[draft]
New York, N.Y. Our friend and member of the New York Global Leaders Lions Club [link] Don Ho, his mother, 100-year old regular on Law and Order, Norma Chu, and J. Luce Foundation Young Global Leader XXX.
Celebrating Three Generations of Chinese-Americans in New York
Spanning North, Central, and South America, as well as the Caribbean, the indigenous peoples of the Americas have shaped the continent’s history for over 12,000 years, cultivating diverse societies, languages, and civilizations from the Arctic to the Andes. Through his writing, Jim Luce explores the enduring legacies, cultural richness, and contemporary challenges of Native Americans and indigenous communities across the hemisphere. From the ancient city of Cahokia to the vibrant traditions of today’s tribal nations, Luce highlights the resilience, wisdom, and contributions of indigenous peoples, reminding readers of their foundational role in the story of the Americas.
NativeAmerica #IndigenousPeoples #JimLuce #NativeAmericanHistory #FirstNations #CulturalHeritage
#Americas #TribalNations #IndigenousVoices #NorthAmerica #CentralAmerica #SouthAmerica
Follow Jim Luce on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and X (Twitter).
© 2024 The Stewardship Report on Connecting Goodness – Towards Global Citizenship is published by The James Jay Dudley Luce Foundation Supporting & Educating Young Global Leaders is affiliated with Orphans International Worldwide, Raising Global Citizens. If supporting youth is important to you, subscribe to J. Luce Foundation updates here.
Map of the globe with a focus on trade and expansion, c. 1565, based on an earlier map by Giacomo Gastaldi. Image credit:Â Library of Congress.
History serves as the foundation upon which our understanding of the world is built, offering invaluable lessons from the past that guide our present and future. The famous adage, “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it,” by philosopher George Santayana, underscores the critical importance of remembering and studying history. By examining the successes and failures of previous generations, we gain insights that help us avoid repeating the same mistakes, fostering a more informed and enlightened society.
Follow Jim Luce on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and X (Twitter).
© 2024 The Stewardship Report on Connecting Goodness – Towards Global Citizenship is published by The James Jay Dudley Luce Foundation Supporting & Educating Young Global Leaders is affiliated with Orphans International Worldwide, Raising Global Citizens. If supporting youth is important to you, subscribe to J. Luce Foundation updates here.
ABOUT Addiction Advice Africa Africa – East Africa – South Africa – West Americas & Caribbean Analysis Animals & Animal Rights Anthropology Architecture Asia – East Asia – South Asia – Southeast Authoritarianism Available Content Calendar Celebrity Children Childrens' Literature Cities & Urban Development Corporations Cuisine & Culinary Arts CULTURE Dance Disaster & Development Economics Education Europe Events EXPRESSION Extremism Eyewitness Faith, Religion & Theology Family & Relationships Fashion Film & TV Global Warming Goodness Gun Control Health & Hygiene Heros of Democracy History Human Rights Humor Immigration & Migration In Depth International Relations Jim Luce Writes Law & Judicial System Leadership Media Mental Health Mideast Monthly Feature Museums Music Nature News Obituary Older Adults Open Orphans International Outer Space Pacific Islands Peace & Conflict Resolution Philanthropy Philosophy Philosophy Photography Poetry & Fiction Politics Pop Culture Poverty Press Pulse Prison Reform Profiles Racisim & Black Lives Matter Review Royalty Science & Technology Service Organizations Sexuality & Gender Social Media Sports & Olympics Thai The Arts Theater & Comedy Travel U.N. U.S. Video Viewpoint War, Conflict & Terrorism Women WORLD World War III Youth
October 15, 2018
Dharamshala, India. The office was simpler than I expected, and security less stringent. The man himself was less of a foreigner. In fact, he is as American as I am, having graduated from Harvard Law School and lived with his family in Boston for fifteen years.
I joked with him that we had something in common: my ancestor Thomas Dudley had co-founded Harvard, but unlike the Tibetan president, I was not smart enough to get in.
