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"God in Music Form: Beethoven’s 9th Symphony",,"My mother received her undergraduate degree in Art History after her three children had graduated. As siblings with the label first generation college students, we like to think we inspired her to get her BA. But in reality she was the inspiration by making sure we were prepared and supported for our post-high school graduation.
One aspect of that support was sharing the courses she was taking at Mt. Holyoke College. One of those was a music course. It was 1990. I was in high school and I heard for, for the first time, Beethoven’s symphonies. It was remarkable. When I got to college, I would play the final minutes of “Ode to Joy” as my papers were printing on the dot matrix device we used. Later, as a teacher, I would play it for my students… just because. Leonard Bernstein’s performance after the fall of the Berlin Wall was the preferred version. More recently, the flash mob versions on YouTube are moving experiences that breathe life into the mundane, inspiring creativity and generating energy.
So, my humanities moment, hearing Beethoven’s ninth for the first time, has become a sustained experience with connections to people, events, emotion, and worldviews. It is both a bond and an inspiring reminder about what makes us human. It’s perfect.
",,"Ludwig van Beethoven's symphonies",,1990,"Craig Perrier, 46, Curriculum Specialist for Social Studies and Adjunct Professor",,,,,,god-in-music-form,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Advisory Board orienation","Beethoven, Ludwig van,College,Education,Mothers & Sons,Music,Music Appreciation",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/354/beethoven_HM_image.jpg,Text,"Teacher Advisory Council",1,0
"Coming Into My Feminist Consciousness",,"My Humanities Moment occurred during my Junior year in college, when I attended an evening session with Gerda Lerner, the author of The Creation of Feminist Consciousness and one of the founders of the academic field called women’s history.
I read only short sections of the book assigned in my women’s studies class. (The course itself was a revelation to me, and a requirement because I didn’t score a 5 on my high school AP History exam. Being forced to take history courses in college was the bright side of this failure, because it was in those classes that I learned that history is more than the dates of battles, treaties, and founding documents -- all activities of men. I realized that women were doing cool (and important) things while all that other business was going on.)
I remember almost nothing about the event except a single line by the speaker, which I can only approximate here. Dr. Lerner said that the tragedy of women’s history is the sheer waste of intellectual capital for millenia. She asked us to consider what our culture might have lost -- what all the world’s cultures have lost -- due to women’s subjugation and their lack of access to education. How many books were never written? How many works of art never made? How many ideas in philosophy and politics and religion and science were never engendered because of one gender’s systematic oppression?
I remember sobbing in my chair. I remember the choking anger I felt at this injustice. I also remember the feeling I finally had an answer to a question my father had once posed.
Now, you have to understand a bit about me to understand this moment, my coming to feminist consciousness. I was the only girl in a family of three boys. I was the daughter of a man who could have given the Great Santini a run for his money. Our household was run with military precision, my father being a retired Army officer, Vietnam veteran, helicopter pilot, and Ranger instructor, and my mother a traditional, mild-mannered wife. Our house was patriarchal, to be sure, and I did my best to measure up to a standard that placed male bodies and minds above all else. (My father, in fact, once told me that I was the “best son he ever had,” a true compliment coming from him.)
I understand now that my father was a product of his time, born in 1931 and raised in Tennessee, but as a young girl I received mixed messages about my place. He appreciated my intellect and we often spent evenings together watching Masterpiece Theater or some other PBS documentary that would be “wasted” on my brothers. During one of these evenings, my father asked me, “Why do you suppose there are no women composers?”
I cannot remember the exact tone of his question; he could very well have been taunting me, reinforcing the idea that women were inferior because, look, there’s the proof. There are no women composers. They must be bad at composing. Taunting me was one of my father’s unfortunate habits. But I like to think my father’s tone also included some confusion and curiosity. Here he was with this brainy daughter -- who was, in his words, “smarter than all three boys put together” -- but where could she really succeed if there were no women composers?
