Abundance at Harvard. Living the dream.

Reports from a Political Tourist at Harvard.  

Harvard isn't just a cultural symbol.  It is also a university.  The world comes here to share what it has learned.   There is so much.  It is a paradise for the curious.

Art in Iran

I am currently in Cambridge, Massachusetts, continuing my effort to understand what is happening in America.  Over the next couple of weeks I will be describing what I am seeing.  I am only scratching the surface here, and only the part of the surface that interests me the most.   There are presentations at the Computer Sciences department, on topics I don't understand.  There is stuff I look at and then say, "no thanks."

There are art exhibits on Andy Warhall's Marilyn Monroe prints, on ancient maps, on the Guttenberg Bible, on lacquering and lithography in 19th Century Iran, and much, much more.   I am not going to take time to see these.  Too much else to see.

But stop a moment.  Even things you don't think are important can turn out to be important. I realize that lacquering and lithography in 19th Century Iran will strike readers--as it did me--as really, really obscure and boring, and certainly off-task for a political tourist like myself.  But understanding Iran is important and current.   Is Iran an incomprehensible and intractable medieval enemy, or is it a modern industrial country with whom peace and friendly relations are just a decade away if we understood them better?  There was a revolution in artistic tastes in Iran in the 19th century.  They began making images that included people.  Muslim cultures took more seriously and literally than did western Christians the Biblical injunction against making images.  (Remember, there is a Commandment against it, coming ahead of murder.)   We ignore that Commandment; they don't.  Iran's use of photography, lithographs, and drawings was a revolution in modernization, one that separated them from Saudi Arabia and Sunni influence.  The art shows a westernizing and modernizing trend, which differentiation remains.  Iran is Muslim, but not medieval, and that is hugely important.

Maybe I do need to see the exhibit.

But there is so much else to do and see, more than anyone can do, and I am not burdened by taking classes or work obligations.  It is available and it is free.

Monday's events include:  a seminar on labor productivity and automation, a seminar on Russian nuclear strategy from the 1960s to the present, a seminar on the effects of social media on our politics (with Robby Mook, the Campaign Manager for Hillary Clinton as one of he participants), a seminar on brainstorming ideas for Democratic Party messaging, and a seminar on best practices for writing political blogs!   Yes!!    Each of these take place at different times, and I can attend them all.

Dionn

Tuesday's events include:  a seminar on the current political situation led by journalist E. J. Dionne, a seminar on changes in media by the former CEO of Turner Broadcasting, a seminar on presidential gatekeeping by three former presidential Chiefs of Staffs talking about General Kelly's problems, and a workshop on public speaking skills for political candidates and pundits.   I will attend them all.

Wednesday's events include: a workshop on blog writing, a seminar on the political changes happening because of consumer incentives for solar panels, a seminar on the politicization of athletics from the Olympics to Kaepernick, and then a 2 hour presentation by Angela Davis on changes in black political advocacy.

Angela Davis

Thursday is more of the same, highlighted for me by a talk by Mike Pompeo, the CIA director.  No need to list them all.

Friday is more of the same, with a 4 hour seminar on the Affordable Care Act, its problems, its fixes, and the politics of it all.

CIA Director Pompeo

Some of these events take place in conference rooms, with maybe 25 chairs.   Some others take place in small lecture-type rooms, with room for 75.   Most of the events have coffee, cookies, sandwiches on tables in the back, available for attendees.  I generally sit in the back.  I don't ask questions unless the seminar leader looks at me and encourages it.  I am a visitor, not a current student, but I seem to be very welcome.

The students at the seminars I attend are sometimes undergraduates, but more often graduate students and mid-career people taking advanced training.   There are army colonels, navy commanders, State Department foreign officers, corporate people in their 30s and 40s on sabbatical years.

I generally wear slacks and a tweedy sport jacket.  I look sort of professorial, I suppose--which I am not, of course--or a prosperous alum visiting--which I suppose I am.   Sometimes I am asked out of curiosity how it is I happen to be attending.   I tell them the simple truth:  I am an alum of the College, I am from Oregon studying politics and writing about it, and I am fascinated by what I see.   They welcome me.

They are advertised on line, easily found by Googling events, Harvard Kennedy School, or events Harvard, and there are posters everywhere with all the details.  In rare cases they ask for an RSVP prior to the event so they can determine the room and refreshment size, and the responses are always prompt and tell me "thanks" and that a space has been reserved for me.

This is incredible.  Think of it.  If one person in 500 million, in a world of 7 billion people,  did what I am doing then there would be 14 extra people in every room, and they would have to stop allowing visitors just to drop into their conference room seminars.  But frequently I am the only person in the rooms who are just political tourists, sitting in and taking advantage of the opportunity.   I have won the lottery.