PHOTO
In 1959, the year Cuba declared Independence, Alaska and Hawaii joined the United States, His Holiness the Dalai Lama fled Tibet under Chinese Occupation and, with the help of TITLE Nehru, founded the Tibetan Government in Exile in India.
Today it is simply called the “Tibetan Central Administration,” and Lobsang Sangay, J.D., serves as its president. Like our friend Hon. Palitha Kohona of Sri Lanka, Lobsang returned from abroad to serve his nation.
Lobsang Sangay was extraordinarily gracious as he welcomed Dr. Kazuko and I into his office, addressing Dr. Kazuko with deference. “Long-term friends like you have sustained the Tibetan cause,” he said. He then went on to expound on how the Red Sox were superior to the Yankees. Not the conversation I was expecting!
PHOTO
Lobsang Sangay (Tibetan: བློ་བཟང་སེང་གེ་, “kind-hearted lion”; born September 5, 1968) is a Tibetan politician who is the Sikyong (President) of the Tibetan-government-in-exile, officially known as Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) since 2012 and previously served as Kalön Tripa from 2011 to 2012. Following his election, at the request of the 14th Dalai Lama, the Tibetan parliament-in-exile amended the organisation’s bylaws to remove the Dalai Lama’s executive authority, making Lobsang Sangay its highest leader. In 2012, to reflect this change, Lobsang Sangay’s title as chief executive was changed from kalön tripa (“prime minister”) to sikyong (“ruler” or “regent”).
Sangay was born in Darjeeling, India and studied international law and democracy at Harvard University.[1] and holds American citizenship.[2]
Early life and education[edit]
Sangay was born in a refugee community in Darjeeling, India in 1968, with a typical Shichak (settlement) background amidst fields, cows and chickens, fetching wood in the forest and helping his parents’ small business, including selling winter sweaters.[3][4] After graduating from the Tibetan school in Darjeeling, Sangay received his B.A. (Hons) and LL.B. degrees from the University of Delhi in India. In 1995, the then Kashag offered a Fulbright Scholarship spot to him at Harvard Law School for his role in Chushi Gangdruk affairs, where he subsequently received his LL.M. degree the same year.[5] Sangay spent 15 years at Harvard University.[6]
Academic career[edit]
In 2003, Sangay organized five conferences between Chinese and Tibetan scholars, including a meeting between the Dalai Lama and thirty-five Chinese scholars at Harvard University.[7]
In 2004, he became the first Tibetan to earn a S.J.D. degree from Harvard Law School[8] and was a recipient of the 2004 Yong K. Kim’ 95 Memorial Prize[8] for excellence for his dissertation, Democracy in Distress: Is Exile Polity a Remedy? A Case Study of Tibet’s Government-in-exile.[5] In 2006, Sangay was selected as one of the twenty-four Young Leaders of Asia by the Asia Society, a global organization working to strengthen relationships and promote understanding among the people, leaders and institutions of Asia and the United States. Funded by Hao Ran foundation, Sangay was a Senior Fellow at the East Asian Legal Studies Program at Harvard Law School through 2011. He is an expert in Tibetan law and international human rights law.
Sikyong: 2011–present[edit]
On 10 March 2011, the 14th Dalai Lama proposed changes to the exile charter to remove his position of authority within the organisation and devolve his political power to the elected leader, thus making the Kalön Tripa (or Chief Minister) the highest-ranking officeholder. These changes were ratified on 29 May 2011,[6] even though, according to Sangay, there was “a high level of anxiety among Tibetans” over the Dalai Lama’s decision to relinquish his own political authority.[9]
On 27 April 2011 Sangay was elected Kalön Tripa of the Tibetan Government in Exile.[10][11][12] Sangay won 55% of the votes, defeating Tenzin Tethong (37.4%) and Tashi Wangdi (6.4%). 83,400 Tibetans were eligible to vote and 49,000 ballots were cast.[12] On 8 August 2011, Sangay took the oath of office, succeeding Lobsang Tenzin as Kalön Tripa. In a statement at the time, the Dalai Lama referred to Lobsang Sangay as Sikyong; and the title was officially changed from Kalön Tripa to Sikyong in September 2012.