I certainly don’t recall my answer to my father’s question, but I do remember the roiling of my brain and the shame I felt at not having a good explanation for why there were no women composers, few women authors, no women presidents, and certainly no female helicopter pilots. I remember the queasy sense of defeat that whatever my intellect, I couldn’t amount to much -- or at least not to the level of men. And I wanted to be a good man -- the best son -- for my terrifying, mercurial father.
Gerda Lerner’s words gave me the answer I needed. There were no women composers because, according to Lerner, patriarchy had “skewed the intellectual development of women as a group, since their major intellectual endeavor had to be to counteract the pervasive patriarchal assumptions of their inferiority and incompleteness as human beings.”
That’s exactly what I had been doing in my family for 20-something years, trying to counteract the idea that I was inferior.
I never got to explain all this to my father, partly because I was too afraid, partly because I hadn’t worked it all out in a bell ringer, iron-clad speech that would once and for all convince him of women’s equality, and partly because he died soon after I graduated. But Gerda Lerner’s words have never left me, and they’ve helped me understand how the humanities -- the intellectual endeavors of both women and men -- can and do nurture the mind and the soul.",,"The Creation of Feminist Consciousness by Gerda Lerner",,1993-1994,"C. N. Bernstein",,,,,,coming-into-my-feminist-consciousness,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Andy Mink","College Students,Fathers & Daughters,Feminism,Feminist Authors,Lerner, Gerda,Self-Realization,The History of Feminist Consciousness,Women's and Gender Studies,Women's History,Women's Rights",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/350/Feminist_Pin_Image_HM.jpg,Text,"Teacher Advisory Council",1,0
"The Power of Myth",,"Ron Eisenman shares how a PBS television series encouraged him to pursue his passions and turn to the humanities to help him make sense of the world around him. His engagement with ""The Power of Myth"" helped to connect seemingly disparate cultural contexts by illuminating the shared elements of the stories we tell about ourselves.",,"""The Power of Myth"" (PBS television series)",,1988,"Ron Eisenman, public high school social studies teacher, Rutland, Vermont",,,,,,power-of-myth,,,,,,"From a young age I thought I would be a mathematician, but when I became 18 or so, I realized that humanities, not math, asked the questions I was yearning to explore. Nobody did this better than Joseph Campbell in his series of interviews with Bill Moyers done for PBS in 1988.
At the time, this program rocked my world. I laugh today when I consider how boring teenagers might perceive it today because the cinematography basically consists of 2 people talking in chairs facing one another for hours. Yet, at the time, it set my mind on fire. I saw this series on TV just after graduating college with a minor in folklore and a year working in Japan. I was so enthralled that I eventually got the recorded tapes and companion book. Here was an intellectual who not only confirmed some of the ideas I had been exploring in the past few years, but also provided critical perspective and expanded my understanding.
Bill Moyers was able to capture the brilliance and gentleness of Joseph Campbell. He captured the idea that people all over the world try to understand themselves and the mysteries of the universe through story. He reminded to try to be humble and listen to those stories which can have incredible power and meaning. He also opened my eyes to the common threads that weave through global cultures. I truly loved his work on the hero’s journey, a story that is told with little variations across time and place. The hero’s journey is inspiring because it tells us to expect trials, be brave, and do things for others. Sometimes the journey is scary and we may not return in the same state as we left.
I also try to live by the motto, “follow your bliss.” When I found that I wasn’t happy as a lawyer, this idea gave me the inspiration to change my life and do what makes me happy without worrying about loss of money or status.
I also loved how Joseph Campbell could look at the pop culture of the time, like Star Wars, and demonstrate the relevance of the past. He talks about this series borrowed elements of Zen Buddhism and the bushido code of the samurai warrior. I have also been inspired by the wisdom Campbell shows when exploring an idea. He is able to draw on cultural practices from a wide variety of cultures to help bring understanding about the human condition. I want to emulate him in this area.
He also opened me to the idea that in addition to the past having value, one must recognize that culture is always changing. Although nationalism has made perhaps a last gasp comeback, Campbell was a true globalist who recognized the uniqueness and similarity of cultures. He talked about the development of a new global culture emerging. My eyes are looking out for signs of this.
