With a few precious hours available this morning, I took to the streets of Beijing and walked over to the Reignwood Centre, a respected art museum and gallery about 10 minutes from my hotel, to explore the opening exhibit of photographer Michael Yamashita's Silk Road Journey. I happened to learn about the exhibit the night before and decided it was too close to miss, and given that Beijing was the first stop on its world tour, I felt increasingly fortunate to be one of the first few Westerners to experience the show.

The Webster Dictionary defines Renaissance Man as a person who is interested in and knows a lot about many things. A writer, composer, film director and most notably as a world renowned photographer, there is no question that Gordon Parks could easily fit that definition. And while the description is simple, Mr. Parks was deeply complex and a profoundly influential American artist whose work over the past 50 years has come to be seen as some of the most important photographic work of our time.  He was deeply committed to the causes of social justice and equity having been born poor, in Kansas during the time of segregation and in his biographic information it is shared that he purchased himself a camera which he proceeded to teach himself how to use and would ultimately serve as a the tool that would give him the artistic voice of his generation. It was for these and many other reasons that Jennifer TumSuden and I decided we would organize a trip for Walnut Hill students to the MFA in Boston to see his collection of work on exhibit.