In his role as Sikyong, Sangay has emphasized the importance of seeking a peaceful, non-violent resolution of the Tibet issue. He has supported the Dalai Lama’s call for a so-called “Middle Way” approach “that would provide for genuine autonomy for Tibet within the framework of Chinese constitution.” Noting that China has established “one country, two systems” mechanisms in Hong Kong and Macau, he has argued that it makes no sense for China to continue to resist a similar solution for Tibet, which, he emphasizes, would be a “win-win” result.[13]
In February 2013, he gave the first annual lecture of the Indian Association of Foreign Affairs Correspondence. Expressing concern about the possible ripple effects of recent acts of armed rebellion in west Asia, he called for the international community to strengthen its endorsement of non-violent approaches to oppression. “If non-violence is the right thing to do,” he emphasized, “we ought to be supported by the international community.” Noting the media attention given to armed Syrian “freedom fighters,” he said: “Tibetans have been democratic and non-violent for the last so many decades, how come we don’t receive similar support and attention?”[14]
Sangay made a statement on 10 March 2013, the 54th anniversary of the Tibetan National Uprising Day, in which he paid tribute to the “yearning for freedom” that inspired “the epochal events of March 10, 1959,” and dedicated the anniversary of those events “to all the self-immolators and those who have died for Tibet.” He also restated his dedication to the “Middle Way Approach,” expressing hope that a “speedy resolution” by China of the Tibet issue could “serve as a model for other freedom struggles” and “be a catalyst for moderation of China.”[15]
In January 2017, outgoing US ambassador to India, Richard Verma, hosted Lobsang Sangay for a dinner along with an Indian minister and Richard Gere, an event that angered China.[16][17]
Personal life[edit]
Sangay has been married for 23 years to Kesang Yangdon Shakchang, whose parents were from the Lhokha and Phare area. They have a thirteen-year-old daughter.
His father died in 2004.
Lobsang Sangay holds a United States passport,[18] which means he holds American citizenship.[2]
Awards and honors[edit]
Sangay was awarded Presidential Medal award by Salisbury U, Maryland, USA on 13 October 2015.[19]
He received the Gold Medal of the College Historical Society of Trinity College Dublin for Outstanding Contribution to Public Discourse by the Auditor of the Society, Ms Ursula Ni Choill.[20]
Penpa Tsering Controversy[edit]
On 7 November 2017, the Kashag (the CTA’s executive, which Sangay heads) dismissed a long-serving Tibetan diplomat, Mr. Penpa Tsering, from the important post of Representative at the Office of Tibet in Washington DC. The former education minister, Ngodup Tsering was appointed to take the position effective 1 December 2017. No clear justification for the dismissal and replacement was initially provided by the Kashag.[21] On 18 November 2017 the Kashag released a 10-point statement of clarification detailing their reasons for dismissing Penpa Tsering.[22] A New York-based Tibetan man writing under the pseudonym “Mila Rangzen” called for a mass protest against the Tibetan exile government on 27 November 2017 to demand justice for the ousted diplomat.[23] The settlement officer of Dharamsala released a statement urging peace in the streets.[24] Nevertheless, on 27 November 2017, a protest took place in Dharamsala near the CTA offices.[25]
Sikyong Dr. Lobsang Sangay addressed an audience at Samast Bharat Excellence Award, 2018 on May 24, 2018 at Devdar hotel in Khanyara, Dharamshala.[26]
My mother, Frances Dudley Alleman-Luce, standing in front of the cottage she would rent each summer.
xxx
xxx
xxx
xxx
AFS, Gap Year, Europe, Germany, Globalism
AFS Gap Year in Germany Helped Author Develop Sense of Globalism
xxx
New York, N.Y. [Story in progress]
Images of My Mentor and Sensei, Dr. Kazuko Tatsumura
My Mentor and Sensei, Dr. Kazuko Tatsumura
Follow Jim Luce on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, TikTok, and X (Twitter).
