Michael Toler

Michael is the Content Manager for Archnet, Secretary for the Board of TALIM, and administrator of this site.
Categories Arab World, Research Center, TALIM

Deep Education: Olmstead Scholars Learn More Than Arabic

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"To provide outstanding young military leaders an unsurpassed opportunity to achieve fluency in a foreign language, pursue graduate study at an overseas university, and acquire an in depth understanding of foreign cultures, thereby further equipping them to serve in positions of great responsibility as senior leaders in the United States Armed Forces." The Olmstead Scholarship … Read more Deep Education: Olmstead Scholars Learn More Than Arabic

Categories Morocco, Religion, Research Center, Strait of Gibraltar, Tangier

Let It Rain, On Morocco

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From "Précipitations Annuelles," dry month map inset at TALIM research library, from the colonial era Institut Scientifique Chérifien The Scientific American picked up Reuters' article from today "Morocco prays for rain for first time since 2007." Now, I don't think that my prayers for dry weather last fall, when the Embassy contractor started our latest … Read more Let It Rain, On Morocco

Categories AIMS, Maghrib, TALIM, Tangier

2011 to 2012: Another TALIM Transition

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To our usual languages in the little "card" above, we wanted to add a New Year's greeting in Tamazight, also known as Amazigh or Berber.  But we couldn't find it in tifinagh, the Berber alphabet. The world's most complete list of holiday greetings has just included (with our prompting) an entry for the language spoken … Read more 2011 to 2012: Another TALIM Transition

Categories Books, Cultural Diplomacy, Morocco, Museum, Tangier

Read All About It: Legation & the Press

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For the last couple of months, settle into a Royal Air Maroc airplane seat, reach for the inflight magazine, and you'll see the cover story – the Museums of Tangier.  Featuring, along with our friends the Kasbah Museum, the Tangier American Legation (TALIM) museum. We are thrilled that RAM, with its six million passengers per … Read more Read All About It: Legation & the Press

Categories Diplomatic History, Interzone, Morocco

A Bridge Over Morocco’s Colonial Past

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Our little Christmas road trip wound up yesterday.  We left 8th century Moulay Idriss (photo above, nestled in the hills framed by Roman Volubilis) and struck almost due north, through Ouezzane and into the Rif Mountains. Ouezzane, perhaps best known here through the family of the Cherif of Ouezzane and his turn-of-the-century (19th-20th) "British Bride … Read more A Bridge Over Morocco’s Colonial Past

Categories Historic Preservation, Morocco, Museum, Religion

Moroccan Christmas in a Holy Town: Moulay Idriss

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Bordj Nord in fog, Christmas Eve Fez, 2011 "Christmas in Fez!" was already taken as the title to a blog post by another American last year.  In any case, for us it was Christmas Eve in Fez, and Christmas day at the Roman ruins of Volubilis, then on to Moulay Idriss, a sacred destination. Above, … Read more Moroccan Christmas in a Holy Town: Moulay Idriss

Categories Cultural Diplomacy, Historic Landmark, Research Center, TALIM

TALIM On the Digital Map

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I know the print in the above image is a bit small (click on picture to enlarge in a pop-up screen).  But what it represents is this: during a long three-week period, ending on 12 December, we had almost no "hits" on TALIM Director's Blog because jinns had taken it over. Our URL, or, in … Read more TALIM On the Digital Map

Categories Cultural Diplomacy, Fulbright, Research Center, TALIM

Skydiving In a Hijab: the Wonders of Exchange Programs

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You never know what those International Visitor Leadership Program (IVLP) people will get up to.  At Saturday's gathering in Mdiq (a northern Moroccan seaside town between Tetouan and Ceuta) of alumni from the US Embassy's various scholarship and visitor programs, the introductions were supposed to address the question "what do you miss most about your … Read more Skydiving In a Hijab: the Wonders of Exchange Programs

Categories AIMS, Arab World, Cultural Diplomacy, Maghrib, Research Center

The Last of the Maghribi Grantees?

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Algerian scholars Amina Leghima and Lila Chabane, 2011 AIMS Maghribi Grantees at TALIM's Ambassador Joseph Verner Reed Library I hope not; I hope this is not the end of a small, effective scholarship program.  I hope that someone in a position to do something – say a senior US Government Executive Branch official – will … Read more The Last of the Maghribi Grantees?

Categories Books, Cultural Diplomacy, Fulbright, TALIM

A Poem Entitled TALIM

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Lucy Melbourne, American writer on Morocco, Fulbright scholar, and comparitive literature professor has done us a singular honor, with the publication of her poem "TALIM" in MLM – Le Magazine Littéraire du Maroc.  It's in the Autumn 2011 issue. As Lucy says, it's further proof that English has become a language of literature in Morocco.  … Read more A Poem Entitled TALIM