",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,"I heard about this while taking a class at the National Humanities Center","Campbell, Joseph,Cultural History,Moyers, Bill,Multicultural Education,Multiculturalism,Mythology,PBS (Public Broadcasting Service),Popular Culture,Storytelling,Teachers,The Hero's Journey",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/336/Power_of_Myth_HM.jpg,Sound,"Teacher Advisory Council",1,0
"Humans Give Meaning to the World ",,"While discussing N. Scott Momaday's novel A House Made of Dawn, Professor Bowden introduced a new concept - geosophy. It was an unexpected moment during an undergraduate geography class that ultimately opened mental doors and windows to the world. Geosophy, an idea promoted by John Kirtland Wright in the 1940's, ""is the study of geographical knowledge from any or all points of view. It is to geography what historiography is to history... it covers the geographical ideas, both true and false, of all manner of people—not only geographers, but farmers and fishermen, business executives and poets, novelists and painters, Bedouins and Hottentots—and for this reason it necessarily has to do in large degree with subjective conceptions.""* In short, humans give meaning to the physical world.
I felt like I knew that before this moment. However, this humanities moment was a crossroad that never left me. In fact it caused a shift in my psyche. I remember feeling I understood life better, clearer, and with more agency. After all, the spirit of geosophy applies to everything external and physical (including other people), abstractions, events (past and present) and yourself. As a teacher I made sure I introduced this idea to my middle school and high school students. I remember seeing ""a-ha"" moments in their eyes. Things clicked. They were constructing meaning and felt empowered to explore and develop their ideas and convictions. It is like what Lionel Trilling reminded us; establishing systems of objectivity that people agree to and can interact in is the hardest, and most important, thing for humanity to develop.
*Quoted from:
Wright, J. K. Terrae incognitae: The place of the imagination in geography. Annals of Association of American Geographers, 1947, 37(1): 1-15.",,"This moment was inspired by Dr. Martyn Bowden during his class ""The End of America, Los Angeles.""",,"1992 ","Craig Perrier (46). Educator, curriculum specialist, teacher, adjunct, and digital history project designer.",,,,,,humans-give-meaning-to-the-world,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Clark University.","College Teaching,Geography,Geosophy,House Made of Dawn,Momaday, N. Scott,Subjectivity,Teachers & Teaching,Wright, John Kirtland",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/329/HM_Geography_Image.jpg,Text,"Teacher Advisory Council",1,0
"The Farewell: Teaching and Talking about Ethnocentrism as an Asian-American",,"The guiding question for my Humanities Moment pertains to the most recent film that I cannot stop talking about with my peers, friends, family and strangers. As a self-described film aficionado, I typically find myself at the movie theater 2-3 times a week. I definitely appreciate the power and effect films can have on our society, ways of thinking, and learning. The film that has struck me the most this year was The Farewell by Lulu Wang.
Without spoiling too much of the picture, the film explores various aspects of traditional Chinese culture in regards to food, family, and grief. This exploration is juxtaposed with a first generation Asian-American protagonist, her upbringing, relationship with her extended family, and her identity as a Chinese-American. The reason I found this story so compelling was because of the well balanced discussion of cultural differences between China and America as well as the cultural clash experienced by first generation Asian-Americans, especially when visiting their families' native country.
