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
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
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?
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
The organizers, with sold-out table Many websites that provide step-by-step guides to "starting your new tradition" are semi-commercial. With yesterday's first edition of what might well become an annual event, our intent was strictly charitable, but then charity does start at home. Saturday's Tangier American Legation Open House and Christmas Market was a roaring success, … Read more Legation Open House & Christmas Market
No qualitative or political inference to my post title – it's just a phrase, usually denoting the kind of people who show up at international conflabs like Davos and Aspen. That said, MEDays brought an impressive array of people from all walks and regions to Tangier, for the 4th consecutive year. It was a Davos … Read more MEDays 2011: Tangier Welcomes the Great & Good
There have been Shahs in Morocco. Of Iran, and of Afghanistan. We speak of the latter. Tahir Shah (official site) In Arabian Nights: A Caravan of Moroccan Dreams (Bantam, 2008) Tangier holds a special place in my heart. It was there that my grandfather lived, then died, knocked down outside his villa on the steep … Read more A Shah’s Triumphant Return To Tangier
Just an ordinary Friday afternoon, an hour or so before closing. What is this – a takeover? More than a dozen French people, with sketch pads and watercolors, descend on our courtyard. It's Franck Hommage (seated on chair, far right) and his friends. This artist from eastern France (he works largely in Nancy) was enticed … Read more Impromptu Art School: Legation Courtyard
All the Morocco guide books mention it: Tetouan's Ecole des Arts et Métiers (EAO in the Spanish that is still very prevalent in Tetuán: Escuela de artes y oficios). Weekenders should abstain: you can only visit the Artisanal School Monday through Thursday. But it's worth rearranging your itinerary. Tetouan is the first (established 1919 under … Read more Tetouan: Morocco’s Mecca For Historic Preservation
Freedom Riders premieres in the Arab world. At TALIM. In partnership with the American Embassy in Rabat and the Sundance Institute, last night the Legation hosted a showing cum discussion of the award-winning documentary "Freedom Riders" in the presence of the film maker, Stanley Nelson. I do not say award-winning lightly. Stanley Nelson, already a … Read more Freedom Riders at the Legation
