Lorenzo's City

Recently, I wanted to know more about one of the most famous Florentines, loved, hated, and feared, but whose loyalty to his home town was rarely questioned. Lorenzo de' Medici was a statesman who above all knew his duty to the Republic of Florence and to the Medici name, and throughout his short life not only succeeded in mapping conquerors out of the city, but prevented all-out war in the Italian peninsula. His methods were both diplomatic and ruthless, by today's standards, sometimes savage. Lorenzo however had a passion for philosophy, for art, literature, music, and dance; he is well-known as a great patron of artists whose means of survival depended entirely on wealthy and powerful supporters such as himself. What may be less know is that Lorenzo himself had a gift for poetry, and met frequently with the great minds of the day to converse about art and philosophy. He included many artists among his friends.

In the Palazzo Vecchio, which although is right next to the galleries of the Uffizi, I had never visited before, there are rooms dedicated to the Medici family members Cosimo the Elder, Lorenzo the Magnificent, his father Piero, and his son, the future Pope Leo X. These rooms are decorated with scenes from their lives. In the photos I have included below, the first is a scene of one of Lorenzo's most courageous diplomatic missions, to intercede with the ruthless and fickle King Ferrante of Naples in order to prevent Neapolitan support of a papal attack on Florence. In the second, a more relaxed and decidedly happier-looking Lorenzo is dining with a circle of talented and brilliant friends.

As I gazed at the frescos and paintings in these rooms, I realized that I may have admired them even without knowing the stories; but having read about the Medici family, I felt that I was "reading" the rooms like an illustrated text. Even the cameo of Lorenzo's brother Giuliano below the second picture of Lorenzo I have described had a particular significance. Before his murder at the hands of the Pazzi, Riario and the other conspirators, Giuliano too was a part of those intellectual gatherings. I felt fortunate to be able to see art in that intimate connection to history; I'm sure art historians take this for granted, but for me it was a revelation.

The Medici coat-of-arms is ubiquitous in the palace: six red balls in an inverted triangle. Hmmm...somewhat phallic. The role of women in 15th Century Florence was restrained.

Lorenzo interceding with Ferrante of Naples

 

Lorenzo in discussion with his intellectual circle

Giuliano dei Medici

I catch up to the past

Coming back to Florence this year I felt very much at home; almost as though I had never left, except for the obvious fact that my life, and those of friends and family, have gone through twenty years of change. Florence itself has changed in clearly measurable ways. So I spent my time there in a kind of paradoxical, euphoric bubble: knowing very well that it is no longer my home, yet feeling happily at home; feeling that some things have not changed at all, while knowing that change and time have left their inexorable effects on everything and everyone. I also felt for certain that this would not be a final visit, and also that I would almost certainly live there again. These certainties still have a dream-like quality in that I have no idea of the time frame or the how of these future occurrences; the fact is, though, that the certainty removed any wistfulness from our departure and return to Florida.

One of the most wonderful parts of the trip came as soon as I arrived. My long time friend and mentor, Raimonda Ugolini, came to meet me at the airport in Bologna. We got off the autostrada and took a back route to Florence. Our first stop, strangely enough, was a cemetery for German soldiers, at which Raimonda had attended a performance of The Trojans. It is in the heart of the Tuscan hills, on a quiet peaceful slope, and represents, to me, the impermanence of the emniities that inflame our heats and cause the mindless, ineradicable destruction that we call war.  At first, I felt strange being in a place that housed so many Nazi souls, but looking at the youth of many of the soldiers, I realized that they could just as easily have been young Americans in Iraq, fighting for an illusory ideology that had the power to convince them to lose their lives. It's not for nothing that I consider Raimonda one of my great life teachers.

The stone reads,"Two unknown German soldiers"

Home Again

While I was in India, I saw teachers writing lesson plans in minute detail, by hand. At the Bhavan's Sri Ramakrishna Vidyalaya, an assistant principal showed me a massive binder of lesson plans, including the plan for the lesson that was in progress. While I greatly admire these efforts, I am also very happy to be able to use my computer and keep my lesson plan files online, only printing out when it is really necessary.