Viewing the film from an educator's standpoint, I was fascinated and impressed by the honest portrayal of shared grief and its differences between traditional Asian and American families. I couldn't help myself but discuss the film's messages and concepts with other viewers while also making connections to the film and my profession of teaching World History. I questioned to myself how much of my instruction, and curriculum, is taught through a lens of ethnocentrism as well as how I could potentially tackle this issue in my planning. Is it possible to survey various ancient civilizations (or cultures) without having judgment? Or are we cursed to look at history through our own cultural lens?",,"The source of my Humanities Moment is the recent film The Farewell",,"Many times throughout this year so far (since mid August)","Binh Tran (26), World History teacher",,,,,,the-farewell-teaching-and-talking-about-ethnocentrism,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Social Studies Department","Cultural Awareness,Ethnocentrism,Teachers & Teaching,The Farewell,Wang, Lulu",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/328/HM_Dim_Sum_Image.jpg,Text,"Teacher Advisory Council",1,0
"Scottish Highlands",,"I've always loved to travel, and one of my favorite parts is getting to have a connection to the place that in our classrooms we refer to in the abstract. It makes the history more tangible, real, and often provides perspective that we don't get from secondary sources. While travelling in Scotland last summer, I did one of those seemingly cheesy bus tours that carts you around to different scenic and historic locations.
The legacy of English rule and colonization is still very present and visceral to the Scottish people. Hearing the stories being told about the breaking of the clans, the violence towards rebels, and seeing some of those monuments lent a viewpoint that I hadn't really been privy to. This was a topic that I had learned mostly from an English perspective, minus a movie or TV show here and there. Watching ""Braveheart"" is one thing, but hearing a descendant of a Scottish rebel speak of the events as though he were there is another. Standing in Glencoe valley and hearing of the skirmishes that occurred adds another layer of understanding. To this day, the experience makes me reconsider the phrase ""History is written by the victor."" What other perspectives are we missing by staying in one place?",,"A summer trip to Edinburgh, Scotland ",,"July, 2018","Sarah Murphy, Teacher in Virginia",,,,,,scottish-highlands,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,FCPS,"Colonialism,History,Scotland,Teachers & Teaching,Travel",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/327/Scotland_HM_image.jpg,Text,"Teacher Advisory Council",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",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/252/hackers-hill-casco-maine-july2012.jpg,Text,"Teacher Advisory Council",1,0 "Nola ",,"My Humanities Moment occurred in 2005, the year that hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast. I lived in New Orleans pre-and-post Katrina and lost my house to the “Great Deluge.” I helplessly watched 85% of New Orleans proper fill up with water due to the 28 levee breaches throughout the city. The widespread flooding in New Orleans and other Gulf Coast communities in 2005 caused nearly 1,400 deaths and forced several hundred thousand people from their homes. Americans watching television were shocked by the plight of residents stranded by the flooding: the squalid conditions in the evacuation centers, the lawlessness in the streets of New Orleans, and above all the unsatisfactory response of emergency management officials. Frankly, I didn’t fully appreciate New Orleans until I almost lost her. Prior to Hurricane Katrina, New Orleans residents typically evacuated in a haphazard manner, sometimes packing important documents, gassing up the car, or simply seeking refuge in a neighborhood bar to ride out the storm with other strangers. Dealing with hurricanes was a way of life in New Orleans, a rite of passage for a transplant like me. In fact, I didn’t take Hurricane Katrina seriously and only chose to evacuate last minute after a friend cautioned me to “not just walk to the Superdome as a backup plan.” I eventually evacuated to Delaware to be with family and to attend the University of Delaware because Tulane University experienced extensive flooding. While I experienced incredible demonstrations of generosity, I equally encountered numerous insensitive and ignorant people, whom upon hearing I was from New Orleans, rudely questioned why I lived in a “fish bowl.” I distinctly recall one moment in which a stranger suggested that New Orleans be completely bull dozed and its residents be forced to migrate to higher ground. In the eyes of this naysayer, New Orleans didn’t matter. It was in this moment that I finally appreciated New Orleans for all its flaws and that it was a city worth fighting for. ",,,,2005,"Melissa Tracy, 34, Social Studies Teacher",,,,,,nola,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,#TAC2018,"City Dwellers,Community,Hurricane Katrina,New Orleans, Louisiana,Teachers,U.S. History",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/244/Water_Meter_Sign_.jpg,Text,"Teacher Advisory Council",1,0 "Why I Read YA",,"I was born and grew up in rural Southern Appalachia. Books and stories were my pathway out of the holler and into a world of hope and possibility. As a child and teen, I read and listened voraciously, and those stories found in books helped to save my life. Without them, I am not sure where I would be right now. During my early years as an adult, I searched for a career that would pair my enthusiasm for literacy and literature with my profession. I finally found that perfect match as a librarian.