© 2024 The Stewardship Report on Connecting Goodness – Towards Global Citizenship is published by The James Jay Dudley Luce Foundation Supporting & Educating Young Global Leaders is affiliated with Orphans International Worldwide, Raising Global Citizens. If supporting youth is important to you, subscribe to J. Luce Foundation updates here.
xxx
xxx
xxx
xxx
xxx
xxx
His Holiness the Dalai Lama cutting the cake during celebrations of his 83rd birthday at the Shiwatsel Teaching Ground in Leh, Ladakh, J&K, India on July 6, 2018. Photo by Tenzin Choejor.
New York, N.Y. Every year on July 6th since His Holiness’ 80th birthday, New Yorkers have come together to celebrate H.H. the Dalai Lama Birthday Gala for World Peace through Compassion.
The event took place on Friday, July 6 at Marriott Essex House in Central Park South, New York City and was sponsored and organized by Gaia Holistic Foundation, The Tibet Fund, and Orphans International Worldwide.
Nobel Peace Prize laureate and recipient of over 150 awards, honorary doctorates, prizes, and so on, as well as authoring more than 100 books, His Holiness the 14th Dalai Lama, Tenzin Gyatso, describes himself as a simple Buddhist monk.
His Holiness has worked tirelessly in Tibet’s non-violent struggle for freedom and in promoting universal values of compassion, kindness, tolerance, and wisdom.
Founder and director of Gaia Holistic Foundation, Dr. Kazuko Hillyer Tatsumura states:
Compassion means an understanding of others and all sentient beings. We celebrate with those who sympathize with this and wish peace for all. Through this caring for others, we can send out the energy of collective sympathy throughout the world.
In addition to Tibetan Monks prayer for H.H. the Dalai Lama’s long life, major religious groups prayed for the same meaning in their own words. Christian, Jewish, Moslem, Buddhist, Native Tribes, and Hindu practitioners were present.
This year’s “World Peace Through Compassion” awards were presented to Chief Arvol Looking Horse from Sioux Tribe of the Lakota Nation and Eric Ripert from Le Bernardin for their contributions to uplift humanity.
Chief Arvol was born on the Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota and is from Sioux Tribe of the Lakota Nation. At age twelve, he was given the enormous responsibility of becoming the 19th generation Keeper of the Sacred White Buffalo Calf Pipe, the youngest in history.
His life has revolved around his commitment to work towards religious freedom, cultural survival, and revival. In1995, he met with H.H Dalai Lama to establish a relationship between Tibet and Lakota Nation.
He decided to “work for change and let the world know how beautiful our way of life is, so that the Seventh Generation can have a better life.”
In celebration of cultures, there were performances by former Tibetan Tipa musicians and dancers and Red Hawks Native Tribes.
Then to conclude the “World Peace through Compassion” celebration, over 150 guests with flags of all nations in hands send out caring energy to the people of each country.
Eric Ripert is co-owner of the acclaimed New York restaurant Le Bernardin and has been ardent support of H.H. the Dalia Lama and the Tibetan People. Eric served as Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of City Harvest, working to bring together New York’s Tops chefs and restaurateurs to raise funds and increase the quality and quantity of food donations to New Yorkers in need.
Eric is prolific, and with over million social media followers, has authored six best-selling books, hosted his own Emmy Award-nominated Tv show “Avec Erics,” and is a frequent guest judge on Bravo’s “Top Chef” and a regular guest on Anthony Bourdain’s incomparable “No Reservations” and “Anthony Bourdain: Parts Unknown.”
The 2018 Humanitarian Award was presented to broadcaster Rita Cosby who is also the Sr. Global Advisor of the J. Luce Foundation (www.lucefoundation.org). Emmy Award-winning TV host, veteran correspondents and best-selling author who has dedicated her life to the Betterment of humanity. The U.S. Congress has recognized Rita for her professional and charitable achievement in support of children and veterans.
H.H. the Dalai Lama has been supported by Dr. Kazuko Hillyer Tatsumura for decades. Founder of the Gaia Holistic Foundation and a board member of both Orphans International Worldwide (OIW) and the J. Luce Foundation, Dr. Kazuko has been known as the most prominent non-Tibetan supporter of this project.
