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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
"""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
"""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
"“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.
",Euripides,"Helen by Euripides",,2006,"Skye Shirley, age 28, Latin Teacher in Boston, MA",,,,,,for-the-sake-of-a-cloud,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Books & Reading,Classical Drama,Euripides,Helen,Latin,Mythology,Teachers & Teaching,Trojan War",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/7/91/Helen.jpg,Text,#Humanitiesinclass,1,0
"“Il faut le savoir:” Reflecting on France’s Holocaust History and Memory",,"“Nothing distinguished the gas chamber from an ordinary blockhouse,” writes Jean Cayrol in the screenplay for Alain Resnais’ iconic filmic meditation on the Shoah, Night and Fog (1956). “Inside, a fake shower room welcomed newcomers. The doors were closed. The newcomers were observed. The only sign – but you must know this (il faut le savoir) – is the ceiling worked over by fingernails. Even the concrete was torn.” At this point in the film, like an insistent investigative eye, the camera pans to the ceiling of the gas chamber, revealing the telltale scratch marks. The image of fingernails clawing into concrete in a desperate attempt for survival recurs in another work about Holocaust memory that we read this semester, Georges Perec’s W, or the Memory of Childhood (1975). Recalling an exhibit he had visited with his aunt shortly after the war – the same one, in fact, that led producers to ask Alain Resnais to create the film that would become Night and Fog -- the child survivor narrator writes: “I remember photos showing the walls of the ovens, lacerated by the fingernails of those who had been gassed.”
Il faut le savoir. The phrase has haunted me throughout the semester. You must know this. Because it happened. Because many would deny that it did, depriving the victims of dignity and history of truth. Fingernail scratches in the crematoria walls of Auschwitz, asks the neo-Nazi website The Stormer? “Jewish mythology says ‘yes.’ Science says ‘no.’” You must know this, because soon there will be no more survivors, and those still alive often find it too painful, or shameful, to share their testimony, or else they have learned to suppress it so as not to trouble others. “No one wanted my memories,” writes Birkenau survivor Marceline Loridan-Ivens in But You Did Not Come Back. You must know this, because 2/3 of young Americans, according to a 2020 national poll, lack a rudimentary understanding of the Holocaust. “Where did the Holocaust happen?” educator Rhonda Fink-Whitman asks a Penn State student in her 2012 documentary, 94 Maidens. “I have no idea.” You must know this, as Cayrol writes in Night and Fog, because “war is sleeping, but with one eye always open.” As I write, genocide continues to be perpetuated against the Muslim Rohingya people by the military in Myanmar. “Who among us keeps watch from this strange watchtower to warn of the arrival of our new executioners?”
But to know – and this is a second meaning of il faut le savoir -- one must be ‘in the know,’ know where to look, how to be on the lookout, how to decode the signs. You have to be tipped off to find the “Memorial to the Martyrs of the Deportation” (1962) tucked in a small square behind the behemoth of Notre-Dame Cathedral, just as you must be ‘in the know’ to be disturbed by the memorial’s identification of those deported from France as willing “martyrs” to a cause rather than victims of state persecution by both the Nazis and the Vichy regime. The French State headed by Marshal Philippe Pétain is nowhere mentioned in this memorial monument, yet it deported over 75.000 Jews from France to their deaths, along with, in smaller numbers, Roma, the disabled, Jehovah’s witnesses, gay men and lesbians, and other ‘undesirables.’ Stroll around to the main façade of Notre-Dame to contemplate the two female allegorical figures framing it; only if you’re ‘in the know’ about the anti-Semitic underpinnings of European Christianity through the mid-20th century will you understand that one figure represents the Church triumphant, while the other, with downward cast, blindfolded gaze and broken Torah tablets at her feet, symbolizes the Synagogue. As only one photograph of this event remains, you need to be on the lookout for the tiny plaque at the foot of a bustling Parisian office building marking the site of the former Vélodrome d’hiver, an indoor bicycle track where over 11,000 Jews, including over 4,000 children, were packed for several sweltering days in July 1942 before being herded to their deaths. “A peaceful landscape,” writes Cayrol, “An ordinary field with flights of crows, harvests, grass fires. An ordinary road where cars and peasants and lovers pass. An ordinary village for vacationers – with a marketplace and a steeple – Can lead all too easily to a concentration camp.” Il faut le savoir.
“Every hour of every day,” writes Hélène Berr, a young upper-class French Jewish woman who survived a year in deportation before being beaten to death in Bergen-Belsen, “there is another painful realization that other folk do not know, do not even imagine, the suffering of other men, the evil that some of them inflict. And I am still trying to make the painful effort to tell the story. Because it is a duty, it is maybe the only one I can fulfill. There are men wo know and who close their eyes, and I’ll never manage to convince people of that kind, because they are hard and selfish, and I have no authority. But people who do not know and who might have sufficient heart to understand – on those people I must have an effect.” Let us – we who in Primo Levi’s words “live safe in [our] warm houses,” armed with all we have learned this semester, make the “painful effort to the tell the story” to all those who will listen, “those with sufficient heart to understand.” Because the world must know. Yes, il faut le savoir.
","Jean Cayrol, Alain Resnais","Night and Fog (1955)",,"Spring 2021","Willa Z. Silverman, 62, Malvin E. and Lea P. Bank Professor of French and Jewish Studies, Penn State University",,,,,,il-faut-le-savoir,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"From one of my graduate students at Penn State (Morgane Haesen, whose ""Moment"" you published)","Documentary Films,Emotional Experience,Film and Movies,Historical Memory,History,History Education,Holocaust,Memorials,Memory,Teachers & Teaching,War",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/433/syn-ecc_NotreDame1-296x300.png,Text,,1,0
"Feeling the American Revolution",,"History teacher Steve Oreskovic discusses how he gets his students to empathize with the feelings of injustice among colonists in the run up to the American Revolution, helping them gain a richer context for learning about history.