As a middle school librarian, I fell in love with Young Adult literature, books written for teens between the ages of 13 and 18. When I am asked why I seldom read “adult” books, I respond that I believe that some of the best books—both fiction and non-fiction—written today are being published for teenagers. In my defense, I am quick to cite numerous studies that indicate between 48–52% of the YA books being checked out at public libraries and purchased in book stores or online are to readers over the age of 24, in other words, readers like myself. What does that tell us? That these books written for teens possess value and quality for people of all ages.
In 2017, I had the opportunity to serve on the Michael L. Printz Award committee for the American Library Association. This prestigious award is administered by the Young Adult Library Services Association (YALSA) and sponsored by Booklist. The winner and honors must exemplify literary excellence in young adult literature. Over the course of 12 months, I worked with a committee of eight other librarians from across the US. As a committee, we read hundreds of novels, biographies, and non-fiction titles written for teens. We convened online and in person, wrote about the books we had read, and in February of 2018 met in Denver to decide which titles we would select for the Printz Award. After two days of intense debates, we chose diverse five titles. The committee selected We Are Okay by Nina LaCour as the winner of 2018 Printz Medal and recognized four books with Printz Honors: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas, Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds, Vincent and Theo by Deborah Heiligman, and Stranger the Dreamer by Laini Taylor.
As the awards were being announced at the ALA conference on February 5, I sat in a packed auditorium as tears rolled down my face. And why is this my Humanities Moment? Because this moment validates what I have always felt about YA literature. My experience on the Printz Committee and the five books we selected affirm two of my core beliefs—that some of the best books being written today are being published for teens and that anyone, young or old, can find beauty and meaning in the pages of YA. As a middle school librarian, I remind myself that I have the power to hand a student the right book at the right time in his or her life, a story that might change a life forever. And that is the power of literacy for teens….showing young readers a pathway to the future and inspiring them with hope and promise.
",,,,"February 5, 2018","Scot Smith, 53, school librarian",,,,,,why-I-read-ya,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Teacher's Advisory Council","Education,Librarians,Libraries,Literacy,Literary Prizes,Young Adult Literature",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/243/Printz_Books.jpg,Text,"Teacher Advisory Council",1,0 "How MTV Helped End Apartheid",,"I first discovered what being a global citizen meant when I was just thirteen and a part of the MTV Generation. MTV debuted in 1981, but in rural Virginia I didn’t get my MTV until 1986. It was the era of the super group. The famine relief charity, Band Aid, had surprised everyone with the hit “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” That was followed with the spectacular success of “We are the World”. The idea of the super group wasn’t new, but this super group was like nothing I had ever seen. Every face that flashed by seemed either fascinatingly original or historic or both like Dylan, Miles Davis, Springsteen, Pete Townshend, Run-DMC, Bono, Kurtis Blow, Joey Ramone, and The Rolling Stones! These were just a few of the musicians that created United Artists against Apartheid. A super group formed not just for charity, but for protest. I didn’t know most of the artists, but with the ones I knew I was immediately hooked. These weren’t new wave singers or pop stars, these were rockers and rappers. These were my heroes singing about a place called Sun City. In the days of no internet, my only choice was the public library where normally I used the children’s section, but this time was different. I went and met the adult librarian and explained my interest in South Africa and Sun City. She led me to a card catalog and then taught me how to look up things on microfilm. Here I discovered the horrors of apartheid. She directed me to Archbishop Tutu’s calls for stiff sanctions on his own country in the New York Times. What was I to do? I had to write my first letter to my representative, supporting something called the Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act. I received a nice letter thanking me for writing in support of the measure and behaving in such a fine civic matter. I was so excited, this is what democracy was supposed to look like. You write a letter and your bill gets passed! To my disbelief, President Reagan vetoed the bill, and then Congress overrode his veto! That summer MTV played the video “Biko” by Peter Gabriel in heavy