As befitting a celebrated poet at the height of his powers, Robert Pinsky strides toward an interview in the company of a striking flame-haired woman in black. At 72, Pinsky comes close to fulfilling Hollywood's fantasy of what a poet ought to look like: trim and fit, with a full head of steel-gray hair and a profile eerily reminiscent of another Massachusetts poet, Robert Lowell.

The barefoot boys sit cross-legged on the stage, tuning their instruments to the droning A of the lutelike rubab. Behind them hangs a poster of Mickey and Minnie Mouse, shaking hands underneath the word “Cooperation.” Before them is an audience of mostly African American boys and girls, listening to Afghan instruments they’ve never before seen up close. As the visitors play a set of four traditional songs, heads begin to bob in the auditorium at William E. Doar Jr.

The previous Culture Post concentrated on the popular individualism and collectivism dimension. Individualism privileges the individual perspective, goals and actions. Collectivism emphasizes the perspective, goals and activities of the collective or larger group.

The Minister Darguste has laid the "foundation stone" of the cultural diplomacy, by signing a framework agreement between the Just for Laughs Festival, the National School of Humour of Montreal and the Ministry of Culture. "These are excellent Quebec institutions in the field of humor," stressed the Consul General of Haiti in Montreal, who is convinced that Haiti needs humor to thrive in an atmosphere of relaxation and provide International major performances.

Stephanie Stallings recently suggested that creative collaboration is a useful model for cultural diplomacy. She is definitely onto something. Circumstances have changed around the work of diplomacy. Publics are now much less distant, more assertive, and actively engaged participants in the making of their encompassing cultural worlds.

Proving that art transcends conflicts and boundaries, dancers from Turkey, Egypt and Jordan will participate in the annual International Belly Dance Festival taking place January 16-19 in the Israeli city of Eilat, on the Red Sea.

This past Thanksgiving break, Ben Hubley ’15 traveled to China to compete in the 5th Chinese Bridge Competition, a Chinese proficiency contest for foreign high school students, held in Kunming City. Out of 104 contestants from 45 countries between the ages of 15 and 20, Hubley placed third in the individual competition after a student from Singapore placed first and a student from Russia placed second.

APDS Blogger: Sarah Myers

In January 2013, a group of nine Masters’ of Public Diplomacy students will embark on a trip to Beijing, China. A mixture of native Chinese and Americans, we hope to accomplish an ambitious set of goals: to gain an understanding of how public diplomacy is thought about and engaged in academic contexts as well as how it is innovatively used in practice—through film, at airports, over the Internet, in media, and by corporations.