Back on Campus

Tuesday, July 9, 2013 – Back on Campus

It’s official:  I’m a Badger.  I now have the T-shirt to prove it.

 

Three days into the Greenfield Summer Institute and we’ve already attended six lectures and one klezmer concert.  The theme of this summer’s institute is Jewish Subversives, and the lecturers, who are UW professors from various departments, have offered us a wide range of lecture topics.  Monday’s lectures focused on magic in early rabbinic writings, the experiences of women pioneers in Israel, and the role of women in labor and feminist movements.  On a lighter note, the Yid Vicious Klezmer Band entertained us with an open-air concert at Union South on Monday afternoon.  At dinner last night, Elliott tried a genuine Wisconsin “brat” (bratwurst) and I passed up another chance to sample fried cheese curds. They’re battered and deep-fried.  I can’t imagine that I’d want more than a tiny nibble.  

Elliott enjoying a "brat" on State Street

The Yid Vicious Klezmer Band at Union South

 Our first lecture this morning was a fascinating feminist interpretation of The Book of Esther.  We never learned anything like that in Hebrew school!  And the presentation on modern Hebrew poetry was surprisingly exciting.  If you have a chance, look up the poem “Before a Statue of Apollo” by Shaul Tschernikhovsky (1875-1943).  He was a major literary figure who merged elements of the traditional Eastern European Jewish culture with his radically modern sensibilities.  In preparation for this afternoon’s lecture on phantasmagoric realism (as opposed to socialist realism) in Soviet literature, I read two very bizarre short stories by Andrei Siniavsky. 

Before returning to our hotel a couple of hours ago, we stopped at the University’s Chazen Museum ofArt – beautiful architecture and gallery space, and a collection that covers several eras and continents.  Elliott had a chance to see a piece by El Anatsui (the Ghanaian artist whose work I recently saw at the Brooklyn Museum of Art).  Several works by sculptor Louise Nevelson were on display, in addition to a painting by Elliott’s friend Sam Gilliam. 

Now the big decision is where to eat dinner tonight.  I’m intrigued by the Thai-Lao Deli.  If not there, I’d settle for the Nepali restaurant.  Actually, if the heat and humidity don’t ease up, I’d be satisfied with more Babcock ice cream for dinner.