H.H. The Dalai Lama’s 83rd Birthday Interfaith Celebration in NYC
(Originally published July 10, 2018)
PHOTO
Eric Ripert receiving award by Lobsang Nyandak.
Photo by: Nan Melville.
PHOTO
L to R : Dr.Kazuko Tatsumura-Hillyer, Lobsang Nyandak (President of Tibet Fund), Jim Luce (Director and founder of Orphans International Worldwide Director). Photo by: François Bonneau.
PHOTO
L to R: Lobsang Nyandak. Jim Luce, Dr. Kazuko Hillyer Tatsumura, Chief Arvol Looking Horse (Native), Sahar Alsahlani (Islam), Ravi Vaidyanaat Sivachariar (Hindu), Rev. Dr. T. Kenjitsu Nakagaki (Buddhist), Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, Dr. Dale T. Irvin. Photo by Nan Melville.
PHOTO
L to R: Bix Luce (Orphans International Exec. Dir.), Tomaczek Bednarek, Rita Cosby, Jim Luce (J. Luce Foundation Founder & President), Rabbi Joseph Potasnik, Dr. Kazuko Tatsumura Hillyer, Chloe Hoang (J. Luce Foundation Exec. Dir.). Photo: Nan Melville.
PHOTO
Tibetan Performers. Photo by Nan Melville.
PHOTO
150 people with flags of all nations in hands. Photo by François Bonneau.
Gaia Holistic, Inc. (http://www.gaiaholistic.com) strives for the betterment and the happiness of all sentient beings on this planet, constantly working toward dispelling of suffering through various programs building orphanages throughout the world including Manjushree in Himalayas & others and Holistic Medical therapy called Onnetsu Therapy, using unique patented method. Facebook.
The Tibet Fund’s mission is to preserve the distinct cultural and national identity of the Tibetan people (www.tibetfund.org). They promote self-reliance and help sustain the cohesiveness of the exile community. In Tibet, their support is directed to orphanages, eye care and other health programs and educational projects that aid impoverished and marginalized Tibetans. Facebook.
Them mission of Orphans International Worldwide, Inc. (www.OrphansInternational.org) has worked to support orphaned children in Africa, Asia, and the Americas since it’s founding in 1999, including Manjushree Orphanage for Tibetan Children in the Himalayan mountains of India. Facebook.
TAGS: Dalai Lama’s Birthday, Humanitarian Award, Orphans International Worldwide, slider, The J. Luce Foundation, Tibet Fund
Wings Co-Founder Leila Hadley Luce attends the 6th Annual Wings Worldquest Women of Discovery Awards Gala at Cipriani.
New York, N.Y. I met Leila Hadley Luce with Hank — known to outsiders as Henry Luce III of Time-Life — in their Sutton Place residence, at a reception they threw for my first national organization, Fundamentalists Anonymous. It was late fall in 1986. They had just married and I did not know what to expect.
She was the unexpected. “Darling, your life is so interesting!” I mused, in comparison to hers, it was nothing. But I had caught her interest.
In 1985 I had co-founded Fundamentalists Anonymous, an organization that immediately placed me on Phil Donahue. We were tackling the controversial subject of ‘religious addiction,’ at that time never mentioned on national television. I was 26.
Hank was the son of Harry Luce, who founded Time-Life in the 1920’s. The Luce family, however conservative on the Time-Life side, had always embraced Asia, a favorite part of the world for me. I had majored in East Asian Studies and studied at Waseda University in Tokyo. Leila approved.
Hank and Leila were enthusiastic for ecumenical and Interfaith ideas. They abhorred religious extremism. We were on the same page.
Hank steered the Advisory Board for my Fundamentalists Anonymous. He wanted to help me help those burned by their Fundamentalist experiences. We raised over a million dollars to sustain it, partially from the Henry Luce Foundation.
The Time-Life side of the Luce family were Mainline Presbyterian, although the second wife of Hank’s father Harry’ — Clare Boothe Luce — was deeply Catholic. I remember well her packed funeral at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on Fifth Avenue.