Through the practice of experiential learning—a simulation of a tax on school supplies—Oreskovic created an opportunity for his students to imagine the lived realities of American colonists. In doing so, he drew parallels with the Stamp Act imposed by the English government in 1765. The experiential activity “really gets them into the why,” he explains. By reflecting on the internal feeling of injustice, his students gained a richer understanding of the past that transcends the mere knowing of dates, names, and places. ",,,,,"Steve Oreskovic, Charlotte-Mecklenburg School District",,,,,,feeling-american-revolution,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,,"Active Learning,American Revolution,Charlotte, North Carolina,History,Stamp Act of 1765,Teachers & Teaching,United States History",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/4/47/Burning_of_Stamp_Act-600.jpg,"Moving Image",Educators,1,0
"GROUP and Individual: Cultivating Spaces of Expression",,"In preparation for teaching online during the 2021 summer semester, I have been thinking about how much group discussions are transformed by digital platforms. In reflecting on the vulnerabilities that are required for students to discuss challenging topics (particularly feminist activist work) I was wondering how students will respond when they find themselves isolated in different physical spaces, but working together to create a community online. I often discuss these questions with my fellow teachers, and I received a recommendation to watch a short web-series titled GROUP.
GROUP is a fictionalized portrayal of a group therapy session, in which the audience gets to witness how communication and relationships develop between the different group members. The show’s dialog is largely improvised and its premise is based on an adaptation of The Schopenhauer Cure by Irvin D. Yalom. The topics of discussion between the group members vary, but many sessions circle back to larger questions about the human condition and the value of free expression of emotion that “can’t be expressed in polite company.” What does it take to really communicate about and self-monitor emotions rather than speaking in terms of assessment or observation to one’s own reactions (meaning, already moving on to the next step of analysis)?
Despite the show’s therapy setting, it sparked my thinking about the level of intimacy involved in all small group discussion. I connected the moments of hesitancies that many of the show’s characters experienced to what I have witnessed students reveal in individual self-reflections regarding their classroom discussion experiences. I also wondered about how different emotions drive student responses to the topics that they are learning about, and how students can better respond to intellectual challenges (both from the classroom materials and from their fellow classmates).
This reflection is guided by the following core question: what is the potential for students’ opening of their minds to theory, to alternate forms of knowledge about how the world world, if they are able to first process their own emotional responses? The web series tackles both in-person and Zoom therapy settings, and it really helps to drive home the vulnerabilities of communicating in a shared physical space. Furthermore it elucidates how connections are built based on physical presence. On further reflection about the evocative nature of GROUP, it seems to me that developing a culture of trust and vulnerability in the classroom is dependent also on de-centering the authority of the teacher and understanding how the exploratory potential of learning is built on the foundation of community relationships.
I think this Humanities Moment relates back to my own experiences as facilitator of learning in the classroom, in that I think folks experience the most meaningful forms of learning or self-exploration when there is enough space to balance self-expression with group accountability.",,GROUP,,"Summer 2021","Joanna, 30s, Ph.D. Candidate",,,,,,group-and-individual,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"I first heard of Humanities Moments as a participant in the GSSR in the National Humanities Center. ","Group Discussion,Learning,Self-Realization,Teachers & Teaching,Therapy",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/18/483/640px-Commons_Photographers_User_Group_Meeting_on_September_26_2020.png,Text,"Graduate Student Residents 2021",1,0
"9/11 Shaped My Career","I continued as an education major and eventually graduated in 2007 with my degree. By the time I graduated, I knew that loved teaching. I discovered during my different experiences in the classroom in college that this was my calling. 9/11 taught me that service is important, but it also taught me that knowledge is power and knowing about the world outside of my little bubble is extremely important. I try to do this with my students in my classes everyday. I want them to be educated citizens who can see the many sides of an issue and are curious about the world they live in. ","I was a brand new college freshman getting ready to attend my Political Science class that started at 8:45am on September 11, 2001. I heard the news on the radio when I first woke up and I thought it wasn't real. I turned on the TV and still couldn't believe it was real. I didn't know what else to do except go to class and so I did. My professor came in the room sobbing and she told us all to go home and be with our families. We all walked out of the lecture hall, scattering across the green, going our different directions. I began walking to my car but my mind was focused on one thing, I wanted to go volunteer for military service. My dad had served during Vietnam and I felt like it was my duty. So I called my dad and told him my plan and he said to me (in probably the first adult conversation we would have), ""You don't need to serve in the military because I served for you. If you really want to make a difference in this world, start thinking about how you can give back to your community through your career or volunteer service."" At that point, I was a communications major and I had aspirations of being a sport journalist. I stuck it out for another year in the major, but what my dad had said to me on that day kept coming back around. At the end of my freshman year, I switched my major to history with a secondary education emphasis. I loved history, that I knew, did I love teaching? I did not know, but I knew this would be a chance to service my community and country.
I continued as an education major and eventually graduated in 2007 with my degree. By the time I graduated, I knew that loved teaching. I discovered during my different experiences in the classroom in college that this was my calling. 9/11 taught me that service is important, but it also taught me that knowledge is power and knowing about the world outside of my little bubble is extremely important. I try to do this with my students in my classes everyday. I want them to be educated citizens who can see the many sides of an issue and are curious about the world they live in. ",,,,9/11/2001,"Carly Hill, 34, teacher",,,,,,9-11-shaped-my-career,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Citizenship,College Students,History,New York, New York,September 11 Terrorist Attacks, 2001,Teachers & Teaching,Vocation,World Trade Center",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/106/9-11.jpeg,Text,"Teacher Advisory Council",1,0
"A (Buddhist) Conversation in Yangon",,"Intentionally wandering in Yangon, Burma with a good friend, led to being found by two Buddhist monks our same age. I was there to study how Buddhism influences culture as part of a study abroad program through Samford University. The monks invited us to spend the day at their monastery. The all-day conversation that ensued still serves as a beacon – it was a pinpointed moment of having to re-think all that I thought I knew and a moment that marks the beginning of an aspiration to introduce students to all they do not know.