rotation and I committed to raise awareness about apartheid. The song had a new video to coincide with the release of the movie, Cry Freedom. A fantastic film about the life of the slain leader Steve Biko, starring Denzel Washington. “Biko” was such a powerful song that it inspired me to join Amnesty International and buy my first Free Mandela shirt to wear to school. Its lyrics with their harsh simplicity cut to the core of his murder. Gabriel’s performance at Live Aid 1986 for Amnesty was absolutely mind blowing. I wanted to show my classmates the injustice of apartheid and the brutality of this racist system. While I had never traveled to South Africa, I could feel the pain of people trapped in the townships forced to suffer under an oppressive government. Then the day came in 1994 when Nelson Mandela was elected president of South Africa and apartheid was over. As Mandela was fond of saying “What's past is past. We look to the future now.” I felt a sense of triumph and purpose, I had been a very tiny part of a cause greater than myself and I had been on the right side of history. I had been teaching for 16 years in 2003, when I had the chance to watch with awe as Gabriel sang to a packed stadium in Cape Town “Biko” to Mandela. My humanities moment was being awakened to the world outside my doorstep by the global revolution of music television and empowered to help make it a better place. ",,"Artists Against Apartheid Video - Sun City",,"Spring of 1986","Patrick Touart, born 1973, public school teacher, Pittsylvania County Virginia",,,,,,how-mtv-helped-end-apartheid,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"At the National Humanities Center in May, 2017","Activism,Artists United Against Apartheid,Biko,Comprehensive Anti-Apartheid Act of 1986,Danville, Virginia,Gabriel, Peter,Letter Writing,MTV,Music,South Africa,Sun City,Teachers,Television",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/232/Sun_City_Logo.jpg,Text,"Teacher Advisory Council",1,0 "How I found humanity in a dark cave",,"The most literal definition of the word humanities as always fascinated me. What could be cooler than getting to the very crux of what it means to be human by studying all the unique, beautiful, and awe inspiring things humanity has created? Humanists get to study the “whoa” and the “wow” moments of the human story. We get to look at something, read something, or hear something, and for a magical instant possibly feel the exact something the creator felt when he or she made that awesome something. How lucky are we? “Excuse me,” random 15 year old student in my Ancient Civilizations class interrupted, “but, um, like you’re starting class with human evolution, and like these people were kinda boring. All they did was hunt and gather and sleep in caves. What’s so awesome about them?” This was the conversation that broke my heart. This was the moment I was saddened to realize, that no, most of the populace does not care about all the wonderful things humans have done in the same way that I do. This was the moment when I realized that state standards and required curriculums can suck the awe and passion out of each and every wonderful moment of human expressions. This was the moment when I felt as though I had completely lost to the world of technology and social media. And so I thought, and I planned, and I researched, and I brainstormed, and I then I saw…the most beautiful, simple expression of humanity I have ever seen. Photos of La Cueva de las Manos (The Cave of Hands) in Argentina flashed across my computer screen. In an effort to develop any exciting lesson on ancient cave art, I had found my “ah ha” moment. I had found the artifact to anchor my story and the story of my fifteen year old student with the story of some human painter who lived 10,000 years ago. In that moment, the world had suddenly become a lot smaller and the human family grew so much tighter, for I had discovered ancient Instagram. Why are my students consumed with posting on social media’s various platforms? Because they want to be seen. They are screaming out into a very noisy world, “Look at me! See me! I was here.” And why did some artist or shaman or wandering traveler put his or her handprints all over this cave in Argentina? I do not know for certain, but I feel the artist was saying “Look at me! See me! I was here.” The Cave of Hands is awesome and I have only seen it through photos. I have never felt so close to some person I have never met before in my life. I look at these photos and I want to shout across the layers of time “I see you!” Each school year, I put the photos up for my students to view on the big screen and I always fit my hand perfectly into one of the outlines. I can’t stop myself, I need to make this connection. And I know, in that moment, thanks to some ancient ancestor, what it is to be human. ",,"La Cueva de las Manos (The Cave of Hands) in Argentina",,2015,"Michelle Kaighn, 39, high school history teacher in