Leila had Anglican roots. She ended her journey in the Episcopal Church where she had been baptized, like myself. St. Thomas Episcopal where she was recently memorialized is just a few blocks up Fifth Avenue from St. Patrick’s.
Leila was raised in Old Westbury on Long Island where her childhood playmates were the Vanderbilt sisters. They remained life-long friends. A stunning debutante, she was introduced to society at the Ritz-Carlton in 1943.
At 25, already married and divorced from Arthur T. Hadley II, she sailed around the world. From those travels, she wrote Give Me The World, a New York Times bestseller. The book was published by Simon & Shuster in 1958 (reprinted in 1999). She then set off for South Africa, the West Indies, Europe, the Middle East, North Africa, Central America, and the Caribbean.
For several years she worked for the now-defunct Diplomat Magazine, as well as the Saturday Evening Post, Newsday, and the New York Times. In the 1970’s she was inspired by the Dalai Lama, and went on to publish Tibet 20 Years After the Chinese Takeover, a reprint of her lectures to the Society of Women Geographers.
In 1990, she married her third husband, my global adviser, mentor, and rather distant cousin Hank Luce III.
The Luce Family she married into broke the mold in many ways. Descendants of ship captains off Martha’s Vineyard, Luces have always been captains of their own ships.
Roughly 1/3 of the Martha’s Vineyard Navy just before the Revolution were Luces. We remarry, endlessly. And our family scandals exist more publicly than in other proper families.
Rear Admiral Stephen Bleecker Luce founded the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis. He led a naval expedition into Edo (Tokyo) Bay several years before Admiral Perry opened up Japan, but was chased away. The Academy knows this well, but most history books omit it.
Harry Luce’s Empire is perhaps the vision Rupert Murdoch has pursued so relentlessly. Hank introduced me to Rupert once at the Waldorf Astoria and I was surprised how unpleasant he seemed to be. So much power, so little grace.
I attended the once-Presbyterian College of Wooster. In 1980, the president informed me that Hank would be visiting the campus and, as a Luce, could I pitch him to build a dormitory in honor of the family?
“Hank,” I said, ushering up all my college-aged courage at a reception in President’s Copeland’s home, “It sure would be great to have a Luce Hall here at Wooster.” “Yes it would be,” he responded, “Go for it!” I was speechless.
Today, that dorm stands at Wooster in testament to the Luces, as do buildings at Yale and Princeton. The Henry R. Luce Hall is the home of Yale’s Center for International and Area Studies. Other notable structures include:
The Luce Family’s affinity for Asia came from generations of sailing by Luce ship captains, whalers and traders, off Cape Cod. I have rubbed many-hundreds-of-years-old gravestones on the Vineyard, of this Captain Luce and that Captain Luce who died at sea.
Leila was active throughout the 1990’s as a member of several philanthropic boards, including Tibet House and The Rubin Museum of Art.
Over the years I would chat with Leila on the phone. I apologized that I had missed Hank’s funeral in 2005 as I was traveling in Indonesia, building orphanages in the wake of the Tsunami with the organization I founded, Orphans International Worldwide.
Leila was intrigued by my orphanages, but said, “Count me out on your travels, but my heart is with you.” Leila had emphysema in her later years and could not attend our receptions and dinners, even when they were held on Sutton Place — just down the street from her. “Darling, I am not well!”
Leila has inspired me to live life to the fullest and achieve to the maximum. I hope to mirror Hank and Leila’s core values: altruism, internationalism, and ecumenicalism. The motto of Orphans International — Interfaith, Interracial, International, Inter-generational, and Internet-Connected — reflects and updates these values.
I can only hope that my own recently launched James Jay Dudley Luce Foundation may play a tiny role in maintaining these Luce traditions.
My side of the family is as far away from Hank’s side as is possible. If I remember correctly, I am direct descendant of the first son of Henry Luce of England, who arrived on the Vineyard in the late 1600’s, eleven generations prior. Hank, in contrast, was direct descendants of the original Henry Luce’s tenth son.
And Leila was of course not a Luce, but the wife of one. And yet she personified the best of the Luces. She was brutally honest. She was stunningly beautiful. And she had enough money to do what she wished with her life.
