Live from the Explorer, it's Saturday night!

Here's a little quiz for fans of one of televisions' longest running shows:

• What year did Saturday Night Live start airing NBC?
• Who made up the original cast of SNL? 
• Where do the cast members come from?
• Who created the show? Who is the executive producer now?

The answers are at the bottom.

At 4 p.m. every afternoon while we are at sea, Lifelong Learners enjoy an hour-long presentation on a variety of subjects. Recently, Christine Rubin of New York City, a lovely, tall, energetic social worker in her 40s, spoke about her experience working as an assistant to Saturday Night Live's producer Lorne Michaels in the mid-1990s. 

Chrissy, as we call her, was a student at Semester at Sea in 1989 and came back as a Lifelong Learner this winter, quickly becoming a star. We were all ears and eyes as she gave us a virtual backstage tour of SNL, which is approaching its 40th year on TV. 

Chrissy in Japan

Chrissy learned about the job opening through a family friend friend who worked at the show.  Her friend cautioned her it was a challenging and demanding job with long hours, but when offered the unique and exiting opportunity, she immediately accepted it.

Chrissy described for us the chaos in vivid detail. The staff works long hours six days a week. here's the general rundown of a week in the life of SNL.

Monday: Pitch day, cast, writers, producers and the show's host gather in Lorne's office to pitch sketch ideas. The host as well as the cast and writers pitch ideas.

Tuesday: Writing begins and lasts well into the night and into Wednesday. Many cast members and writers collaborate on sketches.

Wednesday: Table Reading, which is witnessed by about 50 people including writers, producers, set-designers, cast, and those in charge of make-up, wardrobe, music, lighting, props etc. As many as 40 sketches can be read in three or more hours.

Wednesday evening: Once sketches are picked and listed on cards and put on a bulletin board in Lorne's office, cast and writers come in to see what is chosen. Some are elated, many are disappointed. This is when writers begin to to collaborate with wardrobe, make-up, set and lighting designers, musicians and the rest.

Thursday: The musical guest arrives for sound check and initial music rehearsal. Sketches are tweaked and tweaked some more. Short promos are filmed to air that evening on NBC.

Friday: Rehearsals are held all day, often until after midnight.  Sets are built, costumes are sown, bought and fitted, make up/prostheses and props are organized.

Saturday: More rehearsals, including the monologue and, finally, the Weekend Update. The dress rehearsal in front of a live audience at 8 p.m. results in many changes. Cue cards are fixed. Final touches are reviewed with cast, hosts, writers and producers. 

The show goes LIVE at 11:29:30 p.m.

  

Although Christine worked there for only 1-1/2 seasons, she was promoted in May 1995, which provided new responsibilities and a greater variety of involvement in the show's production. "I loved being part of such an incredible live production, a TV show like no other and an icon of American television entertainment," she told us. Working long hours six days a week took its toll on Chrissy, so she decided it was time to move on.

"I eventually found my true passion when I returned to school to complete my master's in social work and started a new and fulfilling career. Not quite as cool or interesting to talk about at a cocktail party, but rewarding and well worth it," she said.

Answers to the quiz:

• SNL debuted on October 11, 1975.
• The original cast was Dan Aykroyd, John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris, Loraine Newman and Gilda Radner.  
• Many cast members have gotten their start at Second City in Chicago or The Groundings in LA.
• The creator of the show and original executive producer Lorne Michaels is still going strong at age 68. He has a knack for recognizing new talent such as Mike Myers, Will Ferrell, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler to name a few.

Green Sheet Casablanca

This is the kind of work that Karen Burns, the field trip director, does on board the ship. She is in charge of arranging all the tours and field labs. This is the sheet for our Morocco visit.

A floating university

Semester at Sea: A Brief History

The five ships that have served as floating universities for Semester at Sea in the last 50 years

"Nearly 100 years ago, the idea for a floating university that would travel the world became the passionate pursuit of James Edwin Lough, a psychology professor at New York University. He believed changes needed to be made to traditional teaching methods of American universities and soon became a leader in a new educational movement. Travel and first-hand experience, he felt, must be part of every scholar's education, and he set out to find others who shared this vision," starts an article on the history of SAS. 

