For any successful event, it all comes down to the guests and entertainment, but there was something about the 2020 Lunar New Year celebration at International House that was extra special. The Lunar New Year is the biggest cultural event in Asia. In mainland China, where it is known as Spring Festival, it is marked with a week-long holiday. As with most cultural events at I-House, the celebration offered a sense of home for many, as well as a chance for Residents from different parts of the world to share in a culture that was new to them. However, this year’s event took on a new...

The International House Women’s International Leadership Program (WIL) fellows gathered in October 2019 for their first of three leadership development weekends. The two-day intensive weekend training focused on personal leadership identity and had the fellows dancing, collaging, and sharing about their respective journeys and work they’ve been doing. Workshops, fireside chats and ice-breakers led to the weekend’s culminating activity of writing a personal leadership manifesto. The WIL program is in its 29th year at I-House and the 2019-2020 cohort is comprised of incredible women...

International House is extraordinarily proud to celebrate Black History Month and to reflect on how I-House has witnessed and participated in the political and sentimental upheavals of the Civil Rights Movement. International House was founded in 1924 when Jim Crow dominated the South, and segregation and racism were commonplace. Following the Civil War, prohibitive laws in New York City enacted a culture of bigotry and discrimination that habitually intimidated and suppressed Blacks and other people of color. It was not until well after the Civil Rights Movement that the tide slowly...

What would you like to hold on to forever? For 43-year-old Maleonn, an influential conceptual artist in China and the focus of the documentary “Our Time Machine,” it’s his father. A 2019 film directed by Yang Sun and S. Leo Chiang, “Our Time Machine” follows Maleonn’s journey of putting up a play in honour of his father, and archiving what it means to try and keep something you know fundamentally that you cannot. On Wednesday, January 22, 2020, International House Residents were treated to a screening of the documentary as it continues to make festival rounds. The...

More than 1000 couples began their story together at International House. We call them “Sakura Sweethearts” in honor of Sakura Park, which faces the South Building. Here is the story of one such couple, Mitch Hayes and Helena Dona, who had returned to I-House for a private event in February 2019. “Ice Cream Socials” are an I-House tradition that began in the 1960’s, the brainchild of I-House legend and former staffer Herman “HR” Rottenberg. At these informal events, Residents usually look for their favorite cold flavors and toppings—not expecting...

As part of the I-House Documentary Series, Residents and special guests attended a screening on October 17, 2019, of “Brave Girl Rising,” a powerful, short film about courage and transformation that tells the story of Nasro, a 17-year-old Somali girl growing up in one of the largest refugee camps in the world. The evening began with a light cocktail reception in the Hall of History, where attendees spent the time connecting and enjoying the delicious food and beverages before being ushered into Davis Hall. Officiating the event was William Dodge Rueckert, who has been a...