Auld lang syne friends, including actress Tammy Grimes, Mrs. Arnold (Michelle) Dolan Ehrlich, and editor and publicist Gloria Starr Kins, all felt a loss for Leila – one of the lights of their world that had gone out. Michelle’s late husband Arnold was the former head of Curtis Publishing, publishers of Saturday Evening Post and Publisher’s Weekly.
Betsy von Furstenberg was an honorary pallbearer. Other honorary pallbearers included Marilyn Bridges, Gertrude Vanderbilt, Ira Gitler, Dr. Steven Soter, and Francine Douwes Whitney.
Leila’s dear friend, columnist Liz Smith, said in her memorial, “Do not rest in peace, dear Leila, just tear things up wherever you are!”
Leila Hadley Luce: The Last of the Great Luces? (Published in the Huffington Post, April 25, 2009)
New York, N.Y. The book, a crime drama, celebrates the fraternal bonds of brotherhood, written shortly after the death of Verne’s brother and best friend, a French sailor. Part of “Extraordinary Voyages,” Jules Verne’s The Kip Brothers was never translated into English for a variety of reasons, including because of its anti-American and anti-British sentiment.
Mostly it was not translated because it veered away Verne’s typical science fiction tales. First published in French in 1902, it arrived in English in 2007 (Wesleyan University Press).
The book, a crime drama, celebrates the fraternal bonds of brotherhood, written shortly after the death of Verne’s brother and best friend, a French sailor. The bond between the two heroes is so close it raised the question in this writer’s mind whether gay relationships could have been written about openly in Victorian France?
The breathtakingly visual plot of this classic is set over the Pacific Ocean, like Verne’s 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea. The book unfolds as its Dutch brothers adventure in Australian Tasmania and New Zealand, both former British colonies.
The story is told in a gripping before and after. Before, Karl and Pieter Kip become castaways, shipwrecked on a barren island in the South Seas. They are rescued by the brig James Cook, which we learn has serious trouble on board.
Shortly thereafter, two particularly unpleasant mutineers kill the kindly captain. The Kip brothers help to foil this onboard mutiny while rescuing the ship in a storm.
However the brothers find themselves accused and convicted of the captain’s murder when they finally reach shore. They are first framed in court, and then sentenced to death.
Their only advocate is the owner of the ship that rescued them. He manages to get their sentences changed to life imprisonment in an Australian penal colony, while he continues to look for proof that will bring the real culprits to justice.
After, the Kip brothers spend the novel’s second part trying to escape a horrible penal colony. The good character of these Dutch brothers goes a long way to let everyone know that would never be capable of murder, but this must be proven to the courts.
In this story, perhaps most interestingly, Verne interweaves an exciting exploration of the South Pacific with a tale of judicial error reminiscent of the infamous Dreyfus Affair, which continued to rock Europe in the author’s lifetime.
The Dreyfus Affair was the political scandal which divided France in the 1890’s. It involved the conviction for treason of Captain Alfred Dreyfus, a young French officer of Jewish descent.
Sentenced to life imprisonment for having communicated French military secrets to the Germans, Dreyfus was sent to Devil’s Island off French Guiana on the northern coast of South America.
Two years later, evidence came to light identifying a French Army major as the real culprit. However, high-ranking military officials suppressed this new evidence. Word of the military court’s framing of Alfred Dreyfus and of an attendant cover-up began to spread, largely due to Emile Zola’s expose in the French press.
The case had to be re-opened and Alfred Dreyfus was brought back from Guiana in 1899 to be tried again. The intense political and judicial fighting that ensued divided French society between those who supported Dreyfus (the Dreyfusards) and those who condemned him (the anti-Dreyfusards).
Seemingly, Verne was an anti-Dreyfusard in the beginning, but through writing The Kip Brothers, he transformed into a Dreyfusard.
The Kip Brothers is an extraordinary work for this reason alone. The classic was penned over 100 years ago by a brilliant leader in thought and global citizen.