Because of two world wars and a global financial crisis, Lough's ambitions were not realized until the 1960s when Bill Hughes, a California businessman, resurrected the idea as the University of the Seven Seas. Affiliated with Chapman College in Orange, California, World Campus Afloat assured students that their credits would be transferable to the schools in which they were enrolled.

During the past 50 years, several universities, including the Universities of Colorado and Pittsburgh, sponsored this program, which is now under the academic control of the University of Virginia (America's oldest higher education institution, founded by Thomas Jefferson). Until six years ago, SAS chartered four ships, which became home to students, faculty and staff three semesters a year, including summer session. In 2007, UVA bought the MV Explorer, a beautiful, fast, majestic vessel built by a Greek shipping company that had fallen on hard financial times. 

The crew of 200 (including the captain and his staff, cabin stewards, cooks, waiters and janitors) is hired by a sea management company. The crew hail from 21 countries, serve on a rotating basis with at least six-week vacations in their home countries. There is very little turnover. "It beats working on a cruise ship with 3,000 passengers that come and go every week," said Akin Akargul, a Turkish citizen who is in charge of the kitchen and wait staff. "We become friends with the students and adults and hope to see them onboard the ship again," he said. 

MV Explorer runs shorter enrichment trips (between semesters) open to anyone who likes the idea of learning while traveling. 

Semester at Sea gallery

Semester at Sea staff and faculty from the Spring 2013 voyage 

Here I am with the distinguished faculty members of the Spring 2013 voyage

 

The "wacky" portrait

The little nippers and parents who are Semester at Sea's faculty and staff's dependents

Africa: home to us all

Who are we?     

Where do we come from?     

How did we populate the planet?

How does DNA help us figure out our evolutionary history?

Nicholas Wade’s book “Before the Dawn,” published in 2003 and based on DNA genome discoveries, solved many mysteries about our origin, according to Prof. Reginald Garrett, who teaches biology and nutrition around the world.

“Gorillas are 98% similar to us,” says Prof. Garrett and goes on to back up his information. Fossils show that hominid species (early human ancestors) were in Africa 6 million years ago. Neanderthals can be traced back 400,000 years. Comparison of the DNA in human mitochondria from women around the world suggests the existence of a common ancestor “Eve”, who is mother to us all.  Comparison of the DNA in human Y chromosomes from men around the world gives us ancestral “Adam”, who lived 90,000 years ago. The brain of an ancestral hominid, Homo Erectus, was three times the size of its previous ancestor, with the larger size in the cerebral cortex or frontal lobe allowing us unprecedented power to think and reason, far beyond the cognitive abilities of chimpanzees and gorillas.

We all originated in Africa. Early humans were hunters and gatherers who roamed widely.  About 50,000 years ago, a small group of ONLY 150 human beings migrated out of Northeast Africa. They continued southeast along the coast, reaching India and beyond. Later, some of these people turned back towards the northwest to the Levant, Babylonia, Mesopotamia, Asia Minor and onto Europe. Bone fragments found recently in Croatia, the Czech Republic – dating back 31,000 years – and the Alps are 99.84% identical to those found in Africa. 

Populating Asia, Australia and the Western Hemisphere, humans continued to roam. Some went east to China (Xian was the earliest settlement) while others found their way to Australia (Aborigines having retained their uniqueness, giving us solid evidence of how we looked thousands of years ago.)  The Western Hemisphere was settled by humans who traveled to the Americas via the Bering Sea only 13,000 years ago.

Many settled down to create urban environments, domesticating dogs and growing crops (especially barley from which they made beer). DNA also shows us that the default condition for humans is lactose intolerance. However, Caucasians and Northern Europeans cultivated dairy cattle, developing tolerance for milk and other dairy products.

Today’s Africa has:

• 1 billion people living in 54 countries. The latest is South Sudan, breaking away from Sudan in 2011.
• Ghana was the first country to declare its independence from colonial rule in 1957.

