Ralph Fasanella, Empire State Building (fragment)

Mark your calendars. ALBA is proud and excited to present a full slate of events for the next three months. For details and updates, consult the event calendar at alba-valb.org/eventcalendar/:

On September 14, ALBA’s Nancy Wallach is scheduled to speak at a symposium at Michigan State University on the Visionary Art of Lincoln vet Ralph Fasanella, a world-renowned “outsider” painter. For more information, visit fasanella.org.

Join us on September 18 at 1PM EST for an online information session about the Alvah Bessie Program, an initiative developed by the regional government of Catalonia to identify and recover the remains of international volunteers from the Spanish Civil War who were buried on Catalan soil. The program also invites interested family members to submit genetic material and be entered into a database. . For more information about the Bessie program, visit the Catalan government’s website.

Join us on October 15 at 1pm PST (4pm EST) for the annual online gala organized by ALBA’s Bay Area Committee. This online event will feature a keynote by Jeff Chang; a presentation on Asian veterans of the International Brigades by experts Nancy and Len Tsou; Patrick Riccards, Executive Director of Life After Hate, the 2022 ALBA/Puffin Human Rights Award winner; and a musical performance by Bruce Barthol & band.

On October 20, the Rosenstein Cultural Series will resume with a roundtable presentation on Spain, World War II, and the Holocaust, with ALBA board members Gina Herrmann and Robert Coale, who will be accompanied by Sara Brenneis and Joshua Goode.

On November 2, Sebastiaan Faber will offer a two-hour Spanish Civil War workshop for students and teachers at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh. For details, contact Prof. Michal Friedman, mrf25@andrew.cmu.edu.

On November 2 and 3, Nancy Wallach will present with Dennis Meaney, ALBA’s Executive Assistant, at a conference on “Anti-Fascism in the 21^st Century” organized by Hofstra University (Long Island).

Join us on November 16 at 4PM EST for an online conversation, followed by Q&A, with Carole Naggar, whose new biography of David Seymour has just appeared. Seymour, better known as Chim, was a trailblazing photojournalist who became world-renowned through his coverage of the Spanish Civil War and postwar Europe. For a review of the biography, see elsewhere in this issue.

The Susman Lecture is back! Join us on Sunday, December 4, at 3PM EST/12PM PST, for a live Zoom presentation with Nora Guthrie, daughter of singer and activist Woody Guthrie (1912-67), whose recording of Jarama Valley is legendary, and who in 1952 wrote a series of songs against Franco. Ms. Guthrie began her career as a modern dancer, founded the Woody Guthrie Archives in 1992, and is president of Woody Guthrie Publications. The event will be a conversation between Guthrie and ALBA Board Member Peter Glazer, followed by a Q&A with the audience.

The summer wasn’t quiet, either.  On June 8, an audience more than a hundred strong joined the online discussion of Bones of Contention, a 2017 documentary film by Andrea Weiss. On June 8, an audience more than a hundred strong joined the online discussion of Bones of Contention, a 2017 documentary film by Andrea Weiss. Jointly sponsored by ALBA and the Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS) of the CUNY Graduate Center, the event served to kick off Pride Month. The discussion panel included Emilio Silva, newly appointed to ALBA’s Honorary Board. Also appearing on the panel was the film’s director Andrea Weiss, and CLAGS’ Shaka McGlotten, Professor of Media Studies and Anthropology at Purchase College-SUNY. You can view it again here.

On June 30, ALBA’s Anthony B. Geist conducted a successful online workshop on Poetry and the Spanish Civil War. Close to two dozen participants delved into the work of César Vallejo, Rafael Alberti, John Cornford, and many others.

ALBA Fall Events

Sept. 18                Alvah Bessie Program Information Session

Oct. 15                  Bay Area Online Gala

Oct. 20                  Roundtable: Spain and the Holocaust

Nov. 2                  Teacher Workshop, Pittsburgh

Nov. 16                 A Conversation and Q&A with Carole Naggar

Other Events of Interest

Sept. 14                The Visionary Art of Ralph Fasanella (Mich. State Univ.)

Nov. 2-3               Antifascism in the 21^st Century (Hofstra Univ.)