It remains close to my heart because the English translation is by another world thinker, a man with a doctorate from Yale in French who also translated Verne’s The Mighty Orinoco and The Begum’s Millions, my father, Stanford L. Luce.
Jules Verne’s Kip Brothers Translated into English after 100 Years (Originally published in Huffington Post, June 11, 2009)
Friends Ambulance Unit volunteer Frank Miles in Shanxi Province, China, 1947.
New York, N.Y. Perhaps the grandest relative I ever had was neither a Luce nor a Dudley. He joined our family as my regal aunt Elizabeth’s second husband. I would sit by him, mesmerized, at the South Shore Boston home my grandfather built in the 1940’s as he regaled me with tales of his volunteer medic days with Mao Tze Tung and troops in the caves of Yenan. His name was Henry W. Stokes of Philadelphia.
My cousin wrote a few hours ago to say, “Henry died peacefully at home on Sunday morning (9/26) at sunrise over Hingham Harbor at his home at 153 Otis Street. There will be Quaker memorial service on Oct 16 at 11:00 at the Fellowship Hall of the Old Ship Church. He was 92 years old and certainly was a Renaissance man with so many different interests and talents.”
Henry W. Stokes died at home in Hingham September 26, 2010. Born to Francis J. and Lelia W. Stokes, Henry attended Germantown Friends School (1936) and, like my father, Dartmouth College (1940). He worked at Foxboro Company 1941-1944, when he joined The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) Friends’ Ambulance Unit in India and China. He added charcoal burning engines to 2½ ton Dodge trucks used as ambulances. Henry designed precision tools at his factory, Woodruff and Stokes Co.
According to the Nobel Prize Committee, which conferred the American Friends Service Committee with its prize in 1947:
The AFSC was founded in 1917 by members of the Religious Society of Friends in the U.S. in order to provide young Quakers and other conscientious objectors to war with an opportunity to perform a service of love in wartime. In the ensuing years, the Committee has continued to serve as a channel for Quaker concerns growing out of the basic Quaker belief that «there is that of God in every man» and the basic Quaker faith that the power of love can «take away the occasion for all wars».
Though the Religious Society of Friends itself is small, the work of the Committee is supported by thousands of like-minded men and women of many races, creeds, and nationalities, who serve on its staff or make contributions, both financial and spiritual, to its ongoing programs.
«A good end cannot sanctify evil means; nor must we ever do evil, that good may come of it;» wrote William Penn, the Quaker who founded Pennsylvania in the seventeenth century; «let us then try what love can do.» When the AFSC celebrated its fiftieth anniversary in 1967, «To See What Love Can Do» became its motto.
According to his obituary:
Henry’s strong sense of civic responsibility led him to serve on many boards in Hingham including overseeing the building of the Middle, Plymouth River, and East Schools, as well as additions to the Central Jr. High, High School and Foster Schools. He served as Selectman. One of his greatest contributions to Hingham was to help raise funds for the purchase of World’s End.”
Henry had a passion for nature, sailing, repairing clocks, and inventing. He loved to solve problems especially when it meant making a device that saved time or energy.
Henry is survived by brother David, four children from his first wife Katharine Sangree: Alison Gottlieb, Joan Sangree, Lelia Weinstein and Henry Sangree Stokes, three step-children from his marriage to Elizabeth Allyn: Judith Rheinstrom, Claudia Downey, and Jonathan Allyn, grandchildren and great grandchildren.
The memorial service will be held on October 16th at 11am at the Old Ship Church Fellowship Hall in Hingham, Mass. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Trustees of Reservations.
I embraced Henry Stokes as an uncle from the day I met him decades ago. He was perfect for my aunt Elizabeth – and he was the perfect uncle. He was also generous with my own charity, Orphans International Worldwide (OIW). I can only hope to inspire my own nieces and nephews in the grand manner that Henry Stokes inspired me. A man of the strongest possible convictions, he was my own family’s true thought leader and global citizen.
Remembering Henry Stokes, Quaker Volunteer Medic in Caves of Yenan (Originally published in Daily Kos, Oct. 9, 2010)
See also by Jim Luce:
