Church of St. Anthony of Lisbon

Dear Commons Community,

We returned to Lisbon last evening after two days in Sintra.

Today we spent the late morning and early afternoon visiting two churches.

The first was St. Anthony of Lisbon.  It is named after Fernando de Bulhões (better known as Saint Anthony of Padua) who was born in Lisbon,  in 1195, the son of a wealthy family. In 1220, while studying in  Coimbra, he entered the Franciscan Order, adopting the name António. His missionary travels would lead him to Italy, where he settled in Padua. Due to his immense popularity, he was canonized less than a year after his death, in 1232.

The site of the family house where Fernando was born and located very close to Lisbon Cathedral, was turned into a small chapel in the 15th century. This early building, of which nothing remains, was rebuilt in the early 16th century, during the reign of King Manuel I. In 1730, under King John V, the church was again rebuilt and redecorated. In the 1755 Lisbon earthquake, the Santo António Church was destroyed, with only the main chapel left standing. It was rebuilt for the third time after 1767 to a Baroque–Rococo design by architect Mateus Vicente de Oliveira. This is the church that can be visited today.  In an area under the church is a room where the original chapel stood.  The church has an impressive statue of St. Francis of Assisi, who is normally depicted in a pleasant manner and usually with animals, is depicted here with with a full beard and cross. 

Main Altar of St. Anthony of Lisbon Church

St. Francis of Assisi

A room under the main church depicting the site of St. Anthony’s birth

Sign showing that Pope John Paul II knelt before the room dedicated to St. Anthony

The Lisbon Cathedral or the Cathedral of Santa Maria Maior was built in 1147 and is the oldest church in the city. Over the centuries, the cathedral has been rebuilt, renovated and restored several times, resulting in a mix of different architectural styles including Romanesque, Gothic and Baroque.  The inside of the Cathedral is lined on both sides with smaller altars dedicated to saints of the Catholic Church.

We finished our day at dinner at one of the oldest restaurants in Lisbon, the Martinho da Arcada, established in 1782.

Tony

Lisbon Cathedral or the Cathedral of Santa Maria Maior

Lisbon Cathedral Main Altar Area

Lisbon Cathedral Side Altar

Lisbon Cathedral Vestry

Sintra National Palace

Dear Commons Community,

Today Elaine and I visited the castle now known as Sintra National Palace.  Originally, it was the residence of the Islamic Moorish Taifa of Lisbon rulers of the region. The earliest mention in a source is by Arab geographer Al-Bacr. In the 12th century the village was conquered by King Afonso Henriques, who took the ‘Sintra Palace’ castle for his own use. The blend of Gothic, Manueline, Moorish, and Mudéjar styles in the present palace is  mainly the result of extensions and renovations in the 15th and early 16th centuries.

Both the exterior and interior of the Palace are spectacular and well-preserved.  I took more than thirty photographs and below are but a sample.  The Palace is by far the most impressive sight we have visited in Portugal so far and a must see for any visitors. The photos below represent images of the exterior, the gardens, the ceilings, and the interior.

A great experience!

Tony

Visitor’s Entrance

Two Smokestacks Serve as Chimneys for the Kitchen

One of the Palace Gardens

View from the Palace Garden

Ceiling of the Swan Room

Ceiling of the Coat of Arms Room

Below are three images from the interior rooms.

Church of Sao Martinho

Dear Commons Community,

The Church of Sao Martinho was built in the 12th Century by the first king of Portugal, Alfonso Henriques.  It is a charming beautiful old church that has very limited service other than one mass each Sunday. Attached to it is a small museum that has relics from a number of the churches in Sintra that were partially destroyed during the earthquake of 1755.  Parts of Sao Martinho were also destroyed and were rebuilt. Elaine and I spent part of the morning here. We received a personal tour by Curação,  who was incredibly well-informed of church history.  There were statues, clothing, and religious artifacts that have been collected over centuries.  She had a story for everything.  Our 30 minutes with her was an education. Unfortunately, no photos were allowed in the museum.  Below are several photos inside the church.

Next will be a visit to the National Palace of Sintra.

Tony

San Martinho Main Altar

San Martinho Side Altar

San Martinho Organ Built in 1776

Dear Commons Community,

Elaine and I arrived in Sintra this afternoon.  It is a beautiful, small, Portuguese town that has a significant history. While formally chartered in the 12^th century, the Sintra area has had human habitation dating back to the Iron Age.

We are staying at Lawrence’s Hotel which opened in 1764, and is reputedly the oldest, still-functioning hotel on the Iberian Peninsula.  Lord Byron stayed here in 1809. There is a winding staircase named for him that leads to an exterior courtyard. It also has  feature that I have never seen before in a hotel. There are no room numbers. Each guest room has a name.  Ours was Tradução.

Sintra is full of small winding streets and is home to a number of castles.

Lawrence’s Hotel and its immediate surroundings provided a great start to our visit.

Tony

Lord Byron’s Staircase at Lawrence’s Hotel

View from the Balcony in Our Room

Exterior of the Jerónimos Monastery and the Church of Santa Maria de Belém

Dear Commons Community,

Yesterday, Elaine and I visited  the Jerónimos Monastery and the Church of Santa Maria de Belém.  They share a site in the Parish of Belem that is part of the of Lisbon Municipality. The Jerónimos Monastery or Hieronymites Monastery  is a former monastery of the Order of Saint Jerome.  It is one of the most prominent examples of the late Portuguese Gothic Manueline style of architecture in Lisbon. It was erected in the early 1500s near the launch point of Vasco da Gama‘s first journey. In 1880, da Gama’s remains were moved to a new carved tomb in the nave of the  Church, only a few meters away from the tombs of King  Manuel I and Queen Maria. In 1983, the Jerónimos Monastery was classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Tomorrow we leave Lisbon for two days in Sintra!

Tony

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Jerónimos Cloister Courtyard

Elaine

The Second Level of the Jerónimos Cloister

Main Altar of the Church of Santa Maria de Belém

Tomb of Vasco da Gama

Tomb of Manuel I and Queen Maria

The Rua Augusta Arch

Dear Commons Community,

After a pleasant overnight flight, Elaine and I arrived in Lisbon late yesterday morning.

AlmaLusa Hotel

We are staying at AlmaLusa, a boutique hotel in an 18th century building, on the Praça (Plaza) de Município.

Praça do Comércio

Our hotel is a one minute walk to the Rua Augusta Arch (Portuguese: Arco da Rua Augusta), a stone, memorial historical building on the Praça do Comércio.  It was built to commemorate the city’s reconstruction after an earthquake and tsunami completely destroyed Lisbon in 1755.  It has six columns and is adorned with statues of various historical figures.  In the center of the Praça do Comércio is the equestrian statue of King José I, dedicated in 1775.

The Statue of King Jose I in the Praca do Comercio.

A good first day in Lisbon.

Tony

Lisbon

Dear Commons Community,

Elaine and I will be flying to Lisbon, Portugal, this evening for a nine-day holiday.

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

I will be at the 51st Annual Conference of the National Center for the Study of Collective Bargaining in Higher Education and the Professions in New York City today.  The program looks quite good.  If you are going to the conference, I will be on a panel this morning entitled, Navigating Generative AI in Higher Education: Implications for Pedagogy, Research, and Collective Bargaining.  It meets at  10:45 am – 12:15 pm ET (C201-202). On the panel with me will be: Kyle Arnone, AFT Collective Bargaining Center, Amanda M. Blair, Associate, Fisher & Phillips LLP, and Rob Weil, AFT Director of Policy, Research and Field Services.

If you are going to the Conference, I would love to see you!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

The big news this week, President Joe Biden said at a Washington roast, was that two candidates had clinched their party’s nomination for president. But one was too old, too mentally unfit for the job, he said.

“The other’s me,” Biden quipped.

The digs against Republican Donald Trump kept coming from the president at the annual Gridiron Club and Foundation Dinner, as Biden deflected ongoing criticism that his memory is hazy and he appears confused, instead highlighting moments when the 77-year-old Trump has slipped up, too.  As reported by The Associated Press.

“Don’t tell him, he thinks he’s running against Barack Obama, that’s what he said,” said Biden, 81, who also quipped that he was staying up way past his bedtime.

It was the first time Biden has attended the dinner during his presidency, and comes as the 2024 election looms and the rematch between Biden and Trump heats up. The annual bacchanalia, now in its 139th year, traces its history to 1885 — that was the year President Grover Cleveland refused to attend. Every president since has come to at least one Gridiron.

Biden veered quickly into the somber, though, highlighting what he sees as a real threat to democracy should Trump — who continues to falsely claim the 2020 election was stolen — return to the White House. The speech had echoes of Biden’s campaign remarks, criticizing Trump as well as too soft on Russian President Vladimir Putin.