Looking around my portable, I also noticed that while the walls were painted (an effort in which I was assisted by family and a friend) in green and yellow, I noticed that the bookshelves were the same light gray. They are now a shade of orange that I feel matches some natural flora. You know those brown rolling book carts? Okay, I covered the front in a curtain made from Rajasthani fabric. And the blinds...yellowing, broken in places, eternally dusty despite the best efforts of Mr. Talgo and his cohort, they were hardly even adequate to keep out the intense Florida light when I have film clips or pictures to show. Soooo...Hector Javier of the teacher's resource store, run by Broward Education Foundation, very kindly gave me some rolls of fabric when he found out I am a drama club sponsor. Some of the fabric I have used in the Kiva as a backdrop, but there was so much left over that I could whip together some curtains for my classroom, and then some.

This has made me reflect that while my Indian colleagues are certainly maintaining rigor in their classrooms, and the students demonstrate respect for them at all times, standing and chiming, "Good morning, Ma'am" when the teachers enter the room, the magic of a bright, friendly and print-rich classroom is mostly non-existent over there since it is the teachers who do the class change, and not the students. Color means a great deal to me, not just as an eye-pleaser, but also as a mood changer. When I finished painting, though, I noticed that somehow I had painted the Indian flag right into my classroom...

About a year or so ago, I met through e-Pals a school librarian in a rural area near Mumbai and slowly we have become friends, sharing personal as well as professional details. I suppose if I had had a choice about where I was going during my TGC fellowship, I would have visited her school. She has just written to me proposing a partnership...I really think that this reflects a characteristic of culture: that it is important to develop a real understanding between teachers before plunging into a joint project without the basis of a relationship.  To be continued...

Camels and elephants in Jaipur

 The first thing I noticed on arriving in Jaipur was the difference in the way the women dressed. The saris were wrapped differently, usually with the loose part draped over the head, maybe to protect from the sun's intensity. And the colors! Brilliant oranges, yellows, reds, purples - like   desert flowers.








Then we saw the camels. Camels are used as beasts of burden, pulling carts with produce, merchandise, and loads of fabrics; I did not see them used to carry people. Elephants on the other hand are a huge tourist attraction.

 There is even a park called Elephantastic where tourists can spend four hours feeding, grooming and bathing with the beasts, if they are so daring. We took a pass on that since our time was so limited and the prospect of immersing ourselves in dung-filled water not so appetizing. A ride on an elephant up to the Amber (or Amer) Fort was too much of a temptation, so we found ourselves swaying on an elephant's back and seeing the best views of the rocky hillside, the smooth, steep walls of the fort, and the king's gardens nestling in the lake below.

 

Jaipur was ruled by the Rajput kings, who held out for the longest time against the Mughals. Rajputs have traditional been warriors, and many of them are from the kshatriya or warrior caste, but there are many other castes to which Rajputs belong as well. The men are characterized by their many-colored turbans.

The Raja's Garden

  

Elephants climbing to the fort

 

The fort was built by Raja Man Singh who was a trusted general under the Mughal Emperor Akbar, in the late 16th Century.

 
These pictures show various details from the
Amber Fort of Jaipur.

 

Columns inside the Diwan-i-am, or royal reception hall

Detail of stone inlay from the fort's facade.

The facade of the palace inisde the Amber Fort.

Ceiling detail from inside the portico of the palace.

Wall carving detail

Fort symmetry

 

Mirror-inlaid wall detail

Ceiling detail

Bougainvillea framing the Lake Palace of Jaipur

Donkeys in the middle of the road

Jaipur street

Even the place where we stayed had historical significance, as it was the Raja's hunting lodge under the British. It is still owned by an in-law of the royal family.

Details from the Royal Heritage Haveli, where we stayed.

Typical freight truck, colorfully painted