(click on picture to enlarge) Among all the documents that are squirelled away in odd corners of the Legation's research library or administrative files, every so often an item of more than passing interest surfaces. What we're looking at here is the unmistakable pink of the State Department "airgram" announcing in June 1956 that the … Read more Legation, Consulate, Diplomatic Agency: Tangier’s American Presence
"Shnoo the Hell is Going on H'naa?" – the subtitle to Aaron Sakulich's book Moroccan Arabic (Collaborative Media International) – probably captures the bewilderment of many a foreign student of darija or Moroccan colloquial Arabic. For modern day students trying to fathom how to transition from what they learn in Modern Standard or classical Arabic … Read more Deciphering Moroccan Arabic, 1911 – 2011
When (or if) I get to be his age, I want to be at least half as creative as Harold (Hal) Malt. This World War II veteran (he was a fighter pilot), who has been spending good parts of every year in Tangier for upwards of a decade, appeared last night at the Librairie des … Read more The Tangier Option
Here's another example of how farsighted Senator William Fulbright was. Fulbright, after whom the US Government scholarships for international exchange are named, probably didn't imagine that his program would be funding documentary films, but his intent – that funds from the disposal of surplus World War II materiel further international understanding – couldn't be better … Read more The Dressmakers Premieres in Tangier
The leather bound volumes of the Tangier Gazette are a favorite among researchers who spend time at the Legation library. Part of it is the look and feel of history in its original form. And there's all the period detail that gives context to the stories of events in Tangier and beyond. In the 1900 … Read more The Joys of the Tangier Gazette
Well, we did it. The "we" is many: the three artists – American, Moroccan, French (see photo below) – who donated their works depicting our historic building to the Legation for its permanent collection. The many people – expats, Moroccans, art galleries, hotels, restaurants, and artists – who donated raffle (known as "tombola" here) prizes … Read more Paint the Legation: Tangier Comes Through
I don't yet have the picture of the smiling women who were handed their diplomas yesterday, but here's a diploma of someone who missed graduation day (click on picture to enlarge.) My favorite "graduate" wasn't even at the end of her program. But our teacher gave her a diploma as a sort of "Ms. Congeniality" … Read more Graduation Day Is When You Can Read Your Diploma
Now that it's almost over, I finally get around to writing about Tarab Tanger, a five-day long festival of traditional world music that is now in its third edition. For a discussion of the meaning of tarab, Oudman has a very thoughtful piece. From the looks of it, this festival, one among the many in … Read more Tarab Tanger: Traditional Music From the World Over
Peindre la Légation It all started with this observation: the art collection at the Legation Museum barely had any images of the Legation building itself. The Tangier American Legation, given to the United States by Morocco's Sultan Moulay Slimane in 1821. America's oldest diplomatic building. It deserves to be the subject of Moroccan, American, and … Read more Paint the Legation
I had to look up "intermediality" when I was invited to this conference, but it's not so difficult. It's basically the nexus of theatre and performance with other media, including digital. Plays on the internet. Touch screens on stage. Films within a one-woman show. The sky is the limit for permutations on the theme. This … Read more Just Another International Conference in Tangier
