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"Darkest Before the Dawn",,"Due to the oil and gas industry plummeting in 2016, my dad lost his job that he had for over 30 years, right before I was about to leave for college. I couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming sense of guilt and anxiety for the duration of that summer. In addition to this, I was unhealthily dwelling on all the new transitions that were to shortly come. Having to live on my own, find a new group of friends, and ultimately, adjust to the course load that university was going to demand of me were all weighing heavy on my mind.
I was mindlessly listening to music one night when a particular lyric caught my attention. “It’s always darkest before the dawn,” from Florence + the Machine’s “Shake It Out” quickly resonated with me upon hearing it. Hearing these words at this time of my life helped me realize that just because things seem difficult and unbearable at the time, it doesn’t mean that they will always be that way. Hearing the right string of words at the right moment can have a profound effect and I am thankful that the Humanities celebrates such moments.
","Florence + the Machine","""Shake It Out"" by Florence + the Machine",,"Summer 2016","Natalie Huebel, 22 years old and a student at Texas A&M University.",,,,,,darkest-before-the-dawn,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Anxiety,Change,College Station, Texas,Families,Florence + the Machine,Hope,Music,Petroleum Industry,Shake It Out,Song Lyrics,Students,Texas A&M University,Unemployment",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/137/darkest-before-dawn.jpg,Text,,1,0
"Don't Close Your Eyes",,"When I saw Beautiful Boy, I found myself closing my eyes every time a lighter and spoon appeared. I would sneak one eye open and look through blurred eyelashes to see if the scene had changed, often shutting my eye more quickly than I’d opened it. When I accidentally saw anything “too graphic,” my neck grew hot and my stomach churned. As my friends and I left the theatre, someone asked me, “Did you like the movie?” “No, I did not like the movie. It made me sick and anxious.”
I had my Humanities Moment on the drive home, when I thought about my immediate response; my emotional response. As I gave myself time to consider what the movie provided audiences who have never been exposed to someone battling addiction, my intellectual response emerged. The movie was not made to be liked or disliked; it intentionally revealed the darkest side of addiction with the intention of making the audience uncomfortable. I find that oftentimes the Humanities does the same.
Studying the human condition through various disciplines can reveal dark truths that make us want to close our eyes, but the Humanities challenges us to keep our eyes open. Unearthing all stories, even the darkest of them, allows us to understand our neighbors and grow in compassion. The power of the Humanities is in the moment when we wish to close our eyes, but we keep them open in order to learn.",,"The film ""Beautiful Boy""",,"This Moment happened last week when I went to the movies with a group of friends.","Julie Rakowitz, 21, Programs Coordinator Assistant at the Glasscock Center for Humanities Research",,,,,,dont-close-your-eyes,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"From my professor, Dr. Marian Eide, for English 481: Senior Seminar at Texas A&M University","Addiction,Beautiful Boy,College Station, Texas,Emotional Experience,Film,Film Adaptations,Van Groeningen, Felix",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/246/beautiful_boy.jpg,Text,,1,0
"Here I Am",,"This might be a total Millennial generation kind of humanities moment, so readers be warned. One day, I was scrolling through social media when I came across a post from a wonderful calligraphy artist. It read, ""and here you are living despite it all."" The post reminded me of the many times in my life when I was so hurt and so devastated over something that had occurred that sometimes I didn't feel like I would survive them. There were arguments with my mom, break ups, and bad grades, and they all took their toll. So when I casually came across that post, I took a moment and realized just how far I had come and just how much I have accomplished despite those seemingly possible to overcome parts of my life. It was one of the few times I was genuinely proud of myself, my strength. Something as simple as scrolling through social media became my ""aha!"" moment that made me realize I'm stronger than I give myself credit for. I should be proud of who I've become, and I need to stop being so hard on myself. Something so simple became my humanities moment.",,"A social media post from a calligraphy artist ",,"January 2018","Sydney, 21, student",,,,,,here-i-am,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Calligraphy,College Station, Texas,Emotional Experience,Kaur, Rupi,Millennial Generation,Poetry,Social Media,Students,The Sun and Her Flowers",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/135/living-despite-all.jpg,Text,,1,0
"If the World Had Been Watching",,"I read this quote in a Starbucks cafe two weeks before final exams.I was completely focused on the overwhelming cluster of due dates standing in between me and graduation. One of the deadlines that was rapidly approaching was my annotated bibliography for my Senior Seminar. I had chosen the Rwandan genocide, thinking I would have a large amount of information to create a decent paper. The genocide stemmed from Hutu extremists calling for the mass extermination of the Tutsi people after blaming the Rwandan Patriotic Front, a Tutsi rebel group, for the death of Rwandan President Juvenal Habyarimana. This ultimately led to the death of 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus.I was indifferent to this issue as it was merely to be another ten page paper that I planned to procrastinate until the last minute. As I scoured the internet for a variety of sources regarding the mass genocide of nearly one million people, I came across a quote posted on the United to End Genocide website.