Medford, NJ",,,,,,humanity-in-a-dark-cave,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"I am a member of the NHC TAC","Cave Paintings,La Cueva de las Manos (Cave of Hands),Medford, New Jersey,Teachers & Teaching",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/231/cave-of-hands-cueva-de-las-manos.jpg,Text,"Teacher Advisory Council",1,0 "Historical Perspectives",,"I was born in Boston and raised in New England. I attended an elite, all-girls, private school in New England, which was established in 1854 with the mission of turning out highly educated, capable young ladies, even before college was an option for all. So by the time I got there in the 1960s and 70s, female empowerment was steeped in the hallways. So were the ideals of a rigorous, humanities-based education. Through a curriculum rich in history, literature, writing, and the arts, I learned so much about our world. I learned, for example, that the history of our country started in the early 1600s with the pilgrims from England and Holland who were seeking a better place to build their lives. I learned that in 1607 the colony of Jamestown was established, and not long after that in 1620, the Plymouth Colony. I learned that over the next hundred and fifty years or so, more and more settlers made the journey from England and established colonies up and down the east coast. As those colonies grew, they began to feel that England no longer understood or cared about their needs, so they signed the Declaration of Independence and asked General Washington to lead their Continental Army in the subsequent war. When the dust settled and the colonists had won, the United States was born. While my young-self did understand that all such historical events were steeped in complexity and layers of understanding, this was the story of the founding of our country that stayed with me. I was in my thirties when my husband got transferred to Florida and we relocated south. My first job in Florida was a 4th Grade Teacher. As you may know, the Social Studies curriculum for 4th Graders is usually the history of the State in which they live. Admittedly, I knew nothing about Florida History, so I realized I had better remedy that, and began to read everything I could get my hands on about Florida history. It did not take long for me to be hooked. I fell deeply in love with my new home state. It has such a rich and diverse history. The native tribes; the architecture; the wildlife and ecosystems. I discovered that Florida is a complex and wonderful place. And in my journey of discovery, I started reading about this place called St. Augustine, which was established in Sept. of 1565 as a Spanish settlement and has been the oldest, continuously occupied European settlement in what is now the United States. You can imagine my surprise as I discovered this! 1565 is well before 1607 and 1620. How did I not know this? I was flabbergasted. This became a moment of insight for me as I realized that our geography, our sense of place, no matter how hard we try for it not to, impacts our perspective and how we view events and the world. Almost as if we were literally standing in our geographic location, our understanding of historical events is viewed through the prism of where we are located. It also clarified for me the importance of acknowledging the multiple perspectives that are always present in events and issues. This painting was selected as a visual representation of my Humanities Moment because it captures the landing at St. Augustine. Pedro Menendez de Avilez is the man kneeling in the painting and he led the voyage from Spain to settle Florida. When he landed, it was Sept. 15th, so he named the place they landed and their settlement after St Augustin. By Stanley Meltzoff, from National Geographic and dated February 1966, this painting is a representation of what the artist believed the landing party to be. Pedro Menendez is receiving the blessing of the priest who accompanied the voyagers, while the Spanish soldiers and the Natives looked on. While I do not know the historical accuracy of this painting as it related to the actual events of 1565, for me, the painting represents my new understanding that history is much more complex than simply learning about names, dates, and events. My personal discovery of St. Augustine and the history of this magical place, has influenced my life in so many profound ways. Telling the stories of those in the past, has become a vocation of sorts. In addition to being an educator, I have also become an author of middle grades, historical fiction novels. And in that role, I seek to tell the stories of those who are most often overlooked as we look back. To tell the stories of not only Pedro Menendez de Avilez, but of the others who are standing peripherally on the edges- yet who also impacted, and were impacted by, historical events. ",,"A painting by Stanley Meltzoff depicting the establishment of St. Augustine Florida by Pedro Menéndez de Avilés ",,"Around 1990","Judy Lindquist, 59 years old, Educator