• Nigeria with 162 million citizens is largest country. Next is Ethiopia with 84 million. The Seychelles is the smallest with 86,000.

• 40% of Africans live in urban areas, while 60% are rural.

• There are 2100 languages spoken on the continent.

• Egypt had the most advanced civilization, as can be seen by the construction of the pyramids in 2500 BCE.

• The effect of the Atlantic Slave Trade is still being felt 150 years later. Africans admit, however, that indentured servitude existed before the arrival of foreigners.

Our Semester at Sea family is grateful to be visiting five ports in Africa where our ancestors came from.

Facing forward in Ghana

"We face neither East nor West; we face Forward." Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of the Republic of Ghana

Unfortunately, Ghana has a long way to go forward.

Also known as the Gold Coast, Ghana gained independence from British colonial rule in 1957, becoming the first Sub-Saharan African nation to do so. During the next 35 years, the military staged four coups. The political situation has been stable since 1992, but Ghana faces many economic and health problems. It has 24 million people of which 4 million live in Accra, the capital. There are 10 regions, 81 ethnic groups and with 65% of the population literate. Average life expectancy is 60 years, infant mortality is 51 per 1000 births, and the fertility rate is about 4 children per woman. (Families wait a week after birth before naming their children.) Attempts to improve the healthcare system are believed to be hampered by a high rate of corruption within Ghana’s Ministry of Health and other organizations. 

A global poll in 2012 found that Ghana was the most religious country in the world. 62% of the population is Christian (Pentecostal, Catholic and Mormon churches are plentiful in urban areas. Stickers on rear windows of cars declare “God is Good” “Jesus is Our Savior” etc.) 16% of the population are Muslim and live mostly in the northern parts of the country. The remainder are animists and have traditional tribal beliefs (eg the Ga tribe has a Fetish priest. There is a Shrine for a god of fertility and a shrine to put a curse on one's enemy.) Elders are highly respected and serve as priests or priestess.

The virgin coastline of Ghana is breathtakingly spectacular

Ghana is a beautiful tropical country with a long coastline. Among its natural wonders are Mole National Park, Paga crocodile pond, and Kakna national park. The country is rich in gold, cocoa and other agricultural goods. The government is allowing an American company to drill off shore for oil. Hopefully this will reduce the unemployment rate, which officially stands at 50%. 

We first stopped in Takoradi, a port used for exporting goods. This is where 12 million to 15 million slaves were transported to the New World (see Topy's impressions and photos). Tema, which is close to Accra, is a port for the import of goods. It is lined with thousands of containers that have to be transported on narrow and congested roads. Going 20 km took us 30 minutes in the morning but two hours on the return.

This is the residence of the president of the university 
which has a total enrollment of 34,000 in its three campuses

In Accra, we visited the final home and grave of American/African historian W.E.B. DuBois (more on him in another post). We drove through the huge and beautiful grounds of the University of Ghana and saw the museum and magnificent memorial to honor Kwame Nkrumah, the first president of the Republic (a friend of DuBois). Later, we stopped at a market where we were swamped by anxious merchants eager to sell their handicrafts. 

The temperature reached 105 degrees Fahrenheit and the humidity was at least 90%.  Even though our drive back took two hours, we were happy to be in an air-conditioned bus.

Walking into the Gulf of Guinea in Takoradi, Ghana, at the 

private beach at the Coconut Grove Resort where we had 

lunch: luxury in the middle of immense poverty

America’s loss, Ghana’s gain

W.E.B. Du Bois

"The  problem with the 20th century is the problem of the color-line." W.E.B. Du Bois. The Souls of Black Folk

William Edward Burghardt "W.E.B." Du Bois was an American sociologist, historian, civil rights activist, pan-Africanist, author and editor. Born in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, in 1868, Du Bois grew up in a relatively tolerant and integrated community. After graduating from Harvard, where he was the first African American to earn a doctorate, he became professor of history, sociology and economics at Atlanta University. He wrote dozens of books on African American culture and history.

