Michael Toler

Michael is the Content Manager for Archnet, Secretary for the Board of TALIM, and administrator of this site.
Categories Museum, OBO, TALIM

Reclaiming America’s Legation: One Roof, One Room At a Time

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Americans, when they hear the term "roofing," may think of flimsy shingles nailed into plywood.  A weekend project for do-it-yourself carpenters. Not Tangier. Think concrete.  Think layers.  Many layers, like those encountered by an archeologist digging down into a Middle Eastern tell.  Unearthing layers of valiant attempts to combat Tangier's notorious rains, which, as novelist … Read more Reclaiming America’s Legation: One Roof, One Room At a Time

Categories Books, Cultural Diplomacy, Film, Music, Paul Bowles

Tribute to Paul Bowles In Tangier

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After 5 days of readings, exhibits, concerts, and walkabouts, Tangier's week in Homage to Paul Bowles has come to an end. Though most of the events were attended largely by a strongly European cultural crowd, it started and ended with programs well-attended by young Moroccans. "Every Reader Is a Translator," held at the Tangier School … Read more Tribute to Paul Bowles In Tangier

Categories Cultural Diplomacy, Morocco, Music, Paul Bowles

Spotlight on Paul Bowles, Musicologist

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There's excitement in the air.  In Tangier this week, an ad hoc group of cultural institutions – Moroccan, French, Spanish, and American (us), plus some very dynamic individuals on the cultural scene – is marking the Centenary of the birth of Paul Bowles with a great variety of events (Download TALIM Paul Bowles Centenary brochure). … Read more Spotlight on Paul Bowles, Musicologist

Categories Museum, OBO, Tangier

Tangier’s Plague of Black Mold

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Once, in a doctor’s office, as he paged through a dermatology manual, I was in the uncomfortable position of discovering the incredible variety of freckles, moles, beauty spots, rashes, cancers, ulcers, and growths that can appear on the human body.  Luckily, whatever I had was in the benign category, but those pictures were indelibly seared … Read more Tangier’s Plague of Black Mold

Categories AIMS, Cultural Diplomacy, Maghrib, Museum, TALIM

TALIM’s Moment In the Sun?

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Good publicity is almost as good as cash in the bank.  So we were very pleased to be listed in the top 10 organizations to be highlighted in the upcoming "Summit" in Washington on Citizen Cultural Diplomacy.  If it brings us much-needed funding, all the better.  If not, well, we can bask in the glory. … Read more TALIM’s Moment In the Sun?

Categories Museum, Tangier

Tangier in the N.Y.Times

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Thanks to an alert friend who spots everything to do with Tangier, here is "Lost in Tangier," the recent New York Times travel piece by Matt Gross.  It's mostly about Matt Gross and his penchant for trying to get lost and always finding his way, which is an achievement in the medina of Tangier. He … Read more Tangier in the N.Y.Times

Categories AIMS, Cultural Diplomacy, Tangier

Gem of Tangier

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… is the title that State Magazine – the monthly magazine of the US Department of State – gave to my article in their September issue (click here for the interactive edition; my article is on pages 22-23).  Here's a screen shot, with the text below for the nearsighted among you. – – – – … Read more Gem of Tangier

Categories Cultural Diplomacy, Morocco, Music, Tangier

A Ramadan Evening To Warm the Heart

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Once again, in a long tradition that now is a Tangier-in-Ramadan institution, the American Legation was the venue last night for a concert of Arab-Andalusian music.  And it did not disappoint.  The audience – despite one of the hottest days yet this summer – was fully into the swing of this rythmic music, one of … Read more A Ramadan Evening To Warm the Heart

Categories Books, CAORC, Museum, TALIM, Tangier

Enchanting Book On America’s Legation

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It’s out.  Diana Wylie’s book Enchantment: Pictures From the Tangier American Legation Museum.  And it’s a beauty.  At left, Diana shows me a chapter on Tangier’s International Zone era, from the galley proof of her book. In the book world, you shouldn’t judge solely by covers.  Not only is Boston University Professor Wylie’s book full … Read more Enchanting Book On America’s Legation

Categories Cultural Diplomacy, Literacy and Skills Training, Religion, Tangier

Ramadan Karim, Ramadan Karcher

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Usually, I content myself with wishing everyone a happy month of Ramadan and proceeding to other matters.  This time, living in the medina of Tangier and observing the month of Ramadan as respectfully as a non-Muslim can, I want to carry it a step further.  Which is why we carried out a Big Clean of … Read more Ramadan Karim, Ramadan Karcher