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"Finding Shelter in the Past",,"I discovered Petra late in life, and yet, my initial impression of it holds a perennial place in my memory. Growing up I was always fascinated by the civilizations of the past. This fascination eventually turned into my career of choice as a literary scholar of the Middle Ages. As such, I was always interested in ancient manuscripts, artifacts, history, and architecture. In fact, visiting medieval castles and other sites when I travel has become a tradition I keep close to my heart.
As I move through these spaces I can imagine the different functions that the structure served, and I can picture events that transpired or could have possibly transpired within them. I have the knowledge to make these kinds of educated guesses. But when I discovered Petra, I was awe-struck in a distinctive manner.
I should mention, however, that my appreciation of Petra has only been mediated through photographs and other images. I have never visited the site myself. And yet, even in photographs, my reaction to this marvel of previous civilizations is nothing short of sublime. And my reaction is not from a technical point of view, since I am a terrible photographer and would not be able to assess an image's artistic value or the artist's skill (as I always say, I was born to be in front of the camera, not behind it).
Returning to Petra, however, I must say that modern-day Jordan is not a place I was familiar with (and I still have much to learn about this place and its rich history). But it was ironically my lack of familiarity with the place that sent me into my curious journey. As this person was sharing with me images of this structure carved into the rocks, my mind went in a million directions, trying to piece together the when, why, how, and for what queries concerning this ancient marvel. I have done my homework since then, and do know more about the site, but my honest awe at the site has stuck with me through the often disenchanting journey of learning about something.
As I imagine the people that called this place home back in the day, as I think of the ambition that led an artist to imagine this place, what this rock cliff could be, as I imagine people burrowed in, living inside of the rock, I can only be amazed at what humans can achieve.
",,"Photographs of Petra",,"Fall 2019","Jonathan Correa, 31, Ph.D. Candidate",,,,,,finding-shelter-petra,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"I am participating in the NHC's GSSR program this Summer.","Ancient History,Archaeological Sites,Architecture,Architecture Appreciation,Jordan,Petra",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/18/487/Filippo_Cesarini_Petra.jpg,Text,"Graduate Student Residents 2021",1,0
"Renting with Romans",,"During a summer seminar at the University of Illinois, I got the opportunity to attend an optional session on papyrology, the study of reading ancient materials written on papyrus. The sample we were examining that day was a small fragment no longer than about five inches long. It wasn't a significant text or piece of literature at all. It was a lease agreement for weaving looms, and in reading that, I stood back and it just clicked fully that this was a real person with their own hopes, fears, and dreams. They existed, they ran a business, they mattered to someone in a very tangible way.
In Classics, there's a very real sense of being caught up in the lives of great men who did extraordinary things, but it's a very different and all the more personal feeling to, essentially, have the ""What do you do for a living?"" small talk with someone whose name history doesn't remember.",,"Papyrus Fragment",,"June 2018","Jacob Brakebill, 27, Ph.D. Candidate",,,,,,renting-with-romans-papyrus,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"National Humanities Center Summer Student Residency","Ancient History,Ancient Rome,Classics,Material Culture,Papyrology",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/18/484/616px-Papyri_from_Oxyrhynchus_A.D._113.png,Text,"Graduate Student Residents 2021",1,0
"What You Don't Like Can Still Guide You",,"I don't remember much about going to see 300 except that I left the theatre with an uneasy feeling. Something didn't sit right about the way the characters were portrayed. My father was a high school film teacher, so I had been given the tools to analyze a film's ideology and meaning, but this was the first time I really did it by myself.
I recognized the way the Spartans could easily be replaced with Americans, and that the Persians were kind of meant to be Al Qaeda or the ""evil"" Middle East. The film was a fantasy for a post 9/11 United States audience. And it didn't end there. I was actually most struck by the way the Persians were queered in the film, and the Spartans were the peak of heterosexual hyper-masculinity. I began to think: How would this film affect the way people view current events and, more importantly, other people? What are the stakes here?
Suddenly I understood the importance of meaning-making and what studying the humanities was all about. I talked about the film to anyone who would listen for weeks: ""Don't you see how this film conflates queerness and femininity with evil?"" and so on. I felt such urgency about it. It was a major turning point for me in understanding how ideas are disseminated and perpetuated. It was somewhat of a dark experience, but one that changed my life forever.
When I got to grad school and began to learn about hegemony, power, and ideology I always went back to 300 in my mind. It's how I learned to make sense of these vital concepts. As I grew up I learned that many critics had seen the same things I had seen in the film, and that my ideas were not nearly as novel as I thought in my youth. This just further cemented my desire to pursue this kind of work. Now I study American Studies and I focus on film and how Americanness is depicted and designed. So I guess it turns out that even the works of humanities that you don't like can change your life for the better and help you find your path.",,"300 (2006)",,2007,"Emily, 32, American Studies Ph.D. Student",,,,,,what-you-dont-like-can-guide-you,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Ancient History,Cultural Awareness,Film and Movies,Stereotypes,War",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/18/478/HM_300_Image.jpg,Text,"Graduate Student Residents 2021",1,0
"Rise of Civilization",,"I’ve always been close with the humanities-- my mother is an English teacher-- and history and literature have always appealed to me. When I look back, though, I can point to a single time that determined my future in the humanities. That would be the happy holiday season when I received and played to death a copy of Civilization II.
First: I’m dating myself pretty seriously here. Civ II released in 1996. The family PC, a Compaq Presario that had all the manufacturer’s stickers left on it (just in case?), was surprisingly up to the task of running the game. I’m not sure why I chose “the Greeks” as my first civilization, but I did. I built up my humble empire and even constructed some World Wonders. The game played little clips of the Wonders when you built them, and it felt magical to see all of this happening right in front of me (it was, as I have mentioned, 1996).
I spent as much time reading the Civilopedia as I did playing the game. The Civilopedia was a massive handbook meant to explain all the game’s many rules, but I liked to read the parts that explained all the history involved in designing the game. Years later, when I went to college, I found myself drawn immediately to the fields of ancient history and the classics, picking up right where I left off from Civilization II.","Brian Reynolds","Sid Meier's Civilization II",,1996,"Robert Carpenter, 32, Ph.D. student ",,,,,,rise-civilization,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"NHC Summer Residency","Ancient History,Greece,Technology,Video Games & Gaming",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/18/450/acropolis-2725918_640.jpg,Text,"Graduate Student Residents 2021",1,0