He was one of the co-founders of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) 1909. Although Du Bois generally endorsed socialist principles, his politics were strictly pragmatic. He was a lifelong antiwar activist, but his efforts became more pronounced after World War II. In 1950, at the age of 82, Du Bois ran for U.S. Senator from New York on the American Labor Party ticket and received about 200,000 votes, or 4% of the statewide total. The U.S. government's anti-communist McCarthyism campaign targeted Du Bois because of his socialist leanings, and his visits to Russian and China further tarnished his image resulting in the revoking of his American passport. At age 93, he and his second wife, author Shirley Graham, settled in Ghana where Dubois became a close friend of President Nkrumah and where he wrote three volumes of a new encyclopedia of the African diaspora – the Encyclopedia Africana.

DuBois died on August 27, 1963, in Accra aged 95. He is buried near his home, which is now the Du Bois Memorial Center. The center has a collection of his books as well as hundreds of volumes he brought with him. The home is used as a conference center for Pan African causes. The day after his death, at the March on Washington, speaker Roy Wilkins asked the hundreds of thousands of marchers to honor Du Bois with a moment of silence. The Civil Rights Act of 1964, embodying many of the reforms Du Bois had campaigned for his entire life, was enacted a year after his death.

Seminars for Lifelong Learners

During my talk

While at sea, Lifelong Learners (LLLs) have an hourlong seminar every day at 4 p.m. Often a professor or an LLL lectures on a topic dear to his or her heart that would interest the other older travelers. We have had talks about memory retention, DNA advancements, canoeing challenges from Hawaii to Tahiti, volunteer work in orphanages in central Africa and more. I was asked to talk about memoir writing. Below are my notes, which might also inspire readers of my blog.

We all have a story to tell, especially at our age, having lived several decades, met many challenges and survived a tragedy or two. Why not record them? It does not matter whether you publish them or not.  Record them for your own pleasure or to pass down to your children and grandchildren. Writing non-fiction or historical fiction needs a lot of research, and writing fiction needs imagination. Writing your life story comes naturally. Here is my advice for any writer

1. Make writing a habit
Philip Roth had a great saying that amateurs wait for inspiration while great writers just get up and go to work. You have to sit down and write every day.

I got into a habit of writing at an early age.  I remember writing poetry in Turkish, my native tongue when I was in 4th or 5th Grade. I did not show them to anyone but got great satisfaction out of putting words on a piece of paper.

2. Make reading a habit
Make reading an important part of the day, especially reading works similar to what you want to publish.  Biographies, autobiographies and memoirs should be on everyone’s bookshelves.

I used to share a bedroom with my older sister and remember reading with a flashlight under the covers. My grandmother would make me read out loud to her. I used to think I’d rather be out playing with my sister and my cousin. But I could not refuse her when she’d say, “My eyes are tired. Why don’t you read to me?”  After each chapter, we would have a conversation about what I read. Looking back on it, these were such pleasant memories of bonding as well as a great introduction to one of life's biggest pleasures: reading.

3. Keep a journal
Keeping a journal helps focus your thinking and harness the chaos in your brain. This also makes you remember certain events that made a difference in your life.

I have kept a journal on and off all of my life. My earlier ones were in Turkish. Most of my entries were about my emotional state at the time. I seldom go back to read them, but I know that keeping them was great  training for my career in journalism.

4. Join or form a writing group of supportive people
Look around for writers’ workshops.  If you can find one with a good facilitator stick to it. If not get a few of your motivated friends to form one. Give it a structure. Take turns leading the discussion. Read what you wrote and ask for improvements.

I went to a lecture at a neighborhood Barnes and Noble store in Chicago about 10 years ago. Enid Powell had been a screenwriter for a day-time soap opera. She was talking about fiction writing, and I was inspired by what I heard. I had just retired from the travel business and was looking to do something with my time. So I joined her workshop. There were six or eight of us who met every Wednesday night for two hours in her condo two blocks away from my apartment. She would give us a 3 x 5 card and a key word such as “bread” or “mother” or “city” and let us write for two minutes about whatever came to our minds. You’d be surprised how interesting the results were. The remainder of the two hours would be devoted to hearing a chapter written by one or two participants. We would then critique what we heard, always in a positive and constructive way. Enid would use her green-ink pen to make notes on the margins of what we turned in. At 85, she is still going strong. I have recommended her classes to several of my friends. Our website is here. We have published books, collections of short stories on such topics as "Home Away from Home."