“What do you think of my beliefs and vow?” they asked. The question, in such an uncommon context, pierced through the absolutism and fundamentalism I had been raised in as a christian evangelical. My pastor would have told me to explain that they were going to hell until they accepted Jesus Christ as their lord and savior. That they were so earnest and loving contrasted with my unfounded piousness. Their questions and sharing proved capable of releasing me from what I thought I was supposed to be. All that I thought I knew had to be vetted and re-thought. It also set a precedent by which I now live my life: living well in communities is better done in the absence of fundamentalism – I could not have shared meals with them in peace had I dogmatically preached that my way was better than another. They were not doing that. Their experiences were shared humbly and openly. They walked me through the path of the humanities as they asked questions that necessitated a more robust understanding of who I was, how I got to that monastery, and to consider where I was headed and why. Moreover, I came away with the belief that our communities benefit from a robust willingness to humbly approach space and place-making knowing that our preconceptions are always incomplete – we can’t live well until our worldviews allow for exceptionally diverse experiences. The meaning of that day is still being made; being confronted so holistically with all that I did not know was life changing; it made my life better and richer and more interesting. As a teacher, my pedagogical decisions are imbued with the spirit of that day. I join other thoughtful teachers in the humanities in prodding students to work rigorously, to practice the skills necessary for crafting worldviews that incorporate disparate, complex narratives. The intent is to prepare them for literal and figurative conversations wherein their hard-earned deftness with complexity will lead to healthy living in healthy, inclusive communities.",,"A conversation with Buddhist monks in Yangon, Burma",,2004,"Kyle Jones, 35, High School History Teacher",,,,,,buddhist-conversation-yangon,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,"Andy Mink","Buddhism,Rangon, Myanmar,Religion,Study Abroad,Teachers & Teaching",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/236/myanmar_temple.jpg,Sound,,1,0
"A few lines of poetry might be all we need...","My students were so engaged in this lesson, and I am sure some of these words and images continue to affect them today. I certainly hope my humanities moment enriched their lives and changed the way they thought about our world then and now.
","I remember seeing the images on the television, in newspapers, and in magazines. It was such an epic event. The Berlin Wall was coming down, something I never imagined would happen. As a child in the 50s and 60s, I remember bomb drills during elementary school.
Several of my friends had fallout shelters in their homes. I used to be afraid of bombs, of communists, of Khrushchev. I tried to understand how a wall could divide the city of Berlin into two very different places.
And then, in 1989, the unbelievable happened. I had just accepted an interim job teaching Senior English at Mooresville High School, and I wasn’t sure how to deal with such a momentous moment in history. Just a few lines from Stephen Vincent Benet’s John Brown’s Body made everything crystal clear and powerful.
Sometimes there comes a crack in Time itself.
Sometimes the earth is torn by something blind.
Sometimes an image that has stood so long
It seems implanted as the polar star
Is moved against an unfathomed force
That suddenly will not have it any more.
Those six lines provided so much focus for our classroom discussion and reflection... and awe.
My students were so engaged in this lesson, and I am sure some of these words and images continue to affect them today. I certainly hope my humanities moment enriched their lives and changed the way they thought about our world then and now.
","Stephen Vincent Benet","Stephen Vincent Benet’s lines from John Brown’s Body",,"November, 1989","Nancy Gardner, educational consultant and NBCT teacher",,,,,,a-few-lines-of-poetry,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Benet, Stephen Vincent,Berlin Wall, 1969-1989,John Brown's Body,Mooresville, North Carolina,Poetry,Teachers & Teaching,World History",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/7/92/berlin-wall.png,Text,#Humanitiesinclass,1,0
"A Lifelong Passion and Appreciation for History","Vinson describes how a knowledge of local history—in this case, Mount Rushmore—transformed his understanding of the world around him. His mother, an elementary school teacher, would read her son stories of the monument’s construction, instilling a lifelong passion for history. Vinson goes on to explain how history provides a “much greater context to the things happening in our daily lives.”","Ben Vinson III reflects on how an appreciation for history can enrich our understanding of what he calls the “depth to our days.” Specifically, he recalls how the story of Mount Rushmore’s construction kindled his boyhood imagination growing up in South Dakota. His mother, an elementary school teacher, would read her son stories of the monument’s construction, instilling a lifelong passion for history. Vinson goes on to explain how history provides a “much greater context to the things happening in our daily lives.”",,"A story about the construction of Mount Rushmore",,,"Ben Vinson III, Provost and Executive Vice President of Case Western Reserve University",,,,,,ben-vinson-lifelong-passion-appreciation-history,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,,"Books & Reading,History,Keystone, South Dakota,Mothers & Sons,Mount Rushmore National Memorial,National Monuments,Professors,Teachers & Teaching,United States History",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/10/60/mount-rushmore-900.jpg,"Moving Image","National Humanities Center Board Members",1,0
"A Painting, A Baby, and Jacques Lacan Walk into a Syllabus...",,"This summer, I am working with the Syracuse University Art Museum to create English-specific teaching resources. The goal is to make the museum's collections more accessible to instructors for both teaching and research purposes. The job came with the underlying assumption that artwork is a valuable tool for all kinds of academic or humanistic endeavors: close reading, interpretation, question-asking, theory application, etc.
As I dug around in the collection, I came across a piece by Louisa Chase, ""Baby, Baby"" (1991) and had a breakthrough moment. The abstract work, and Chase generally, uses geometric shapes to shadow or mimic forms--in this case, rectangles and squares to mimic a baby--and chaotic, heavy lines to disrupt the image. The work is striking in itself, but I was inspired by the way in which it perfectly represents the Lacanian idea of the ""Mirror Stage.""