“We live in an unprecedented moment in democracy,” he said. “An unprecedented moment for history. Democracy and freedom are literally under attack. Putin’s on the march in Europe. My predecessor bows down to him and says to him, ‘do whatever the hell you want.’”

Biden then introduced the Ukrainian ambassador, Oksana Markarova, and Estonian Prime Minister Kaja Kallas.

“We will not bow down. They will not bow down, and I will not bow down,” he said.

Biden, dressed in white-tie attire as is the custom, brought his daughter Ashley.

The dinner has a reputation as a night of bipartisan mirth, and was jam-packed with politicians and who’s-who of Washington, including Vice President Kamala Harris and her husband Doug Emhoff, at least eight other Cabinet members, at least five members of Congress, five governors and at least five ambassadors. Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar, who’s in town for St. Patrick’s Day, also attended.

Also speaking at the dinner were Harris, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, and Utah Gov. Spencer Cox, a Republican.

Biden closed out the dinner, speaking about the importance of a free press. Although he may not agree with everything the news media prints, he said, he understands the necessity of journalism and said he was still working to bring home journalists Evan Gershovich and Austin Tice, one held in Russia, the other who disappeared during a reporting trip in Syria.

“Good journalism holds a mirror up to society,” he said. “We need you.”

Amen!

Tony

Dear Commons Community,

An artificial intelligence program from South America that creates lesson plans for teachers is now being piloted in several Brooklyn high schools. As reported by The New York Post.

Teachers in northern Brooklyn are being trained on how to use YourWai, an AI “teaching assistant” created by developers in Colombia for the company Learning Innovation Catalyst, Superintendent Janice Ross announced at a parent council meeting on Wednesday.

“Teachers spend hours creating lesson plans. They should not be doing that anymore,” said Ross, who oversees high schools in Sunset Park, Park Slope, Williamsburg, Bed-Stuy, Brownsville and East New York.

Teachers can enter students’ needs and the standards they want into the app and a lesson plan will be generated, Ross explained at the Citywide Council for High Schools meeting. She called it a “game changer” that will give teachers more time to “think creatively” and less time spent creating curricula.

“Will it take time, will we have to adjust it if you want more of this, want more of that? Yes,” Ross added. “We can never replace humans.”

But some educators and observers warned AI lesson planning is concerning on many levels: fledgling AI systems have been shown to lean left and present absurd historical inaccuracies, and lesson planning itself is an essential and creative teaching activity.

“The mistake is to see lesson planning as drudgery that can be off-loaded to a machine,” Brooklyn College and CUNY Grad Center education professor David Bloomfield told The Post.

“Using AI, like long-available commercial or free materials, shouldn’t be a crutch yielding sterile, depersonalized work, but a tool that teachers will need to be taught to use if it’s to be effective,” he added.

Google’s Gemini was recently blasted for creating “diverse” images that were not historically or factually accurate — like female popes and Native American Founding Fathers.

Adobe’s Firefly recently generated depictions of black Nazis.

A study conducted by New Zealand professor David Rozado for the right-wing Manhattan Institute last year found “instances of political and demographic bias” and “left-leaning” undertones in ChatGPT responses.

“Another potential problem with AIs creating lesson plans for students is the relatively high frequency with which AIs display hallucinations/confabulation,” he said. “That is, they make stuff up that is simply not true.”

Rozado presented the potential scenarios that could play out: AI can reinforce a human’s biases, a human can correct or learn from the technology, or, “in a more disturbing scenario, a biased system could present incorrect content in such a persuasive fashion that it convinces the user of its veracity,” he said.

“We know that AI can sometimes be wrong, and it must be used cautiously,” Queens Councilman Bob Holden, a member of the City Council’s Committee on Technology, told The Post.

But it is the future, the former educator noted, and has “hit us at warp speed.”

“As we embrace this technology in our daily lives, educators and students must use it responsibly and under careful supervision in schools,” Holden said.

NYC Schools Chancellor David Banks last May moved to embrace OpenAI’s ChatGPT following the DOE’s ban on the technology earlier in the year.

The city’s network of Urban Assembly schools introduced using AI for teacher coaching, Chalkbeat reported in January.

The district-led pilot is allowing teachers more time to engage with students, DOE spokeswoman Jenna Lyle told The Post.

“In order to prepare our young people for lifelong success and prepare them today to lead tomorrow, our students and educators must take full advantage of the technological advancements at their fingertips,” she said.

AI is here!

Tony