Two books helped me:  Bird by Bird by Anne Lamott, who tells you to take one subject at a time; and Your Life As a Story by Tristine Rainer, who gives you detailed guidance.

Your local lending library may have a writers group or a cultural center, such as one I know of in Chicago, may have workshops for senior citizens. Enrolling in a continued education class at a university is another possibility, though it would be costlier. You can also find expert help online.  Such as the one called Backspace, a group of accomplished writers that allows people of all levels to join at a moderate fee. It runs discussion groups and organises a conference in New York City every year. Its homepage provides you with 101 Best Websites for Writers.

After my writing took shape, I attended a week-long memoir class at the Writers Festival, held at the University of Iowa in Des Moines, which helped me put the final touches on my book. I was also lucky to have experienced editor friends look over the manuscript.

Topy Fiske on Ghana

This is a guest post by my cabin mate, the journalist Topy Fiske.

We were in Takoradi, Ghana, this week and visited Elmina castle (built by the Portuguese in 1482) and Cape Coast castle (built by the British in 1664), two hours away on the coast. At one time, there were 19 castles that were used as slave dungeons on what is now the Ghanaian coast, and most have crumbled into disrepair. The two we visited were grim. Worse than what you can ever imagine. I've seen dungeons and concentration camps before, but the horrific conditions in these "holding" dungeons supersede anything I've seen anywhere. The dead either were dumped into the sea or buried under the cobbles in the courtyards where large, unmarked graves still exist.

Above: Elmina, or "the mine" in Portuguese, was built in 1482, the largest and oldest castle in the trans-Atlantic slave trade. The Dutch  conquered it in 1637 and the British in 1807. Today fishing canoes come and go 

The anthropologist on board said at least 15 million people from the 16th through to the 19th centuries were transported to the New World via the Middle Passage, with Brazil receiving the most. In addition, at least 7 million people died during the voyage or while waiting for transport. Africans selling Africans; Portuguese, Dutch and British selling Africans; Arabs selling Africans; Africans trying to escape; indescribable abuses. 

Cape Coast castle carries a plaque noting that Michelle Obama's ancestors survived and passed through the "Door of No Return" from this very castle. This is the door through which those who survived this Hell were put onto ships in coffin-like spaces and sent to unknown places. President Obama and the First Lady visited this site in 2009, and another plaque commemorates their visit.

I'd like to share an inscription on another plaque that is imbedded into the walls of both places:

In Everlasting Memory of the Anguish of Our Ancestors
"May Those Who Died Rest in Peace
May Those Who Return Find Their Roots
May Humanity Never Again Perpetrate Such Injustice   Against Humanity
We, the Living, Vow to Uphold This"

In today's Ghana, the living conditions are severely substandard. Where to begin? Fifty-four countries in Africa, and this is supposed to be one of the best in sub-Saharan Africa. Broiled rats are sold for food in the market, and open sewers carry everything -- and I mean everything -- out of the markets into an open area near a lake used for washing and drinking. Vendors are very aggressive, and they continually touch you, putting bracelets on your arms, stopping you from moving ahead in narrow passageways, etc. Lots of pregnant young girls. Lots of people crowded into villages with mud huts and storage bins for housing. Lots of red earth. Lots of dust. Lots of women carrying heavy loads on their heads while swaddling infants on their backs. Lots of everything, including a new kind of servitude, economic as well, as oil companies and foreign investors reap profits from this mineral-rich country, leaving little behind. Even crew members say they don't like this port. Still, our tour guide was optimistic about the future and says that life today is better than it was 30 years ago.

This afternoon the temperature reached at least 105 Fahrenheit.