A professor I work closely with describes pre-Mirror Stage identity as the formless, wild, confusing, cloudy, and chaotic experiences of an infant's sense of ""self."" And Chase's work shows that exactly, without the use of so-called ""high theory."" I was excited to show my professor, who was equally excited, and I went on to develop an entire module on the ""Mirror Stage"" and Identity out of paintings, photographs, cartoons, and other artworks of diverse mediums.
This module, once completed, will hopefully help to illuminate Lacan's theory by showing how humans find (or construct) their identity via images, representations, objects, and other things on the outside. I'm excited to continue to research the collection this summer to identify other artworks that can help students and scholars achieve understanding, find inspiration, and communicate ideas.","Louisa Chase","""Baby, Baby"" by Louisa Chase (1991). Etching on aquatint. ",,"June 2021","Madeline Krumel, 24, Ph.D. Student ",,,,,,painting-baby-jacques-lacan-walk-syllabus,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"NHC GSSR","Art,Chase, Louisa,Identity,Lacan, Jacques,Museum Curatorship,Museums,Psychoanalysis,Teachers & Teaching",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/18/455/cubes-447703_640.jpg,Text,"Graduate Student Residents 2021",1,0
"A Scientist Appreciates the Humanities","Although most people think of science and humanities as separate fields of study, in reality they are highly interrelated. Scientists may have different methods and modes of thinking than humanists, but in the end science is just a curiosity about the human condition. After all, it's the relationships I build with people and the understandings students develop about each other and the world that drives me to continue to teach science.","During college I was on my way to becoming a scientist when I decided to get my education license on the side. During my student teaching internship, I was set to teach my mostly anti-science group of students a controversial topic in biology. I was not really looking forward to it, but I put my heart into designing lessons anyway, and actually an amazing thing happened. During one of the activities I designed, I noticed that not only was everyone in the class engaged, but they were genuinely curious and asking questions. After we finished for the day, I even had a student come up to me and say that now they could really understand why people supported some of the controversial ideas. That’s a moment for me because for a period of time I was able to help someone find their curiosity in science, see it as relevant to them and understand more about the people around them because of it. I hope that by learning to act as scientists in my classroom, my students are better able in the future to understand the natural world and the people in it and, maybe, solve some of the world’s problems.
Although most people think of science and humanities as separate fields of study, in reality they are highly interrelated. Scientists may have different methods and modes of thinking than humanists, but in the end science is just a curiosity about the human condition. After all, it's the relationships I build with people and the understandings students develop about each other and the world that drives me to continue to teach science.",,,,2008,"Andromeda Crowell, 27, Science Teacher, Orange High School, Hillsborough, NC",,,,,,scientist-appreciates-humanities,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Controversy,Curiosity,Science & the Humanities,Teachers & Teaching",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/7/88/Andromeda_Crowell.jpg,Text,#Humanitiesinclass,1,0
"An epiphany over a statue of Gandhi",,"In front of the Martin Luther King Center in Atlanta you’ll find this statue of Mohandas Gandhi. For years I have used a photograph of this statue to introduce our Indian Independence unit to my 7th graders with the prompt “Why is this statue of Gandhi in front of the King Center?” My students are already familiar with the American civil rights movement, and this inquiry was always a great hook to learn about Gandhi’s system of nonviolent civil disobedience, which Dr. King utilized so effectively.
Recently a substitute teacher asked a question that made me re-evaluate this prompt and the lesson I’d been teaching. During a casual conversation at lunch she asked me, “Why is Gandhi’s statue in front of the King Center?” I started to talk about satyagraha and how King found inspiration from Gandhi’s methods of protesting injustice, when she stopped me. “No, why is a statue of a racist in front of Dr. King’s museum?”
I was taken aback. It’s true, Gandhi’s racism toward people of African descent is well documented. He wrote about the black people of South Africa using derogatory terms like “Kaffir” and lamented the indignity of being imprisoned with native Africans. He spoke out against forcing Indians to share the same communities with Africans and condemned the denigration of Indian genes through marriage with black people.
Without realizing it, I had been teaching a sanitized version of Gandhi’s legacy. This moment opened a whole box of questions. For example:
- Surely, Dr. King knew about Gandhi’s views. Yet, he chose to ignore these for the sake of what he could accomplish by using Gandhi as a role model. What does that say about Dr. King? Was he selectively ignoring the racism or was his character so strong that he could look past this?
- Who “owns” history? Historians who seek to paint the clearest, most accurate record of the past? Or people who use those lessons for their own purposes?
- Was my pride in engaging students with history in a way that was easy for them to digest misplaced? Have I been doing them a disservice all these years?
So, I’m embracing a new approach. History is messy and needs to be taught that way. Exposing students to all sides of a story gives them a better chance to explore the nuances and form their own opinions. It can also give them a deeper appreciation for figures like Dr. King.",,"Statue of Mohandas Gandhi ",,"September 2018","Rick Parker, Middle School Social Studies Teacher",,,,,,epiphany-over-gandhi,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,TAC,"Atlanta, Georgia,Civil Disobedience,Gandhi, Mohandas,History,History Education,King, Martin Luther,Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Nonviolent Social Change,Memory,Racism,Statues,Teachers & Teaching",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/229/Gandhi_Statue.jpg,Text,,1,0
"An Unexpected Insight","Mr. Harvey was the most outstanding, demanding and humane teacher I studied with during my four years of high school. His course in world history first opened my eyes to the excitement of historical studies, to discussing the interpretation and meaning of historical developments, to independent and critical thinking, and to the challenge of writing [my historical essays] well. He would write copious comments on my papers, counseling me, e.g., to choose words wisely, especially verbs — remember what Voltaire said, he reminded us: “the verb is the soul of the sentence.” Receiving this recognition from him was so unexpected and so wonderful; the way I felt you might have thought I had won a Nobel Prize. And as part of this gift, he offered his final unexpected insight, with that quote from John Dos Passos. He was sharing another idea, giving me yet another view — a long and capacious view — of how and why the study of history is so valuable and important.","At the end of my sophomore year in high school, during the awards ceremony in June, I received my varsity letter for playing football. And then my history teacher, Mr. Harvey, got up and gave three academic awards. To my complete surprise, I received one of those prizes. It was a book of Plutarch’s Lives, which was inscribed to me in part as follows: “This book ... represents his persistent toil toward clear, precise and meaningful expression in history at the Paris American High School.”
