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■ INSIDE: EDUCATION

AND LUXURY LIVING SPECIAL SECTIONS

A World of News and Perspective

EDUCATION ■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

■ September 2015

by Vanessa H. Larson

BUILDING

■ SEPTEMBER 2015

■ WWW.WASHDIPLOMAT.COM

■ VOLUME 22, NUMBER 9

t’s late May, and 150 eager,

dressed-up fifth-graders from schools across the District of Columbia are representing 50 different countries in the 38th annual Mini United Nations, a daylong event held for the last two years at the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center. “You are young, and you are smart and you care about the future of the planet…. You make a differ-

ence, what you do here today and in years to come,” Swedish Ambassador Björn Lyrvall told the youngsters in his introductory remarks.

The students spent the day in committee-level and bilateral

negotiations, debating the merits of three different proposals for confronting climate change, the topic of this year’s Model U.N. simulation.

DIPLOMACY

PERFECT MATCH

Continued on next page

A student raises her hand at a Mini United Nations discussion held in the Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center.

Pope Francis Uses Papal Pulpit to Elevate Vatican Foreign Policy Through egalitarian charm and an encyclical on climate change, Pope Francis has elevated the Vatican’s foreign policy agenda, which will take center stage this month as the soft-spoken Argentine heads to the U.S. for perhaps the most important diplomatic mission of his papacy. PAGE 6

CREDIT: OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE PHOTO BY PETE SOUZA

Embassy Adoption Program Celebrates Four Decades of Diplomacy, Plans Expansion

EUROPE

September 2015

EDUCATIO UCA UC CAT ATION N The Washington Diplomat

Page19

When it comes to the Middle East, Gérard Araud doesn’t mince words. In fact, the French ambassador has always been known for speaking his mind, whether it’s defending the nuclear deal with Iran, lamenting the West’s hands-off attitude toward Syria or ruffling feathers in Israel. PAGE 13

DEVELOPMENT

United Nations Bids Farewell to MDGs, Ushers in Era of SDGs As the United Nations adopts an ambitious post-2015 development agenda with the aim of ushering in a new era of global progress, the world will officially trade in the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) for the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). PAGE 8

culture

Socialite Wears History on Sleeve Long before the Kim Kardashians and Paris Hiltons of the world, Marjorie Merriweather Post embodied the true meaning of style, and history. PAGE 30

THE FRANK FRENCHMAN PEOPLE OF WORLD INFLUENCE

BUSINESS

Hill Reflects on Life in Hot Seat

Innovation Propels Dutch Economy

From the Balkans to North Korea to Iraq, ex-U.S. Ambassador Christopher R. Hill was a key player in some of the highest-profile geopolitical hotspots on the planet. PAGE 4

Move over wooden shoes, windmills and tulips. These days, the Netherlands is more likely to grab headlines for its sustainable tomatoes, self-healing cement and neurological rehabilitation. PAGE 10

The World Trade Center Institute and the State of Maryland invites you to

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October 8, 2015 | 4:30 - 8:30 $175 members | $225 non-members Ronald Reagan Building & International Trade Center 1300 Pennsylvania Ave. Washington DC Register at www.wtci.org/embassynight2015

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September 2015

CONTENTS the WaShInGton DIPlomat

September 2015

Halcyon House

[ news ] 4

Embassy Adoption Program

“Waterweavers”

FRANCIS’S FOREIGN POLICY

MDGS AND SDGS this month, the United nations convenes a major summit to adopt an ambitious post-2015 development agenda in the hopes of ushering in a new era of global progress — in part by learning from the past.

[ luxury living ]

COVER PROFILE: FRANCE 25

COVER: Cover photo taken at the French Residence by Lawrence Ruggeri of ruggeriphoto.com.

IL PALAZZO STANDSTILL even surrounded by dust and dented construction signs, the former italian embassy retains a certain dignity. What it can’t seem to hang onto is a developer.

[ culture ]

INCUBATOR FOR INNOVATION in the heart of georgetown, the next great thinkers in social entrepreneurship are working, eating, breathing and sleeping under the same roof — a very nice roof.

PESHAWAR PERSEVERANCE Last year’s attack on Pakistan’s Peshawar Army Public School that killed 150 people didn’t succeed in snuffing out the enthusiasm of the school’s science-oriented students, a dozen of whom recently visited the United States.

DUTCH ADVANCES

Gérard Araud, France’s candid ambassador, admits that the recent nuclear deal with iran isn’t perfect, but the seasoned Mideast expert says it’s still an unprecedented achievement that shouldn’t be undermined.

EMBASSY ADOPTION AT 40

CLOSET FULL OF HISTORY general Foods founder marjorie merriweather post was also one of the tastemakers of the early 20th century — whose closet offered a window into the history of the time.

TROUBLED WATERS the rivers of Colombia embody the dual nature of a country that has struggled to find peace and prosperity after decades of drug trafficking and war, a dichotomy that’s seen in the new exhibition “Waterweavers: the river in Contemporary Colombian visual and material Culture.”

the embassy adoption program, which pairs d.C. public schools with foreign embassies, is marking its 40th anniversary by expanding its outreach.

move over wooden shoes, windmills and tulips. these days, the Netherlands is more likely to grab headlines for sustainable tomatoes, self-healing cement and neurological rehabilitation.

[ education ] 19

UNEXPECTED ‘MOMENTS’ “american moments: photographs from the phillips Collection” is full of surprises, not the least of which is the fact that photography is the painting-centric museum’s fastestgrowing area of acquisition.

MEDICAL new legislation is highlighting the debate over medical devices and whether the Fda is taking too long to approve them.

Through egalitarian charm and an encyclical on climate change, Pope Francis’s papacy has brought renewed attention to the vatican’s foreign policy agenda.

DIGITAL DIPLOMACY FORUM a few years after it was founded to help local embassies navigate the world of social media, the digital diplomacy Coalition has become a global player.

PEOPLE OF WORLD INFLUENCE From the balkans to north korea to iraq, former U.S. ambassador Christopher r. hill made a career out of being in the wrong places at the right times.

FINDING WOMEN’S VOICES there’s a quiet fact of life in american theater: plays are disproportionately written by men, not women. But an unprecedented festival in the nation’s capital this fall is putting women center stage.

DINING it’s been more than a decade since d.C. launched its much-hyped revitalization of the h Street corridor. ten years into the major urban renewal project, the long-dilapidated thoroughfare has come a long way as a nightlife hub, but it had remained a ho-hum dining destination — until recently.

EVENTS LISTING

CINEMA LISTING

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

APPOINTMENTS

WORLD HOLIDAYS

CLASSIFIEDS

REAL ESTATE CLASSIFIEDS

p.o. box 1345 • Silver Spring, md 20915-1345 • Phone: (301) 933-3552 • Fax: (301) 949-0065 • e-mail: news@washdiplomat.com • web: www.washdiplomat.com Publisher/Editor-in-Chief Victor Shiblie Director of Operations Fuad Shiblie Managing Editor Anna Gawel News Editor Larry Luxner Contributing Writers Sarah Alaoui, Michael Coleman, Lauren Hodges, Miranda Katz, Vanessa Larson, Bilyana Lilly, Sean Lyngaas, Molly McCluskey, Ky N. Nguyen, Gail Scott, Gina Shaw, John Shaw, Gary Tischler, Lisa Troshinsky Photographer Lawrence Ruggeri Account Manager Rod Carrasco Graphic Designer Cari Henderson The Washington Diplomat is published monthly by the Washington diplomat, inc. the newspaper is distributed free of charge at several locations throughout the Washington, d.C. area. We do offer subscriptions for home delivery. Subscription rates are $29 for 12 issues and $49 for 24 issues. Call Fuad Shiblie for past issues. if your organization employs many people from the international community you may qualify for free bulk delivery. to see if you qualify you must contact Fuad Shiblie. The Washington Diplomat assumes no responsibility for the safe keeping or return of unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, artwork or other material. the information contained in this publication is in no way to be construed as a recommendation by the publisher of any kind or nature whatsoever, nor as a recommendation of any industry standard, nor as an endorsement of any product or service, nor as an opinion or certification regarding the accuracy of any such information.

September 2015

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PeoPle oF WorlD InFluence

Christopher R. Hill

Ambassador Hill Reminisces About ‘Life on the Frontlines’ by Dave Seminara

ormer U.S. Ambassador Christopher R. Hill made a career out of being in the wrong places at the right times. In his 30-plus years as a Foreign Service Officer, he was a key player in some of the highest-profile geopolitical hotspots on the planet, from Bosnia to Kosovo to North Korea to Iraq.

He served as U.S. ambassador in Macedonia, Poland, South Korea and Iraq and was the assistant secretary of state for East Asian and Pacific affairs from 2005 until 2009, leading the U.S. delegation to the six-party talks on the North Korean nuclear issue. Hill won praise for helping to bring peace to the Balkans in the 1990s but failed to get Iraq to form a unity government during his tenure, setting the stage for an alienating second term for Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. The respected envoy worked for nearly a dozen secretaries of state and is an unapologetic, bipartisan critic of both George W. Bush’s administration for its reflexive reliance on military interventions and the Obama administration for essentially throwing in the towel in Iraq. Despite a career of highs and lows, if anyone could provide a candid, inside look at how the State Department mixes

incidents to remind readers that the life of a diplomat can be dangerous? ambassador Hill: It’s not just that I wanted to get the book off with a bang. I wanted readers to understand that, as a diplomat, you are out there in dangerous situations sometimes. I didn’t recount every near-miss story I have, but I want people to know that in the Foreign Service, you are facing risks.After I wrote most of the book, we had the Chris Stevens tragedy [the U.S. ambassador who was killed in a firefight in Benghazi, Libya, along with three other Americans in 2012]. So I think Americans probably didn’t need this lesson as much as I had thought when I started writing the book. But a lot of people still probably think that there’s a lot of cookie pushing going on in the Foreign Service and I wanted to stress that there are a lot of other important things going on as well.

“

i wanted readers to understand that, as a diplomat, you are out there in dangerous situations sometimes. i didn’t recount every near-miss story i have, but i want people to know that in the Foreign Service, you are facing risks.

”

— CHriSToPHer r. Hill

former U.S. ambassador and author of ‘outpost: life on the Frontlines of american diplomacy’

it up around the world, it is Hill, and he does just that in his memoir “Outpost: Life on the Frontlines of American Diplomacy.” We caught up with Hill, who is now dean of the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, to ask him what it was like to be inside a U.S. embassy under siege, how it felt to be on the receiving end of cheap shots from the likes of Dick Cheney and John McCain, and what it takes to be a successful diplomat in an era of social media, among other things. The washington Diplomat: You opened the book recalling a bomb that narrowly missed your convoy in Iraq and then an incident from your childhood, in 1961, where your home in Belgrade was vandalized after the CIA reportedly had Patrice Lumumba, the Congolese leader, killed. Did you start with these violent

The Washington Diplomat

The Diplomat: You wrote about how Hollywood depicts Foreign Service Officers (FSOs) cravenly, explaining how local laws don’t allow them to help the parents of abducted children, tourists who get into trouble overseas and so on. And you comment that many Americans perceive FSOs as being more interested in serving other countries’ interests rather than their own. Do you think that perception comes from Hollywood or from politicians or somewhere else? Hill: The fact is FSOs spend a lot of time overseas. There are some brutal realities overseas, and for many Americans those realities are not so apparent. The main reality is that the U.S. doesn’t control what other countries do — you have to work with them and live with their actions. For many Americans who look at our embassies, which seem like fortresses, it just doesn’t seem like their interests

photo: UniverSity oF denver / Wayne armStrong

are being represented. Over the years, people have developed an impression of the Foreign Service that isn’t as good as it should be. I wrote the book largely to talk about many of my colleagues. The Diplomat: Americans who know what the Foreign Service is may not have a great impression of FSOs, but there are also plenty who don’t even know what it is. Hill: Right.When you say State Department, people say,‘State Department of what?’ The Diplomat: On the topic of social media, would you allow our ambassadors to tweet as they see fit, or should they be clearing all their communications with Washington? Hill: You have to trust them to do what’s right but they need a pep talk on what their real jobs are. I’m less interested in having ambassadors develop [Twitter] followers than I’m interested in leaders. We are maybe getting too deeply obsessed with social media.Ambassadors need to help the country understand how Washington thinks but also hear you out. When I see ambassadors having bad relations with their host countries just to score political points back home,

it’s distressing…. Some of what you hear today is we want our ambassadors out there tweeting about what terrible people he has to work with, when in fact, what we really need our ambassadors doing is keeping the door open to locals where they serve. I find all this use of social media has the effect of making our embassies trying to compete with people in Washington hurling invectives at some human rights-challenged country. In fact, there are different jobs for different people. The job of being a diplomat overseas is to keep the door open and have dialogue. photo: Simon & SChUSter The Diplomat: Diplomats overseas have to walk a fine line don’t they? Sometimes the host country government deserves to be condemned. But what happens when you speak out and then the leaders of that country freeze you out or ignore you? Hill: That’s the point. If our ambassador can’t talk to the local guy in a country, September 2015

The Diplomat: You reopened the U.S. Embassy in Tirana after it was closed for almost 50 years. What was it like to re-establish our diplomatic presence there?

who else is going to? It’s one thing for our ambassadors to go out and swallow all the nonsense the local guy is feeding them; it’s another to be professional enough to keep the door open for dialogue. So we need to be careful about that and make sure we don’t judge our ambassadors by how tough they are in their Tweets.

Hill: The first thing you felt was this tremendous responsibility representing the United States. All their hopes and dreams were caught up in the United States. No one in Albania had ever been to the U.S. before but of course they had heard about us. People really listened. We didn’t want to disappoint anyone. I tried to reduce expectations. I gave a speech comparing us to a family that was separated and was finally reuniting and I could see people tearing up. I kind of chickened out on trying to give people a sense of realism. It was a huge responsibility — when people have their hopes and dreams in you, you don’t want to disappoint them.

The Diplomat: Your book obviously came out before the revelations that former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton had deleted thousands of emails from a server that she deemed private. But having spent more than 30 years at State, you must have an opinion on this matter. Do you think there’s anything wrong with what she did? Hill: I don’t have a firsthand view of it but I certainly have never had my own email server in my basement. I do know it’s hard to juggle your personal account and your State Department account. I guess I was surprised but I can’t claim to have any firsthand knowledge of what happened. The Diplomat: You recounted a visit then-first lady Clinton made to Bosnia back in 1996. On the campaign trail in 2008, she described running to avoid sniper fire and then had to backtrack when the video showed her calm arrival. You wrote that she wanted to spend more time with some children on the runway who greeted her with flowers but then you concluded this section by saying, “The threat of snipers seemed to be all most people could remember.” I wonder if Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) or former Vice President Dick Cheney or one of the other politicians whom you were harder on in the book had done the same thing, would you have been as charitable in recalling this incident? Hill: It’s complicated. I was simply pointing out that sometimes people remember things differently. It doesn’t mean you can point to this as a deep character flaw. I think if you read the book carefully, I point out that she seemed very interested in Iraq until she wasn’t. I don’t think I was overly generous to her and I was relatively kind to almost everyone else, with the possible exception of Dick Cheney.And McCain was not very nice at times. He uses that nice, mournful tone in public, but in private, he can be very nasty. The Diplomat: You recounted some pretty rude behavior on his part in the book but Cheney was even harder on you before you were confirmed as ambassador to Iraq. [Hill was a surprise choice to be America’s envoy to Baghdad and was criticized by many Republicans for his lack of Middle East experience.] Hill: If you wonder why some FSOs would rather live in a country that’s off the radar screen than go to a hotspot, it’s easy to understand why. Politicians can take that kind of abuse but I’m not a politician. When I get attacked by [then-Sen.] Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) for not doing something he wanted me to do at the [North Korea] six-party talks, as if I’m merrily running my own foreign policy, you know, it’s hard to take. The Diplomat: You had a private meeting with McCain during your Iraq confirmation process, where he was angry and downright rude toward you, correct? Hill: He was, he was. Welcome to the world of John McCain. I didn’t understand this at first, and I should have, but there were a lot of people who had an investment in maintaining that the war in Iraq was already won. Therefore, they wanted to say that if anything went awry, it should be laid at President Obama’s doorstep — and, in particular, his decision to send me, this ignorant, neophyte ambassador there. I know a lot about the world and this idea that I didn’t understand Iraq because I had never served there before was very curious in my September 2015

Credit: State Department photo by Eric W. Brooks / U.S .Embassy Baghdad

From right, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is greeted by newly arrived U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Christopher R. Hill during her visit to Baghdad on April 25, 2009, as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Michael Mullen looks on.

mind. People asked me about Cheney’s not very kind words about me. I told them, if he had a problem with me, he should have walked down the hall and talked to his boss and my boss, rather than waiting four years to put it in his book. The Diplomat: You wrote about your kids, Nathaniel, Amy and Clara, in the book. And you grew up as a Foreign Service brat. How hard was it for you and how hard was it for your kids to grow up overseas, moving from post to post? Hill: It was somehow easier when I was a kid. I never had a sense that I was losing out on things [by being overseas]. I always felt I was the luckiest kid my age to be able to see all these places that none of the other kids had been to. Ironically, Facebook and all that have made kids overseas feel like they are missing out on some experiences back home. It’s very hard today to raise children and make them feel at home in these very foreign environments. My kids were very positive about it, but I note that none of them have followed in my footsteps.They feel that the Foreign Service, to some extent, pulled them away from some things. That said, my kids had tremendous experiences — even my daughter, who was in the basement of the embassy in Skopje when we thought an angry mob was going to burn the place down.

The Diplomat: You served in both South Korea and Poland and you wrote that you saw South Korea’s success coming but you couldn’t predict the same for Poland. Hill: South Korea never had a totalitarian government; they never had a government that was part of a broader communist movement that essentially claimed that history was over. I saw Poland as trapped in this system and there was no way out. South Korea had an authoritarian system but it wasn’t a system that claimed to have all the answers. I was much more optimistic about them, and I was right to be optimistic, but I underestimated the Poles.

The Diplomat: Albania has made much slower progress than Poland. Are you at all surprised or disappointed that its economy hasn’t taken off in the way Poland’s has in recent years? Hill: I was there in 1991. If you had told me that in 20 years they would be NATO members and that they would have a tourism sector at all I would have rejoiced. Yes, it takes some countries longer than others, but Albania is going in the right direction. In the context of Albanian history, they aren’t doing badly in the last quarter century. When I was there, the only roads that were there were two-lane roads and people walked in the middle of the street so you had to drive slow. Cars were banned; religion was banned; there was no real legal system; there was no economy [under longtime dictator

See Hill, page 44

The Diplomat: I’ve seen the pictures of how that angry mob [of pro-Serbian protesters] torched cars and tried to ransack the embassy in Skopje back in ’99 [after NATO launched airstrikes on Serb-controlled Yugoslavia], but tell me what it was like to be down in the basement while that was going on. You must have been very nervous. Hill: I was nervous.You have a sense of responsibility for those lives. I was worried.The most important quality of a leader is to impart a sense of optimism to the others, a sense that we’ll be OK. That’s what I tried to do. After it was over, I took a deep breath and couldn’t believe we’d gone through that, including my 11-year-old daughter.We tried to keep busy but I worried about fire and if we could escape if the embassy was being burned. The Diplomat: So you didn’t see the 2001 conflict in Macedonia [between the ethnic Albanian minority and majority Macedonians] coming? You didn’t mention it in your book.

THE UNION OF TRADITION AND PERSONAL EXPRESSION RESERVE YOUR EXPERIENCE WITH US NOW

Hill: Macedonia was always a question mark in history. I knew it was dicey. I took the job understanding that this was a crucial part of the Balkans. But once you get into crisis mode, it’s hard to stop. My term was up, but I wanted to move to a bigger post and Poland was enticing.

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International Affairs

The Vatican

Pope Francis Comes to Washington, Shining Light on Economic Inequality by Sean Lyngaas

hrough egalitarian charm and an encyclical on climate change, Pope Francis’s papacy has brought renewed attention to the Vatican’s foreign policy agenda.

In September, the soft-spoken Argentine heads to the United States for the first time in his life, and for perhaps the most important diplomatic mission in the two and a half years of his papacy. Economic equality and the inclusion of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Catholics are among the issues Francis will, respectively, confront and be confronted by during his visit to Washington, New York and Philadelphia. Vatican watchers say the first-ever papal address to a joint session of Congress and a speech to the United Nations offer Francis a powerful platform for furthering his pursuit of economic equality and environmental sustainability.The pontiff is unlikely to alter his tone to accommodate American critics who paint him a socialist, observers say. The status of LGBT Catholics in the Church, meanwhile, will be an undercurrent of the visit, with some groups calling on the pope to expand on welcoming gestures he has made toward a minority.

From the Slums to St. Peter’s When Francis was known as Jorge Mario Bergoglio and an archbishop and cardinal in Buenos Aires, he got a raw view of capitalism.Argentina had defaulted on its debt in 2001, sending the economy into a tailspin. He spent a lot of time on the city’s poorer fringes saying mass and preaching the Gospel on street corners, according to Father Thomas Reese, a Jesuit priest and senior analyst with the National Catholic Reporter news service. That experience contributed to Francis’s “agnostic” view of the free market’s ability to help the poor, Reese said in an interview. “Like earlier popes, he’s a real critic of libertarian capitalism. He sees a robust role for government in the regulation of the market and of the economy,” added Reese, who was in Rome to cover Francis’s election in March 2013. On a recent trip to South America, Francis called the idolatry of money “the dung of the devil” and said that poor countries should not be sweatshops for richer ones. His 192-page encyclical on climate change reflects on the socio-economic implications of that global challenge, worrying that poor people will be disproportionately affected. Some American conservatives have bristled at the pope’s foray into climate policy and his criticism of unbridled capitalism. Jeb Bush, the Catholic former Florida governor running for the Republican presidential nomination, dismissed the pope’s climate pronouncement, saying, “I don’t get my economic policy from my bishops or my cardinals or my pope.” Though Bush indirectly chided Francis for straying from religion into policy, as head of state, policy is part of the pope’s remit. One of the better-known examples of papal diplomacy is Pope John Paul II’s influential opposition to communism.

The Washington Diplomat

Photo: “Francis Inauguration fc10” by Fczarnowski / CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons

Pope Francis appears in public for the first time as pontiff on the balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica after being inaugurated on March 13, 2013.

“

I do not think Pope Francis will tone anything down…. Francis is a pastor, so knowing his audience, he will most likely say what he thinks they need to hear, not what they want to hear.

”

— Charles Clark

professor at St. Johns University

Like Francis, Pope Benedict XVI warned about the impact of climate change and ecological degradation, but not to the same effect as his successor. When Francis became leader of the world’s 1.2 billion Catholics, his reputation for humility captured global attention. He famously rode the bus to work in Argentina. After becoming pope, he washed the feet of prison inmates, the elderly and disabled, breaking with Vatican tradition. The first non-European pope in over 1,000 years, Francis has been vocal about using his moral authority to sound off on issues ranging from Syria’s civil war to the nuclear talks with Iran to the genocide dispute between Armenia and Turkey. He has also inserted himself into thorny foreign policy disputes, helping to broker talks that led to a historic rapprochement between Cuba and the United States late last year. The pope has condemned the brutality of the Islamic State, sounded the alarm about migrants dying in the Mediterranean and apologized for the Catholic Church’s role in colo-

nialism while warning about a “new colonialism” driven by economic inequality. Francis’s forceful diplomacy has won both converts and detractors. In the year or so after he was elected, Francis’s favorability among Americans grew, from 58 percent of those polled having a favorable view of him in April 2013 to 76 percent in February 2014, according to Gallup. But in Gallup’s latest poll, conducted in July, the pontiff’s favorability in the U.S. dipped to 59 percent. That drop was driven partly by those who identified themselves as conservative, with 72 percent of conservatives having a favorable view of Francis last year, but just 45 percent this year. Francis is no more critical of capitalism than his predecessor, Benedict XVI, was, “but he is better at expressing the option for the poor than previous popes — that is that God’s love of the poor is critical for our understanding of his love for all of us,” Charles Clark, an economics professor at St. Johns University, told The Diplomat in an email. “The church has always been hostile to the narrow, laissez-faire logic of capitalism, well before there was anything that could remotely be called capitalism, because it rejects the anthropology upon which this ideology necessarily rests,” Clark wrote in a recent article for Horizons, a College Theology Society journal. The “dung of the devil” comment was, after all, a quote from a fourth-century bishop, so it is the messenger, not the message, that is new. “I do not think Pope Francis will tone anything down” while he is in the United States, Clark told The Diplomat. “Francis is a pastor, so knowing his audience, he will most likely say what he thinks they need to hear, not what they want to hear,” added Clark, who is also a senior fellow at St. John’s Vincentian Center for Church and Society. September 2015

Don Clemmer, a spokesman for the U.S. Conference of The optimism of some American LGBT Catholics is swelling Catholic Bishops, which is helping facilitate the pope’s visit, ahead of Francis’s visit. Equally Blessed, a coalition of Catholic predicted that Francis will be consistent with his message but groups that includes New Ways Ministry, has written to Francis aware of his environs. Francis “is all about dialogue and encounrequesting a meeting while he is in the United States.A meeting ter, and he’s encountering a different people, a different society between Francis and LGBT Catholics and their families is a … and that will be a lens,” Clemmer said. “compelling pastoral need, and would promote great healing “Here, the perspective shifts,” he added. “[Francis] goes from and reconciliation in our Church and society,” the letter stated. a region of the world, Latin America, which has experienced so DeBernardo is not expecting a change in Church doctrine much of the negative effects of globalization, to the richest, most toward LGBT persons, or something similarly momentous, durpowerful nation in history.” ing the pope’s U.S. trip. But even a welcoming word or two On the plane back from South America in July, the pope could make a difference, he said. “One of Pope Francis’s most every effort is made to assure your ad is free of mistakes in spelling vowed to study up on American critics of hisNOTE: economicAlthough posipowerful ways ofand influencing people is through his example, content it is ultimately up to the customer to make the final proof. tions. The pontiff told reporters that if he has “not dialogued and I think that if he would set the example of being welcoming with the person who made the criticism,” he doesn’t think he and affirming of LGBT people, and families with LGBT members, Theaccording first twotofaxed changes will be made at no cost to the advertiser, subsequent changes has “the right” to comment on their critique, that we would have a much better Catholic Church here in the Catholic News Service. U.S.” will be billed at a rate of $75 per faxed alteration. Signed ads are considered approved. Reese, of the National Catholic Reporter, predicted that Francis lGbt catholIcS oPtImIStIc Please check this ad carefully. Mark any changes to your will ad.not wade too far into the issue of Church treatment of LGBT persons during his trip, if he does at all. “I think he’s Francis turned heads when, four months after he was elected, smart enough to know that even if he whispers something he told reporters, “If someone is gay and he searches the sign and fax to: (301) 949-0065 If the ad isfor correct needs changesabout these things, they will be on the front page of the paper,” Lord and has good will, who am I to judge?”That tone of accephe said.The pope will stick to his message addressing economic tance was a sharp departure from his predecessor and sprouted The Church Washington (301) 933-3552 inequality, while the press will wait with baited breath for him optimism among LGBT Catholics that the might Diplomat photo: edgar JimÉnez, porto, portUgal - papa roCk Star / CC by-Sa 2.0 via Wikimedia CommonS to utter a word on LGBT persons, Reese reckoned. “The media become more tolerant under a progressive new pope. is very interested in all of these sexual issues because they’re Francis DeBernardo, executive director ofApproved New Ways Ministry, Pope Francis greets the crowd at St. peter’s Square during a mass on __________________________________________________________ easy to write about. Economics and globalization and diplomatic a Mount Rainier, Md.-based ministry advocating equal treatment may 12, 2013. the pontiff is making his first trip to the U.S. this month Changes ___________________________________________________________ issues are much more difficult to write about.” of LGBT Catholics, said that Francis’s leadership has had ripple as he visits Washington, new york and philadelphia. Francis himself has urged Holy See diplomats to avoid dwelleffects in the United States, “where pastoral___________________________________________________________________ leaders are becoming on gay rights, abortion and other culture wars at the expense popes. ing more courageous to be seen as affirming of LGBT people.” DeBernardo has experienced Francis’s more welcoming of issues such as poverty and equality. DeBernardo pointed to a statement from Blase Cupich, the A spokesman for the Vatican’s diplomatic mission in archbishop of Chicago, as an example. After the Supreme Court approach to LGBT persons firsthand. In February, DeBernardo Washington said that no one from the mission was available for and a group of about 50 Catholics, some two-thirds of whom ruled in June that gay couples have the constitutional right to marry, Cupich released a statement that, while not overtly wel- were either LGBT or had LGBT familiar members, traveled to an interview to preview the trip. Given his flair for surprise, only coming of the ruling, echoed the Catechism of the Catholic Rome in hopes of getting an audience with the pope. Though Francis can say exactly how he plans to navigate the question of Church’s call for respect for homosexuals.“This respect must be their request to meet with Francis was denied, they were LGBT rights or other sensitive issues during his U.S. trip. real, not rhetorical, and ever reflective of the Church’s commit- granted “VIP seating” as part of a broader “papal audience.” On ment to accompanying all people,” Cupich said. DeBernardo said pilgrimages to Rome in the previous two papacies, the group Sean Lyngaas (@snlyngaas) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat. a statement like that would not have occurred under previous was ignored, according to DeBernardo.

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International Affairs

United Nations

Global Development Baton Passes from MDGs to SDGs by Bilyana Lilly

rom Sept. 25 to 27, the United Nations will convene a major summit to adopt an ambitious post-2015 development agenda in the hopes of ushering in a new era of global progress — in part by learning from the past. During the New York summit, the world will officially bid farewell to the 15-year-old Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and welcome their successor, the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The MDGs revived and focused the world’s development agenda by introducing quantifiable, timebound targets for, among other things, eradicating extreme poverty and reducing hunger and disease. By some measures, this novel approach to addressing seemingly intractable global problems enjoyed impressive successes, pulling a billion people out of abject poverty. By other counts, the MDGs came up short or were incomplete to begin with. The SDGs aim to fill that void, setting the stage for a 2030 development framework that builds on the successes and failures of the MDGs.

MDGs: Mixed Success In 2000, a small team of experts gathered in a U.N. basement in New York and, in “relative casualness,” drafted the Millennium Development Goals. Despite their modest and somewhat ad hoc beginnings, the MDGs were widely endorsed and provided a roadmap for the direction of humanitarian aid and development assistance. The MDGs consisted of eight measurable, time-specific goals, among them: halving the number of people living in extreme poverty, achieving universal primary education, promoting gender equality, reducing child mortality, combating HIV/AIDS and ensuring environmental sustainability. Experts praise the MDGs for their simplicity and results-oriented approach. Robert Muggah, research director of the Igarapé Institute and contributor to the SDGs, said that “by singling out key priorities, [the MDGs] also helped overcome collective-action problems and encouraged more pooled efforts,” arguably making the MDGs “one of the most powerful poverty reduction measures of the 21st century.” The narrow scope of the MDGs created quantifiable metrics to monitor their implementation and progress. The latest MDGs annual report spells out some of the major achievements attributed to the goals: Globally, the number of people living in extreme poverty (defined as living on less than $1.25 a day) declined by more than half, falling from 1.9 billion in 1990 (the MDGs’ baseline year) to 836 million in 2015. In addition, the proportion of undernourished people fell by almost 50 percent since 1990, while the number of children not attending primary school also dropped by almost half, from 100 million in 2000 to 57 million in 2015. Some targets were reached ahead of schedule while many were never met. Despite the mixed report card, there have been undeniable gains.Today, more girls are enrolled in school; fewer women are dying in childbirth; child mortality rates have plummeted, as have HIV and malaria infections; more people than ever

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Credit: UN Photo / Eskinder Debebe

From left, U.N. General Assembly President Nassir Abdulaziz Al-Nasser; Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon; U.N. Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; and U.N. Undersecretary-General Muhammad Shaaban hail the Rio+20 closing ceremony in 2012, when world leaders adopted the basis of the Sustainable Development Goals.

“

[The Millennium Development Goals] were not perfect — far from it — but they changed the paradigm…. [They were] one of the most powerful poverty reduction measures of the 21st century. — Robert Muggah

”

research director of the Igarapé Institute

have access to the internet, mobile phones and drinking water; and official assistance from developed nations has shot up. In fact, when examined in a broader context, the MDGs may have reversed the decline in aid following the Cold War. Lord Mark Malloch-Brown, former head of the U.N. Development Program and a member of the team that drafted the MDGs, told The Washington Diplomat that “development as a funding and business model was in crisis.” In the post-Cold War period, “nothing had replaced geopolitical competition for influence as a rationale for development assistance. And the development community itself was divided by disputes over means,” he explained.The MDGs led to a “realignment of development efforts” and “the birth of major new funding pools.” Since the introduction of the MDGs, total official development assistance rose from $81 billion in 2000 to $135 billion last year.The goals also gave developing nations something tangible to rally around, if for no other reason than to impress the international community. Indeed, the MDGs provided individual countries with a universal scorecard against which to compete and compare gains.

“[The MDGs] were not perfect — far from it — but they changed the paradigm,” said Muggah. Yet, the very same attributes that made the MDGs so successful — its methods for measuring specific outcomes — have also come under fire for being too crude and easily manipulated. A 2015 UNICEF report says the MDGs encouraged countries to gauge progress by using national averages, allowing many to focus on the easiest-to-reach communities and children — i.e. the low-hanging fruit — and not on the most disadvantaged ones. In doing so, countries may have slowed, not accelerated, progress. Poor recordkeeping in many countries has also cast doubt on some of the more optimistic MDG assessments. Others say the goals were never ambitious enough, ignoring key areas such as social justice, sustainability, security and peace. Sakiko Fukuda-Parr, a professor at the New School in New York, argued that the MDGs are “galvanizing” but also “too narrow.” Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University, also recognized the need for a broader post-2015 agenda that aims “not merely to achieve the MDGs where they have not been met” but also “to secure the basic material needs — and human rights — of everybody on the planet.” Muggah adds that the MDGs “did not fully account [for] peace and security. These gaps may explain why some countries, especially those suffering from conflict, crime and violence, may not have achieved their basic targets.” The United Nations admits that progress “has been uneven” and marked by wide disparities. Despite headway on environmental sustainability, for example, global carbon dioxide emissions increased over 50 percent since 1990. The world’s extremely poor remain unevenly distributed: In 2011, about 60 percent were concentrated in just five countries. Sub-Sahara Africa, in fact, saw the number of extremely poor people rise despite significant gains in education. And in countries plagued by conflict, the proportion of out-ofschool children rose from 30 percent in 1999 to 36 September 2015

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A boy drinks a bowl of water in Tora village delivered by the African Union-United Nations Hybrid Operation in Darfur in 2010. Improving access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation was among the aims of the Millennium Development Goals. Credit: UN Photo / Albert González Farran

percent in 2012. Some critics also say the goals are given too much credit even in the areas where they are considered successful. For instance, a large chunk of the world’s poverty reduction over the last 15 years took place in China, which economists say would’ve achieved that growth regardless of the MDGs. Columbia University’s Elham Seyedsayamdost found that “countries that have not integrated MDGs into their national plans were just as likely to allocate government funds to the social sectors as the MDG aligners.” Howard Friedman, also of Columbia University, notes that child mortality and HIV rates had already started to decline before the MDGs were adopted, suggesting they had only a limited effect on these trends. Yet others say the simple act of setting goals had a tangible impact, saving and improving lives. Charles Kenny, a senior fellow at the Center for Global Development, points out that while the MDGs do take too much credit for the advances made in the last 15 years, they also “did make a marginal difference to rates of progress,” which “makes the goal-setting exercise worth a repeat.” The MDGs’ emphasis on measurable, concrete results has been both lauded and criticized.The debates that arose as a natural extension of the goals’ complexity and ambition have given experts the basis on which to improve the post-2015 agenda. They have been doing just that — spending the last several years carefully mapping out the next generation of development goals. But has the international community designed a plan that will do what the MDGs could not?

SDGs: Full Circle or Not Feasible? The Sustainable Development Goals are a continuation and an expansion of the MDGs. In contrast to their predecessor, the SDGs are the product of years of collaborative discussions, studies and summits. The meticulous process to establish a post-2015 agenda began at the U.N. Conference on Sustainable Development (dubbed Rio+20) in 2012, with a document outlining the SDGs released two years later. Unlike the MDGs, which consisted of only eight goals, the SDGs comprise an impressive, if unwieldy, set of 17 main goals and 169 targets. The SDGs contain commitments on practically every front, from the economic to the social to the environmental. The goals address issues including energy, security, climate change, poverty, urbanization and inequality. This proliferation “reflects the fact that development is a much more varied business than the original MDGs allowed,” said Malloch-Brown. According to Muggah, the SDGs prove that “for the first time in its 70-year history [the United Nations] squarely acknowledged the vital relationship between security, safety and justice and development.” Although experts praise the SDGs for their September 2015

more comprehensive approach, they also question whether the expansive scope is feasible. Monitoring all 169 targets would require unprecedented data collection across various disciplines, often in countries where recordkeeping is poor. Muggah notes that “there are at least 40 countries that lack even the most basic data to track performance.” The SDGs are also far more ambitious in their aspirations.While the MDGs set out to cut extreme poverty in half and reduce mortality under the age of 5 by two-thirds, the SDGs aim to eradicate poverty in all its forms, end hunger and ensure access for all to food and sanitation. Kenny contends that given current trends, it is unlikely that many developing countries would be able to achieve such audacious goals. For example, he estimates that at least 25 countries will not be able to provide universal sanitation. “Zero goals are no challenge for a bunch of countries that are already at zero, and too much of a challenge for a bunch of countries that are too far from zero,” he said. The ambitious post-2015 agenda raises another issue: funding. Estimates show that ending extreme poverty around the world would cost around $66 billion annually, while eradicating hunger would require roughly $50 billion a year. While donors have pledged to step up their SDG contributions, their promises remain vague and many governments face their own budget constraints back home. Some experts have suggested that the way to tackle the financing challenges is to focus on a smaller number of targets that offer countries more bang for their buck. For example, a Post2015 Consensus Expert Panel identified 19 targets out of the 169 that represent the best value-for-the-money results, offering a $15-plus return on every dollar invested. The large number of goals, however, will not necessarily obviate their utility. Countries will likely prioritize different targets depending on national circumstances. According to Lord Malloch-Brown, “the SDGs will inevitably become an à la carte menu not a fixed one. Countries will pick and choose what are the most pressing goals in their particular contexts.” Regardless of the complaints and controversies, at this point, substantial changes are unlikely to be introduced before this month’s U.N. summit. As the era of the MDGs comes to an end, governments continue to make progress on eliminating extreme poverty and improving human welfare. The debate over a post-2015 development agenda is a reflection of the complexity of such an enormous undertaking. The ability to maintain political will, attract private investment, motivate donors and mobilize society in the next 15 years will show if the SDGs wind up becoming aspirational platitudes or a plan for action that delivers results.

Bilyana Lilly (@BilyanaLilly) is a freelance writer in Northern Virginia and author of “Russian Foreign Policy toward Missile Defense: Actors, Motivations, and Influence.”

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Business

Europe

From Tomatoes to Parkinson’s, Dutch Innovation Inspires World Story and photos by Larry Luxner

HE HAGUE, Netherlands — Souvenir shops sell wooden shoes, bright red tulips grow all over the Dutch countryside and windmills actually do line the highways of this crowded Maryland-size nation of 17 million. But these days, the Netherlands is far more likely to grab headlines for its scientific advances in industries ranging from agriculture and biotech to renewable energy and health care. Earlier this year — as King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima prepared for their first official visit to the United States — the Royal Dutch Embassy in Washington invited six American journalists to Holland to see these advances firsthand. The May trip included field trips to a dozen factories, research labs and corporate offices, as well as a half-hour audience with the 48-year-old monarch himself at Noordeinde Palace (whose official protocol forbids photographing, videotaping or directly quoting the royals). Despite its relatively small size, the Netherlands ranks as the world’s second-largest exporter of agricultural products, eclipsed only by the United States. In 2012, the Netherlands surpassed Mexico to become the planet’s top tomato exporter, selling the world 1 billion kilos of tomatoes worth $1.8 billion. Where better to appreciate this colorful bounty than Tomatoworld, a quirky little educational center in out-of-the-way Honselersdijk that attracts thousands of visitors from schoolchildren to foreign backpackers every year. “Why Tomatoworld?” mused tour guide Annemiek Mirrewijk. “We are very proud of our sector and we want to tell our story. Here you have the whole process from seed to end plant, and what you must do to have a good-tasting tomato. We’re very innovative and we grow tomatoes in a bio-friendly way — no pesticides any more.” Mirrewijk’s brother is Jos van Mil, managing partner of Greenco, which along with other corporate partners helped establish Tomatoworld in 2008. The company produces some 30 million tomatoes a week on only 25 hectares of land. Honselersdijk is located in the Dutch province of South Holland, which boasts 40 square kilometers of glass-enclosed greenhouses. It’s also home to the world’s leading flower auction. What’s especially interesting is that while the amount of Dutch countryside cultivated with crops has decreased by 20 percent, productivity has jumped five-fold since the 1950s. Today, greenhouses are also using 60 percent less water.That type of efficiency embodies the Dutch philosophy of doing more with less to revolutionize how food is produced. “Innovation is one of our main points. You must surprise customers all the time,” said the 51-year-old van Mil, a fourth-generation tomato grower. His best innovation so far has been Sweet Tommies, which are cherry tomatoes sold in clear plastic 25-gram bags for

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Above, crisp, organic lettuce grows under LED lights at Brightbox, a venture by Dutch multinational giant Philips Horticulture in the town of Venlo. Below, MRI and other imaging technologies are on display at Philips Healthcare.

“

Health care is now seen as an export product of Holland, not just wooden shoes and tulips — and Parkinson’s is a recognizable disease affecting Muhammad Ali, Michael J. Fox, the former pope and other famous people. — Bastiaan Bloem

”

professor at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre

€1.50 each and marketed to children like candy to get them to eat their veggies. Even the royal couple’s three daughters — ages 11, 9 and 8 — eat Sweet Tommies, King Willem-Alexander told us during our meeting. ••• In the Dutch town of Venlo, Gus van der Feltz, global director of city farming at Philips Horticulture LED Solutions, explained how artificial lighting might some day dramatically boost the cultivation of food crops and even avert mass starvation. In fact, the Dutch say agricultural innovations could feed a rapidly expanding world using only a fraction of the

space, water and energy needed for traditional methods of farming. “At least 70 percent more food will be needed by 2050,” he said. “We must find better ways to grow crops and address urbanization issues as the amount of available land is reduced. You can address these things through vertical farming and get amazing yields from the area you have available.” Feltz then guided his group of journalists through BrightBox, a futuristic, warehouse-like center that only has 800 square meters of floor space but seven levels where rows upon rows of delicious, crunchy lettuce grow under glowing red and blue light-emitting diodes, or LEDs. “Sunlight is free and plants have been living off sunlight forever,” Feltz said. “We’re trying to make LEDs the most efficient reproduction of sunlight at the best price we can.” Among the benefits of LEDs: improved plant quality and uniformity; higher yields; less waste during the distribution cycle; and shorter production cycles. September 2015

Below, dazzling varieties of tomatoes are on display at Tomatoworld, a quirky little educational center in out-of-the-way Honselersdijk that attracts thousands of visitors every year. Orchids grow in a vast, temperaturecontrolled greenhouse at Ter Laak Orchids, which exports to Western Europe as well as Turkey, Poland and Russia.

A farm worker inspects tomatoes at Tomatoworld.

“Our customized modules allow crops to be grown without daylight, so they can be stacked in trays on top of each other,” Feltz explained. “There’s no need to use pesticides. This technology lends itself well to addressing food requirements anywhere in the world.” For now, Philips Horticulture has grown only lettuce and strawberries, which will obviously not feed the 9.5 billion people expected to inhabit the earth by 2050. “This is great for plants that don’t need massive amounts of light,” Feltz said. “We have a road map of crops we want to do later on. Real foods like rice or potatoes will be more difficult to grow, or never at all. But now, we’d be very happy if we could do fresh vegetables with higher nutritional content than just lettuce and strawberries.” About a one-hour drive northwest of Venlo, PlantLab has converted a former coffee warehouse into a high-tech complex of 16 growing chambers equipped with red and blue LEDs shining above trays of plants. “This building was used for storage. Rock bands played in this warehouse. It was a mess,” said Ard Reijtenbagh, PlantLab’s chief partnership officer. “So far, we haven’t come across a crop we cannot grow indoors. The question is, what is economically viable at this stage? That varies by country and by crop.” Ticking off a list of common misconceptions, Reijtenbagh — whose company has only 40 employees — said it’s possible to produce, in one square meter, 200 grams of fresh vegetables and fruit per person per day. “Growing horizontally takes a lot of land, water and pesticides. But if you have a closed system and you’re stacking, you can have much higher yields per square meter,” he said.“You’d need two soccer fields 10 layers high to feed an entire city of 100,000, and an area half the size of the Netherlands could feed the whole world.” Meanwhile, in the town of Wateringen, not far from The Hague, one of Holland’s largest orchid growers is about to take its first plunge overseas — in the form of a sophisticated greenhouse to be constructed later this year in the highlands of Guatemala. “We built this company with sustainability in mind,” said CEO Richard Ter Laak as he showed off the 4,800 solar panels on the glass roof of his greenhouse, which produces 6 million Phalaenopsis orchids a year. “This daylight greenhouse saves us 50 perSeptember 2015

Photos: Larry Luxner

cent on energy costs, on top of other savings,” said Ter Laak, whose grandfather founded the company in 1955. “It’s double-glass and in between the glass is a lens that projects direct sunlight and keeps temperatures under control. During the day we save energy, and at night we use it.” Ter Laak has annual sales of €29 million ($32 million), with exports to Western Europe as well as Turkey, Poland and Russia. He said the company investigated China, Brazil, Eastern Europe and even the United States as part of its first foray overseas,“but we were looking for a place where the market is still in the early phase,” and therefore decided on Guatemala. Partly flowering plants will be sold locally, while semi-finished plants will be exported to the U.S. and Canadian markets. Ter Laak plans to invest $2.5 million in his Central American venture and employ 15 to 20 people initially. “Hopefully it’ll grow to 200, but that will take a few years.We will start with one hectare — a little less than 10 percent of what we are doing here,” he told us. “For us, since it’s our first international experience, it’s high risk, so it was difficult to find good, reliable partners. But it’s very exciting to take this step.” ••• In Utrecht, our press group visited the Hubrecht Institute, which has 225 employees (including scientists from 40 countries) and an annual budget of €20 million. The nearly 100year-old institute specializes in biomedical research that forms the fundamentals of clini-

Above, CEO Richard Ter Laak inspects a few of his blooms at Ter Laak Orchids in Wateringen. Below, Ard Reijtenbagh, chief partnership officer at PlantLab, explains all the different applications — including fresh produce, pharmaceuticals, nutraceuticals and cosmetics — that vertical farming offers.

cal applications in cancer, diabetes and regenerative medicine. “It started with embryology, but our focus is now on stem-cell research. We have fewer restrictions here than in the U.S.,” explained the institute’s director, Alexander van Oudenaarden, while an associate guided visitors through a laboratory of aquariums filled with tiny genetically modified zebra fish. “There are two different types of stem cells, adult and embryonic. All the discussions are about embryonic stem cells; the adult stem cells just fall off. You can reprogram an adult stem cell back to the embryonic state. Here, no embryos will die, so in terms of ethics, it’s not a problem at all.” Meanwhile, at the nearby Delft University of Technology, Henk Jonkers — who started as a

BrightBox is a futuristic, warehouse-like center that only has 800 square meters of floor space but seven levels where rows upon rows of lettuce grow under glowing red and blue light-emitting diodes, or LEDs.

marine biologist — is making a name for himself in the unlikely field of self-healing cement, the main ingredient used to make concrete. While it is the world’s most popular building material, concrete, no matter how durable it is, eventually cracks.That’s where Jonkers and his bacteria-based “bioconcrete” come in. “In 2006, we decided to start a completely new direction of research, something completely novel that could put the Netherlands on the map,” he said. “We decided to develop self-healing materials, mimicking nature. We have lots of examples of organisms that can repair a certain amount of damage.” Jonkers knew that certain bacterial spores will germinate and multiply if they come into contact with enough water and the right type of food. “If you feed this material to the bacteria, they’ll basically poop out limestone. And limestone is a material that is part of concrete, so it’s concrete-compatible,” Jonkers explained. That limestone, in turn, can be used to repair concrete that has cracked because water has seeped into it. Even so, it took Jonkers several years to find exactly the right type of food and the right bacteria that would stay dormant for years,

Continued on next page The Washington Diplomat Page 11

Below, chickens live an organic life at the Rondeel Eggs farm managed by Peter Vingerling.

Pellets of a patented solution for self-healing cement were developed by Dr. Henk Jonkers and his team at Delft University of Technology.

Continued from previous page before activating at just the right time. (In the end, Jonkers chose bacillus bacteria and calcium lactate as the winning combo.) “You cannot just mix any type of food source,” he cautioned. “Sugar, for instance, the tiniest amount mixed in concrete results in problems. It will not set. This bacteria needs food, so it took quite a long time to find a suitable food source which does not have negative effects on the concrete mixture.” Another challenge, he said, was to prevent bacteria from multiplying during this stage and activating the limestone effect only once the concrete cracks and water gets in. “Our bacterias make limestone fill up cracks. It is a solution against leakage problems, and helps to protect steel reinforcement against corrosion. At the same time, you avoid a lot of excess manual repair, saving money. The granules we’ve developed are suitable for new construction,” Jonkers said. Problems are particularly acute with parking garages, where cars often bring in snow and salt during winter months. When the snow melts, the concrete suffers water damage. Asked how his products are marketed commercially, Jonkers said he and his colleagues filed patents for the technology. Last November, they put all these patents in a company that is 100 percent owned by the Delft University of Technology. Jonkers, who studied at Germany’s prestigious Max Planck Institutes, said one cubic meter of wet concrete costs €80. The healing agent adds €40 to that — meaning an expense up front but significant savings in the long run. Once the university builds its own on-site factory, Jonkers thinks he can further reduce the cost to around €10 to €20 per cubic meter. “Any contractor will say this is impossible,” he said.“However, if you calculate the construction of bridges and the like, the cost of concrete is only 1 percent of the total. The rest is labor and other things. Even if you add 50 percent to the concrete’s cost, that still adds only 0.5 percent to the total.You will earn this back in three to four years.” ••• In another building on the same campus at Delft, the focus is on healing damaged patients rather than damaged concrete. At the center of the IMDI NeuroControl lab is a bright red chair attached to a TV monitor by harnesses and metal pipes. The weird-looking contraption — designed for those suffering from Parkinson’s, cerebral palsy and other conditions — allows physicians to see whether the damage is in a patient’s brain or in his muscles, so they’ll know where to focus the therapy. “We are focused on movement disorders,” said Agaath Sluijter, business director at IMDI NeuroControl, which was established in 2011

Below, Dr. Federico Tessadori studies genetically modified zebra fish cells under a microscope at the Hubrecht Institute in Utrecht.

Historic hotels and trendy restaurants line the North Sea waterfront in The Hague.

and uses neuroplasticity technology to diagnose and treat neurological disorders. Given that 7 million people around the world are living with Parkinson’s disease, a progressive disorder of the nervous system that affects movement, and that another 33 million suffer from the aftermath of strokes, it’s crucial to know exactly where in the brain damage occurs — and whether this damage is reversible or not. “Sometimes, especially children with cerebral palsy, you have to make a choice what to treat,” Sluijter explained. “If we can pre-select which treatment to pursue, the burden on the patient will be less.” To that end, NeuroControl, in the presence of King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima, signed a memo of understanding with the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC) to collaborate on an extensive research program to advance the clinical application of neurorehabilitation using Dutch technology. “We try to help patients by offering tools for better rehabilitation,” said Frans Steenbrink of Motekforce Link, which was part of the RIC memo of understanding. “In everyday life, you’re not aware of your locomotion or balance control until you lose those functions. We live in an aging society, so we need to think

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about how we’re going to optimally treat these patients and keep them mobile for as long as possible.” One of the world’s top experts in Parkinson’s and other movement disorders is Bastiaan Bloem, a professor at Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre. Bloem, who’s published more than 180 scientific papers and book chapters on the subject, is a towering figure in his field — and not only because of his 6-foot-7 stature. “Health care is now seen as an export product of Holland, not just wooden shoes and tulips — and Parkinson’s is a recognizable disease affecting Muhammad Ali, Michael J. Fox, the former pope and other famous people,” said Bloem, who played volleyball on the Dutch national team in his youth. “I strongly believe the future of health care is specialized networks, where specialists treat high case loads,” he said. “Leaving specialized care to the hands of generalists is a thing of the past.” Bloem is the brains behind ParkinsonNet, an acclaimed Dutch health care network that involves over 2,700 trained professionals who collaborate to provide top-rated Parkinson’s care. ParkinsonNet is credited with lowering costs associated with Parkinson’s care by more

than 5 percent, in part because the care needed for injuries associated with the disease fell sharply. Interestingly, he said, the top three concerns of Parkinson’s patients don’t involve tremors or gait, but rather revolve around sleep, sex and relationships. “Our starting point was listening to patients. There’s a tremendous movement in health care to see patients as an invaluable source of information,” he said. “With many neurological conditions, some areas of the brain are damaged, but others aren’t. If you’re a specialist, you can use this to your advantage.” Bloem said that King Willem-Alexander, whose father had Parkinson’s, is an avid supporter of his project; so is the Dutch Health Ministry. Among other things, Bloem’s team has developed ParkinsonConnect.nl, which brings patients and professionals together online.“We are now extending this to Kaiser Permanente, and with Google Translate, a doctor in California can ask a question which will be answered by a therapist in the north of Holland,” he said. By focusing on simple things such as collaboration and listening to patients, Bloem is showing that innovation doesn’t necessarily mean reinventing the wheel. “When people try to innovate in health care, the insurers always say, ‘Prove to me it works, then we’ll innovate it.’ This is a Catch-22, because you cannot prove it works unless you first test it,” Bloem said. “Our true message is, cherish the value of imitation.We value innovation, but let’s stop blindly innovating all the time. Look around, see what’s good and copy it.”

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat. Luxner’s recent trip to the Netherlands was sponsored by the Royal Dutch Embassy. September 2015

COVER PROFILE

Ambassador Gérard Araud

France’s Blunt Envoy Speaks Out In Defense of Iran Nuclear Deal by Larry Luxner

hen it comes to the Middle East, Gérard Araud doesn’t mince words. In fact, Araud, France’s envoy to the United States, has always been known for speaking his mind. The 62-yearold diplomat began his career in 1982 as first secretary at the French Embassy in Tel Aviv, returning to Israel as ambassador 21 years later and quickly immersing himself in controversy.

“I had a very big problem in Israel,” Araud recalled, smirking at the memory of the story he was about to share.“After [Yasser] Arafat died in a French hospital in 2004, France gave him military honors. [Israeli politician] Yair Lapid went on TV and said in Hebrew that the French were shits. I responded that in Israel, there was an anti-French neurosis. I don’t know why, but they translated that to craziness or madness.Immediately, there was an outcry.” This past January, Araud led close to 3,000 people on a silent march from Washington’s Newseum to the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial after Muslim terrorists killed 17 people at the Paris offices of Charlie Hebdo and a nearby kosher supermarket. He held aloft a sign bearing the words “Je Suis Juif (I Am Jewish).”Yet five months later, after French telecom giant Orange threatened to cut all ties with its Israeli mobile phone partner, Araud appeared to back the move — tweeting that under the Fourth Geneva Convention, “settlement policy in occupied territory is illegal” and that “it is illegal to contribute to it in any way.” Whether it’s verbally sparring on his

Netanyahu’s leadership qualities, Araud smiled slyly and said, “He was an excellent minister of finance.” Araud, counselor at the French Embassy here from 1987 to 1991, made headlines when he returned a year ago as France’s first openly gay envoy to the United States — and one of the few openly gay foreign ambassadors ever posted to Washington. Yet most of our 45-minute interview with Araud at his elegant, recently renovated Kalorama residence focused on the Middle East, Araud’s area of expertise. At the top of the agenda: the Iran nuclear accord, hammered out by U.S., French,German,British,Russian,Chinese (the P5+1) and Iranian negotiators after over two weeks of nonstop negotiations in Vienna. The deal ends 12 years of deadlock that had threatened to spark the next Middle East war — and potentially opens a prosperous new era of political and economic relations between Iran and the West. Araud, who spent the five years preceding his current posting as French envoy to the United Nations, was France’s top negotiator on the Iran nuclear issue from 2003 to 2006. He

“

On balance, it’s a good deal, though not a perfect deal…. Obviously, it’s a compromise, but it allows us to control Iran’s uranium [enrichment] program for the next 10 to 15 years, which is unprecedented. — Gérard Araud ambassador of France to the United States

heavily followed Twitter feed or standing amid thousands of supporters,Araud is uncharacteristically blunt and nuanced about the issues he’s spent a career studying. Yet despite his passion for policy and undiplomatic candor, his wit and charm have always poked through. For instance, Araud has also enjoyed some lighter moments with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. “One day Bibi told me he wanted to improve his French,” he quipped.“I told him to do it the French way and take a mistress.” But when asked his opinion of

September 2015

”

said the final agreement runs 159 pages long and is extremely complicated. “On balance, it’s a good deal, though not a perfect deal,” he told The Washington Diplomat, as longtime embassy spokesman Arnaud Guillois took occasional notes. “Obviously, it’s a compromise, but it allows us to control Iran’s uranium [enrichment] program for the next 10 to 15 years, which is unprecedented.” Under the highly technical accord, Iran must remove two-thirds of its 19,000 centrifuges, leaving intact 6,100 of its first-generation models. It must

Photo: Lawrence Ruggeri of Ruggeriphoto.com

slash its enriched uranium stockpile by 98 percent; keep its level of uranium enrichment at 3.67 percent for 15 years; refrain from uranium enrichment research and development for 15 years; disable its plutonium facility; and allow international U.N. inspectors broad access to monitor operations anywhere in the country, including the investigation of any sites deemed suspicious. In return, Iran keeps its nuclear infrastructure largely in place and sanctions will be gradually lifted in the coming months as the country meets key conditions of the deal. The sanctions relief — which could ultimately give Iran access to $100 billion in frozen assets — will be phased in and a “snapback” mechanism is in place to quickly reinstate sanctions if Iran fails to adhere to its commitments. Araud and his German and British counterparts in Washington — Ambassadors Peter Wittig and Sir Peter Westmacott — have pushed for such an accord for years.And while much of the focus has been on the compromises made between Washington and Tehran, the European role has been essential in the overall process. France, Germany and Britain had far more trade with Iran

than the United States did, and without their participation, the sanctions regime that forced Tehran to the bargaining table would have surely collapsed. “I spent dozens of hours with the Iranians between 2005 and 2013, and nothing happened,” said Araud. “We made several proposals but they wouldn’t negotiate. The fact they did now means their economic situation is abysmal. It’s really terrible.” “Without the participation of the socalled E-3, nuclear diplomacy with Iran would probably never have gotten to this point, and might not have happened at all,” wrote Barbara Slavin, a nonresident senior fellow at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center who has traveled to Iran nine times. The governments of France, Germany and Great Britain began talking with Iran in 2003, she noted, after it emerged that the country’s leaders were secretly building a uranium enrichment plant at Natanz. In 2006, Russia and China joined the talks, but real progress eluded all parties until 2013, when Hassan Rouhani — Iran’s chief nuclear negotiator from 2003 to 2005 — replaced hardliner

Continued on next page The Washington Diplomat Page 13

Continued from previous page

u.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, center, sits with French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius, left, and british Foreign Secretary philip hammond after all three gathered in vienna on nov. 21, 2014, for multilateral discussions about the future of iran’s nuclear program.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad as president. An interim agreement was reached in November 2013 and Secretary of State John Kerry announced a final deal on July 14. Now the administration has been busy trying to sell that deal to skeptical lawmakers by Sept. 17, when a deeply divided Congress votes to either accept or reject the proposal. Obama has framed the debate as a choice between keeping a nuke out of Iran’s hands and another Mideast war. He says the landmark agreement pushes the “breakout time” for Iran to make a bomb from the current two to three months to one year. He also warns that if the United States doesn’t hold up its end of the bargain, it will lose the backing of its European allies and the carefully constructed sanctions regime will unravel. Iran can then resume its nuclear program and enjoy sanctions relief without any of the limits imposed by the agreement. Critics say the president is setting up a false choice between war and a bad deal. Some, like Prime Minister Netanyahu, say Iran can’t be trusted with any kind of nuclear-enrichment capabilities whatsoever. Others say there are too many loopholes in the deal for Iran to exploit. Among other things, they argue that the monitoring and enforcement measures are too weak and the sunset clauses are too short, with the one-year breakout period disappearing once the deal runs its course and Iran is treated like any other nuclear-enriching nation. Some have also suggested that Obama is exaggerating the threat of European partners walking away and say the administration could rework the deal to fix the gaps or even strengthen penalties without renegotiating the basic parameters of the deal. Secretary of State Kerry called such thinking a fantasy. “You have to look at the history, and when I hear a senator or a congressman stand

photoS: State department

u.S. Secretary of State John kerry briefs the diplomatic corps on the outcome of the iran nuclear negotiations at the State department in d.C. on July 16, 2015.

up and say, ‘Well, we should get a better deal; let’s stop and we’ll negotiate and go get a better deal’ — that is not going to happen,” he said in a recent Reuters interview.“There isn’t a, quote, ‘better deal’ to be gotten, because George Bush to his credit in 2003 tried to get the better deal. And to his credit in 2008 tried to get the better deal. And what happened was in both occasions Iran went from 103 or 104 centrifuges to 19,000. “When people say,‘Oh my gosh, I’m worried about what happens in year 15 or 20, they may become a nuclear threshold nation’ — folks, they are a nuclear threshold nation today,” Kerry added. “They became that. And they became that while we had a policy of no enrichment.” Like his fellow European ambassadors,Araud will be anxiously watching the war of words that’s set to heat up over the next several

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weeks once Congress returns from recess. “I’m not supposed to talk about U.S. domestic politics, but there’s a very good debate going on here,” said Araud, who presented his credentials to Obama on Sept. 18, 2014. “I’ve been on the phone with several members of the House who wanted to know my opinion. Frankly, I hope Congress won’t derail the deal. I hope the administration will succeed.” The president will need every vote he can muster. Republicans are near united in their opposition, and a resolution disapproving the deal is widely expected to pass, setting up a veto showdown. Detractors of the deal from both parties are counting on enough votes — a two-thirds majority — to override Obama’s promised veto, though it’s far from clear they’ll succeed. All 17 candidates for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination are on record as opposing the accord, with former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, a staunch Netanyahu ally, going so far as to warn that Obama was marching Israelis “to the door of the oven” by forcing the nuclear deal on the Jewish state. But that Holocaust reference was too much even for Israel, whose hawkish ambassador in Washington, Ron Dermer, called Huckabee’s comments inappropriate. “I really do understand Israel’s concerns,” Araud explained sympathetically, recalling Ahmadinejad’s oft-quoted threat to wipe Israel off the map with dread.“Having said that, some former heads of Israel’s Mossad, including Meir Dagan and Ephraim Halevy, think the agreement is not that bad.” As do dozens of retired American generals and admirals, who recently penned an open letter urging Congress to support the accord, which they said was the “most effective means currently available to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons.” On Capitol Hill, though, animosity toward the agreement is hardly limited to Republicans. Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Jew and the third-ranking Democrat in the Senate, says he’s against it not only because Iran is a sworn enemy of Israel, but also because he doesn’t trust Europe’s three signatories to the accord to punish Iran should it cheat. “It is reasonable to fear that once the Europeans become entangled in lucrative economic relationships, they may well be inclined not to rock the boat by voting to allow inspections” that would bring about renewed sanctions, Schumer said Aug. 6. In fact, economic stagnation in France and Germany might induce firms to sign contracts with Iran while they can. But such arguments are unfair, Araud retorted in typical undiplomatic fashion. “Americans who love to have the moral high ground say the Europeans are cynical, but those sanctions cost us a lot of money. France

was providing 30 percent of the cars in Iran, and Total [a French oil and gas conglomerate] made Iran one of its strategic investments, and for the last 10 years we’ve really lost this market,” the ambassador said. In contrast,“the sanctions didn’t cost you anything because you had no business in Iran anyway.” Statistics bear him out. Trade between Iran and the 28-member European Union fell from €25 billion (then worth $42 billion) in 2007 — when EU sanctions were first imposed — to around €6.3 billion (about $7 billion) last year. U.S. trade with Iran, by contrast, dwindled from an already minuscule $318 million in 2007 to a microscopic $1 million in 2014. Yet American companies have lost an untold amount of money by not being able to do business with a country of nearly 80 million people that sits on huge oil and gas reserves and boasts a large, educated youth population. “It’s normal that everyone wants to make money in Iran,” said Araud, suggesting that U.S. companies from Boeing to Bristol-Myers Squibb will clearly use their foreign subsidiaries to benefit from the new opportunities in Iran once sanctions are lifted. So what about the expected $100 billion in Iranian oil revenues locked up in frozen accounts? A recent secret CIA assessment concluded that Iran would likely pump most of its newfound oil money into reviving its tanking economy — not exporting terrorism throughout the Middle East. But skeptics point to Iran’s long history of funding extremist groups throughout the region. Wouldn’t giving the mullahs in Tehran access to that money sometime in early 2016 allow them to dramatically step up their support of radical elements ranging from Houthi rebels in Yemen to Lebanon’s Hezbollah, not to mention Gaza’s Hamas and the Assad regime in Syria? Maybe, concedes Araud, but that’s not really the point. “I think it’s impossible to exclude it [the threat of increased support of terrorism by Iran]. But you have to consider that these talks were not supposed to solve the Iranian question. It’s about the nuclear issue,” he explained. “We were very keen on handling the nuclear issue as such — and nothing more — because if we had started to speak about terrorism, they could have demanded a deal with more centrifuges. Considering how serious the nuclear issue is, it was treated in isolation. So now, the question is how to implement the agreement.” Despite his words of support, Araud is no cheerleader for the deal. Instead, he views the region’s complex, interlocking dynamics with a dose of realism. Before the nuclear agreement was announced, he made waves by saying the Iranians needed it more badly than the West did. At the same time, he’s criticized the caricature that paints Iran as a “terrorist monster,” saying it oversimplifies the country’s logical geostrategic ambitions. Yet he’s also called out the United States for launching the war in Iraq, which opened the floodgates to Iranian influence in the region. “Of course, my preference would have been September 2015

not one centrifuge. But when you look at what could have been the result, that’s more or less the norm,” Araud said of the nuclear deal. “It also has other ideas that are very creative — for instance, the snapback of sanctions. Normally sanctions are decided by the Security Council, which has a way of giving veto rights to Russia or China. But we reversed the system, meaning that sanctions will automatically be reimposed [unless] the Security Council decides otherwise.” That’s because the decision whether to reinstate sanctions if Iran violates terms of the deal rests with an eight-member panel that includes the P5+1 as well as the European Union and Iran. A majority is needed to impose sanctions, meaning that Russia, China and Iran do not have the numbers to block collective action. Only the U.N. Security Council can then reverse the panel’s ruling — something Washington and its allies would oppose. This, Araud said, effectively transfers the veto right back to the three other permanent members of the Security Council: France, Britain and the United States. The somewhat convoluted snapback mechanism has been a particular source of controversy. Critics such as Schumer say it would give Iran a 24-day advance warning of inspections at suspected nuclear sites, a delay that could allow it to hide the military dimensions of its program. But other experts say the 24-day window is being misconstrued.“There is a strict time limit on stalling,” wrote Jeffrey Lewis of the James Martin Center for Nonproliferation Studies. “Iran must provide access within two weeks. If Iran refuses, the Joint Commission set up under the deal must decide within seven days whether to force access. Following a majority vote in the Joint Commission — where the United States and its allies constitute a majority bloc — Iran has three days to comply. If it doesn’t, it’s openly violating the deal, which would be grounds for the swift return of the interna-

France at a Glance national Day: July 14 (1790) Capital: Paris location: Western Europe Population: 66.5 million (July 2015 estimate) life expectancy: 81.7 years ethnic groups: Celtic and latin with teutonic, Slavic, north african, indochinese, basque minorities religions: Christian (overwhelmingly roman Catholic) 63-66 percent, muslim 7-9 percent, Jewish .5-.75 percent, buddhist .5-.75 percent, other .5-1 percent, none 23-28 percent gDP (purchasing power parity): $2.5 trillion (2014 estimate) gDP per-capita: $40,400 (2014 estimate) gDP growth: .4 percent (2014 estimate) unemployment: 10.2 percent (2014 estimate) Population below poverty line: 8.1 percent (2012 estimate) exports: machinery and transportation equipment, aircraft, plastics, chemicals, pharmaceutical products, iron and steel, beverages imports: machinery and equipment, vehicles, crude oil, aircraft, plastics, chemicals Source: CIA World Factbook

tional sanctions regime, known colloquially as the ‘snapback.’” Araud also points out that during this time, any efforts by Iranians to cover up their nuclear activities could be detected. “That’s the typical procedure for these sort of inspections. One day or one year doesn’t make any difference because the radioactivity will be there,” he explained. “If they had made research without radioactivity, in 24 days they can destroy it. But if there was any radioactivity, it would still be detected.” Even assuming lawmakers in both Washington and Tehran approve the deal later

this fall, Araud warned that Israel could still unilaterally attack Iran — with or without Washington’s backing.“If at some moment they think their security is at stake, they will do it. The problem is that when they do it, you’ll be surprised. Even I will learn about it through the media.” In addition to assuaging Israel’s concerns, Araud says the West also has to quell fears among its Sunni Gulf allies that the nuclear deal doesn’t portend the rise of Shiite hegemony in the region. The ambassador said he remains concerned about a regional nuclear arms race potentially involving Egypt, Israel, Saudi Arabia,

the United Arab Emirates and maybe Turkey. “If we don’t address the security concerns of neighboring countries, there could be the temptation of an arms race. We now have to take into account the Gulf states,” he said. And an arms race is the last thing an already volatile Middle East needs at the moment. The schism between Sunni powerhouse Saudi Arabia and its Shiite rival Iran has already exacerbated tensions throughout the region, as both sides jockey for power in war-wracked Syria. Araud, who worked closely on Syria while at the U.N., pulls no punches when talking about the nightmare in that country, where civil war between President Bashar al-Assad and rebels trying to overthrow him has killed at least 300,000 people, by some estimates, and sent millions of refugees into neighboring countries — all as the West largely stands on the sidelines. “We do believe it was a mistake in 2013 not to intervene. We said so publicly,”Araud told us, referring to Obama’s threat to use military force if Assad used chemical weapons; ultimately, the U.S. and Britain backed down from those threats. “We were disappointed. Now, in a sense, what can we do? You get rid of Assad and you have Jabhat al-Nusra. We are in a total trap,” Araud said, referring to the proliferation of extremist groups throughout Syria. “Now I think it’s extremely difficult to make a proposal that makes sense; 2013 was the last moment when we could have. For the Europeans, the problem is much more acute than for the Americans, because of the foreign fighters. You have only a few dozen, but we have thousands of Europeans there. In essence, Daesh [a derogatory Arabic word for the Islamic State] has filled the vacuum and is defending the Sunnis.As long as we don’t solve

See FranCe, page 44

Visit Jordan & The Holy Land Call us at: 011 962 6 566 8970 011 962 79 552 6206 Visit us at: www.azure-tours.com Email us at: munther.twal@azure-tours.com

September 2015

The Washington Diplomat Page 15

Social Innovation

Washington, D.C.

Halcyon Incubator Hopes To Be Home to Next Great Idea by Miranda Katz

n the heart of Georgetown, the next great thinkers in social entrepreneurship are at work on innovative solutions to sustainability, health, social justice, language and literacy, to name just a few pressing global challenges. And they’re all working, eating, breathing and sleeping under the same roof — and a pretty nice roof at that. The Halcyon Incubator is located in the 18th-century Halcyon House, which was purchased in 2011 by Drs. Sachiko Kuno and Ryuji Ueno, the founders of the S&R Foundation. The husband-and-wife biotech moguls from Japan burst onto the Washington radar by buying not one but two of the most expensive properties in the city: the historic Evermay mansion, purchased for a reported $22 million, followed shortly afterward by Halcyon House, which sold for $11 million. Kuno and Ueno, an unassuming couple who made their fortune in pharmaceuticals, had for years been quiet supporters of the local arts scene, including the Washington National Opera, Smithsonian and other causes. In 2000, they established the S&R Foundation, a nonprofit that showcases artists and scientists and hosts various events, including a concert series with its resident Evermay Chamber ensemble. Evermay Estate became the foundation’s headquarters, while Halcyon House underwent a multimilliondollar renovation to serve as a home that nurtures young social innovators. The idea behind the Halcyon Incubator is to give a small group of fellows the time and space — including stipend and access to resources and mentors — to help their ventures make a real social change. The foundation runs the incubator and welcomed its first cohort of entrepreneurial fellows last fall. Now just beginning its third cohort of fellows, the residential incubator has had time to refine its mission and expand its reach of applicants, all in an effort to diversify. Each cohort of fellows spends five months living and working together on distinct projects, culminating in a pitch to investors. Following their residency, fellows continue to have access to tools such as reducedrent workspace to help bring their ideas to the marketplace. As the people behind this unique launch pad have discovered, the broader the range of interests, backgrounds and skills among the fellows, the better. “We’re really trying to be mindful of diversity,” said S&R Chief Operating Officer Kate Goodall, who is one of the people responsible for selecting the fellows. “We’ve noticed that the more diverse our cohorts are in every aspect — field, age, gender, ethnicity, background — the stronger the cohort is. There’s less competition between them; there are different perspectives being shared.” And the range of projects is indeed vast. As an umbrella term,“social entrepreneurship” encompasses virtually any business-oriented solution to a social problem: anything from an early-warning system for

The Washington Diplomat

The Halcyon Incubator, located in the 18th-century Halcyon House in Georgetown, is home to a group of social entrepreneur fellows who are working on innovative solutions to sustainability, health, social justice, literacy and other issues.

Photo: The Halcyon Incubator

“

I joke that the project made more progress in the first week I was at Halcyon than it did in the last few years when I was working basically on my own. — David Dewane

”

founder and executive director of Librii

asthma attacks to a wedding registry platform for social good (projects from the first and most recent Halcyon cohorts, respectively). While some projects focus on the local, like Brian and Albert Ferguson’s website to help former inmates successfully reintegrate into society, others go global, like incoming fellow Daniel Yu’s platform that allows organizations in the developing world to track essential supplies through mobile phones. Fellows come into the incubator from academia, government, business, tech and a variety of other backgrounds. (For example, Brian Ferguson, a 4.0 GPA college student, served time for first-degree murder but had his conviction overturned and used the experience to reach out to other former inmates.) Living together under one roof allows the fellows to use their life and career skills to inform one another’s projects. Fellows help each other write grants, build prototypes and exchange contacts, all while furthering their individual projects. Twenty-three-year-old Amelia Friedman is one of the youngest fellows accepted at Halcyon House, where she spent her time working on the Student Language Exchange, which she started as a sopho-

more at Brown University to help students learn languages not offered in a traditional classroom. A member of the spring 2015 cohort, Friedman never felt that age was a factor; if anything, she valued the opportunity to learn from other fellows, some of whom had more experience than she did coming in. “I feel very grateful to be doing this at such a young age when I have so much flexibility and absolutely no commitments of any kind,” Friedman said. “I also feel like it’s really a blessing to be in a place where you feel like there’s so much you can learn from every person in that building, and to try and pick up as much as you can while you’re there.” The Student Language Exchange, piloted at Brown and now on numerous U.S. campuses, recruits international students to teach semester-long courses on their home cultures and languages, ranging from Bengali to Vietnamese. As Friedman explained, many international students arrive in the United States and are immediately told to assimilate — a process that can be disempowering. By becoming peer instructors and cultural ambassadors of sorts, these students are able to share their languages and cultures, rather than pretend they don’t exist. Friedman’s project is one of several language- and literacy-focused initiatives that have matured at Halcyon House. David Dewane’s Librii venture, also part of the spring 2015 cohort, seeks to bring the public library model to Sub-Sahara Africa at a low cost. Librii is a revenue-generating nonprofit, which means that revenue gets directed toward the continued growth of the libraries. “Libraries often have a very difficult time coming up with operation costs,” Dewane said.“The hypothesis that we’re running on is that if you can generate content, you can generate revenue.”

See halcyon, page 44 September 2015

Digital Diplomacy Forum

Washington, D.C.

Digital Diplomacy Coalition Comes of Age, Goes Global by Molly McCluskey

few short years after the Digital Diplomacy Coalition (DDC) was formed in Washington as a local, informal group for diplomats to share best practices in social media, it has become a global player in the digital diplomacy field. Begun in 2012 with a handful of communication officers from embassies and think tanks, the organization now has chapters in New York City and Ottawa, and new groups on the horizon in The Hague, London and Tokyo. Many diplomats in Washington directly attribute their embassy’s social media success to their involvement with the grassroots group. “We started the organization in D.C. to fill a niche,” said Kelsey Glover, public relations manager at the German Marshall Fund who worked on the media team at the Embassy of Afghanistan and now sits on the DDC Board. “There were all these folks in town who were all working on the same issues, and there was a lot to learn from each other. So they really started there and focused on the diplomatic corps in town. From there it grew very quickly, which showed how much of a need there was for an organization like this.” The all-volunteer group has partnered with Google, Fosterly, the Meridian International Center, United Nations Foundation and others to host a variety of events, with topics ranging from “Digital Campaigns for Social Change”; to “An Exit for Extremists: Digital Solutions for Online Counter-Radicalization”; to “e-Estonia: A Global Standard for a Digital Society.” The DDC grew organically, beginning with a small staff that expanded into leadership and events teams. Now, a global board oversees remote chapters, while the Washington team manages administration and planning for D.C. events. “At this point the structure is an evolving thing,” Glover said.“A lot of our leadership has actually been called back to their main ministries or have moved on to other locations.” That rotation of members has paradoxically served the DDC well, as members leaving Washington for other posts help spread the word about the coalition. “Because of the nature of diplomats and how they change and they go post to post, we were able to spread wide and far,” Glover told us.“With that interest came the New York City chapter, focused more so around the U.N. and a lot of the consulates up there, and Ottawa, Canada, where the government does quite a bit on the digital side, and obviously they have quite a few missions there as well. “It’s not us looking at a map and pointing and saying we have a presence there,” Glover added. “It’s really about the community there, how it’s been engaged and those on the ground have said they wanted to be involved.” The message and mission are further spread by the coalition’s own use of digital tools. With a large online presence that includes more than 10,000 folSeptember 2015

Photo: Digital Diplomacy Coalition

The Digital Diplomacy Coalition hosts various events throughout the year, both in person and online, to help local embassies navigate the world of social media.

“

There were all these folks in town who were all working on the same issues, and there was a lot to learn from each other…. From there it grew very quickly, which showed how much of a need there was for an organization like this. — Kelsey Glover

”

public relations manager at the German Marshall Fund

lowers on Twitter and an active LinkedIn community, the DDC has become a beacon for bloggers, academics and others interested in how governments and NGOs use social media to engage with their followers. “People have caught on to what we’re doing, they’re paying attention to what we’re doing and then look around them in their own communities and say, ‘We’re doing the same thing; we could really be contributing to the conversation’ — and they’ve reached out to us,” Glover said. It would be easy for the organization to fall into the standard Beltway events template of four people on a panel discussing one topic with the help of a moderator. Instead, the DDC has held popular happy

hours, author events, breakfasts and a wide array of public and invitation-only educational and social functions (yes, even a few panels) on topics ranging from extremism to emerging democracies to social good. In Washington’s crowded events landscape, DDC events consistently draw a crowd, which is no small feat for an organization that’s run entirely by volunteers. But, Glover says, being a volunteer-run organization has its advantages. “We have more room to breathe and be creative and not be the D.C. event in a box,” she said. “We do things that are more online or that allow us to get really solid partners. “But at the same time, we are very protective of our community. I mean that in the sense that we want to stay true to our mission, and we want to give our community what they are really interested in, and so it’s a very big balancing act, but one I think we’ve been able to do pretty well so far.” While it’s impossible to predict what digital tools will be available in five years, and how they’ll be used to foster diplomacy, it’s not as difficult to predict the direction of the coalition. “In five years, we’d like to see the chapters we have planned now off and running and strong, with the next wave and possibly wave after that,” Glover said.“I think this field is only going to grow and with that, we’re going to have to be nimble and responsive. So instead of setting one across-the-bar metric, it’s just going to be that we have a global presence, that is responsive to the community as it changes.”

Molly McCluskey (@MollyEMcCluskey) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

The Washington Diplomat Page 17

MEDICAL

Food and Drug Administration

Too Slow or Too Sloppy? Medical Devices Want Faster FDA Approval by Gina Shaw

nnovative medical devices take significantly longer to gain approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration than do firstin-class drugs (i.e. the first of their kind), according to a new study from Harvard University — and these delays are primarily due to administrative hurdles, rather than unfamiliarity with the new devices, the study suggests. Pioneer, first-generation medical devices in a particular category took 7.2 months longer to gain FDA approval (34 percent) than the first follow-on device, while most follow-on drugs take about 10 days (1.2 percent) longer to approve than the original drug in their class, the study found. This means that cutting-edge drugs are getting through the FDA red tape faster than groundbreaking medical devices are. “It wasn’t, ‘Wow, we’ve never seen this kind of product’ that led to the longest delays. Rather, we observed many big regulatory delays for devices that are put in new product categories, but built-on technologies the FDA is already familiar with,” study author Ariel Dora Stern, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School, in a statement. “That suggests there is something more administrative in the delays — something in the classification process that matters.” For example, implantable cardioverter-defibrillators (ICD) —th e small devices surgically placed in the chest to help control potentially life-threatening disruptions of the heart’s electrical rhythms — were first approved by the FDA in 1983. Many ICDs have been approved by the FDA since then. Due to some modifications in the device, some of these have been reviewed under newer, different ICD product codes than earlier devices. Even though those ICDs are still quite similar to previous devices with which the FDA already had substantial technological familiarity, Stern found that they went through approval delays that resembled the timeframes for brand-new, innovator products. Device manufacturers also find themselves stymied with little guidance from the FDA about what they need to provide in clinical trials for novel, potentially high-risk devices. “[F]or most devices, the evaluation criteria that the FDA will use to assess a new product are not made explicit before the regulatory process begins,” Stern said, noting that “the lack of specificity about what types of data to collect and present to regulators makes the regulatory process for devices far more uncertain than that of drugs.” But other research has found that devices are less likely than drugs to have demonstrated clinical safety before they go to market. In a 2009 review published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, University of California-San Francisco cardiologist Dr. Rita Redberg and colleagues found that 65 percent of FDA pre-market approvals for cardiovascular devices were based on a single study. Only 33 of 123 studies used to support recent FDA approval of cardiovascular devices (that’s just 27 percent) were randomized and just 14 percent of them were blinded. Unrandomized, unblinded

The Washington Diplomat

Photo: Lane Rasberry / Wikimedia Commons

The Food and Drug Administration — whose Center for Devices and Radiological Health in Silver Spring, Md., is seen above — is embroiled in a debate over whether it is taking too long to grant manufacturers approval for new medical devices.

studies have significantly greater potential for bias. Meanwhile, manufacturers have been slow to complete required post-market analyses on many devices, a new study in the Journal of the American Medical Association found. Out of 33 post-market clinical studies required by the FDA for more than two dozen high-risk medical devices introduced in 2010 and 2011, 27 had not been completed as of October 2014. Sometimes followup studies can take more than three to five years, but by then,“new” devices have often been replaced by the next generation. In April, the FDA lifted some of its own bureaucratic hurdles, finalizing an expedited-access pathway for novel devices designed to address a previously unmet medical need. And in June, it announced that it would rank some 120 medical device classes as “low risk,” lowering the cost of bringing them to market and exempting them from lengthy pre-market regulatory review requirements. (These aren’t items like pacemakers or deep brain stimulators; they include devices like surgical lamps and drapes, assistive listening devices and umbilical cord clamps.) It does appear that the approval process at the FDA is speeding up at least somewhat. EP Vantage, the biotech/ pharma news service, recently found that the FDA had already cleared 26 devices using either a premarket approval or humanitarian device exemption, putting it on track to give the OK to more devices than any other year in the past decade. So will the 21st Century Cures Act — legislation passed by the U.S. House of Representatives in July in a rather stunning 344-77 show of bipartisanship — clear up regulatory bottlenecks or remove needed consumer protections? That depends on whom you ask. Some say that the bill, which boosts funding for the FDA and the National Institutes of Health while also changing how

the FDA regulates drugs and devices, will speed new treatments and therapies to patients who need them. Others aren’t so sure. “The legislation, disingenuously titled the 21st Century Cures Act, would make it possible for companies that produce high-risk medical devices to submit evidence of safety and efficacy based on sources other than clinical trials, including case histories (i.e., the experience of individual patients),” warned Dr. Redberg and cardiologist Dr. Sanket Dhruva, a Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholar at Yale, in a recent New York Times editorial. “In other words, anecdotal evidence, rather than scientific studies, could be used to approve devices,” they said, noting that the bar for “breakthrough technologies” would also be lowered in the quest to speed up approval. Other researchers, however, say the legislation is a much-needed update to help the FDA keep up with the fast-paced technological advances of medical devices. “It typically takes 20 to 40 years or more for scientific discoveries to trickle down to benefit human lives in a meaningful way,” wrote Sandra Bond Chapman, founder and director of the Center for BrainHealth at the University of Texas, in a Hill editorial.“This is unacceptable.” The lopsided vote in favor of the 21st Century Cures Act in the House doesn’t mean it’s assured smooth sailing in the Senate. That body isn’t set to take up the bill until sometime in the fall, when Congress will already be consumed by budgetary debates. Republican Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tenn.), who chairs the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, has said he hopes to have a bill in the Senate by Thanksgiving.There, the nearly $10 billion bill may hit serious resistance on the question of — what else? — funding. Stay tuned!

Gina Shaw is the medical writer for The Washington Diplomat. September 2015

EDUCATION ■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

■ September 2015

by Vanessa h. Larson

t’s late May, and 150 eager, dressed-up fifth-graders from schools across the District of Columbia are representing 50 different countries in the 38th annual Mini united nations, a daylong event held for the last two years at the ronald reagan Building and international trade Center. “you are young, and you are smart and you care about the future of the planet…. you make a difference, what you do here today and in years to come,” Swedish ambassador Björn lyrvall told the youngsters in his introductory remarks. the students spent the day in committee-level and bilateral negotiations, debating the merits of three different proposals for confronting climate change, the topic of this year’s Model u.n. simulation. Continued on next page

A student raises her hand at a Mini united nations discussion held in the ronald reagan Building and international trade Center.

PERFECT MATCH

Embassy Adoption Program Celebrates Four Decades of Diplomacy, Plans Expansion Photo: Paul EMErSon

September 2015

EDUCATION UCA UC CAT ATION

The Washington Diplomat Page19

Continued from previous page

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“Bangkok is in danger of being flooded, since it’s at sea level,” said a boy representing Thailand in a breakout session with Mexico. “There’s not much clean water in our country; what we’re most concerned about is the lack of clean water,” countered a girl from the Mexico team. Two committees ended up passing resolutions for governments to invest in renewable energy and reduce carbon emissions by 10 percent over the next five years, while the third passed a resolution that puts even more stringent demands on governments to address climate change. The Mini United Nations event is one component of Washington Performing Arts’s Embassy Adoption Program, which each year pairs fifth- and sixth-grade classrooms in D.C. public schools with foreign embassies wanting to share their countries and cultures with local students. One of the arts organization’s signature partnerships, the Embassy Adoption Program celebrated its 40th anniversary in the 2014-15 school year, bringing 50 embassies together with 1,500 students across all eight wards of the District, and is set to expand substantially over the next couple of years. “It’s a perfect match. We want these opportunities for students and the embassies really want to share about their country, and this provides them an ‘in’ into a school and really a deep relationship,” said Trisha Taylor, Embassy Adoption Program manager at Washington Performing Arts, which for over 40 years has connected the local community to artists through live performances and educational programs. Throughout the school year, participating embassies arrange several visits with their partner class or school, showcasing their culture, art, food, history and current

EDUCATION

affairs through presentations and field trips. Last year, activities included bringing students to a Buddhist temple to meet monks and learn about meditation and traditional musical instruments (Thailand); sending the embassy’s chef to the school to cook a typical lunch of chicken, rice and empanadas (Panama); and taking kids to the National Zoo to see kiwi birds (New Zealand). Embassies take pride in planning these local partnerships. Last year, the Japanese Embassy worked with the fifth-grade class from Garrison Elementary School to showcase traditional Okinawan culture, including eisa music and dance.The embassy also hosted a kendama competition; brought in famed Japanese artist Koji Kinutani; taught the Japanese national anthem through the U.S. Air Force Singing Sergeants; and took the children on a field trip to the Tidal Basin for the National Cherry Blossom Festival. Meanwhile, the Embassy of Azerbaijan had sixth-graders from its partner school, Alice Deal Middle School, sing the U.S. and Azerbaijani national anthems at the country’s Republic Day reception this year.“All of us at the Embassy of Azerbaijan enjoy and appreciate participation in the Embassy Adoption Program,” Ambassador Elin Suleymanov told us. “Students learn about Azerbaijan’s culture and we learn a lot from them. The program also strengthens our connection with the District of Columbia, where we all live and work. “This year, the amazing performance of the American and Azerbaijani anthems at the Azerbaijan Republic Day reception by the Alice Deal School sixth-graders became the highlight of the event,” the ambassador added.“This was both a demonstration of a great talent and a valuable cultural exchange by the students.” “Most of the diplomats are very interest-

The Washington Diplomat

September 2015

from pre-K through 12th grade

ed in showcasing the personal side of their experience in their country,” explained Kayla Gatalica, Embassy Adoption Program specialist at D.C. Public Schools (DCPS). “They like to share food, art, to talk about holidays. Many will often do lessons about a day in the life of a child in that country.” Students in the program also spend time preparing to represent “their” country at a Model U.N. event, organized separately for fifth- and sixth-graders. The school year concludes with students paying a visit to their partner embassy to put on a final presentation that encompasses what they’ve learned over the course of the year — often including a performance of the country’s national anthem. “The world gets smaller every day,” said Washington Performing Arts Vice Chair David Marventano. “One of the passions that I have is things that bring us together, which are the arts — breaking down barriers around the globe, whether it’s D.C. fifth-graders or my own children, because as every day passes, we all have to interact more, and to understand the music, the dance, the culture of other countries is so important.” Launched by the volunteer-run Wash ington Performing Arts Women’s Committee in the 1970s, the Embassy Adoption Program has become so popular that the group is working on significantly increasing the number of participating embassies so that more students can gain from it. “We’ve had great success and a huge amount of interest from teachers,” said Michelle Hoffmann, director of education

Photo: Trisha Taylor

The Embassy Adoption Program paired Orr Elementary students in Anacostia with the Embassy of South Africa last year.

for Washington Performing Arts.“Last year, we had about 90 applications for 50 spots, and we know that embassies and diplomats when they talk to each other are incredibly interested in this program.” The group aims to get 75 embassies involved this school year and to have as many as 100 embassies on board next year. “If we stay on track with that, we’ll theoretically be reaching nearly every sixthgrader across the District…. It’s incredibly ambitious,” said Hoffmann. Students in the program gain not only an in-depth familiarity with a particular country, but also — perhaps just as importantly — a greater awareness of the world outside of Washington. “This is something that gives students expanded horizons, to understand that there is more than D.C. The world is a much bigger place,” said Marventano. Jamila Thompson went through the program two decades ago as a child, and is now a teacher at Orr Elementary in

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September 2015

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Perseverance in Peshawar Survivors of Pakistani School Massacre Tour United States by Larry Luxner

ec. 16, 2014, is not a date 16-year-old Hammad Rahim and his classmates at Pakistan’s Peshawar Army Public School will ever forget. At 10:30 that morning, seven gunmen affiliated with the Taliban stormed the complex and opened fire on staff and students, killing 150 people including over 130 pupils, some as young as 8. Governments around the world condemned the attack — the worst in Pakistani history — for its outright brutality and its intentional targeting of children. The aftermath marked a rare moment of unity among Pakistan’s factious political and military leadership. Even al-Qaeda issued a statement claiming “our hearts are bursting with pain.” But the bloodshed didn’t succeed in snuffing out the enthusiasm of the school’s science-oriented students, a dozen of whom recently visited Washington as part of a program organized by the Meridian International Center and U.S. State Department. “I’m very thankful to the Americans and the Meridian staff for arranging this tour,” said Rahim, who aspires to be an aeronautical or software engineer some day.“People here are civilized, caring and loving.” Rahim was one of a dozen students attending a July 27 lunch co-hosted by Jalil Abbas Jilani, Pakistan’s ambassador to the United States, and Ambassador Stuart Holliday, president and CEO of Meridian (the group also met with Secretary of State John Kerry at the State Department). Rahim and his 11 classmates were accompanied on the U.S. tour by four American high school boys — one from Connecticut, one from Virginia and two from Maryland. “We’re really not that different from each other, even though we grew up on the other side of the world,” Jonathan Foldi, a student at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, Md., said of his new Pakistani friends. “And it’s not that hard to find connections with other people, if you look for them.” The young men were in D.C. to attend the U.S.-Pakistan Global Leadership and STEM Program, which blends the study of global leadership with an intensive science, technology, engineering and math curriculum. They spoke to us on the condition that we not reference the attack itself, since the memories are still fresh and painful. “We’re very pleased to have the boys here from Pakistan, not only because of what they went through last year, but because they really are the best and the brightest of Pakistan,” said Holliday. “They have a keen interest in STEM, and we’re seeing a lot of emphasis on that here at Meridian.” The idea for the trip began almost immediately after the horrific attack, when Meridian contacted the U.S. Embassy in Islamabad and offered to run a program for some of the kids studying at the Peshawar Army Public School, which mixes boys and girls from kindergarten through eighth grade, then separates them for high school. “All these boys were there that day, and a few of them were directly in the line of fire,” said Bonnie Glick, senior vice president of Meridian’s GlobalConnect Division.“We have many visitors from Pakistan, but what these young people have been through is a testament to their courage.” Yet they don’t display any signs of bitterness at all, at least not outwardly. “They seem like typical high school boys interested in social media and shooting hoops,” said Glick, noting that the school itself selected these 12 young men to participate, in a transparent process based on their grades. “The exchange program we have with Pakistan is one of our largest in the world. We value these exchanges because they build links between people,” said Jonathan Carpenter, the State Department’s deputy special

Pa22

Photo: State Department

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry greets students from Pakistan’s Peshawar Army Public School at the State Department in D.C. on July 27, 2015. The students are participating in a State Department International Visitor Leadership Program, co-hosted by the Meridian International Center, which also welcomed the students that day.

representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan. “These boys were the victims of a horrific attack, but I am astounded by their strength, resilience and courage.” Photo: Larry Luxner Among other things, the participants visited Ground Zero in New York — site of the 9/11 Visitors from Pakistan attend a July 27 briefing and attacks — and stopped by West Point Military luncheon at the Meridian International Center. Academy along with key cultural sites in Washington. They also attended a five-day NanoDiscovery Institute program at SUNY Polytechnic’s Colleges of Nanoscale Science and Engineering in Albany, N.Y.The U.S. Embassy paid for their transportation and lodging, while Meridian designed and created the program itself, in collaboration with its corporate and educational partners. “The reality is, official bilateral relationships will be buffeted by and react to day-to-day events, but we believe the future of U.S.-Pakistan relations has to be deeper and broader,” said Carpenter, noting that education is one of the six working groups of the U.S.-Pakistan Strategic Dialogue. “The fantastic partnerships between American and Pakistani universities not only advance expertise in their particular fields — which is good for all of us — but also expose each community to the other. The more we cooperate with Pakistanis of all ages, the better our bilateral relationship will be and, frankly, the safer we’ll be.” And that couldn’t come too soon for the testy relationship, which is on especially shaky ground following the revelation that reclusive Taliban leader Mullah Omar died two years ago in a Pakistani hospital, despite earlier claims by Pakistan that he was never in the country. U.S. officials have long complained that Pakistan harbors, or at least turns a blind eye to, certain militant groups that further the country’s geostrategic interests in Afghanistan and India. Islamabad counters that it has lost thousands to terrorist attacks and that it has waged several bloody campaigns against extremists (the Peshawar massacre itself was reportedly staged in retaliation for a Pakistani military offensive in North Waziristan).

EDUCATION

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September 2015

â€œThese boys were the victims of a horrific attack, but I am astounded by their strength, resilience and courage.â€?

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Despite the ever-present bilateral tensions, Carpenter insisted that educational and cross-cultural exchanges let Pakistanis meet average Americans in a way that never happens in the course of an official diplomatic exchange. â€œIf you believe the polls, then attitudes toward the U.S. have improved,â€? he said. â€œThese young men are the future leaders of Pakistan, and I think itâ€™s important that they visit the United States, be exposed to our beliefs, see how we operate, read

our press and hopefully meet some of us.â€? Carpenter added:â€œI have faith that this will be an overwhelmingly positive experience for these students. I recognize that they may come across things that arenâ€™t their cup of tea. But it is much more damaging for people to be ignorant of us than to be knowledgeable of us.â€?

Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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Anacostia, where she has participated as a teacher for the last three years.“I was a part of the program during my sixth-grade year. Our country was Ghana, and then I studied [abroad] there in college,” she said. “So I know that this is definitely a seed that’s being planted…. It’s exciting because you get to connect the world to the classroom.” After having partnered with Switzerland and Finland, Thompson was paired with the South African Embassy last year, an experience that inspired her and her students to work on raising money to hopefully visit the country at the end of this school year. “I learned that everything that you might think about South Africa is not what it’s like,” said Arbeni, a student of Thompson’s who participated in Mini United Nations, reflecting on her year in the program. “And I learned that South Africa is much like D.C.” “Except [there’s] more technology and culture,” chimed in her classmate Jerome. “They got a lot of technology — robots that can control the traffic.” Another classmate,Alphonso, added:“I’ve only been out of state. I’ve never been out of the country. So this [would be] a lifetime experience” to go to South Africa. Laura Landstrom, who teaches at H.D. Cooke Elementary in Adams Morgan and has worked with the Embassy Adoption Program for three years running, applauds the opportunities that the program creates for disadvantaged students in particular. Cooke Elementary is “99 percent free and reduced lunch, so a Title I high-poverty school. And it’s interesting because we have a lot of families who have moved to

the United States from out of the country — from El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico. But they haven’t gotten to see or experience a whole lot outside of the little bubble of Adams Morgan,” explained Landstrom.“This is a program that’s enabled my kids to see and do so many things that they would never [otherwise] get to do, and to see a more global view of the world.” Landstrom’s fifth-grade class, which was matched with Thailand this past year, was among six that benefitted from a new pilot partnership between Washington Performing Arts and the U.S.Air Force Band, which sent singers and musicians to help students learn the anthems of their partner countries. Cooke students later sang Thailand’s national anthem at their year-end presentation at the Royal Thai Embassy — no easy feat with an unfamiliar language like Thai. “I think [Ambassador Pisan Manawapat] said something along the lines of,‘This was better than Thai children would sing it.’ He was really impressed,” said DCPS’s Gatalica. “And the kids were really excited; kids get so much pride in being able to say things in a different language. It’s also part of diplomacy and relationship building.” In the end, for all of the academic enrichment that embassies can offer schools, breaking down barriers between people is perhaps the Embassy Adoption Program’s greatest strength. “I feel like a program like this really gets people to see people,” said Landstrom.“And maybe they look different, maybe they talk different, maybe some of their food and festivals are different, but ultimately we’re all people.”

Vanessa H. Larson (@vanessahlarson) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

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September 2015

LIVING L U X U R Y

■ A Special Section of The Washington Diplomat

■ September 2015

IL PALAZZO

SAGA T

he italian Embassy at 2700 16th St., nW, is a vision in neo-renaissance style. Even surrounded by dust, weeds and dented construction signs, the vacant terra cotta building, called il Palazzo, manages to retain its dignity, its dimension and its limestone detail. the word “cancelleria” (italian for “chancellery”) is engraved over a doorway and ornate carvings adorn the aged gray walls. Proud

September 2015

Photo: larry luxnEr

After Years of Hold-Ups, Plans For Ex-Italian Embassy Move Forward by Lauren hodges black light fixtures flank the entrance and finely spaced corbels jut from beneath the Mediterranean-tiled roof. But for many adams Morgan residents, the prominent site has long been a questionable work-in-progress, as well as a fixture of frustration, since it was slated to become the neighborhood’s newest luxury apartment building. that was almost 10 years ago. Continued on next page

LUXURY LIVING

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In May 2010, the Washington Business Journal reported that Valor Development had purchased the storied 35,000-square-foot mansion from Embassy Real Estate for $7.5 million with plans to convert it into condos. At that point, the Italian Embassy had been settled into its new location on Whitehaven Street, NW, for nearly a decade. And Il Palazzo, which was built in 1925 and designed by Whitney Warren and Charles Wetmore, had since been designated as a historic landmark. Embassy Real Estate, for its part, had already been trying for years to turn Il Palazzo and its valuable 44,000-square-foot lot into condos as the neighborhoodâ€™s value and desirability skyrocketed. But the company hit a roadblock when the city realized the construction permits had been issued after the landmark application was filed.The permits were revoked and the propertyâ€™s future was in limbo for years. Hope was temporarily restored after the sale to Valor, but 2700 16th was still to remain empty, despite enthusiasm for the project and â€” SEAn CALdWELL plenty of ambition behind it. Local Mill Creek residential trust senior managing media and blogs circulated concepdirector of the mid-atlantic region tual drawings of possible plans, which initially had several of the bigger, pricier units to be built into the original four-story mansion and another much larger building erected behind it for studios and one-bedroom homes, presenting around 130 for-sale apartments in all. But there were rumors of a struggle to conceive a final plan that met with historic approval. Eventually, the story, along with Il Palazzo, fell asleep for a little while. The Journalâ€™s Michael Neibauer says the projectâ€™s main problem during that time period was money.

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Please check this adnamed carefully. Mark any changes to your ad. trout design Studio was assigned to redesign the former italian Embassy, il Palazzo, a rendering of which is shown above. But the developers apparently never got If the ad is correct and fax to: (301) the needed permits from the D.C. government, leaving sign the project to languish until949-0065 Dallas-based real estate developer Mill Creek residential trust purchased the property in June for $16 million. The Washington Diplomat (301) 933-3552

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â€œFinancial issues caught upApproved to the refinanced the loan on the lot and took __________________________________________________________ projectâ€™s co-managers shortly Changes after the ___________________________________________________________ over the project from Valor, bringing in 2011 zoning approval, as the partners a slew of consultants to finally put ___________________________________________________________________ â€˜found underwriting the project chal- shovel to ground.â€? lenging,â€™ according to a March 2014 A sign of life reappeared at Il Palazzo request to extend the PUD [planned- last year when the Washington Post unit development] for an additional reported a go-ahead with the project two years,â€? said Neibauer in a July 24 under the direction of Potomac article for the Journal.â€œAfter unsuccess- Construction Group. The plans now fully seeking another partner, the included a penthouse, along with six Stafford-based Garrett Cos. in late 2013 â€œaffordableâ€? units. Neighbors watched

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Continued from previous page as workers started arriving at the site, but their first and only task at that point seemed to be cleaning up some light vandalism. Trout Design Studio, the Washington architectural firm assigned to the project, was interviewed by DC Elevation Media a couple of months later. The studio’s principal architect, Michael Beidler, spoke of the construction schedule and design plans for what was now named“The Flats at Il Palazzo.” It seemed dirt was finally breaking on what the studio calls “the crown of historic Embassy Row.” “The plan has not changed from the original [residential] program,” Beidler told DC Elevation in April 2014, noting that developers were in the process of getting a building permit from the D.C. government. “Because of the scale of the space, the larger, luxury units will go primarily in the embassy,” he explained.“But they will also be scattered among the other buildings, especially the upper floors of the tower, which will have spectacular views and terraces.” But the city once again began to grow impatient as Il Palazzo became a construction site — and seemed to remain that way for some time.An application was filed the same month as Beidler’s interview, but the permit reportedly never materialized. A year passed before a conversation began on the popular D.C. blog Prince of Petworth when a reader bluntly asked,“What’s going on?” “The white flyer on the right lists violations for overgrowth of the yard and graffiti,” wrote the reader on May 28. “Admittedly, I don’t think I’ve noticed any work being done since maybe last summer, but this seemed like it was going to be such a cool development and use of a great old building!” A month later, the neighborhood would have its answer: yet another transfer of ownership. Dallas-based real estate developer Mill Creek Residential Trust took over the long-delayed construction plan and purchased the property in June for $16 million — a black-andwhite (or perhaps green-and-white) display of surging property values in the District. A big shift in this chapter for the Il Palazzo saga is that Mill Creek deals exclusively in the rental market, a perpetually hot (and only getting hotter) area in Washington real estate.The

company already owns one property in D.C. on the Southwest Waterfront and three Virginia properties in Vienna, Alexandria and Fairfax. Though its national headquarters is located in Dallas, the company’s main office for development and acquisitions is just outside the beltway in Rockville, Md. Sean Caldwell, senior managing director of Mill Creek’s mid-Atlantic region, spoke about D.C.’s ultra-competitive real estate climate at the Mayflower Hotel on Aug. 13 as a panelist for Bisnow’s Midyear Multifamily Update. “Supply will remain a concern,” Caldwell, a native Washingtonian, remarked in a discussion about the District’s rental market.“But demand has overshadowed that concern.” That demand is what Mill Creek is banking on as they move ahead with their plans to turn Il Palazzo into a rental Photo: Larry Luxner property, pushing the condo prospects for the building aside. Though the former embassy will remain a luxury venture with its new owners, one that Caldwell says he is excited to develop. In a press release, he stated that Il Palazzo’s history and tony Adams Morgan address (at the border with equally desirable Columbia Heights) would make it a profitable investment for all involved. “The residences at the Italian Embassy will offer a level of prominence and prestige that we believe will offer significant value for our residents and our investors,” said Caldwell. Mill Creek’s plans were revealed June 30 when the company presented a nine-story building behind the original four-story terra cotta mansion that will house apartments ranging from studios to three bedrooms. The plan also includes two levels of underground parking, a fitness center, outdoor terraces and a business area. A new name for the former “Flats” has yet to be announced. Yet the wait isn’t quite over for neighborhood residents — or for prospective residents eager to live beneath the Mediterranean tile rooftops.There’s still much work to do before Adams Morgan can look upon open doors and warm lights in those proud black sconces at the Il Palazzo compound. Mill Creek’s construction plans aren’t scheduled to begin until next year.

Lauren Hodges (@LaurEHodges) is a freelance writer in Washington, D.C.

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Unexpected ‘Moments’ “American Moments” is the first major photography exhibition drawn exclusively from the Phillips’s permanent collection, which has doubled in size over the last five years. PAGE 31

FASHION

PHOTOGRAPHY

PHOTO: COURTESY HILLWOOD ESTATE, MUSEUM AND GARDENS

When most Washingtonians hear the name Merriweather Post, they likely think of the

PHOTO: THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION

namesake concert venue in Maryland, but

Berenice Abbott’s “Canyon: Broadway and Exchange Place”

Marjorie Merriweather Post was hardly one to don a concert t-shirt. The art collector, socialite and business

ART

Double-Edged Lifeline

tycoon was also a 20th-century trendsetter, whose sumptuous wardrobe is on display in “Ingenue to Icon: 70 Years of Fashion.” PAGE 30

Colombia’s rivers serve as the lifeblood of their local communities. At the same time, they reflect the bloodshed spilled by decades of drug trafficking and war. PAGE 32 PHOTO: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

FESTIVALS

Women Speak An unprecedented festival this fall, loud in its ambition and scope, is putting women center stage. PAGE 33

TRUE

STYLE Among the items in “Ingenue to Icon” are, from top left: a Callot Soeurs evening dress (circa 1907); a Thurn evening ensemble (circa 1927); a silk organza negligee (1918-21); and a silk-and-lace afternoon dress (1910-14). PHOTOS: RENEE COMET / COURTESY HILLWOOD ESTATE, MUSEUM AND GARDENS

DINING Two recent restaurant openings, Maketto and Sally’s Middle Name, have helped turn H Street into not only a fun place to party, but also to enjoy a daring meal. PAGE 36

[ fashion ] Below, an Oldric Royce Inc. dinner dress from 1960 is made of yellow silk acetate, nude silk organza and green net.

Stylish ‘Ingenue’ History Is Seen Through Wardrobe of a Washington Socialite by Lauren Hodges

[ 30

hen most Washingtonians hear the name Merriweather Post, they likely think of the namesake concert venue in Maryland where they spent the summer lifting their phone screens to the live performances of Mumford & Sons, Sam Smith and Florence and the Machine. Yet Marjorie Merriweather Post was hardly one to don a concert t-shirt. One of the tastemakers of the early 20th century, the heiress to the Post cereal empire and founder of General Foods was followed relentlessly by the press, who were desperate to snap photos of her high fashion wardrobe. “They would show what she wore to every event,” said Kate Markert, executive director of Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens. “There were even sketches of new outfits.” Hillwood was Post’s home on Linnean Avenue, NW, a sprawling Georgian estate that now functions as a museum for her art collection, her gardens and for the woman herself. In addition to the rare French and Russian decorative arts and handpicked furnishings on display, a new exhibit, “Ingenue to Icon: 70 Years of Fashion,” features the striking designs and sumptuous fabrics that made Post a trendsetter. Much of her closet and jewelry box is on display for the public to admire. And as Post would certainly be transitioning her wardrobe as the summer air cools in D.C., the museum soon plans to switch out the exhibit in favor of fall attire. “We will be changing over from spring and summer fashions, which we’ve been showing since the show opened in June, to fall and winter beginning Oct. 1,” said Markert.“We have so many great dresses that we will be essentially installing an entirely new exhibition for the second half.” The dresses in particular speak to a much larger story than just the change in seasons. Rather, the collection is a window into the changing political and social climates as the century wore on, beginning in the 1910s. “I love the suffragette suit,” said Angie Dodson, co-chair of Hillwood’s exhibitions and director of learning and engagement programs. “It Ingenue to Icon: 70 Years of Fashion offers us such a great window onto such a fascinating moment from the Collection of Marjorie in history, for women and for Merriweather Post the world.” through Dec. 31 Dodson said Post’s outfits reflected the changing times, Hillwood Estate, Museum and Gardens from the women’s voting move4155 Linnean Ave., NW ment to the Roaring ’20s and For more information, please call (202) 686-5807 beyond. “When you see that or visit www.hillwoodmuseum.org. [suffragette] dress alongside the Edwardian confections, the flapper fashions, the Hollywood glam, you begin to appreciate how much societal change and really significant shifts Marjorie experienced. “I love the Madeleine et Madeleine dress from 1921,” Markert added. “The asymmetrical hemline, the multiplicity of fabrics, the new freedom of movement that you see in the ’20s.” Dodson admits she also can’t resist the aesthetics of Post’s party costumes.

]

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A 1934 portrait of Marjorie Merriweather Post by Frank O. Salisbury depicts the heiress wearing an American evening dress.

PHOTO: COURTESY HILLWOOD ESTATE, MUSEUM AND GARDENS

PHOTOS: RENEE COMET / COURTESY HILLWOOD ESTATE, MUSEUM AND GARDENS

A 1934 American evening dress features a grey-and-white fern pattern on silk and red taffeta.

Above, a Mme. Frances Inc. evening from 1925 is made of silk velvet and rhinestones. At left, the detail of a 1948 Bonwit Teller dinner dress reveals its grey silk taffeta, cut steel and glass beads.

“I find the evening gowns from the 1930s, like the pair of strappy silk taffeta ones, especially the fern-printed one with the red, obi-like bustle, to be so delicious.” But Post’s attention to fashion was about more than playing dress-up. Her social position in Washington and immense wealth was a role she took seriously. During her second marriage to financier E.F. Hutton, she helped transform her family’s cereal company into a pioneering frozen food conglomerate. During her third marriage to Joseph E. Davies, U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union in the 1930s, she became an avid collector of Russian art and honed the

See INGENUE, page 34

September 2015

[ photography ]

Who Knew? ‘American Moments’ Captures Phillips’s Fascination with Photography by Gary Tischler

nstead of the somewhat prosaic title “American Moments: Photographs from the Phillips Collection,” you could just as well gone with “Who Knew?” Who knew that the Phillips Collection — better known for its founder Duncan Phillips’ successful forays into collecting impressionist and modern paintings — was so rich in 20th-century American photography, spurred by Phillips’s own belief that photography was important for a museum devoted to modern art. The result is the first major photography exhibition drawn exclusively from the museum’s permanent collection, featuring 130 works by 30 acclaimed photographers, including Esther Bubley, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Louis Faurer and Arnold Newman, among others. Phillips’s affinity for photography probably stemmed from his close relationship with Alfred Stieglitz, a pioneering photographer who, like Phillips, supported the modern art movement, which had yet to be embraced by mainstream PHOTOS: THE PHILLIPS COLLECTION, WASHINGTON, DC America. Phillips said Stieglitz had More than 130 works are featured in “American revolutionized photography, praisMoments: Photographs from the Phillips Collection,” ing his technique as “not merely including, from clockwise top: Bruce Davidson’s self-controlled but sensitive and “Workers on Bridge, Telescoped View Looking Up”; intensely emotional.” Alfred Eisenstaedt’s “Evelyn Prosser Teaching Packaging Phillips started collecting phototo Girls in a Vocational Class at Central High School, graphs in the 1940s, with 27 works Tulsa, OK”; and Esther Bubley’s “The Exterior of the by Louisiana native Clarence John Greyhound Bus Terminal (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania).” Laughlin and 19 from Stieglitz’s “Equivalents” series. Although phoanother literary photographer of American strangetography was never the main focus ness, Diane Arbus. Echoes of marginalization can be of Phillips’s acquisitions, it was seen in Davidson’s portraits of a dwarf in a coffee reflective of the kinds of paintings shop and a woman in a kitchen with a Madonna, he sought. According to Susan lace curtains and TV screens, as well as in Faurer’s scenes of a teenage dance Behrends Frank, associate curator party and circus performers. for research at the museum, “the But it’s Bubley who surprises and amazes the most. Her photographs seem photographs in ‘American Moments’ to tell stories seamlessly and effortlessly, springing from specific assignments emphasize qualities that Phillips that tap into a much broader, universal context. always championed: the artist’s perRelatively unknown until recently, Bubley built a solid career out of photosonal vision and the universality of graphing post-World War II middle-class the human condition.” America while traveling for Standard Oil, Those qualities are on stark, stunning display in“American Moments,” the Farm Security Administration Historical American Moments: Photographs which showcases the medium’s transcendence as a literary visual art Section and Life magazine. Her assignments form. Sections such as “Framing the City,” “Labor,” “Scenes from the from the Phillips Collection took her across the country, as she captured Road,” “Connection” and “Isolation” explore American lives and setthrough Sept. 13 the everyday lives of farmers, suburbanites tings, from New York City to Northern Virginia.These photographs tell and urban dwellers. fragments of stories, similar to a verse of poetry or the hint of a sweepPhillips Collection We see through Bubley’s lens a classic ing novel. 1600 21st St., NW main street scene in Andrews, Texas; North Some big names are behind these stories: Berenice Abbott, Margaret For more information, please call (202) 387-2151 Carolina tobacco farmers waiting for a Bourke White and Paul Strand, among others, documented the modor visit www.phillipscollection.org. price call; a factory scene from the Hobbs ernizing cityscape of New York City. Walker Evans and Life magazine District in New Mexico; a Greyhound bus contributor Alfred Eisenstaedt recorded the changing face of a postwar workforce.William Christenberry, the great painter of Southern decay, and William terminal in Pittsburgh; young women “entertaining their guests” at a boarding house in Northern Virginia; and a focus on average working women often overlooked by a maleEggleston, a fellow Southerner and color photography pioneer, are also here. But a large bulk of the photographs — and the most direct definers of the American dominated industry. Bubley. Who knew? The same could be said of Phillips’s fascination with photograhuman condition as moments in narrative — come from Louis Faurer, Bruce Davidson and Esther Bubley. Faurer, who worked for splashy magazines like Harper’s Bazaar and phy and how the painting-centric museum that bears his name has taken that admiraVogue by day, took electric pictures of Times Square at night, using sparse light and tion to the next level. Its photography collection has doubled in size over the last five years, making photography the museum’s fastest-growing area of acquisition.“American slightly blurry focus to convey the city’s nonstop energy. Davidson, who produced compelling images of outsiders in his “Brooklyn Gang” Moments,” in fact, celebrates recent additions to that collection, which now stands at series, resembles a novelist who happens to use f-stops and framing as his storytelling 1,000 works. Who knew? tools.The theme of alienation also appears in his series called “Separation,” which portrays the lives of the lonely in the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s, following in the footsteps of Gary Tischler is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

[

September 2015

]

The Washington Diplomat Page 31

[ art ]

Troubled Waters Rivers Preserve Dual Nature of Colombia’s Conflicts, Creativity

PHOTOS: COURTESY OF THE ARTISTS

by Sarah Alaoui

The beauty and menacing undercurrent of Colombia’s rivers are depicted in, from top: Carol Young’s “Memoria (Memory)”; Clemencia Echeverri’s “Treno”; and Alberto Baraya “Río (River)”; as well as Echeverri’s “Cauca River,” pictured on the culture cover.

n the Cauca River of Colombia, the bodies of murder victims sometimes get stuck as they float down the river — their identities anonymous and the stories of their demise often washed away in the water.At the same time, Colombia’s waterways, like those in other nations, serve as the commercial, transportation and social lifeblood of their local communities. In a country that has struggled to find peace and prosperity after decades of drug trafficking and a violent guerilla insurgency, the rivers of Colombia have their own stories to tell — at times dark and other times beautiful, but always raw and unfiltered. In a new exhibition at the Art Museum of the Americas,“Waterweavers: The River in Contemporary Colombian Visual and Material Culture,” curators José Roca and Alejandro Martín aim to capture the role of the river in Colombia beauty, local traditions and myths, but also fragility and as both an area of conflict as well as a source of conflict,” said Roca. “The curatorial process was in Waterweavers: The River creativity. itself a form of weaving known and unknown in Contemporary Colombian Visual “I wanted the viewer to see the beauty and threads.” and Material Culture cultural complexity of the rivers and the peoples In Susana Mejía’s “Color Amazonia” — the result of that live alongside them, but also understand the seven years of research on the natural pigments found through Sept. 27 difficulties they face,” said Roca. “Exuberance, in Colombia’s Amazon rainforest — the colors are dazOrganization of American States beauty and culture alongside drug- and politizling.The display of dried paper and fique fibers natuArt Museum of the Americas cally related violence.” rally dyed in rich earth tones dangles over visitors’ With Colombia’s rugged topography — inacheads. It is the culmination of Mejía’s time spent with 201 18th St., NW cessible mountains and unexplored jungles — indigenous women, learning the local practice of For more information, please call (202) 370-0147 waterways are often the only modes of transporextracting color from plant bark, leaves, fruit and sap. or visit www.museum.oas.org. tation between remote areas and cities, connectA different interpretation of the same river is shown ing yet dividing the people in these areas. Using in Alberto Baraya’s “Río (River)” video. The short clip the river and the act of weaving as a platform to examine the intersection between depicts a murky river set against the reflection of clouds overhead, with the only design, craft and art, as well as between nature and art,“Waterweavers” showcases sound in the background coming from birds chirping.All of a sudden, the viewer is immersive environments on the exhibition’s walls that surround 3-D pieces dis- jarred as the stillness of the river and the overall scene are disturbed by the emptyplayed in the center of each room.The exhibition features 17 artists and more than ing of rifle bullets into the water. Baraya, who filmed the scene from a rooftop, was 50 Colombian drawings, ceramics, graphic design, furniture, textiles, video and showing a practice drill by local marines who patrol the river. While routine, the installations that touch upon two themes: rivers and weaving. “It just so happened that these works brought forward issues such as … natural See WATERWEAVERS, page 34

[

The Washington Diplomat

]

September 2015

[ festivals ]

Finding ‘Women’s Voices’ Unprecedented Festival Expands Conversation on Gender Inequality by Lisa Troshinsky

here’s a quiet fact of theater life that many people don’t realize: Plays in America are disproportionately written by men, not women, even though women make up a large share of the audience. But an unprecedented festival in the nation’s capital, loud in its ambition and scope, is putting women center stage. The Women’s Voices Theater Festival — scheduled for September and October in theaters throughout the D.C. area — will present more than 50 world premieres of original work by female playwrights. The large-scale collaboration among professional theater companies is the first of its kind to address the fact that there is a serious lack of plays written by women, say festival creators. Only 22 percent of 2,508 contemporary productions by nonprofit theater companies nationwide between 2011 and 2014 were written by women, according to a recent study by the Dramatists Guild of America. The artistic directors of D.C.’s largest theaters — Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, Round House, Shakespeare Theatre Company, Signature Theatre, Studio Theatre, and Woolly Mammoth — organized the festival in response to this gaping gender disparity. In addition to a kickoff party at the National Museum of Women in the Arts, the festival will host a variety of workshops and discussions covering such topics as gender parity, female leaders in the entertainment industry and feminist theater. First lady Michelle Obama will serve as honorary chair of the festival, which in addition to local and national playwrights from the U.S. will feature talent from countries such as Australia, Brazil and Poland. Although many of the plays will be produced by larger, well-established theaters, the festival will also showcase lesser-known companies. One such company is Pointless Theatre, a small local troupe comprised of University of Maryland alumni that’s known for its innovative use of puppetry. They will present “Gimme a Band, Gimme a Banana! The Carmen Miranda Story,” written by Mel Bieler and Patti Kalil, both female Brazilian Americans. The original piece explores a tense yet revolutionary period of U.S.-Latin America relations by examining the life of 1940s Hollywood bombshell Carmen Miranda, one of the first Latina performers to immigrate to the United States and become a household name. “This festival, created by a handful of larger D.C. theaters, invited everyone who wanted to participate,” said Kalil, who is the co-founder of Pointless Theatre with Matt Reckeweg.“When we got the email we were already thinking about a show about Carmen. As far as I know, our theater is one of the few involved in the festival that is puppetry-based.We never sent For more information in a script. The only rules I on the Women’s Voices know of are that the play has Theater Festival, visit to be a world premiere and www.womensvoicestheaterfestival.org. had to have been written by a woman.” “Gimme a Band” is a musical that relays the seldom-told story of Miranda, a Portuguese-Brazilian singer, dancer and actress who was often cast in movies as an unflattering stereotype of Latin culture, Kalil told The Washington Diplomat. “The problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that they are incomplete; they make one story become the only story,” Kalil said, quot-

to learn

September 2015

PHOTOS: WOMEN’S VOICES THEATER FESTIVAL

The Women’s Voices Theater Festival will present over 50 world premieres of original works by female playwrights, including, from clockwise top, “Ironbound” by Polish playwright Martyna Majok; Pointless Theatre’s “Gimme a Band, Gimme a Banana! The Carmen Miranda Story”; and Patricia Henley’s “If I Hold My Tongue.”

ing the Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. “Gimme a Band,” with half of its songs in Portuguese, is also meant to reach out to the Latino community and break down cultural stereotypes. “With ‘Gimme a Band,’ we are able to dive into cultural identity and racial issues,” Kalil said. “We realized Carmen Miranda is a great example of the exploitive nature of Hollywood and the entertainment industry that sexualized a Latino fashion icon as stereotypically loose and exotic, and who wore giant fruit hats.” Kalil referenced a quintessential moment in Miranda’s career in the 1943 movie “The Gang’s All Here,” which featured her singing the memorable “The Lady in the Tutti Frutti Hat.” The number was laden with sexual innuendo, as dozens of scantily clad women danced around her handling large bananas. Kalil said this “ridiculous, over-the-top portrayal” was reflective of how many Americans viewed Latin America during the 1940s. “This goes back to World War II. During this time, President [Franklin] Roosevelt created the Good Neighbor policy, which opened up Latin America for tourism as a way to get the continent to be an ally during the war. Miranda was brought to us at that time as a symbol of that new relationship and as a distraction for Americans during the war,” Kalil explained. “However, the moment World War II ended, her career went downhill. What’s more, civilians back home became bitter of her image in the U.S. and booed her off the stage. In the ’50s, right before she died at the age of 46, she was at the lowest point in her career.

See WOMEN’S VOICES, page 34 The Washington Diplomat Page 33

from page 36

Dining Adkins knows what time it is — summer — and many of his dishes reflect the glories of the season. In fact, while Sally’s Middle Name is not technically a vegetarian restaurant, it would rate high on any herbivore’s list of excellent dining options in D.C. Adkins’s concept is a limited menu of mostly small plates, with a few larger ones mixed in. We ordered most of the menu and still had room for dessert. We’re glad we did, but the kitchen had some serious pacing problems. The dishes piled up on our PHOTO: SALLY’S MIDDLE NAME small table, and we definitely felt rushed as some of the hot food Chef Sam Adkins, who earned his culinary bona fides at such established cooled. But we’ll chalk that up to eateries as Cashion’s Eat Place in Adams Morgan and Jackie’s in Silver an admittedly inexperienced serv- Spring, is now serving up inventive, fresh dishes at Sally’s Middle Name. er and hope it’s not the norm. With that quibble out of the way, let’s get to the were the embodiment of everything you typically food. The cucumber soup arrived first and it was a can’t find in a store-bought version of the red fruit. near-perfect antidote to a warm, muggy evening. Meanwhile, perfectly grilled, generous chunks of Chilled with a dollop of yogurt, the soup was the summer squash drizzled with a spicy olive oil and embodiment of summer with a little vinegar zing. My dotted with fresh basil kept the seasonal party playing out on our grateful taste buds. dining companion likened it to a fresh, liquid salad. Grilled salmon atop an ember-roasted eggplant A carrot salad served with green harissa — a combo of jalapeno, cilantro, parsley and cumin — puree delivered a welcome blast of protein to the was less zesty than it sounded, but the carrots, again, meal and hit every possible right note. The thick chunk of pink fish had a tasty char and the roasted had a fresh flavor and pleasing al dente crunch. The pickled and fried Swiss chard stems — quick- eggplant came with a welcome roar of mustard fire. We finished with a melon and nectarine salad, ly becoming a signature dish at Sally’s — were a revelation. When most of us think chard, we think duti- served as a dessert of sorts, with chunks of hazelnut ful, healthy and maybe even blah eating. But this isn’t and thin slices of jalapeno topping off the dish. The your yoga instructor’s chard. These fresh stems are pepper heat injected a lively contrast to the sweet, lightly battered in beer, flash fried and served with a juicy slices of nectarine and left us satiated. Inventive, ambitious restaurants are springing up side of homemade buttermilk dressing. And they’re out of this world. Searing hot with a light crunch, this all across Washington these days. The additions of chard dish could have you rethinking the trendy Maketto and Sally’s Middle Name put H Street right in the middle of the action. health food’s potential. Roasted tomatoes with Romano beans and basil were also outstanding.Thick tomato slices, blackened Michael Coleman (@michaelcoleman) is a contributing writer on the edges and flecked with pieces of fried garlic, for The Washington Diplomat.

from page 30

Ingenue skills that would later make her a key player in political and philanthropic circles back home. Hillwood devotes a special section of the exhibit to Post’s wardrobe in this chapter of her life, called“Sartorial Success at Home and Abroad,” which is a stylish lesson in keeping warm, not just in the harsh PHOTOS: COURTESY HILLWOOD ESTATE, MUSEUM AND GARDENS cold of her new country, but also in relationships with her A Bergdorf Goodman afternoon dress from the 1930s is part of the home country.“Being an ambas- “Ingenue to Icon” exhibit at Hillwood Museum. sador’s wife represented a turning point in Marjorie’s approach to fashion,” said high-quality, tailor-made clothes, she appreciates Dodson. “Knowing she was to represent her the fashion mostly as a well-preserved timeline of country abroad, she sought out designers work- women’s history. “You can come away with an ing in the U.S. to create her clothes, accessories understanding of the changing roles of women through most of that century, as showcased by and jewels.” Post perfected the role of hostess at the embas- this one high-profile person, who just happened sy in Moscow, where she developed a love of to be a great curator and archivist of her own life,” Russian imperial decorative arts, including Fabergé she said. Dodson takes it one step further, calling the eggs. After her divorce from Davies, Post returned to the U.S. to purchase Hillwood, where she spent collection an “arc of life.” “We might not all dress like Marjorie Post, but the remainder of her life hosting legendary parties for Washington society. Her love of clothing we do dress,” she said. “And our choices say a lot and jewelry continued, serving as a fashion diary about us, every day. In this way, we can all find as the decades wore on. The entries on display something of ourselves in this story.We can see our range from a Marie Antoinette headdress to a cos- own stories set against the backdrop of history.” tume inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s “Starry Night.” Lauren Hodges (@LaurEHodges) is a contributing writer While Markert revels in the fine detail of Post’s for The Washington Diplomat.

PHOTOS: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST

Susana Mejia’s “Color Amazonia” series shows fique fibers being dyed in the Amazon.

from page 32

Waterweavers brief explosions illustrate the unsettling undercurrent of life along the river and how the tranquility can be shattered in mere seconds — an alltoo-familiar reality in certain parts of Colombia. Similarly, in Clemencia Echeverri’s video installation “Treno,” a double screen shows the routine ebbs and flows of activity along the Cauca River, pierced by sudden screams that echo from a distance. Colombia’s second-largest river, the Cauca holds its own secrets as the preferred dumping ground for those caught up in cartel battles. Other works in the exhibition explore the more creative, lighter side of Colombian life, including Ceci Arango’s “Corocora stools” and “Cucarachero poufs,” which highlight the traditional weaving practices of the Guacamayas community. When looked at from afar, the stools resemble the corocora, or scarlet ibis, a beautiful bright red bird com-

monly found in Colombia. Marcelo Villegas’s chairs work with the natural shapes and curves of the materials he uses rather than trying to sculpt the form unnecessarily. The resulting “furniture,” which features the unique texture of the bamboo root, resembles a living creature that may be found in the wilderness. Fittingly, Carol Young’s “Memoria” is an installation of long ceramic sheets that have been rolled and stacked on top of one another, showing how material deposited by rivers preserves memories and history. While “Waterweavers” subtly addresses difficult topics from Colombia’s not-so-distant past, the curators want the exhibition to be absorbed rather than overanalyzed. As such, the display contains no explanatory text to distract from the sensory experience. Words aren’t needed, though, because the emotion flows throughout the art, just above the surface. Sarah Alaoui is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

from page 33

Women’s Voices “For us, it was really important to tell her story in a way that didn’t celebrate her career, but made a critique of everything she went through,” Kalil said. The subject matter of the plays in Women’s Voices spans the emotional spectrum, from weighty topics like cultural assimilation and single motherhood to comedic takes on sobriety and beauty. PHOTO: WOMEN’S VOICES THEATER FESTIVAL In “Ironbound” by Polish playwright Martyna Majok, a hard-working Polish Brazilian-American playwright immigrant mother works her way Patti Kalil is co-founder of Pointless through three relationships in the span Theatre, which is known for its of 22 years to discover the true mean- innovative use of puppetry. ing of love. Meanwhile, “Lady Lay” by Illinois native Lydia Stryk transports viewers to 1989 Berlin, where a career clerk hears Bob Dylan for the first time and sets off on a personal post-Cold War journey. British playwright Ursula Rani Sarma offers up “The Magic Tree,” the story of love born in an abandoned summer home on a stormy night in Dublin. And four prostituted women struggle to leave their street life behind in a Baltimore halfway house in “If I Hold My Tongue.” The breadth of plays is a testament to the diversity of women’s voices in a male-dominated field that has not always listened to them. But an audacious theatrical undertaking is, at the least, opening up a long-overdue conversation about how to change that. Lisa Troshinsky is the theater reviewer for The Washington Diplomat.

The Washington Diplomat

September 2015

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September 2015

The Washington Diplomat Page 35

[ dining ]

H Street Adventure Revitalized Corridor Comes Alive With Fresh New Restaurants by Michael Coleman

t’s been more than a decade since the District of Columbia launched its much-hyped revitalization of the H Street corridor in the northeast section of the city. Although the return of streetcars to H Street has been beset by delays, 10 years into the major urban renewal project, the long-dilapidated thoroughfare has come a long way as a nightlife hub, with a slew of bars, beer gardens and music clubs catering to eclectic tastes. But until recently, H Street has remained a ho-hum dining destination. A couple of important restaurant openings in the past six months have helped turn H Street into not only a fun place to party, but also to enjoy a daring, flavorful meal.

MAKETTO When Maketto — an Asian-inspired restaurant, bar, coffee house and retail space — opened in April, it immediately became the hippest spot in the corridor and one of the best places in the city for a culinary adventure. Chef Erik Bruner-Yang, nominated as a “rising star” by the James Beard restaurant awards this year for his Toki Underground ramen hotspot, is the driving force behind Maketto, as well.There’s no question Bruner-Yang’s multipurpose, 6,000-square-foot Maketto is trendy. Underground D.C. rapper Yung Gleesh flowed softly from the stereo as we sat down and a server in a Dillinger Escape Plan concert t-shirt took our order. But the establishment’s airy design and friendly employees help keep it real. Maketto describes itself as “Cambodian and Taiwanese cooking inspired by the people and flavors of their cultures.” The simplicity of that description belies a complexity of flavors originating from the polished steel kitchen of Maketto’s James Wozniuk, the chef de cuisine. We started with one of Maketto’s signatures, pork steam baos, or buns. Two plump white orbs of baked dough arrived fresh, piping Maketto hot and glistening alongside a dol1351 H St., NE lop of hoisin sauce. Texturally the (202) 838-9972 buns were a big winner, soft on the inside with a slight firmness www.maketto1351.com outside, and the piquant shredded pork tucked into the buns was Sally’s Middle Name tangy and tasty. A dollop of hoisin 1320 H St., NE sauce on the side offered a sweet (202) 750-6529 and salty — too salty, in this diner’s www.sallysmiddlename.com opinion — contrast to the pork. If you like carbs, this is your dish. Next, shrimp crudo wrapped in mint leaf and topped with flecks of salt-cured duck egg and a spicy pounded fish with a savory coconut milk dipping sauce on the side was a confounding, but deeply palate-pleasing, adventure. The menu says simply “shrimp crudo with mint,” or raw shrimp with mint, so unless the diner asks in advance, he or she won’t really know what they are getting into. When the plate arrived, I suspected the little bits of duck egg were some kind

[ ] want to

go?

The Washington Diplomat

The constantly changing menu at Sally’s Middle Name is written in erasable marker on the walls of the small, simple eatery on H Street.

of white cheese and the spicy pounded fish was peanut sauce. I was wrong on both counts, the chef informed us. But both ingredients brought an immense flavor to the delectable bites.We’ll also confess to using a spoon to lap up more of the citrus-infused coconut dipping sauce than was probably necessary. The chicken soup is also a solid bet. The steaming bowl arrived with a leg and thigh of chicken attached to each other PHOTOS: SALLY’S MIDDLE NAME — and no knife. Since I didn’t want to end up wearing the hot soup on my shirt, we asked the kitchen to carve it up, which they happily and promptly did. Then we got down to business. The soup was, well, chicken soup, but elevated mightily with chunks of perfectly cooked, earthy okra and tart slivers of lemongrass. The fried oyster served with egg omelet again showcased Maketto’s adventurous bent.A half-dozen lightly fried mollusks accompanied with a creamy cooked egg and draped in a spicy tomato-based sauce transported us straight to a food cart on the streets of Phnom Penh. Well done, Maketto.

SALLY’S MIDDLE NAME Across H Street at Sally’s Middle Name, chef Sam Adkins, who earned his culinary bona fides at such established eateries as Cashion’s Eat Place in Adams Morgan and Jackie’s in Silver Spring, is also serving up inventive, fresh dishes. Aesthetically, the small restaurant is a cool wash of spare white tile punctuated by a dark wood floor. No menus here. Everything you need to know about the dishes is written in erasable marker on the walls.

See DINING, page 34 September 2015

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[ around town ]

EVENTS LISTING **Admission is free unless otherwise noted. All information on event venues can be found on The Diplomat Web site at www.washdiplomat.com. Times and locations are subject to change. Unless listed, please call venue for specific event times and hours of operation.

ART Through Sept. 4

Justine Otto: hyder flares

Leading German contemporary figurative painter Justine Otto, who won the Phillips Collection’s second annual Emerging Artist Prize, creates representational pictures that burn themselves into the viewer’s retina, simultaneously fascinating and disturbing. Otto’s exhibition “hyder flares,” borrows its name from this cosmic phenomenon as it focuses on such peculiar constellations, incidents and connections in human interactions. Goethe-Institut Through Sept. 7

Watch This! Revelations in Media Art

This exhibit of pioneering and contemporary artworks that trace the evolution of a continuously emerging medium celebrates artists who are engaged in a creative revolution — one shaped as much by developments in science and technology as by style or medium. Smithsonian American Art Museum Through Sept. 11

Miguel Salom: Ictum Olim III: Ambrotypes and Tintypes

Miquel Salom’s exhibited works resulted from decades of applied photographic research and visits to the United States to observe, firsthand, original works by photography pioneers. Selected portraits and landscapes use wet collodion, an early form of photographic emulsion.

Sept. 12 to Jan. 3

Through Sept. 13

Age of Lawyers: The Roots of American Law in Shakespeare’s Britain

Super Natural

In the 800th anniversary year of the Magna Carta, “Age of Lawyers” offers a close-up look at the rapid increase of lawyers and legal actions in Shakespeare’s Britain, from the law’s impact on daily life to major political and legal disputes — some invoking the Magna Carta — that still influence American politics and government. Folger Shakespeare Library Through Sept. 13

American Moments: Photographs from the Phillips Collection

In celebration of recent major gifts, the Phillips presents for the first time a major photography exhibition drawn exclusively from the museum’s permanent collection. The exhibit showcases more than 140 photographs that capture the changing landscape of America after World War I, with more than 30 renowned artists represented and many works new to the collection. The Phillips Collection Through Sept. 13

Chief S.O. Alonge: Photographer to the Royal Court of Benin, Nigeria

This retrospective showcases the work of noted Nigerian photographer Chief S.O. Alonge, the first indigenous photographer of the Royal Court of Benin, in conjunction with royal arts from the Benin kingdom. The collection of historic photographs was captured on Kodak glassplate negatives and documents more than 50 years of the ritual, pageantry and regalia of the obas (kings), their wives and retainers.

OAS Art Museum of the Americas

National Museum of African Art

Sept. 12 to Oct. 18

Through Sept. 13

Jordan Eagles: Blood Mirror

The central artwork in this exhibiton is a seven-foot-tall, interactive, monolithic sculpture, made with blood donated from nine gay, bisexual and trans men in protest of the FDA’s ban on blood donations from gay and bisexual men. American University Museum Katzen Arts Center Sept. 12 to Oct. 18

Pulse of the Future

Contemporary Chinese art captured the world’s attention in the 1980s. Now the next generation is coming of age and staking a claim for artistic precedence, as seen in this display of painting, photography and prints by six emerging Chinese artists. American University Museum Katzen Arts Center Sept. 12 to Oct. 18

Reflections and Contradictions: Five Decades

Mixed-media sculptor Mary Shaffer utilizes glass to explore her fascination with discarded tools “to preserve and pay tribute to activities and methods of working that have disappeared from our modern lives.” American University Museum Katzen Arts Center

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

The Memory of Time: Contemporary Photographs at the National Gallery of Art

In the decades since 1990, the concepts of time and memory have been frequently explored by photographers who seek not simply to reflect the world but to illuminate how photography constructs our understanding of it. This exhibition explores the work of 26 contemporary artists who investigate the complex and resonant relationship of photography to time, memory and history. National Gallery of Art Through Sept. 13

Organic Matters – Women to Watch 2015 / Super Natural

Historically, women artists were encouraged by society to take the natural world as their subject. Rather than narrative art, which was thought to require invention and imagination beyond women’s capabilities, subjects such as botanical drawings, still-life paintings and images of animals seemed to require merely the power of observation. Turning this archaic paradigm upside down, these featured contemporary artists actively redefine the relationship of women, nature and art by investigating the natural world — to fanciful and sometimes frightful effect. National Museum of Women in the Arts

September 2015 have been used to describe William Spratling, a person who undoubtedly had much to do with Taxco’s transformation from Mexican small town to center of design. Granted to the Museo Franz Mayer for a 10-year loan in 2012, this exhibition shows the trajectory of Spratling’s vision for design as tool of not only aesthetics, but also one of social transformation. In four parts covering different themes, silver pieces, including jewelry and documents, seek to show Spratling as a designer committed to his context and his community. Mexican Cultural Institute

Rather than merely document beauty, artists in “Super Natural” engage with nature as a space for exploration and invention. Historical painters and naturalists focused on the singularity or strangeness of plant and animal specimens, sometimes adding narrative details and imagined settings. National Museum of Women in the Arts Through Sept. 15

Art between the Lines: A Creative Dialogue on Sustainability and Interdependency

Works by Eunmee Chung and Judy Stone explore the notion of sustainability through art as both model and mirror for our modern society. Through contrasting installation, metalworking, visual and fabric arts, this dialogue between Chung, of South Korea, and Stone, of the United States, touches on a universal trend in art and other creative disciplines today: that true sustainability requires not just respect for nature, but an understanding of the interdependency of individuals, society and our environment. Korean Cultural Center

Through Nov. 1

Photo: Korean Cultural Center

“Art between the Lines” at the Korean Cultural Center, a poster for which is seen above,” examines sustainability and interdependency through art.

temporary practices in Colombia. Using the river as a conceptual device to explore the intersections in Colombian culture today between design, craft and art, “Waterweavers” investigates the intricate ways in which culture and nature can intertwine across disciplines.

Sept. 15 to 25

OAS Art Museum of the Americas

We Gave Our Best Now the Rest Is Up for the Hope Chest

Through Oct. 4

Traditionally in the form of a wooden trunk or box, a hope chest contained the dowry of a young woman. The box and its contents played an important part not only in the business transaction between two families, but also served as a survival kit for the new life the newlyweds were about to enter. With this in mind, a group of European artists produced a hope chest that traveled from the Old World to the New World and back again. At each station, artists participated in shaping the content of the box and therefore the exhibition. Embassy of Austria Through Sept. 20

Gustave Caillebotte: The Painter’s Eye

Gustave Caillebotte (1848-94) was among the most critically noted impressionist artists during the height of their activity in the late 1870s and early 1880s. Some 45 paintings from the period when Caillebotte was fully engaged with the impressionist movement will provide a focused understanding of the provocative character and complexity of his artistic contributions. National Gallery of Art Through Oct. 4

Pleasure and Piety: The Art of Joachim Wtewael

Shirin Neshat: Facing History

The first monographic exhibition on Dutch painter Wtewael will showcase his international mannerist style and remarkable technical ability through some 45 complex biblical and mythological narratives, as well as portraits and genre scenes.

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden

National Gallery of Art Through Oct. 4

Sept. 22 to Oct. 24

Recent Acquisitions of Italian Renaissance Prints: Ideas Made Flesh

This major exhibition of works by Iranian-born, New York-based video artist, photographer and filmmaker Shirin Neshat is the first to place Neshat’s work in the context of the history of modern Iran, a significant influence on her career.

…De Peregrina a Peregrina…

This photography exhibit created by Mónica Guerrero Mouret highlights the annual pilgrimage taken by thousands to the Basilica of the Virgin of Guadalupe in Mexico City. The images tell the story of motivation beyond religious belief; they show a pilgrimage born from tradition that has evolved over hundreds of years and is now an identifying aspect of Mexican culture.

Prints played a pivotal role in the development and transmission of Italian Renaissance style. But because many of these 16th-century prints reproduce the designs of other artists, they have often been undervalued. This exhibition presents some two dozen, reflecting the principal styles and numerous major masters of the period.

Mexican Cultural Institute

National Gallery of Art

Through Sept. 27

Through Oct. 31

Waterweavers: The River in Contemporary Colombian Visual and Material Culture

Celebrating 25 Years of the MCI Silver on Silver: William Spratling, An American in Taxco

The confluence of the image of the river and the act of weaving is present both metaphorically and literally across con-

Adventurer, writer, collector, illustrator, architect, designer, entrepreneur and businessman are just a few words that

The Divine Comedy: Heaven, Purgatory, and Hell Revisited by Contemporary African Artists

This dramatic multimedia exhibition reveals the ongoing global relevance of Dante Alighieri’s 14th-century epic as part of a shared intellectual heritage and includes original commissions and renowned works of art by approximately 40 of the most dynamic contemporary artists from 19 African nations and the diaspora. National Museum of African Art Through Dec. 31

Ingénue to Icon: 70 Years of Fashion

The first exhibition at Hillwood to present Marjorie Post’s full range of style, “Ingénue to Icon” will examine how Post’s lifelong passion for objects that were exceptionally beautiful and impeccably constructed extended to her taste for clothing. Hillwood Estate, Museum & Gardens Through Jan. 2

Peacock Room Remix: Darren Waterston’s Filthy Lucre

“Peacock Room REMIX” centers on “Filthy Lucre,” an immersive interior by painter Darren Waterston who reinterprets James McNeill Whistler’s famed Peacock Room as a resplendent ruin, an aesthetic space that is literally overburdened by its own excesses — of materials, history, and creativity. Like “Filthy Lucre” and the original Peacock Room, this exhibition invites viewers to consider the complex relationships among art, money and the passage of time. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery Through Jan. 3

Bold and Beautiful: Rinpa in Japanese Art

The modern term Rinpa (Rimpa) describes a remarkable group of Japanese artists who created striking images for paintings, ceramics, textiles and lacquerware. Freer Gallery of Art Through Jan. 3

Enigmas: The Art of Bada Shanren (1626-1705)

Born a prince of the Ming imperial house, Bada Shanren (1626–1705) lived a storied life, remaking himself as a secluded Buddhist monk and, later, as a professional painter and calligrapher. Featured in this exhibition are examples of his most daring and idiosyncratic works, demonstrating his unique visual vocabulary. Freer Gallery of Art

The Washington Diplomat

September 2015

art historian Otto M. Urban (Sept. 24). For full festival information, visit

Through Jan. 3

Le Onde: Waves of Italian Influence (1914-1971)

Various locations

This exhibition of nearly 20 works from the museum’s collection follows Italian contributions to the transnational evolution of abstraction, through movements and tendencies such as futurism, spatialism, op art and kinetic art.

Sat., Sept. 5, 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.

National Book Festival

Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden Through June 5

Perspectives: Lara Baladi

Egyptian-Lebanese artist Lara Baladi experiments with the photographic medium, investigating its history and its role in shaping perceptions of the Middle East, particularly Egypt, where she is based. Arthur M. Sackler Gallery

DANCE

Photo: Scott Suchman

Pioneering organic restaurateur Nora Pouillon gives a book talk at the Austrian Embassy on Sept. 29.

Sat., Sept. 5, 8 p.m.

Mandinka

Presented by KanKouran West African Dance Company, “Mandinka” is based on the rise and spread of the legendary Mali Empire of West Africa. Tickets are $25. GW Lisner Auditorium Sat., Sept. 19, 8 p.m.

Mystic India

Mystic India is an internationally acclaimed Bollywood dance spectacular based on ancient India’s transition into modern India. The show features renowned musicians, brilliant dancers, breathtaking aerialists and acrobats, and hundreds of opulent costumes. Tickets are $40 to $60.

