographer!

My friend Matt made a presentation about his research in Italy last summer. Go to his youtube site to see his documentary.

https://youtube.com/ColburnClassroom

This documentary was a wonderful catalyst for a vigorous discussion on the subject. Thank you, Matt!

We, of course, had some delicious food. We *are* Italians! 😋

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An Ardent Feminist

Henrik Ibsen was a pioneer in giving women complex psychological roles in his plays. One of his most popular plays is Hedda Gabler.

Jon Klein wrote a play called Resolving Hedda in which the lead character rebels against the ending of the play (she kills herself) and she seeks to avoid her demise. It was hilarious!

Sixteen members of our lodge joined together to attend this performance. Most of us met for lunch beforehand. Marie, Elizabeth, and Barbara came to lunch but are missing from the photos.


Elden, Synniva, Solveig, Tim, David, Kristina, Christine, Barbara, Joel, Glenda, Ruth

Tim, David, Kristina, Christine, Joel, Glenda, Ruth, John 

                                              Marie, Elizabeth, Ruth, Klein, Christine, Tim

We had an opportunity to talk with the playwright after the Q & A session following the play.

Paintings in the Textile Museum

A wonderful Society of the Emeriti monthly meeting. The speaker was Dr. Sanjit Sethi, Director of the Corcoran School. He provided us with a very interesting update on how the Corcoran Art School has been integrated into the University.

Here is a summary in Wikipedia:

The Corcoran School of the Arts and Design currently offers the degrees of Bachelor of Fine Arts (in Fine Art, Fine Art Photography, Photojournalism, Graphic Design, Interaction Design, and Interior Architecture); Bachelor of Arts (in Fine Art, Art History, Theatre & Dance and Music); Master of Fine Arts (in Fine Arts, Interior Architecture, Classical Acting and Production Design); Master of Arts (in Art History, New Media Photojournalism, Museum Studies, Interaction Design, Exhibition Design, and—in partnership with the Smithsonian Associates—Decorative Arts and Design History); graduate certificates in Museum Collections Management and Care, and Museum Studies; and a joint BA/MA program. After merging with George Washington University, the Corcoran School of the Arts and Design discontinued their Interior Design and Art Education programs.

Students are exposed to internships with organizations including National Geographic Magazine, embassies, and White House news photographers; summer study abroad trips in Italy, Greece, and India; and visiting artists such as Annie Leibovitz, Shepard Fairey, Maya Lin, Abelardo Morell, and William Pope. For a period of time in the spring, senior students' works for their senior theses are exhibited within the museum, giving the students experience in gallery openings as well as public exposure to their work.

Following his talk, we had a tour of the current exhibit in the University's Textile Museum: The Four Freedoms by Norman Rockwell. Having this temporary exhibit of such important and well-known paintings was definitely a coup for GW!

Another Linda Chat

My friend Linda and I had another enjoyable and fruitful chat at Panera's focusing mainly on our writing projects. For some reason I ordered coffee (I don't like coffee unless it is Frappuccino) and a tulip cookie (I shouldn't have but it was delicious).

Potluck at the Lodge

After our usual portluck, we had our program. The featured speaker was Jon-Auge, the Norwegian Embassy's Cultural Attache. He gave an interesting talk on the relationship between Norway and the US.

After his presentation, I gave a quick review of the requirements for the Norwegian Literature Cultural Skills awards.



After my presentation, my mentee Tim received his pin for completing the requirements of the First Level of Norwegian Literature as well as his pin for the First Level of Norwegian Music. Both Katja and I were very proud of him. She is the Director of our lodge's Cultural Skills Program and I am the Mentor for four of the skills: Literature, Music, Genealogy, and Language & Culture.

Adriano's March Visit

Adriano has come to visit us.

                                             Colin beats Uncle Adriano in a game of chess.

Adriano and I went to church. Afterwards Adriano stopped to visit his father's burial site iin the church's Memorial Garden.

Arthur is the Dungeon Master. He oversaw a very unruly group of Dungeons and Dragons participants. Colin was the last one standing.

We had a delicious dessert - a combo of Andrea's Delight and Arthur's Chocolate Fudge Cake.

Arthur, Adriano, and I went to Yindee Thai for lunch one day.

We drove up to Philly to visit my sister and stopped at Maryland house on the way up and on the way back. As we would say in Italian, "Fermata Obbligatoria!"

Adriano at the airport before his departure. Hated to see him go. :(