In addition, Mr. Harvey had also written the following quotation on the inside cover of the book, for me to ponder: “In times of danger and change when there is a quicksand of fear under men’s reasoning, a sense of continuity with generations gone before can stretch like a lifeline across the scary present.” –John Dos Passos
Mr. Harvey was the most outstanding, demanding and humane teacher I studied with during my four years of high school. His course in world history first opened my eyes to the excitement of historical studies, to discussing the interpretation and meaning of historical developments, to independent and critical thinking, and to the challenge of writing [my historical essays] well. He would write copious comments on my papers, counseling me, e.g., to choose words wisely, especially verbs — remember what Voltaire said, he reminded us: “the verb is the soul of the sentence.” Receiving this recognition from him was so unexpected and so wonderful; the way I felt you might have thought I had won a Nobel Prize. And as part of this gift, he offered his final unexpected insight, with that quote from John Dos Passos. He was sharing another idea, giving me yet another view — a long and capacious view — of how and why the study of history is so valuable and important.
",,"Plutarch's Lives",,"June 1, 1956","Jaroslav Folda, N. Ferebee Taylor Professor emeritus, UNC",,,,,,unexpected-insight,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Books & Reading,Dos Passos, John,History Education,Paris American High School,Paris, France,Plutarch,Plutarch's Lives,Professors,Teachers & Teaching,World History",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/8/58/plutarchs-lives-300.jpg,Text,"National Humanities Center Fellows",1,0
"Analytic and Creative Thinking: A Conversation",,"Analytic and Creative Thinking:
Conventional descriptions of the way teachers and students learn about Science and the Humanities are under-girded by the assumption that these disciplines are cognitively exclusive. That is, what is taught by scientists falls under the vocabulary of the analytic and that what instructors of Humanities do is congruent/appropos with creative thinking. Closer analysis reveals, however, that both camps share more than they realize, and that a not-so-evident part of what it means to think like a scientist requires forms of creative thinking in the same way that analytic thinking is part of the project of thinking like an artist. A good example of this is what architects do. Inventive architects, like Buckminster Fuller, required themselves to think about the aesthetic value of a structure (e.g. a geodesic dome), as well as its alignment with geometric forms. It is for this reason that teachers should allow themselves to think in a interdisciplinary way. When students see that their imaginations are part of what it means to think like a scientist, they can also understand the precision is part of what artists do too.
",,"My interest in the relationship between the Sciences and the Humanities",,"Science Seminar Presentation at my College","John Cleary 60 Associate Professor of Philosophy",,,,,,analytic-creative-thinking,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,E-mail,"Architecture,Creativity,Interdisciplinarity,Science & the Humanities,Teachers & Teaching",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/404/Geodesic_dome_HM.jpg,Text,,1,0
"Artifacts at the Museum",,"Recently, I've found myself longing to take advantage of the Smithsonian Museums that are so conveniently located ten miles northeast of my home- maybe it's because such destinations were closed for a long period of time due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I figured that I might as well take advantage of these attractions re-opening and welcoming guests. Only a select few Smithsonian venues have opened their doors and so I decided to visit one that I've always enjoyed in the past, the Freer Gallery of Art. The Freer Gallery of Art boasts an impressive collection of art from East Asia, South Asia, Southeast Asia, the Islamic world, and the Middle East. The collections range from the late Neolithic period to the modern era- there is certainly plenty to see. One of the main attractions located in the Freer Gallery is the Harmony in Blue and Gold: The Peacock Room. This is a beautifully decorated room that serves as a lasting example of aestheticism. Despite the beauty and enveloping nature of the Peacock Room, I found my humanities moment in other places within the museum.
My humanities moment came to me while viewing pottery, porcelain, ceramics, paintings, and sculptures from East Asia and South Asia. The connections to be made between cultures in India, China, and Korea, simply by identifying the similarities and trends in the artifacts seemed endless. Whether it was a ceramic-making technique or the spread and artistic display of Buddhism that could be traced across civilizations- regional interaction was present. Part of being a Social Studies teacher is facilitating the process of students making connections through the examination of regional interactions across time. Making those connections helps students be more globally-minded citizens.",,"Freer Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.",,"July 17, 2021","G. Lee, 33, Social Studies Teacher",,,,,,artifacts-museum,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Social Studies Cohort","Art Museums,Connection,Cultural Awareness,History Education,Teachers & Teaching",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/4/528/woman-1283009_640.jpg,Text,Educators,1,0
"Baseball, Jackie Robinson, and Racial Identity Formation","Reading a short biography on Jackie Robinson and developing my own racial identity were important ways that the humanities helped me in this moment.","As I grew up in rural South Carolina in the 1980s, baseball was my favorite hobby and pastime. For most of my 7 year Dixie league/recreational league baseball career (ages 5 to 12), my dad was my coach. I don’t remember watching baseball on television because we only had three to four channels and did not have cable.
On my first baseball team, I was the only black player; and then after that most of my teams were majority black. At this time I only had vague notions about race, although I knew that I was black. Because both of my parents worked, my brother and I attended a day-care facility in town. The day-care provider was a thirty-something year old white woman and most of the children in her care were also white. Again, I had little sense of my blackness.
Of the many books on hand at the daycare, one day I discovered a children’s book about Jackie Robinson. By this time, I’m in the third grade and am a good reader, so I read the book very quickly. Just as quickly, it becomes one of my favorite books.