“Una nueva diplomacia cultural para Mexico/New Mexican Cultural Diplomacy,” a compilation of texts from diplomats and cultural experts, and talks with Alejandro Estivill about international relations and cultural diplomacy as they relate to Mexico. Admission is free; RSVP at www.instituteofmexicodc.org. Mexican Cultural Institute Mon., Sept. 28, 7:30 p.m.

The Night’s Music: W.S. DiPiero and Rowan Ricardo Phillips

Two acclaimed poets read from their work that sings and improvises to the music of the natural and urban world as part of the O.B. Hardison Poetry Series. Tickets are $15.

GW Lisner Auditorium

Folger Shakespeare Library

Sept. 19 to 20

Tue., Sept. 29, 7:30 p.m.

Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company: Fluency in Four

The Dana Tai Soon Burgess Dance Company performs three repertory works by Burgess — “Picasso Dances,” “Mandala” and “Confluence” — as well as the premiere of his newest work, “We choose to go to the moon,” created in collaboration with NASA, about the connection between human beings and space. Tickets are $28 to $45. Kennedy Center Terrace Theater Sat., Sept. 26, 8 p.m.

Tango Lovers

“Tango Lovers,” lauded by Latin ACE 2015 as “The Best Musical Show of the Year,” is one of the most dynamic, elegant, exciting and sensuous performances touring around the world, sharing the cultural essence and evolution of tango through the art of dance and music. Tickets are $38. GW Lisner Auditorium

DISCUSSIONS Thu., Sept. 10, 6:45 p.m.

Origins of the Mexican Flag

Considered one of the leading innovators of historical research, Dr. Enrique Florescano has authored several books and articles on Mexican history, focusing on pre-Hispanic culture, social and economic history, national identity and more. His lecture (in Spanish) will focus on the history and origins of the Mexican flag. Admission is free; RSVP at www.instituteofmexicodc.org. Mexican Cultural Institute Thu., Sept. 24, 6:45 p.m.

New Mexican Cultural Diplomacy César Villanueva discusses his book

Nora Pouillon Book Presentation

Nora Pouillon, founder of Restaurant Nora, America’s first certified organic restaurant, talks about her engaging memoir, “My Organic Life,” and being a pioneer in the natural foods movement who, earlier than anyone else, made it her mission to bring organic foods to the American table. Admission is free; RSVP at http://acfdc.org.

The Library of Congress celebrates the 15th anniversary of the National Book Festival, as well as the 200th anniversary of the library’s acquisition of Thomas Jefferson’s personal library, with the theme of Jefferson’s quote, “I Cannot Live Without Books.” Bestselling Latin American fiction writers from numerous countries, including Mexico, Colombia, Chile, Peru and Argentina, will be featured in programs that straddle a number of subjects, from world religions to the best of Latin America’s fiction and poetry, ending with fascinating, true stories from the Amazon jungle. For information, visit www.loc.gov/bookfest/. Washington Convention Center

MUSIC Sun., Sept. 6, 8 p.m.

Rodrigo y Gabriela and Todd Park Mohr

This nimble-fingered Mexican guitar duo presents rhythmically supercharged instrumentals, with influences ranging from heavy metal to salsa. Tickets are $35 to $65. Wolf Trap Sept. 9 to Oct. 18

Chimerica

In 1989, Joe, a young American journalist, photographs a protester facing down four tanks in Tiananmen Square. In 2012, with election season bringing U.S.-China relations into the spotlight, Joe decides to seek out the subject of his most famous image — just as an old friend from China reaches out with an agenda of his own. Tickets are $44 to $88.

Kennedy Center Concert Hall Wed., Sept. 30, 6:45 p.m.

Mexico City Woodwind Quintet

Regarded as one of the foremost chamber music groups in Mexico today, the Mexico City Woodwind Quintet is formed of members of the National Symphony Orchestra, the Mexico City Philharmonic Orchestra and the Mexico State Symphony Orchestra. The group’s international backgrounds lend a unique sound to their performance of contemporary compositions. Admission is free; RSVP at www.instituteofmexicodc.org. Mexican Cultural Institute

RECEPTIONS Fri., Sept. 18, 6 p.m.

Nyumbani 22nd Annual Benefit and Auction

Mistress of ceremonies Kathleen Matthews, political columnist Mark Shields and Rep. Christopher Smith (R-N.J.) are among the Washingtonians who will be supporting Nyumbani, which provides community outreach, medical services and shelter to the rising number of HIV-infected infants and children in Kenya. Tickets are $350; for information, visit http://www.nyumbani.org. Ritz-Carlton D.C.

Wolf Trap

Mutual Inspirations Festival: Karel Čapek

Fri., Sept. 11, 7:30 p.m.

Embassy of Slovenia Fri., Sept. 11, 8 p.m.

Ethiopian New Year with Mahmoud Ahmed

For over 40 years Mahmoud Ahmed has deftly combined the traditional Amharic music of Ethiopia with pop and jazz, yielding some of the most adventurous, passionate, ear-opening, downright surrealistic sounds. Tickets are $35. GW Lisner Auditorium Mon., Sept. 28, 7 p.m.

Jürgen Habermas and Charles Taylor, two of the world’s most important philosophers, will be conferred the prestigious $1.5 million John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity by the Library of Congress in a Sept. 29 ceremony. “Jürgen Habermas and Charles Taylor are brilliant philosophers and deeply engaged public intellectuals,” said Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. “Emerging from different philosophical traditions, they converge in their ability to address contemporary problems with a penetrating understanding of individual and social formations.” Endowed by philanthropist John W. Kluge, the Kluge Prize recognizes achievement in the range of disciplines not covered by the Nobel prizes, including history, philosophy, politics, anthropology, sociology, religion, criticism in the arts and humanities, and linguistics. Ordinarily a $1 million award, in 2015 the Kluge Prize is increased to $1.5 million in recognition of the Kluge Center’s 15th anniversary. For information, visit www.loc.gov/loc/kluge/. Library of Congress

THEATER Sept. 1 to 13

A Midsummer Night’s Dream

One of the capital’s most beloved annual traditions, the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Free For All, and one of Shakespeare’s most beloved plays, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” come together for a major milestone: Free For All’s 25th anniversary. Love, magic and wonder fill the air in Ethan McSweeny’s stunning “ghost light” production, set in the ruins of an abandoned theatre.

Yerma

GALA kicks off its 40th anniversary with a new adaptation of “Yerma,” the dramatic tragic poem written in 1934 by renowned Spanish poet Federico García Lorca. In this world premiere by the Spanish playwright Fernando J. López, the cast has been reduced to five characters, a concentration that heightens the oppression of a loveless marriage, forbidden desires and repressive society faced by Yerma in her rural environment and underscores how even today women face the tension between motherhood and their role in society. Tickets are $38 to $42.

Lana Trotovšek, Violin

The winner of international competitions and prizes, Slovenian violinist Lana Trotovšek returns to the Embassy Series, along with pianist Anna Shelest. The Washington Post hailed last year’s performance for showcasing “her clean and refined tone and musical sense of phrasing, especially in the slow movement, marked by a radiant pianissimo sound and impeccable intonation.” Tickets are $90, including buffet and wine; for information, visit www.embassyseries.org.

John W. Kluge

Sept. 10 to Oct. 4

The Gipsy Kings

Sept. 3 to Oct. 29

Tue., Sept. 29

Sidney Harman Hall

Thu., Sept. 10, 8 p.m.

FESTIVALS

The Mutual Inspirations Festival (MIF) is an annual initiative spearheaded by the Czech Embassy to highlight the mutual inspirations between Czech and Karel Čapek American cultures. This year’s festival focuses on Karel Čapek, a playwright, novelist, short story writer, journalist, children’s author and essayist who wrote on such topics as nationalism, totalitarianism and consumerism. Events include an opening-night jazz concert on Sept. 3 featuring pianist Jana Otáhalová, dancing by the Fidgety Feet duo Kevin Crandell and Lily Matini, and the opening of exhibitions about brothers Karel and Josef Čapek. Other events include: a reading of “R.U.R. (Rossum’s Universal Robots)” at the Kennedy Center (Sept. 7); the films “Krakatit” (Sept. 8), “Accumulator 1” (Sept. 15) and “Capek’s Tales” (Sept. 29); a LEGO robotics workshop for kids (Sept. 19); and a lecture by

With numerous awards and honors between them, these celebrated statesmen of the classical music world prove their wit and charm are ever present, performing sonatas by Mozart, Fauré, Strauss and other selections to be announced from the stage. Tickets are $55 to $135.

The Studio Theatre

Get ready to dance with the Grammywinning flamenco kings behind “Bamboleo” and “Djobi Djoba” who the New York Times calls “explosive” and “brilliant.” Tickets are $38 to $50.

Embassy of Austria

Washington Performing Arts: Itzhak Perlman, Violin, and Emanuel Ax, Piano

GALA Hispanic Theatre Sept. 11 to Oct. 18

Destiny of Desire Photo: MATT KARAS / The Kennedy Center

The Washington National Opera’s production of “Carmen” plays at the Kennedy Center from Sept. 19 to Oct. 3. Fri., Sept. 25, 7 p.m.

Beyond the Little Black Dress: A Fashion Show

The Alliance Française de Washington is renewing tradition by holding its first fashion show in 45 years — with a twist. “Beyond The Little Black Dress” reconnects AFDC’s prestigious past with the 21st century by combining tradition and modernity, focusing on the diversity of fashion beyond the clichés and highlighting women as emerging talents of both France and the U.S. Tickets are $195 (VIP) to $55 (standing room). Dupont Circle Hotel

September 2015

On a stormy night in Bellarica, Mexico, two baby girls are born — one into a life of privilege and one into a life of poverty. When the newborns are swapped by a former beauty queen with an insatiable lust for power, the stage is set for two outrageous misfortunes to grow into one remarkable destiny (part of the Women’s Voices Theater Festival). Tickets are $40 to $90. Arena Stage Through Sept. 13

The Importance of Being Earnest

Scena Theatre presents their 2011 hit production of Oscar Wilde’s timeless tale of class and marriage that both revels in and mocks the “double life.” Tickets are $10 to $45. Atlas Performing Arts Center

See events, page 41 The Washington Diplomat Page 39

[ film ]

CINEMA LISTING *Unless specific times are listed, please check the theater for times. Theater locations are subject to change.

English Arcade Fire: The Reflektor Tapes Directed by Kahlil Joseph (Canada, 2015)

“The Reflektor Tapes” is a fascinating insight into the making of the international number-one album “Reflektor” by Canadian rock band Arcade Fire. The film re-contextualizes the album experience and the band’s creative journey, transporting the viewer into a kaleidoscopic sonic and visual landscape. Angelika Mosaic Opens Wed., Sept. 23

Grandma Directed by Paul Weitz (U.S., 2015, 79 min.)

Self-described misanthrope Elle has her protective bubble burst when her 18-year-old granddaughter, Sage, shows up needing help. The two of them go on a daylong journey that causes Elle to come to terms with her past and Sage to confront her future. Landmark’s E Street Cinema

The Inn of the Sixth Happiness Directed by Mark Robson (U.K., 1958, 158 min.)

Ingrid Bergman stars as real-life British missionary Gladys Aylward, who ventured into war-torn China in the 1930s to preach her Christian faith, became a pillar of her village community and ultimately led 100 orphans across a perilous mountain journey to safety. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Sept. 6, 11 a.m.

Intermezzo: A Love Story Directed by Gregory Ratoff (U.S., 1939, 70 min.)

Virtuoso violinist Leslie Howard and talented piano teacher Ingrid Bergman make beautiful music together, but, despite a whirlwind love affair and boffo international tour, Howard finds himself pining for the wife and children he left behind.

In this mouth-watering documentary, director Franck Ribière and his favorite butcher, Yves-Marie Le Bourdonnec, begin a worldwide chase for the world s best steak. As they travel around the world in search of passionate cattle breeders, professional butchers, chefs, meat experts and steak houses, the duo explores how good and healthy red meat can be achieved (English and French).

Fleeing to her native South from Rome and the Allied bombing, Sophia Loren and her daughter Eleonora Brown find friendship with the local intellectual Jean-Paul Belmondo, but soon discover which is worse — the retreating Germans or the advancing Allies (Italian and German). Photo: Glen Wilson, / Sony Pictures Classics

Lily Tomlin, left, and Julia Garner go on a daylong journey that forces them to confront their past in “Grandma.” Goethe-Institut Mon., Sept. 21, 6:30 p.m.

The Lies of the Victors (Die Lügen der Sieger)

Farsi

Directed by Christoph Hochhäusler (Germany, 2014, 112 min.)

Statues of Tehran Directed by Bahman Kiarostami (Iran, 2008, 60 min.)

Bahman Kiarostami has produced numerous documentaries on the arts and post-revolutionary life in Iran. “Statues of Tehran” focuses on monuments and memory, tracing the history of two famous public sculptures and their inevitable neglect in the course of revolution, war and urban development (screens with “The Treasure Cave”).

Renowned journalist Fabian Groys is working at a political news magazine, researching a politically charged story about dubious government policies concerning the disabled in the army. The case of a veteran committing suicide leads him to a new story about toxic waste, which seems to be somehow connected. When he starts receiving anonymous threats, Groys realizes that some politicians and business leaders are trying to stop him from uncovering the story.

Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Sept. 13, 2 p.m.

Goethe-Institut Mon., Sept. 14, 6:30 p.m.

The Treasure Cave

To Life

Directed by Bahman Kiarostami (Iran, 2009, 42 min.)

German

Directed by Vittorio De Sica (Italy/France, 1960, 100 min.)

Landmark’s E Street Cinema

Directed by Sidney Lumet (U.K., 1974, 128 min.)

In this documentary, three former

Two Women (La ciociara)

Directed by Franck Ribière (Multiple countries, 2014, 135 min.)

Murder on the Orient Express

Directed by James Spione (U.S., 2014, 102 min.)

National Gallery of Art Sat., Sept. 5, 1 p.m.

Steak (R)evolution

Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Sept. 13, 2 p.m.

Silenced

overly plain (Franca Valeri) — engage the distinctive talents of several key Italian comic actors of the day.

Goethe-Institut Mon., Sept. 28, 6:30 p.m.

AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Sept. 6, 5:15 p.m.

AFI Silver Theatre Fri., Sept. 4, 11:30 a.m.

September 2015

American federal employees share their experiences of the consequences they faced for whistleblowing in the age of the War on Terror: Justice Department lawyer Jesselyn Radack and former CIA analyst John Kiriakou, both of whom denounced the torture methods used in the Army and the CIA’s interrogations, along with former agent Thomas Drake, who made the NSA’s illegal recordings public.

“The Treasure Cave” centers on the Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, considered the region’s most important repository of modern Western art. After the revolution, its collection was locked away and the building became a memorial to martyrs of the revolution and Iran-Iraq War (screens with (Statues of Tehran”).

When a widely despised international financier turns up dead aboard the Orient Express, Belgian detective Hercule Poirot has a veritable trainload of suspects to investigate in Agatha Christie’s most famous whodunit, which receives a first-class screen treatment from director Sidney Lumet and an all-star cast.

THE WASHINGTON DIPLOMAT

The Family (Die Familie) Directed by Stefan Weinert (Germany, 2013, 92 min.)

Even today, more than a quarter of a century after the collapse of East Germany, family members of those shot along the Berlin Wall continue to suffer the trauma of their loss. This documentary contrasts the statements of those affected with parallel entries in the Stasi files — formulated in a cold, bureaucratic German — and shows how the two sides collide.

Directed by Uwe Janson (Germany, 2014, 86 min.)

Sarcastic but warm-hearted Ruth, an aging Jewish cabaret singer, saw no other way out than suicide. Jonas, meanwhile, is driven by a secret, and is fleeing from his love and his future. She and Jonas begin to form a deep bond and age-old Jewish culture and music are brought into the light of day as she tells him the story of her own impossible, tragic love for a non-Jewish man in post-World War II Germany. Washington DCJCC Tue., Sept. 1, 7:30 p.m.

Italian Banditi a Orgosolo Directed by Vittorio De Seta (Italy, 1961, 98 min.)

The shepherds of Sardinia have remained at the core of that island’s traditional society for thousands of years. This story of one rough-hewn shepherd wrongly accused of a crime and pursued by thuggish carabinieri picks up on the ancient theme in a starkly neorealist tale, sans melodramatic sentiments. National Gallery of Art

Sun., Sept. 6, 2 p.m.

Bread, Love and Dreams (Pane, amore e fantasia) Directed by Luigi Comencini (Italy, 1953, 90 min.)

In a mountain village near Abruzzi, marshal of carabinieri Vittorio De Sica — hoping to end his bachelorhood in the arms of the local midwife — has an eye for the feisty village beauty, though she, in turn, secretly yearns for his shy deputy.

National Gallery of Art Sun., Sept. 13, 4 p.m.

Japanese Attack on Titan: Part 1 Directed by Shinji Higuchi (Japan, 2014)

From Studio Toho, the masterminds behind the “Godzilla” franchise, comes this intense action film set in a deadly post-apocalyptic time 100 years after foreign titans first appeared on Earth. The film tells the story of a human civilization on the brink of collapse after being overrun by monstrous titans. Angelika Mosaic Opens Wed., Sept. 30

National Gallery of Art Sat., Sept. 19, 2:30 p.m.

Ghost in the Shell

I Magliari

Directed by Mamoru Oshii (Japan, 1995, 83 min.)

Directed by Francesco Rosi (Italy/France, 1959, 132 min.)

As “I Magliari” develops themes of the immigrant worker, organized crime, and Europe’s north-south problem, its narrative (set in Hamburg and Hannover, Germany) develops around a group of Italians selling inferior textiles to susceptible Germans at inflated prices (Italian and German). National Gallery of Art Sun., Sept. 6, 4 p.m.

The Passionate Thief (Risate di gioia) Directed by Mario Monicelli (Italy, 1960, 106 min.)

“Miracolo! Miracolo!” bellows a desperate-to-be-noticed Anna Magnani, a mere extra amid cardboard sets on yet another Cinecittà spear-and-sandal epic. When the company breaks for New Year’s Eve, Magnani dons a blonde wig and spangled gown for the party, but ends up getting snubbed — and then the madness begins. National Gallery of Art Sun., Sept. 27, 4 p.m.

The Sign of Venus (Il segno di Venere) Directed by Dino Risi (Italy, 1955, 100 min.)

The romantic adventures of two cousins from different backgrounds — one overly feminine (Sophia Loren) and the other

In 2029, the world is totally wired, interconnected by a single, all-pervasive computer grid. Maj. Motoko Kusanagi is a cyborg officer in Tokyo’s Section Nine security force, where she is charged with keeping the network free of hackers. Kusanagi is hunting for the master hacker known as the Puppet Master, but little does she suspect that the hacker is looking for her, too. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Sept. 5, 11:30 p.m.

Wolf Children (Ookami kodomo no Ame to Yuki) Directed by Mamoru Hosoda (Japan, 2012, 117 min.)

This epic cinematic achievement follows Hana, a woman who falls in love with a Wolf Man and gives birth to two half human, half wolf children. After the ragic death of her beloved, Hana seeks refuge in a rural town where she attempts to build a life for herself — and her children. Landmark’s E Street Cinema Fri., Sept. 18, 11:59 p.m., Sat., Sept. 19, 11:59 p.m.

Turkish Are We OK?

Directed by Ҫağan Irmak (Turkey, 2013, 92 min.)

Temmuz, a sculptor suffering from both creative block and heartbreak, has been seeing the face of a physically disabled

The Washington Diplomat

September 2015

young man in his dreams. One day in the park, he catches a glimpse of the man, Ihsan. After Temmuz befriends Ihsan and his family, Ihsan confides that he wants Temmuz to help him end his life. Freer Gallery of Art Fri., Sept. 18, 7 p.m.

Whisper If I Forget

Directed by ŇŞaÄ&#x;an Irmak (Turkey, 2014, 123 min.)

Hatice, an aspiring singer in a conservative small town, runs away to Istanbul in the 1970s, stealing from her sister Hanife both the dashing musician son of a local politician and Hanifeâ€™s poems, which Hatice transforms into hit songs. After forty years without contact, Hatice, now an aging diva showing early signs of Alzheimerâ€™s disease, visits Hanife, who has become an embittered spinster, to make amends and ask for her help. Freer Gallery of Art Sun., Sept. 20, 2 p.m.

Directed by Gustaf Molander (Sweden, 1936, 93 min.)

Concert violinist GĂśsta Ekman falls madly in love with his daughterâ€™s piano teacher, Ingrid Bergman, but once their passionate affair cools off, Ekman hears the home he left calling him back. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Sept. 13, 1 p.m.

June Nights (Juninatten) Directed by Per Lindberg (Sweden, 1940, 88 min.)

After an affair with a sailor ends in violence and scandal, Ingrid Bergman must leave her small town home, changing her name and moving to Stockholm, but the relentless press wonâ€™t leave her in peace. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Sept. 12, 12 p.m.

Swedish

Womanâ€™s Face (En kvinnas ansikte)

Autumn Sonata (HĂśstsonaten)

Directed by Gustaf Molander (Sweden, 1938, 100 min.)

Directed by Ingmar Bergman (Sweden, 1978, 99 min.)

In a long-planned collaboration, Ingrid Bergman (in an Oscar-nominated performance) returned to Swedish cinema after 40 years for her last feature film role, as a concert pianist returning home to an anguished reunion with neglected daughter Liv Ullmann. AFI Silver Theatre Sat., Sept. 12, 2 p.m.

Intermezzo

Disfigured by a childhood accident that has left her face scarred, Anna (Ingrid Bergman) has grown bitter and despondent, eventually falling into criminality. But taken in and given plastic surgery by the brilliant Dr. Wegert (Anders Henrikson), Anna gains a new lease on life. AFI Silver Theatre Sun., Sept. 13, 3 p.m.

from page 39

Events Sept. 18 to 19

World Stages: Seuls (Lebanon/Canada) Born in Lebanon in 1968, Wajdi Mouawad later moved to Paris and then Montreal by the age of 9. In this semi-autobiographical reflection, Mouawad tells the powerful story of a man who, as a child, moved to a new country from his home to escape civil war. Tickets are $39 to $60. Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater Through Sept. 19

Dogfight

Photo: Teddy Wolfft

On the eve of their deployment to a growing conflict in Southeast Asia in 1963, three young Marines set out for one final boysâ€™ night of debauchery, partying and maybe a little trouble. But an awkward and idealistic waitress, recruited by one of them to win a cruel bet, rewrites the rules of the game and teaches them the power of compassion. Tickets are $45.

â€œChimericaâ€? at the Studio Theatre covers two decades in the history of U.S.-China relations as it considers political change, personal responsibility and the stories that exist beyond the margins of a frame.

Andrew Keegan Theatre

texts&beheadings/ElizabethR

Sept. 19 to Oct. 3

Washington National Opera: Carmen

Smoldering with sensuality and danger, this production of Bizetâ€™s most famous opera pulses with erotic power â€” from Carmenâ€™s rousing â€œHabaneraâ€? aria to the famous

â€œToreador Songâ€? â€” all culminating in a spectacular finale at a bullfight. Tickets are $25 to $315.

Tickets are $35.

Kennedy Center Opera House

Through Sept. 20

Sept. 19 to Oct. 4

This world premiere play about Englandâ€™s Queen Elizabeth I examines the life and language of Shakespeareâ€™s queen, drawing in part from the Folger collection to create a devised theater piece that uses Elizabethâ€™s own words to reveal her wit, courage and extraordinary love of her people (part of the Womenâ€™s Voices Theater Festival).

Folger Theatre

The Fix When a popular presidential candidate dies in his mistressâ€™s bed, his ambitious wife Violet thrusts their lackluster son Cal into the spotlight. With the help of her strategic brother-in-law, Violet transforms Cal into the perfect citizen and together they create one of the most dysfunctional â€” and brutally entertaining â€” almostfirst families ever. Tickets start at $40. Signature Theatre

ď€ ď€ˆď€†ď€‡ď€?ď€ˆď€Šď€†ď€€ď€‚ď€Žď€Šď€†ď€…ď€Œď€€ď€ƒď€‹ď€Œď€‰ď€„ď€?ď€ˆď€„ď€…

September 2015

The Washington Diplomat Page 41

DIPLOMATIC SPOTLIGHT

The Washington Diplomat

September 2015

Historic Cuba Visit

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to Cuba Jeffrey DeLaurentis watch as Marines raise the American flag at the ambassador’s residence in Havana during Kerry’s historic visit to Cuba on Aug. 14 to reopen the U.S. Embassy there.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry greets a Canadian tourist while walking through the Plaza de San Francisco in Old Havana during his historic trip to Cuba.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, right, and U.S. Chargé d’Affaires to Cuba Jeffrey DeLaurentis walk to flag-raising ceremony at the ambassador’s residence in Havana, Cuba.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry checks out a vintage American car during his walk through the Plaza de San Francisco in Old Havana.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry delivers remarks at the flag-raising ceremony at the newly reopened U.S. Embassy in Cuba on Aug. 14. The American flag was raised at the embassy for the first time in 54 years and Kerry became the first secretary of state in 70 years to visit the communist island.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry looks at a cigar humidor from a street vendor as he walks through the Plaza de San Francisco in Old Havana.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry watches a flock of doves circle the Plaza de San Francisco in Old Havana during his historic trip to Cuba, part of President Obama’s diplomatic rapprochement with the former Cold War adversary after over 50 years of estrangement.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry, still recovering from a broken leg, shows, from left, U.S. Sens. Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.) and Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.) a cane once used by the late U.S. Sen. Edward M. Kennedy before the group departed from Andrews Air Force Base in Camp Springs, Md., for Havana, Cuba, to preside over a flag-raising ceremony at the U.S. Embassy.

Bastille Day

photos: state department

Cuban Foreign Minister Bruno Rodríguez introduces U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry before the counterparts addressed reporters at a joint news conference at the Hotel Nacional in Havana.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry looks at Havana from a favorite spot on the veranda at Finca Vigia, author Ernest Hemingway’s former home in San Francisco de Paula, Cuba.

Argentinian Art

Ambassador of Argentina Cecilia Nahón, right, listens to Argentine cartoonist Miguel “REP” Repiso as he speaks at the opening of his exhibit, “Bellas Artes” and the unveiling of a mural by the artist at the Embassy of Argentina. Guests enjoy music at the French Embassy’s Bastille Day celebration, hosted by the Comité Tricolore and the French-American Cultural Foundation.

Ambassador of France Gérard Araud welcomes guests to the French Embassy for the Bastille Day celebration. Behind him is an image of Marquis de Lafayette’s naval vessel Hermione, a replica of which recently made the transatlantic voyage to Mount Vernon.

photos: embassy of Argentina

Guests admire a mural by Miguel Repiso that was specially commissioned by the Embassy of Argentina. Photos: French Embassy in the U.S.

Vintage cars stood outside the French Embassy for the country’s Bastille Day celebration. Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund Christine Lagarde attends the French Embassy’s Bastille Day celebration.

Guests enjoy one of the tents on the grounds of the French Embassy as part of its Bastille Day celebration.

Guests mingle on the grounds of the French Embassy, otherwise known as La Maison Française. Food from top area restaurants and hotels was featured at the French Embassy’s Bastille Day celebration.

Ambassador of Argentina Cecilia Nahón, left, and cartoonist Miguel Repiso, the author of more than 30 books and creator of nearly 60 popular characters and series, attend the opening of Repiso’s exhibition “Bellas Artes,” featuring over 70 drawings.

Photos: French Embassy in the U.S.

The Washington Diplomat

September 2015

Egyptian National Day

photo: embassy of ecuador

photos: embassy of Egypt

From left, Amani Amin and Ambassador of Egypt Mohamed Tawfik welcome Ambassador of Jordan Alia Hatoug-Bouran to the Egyptian Embassy for the country’s National Day celebration.

David Hamod, president and CEO of the National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce, right, greets Egyptian Military, Naval and Air Attaché Rear Adm. Mohamed Mohamed Abdelaziz Elsayed at Egypt’s National Day reception.

From left, Rep. Mark Meadows (R-N.C.), Ambassador of Egypt Mohamed Tawfik, his wife Amani Amin and Debbie Meadows attend Egypt’s National Day reception.

New Ecuadorian Envoy The staff at the Ecuadorian Embassy welcome recently appointed Ambassador Francisco Borja, sixth from left, to the embassy.

Ambassador of Egypt Mohamed Tawfik welcomes guests to the Egyptian Embassy for the country’s National Day celebration.

Burns Fellowship

Chairman of the Arthur F. Burns Fellowship Marcus Brauchli welcomes guests to a reception at the Embassy of Canada celebrating the Burns Fellowship, which each year awards outstanding media professionals from the United States, Canada and Germany the chance to report from and travel in each other’s countries.

Photos: Keegan Bursaw / Embassy of Canada

Ambassador of Canada Gary Doer, center, poses with the two Canadian Burns Fellows: Daniel Guillemette, associate producer at CBC Radio One in Toronto, left, and Debbie Pacheco, associate producer at CBC Radio.

Burns Fellowship trustees pose with Ambassador of Canada Gary Doer on the rooftop of the Canadian Embassy overlooking Capitol Hill. Two Canadians won this year’s Burns Fellowship, offered to journalists under 40 to share their expertise with colleagues across the Atlantic.

Eric Spiegel, president and CEO of Siemens USA, left, listens to Philipp Ackermann, deputy chief of mission at the German Embassy, at a reception for the Burns Fellowship, which was awarded to a dozen German journalists this year.

Emmarie Huetteman, a Burns Fellow alumni and New York Times reporter, talks with Ambassador of Canada Gary Doer and other guests at the Burns Fellowship reception held at the Canadian Embassy.

Innovation Cookout From left, Ambassador of Singapore Ashok Mirpuri, Gouri Mirpuri, Devika Patil and coach Kathy Kemper, founder and CEO of the Institute for Education (IFE) attend an IFE Summer Innovation Cookout at the Congressional Country Club.

Guests enjoy the Institute for Education Summer Innovation Cookout at the historic Congressional Country Club.

Photos: Xavier Rivera

From left, Maria Vicky Cuisia, Ambassador of the Philippines Jose L. Cuisia Jr. and Jim Valentine look on as guests enjoy the Summer Innovation Cookout hosted by the Institute for Education, a nonprofit that promotes leadership, civility and intercultural appreciation.

Institute for Education (IFE) Innovation Steward Amy Geng; Microsoft Director of Technology and Civic Innovation John Paul Farmer; IFE founder and CEO Kathy Kemper; former U.S. Chief Technology Officer (USCTO) Aneesh Chopra; current USCTO Megan Smith; and former USCTO Todd Park attend the IFE Summer Innovation Cookout.

Photo: Morris Simon of the Simon Firm for the Embassy Series

EU Concert European Union Ambassador David O’Sullivan, right, and Jerome Barry, artistic director of the Embassy Series, welcome American flutist Jessica Lipstone and Irish guitarist Damien Kelly of the Redbrick Duo to the EU Residence for an Embassy Series concert as part of the European Month of Culture.

The International Patient Program at the George Washington University Hospital A boutique concierge program offering care for our diplomats and international community:

• Language interpretation • Appointment scheduling

• Medical cost estimates • Insurance settlements

For more information, call 202-715-5100 or email helen.salazar@gwu-hospital.com

September 2015

www.gwhospital.com/international

Photo: Shiv Vachhani Physicians are not employees or agents of this hospital. 150079

The Washington Diplomat Page 43

assignments process should be more like the military, where it’s just shut up and go where we send you?

from page 5

Hill Enver Hoxha]. It was a country that didn’t have a chance really. It was the North Korea of Europe. Anyone who spent five minutes there knew it would take a very long time to bring change to this place. The Diplomat: You spent a big chunk of your career in the Balkans — Albania, Kosovo, Macedonia, Bosnia. All of these places are certainly more secure now than they were in the ’90s and early 2000s, but poverty, unemployment and bad governance are still huge problems in all those countries. We have peace in these countries but prosperity is a much longer-term project, right? Photo: The Halcyon Incubator

Dr. Sachiko Kuno, co-founder of the S&R Foundation, talks about the Halcyon Incubator, a residency program designed to nurture young social innovators.

from page 16

Halcyon Indeed, several members of this spring’s cohort have projects based in Africa. Mariama Kabia spent her time at Halcyon House developing Memunatu Magazine, a classroom magazine that aims to promote literacy, leadership and empowerment among teenage girls in West Africa. One of the unique challenges Kabia sought to address while at Halcyon House was how to use Memunatu to help girls in Sierra Leone and Liberia — two of the magazine’s target countries, which were severely affected by the Ebola crisis — transition back to daily life. Meanwhile, Andrew Foote spent the last part of his Halcyon fellowship in East Africa, piloting his project in Naivasha, Kenya. For $7 per month, Sanivation provides in-home toilets, collects waste and turns that waste into affordable fuel, which it sells back to local customers in Kenya. “We have a core belief that it’s really important to think about how what you’re doing integrates to the entire sanitation story,” said Foote, who has a dual degree in cultural anthropology and environmental engineering. “There’s still a lot unknown when you think about human waste as a resource. What are its calorific values? What are its properties?” Foote, Dewane, Kabia and Friedman are just four of the spring cohort’s 11 fellows; another 11 are beginning their fellowships this fall. The selection process is competitive:The incubator receives hundreds of applications from all over the world and narrows those down to approximately 30, which are reviewed by a selection committee. From those 30, the top 16 go on to a pitch phase. “Any one of the top 16 has written a really amazing plan for a project and proven that they understand the problem they’re trying to solve,” Goodall said. “At that point, we’re really looking for that je ne sais quoi component

that you can only understand when you’re looking at someone’s face and can see how they respond to questions.” In the three application cycles thus far, Halcyon House has made a concerted effort to increase the number of female applicants. Women are often outnumbered by men in the technology and business fields, a disparity that was reflected in Halcyon’s first two cohorts, which had just two women each. After a push to boost those figures, S&R saw the rate of female applicants go up by 113 percent. The incoming class of cohorts is now 40 percent women. Kabia noted that she and the two other female fellows in her spring cohort have formed their own bond within the broader Halcyon support network. “Female entrepreneurs have unique challenges that we may face that our male counterparts don’t,” said Kabia.“The challenges can range from the seemingly mundane — so, what do I wear when I pitch? — to the more complicated. Statistically, women, in terms of venture capital, receive less funding.” The support system at Halcyon is key. Fellows access business resources and mentors in their fields, based on shared interests and personalities.Yet the network that develops within Halcyon House, as a result of sharing meals, late-night chats and a common goal, is something that the fellows feel is most helpful to the growth of their projects, and most unique to the residential experience. By eating, sleeping and breathing social entrepreneurship, the fellows realize their potential far faster than if they had to juggle a day job, pay rent and go at their projects alone. “I joke that the project made more progress in the first week I was at Halcyon than it did in the last few years when I was working basically on my own,” Dewane said.“That’s somewhat hyperbole, but not really.” Miranda Katz (@mirandakatz) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

Hill: Peace and prosperity go in tandem. You won’t get prosperity if people are shooting at each other. It’s one of these things, prosperity takes longer than Americans are prepared to spend in these places. The Diplomat: The world powers have sort of forgotten the Balkans post 9/11. I think your mentor, Richard Holbrooke, had it right when he said that the world’s interest in this region wouldn’t last.

Hill:The current system has flaws but it is basically the right approach.You ask people where they would like to go, give them a chance to have input and then put in some parameters in terms of doing hardship assignments.Yes, there are people who game the system but I think overall it usually results in people having some nice assignments and some tough assignments. I found that forcing people to go to Iraq didn’t necessarily help advance our cause in Iraq. Iraq distorted the whole Foreign Service assignment process. The Diplomat: And is that still a factor, or has that dynamic disappeared in recent years? Hill: It’s not the same as before. I think that they aren’t insisting that people who don’t want to go there have to go any more. It’s a much-downsized mission now.We had something like 22 Provincial Reconstruction Teams, which were like little consulates. Those are all gone. People aren’t being dragooned into those assignments now. The whole thing was just trying to show the military that we supported the mission by turning this into our biggest embassy.

Hill: If you consider the fact that you could stick all of Kosovo’s population in a part of Beijing, it helps to put the region in context. People in the Balkans have learned the lesson that they can’t expect us to do everything for them. Washington has always been a bit of a peewee soccer team. Everyone hangs around the ball. Once the ball moved over to Iraq, it was hard to get people to focus on other places, like the Balkans.

The Diplomat: Now that you are in academia, I assume you encounter plenty of students who want to join the Foreign Service. But are they prepared to go to places like Iraq and Afghanistan?

The Diplomat: You recounted the fact that a lot of FSOs didn’t want to serve in Iraq. Do you think that the Foreign Service

Dave Seminara (@DaveSem) is a contributing writer for The Washington Diplomat.

Hill: I think they realize the reality of where they might be sent. I’m not worried about the next generation of diplomats at all.

from page 15

France the problem, Daesh will be there.” A related and much immediate threat is the alarming rise in Islamic extremism in France, coupled with a jump in anti-immigrant sentiment now unfolding across Europe. The crisis hit close to home in January with the Charlie Hebdo massacre, in which Islamic fanatics attacked the Paris headquarters of the famous satire magazine after it brazenly published cartoons depicting the Prophet Muhammad. “We have something like 400 or 500 French citizens fighting in Syria. These people will come back trained and radicalized. Our estimate is that we already have a few thousand radicalized youth in France,” said Araud, noting that his country is home to 4.7 million Muslims, about 7.5 percent of the total population. By 2030, that ratio is expected to exceed 10 percent — higher than anywhere else in Western Europe. “All over Europe, we have seen the rise of the far right,” he said.“They’re in the government in Finland and have been supporting the governments of Denmark and Norway. They’re looking for scapegoats, and unlike the 1930s, it’s not the Jews this time but immigrants. They’re now playing on anti-Muslim feelings, and the recent attacks have given them a lot of ammunition. Society is balanced between liberty and law enforcement, and after such an attack, there’s a shift toward law enforce-

Photo: White House

President Obama signs a book of condolences at the French Embassy in D.C. for the victims of the January 2015 terrorist attacks in Paris, as French Ambassador Gérard Araud looks on.

ment. For us, the Paris attacks were a sort of 9/11. We are living in a difficult moment now.” With that, our interview with Araud — at least the official part — was over. But before departing his baroque residence, we gingerly inquired about the ambassador’s “lifestyle” and if it has had any bearing whatsoever on his job. “Everybody knows, but no French journalist is impolite to the point of asking me about it,” Araud replied, somewhat amused. “The way French society works is,‘Don’t ask, don’t tell.’ Our private life is private.” That privacy, he said, ended when a “very sexy” reporter from Vogue (Stephanie Green) interviewed Araud, and her first question was about the ambassador’s sexual orientation. “I didn’t want to lie, so I told her. It

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made a big splash in Paris,”he recalled. But in Washington, being gay isn’t that big of a deal any more — even for an ambassador. “We are living in 2015. The Americans are extremely liberal, and they invite both of us together to receptions, but my partner would never go,” he said of photographer Pascal Blondeau, who’s been with Araud for 20 years.“He’s an artist. It’s not his thing.” Larry Luxner is news editor of The Washington Diplomat.

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HOLIDAYS AFGHANISTAN Sept. 9: Martyrs’ Day Sept. 23: Eid Al Adha ALGERIA Sept. 23: Aïd El Adha ANDORRA Sept. 8: Patron Saint, National Holiday (Mare de Deu de Meritxell) ANGOLA Sept. 17: Nation’s Founder and National

Heroes’ Day ARMENIA Sept. 21: Independence Day AZERBAIJAN Sept. 23: Gurban Bayramy BAHRAIN Sept. 23: Eid al-Adha BANGLADESH Sept. 23: Eid-ul Azha

September 2015

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BELIZE Sept. 10: St. George’s Caye Day Sept. 21: Independence Day BENIN Sept. 23: Eid Al Adha BOTSWANA Sept. 30: Botswana Day BRAZIL Sept. 7: Independence Day

BRUNEI Sept. 23: Eid El-Adha BULGARIA Sept. 6: Reunification Day Sept. 22: Independence Day BURKINA FASO Sept. 23: Tabaski CAMBODIA Sept. 24: Constitution and Coronation Day

CAMEROON Sept. 23: Eid Al Adha CANADA Sept. 7: Labor Day CHAD Sept. 23: Aïd al-Adha CHILE Sept. 18: Independence Day Sept. 19: Armed Forces Day COSTA RICA Sept. 15:

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CÔTE D’IVOIRE Sept. 23: Tabaski CZECH REPUBLIC Sept. 28: Day of Czech Statehood DJIBOUTI Sept. 23: Eid Al Adha DOMINICAN REPUBLIC Sept. 24: Day of the Virgin of Mercedes

EAST TIMOR Sept. 20: Liberation Day EGYPT Sept. 23: Eid El Adha EL SALVADOR Sept. 15: Independence Day ERITREA Sept. 23: Eid Al Adha

APPOINTMENTS Cambodia Chum Bun Rong became ambassador of Cambodia to the United States on Aug. 3, 2015, with concurrent accreditation to Mexico. From 2008 to 2014, he was appointed advisor to the prime minister as well as secretaryAmbassador general (with rank of senior min- Chum Bun Rong ister) of the Cambodia Mine Action and Victim Assistance Authority (CMAA) and member of the Permanent Central Committee of the Cambodia Red Cross. From October 2014 to February 2015, he retained his appointment of advisor to the government of Cambodia (with rank of senior minister). In addition, Ambassador Chum Bun Rong served as deputy secretary-general of the National Land Authority, helping to mitigate mounting land issues (2006-08), and as director-general of the Social Fund of the Kingdom of Cambodia, a government institution created to manage aid money contributed by World Bank for social matters primarily in rural development projects (1994-2006). From 1991 to 1993, when the country changed its name to the State of Cambodia (SOC), Ambassador Chum Bun Rong served as a member of the Supreme National Council representing the Phnom Penh regime and was the main coordinator for the SOC dealing with the CGDK factions. From 1979 to 1991, he served as director of the press for the Africa and Middle East Department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. Ambassador Chum Bun Rong earned a bachelor’s degree in law and human sciences and associate degrees in international law, political science and diplomacy from Potsdam Academy in Germany. Upon returning to Cambodia in 1972 to 1975, he served as an officer of the military police in Cambodia and received military police training in Forth Gordon, Georgia, in the United States. Ambassador Chum Bun Rong, a devout Buddhist whose hobbies include table tennis, speaks English, French and Khmer. Born April 3, 1950, he is married with four children.

Colombia Juan Carlos Pinzon became ambassador of Colombia to the United States on Aug. 3, 2015, having most recently served as Colombia’s minister of defense for nearly four years. In addition, Ambassador Ambassador Pinzon served as Juan Carlos vice minister of defense and chief Pinzon of staff for President Juan Manuel Santos. Before that, he held positions as senior advisor to the executive director of the World Bank; vice president of the Colombian Banking Association; assistant vice president of Investment Banking at Citibank; private secretary for the Ministry of

ETHIOPIA Sept. 11: Ethiopian New Year Sept. 27: Meskel

Gambia Sheikh Omar Faye became ambassador of the Gambia to the United States on Aug. 3, 2015, having previously served as the chargé d’affaires since March 2014. Ambassador Faye also held posts as deputy head of mission of the Gambian Embassy Ambassador in Mauritania (2007-14); Sheikh Omar Faye Gambia’s minister of youth, sports and religious affairs (2006-07); and director of public relations in the Office of the President (2006-07). In addition, he was a locate technician with Byers Engineering (UtiliQuest) and field supervisor for STS Locate Co. (1996-2005) and supervisor for American Protection Services, a private security company (1995-2000). A retired major in the Gambia National Army, Ambassador Faye held various military postings in the 1980s and early ’90s in the Gambia, Britain, Pakistan, Nigeria and the United States. He also represented the Gambia in various international athletic competitions, including the University Games in Mexico City and Commonwealth Games in Australia, and he was a team captain-flag bearer at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Tunisia Fayçal Gouia became ambassador of Tunisia to the United States on May 18, 2015, having previously served as Tunisia’s secretary of state of foreign affairs from January 2014 to February 2015. Prior to that, he worked in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as director-general for the Americas and Asia (2011-14); director-general for Africa and the African Union (2010-11); and director for the Americas (2001-05). In addition, he was ambassador to Indonesia and Malaysia (2007-10), as well as ambassador to the Philippines, Singapore and

Thailand, with residence in Jakarta (2006-10). Ambassador Gouia served on a prior occasion at the Tunisian Embassy in Washington, D.C., as cultural and press counselor (1995-97); economic and commercial counselor (1997-99); and deputy chief of mission (1999-2001). He also held postings as deputy director for South Asia at the Directorate General of the Americas and Asia at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (199395); head of the Budget Management Division at the Ambassador Ministry of Finance (1989-93); Fayçal Gouia and head of the International Relations Division at the Ministry of Family and Women Affairs (1984-86). Ambassador Gouia holds a master’s degree in public administration as well as a master’s in public policy from the National Administration Institute of Tunis; a master’s in finance management from the Finance School of Paris; an English studies diploma from the Institute of Foreign Languages in Tunis; and a certificate from the National Defense University in D.C. He speaks Arabic, French and English, and is married with two daughters.

Ukraine Valeriy Chaly became ambassador of Ukraine to the United States on Aug. 3, 2015. In June 2014, Ambassador Chaly was appointed deputy head of the administration of President Petro Poroshenko following his foreign policy advisory during Ambassador Poroshenko’s presidential camValeriy Chaly paign. Ambassador Chaly also supervised the foreign policy, international law and security programs at a leading Ukrainian think tank, the Razumkov Centre, while serving as its deputy director-general (2006-09 and 2010-14). In November 2009, he was appointed deputy minister for foreign affairs of Ukraine but resigned in April 2010 to protest the foreign and security policy of then-President Viktor Yanukovych. Following his resignation, Ambassador Chaly resumed his work at the Razumkov Centre and advised the Foreign Relations Committee of Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine. Ambassador Chaly’s earlier public sector career also included postings as assistant to the deputy secretary of Ukraine’s National Security and Defence Council (1997-99) and senior consultant at the Assistants’ Group to the President of Ukraine (1995). In 1995, Ambassador Chaly, 45, graduated with a degree in postgraduate international law studies from the Institute of International Relations at the National Taras Shevchenko University in Kyiv and in 1992 from the Faculty of History at the Vinnytsia State Institute of Pedagogy.

LUXEMBOURG Sept. 3: Luxembourg City Fete

GUATEMALA Sept. 15: Independence Day GUINEA Sept. 28: Referendum Day GUINEA-BISSAU Sept. 24: Independence Day HONDURAS Sept. 15: Independence Day

Finance; and economist for Colombia at Citigroup. Ambassador Pinzon taught economics at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana and the Universidad de Los Andes, and in 2011, the World Economic Forum selected him as a Young Global Leader. A native of Bogotá, Colombia, Pinzon received honorable mention for his outstanding academic performance as a bachelor’s of science candidate in economics. He holds a master’s of science in economics from the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana in Bogotá, and he was awarded a scholarship to receive his master’s in public policy from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. He also completed advanced courses in international relations and strategic studies at Johns Hopkins University and in science and technology at Harvard University. Ambassador Pinzon, who was born Dec. 22, 1971, is married to Pilar Lozano and has two children, Natalia and Juan Pablo.

LIECHTENSTEIN Sept. 8: Nativity of Our Lady

INDIA Sept. 23: Idu’z Zuha INDONESIA Sept. 23: Idul Adha IRAN Sept. 23: Eid Al Adha ISRAEL Sept. 13-15: Rosh Hashanah Sept. 22-23: Yom Kippur Sept. 27-Oct. 4: Sukkot JAPAN Sept. 21: Respect for the Aged Day (Keirou no hi) Sept. 23: Autumnal Equinox (Shuubun no hi) JORDAN Sept. 23: Eid Al-Adha

MACEDONIA Sept. 8: Independence Day MALAYSIA Sept. 16: Malaysia Day Sept. 23: Hari Raya Haji MALI Sept. 22: Anniversary of the Proclamation of the Republic MALTA Sept. 8: Our Lady of Victories Sept. 21: Independence Day MARSHALL ISLANDS Sept. 1: Workers’ Day Sept. 30: Customs Day MAURITANIA Sept. 23: Eid Al Adha MEXICO Sept. 16: Mexican Independence Day of 1810 MOROCCO Sept. 23: Eid Al Adha

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T H E L I B R A RY O F CO N G R E S S CO N G R AT U L AT E S

Jürgen Habermas and Charles Taylor O N T H E O CC AS I O N O F T H E I R R EC E I V I N G

T HE K LUGE P R I Z E FOR ACHIE VE M E NT IN T HE STU DY OF HU MANITY Two of the world’s most important living philosophers, for their contributions to our understanding of the modern world, Jürgen Habermas and Charles Taylor are the ninth and tenth recipients of the Kluge Prize.

The John W. Kluge Prize for Achievement in the Study of Humanity is a major international award that recognizes individuals whose outstanding scholarship in the humanities and social sciences has shaped both public affairs and civil society. The Prize is endowed by philanthropist John W. Kluge. Prize to be conferred September 29th in Washington, D.C. Watch it live at loc.gov/kluge/prize

Photo: View of the statue of Philosophy by Bela Pratt in the Main Reading Room of the Library of Congress

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September 2015