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"""An extraordinary emblematic flag""",,"I visited Barbados on a teacher professional development trip in 2018. My assigned research topic for the trip was Bussa’s 1816 slave rebellion. Within three days in April of that year, the rebellion had spread to most of the southern half of the island.
Slavery in Barbados was addressed in a limited way by tour guides and historians on the island. There were not accounts from the slaves to detail their life experience. During this trip, I viewed the rebellion as evidence that slaves were not satisfied with the conditions of their lives and wanted their freedom. In a roundabout on one of the highways in the country, there stands a statue of Bussa- hands raised, fists clenched, chains broken. However, there is no diary entry from Bussa, just accounts from the British of the importance of putting down the rebellion. We can only make assumptions about Bussa’s objectives, but we are missing his words.
In an account written in a private letter on Tuesday, April 16th, the slaves were described as carrying “an extraordinary emblematic flag.” British sketches of the flag, now housed in the National Archives in London, are the only record of the goals of the slaves. They were striving for the freedoms that had been denied to them. They wanted to marry and have access to the privileges of the planters. But they did not want to overthrow the British Crown. They wanted to be British citizens.
This flag is the voice of Bussa and his followers. Slaves were often kept illiterate in order to limit their access to the tools and ideas to agitate for freedom. In this way, their voices are lost. Without those voices, it is possible for historians and individuals to imagine what slaves would have thought or said. But those imaginations do not allow for the complexity of human thought and experience. We are missing these people and we will never truly know their lives. It is unique to have evidence of what Bussa really thought. It contributes to the recognition and understanding of the humanity of Bussa and his followers. ",,,,,"Emily Longenecker, 34, High School Teacher, Virginia ",,,,,,an-extraordinary-emblematic-flag,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Andrew Mink of the National Humanities Center","Barbados,Bussa's Rebellion (1816),History,Memory,Slavery,Teachers & Teaching",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/12/193/MFQ1_112_-_An_Extraordinary_emblematical_flag_-_Bussa_Rebellion_Banner_April_1816.jpg,"Still Image","Virginia Geographic Alliance West Indies Teacher Institute",1,0
"""Latinoamerica""",,"""Latinoamerica"" is a song from Calle 13. When I first heard this song I realized how important music is for identity in the construction of culture itself. Back in those days, I was studying for my first Masters degree in Spanish Literature and I was taking a class in literary criticism. We were focusing on essentialism at that time and I thought how as Latinos we can be identified as a whole group but at the same time, we are really different and how we may conceive ourselves while we empower our differences to create unity. I really identified with that song. Every time I listened to it, I got very emotional. This can be representative of Latino history. The song is a mixing between Spanish and Portuguese, which represents Latin America in real life. ","Calle 13","""Latinoamerica""",,2011,"Gilberto Garcia, 35, Ph.D. student and language instructor ",,,,,,latinoamerica-song,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,NHC,"Cultural Identity,Latin Americans,Literary Criticism,Music,Songs",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/18/491/tatiana-rodriguez-HuoCThvdRtc-unsplash.jpg,Text,"Graduate Student Residents 2021",1,0
"""on a small radiant screen honeydew melon green are my scintillating bones""",,"Gwen Harwood's ""Bone Scan"" will always have a place in my heart when it comes to my inspiration for teaching Literature and my abiding interest in the humanities. Growing up in Singapore, the educational environment I was in did not prioritize literature and the humanities very much, and math and science were the core subjects that we were expected to focus on.
However, when I was 18, I had a literature teacher who taught and prepared us to appreciate unseen poetry for the A levels and among the poems she introduced us to was ""Bone Scan,"" which we later realized was her way of explaining her long absence from the classroom near our national exams. She was struggling with cancer and her teaching allowed us to appreciate that the poem's use of the word ""scintillating"" and the use of sibilants represented her desire to regard her struggle with cancer as a positive and hopeful journey rather than one to think about negatively and pessimistically. Although she eventually passed on, her influence continues to inspire me to be a better teacher and reader of literature, and continues to remind me of the importance of being attentive and committed to the text before us. I continue to return to ""Bone Scan"" and think how we approach, study, encounter, and teach literature reflects how we approach, encounter, and interact with others in our lives as well.","Gwen Harwood","""Bone Scan"" ",,2010,"Eunice Ying Ci Lim, 29, Ph.D. Candidate, Pennsylvania State University, Comparative Literature and Asian Studies",,,,,,on-a-small-radiant-screen,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Graduate Student Summer Residency 2021","Harwood, Gwen,Illness,Poetry,Self-Realization,Teachers & Teaching",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/18/458/HM_Bones_Image.jpg,Text,"Graduate Student Residents 2021",1,0
"""Teach Them Well and Let Them Lead the Way""",,"For many years, my school district hosted an annual Academic Diversity Institute prior to the start of the new school year. At this institute, teachers had the opportunity to hear speakers and attend seminars that taught about and encouraged the implementation of new teaching strategies and methods in the classroom. The theme of the 2012 institute was ""Reaching All: Teaching and Learning in the 21st Century."" The keynote speaker at the 2012 institute reinforced many of the concepts and arguments that I had studied in my graduate school cohort program, from which I had graduated just three months earlier. As I listened to the keynote speaker, her words really resonated with me, further confirming my belief that the integration of technology in the 21st century classroom is critical to helping students to be academically successful, both in the present and in the future.
The keynote speaker tugged at my heartstrings through her incorporation of Whitney Houston's ""Greatest Love of All"". It is the song that my dad and I had danced to for our Father/Daughter dance at my wedding a year earlier. Although there is a very personal reason why my dad and I chose this song for our special dance, much of the meaning that he and I both share in connection with this song also carries over into my beliefs as a classroom teacher. My own analysis of Houston's lyrics further supports my belief about the importance of technology in the classroom.
""I believe the children are our future,"" as past and current generations have shown that they will be who shapes the workplace environment once they become the majority of the population. ""Teach them well and let them lead the way"" in how they will acquire, master, and utilize knowledge. ""Show them all the beauty they possess inside"" in order to intrinsically motivate them to want to learn. ""Give them a sense of pride to make it easier"" for them to find their own meaning in the standards that they must master in order to pass a particular course. ""Let the children's laughter remind us how we used to be"" when we ourselves were students (Whitney Houston, ""Greatest Love of All"").
That last line in particular reminds me of how excited I was to use Ask Jeeves for the first time in my 9th grade Regional World Studies class in order to do research on the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney. At the time, Ask Jeeves was a newly developed research tool on the Internet. My own memory of this experience reinforces the need for teachers to not only continuously learn about and incorporate new learning strategies and methods, but to also serve as a guide on the side of student learning and to let students find meaning in their own learning.","Whitney Houston","""Greatest Love of All""",,"August 2012","Kathryn Thayer, Social Studies Teacher",,,,,,teach-them-well-let-them-lead,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,Colleague,"Children,Houston, Whitney,Music Appreciation,Teachers & Teaching,Technology",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/4/517/board-409582_640.jpg,Text,Educators,1,0
"""The Machine Stops"" is Only a Start",,"I was always a voracious reader with a preference for fiction. My family made regular trips to the library growing up, so I had a never-ending supply of books at hand. Yet, one story I read in my high school British Literature class stands out as influential: E. M. Forster’s short story ""The Machine Stops."" The story itself captivated me. In it, humanity lives underground, reliant on “the machine” for all means of life. There is no need to visit others face to face: all communication is carried out through video conferencing and messaging systems. There is no need to leave one’s room or rely on one’s own muscles for support: everything needed is delivered, including air to breathe. One young man is dissatisfied with this life. He develops his strength by walking the hallway and eventually visits the surface, wearing protective gear. Throughout the story it is palpable how much humanity loses in giving up a connection to each other and nature and in rejecting self-reliance. The other characters, however, don’t realize their weakness until the day the tragic machine stops.
This is the earliest book I remember prompting me to think in depth about the human condition and about what we might need for fulfilling and flourishing lives. Forster’s story didn’t just entertain me; it promoted an interest in questions that continue to vex me and which I now pursue through philosophy. It was also one of the first ‘school assigned books’ that made me want to learn about the author’s life and read everything else the author had written. Forster is still one of my favorite authors. Although none of his novels are science fiction, as ""The Machine Stops"" is, all his writing depicts the melancholic beauty of humans in search of authenticity. But it didn’t stop there. Most of Forster’s novels have been adapted to films, and in pursuing those I developed a more general love of Merchant Ivory films. My friends may tease me for being moved by “sweeping British landscapes and gents leaning on mantles,” but for someone who grew up in the working class Midwest, these movies and Forster’s novels helped open new worlds to me and nurtured questions and concerns that have followed me over the years.
","E.M. Forster","""The Machine Stops""",,,"Dawn Jacob, Ph.D. student in Philosophy",,,,,,machine-stops-only-start,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"NHC Graduate Student Summer Residency ","Books & Reading,Dystopian Fiction,Forster, E.M.,Literature,Modernism,Philosophy,Science Fiction,Short Stories",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/18/469/tunnel-3233082_640.jpg,Text,"Graduate Student Residents 2021",1,0
"""The Town that Freedom Built"": Preserving Zora Neale Hurston's Eatonville",,"This plaque, and several others, are sprinkled throughout Eatonville, Florida to guide a walking tour of America's first legally established self-governing all-African American municipality. Eatonville was established in 1887. The town gained popularity from its depiction in Zora Neale Hurston's novel, Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), and her autobiography, Dust Tracks on a Road (1942).
Sadly, 100 acres of Historic Eatonville has been lost due to expansion of the Greater Orlando area and Interstate 4. However, The Historic District of Eatonville was added to the National Register of Historic Places on February 3, 1998. The Association to Preserve the Eatonville Community has been working to make Eatonville an internationally recognized tourism destination, to enhance the resources of the town, and to educate the public of its cultural significance and the community's heritage.
I came to Eatonville because of my research and love for Zora Neale Hurston. Inspired by scholars such as Alice Walker, who worked to find and mark Hurston's final resting place, I too am aspired to keep Hurston's legacy from disappearing. The dilapidated plaques that are supposed to guide and educate the public about the importance of Eatonville are impossible to read.
The sight of these plaques awakened a call-to-action inside of me. Since this moment, I have been working to digitally preserve Zora Neale Huston's Eatonville through geospatial technology and augmented and virtual reality technology. This technology has the capability to tell these stories in ways that are immersive and accessible. By digitally preserving these stories, future curious minds will be able to explore and share the experience.",,"Eatonville Walking Tour Plaques",,"February 2014","Valerie Rose Kelco, UNC-Greensboro, Literature",,,,,,zora-neale-hurston-eatonville,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston","Dust Tracks on a Road,Eatonville, Florida,Geographic Information Systems (GIS),Historical Markers,History,Hurston, Zora Neale,Memory,Public Spaces,Their Eyes Were Watching God",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/15/317/Eatonville_Plaque.jpg,Text,"Graduate Student Summer Residents 2019",1,0
"""Three Mountain Pass"" - Connecting to Vietnam",,"For teenagers, the world they live in is often described as “normal” and everything else is “weird.” One of my goals as a history teacher is to help my students recognize difference, but also to feel connected to people who lived in a much different place and time than them. Ho Xuan Huong’s poem, “Three Mountain Pass“ provoked in me admiration of her artistic talent, curiosity (“Who is this woman who can write such clearly sexual poems in 18th century Vietnam?”) and a sense that we had a shared experience of love and passion that shortened the distance between us.
“Three Mountain Pass” helped me understand the extremely high value Vietnamese culture places on poetic imagery - such that transgressive poetry could flourish because of its beauty. It also made me think deeply about the space Ho Xuan Huong carved out to express herself (and challenged the notion, propagated by American media, of Vietnamese women as passive objects, rather than educated artists with agency.) I am grateful to John Balaban for helping to bring these poems to me and to an American audience more generally, and that I was able to first feel a deep connection to Vietnam through this poem.
""Three Mountain Pass"": https://www.poemhunter.com/poem/three-mountain-pass/ ",,"""Three Mountain Pass"" by Hồ Xuân Hương
",,,"Lindsey Graham, 27, history teacher",,,,,,three-mountain-pass,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Andy Mink","Hồ, Xuân Hương,Poetry,Teachers & Teaching,Three Mountain Pass,Vietnam",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/13/196/Ho_Xuan_Huong.gif,Text,"Contested Territory: America’s Role in Southeast Asia, 1945–75",1,0
"""To the Daughters of My Country"": Humanitarian Connection across Time and Borders",,"In 1922, Julia Dimashqiya, founder and editor of the Beirut-based women’s magazine ""The New Woman"" (""Al- Mar’a Al-Jadida""), inaugurated her first issue by dedicating it to ""the daughters of my country.” From our vantage point, this statement seems to be an innocent and even bland admission of belonging. But looking beneath the surface reveals a world of contending debates about who belongs to this national mother, who might not, and why. In 1922, neither Lebanon nor Syria were yet countries—having transitioned from being Ottoman provinces to European mandates, these territories were undefined by fixed national borders. As such, enfolded in this invocation are a number of overlapping claims: to a nation, to a nonsectarian familial bond, to a future that is being built by a gendered collective. ""The New Woman"" was far from the only periodical working to define a community in this pre-national social soup; between the 1910s and 1930s, women-oriented periodicals in Greater Syria exploded in popularity. Women who founded, edited, and contributed to these magazines were attempting to both construct the ideal “modern woman” and also understand how their overarching society—beginning to be envisioned as a nation—would function through the lens of a collectively-defined women’s role.
Nearly one hundred years later, down in the digital ossuary of Middle Eastern archives, I opened the magazine and felt a kinship to her. Like Julia Dimashqiya, I feel engaged in a deep tradition of scholarship, agitation, and creative belonging. Like her, I understand that any project building something new requires a collective, a plurality, in order to last. Where she worked to build a nation in the face of unbearable oppression by colonial overlords, I hope to be engaged in a sphere of humanities that radically reshapes what it means to empathize, learn from, and interact with the past beyond the boundaries of time and space. Living one hundred years apart, we are connected to different facets of the same project to educate and elevate the consciously-constructed collective. After all, many of the problems she and other women intellectuals faced then remain familiar to us now: bridging the gap of social difference, challenging inequalities, and bringing together the many.
The first time I opened ""The New Woman"" was my Humanities Moment. Far from being a discrete point in time, I see it as part of an ongoing process built by a series of inquiries and curiosities that led me to the magazine. I did not have a single epiphany that switched on my lightbulb—instead, a decade of accidental discoveries in the literary realm, patient mentors in the academy, and interpersonal encounters in the world in time apprehended me, forming the unconscious bedrock of my commitment to the humanities. Holding the magazine for the first time merely lit the spark of a fire that had long been building—I knew I had to work with Julia Dimashqiya and other intellectuals like her, in spite of the century that separated us, to tell the story of women building a new nation. To me, this is what the humanities offers us: within the academy and beyond, it gives us the tools to understand one another and critically engage to form bonds. We work to define, challenge, and redefine our collectives and the borders between us. In this way, we learn how to connect the past to the present in ways that encourage us to envision the possibilities of our futures.",,,,,"Kylie Broderick (27), PhD student",,,,,,to-the-daughters-of-my-country,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"NHC Winter Residency for Graduate Students","Magazines,Political Activism,Women,Women's History,Women's Rights",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/17/421/Picture3.png,Text,"Graduate Student Residents 2020",1,0
"“Fern Hill”: the fleeting, eternal magnificence of Innocence",,"
I could do several Humanities Hours out of Humanities Moments – there are so many passages and ideas that have animated my imagination. I first find myself drawn to the heart-wrenching climax of Cervantes’s novel Don Quixote, but to describe that would be to reveal the ending, which I would feel queasy doing.
So I’m going with Dylan Thomas’s poem “Fern Hill” instead. Its lyricism conjures the innocence of youth that cannot imagine its own end. That’s kind of what innocence is: a brilliantly perfect inability to envision its own conclusion.
Thomas’s second stanza begins,
And as I was green and carefree, famous among the barns
About the happy yard and singing as the farm was home,
In the sun that is young once only,
Time let me play and be
Golden in the mercy of his means
We are “young once only” and we play and are golden. We all see this in the delight of children and also in the mesmerizing natural panoramas that remind me of a summer evening on a hilltop in Maine. It’s summer vacation all the time. It evokes the feeling that I think that character from Friday Night Lights has in mind when he says, “My heart is full.”
In a way, the ending of “Fern Hill” brings me to what I love so much about Don Quixote and the scene I mentioned a minute ago. Here I am, a middle-aged guy spending every day with teenagers, hoping to share and discuss with them truths about the human condition and our relationships and tragedy and beauty while they, children who are “green and golden” in their “heedless ways,” in their Eden of hope and vigor, start to gain insight about how Time holds them. They are looking toward college and work and beyond, and often they worry and fear, and although for many the curiosity of youth is sputtering, its flame is not out.
Thomas:
Nothing I cared, in the lamb white days, that Time would take me
Up to the swallow-thronged loft by the shadow of my hand,
In the moon that is always rising,
Nor that riding to sleep
I should hear him fly with the high fields
And wake to the farm forever fled from the childless land.
Oh as I was young and easy in the mercy of his means,
Time held me green and dying
Though I sang in my chains like the sea.
Whenever I read “Fern Hill,” and whenever I think of Don Quixote, I do so from the Experience side of the divide between innocence and experience. I peer longingly over at innocence, and I wish for it…and I feel it as if it were still here. It is the wonder of the poem, and of art, that in its presence we can be both green and dying.
",,"""Fern Hill,"" a poem by Dylan Thomas",,"I can trace it to several instances, including my original interaction with the poem, but the photo I use was taken in July 2012.","Carl Rosin, 51, teacher",,,,,,fern-hill,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"I am a member of the NHC's Teacher Advisory Council for 2018-19","Books & Reading,Casco, Maine,de Cervantes, Miguel,Don Quixote,Experience,Fern Hill,Innocence,Literature,Poetry,Teachers & Teaching,Thomas, Dylan,Wonder",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/252/hackers-hill-casco-maine-july2012.jpg,Text,"Teacher Advisory Council",1,0 "“For the Sake of a Cloud”","The beautiful thing about the humanities is that the search for truth need not be a matter of “right” or “wrong” — there is room both for the mastery of facts as well as for creativity and innovation. Through Euripides’ play, I realized that the story of the war really belongs to everyone; if even the ancient Greeks had creative and radically different versions, that frees up modern classicists to similarly transcend the traditional narrative. This experience invited me into the field because I could finally see myself doing something new within the discipline, and I was eager to be part of a long tradition of reinterpreting the story in a way that resonated with my own experiences. In the years that followed, I have written poetry about mythological subjects, and the process of writing about mythology helped me see connections across the disciplines of the humanities. From history to literature and art to music, the myths of ancient Greece continue to be reinvented and Euripides’ imagination has passed on to a new generation of artists, scholars, and thinkers.","While taking Latin in high school, I became fascinated by the story of the Trojan War. I loved the interconnected perspectives of soldiers, royalty, deities, and ordinary people. The family trees and catalogues of soldiers seemed endless, and I was thrilled to discover that each individual inspired stories, plays, and art. As I began to master the intricacies of the myths, I prided myself on recognizing the differences between movies like “Troy” or Disney’s “Hercules” and the original story. I watched eagerly to notice what they got wrong or right about the myth.
My beloved Latin teacher Dr. Fiveash soon introduced me to “Helen,” a play by the Greek playwright Euripides. The Trojan War is said to have started when Helen runs away to Troy with a prince named Paris. But in “Helen,” the story is turned on its head; she never goes to Troy. Instead, a cloud that resembles her was placed at Troy while the real Helen lived in Egypt and wondered when her husband could come to pick her up. I realized the story of the war is so complex that even the most fundamental aspects can be reinterpreted.
The beautiful thing about the humanities is that the search for truth need not be a matter of “right” or “wrong” — there is room both for the mastery of facts as well as for creativity and innovation. Through Euripides’ play, I realized that the story of the war really belongs to everyone; if even the ancient Greeks had creative and radically different versions, that frees up modern classicists to similarly transcend the traditional narrative. This experience invited me into the field because I could finally see myself doing something new within the discipline, and I was eager to be part of a long tradition of reinterpreting the story in a way that resonated with my own experiences. In the years that followed, I have written poetry about mythological subjects, and the process of writing about mythology helped me see connections across the disciplines of the humanities. From history to literature and art to music, the myths of ancient Greece continue to be reinvented and Euripides’ imagination has passed on to a new generation of artists, scholars, and thinkers.
In this excerpt from a conversation with William Ferris, former Chairman of the National Endowment of the Humanities, he shares how he came to see himself in Stephen Dedalus, the protagonist of James Joyce’s A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, who declares that he will fly from the nets of “nationality, language, and religion.”
He notes that at the time he encountered the character he and Stephen were about the same age and describes how he identified his own struggles as a young Southerner with those Dedalus experiences as a young Irishman. He goes on to discuss how the figure of Dedalus has become iconic and is used repeatedly to help discuss the struggles of young artistic spirits.
Beyond personally identifying with one of Joyce’s most well-known character, William Ferris points out how “Joyce keeps renewing his presence in our lives.” The continued circulation and appreciation of literature helps us draw parallels between our experiences and concerns and those of others, across time, national boundaries, and other differences.
My humanities moment is a memory I have—I figured out, I think I was 11, maybe 10 years old, and I went to this store that was like a Target store of its time, it was just a few blocks from my house, called Treasure City. It’s so cool it was called that because I did find musical treasures there in their little record department in the back.
I remember the moment very clearly. I went to Treasure City, I bought a 45 by The Beatles of the song “Nowhere Man,” and I went home, and I remember it was really sunny out, the window was open in front of my dad’s stereo where I was going to play the 45. Then I put on this song on the stereo and was sitting there alone listening to it for the first time.
I had a lot of feelings from it. First of all, it was really cool and sort of magical sounding. I think it might have been the first time I thought about electric guitars and the sound of them instead of just hearing music as a whole. I really remember the sound of the guitars on it. I had not yet picked up an electric instrument, I think it was probably a year before I would start playing electric bass. That really sticks in my head, thinking about the guitars on it.
Then just the vocal and the message, this idea of the nowhere man who makes all his nowhere plans for nobody, and he knows not where he’s going. Then saying, “Isn’t he a bit like you and me?” To me the song felt like it was about humanity, that I was the nowhere man and if I just realized it the world could be at my command. Or from one of the other sections—it’s such a human thing to say—he says, “Nowhere man, don’t worry. Take your time, don’t hurry. Leave it all till somebody else lends you a hand.” Just that idea as well made me feel like it was a very hopeful thing, that you can get help, and that’s okay.
I understand it in a deeper way now looking back, and I’ve learned a little bit about the song. I didn’t know anything about them really at the time. When “Nowhere Man” came out I was still, I think, only about a year and a half old. I was born in October of 1964. I’ve read since that it was actually the first Beatles song that wasn’t just a relationship song, but explored a different kind of landscape. To me when I see it now, it also is a beautiful piece of art from John Lennon, starting to express really personal kinds of feelings. Even though it makes the nowhere man this focus, all this humanity is coming out of John. And it's a beautiful—it’s like modern art compared to a lot of the things around its same time.
It was really human. It was really special to me. I think it gave me the feeling like I could be—first of all, all of us are kind of nobody, “isn’t he a bit like you and me?” And that even if you feel alone or you feel like you’re nowhere, the world is there and you can go and take command of your life. Even if you can’t do that, you take your time and you let other people help you. It does stay in my mind like an early experience that was a more grown up thing I was listening to, making it into my consciousness.
",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,,"45 Record,Lennon, John,Lincoln, Nebraska,Music,Nowhere Man,The Beatles,Treasure City",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/292/Los_Beatles_[19266969775]_Recortado.jpg,Sound,,1,0 "“Personal freedom was therefore not existent.”",,"The title of my moment comes from a quote on page 55 of Watson and Potter's book, Low-Cost Housing in Barbados: Evolution or Social Revolution? My humanities moment occurred in the Bajan archives while being able to view the original document that freed the enslaved people of the island. I simply sat down in the corner of the room and cried. I felt moved to share this discovery with my son. Although we are privileged to be removed from this kind of historical trauma, it was an important experience to consider its effects on the lives of real people. Knowing how hard it is to come into such documents in our country, understanding the importance of this document and being thankful that my child understands to a degree how significant this experience will forever be for me both humbled and overwhelmed me. Due to geographic constraints, the option to flee beyond the island’s borders even after emancipation was practically impossible. It even seemed as if their freedom was merely symbolic due to the chattel system which allowed the once-enslaved persons to build small homes on the land of their former imprisoners for labor. The idea of freedom was born on that day. However, much like in so many parts of the world where there is still a struggle between the races and the haves/have nots, personal freedom was still not existent for these people. They still had to be very cognizant of all of their actions to ensure food and shelter for their families. Fear of having to move their home or simply not having a place to move their home helped perpetuate the system of a white dominated society for many more years past the initial emancipation. ",,"Low-Cost Housing in Barbados: Evolution or Social Revolution?",,"June 21, 2018","Lisa Roop Belcher",,,,,,personal-freedom-was-therefore-not-existent,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Andy Mink","Barbados,Emancipation Act of 1834 (Barbados),History,Low-Cost Housing in Barbados: Evolution or Social Revolution?,Potter, Robert,Slavery,Watson, Mark",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/12/189/archives.jpg,Text,"Virginia Geographic Alliance West Indies Teacher Institute",1,0 "“This is Water”: Finding Empathy in the Banalities of Daily Living",," I was first introduced to David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water” in a Language and Composition class. Our textbook was full of examples of rhetoric, categorized by topic. “This is Water” was originally a Commencement speech given at Kenyon College in 2005. A shortened version was transcribed in my textbook which I had to analyze and write about for my class. In reading DFW’s words I found a perspective that resonated with me and one that the world is often starved of. The speech opens with an anecdote about fish swimming in the ocean. Two young fish are asked by an older fish, “How’s the water?” and one young fish turns to the other and says, “what the hell is water?” Wallace uses this story to point out that often, like fish in the ocean, we’re not aware of what surrounds us. As humans each of us are predisposed to be self-centered, because our own thoughts and needs come to us much more urgently than anyone else’s. In the tedium and banality of “day-in, day-out” life we begin to see the strangers around us in traffic or at the grocery store as obstacles and annoyances rather than recognizing them as people whose reality is just as vivid and important as our own, with triumphs and tragedies of similar magnitude. My favorite part of the speech is DFW’s perspective on freedom. While there are many ways to feel “free” (money, power, success, beauty, etc.), “the really important kind of freedom involves attention, and awareness, and discipline and effort, and being able to truly care about other people and to sacrifice for them, over and over, in myriad, petty little unsexy ways, every day. That is real freedom.” It’s easy to submit to our “default setting” (DFW), unknowingly considering ourselves to be the center of the universe, “lords of our own tiny skull sized kingdoms, alone at the center of all creation”. Our kingdoms do need some of our attention, you do need to focus on your own needs and ambitions. But to see the “water” around you as an annoyance or not to see it all, to forget about the billions of other mind kingdoms walking around, perhaps anxiety ridden kingdoms or dyslexic ones, maybe some are very similar to your own, is to miss out on connection that is uniquely human and beautiful. I find it crucial to remember that the people wrapping my cheeseburger or standing in front of me in the self-checkout line or stopped next to me at a light, all have dreams and fears and insecurities and pains and joys, and maybe they’re battling mental illness or training for an Iron Man or their favorite color is orange like mine or they’ve just found out that they’re pregnant or they’re struggling to learn English. The point is that none of us are alone on this planet, and sometimes it just takes getting out of our own heads and looking at the water. ",,"""This is Water,"" a speech by David Foster Wallace",,"My junior year of high school.","Avery, 18, Student",,,,,,this-is-water-banalities-of-living,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"In my English class, through Mountain Heights Academy.","Books & Reading,Commencement Speeches,Empathy,Kenyon College,Students,This Is Water,Wallace, David Foster",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/281/DFW.jpg,Text,,1,0 "“You don’t just run, you run to some place wonderful.”",,"From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler turned Deborah Ross’s world upside down. Kongisberg’s book, which just celebrated its 50th anniversary, chronicles the adventures of Claudia and her brother, who run away to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The book kindled Ross’s imagination so much that when she visited the museum with her parents, she retraced the protagonist’s steps in search of the Egyptian cat, the fountain, and Michelangelo’s sculpture.",,"From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg",,,"Deborah Ross, U.S. Representative for North Carolina's 2nd District",,,,,,deborah-ross-someplace-wonderful,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,,"Art Museums,Books & Reading,Children's Literature,From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,Konigsburg, E.L.,Lawyers,Metropolitan Museum of Art,Museums,New York, New York,Politicians,Runaway Children",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/141/cat-statuette-1320x811.jpg,"Moving Image",,1,0 "“You Have to Be There”",,"Averill Corkin describes the moment she decided to major in the humanities after seeing a video performance of the song “Du måste finnas” (“You Have to Be There”), in which a female refugee, overcome with loss and fear, questions the existence of God. She notes, despite the language difference, she understood the woman’s experience through the melody and the nature of her performance. She goes on to talk about the power of the humanities to connect us through our appreciation of art regardless of geographic, cultural, and language boundaries.",,"The song “Du måste finnas” (“You Have to Be There”)",,,"Averill Corkin, Graduate Student, Harvard University ",,,,,,you-have-to-be-there,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,,"Andersson, Benny,Du Måste Finnas (You Have to Be There),Music,Performing Arts,Refugees,Religion,Salt Lake City, Utah,Students,Ulvaeus, Björn",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/57/averill-corkin.jpg,"Moving Image",,1,0 "A Touch of Green",,"While doing research in Nanjing, the capital city of Jiangsu province in China, I made a visit to a local neighborhood called Dafang Lane. There's no famous tourist spot here, but I was drawn to it by a Taiwanese TV series that I watched years ago -- A Touch of Green.Thomas Scherer describes two related encounters which speak to the power of hearing poetry performed aloud. The first is an explanatory talk and poetry reading by the great literary scholar M. H. Abrams at the National Humanities Center; the second is hearing Lin-Manuel Miranda discuss his award-winning rap musical, Hamilton.
Across generations, cultural divides, venues, and artistic voices, the power of lyric poetry to capture and convey powerful feeling is undeniable. And when poetry is performed and embodied, “brought to life” if you will, its capacity to create change is palpable.
","M. H. Abrams, Lin-Manuel Miranda","Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical Hamilton; M.H. Abrams' The Mirror and the Lamp",,,"Thomas Scherer, Consultant, Spencer Capital Holdings",,,,,,thomas-scherer-abrams-hamilton-poetry,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,,"Abrams, M.H.,Chernow, Ron,Drama,Hamilton, Alexander,Hamilton: An American Musical,Hip-Hop,History,Literature,Miranda, Lin-Manuel,Music,New York, New York,Performing Arts,Poetry,Politics,Popular Culture,Storytelling,The Mirror and the Lamp,United States History",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/10/166/hamilton-marquee.jpg,"Moving Image","National Humanities Center Board Members",1,0 "People of the Book Reminds Me Why I Love the Humanities",,"I read People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks a few days ago and I haven't been able to stop thinking about it. This book combined many of my loves: reading, historical fiction, and stories of survival and humanity.