I was extremely excited for several reasons: Never before I had a read a book with a Black main character. I knew there were black baseball players, but did not feel like I knew any very well. The book discussed racism that Robinson faced and how he overcame it and became one of the best baseball players in his generation (Rookie of the Year and MVP). It was the first example of people facing hardships because they were black and Jackie Robinson overcame the hardships. And lastly, a big part of my own racial development and understanding was that being black was not just about facing hardships in the past and overcoming them.
I continued to study Negro league baseball. Read several books and became fascinated by these invisible men who participated in a separate but unequal league, but had equal or superior baseball talent.",N/A,"A children's book about Jackie Robinson (I don't remember the title)",,"I was a third grader in the 1980s.","Jamie Lathan, 39, teacher and school administrator, husband, father, son, brother, friend.",,,,,,baseball-and-racial-identity,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"African American History,Baseball,Biography,Black History,Books & Reading,Children's Literature,Introspection,Literature,Negro Leagues,Race Identity,Robinson, Jackie,South Carolina,Teachers & Teaching",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/115/download-1.jpg,Text,"Teacher Advisory Council",1,0
"Broccoli, Anthropology, and the Humanities",,"Caitlin Patton discusses how the work of Ted Fischer, an anthropologist focused on food culture, specifically the cultivation of broccoli in Guatemala, inspired her choice to study at Vanderbilt University.
Fischer’s book, Broccoli and Desire, spotlights an anthropological case study of food culture: the surprising webs of connection between American consumer culture and the traditions of the indigenous Maya people of Guatemala. At first blush, broccoli may not have seemed like an intriguing reading topic, but the book’s methods and message ultimately shaped the course of Patton’s own scholarship.",,"Broccoli and Desire by Ted Fischer",,," Caitlin Patton, North Carolina Humanities Council",,,,,,broccoli-anthropology-humanities,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,,"Anthropology,Books & Reading,Broccoli and Desire,Fischer, Ted,Food Cultures,Nashville, Tennessee,Teachers & Teaching,Vanderbilt University",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/4/40/broccoli.jpg,"Moving Image",Educators,1,0
"Broken Glass and the Path to a Career in Education",,"In 2003, while deployed to Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom, I went on various convoys and used to see many children in small towns and neighborhoods running around barefoot playing with their friends. One thing I noticed is that there was a lot of loose trash and broken glass. I noticed that many children did not have shoes on. I also wondered if these children in this war-torn nation were not going to school and the adverse impact it can have on their future. This imagery of children in poverty running around with broken glass barefoot has stuck with me.
As I reflected on my time while deployed it made me realize that I needed to make a difference and make an impact on people who are in poverty and in most need. My grandmother and mother were both educators, so I could not think of a better calling than to become a teacher myself. I intentionally only interviewed at schools where I could make the most difference. Teaching in a setting where many students were economically disadvantaged and had faced trauma really allowed me to gain more empathy for the challenges many of our community members face.
As a policy maker I keep the stories of my students and those images from my time in Iraq in my mind, which remind me that there are a lot of folks living in high concentrations of poverty. These memories are a constant reminder that I should not be complacent. Instead, I take pride in being assertive and intentional about helping, respecting and being empathetic to as many vulnerable children and adults as possible.
Prior to his appointment as Governor Northam’s Secretary of Education, Atif Qarni taught at Beville Middle School in Prince William County, leading courses in civics, economics, U.S History, and mathematics. He also served as a GED Night School Instructor. In 2016, Atif was recognized as the Dale City Teacher of the Year.
In addition to his work as an educator, Atif is a former Sergeant of the United States Marine Corps, and was deployed to Iraq in 2003 during Operation Iraqi Freedom. He has also served at the state level, having been appointed by Governor Terry McAuliffe to the Small Business Commission in 2013.",,"Operation Iraqi Freedom",,2003,"Secretary Atif Qarni, Virginia Secretary of Education",,,,,,broken-glass-path-career-education,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"TAC member referral","Education,Iraq War (2003-2011),Military Service,Poverty,Teachers & Teaching",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/359/broken-glass-1996990_640.jpg,Text,,1,0
"Contested Autonomy",,"The video clip I saw of a young Vietnamese-American woman who opened an art gallery in Vietnam led to my humanities moment. She said that her mother disowned her because of her decision to go back to Vietnam. I could relate this to my personal experience. My mother was very upset when any one of her children wanted to go back to visit Vietnam. She told us that she risked her own life for us to escape Vietnam in 1978, and we should not want to go back to visit a country with a horrific and unjust communist dictatorship. She said that we should not support the communists by going back there, even as a tourist. This made me realize that our lives are full of conflicts because we are tempted to believe that our own experiences and points of view are more important than others.
Like Ambassador MacWhite and his Asian friend in The Ugly American, we refuse to listen to each other’s perspective. Just as Vietnam was contested territory, our autonomy is also contested. Rather than being open to different avenues for deeper understanding, we are often close minded. I know that conflicts are inevitable. While I may not have power to control every encounter, I must accept that these challenges strengthen my understanding and empathy.",,"The Ugly American by Eugene Burdick and William Lederer",,"Tuesday, July 24, 2018","Julie Doan, Elementary Teacher, Oregon",,,,,,contested-autonomy,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"I heard from the National Humanities Center ","Autonomy,Burdick, Eugene,Family,Lederer, William,Migration,Teachers & Teaching,The Ugly American,Vietnam",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/13/219/Old_Woman_Young_Woman_Optical_Illusion.jpg,"Still Image","Contested Territory: America’s Role in Southeast Asia, 1945–75",1,0
"Contested Perspective",,"Human connection is the most important part of life to me. I really value great relationships and look forward to connecting with new people every chance I get. Obviously, I am not going to have the same views on every single topic as anyone else. I think we make the biggest growth as human beings when we connect with people who have very different perspectives than our own, and we are willing to see things through their eyes. It does not mean that will always lead us to the same conclusion or change our own perspective in any way.
