Michael Toler Three profs from orient did come. West, to Tangier. Our visitors: three Algerian professors from the University of Guelma. Guelma, located in Algeria's Far East, is about as far from Tangier as you can get in Algeria. The University's name – 08 Mai 1945 – is a giveaway to its location, near the town of … Read more Maghrib Triangulation: Guelma-Tunis-Tangier
You know that Tangier is extremely humid, even when it's not raining. You also know that the historic American Legation building is stone, cement, plaster, and concrete, materials in use in our 18th through 20th century buildings. And that these walls are soaking wet (so says our new moisture meter). So who's worried about fire … Read more In Case of Fire, Pray to St. Florian
190 years ago, in 1821, Morocco's Sultan Moulay Slimane (the French transliteration tends to be used, vice the more familiar to Anglophones "Suleiman") gave the original building of the Tangier Legation to the United States. Now, 190 doesn't have quite the same ring as 200, but this is notice to those who care about such … Read more 1821: Sultan Moulay Slimane Gives Tangier Legation to U.S.
We've seen films-within-films before, usually films about making films. La mosquée, a little gem featured at the 2011 Moroccan National Film Festival, is different. It's a sort of "post-production" film: what happens after the film crew leaves a small Moroccan village? From the director, Daoud Aoulad-Syad, at last November's Damascus International Film Festival: For the … Read more La mosquée at Tangier’s Moroccan National Film Festival
Twenty years ago, in the magical Belgian film Toto le héros, we saw a glimpse of the future: walking down the street, you're confronted with wiring, plumbing, and tubing coming out of the most unexpected places. It's the Centre Pompidou effect, but without the discipline. I've seen the future, and it's here in the medina. … Read more Wired, Wireless, Haywire: Legation’s Trimlines Get Sidelined
From Wikipedia: Tu Bishvat (Hebrew: ט״ו בשבט‎) is a minor Jewish holiday, usually occurring in late January or early February, that marks the "New Year of the Trees." Tu Bishvat is one of four "New Years" mentioned in the Mishnah. Customs include planting trees and eating dried fruits and nuts. In Israel, the flowering of … Read more Tu Bishvat in Tangier
Does TALIM pass the SAT* test? *SAT stands for Save America's Treasures, a US National Park Service program which, according to the NPS, "is one of the largest and most successful grant programs for the protection of our nation’s endangered and irreplaceable cultural heritage." TALIM Board members, Fellows, Friends of the Legation, interested citizens, and … Read more Save America’s Treasured Legation
Anyone reading this blog over the last few weeks might get the idea that Morocco lives under a big rain cloud. Definitely not the case. There is a sunny side to the country, and we've been there: Marrakesh. I even groused about its tourist-trap side, though the city is much more than beads and baubles. … Read more AIMS In Marrakesh, TALIM In Morocco
Back in Tangier after a week in sunny Marrakesh. Thankfully the sun is shining in Tangier too. Marrakesh and its sights – sprawling medina around its famous Jemaa el Fna, suburban reservoirs nestled in the shadow of the Atlas Mountains – attract a number of tourists. And therein lies the problem. I don't feel like … Read more Bad Tourist in Marrakesh
I like to call it the "poor box." It's the wooden box screwed to our door, with the hope that visitors to the museum will be moved to leave a token of their appreciation. Good thing tokens don't exist anymore. Or else we'd get them, along with wooden nickels, and other useless objects. Somebody once … Read more Legation Fund Raising: Insert Money Here