and Author and 2018-19 Teacher Advisory Council member",,,,,,historical-perspectives,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Through my work with the NHC's 2018-19 TAC ","Geography,History Education,Menéndez de Avilés, Pedro,Menéndez Landing,Painting,St. Augustine, Florida,Teachers & Teaching,Vocation",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/230/Menendez_Landing_in_St_Augustine.jpg,"Still Image","Teacher Advisory Council",1,0 "Such a Short Time to Stay Here","I think that the humanities contributed to my moment in three ways. First, they gave me the philosophical question about the meaning of life that I simply could not solve by looking to anyone else. Second, they gave me the musical source material that inspired me to find my own answer to that incredibly important question. Finally, throughout my life the humanities have given me the means to solve that problem by allowing me to study history, literature, art, music, and philosophy in order to make sense of the world as well as to teach my students about ways they can make their own lives meaningful.","I am not a churchgoer or a believer, and thus, I have always been left with questions about the deeper meaning of life that could not be easily answered through traditional authorities. Instead, I have had to search for ways to make meaning myself. The importance of this quest to make meaning in a chaotic world was first impressed upon me as a young girl when I listened to my father playing traditional bluegrass songs and was almost physically jolted by the power of a single line, ""Such a short time to stay here, such a long time to be gone."" With that succinct encapsulation of the brevity of life, I suddenly understood how important it would be for me to do as much as I could with the short time on Earth that I was allowed. I could not look for some grand purpose to be provided. I had to do the work of making my life meaningful so that it might be remembered and impactful for the long time that I would no longer exist. I think that the humanities contributed to my moment in three ways. First, they gave me the philosophical question about the meaning of life that I simply could not solve by looking to anyone else. Second, they gave me the musical source material that inspired me to find my own answer to that incredibly important question. Finally, throughout my life the humanities have given me the means to solve that problem by allowing me to study history, literature, art, music, and philosophy in order to make sense of the world as well as to teach my students about ways they can make their own lives meaningful.","traditional bluegrass song popularized by the Stanley Brothers","""Little Birdie,"" a traditional bluegrass song popularized by the Stanley Brothers",,"in the 1980s, during my early childhood","Jennifer Snoddy, 42, high school history teacher, TAC member",,,,,,short-time-to-stay-here,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Bluegrass Music,Franklin, Indiana,Little Birdie,Meaning (Philosophy),Music,Teachers & Teaching,The Stanley Brothers",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/119/The_Stanley_Brothers.jpg,Text,"Teacher Advisory Council",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",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/115/download-1.jpg,Text,"Teacher Advisory Council",1,0 "Well-Behaved Women","The humanities contributed to this moment, because my ancestors and myself are using words to make sense of the world and our place in it.... Resisting!","My moment focuses on the fact that African American women have been using their words as Political Resistance. The humanities contributed to this moment, because my ancestors and myself are using words to make sense of the world and our place in it.... Resisting!","Laurel Thatcher Ulrich","Well - Behaved Women Seldom Make History",,"It started when the first slave arrived in America and is ongoing.","Jacqueline Stallworth, 46 years old, High School English teacher in northern Virginia",,,,,,well-behaved-women,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"African American History,African American Women Authors,Ancestors,Civil Rights,Hurston, Zora Neale,Resistance,Teachers & Teaching,Truth, Sojourner,Ulrich, Laurel Thatcher,Wells, Ida B.,Women's History","https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/112/Well_Behaved_Women_4.jpg,https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/112/Well_Behaved_Women_1.jpg,https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/112/Well_Behaved_Women_2.jpg,https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/112/Well_Behaved_Women_3.jpg,https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/112/Well_Behaved_Women_5.jpg,https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/112/Well_Behaved_Women_6.jpg,https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/9/112/Well_Behaved_Women_7.jpg","Still Image","Teacher Advisory Council",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.