I use the phrase, “life is all about perspective” all the time, but how much the concept of contested territory is related to perspective did not really hit me until Morgan Pitelka was presenting his seminar, “Memory and Commemoration.” He discussed the Yūshūkan War/ Military Museum in Tokyo, Japan and explained that the Japanese people say the museum is a place of memorial for the lost soldiers, while others see it as a place to glorify Japan’s violent military past. There were other strong examples of contested perspectives throughout my time here in North Carolina, but that moment brought it all together for me.
",,,,"July 26th, 2018","Breann Johnston, Middle School Teacher",,,,,,contested-perspective,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"The National Humanities Center","Connection,History,Museums,Teachers & Teaching",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/13/212/Yasukuni.jpg,"Still Image","Contested Territory: America’s Role in Southeast Asia, 1945–75",1,0
"Contested Territory: The Saigon Staircase in the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum",," Sometimes you have to leave a place to understand it better. By travelling to North Carolina, I have come to understand a local resource in a new and different way. The idea of Vietnam as contested territory has long held fascination for me. I grew up at a time when we were trying to digest American involvement in Vietnam and ultimately our failures there. I also have the benefit of being close enough to Gerald R. Ford’s presidential museum to use it as a classroom resource on occasion.
During the course of the seminar, I had the opportunity to share how I have used the staircase from Saigon, which is in the Gerald R. Ford Museum, with my students as a concrete (or in this case iron) reminder of place and time. We looked at the image of our South Vietnamese allies in the famous photograph desperately clutching the railing of the staircase hoping to be evacuated by helicopter before the North Vietnamese army overran their position, sometimes referred to as, “The Last Helicopter Out.” Growing up, this image had been a sign of failure to me, of our nation’s failure to be successful in SE Asia, of a failure to contain communism. But as an adult, I saw it differently and that is what I wanted to share with my students. It was also a symbol of the hopes and fears of the people we sometimes leave behind in the wake of our foreign policy. The moment was emotional for both my students and myself.
While sharing this story at the seminar, a visiting professor (Pierre Asselin) shared that the story is a myth and that the staircase in the photo is from an apartment building and not the embassy. My first reaction to this information was to feel bad because as a teacher, especially one of history, I like to get it right for my students. As I continued to reflect on the new information, I realized that yes, I would share this new information with my students, but it doesn’t change how I feel about the staircase and the message or lesson ensconced in it.
While preparing this description of a significant epiphany in humanities for myself, I found it interesting to find that what had played out in my own mind growing up had been in the thoughts of others. I stumbled across an article by Douglas Brinkley that details an argument between Henry Kissinger and Fred Meijer (a Michigan based grocery chain owner). Kissinger wanted to have the staircase buried in the bowels of the Smithsonian because it was a symbol of American failure, while Meijer felt that it represented more. I will conclude with how President Ford settled the argument in favor of acquiring the staircase for the museum. ""To some, this staircase will always be seen as an emblem of military defeat,"" Ford notes. ""For me, however, it symbolizes man's undying desire to be free."" (Of ladders and letters: On the anniversary of Saigon's fall, a trove of documents sheds new light on old traumas By Douglas Brinkley April 17, 2000)
Photo Credit - Gerald R. Ford Archives - http://fordlibrarymuseum.tumblr.com/post/117710960935/american-personnel-and-vietnamese-allies-ascended",,"The Saigon Staircase in the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum",,07/25/2018,"Dan Boyer, high school principal, Beal City Schools",,,,,,the-saigon-staircase,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"National Humanities Center - seminar Contested Territories of SE Asia","Gerald R. Ford Presidential Museum,Grand Rapids, Michigan,Teachers & Teaching,Vietnam War (1961-1975)",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/13/195/fordstaircase.jpg,Text,"Contested Territory: America’s Role in Southeast Asia, 1945–75",1,0
"Contingent Bodies: Encountering The DisAbility Project",,"Ann Fox describes her first encounter with The DisAbility Project, a St. Louis-based performance group. Humor, skits, and monologues reflecting the experiences of disabled people helped her understand disability politics, and realize the pleasure and creativity possible in bodily variation.
Curator’s note: Read Ann Fox’s essay, “To Be Rather than To Seem: Claiming Identity in Art, Curation, and Culture.” It discusses the intersections of art and disability studies that accompanied the National Humanities Center’s exhibit, Esse Quam Videri.",,"The DisAbility Project",,,"Ann Fox, professor of English at Davidson College",,,,,,contingent-bodies-disability-project,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,"VAE exhibit / Don Solomon","Davidson College,Davidson, North Carolina,Disability Studies,Diversity,Humor,Intersectionality,Performing Arts,Professors,St. Louis, Missouri,Teachers & Teaching,The DisAbility Project,Washington University",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/245/Hands_on_Hips.jpg,"Moving Image",,1,1
"Discovering How Literature and Art Place Demands on Us",,"From reading Crime and Punishment as a high school senior and the Depression-era masterpieces Absalom, Absolom! and Let Us Now Praise Famous Men in college, Gil Greggs describes a personal journey of discovery about the ways literature connects readers to the real world.
Later, he describes how the portraits painted by Rembrandt and photographs taken by Richard Avedon help us notice and better appreciate the humanity of the people around us and to perceive hints of their inner lives.
",,,,,"Dr. Gil Greggs, Director of Academic Programs, St. David’s School, Raleigh NC",,,,,,gil-greggs-learning-to-read-in-order-to-see,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,,"Absalom, Absalom!,Agee, James,Avedon, Richard,Books & Reading,Crime and Punishment,Dostoyevsky, Fyodor,Evans, Walker,Faulkner, William,Let Us Now Praise Famous Men,Literature,Paintings,Photography,Rembrant, Harmenszoon van Rijn,Teachers & Teaching",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/169/kennedys.jpeg,"Moving Image",,1,0
"Discovery and Creativity",,"The advancement of civilization as it is often situated in the narrative of scientific inquiry is matched by the enlightened aims of the humanities; both are dedicated to improving the human condition. As such, they are undergirded by a critical interplay between discovery and creativity.
