Convivium

Andrew Smith is retired from a career in financial services. He had never studied literature or been in a book club when he first showed up at Toronto Pursuits in July 2007. He has become a regular. From his home in Toronto, Andrew reflects on why he decided to give it a try and how he found [...]

 Tahrir Square, Egypt’s Newest Tourist Draw By Jennifer Conlin The New York Times, February 25, 2011 LAST October, on my final day in Cairo after a yearlong stay, I walked across the Kasr el-Nil Bridge toward Tahrir Square, stopping for a moment to take in the view. Though the Nile was, as always, a lovely [...]

In the immediate wake of the Academy Awards, it is interesting to note that it was not only King George VI who struggled with public oratory. For all his writing skill, Thomas Jefferson did not deliver most of his speeches aloud. That’s right – the eloquent statesman who penned the Declaration of Independence by himself [...]

From TIME Magazine, July 5, 2004 By Annette Gordon-Reed Of all the Founding Fathers, it was Thomas Jefferson for whom the issue of race loomed largest. In the roles of slaveholder, public official and family man, the relationship between blacks and whites was something he thought about, wrote about and grappled with from his cradle [...]

Jo-Ann Minden and I are watching German films as part of our preparation for our Made in Germany trip this June. By far, the best has been Heimat,  a long trilogy of episodic films by Edgar Reitz which views life in Germany between 1919 and 2000 through the eyes of a family from the Hunsrück area [...]

I read this today in Frederick Buechner’s Listening to Your Life. ART An old silent pond. Into the pond a frong jumps. Splash! Silence again. It is perhaps the best known of all Japanese haiku. No subject could be more humdrum. No language could be more pedestrian. Basho, the poet, makes no comment on what [...]

  Dear Friends, I’ve lived in Florence for almost ten years; when I look out my window at the domes, spires, and red brick roofs of this Renaissance city, its beauty still captivates me. As a classical painter, I moved here for the great art of the past and the community of living artisans. What [...]

  At Classical Pursuits, we’ve always taken pleasure from mental stimulation and challenge.  How delightful to discover that neuroscience supports our inclinations.  Robin Roger is one of our Toronto Pursuits participants who took things a step further when she discovered that there are many things you can do to preserve your brainpower as time marches [...]

Gary has led discussions at Toronto Pursuits almost from its inception and has been on the road to Italy (twice), Paris, Cornwall (twice), Greece, Santa Fe, and Quebec City (3 times). He is on deck for Vietnam and Cambodia in 2012. Why does he do it? Related Posts:TRAVEL PURSUITS – Vietnam, hmmm?ON THE ROAD WITH [...]

Many of my generation awkard and way out of our depth in the brave new world of information technologies. We mourn the decline of what we believe are the more elegant and eloquent forms of the written word and programmed television broadcasts on few networks. But even luddites like me marvel at how things have changed. [...]