Wow! What an amazing day! And we are still standing- because of inclement weather we had to squeeze a number of items into this, our last day in New York: First here is our wrap up discussion and our reflections o the Book Of Mormon -Go James! Then we had a number of tour stops…
Month: January 2019
Last run through Central Park with Canada geese
Tutorial Day 8: True West, Whitman, Crane and Brooklyn….
Hello all, please find the recording here for our lively discussion on True West and our reflections on the way our walk around Brooklyn and over Brooklyn Bridge enhanced our understanding of these two amazing poets- so different and yet so switched on to the underlying meaning in their experiences of place. Click on each…
Class given to African American Clemente Students In the Centre of Harlem
What a gift this was to be to share my insights on and understanding of Australian Indigenous literature with this passionate, switched-on group of Harlem Clemente students. They were so keen to hear and know about their less well -off brothers and sisters down-under. I shared with them the way that our university supports Indigenous…
Wonderful James Baldwin Exhibition in Down-Town Manhattan
Don’t miss this one if you are staying on in NY. At 533 West 19th is this commemoration of America’s greatest contemporary African American writer. Photographs, art works, videos, stories and letters give a rare, more private insight into how this man transformed his life and helped profoundly to shift fixed attitudes toward African Americans.
Moma -NY 2019
A goodly handful of us had a wonderful treat today: not only did we see and discuss some of the more controversial Post WW2 American artists, but we had hour long wanderings among the most well known 20th Century modernists: Such a happy team 🤣👍🎶 Inside we started with iconic Rothko and Picasso: It is…
Central Park Cameo: dogs and runners and snow…..
Early morning snaps on my run…. Altitudinal squirrels in the high branches bracing themselves against the cold wind…
Day 7- Brooklyn & Brooklyn Bridge: Walt Whitman and Hart Crane
Hi All, here is the wonderful discussion we had this morning – about “Pies” then about Walt Whitman’s “epiphanic” (thank you Naomi!) depiction of New York in “Mannahatta”, followed by Hart Crane’s ecstatic description of Brooklyn Bridge. We also briefly compared Joseph Stella’s 1939 painting The Brooklyn Bridge (at The Whitney) with Hart Crane. So enjoy…
Day 7: Brooklyn & Brooklyn Bridge- Walt Whitman and Hart Crane
Tutorial Day 6: Waitress, The MET and Harlem’s Gospel Service
James began our session today with a lively discussion on Waitress with a particular interest in whether you saw this Broadway stage version to be a reduction of the force found in the film. In the discussion there was a real sense that many of you thought that the play version was sentimentalizing a brutal and…
Day 5 Gospel Service in Harlem
Today Sunday we had the extraordinary good fortune to be part (again- last time in 2017) of the Gospel Service at the Canaan Baptist Church in Harlem: Personally I found this service incredibly powerful and moving, but I can also understand why some people might find it confronting and challenging. To this end I have…
New York Day 4: Day Off! Central Park & The Whitney (including Andy Warhol)!!
Day 4 – Day Off- with an early morning run round Central Park followed by a visit to The Whitney Gallery on the Hudson River with a special retrospective exhibition of Andy Warhol. Central Park in the early morning creates a great sense of the deeper context of New York. Here you become aware of…
The MET in New York
This post includes the morning tutorial on To Kill a MockingBird and on the insights gained from the literary tours. Go to the end of the blog for these…. We had a great tour through the Modern and Contemporary Gallery today looking at early 20th Century Regional Art – in the form of Thomas Hart…
Introduction to the Literature of New York with Nick Birns from NYA – Washington Square and Greenwich Village
A day to be remembered! Nick so generously took us through his life-long experience of New York and his passionate lover of the literature that it has produced, and his deep sense of the social and ethical insights that reading and understanding this literature can give. Thank you Nick! With Nick’s permission here is the…
Made it to New York for the start of our amazing tour through the literary and dramatic haunts of this awesome city! Join us for our adventure
Take- off Stop-over in LA (LAX) The highs and the lows of digital creativity in the LAX Terminal. Here is American digital artistry on show: And here is art as handmaiden of consumerism- in your face!!!! Arrival in New York…. a blissful 2 degree C (after the nearly 40 in all three cities from…
New York 2019 Tutorial 2
Hi All, thank you for your wonderful contributions to today’s classes. We felt that you learnt a lot and -if you read the texts and ready and listen to the study guides you should not have a problem with our quizzes. The drama quiz will remain on January 9th (NSW & VIC 11-12; QLD 10-11.…
Michael Griffith: Home Page- Literature and Life Spring 2025 
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