There is reason enough to feel a sense of wonder and awe about the complexity of the universe. The spectacular nature of the solar system is often punctuated by a vastness that may agitate our existential uncertainty and, further, it has often made us recognize how this pertains to our experiences of boundlessness and incomprehensibility in nature and, in turn, our responsibility to ponder its meaning as it applies to science, (e.g. physics and astronomy) philosophy and literature.
The facts and theories of scientific progress, inventive as they are in the pursuit of knowledge, (discovery) can tell us much about the grandeur and magnificence of the heavens. In a similar way the humanities, (creativity) by utilizing the lantern of imagination, has offered ways of constructing a view of space (the night sky) through the explanatory power of metaphor and narrative.
How can our understanding of astronomy be complemented by poetic experiences such as what is often illustrated in theatre? For example, Bertolt Brecht's play ""Galileo."" In addition, how might we see these kind of ideas converge, and what new relevations and teaching strategies could arise from them?
",,,,,"John Cleary, 60, Associate Professor of Philosophy",,,,,,discovery-and-creativity,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,E-mail,"Creativity,Interdisciplinarity,Philosophy,Science & the Humanities,Teachers & Teaching",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/405/Astronomy_HM.jpg,Text,,1,0
"Embracing the Complexity and Chaos of the Humanities Through a Photo",,"On May 8th, 1957, South Vietnamese President Ngo Dinh Diem was greeted by President Dwight Eisenhower (along with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles) at Washington National Airport at the beginning of an official state visit for President Diem. This seemingly ordinary photo is noteworthy because it captures the complexity of the Cold War and the contested territory of Southeast Asia, and embracing that chaotic feeling is a main reason why I love the humanities.
There is much to teach about in this photo. Why would Eisenhower personally greet Diem at the airport, something he only did on one other occasion (and is almost never done by sitting U.S. presidents for heads of state)? Why is the year 1957 important? What does the United States think of Vietnam at this time? How is this photo potentially problematic? There are contrasts on many levels when dissecting this photo, and it can launch exploration in so many directions.
The photo encapsulates a conversation that I had with Vietnam historian Pierre Asselin after a talk he presented to our NEH summer seminar at the National Humanities Center. While we were discussing the challenges of teaching the Cold War to students, Professor Asselin noted, “if you study the Cold War correctly, you should be more confused as you go along, and that’s a great feeling!” This last line resonated with me, and reiterated my belief that it is important for students to understand different perspectives, sometimes without finding an answer to the question that was posed, but understanding the complexity and nuance of that question. This process is where real learning takes place, and it is important to teach students to embrace this chaos (and even to seek it out) in their own learning. Challenging our initial impressions of a source and digging deeper speaks to the lifelong value of the humanities.
",,,,"July 24, 2018","Bryan Boucher, 39, Teacher",,,,,,embracing-the-complexity-and-chaos-of-the-humanities-through-a-photo,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"NEH Seminar on Contested Territory at the National Humanities Center","Diplomacy,History,Photography,Presidents of the United States,Teachers & Teaching,Vietnam",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/13/210/Eisenhower_Ngo_Dinh_Diem.jpg,Text,"Contested Territory: America’s Role in Southeast Asia, 1945–75",1,0
"Eyes on the Mockingbird","Without Eyes on the Prize, I would have never seen what was happening outside of my little hometown. I knew there were different cultures, ethnicities, and nationalities surrounding Durand, but I never came in contact with them. I certainly never knew that people had to fight to be able to go to school or that fire hoses were used to deter people from going to school. It also taught me that minority does not indicate a color or even social grouping; rather it indicates a lack of political power. By Lee showing that people in the minority were being harmed by those with power, I was able to see how important it is for me to stand up for human rights. Without the humanities, I would have been blind to the world.","I grew up in a very small town in rural Wisconsin. When I looked at my classmates it was like looking in a mirror. Because of that, I never realized that there were many people who were facing hardships because of their minority status and people who were taking advantage of them. Fast forward to my sophomore year of high school. Mrs. Shaw made it her mission to open our eyes. She wanted to expose us to the realities of this world. While I questioned it at the time, she showed us the entire Eyes on the Prize documentary. She would allow us to watch, and then she would force us to talk about it and face the facts. We had to face the fact that people could be cruel, especially if they felt they had power over others. The curriculum then went on to To Kill a Mockingbird. Mrs. Shaw made sure to show us that skin color is not the only way to dictate belonging in the minority. She made us see the importance of standing up for the fact that people are people, no matter what, no matter their political power.
Without Eyes on the Prize, I would have never seen what was happening outside of my little hometown. I knew there were different cultures, ethnicities, and nationalities surrounding Durand, but I never came in contact with them. I certainly never knew that people had to fight to be able to go to school or that fire hoses were used to deter people from going to school. It also taught me that minority does not indicate a color or even social grouping; rather it indicates a lack of political power. By Lee showing that people in the minority were being harmed by those with power, I was able to see how important it is for me to stand up for human rights. Without the humanities, I would have been blind to the world.","Hampton, Henry; Harper Lee","Eyes on the Prize and To Kill a Mockingbird",,1995,"Sarah Arnold, 38, English Teacher",,,,,,eyes-on-the-mockingbird,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Bildungsromans,Books & Reading,Civil Rights,Discrimination,Documentary Films,Durand, Wisconsin,Eyes on the Prize,Film,Hampton, Henry,Human Rights,Lee, Harper,Literature,Minorities,Social Justice,Teachers & Teaching,To Kill a Mockingbird",http://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/110/To_Kill_a_Mocking_Bird.3.jpg,Text,"Teacher Advisory Council",1,0