I'd definitely say so.
So much that has to be written.
So many moments to re-live..
Or not.
I haven't decided how I will go about composing the latter part of my voyage.
I have been back home in NYC for a couple of weeks.
I am definitely a NOMAD, now.
Fortunately, friends have let me stay with them.
I really did give up EVERYTHING when I left for Semester at Sea in Jan.
No place to live.
No job.
Papa was a rolling stone, right?
Indeedy, Petey.
But you know what - I couldn't be happier.
I don't think I have ever been this happy IN MY LIFE!
These past several months literally circumnavigating did a lot.
Like - going around the world really is a big deal.
13 ports....WWWWWOOOOWWWW!!!!
And that's not to leave out the actual voyage - living on a ship.
A black man who willingly raised funds to be a part of a shipboard community that goes through the Atlantic Ocean.
I am speechless.
Don't worry.
I will continue to write.
Hell, I don't know how to NOT write.
So just keep up.
So right now, I am in Brooklyn staying with friends - Pia, Sasha, and Heather.
I am really grateful.
I leave next week?
Where - you ask?
Study in Paris, France!
The name of the program is:
Paris Noir: Art, Literature, and Life in the Contemporary Diaspora.
It's a summer abroad program through Syracuse that looks at the works and impacts of individuals such as James Baldwin, Josephine Baker, Aimé Césaire, Chester Himes, Richard Wright, Julia Wright, Anna Julia Cooper, Jake Lamar and James Emmanuel. It is Jazz. Hip-Hop culture. Archie Shepp, M.C. Solar; Wendi Wonda; Dwayne Dockery, and legendary, Nina Simone. Paris Noir is Présence Africaine, Négritude, New Negro, “Sans Papiers,” Immigrant movements along the River Seine. Black International Life. Madame Christiane Yandé Diop, Henri Lopès, “Bricktop;” Jocelyne Beroard; Patrick Chamoiseu and Texaco. It is art and imagination. Henry O. Tanner, Beauford Delaney, Barbara Chase-Riboud, even Picasso, Géricault, and writing on the walls in the Paris metro. And places: Cafés de Flore and Le Tournon; Montmartre, the Louvre, le Quartier Latin and le 18ème arrondisement. African markets; the University of Paris à la Sorbonne and St. Denis, in the banlieu. Immigration. Expatriation. Home. Paris Noir is a dynamic concept, a lived and imagined metaphor that swings - - from New York to Paris via Africa, Haiti, Les Antilles -- Guadaloupe, Guyana, and Martinique. Paris Noir is trans-Atlantic expressions of literature, art and contemporary life in diaspora, and in motion.
Paris Noir is an amazing, intensive five-week program, taught in English, where participants engage a multi-dimensional international experience. This is a unique seminar of academic, cultural and personal growth, urging students to experience, rather than observe, the “City of Lights.” Paris Noir encourages cultural immersion and exploration. It is not touristic. You will see the sites from a variety of different diasporic perspectives.
Like a jazz composition, the seminar class is arranged to convey variations and diverse interpretations of the Paris Noir theme. It focuses, simultaneously, on contemporary literature, art and life of African Americans in Paris, today, and during the 18th and 19th centuries, while stressing connections with global and diasporic relations to Africa, the Caribbean and Europe. As students delve into the “City of Light,” Toni Morrison's famous statement that, “invisible things are not necessarily not there,” takes on new meaning. French Africanisms. African presence, influence, history and aesthetics transform and redefine interpretations, and tastes in French art, fashion, cuisine, monuments, and everyday life. African/Diasporan realities and imaginations generate, in turn, new variations and renditions of the Paris Noir theme.
The seminar's jazz framework, allows students to explore Paris Noir from a variety of disciplinary stances, and pursue particular academic interests. Paris is our classroom. Morning sessions take place at the famous Café de Flore. The afternoon is devoted to active learning, in the city and surrounding areas. There are no pre-requisites.
Now, isn't this cool.
So stay tuned.
In addition, I just want to say that I had one of the happiest days of my life, literally, yesterday while hanging out with dear friends. And we didn't even do anything but eat and go to Chelsea Piers.
"Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about dancing in the rain."
- Anonymous.
A few pics are below. Enjoy your beautiful, beautiful weekend and summer.
You made it through another season!
Au revoir,
ADS
1. Heather grooves to Michael Jackson - get down with the get down!
2. Pia reading, DOWN! BOOTS! You better be educated!
3. Well, me, jumping around the world - now, from NYC to Paris.
4. Live, Love, and Laugh.
Disclaimer: Unfortunately, dear friends Earl and Sasha weren't around. Thus, they aren't photographed. But I want to let them know that I love them and we felt them there in spirit!