“Rwanda can be a paradise again, but it will take the love of the entire world…and that’s as it should be, for what happened in Rwanda happened to us all – humanity was wounded by the genocide.”
– Immaculée Ilibagiza, Rwandan author
Rwanda. A country that experienced a mass tragedy in the short span of 100 days was forgotten about. Kurt Cobain had just been found dead in his apartment and the FIFA World Cup were capturing the attention of the United States. America had turned it's head to mass killing of almost a million people. This quote by Immaculée Ilibagiza shows me that we let down humanity on April 6th, 1994. We turned away from a problem that was ""too big for us to face"". But in the face of injustice that this quote address, I was able to find hope. For this isn't the end. Rwanda CAN become a paradise. But we must nurture it with empathetic arms. We must see the victims as our community rather than a series of statistics. We wounded humanity by our silence, but it is not too late to turn this mindset around. The first step at a better tomorrow rests in being aware. Our ignorance hurt Rwanda. We must make ourselves aware of these dilemmas in an effort to prevent them from happening again. By making ourselves aware we are able to place ourselves in the victims shoes. Like the quote says, ""what happened in Rwanda happened to all of us. Humanity was wounded by genocide"". Humanity can also stop genocide through making ourselves aware. My humanitarian moment was in a Starbucks cafe where I discovered that the same wound that humanity received from genocide is the same wound that can be healed through love. ",,"“Rwanda can be a paradise again, but it will take the love of the entire world…and that’s as it should be, for what happened in Rwanda happened to us all – humanity was wounded by the genocide.” – Immaculée Ilibagiza, Rwandan author",,"November 2018","Cynthia Tomaselli, 21, Student ",,,,,,if-the-world-had-been-watching,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Dr. Marian Eide -Texas A&M University","College Station, Texas,Genocide Prevention,Genocide Survivors,Human Rights,Ilibagiza, Immaculée,Rwanda,Rwandan Genocide, 1994,Students,United to End Genocide",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/265/fullsizeoutput_999.jpeg,Text,,1,0
"Response to a response ",,"I was in my English class and we were talking about humanities moments for extra credit. We talked about a woman who disagreed with the ""mimetic"" effect and she claimed that people have a desire to be different. I agree with this idea but I also believe that each human has a purpose in this world. Each individual is born with a burning desire inside of them to fulfill this purpose and live their lives to the absolute fullest. This gives me hope that one day each individual will discover something that makes them feel alive each day and causes them to live with purpose.
Curator's note: This contribution refers to the Humanities Moment ""Finding Freedom from the Familiar"" by Hollis Robbins.","Hollis Robbins ","The Humanities Moment ""Finding Freedom from the Familiar""",,"10:30 am Feb, 21 2018","Jacob, Johnston 20 years old. College student at Texas A&M University",,,,,,response-to-a-response,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"College Station, Texas,Hope,Meta Moments,Mimetic Desire,Robbins, Hollis,Self-Realization,Students,Texas A&M University",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/130/light-bulbs-1125016_640.jpg,Text,,1,0
"Things Don't Have To Be The Way They've Always Been",,"Gloria Anzaldua’s Borderlands was one of the assigned texts in my U.S. Mexico Border class this semester. In this book, Anzaldua writes about borders she encounters between herself and men, other cultures, and even her own culture as a homosexual Mexican-American woman from the Rio Grande Valley of Texas. She expresses a deeply planted love for her culture by using personal narrative, poetry, and the unique approach of switching between English and Spanish without warning.
Amongst all of this literary beauty, she directly addresses the shortcomings of the Mexican-American culture. One problem Anzaldua specifically points out is machismo. She bashes machismo by calling out the oppression women experience because of this culturally developed mentality of male superiority.
As a native of the Rio Grande Valley like Anzaldua, I know what it is to live in a community where two worlds collide and make one. Living in a place where strong Mexican influence is easily detectable by seeing the kinds of restaurants operating or by hearing the kinds of languages spoken in schools (Spanish, Spanglish, Tex-Mex), I grew a love for this fusion of cultures. With this love came a sense of duty to defend my culture which typically meant a shut mouth about its flaws. I continually accepted the explanation, “Things are the way they are because that’s how they’ve always been.” I thought if I drew attention to something I thought was wrong with my culture, I would be embarrassing my own kind.
It was not until I read Anzaldua’s book that I realized that did not have to be true. Like a parent would, I could show tough love to my culture by teaching it to acknowledge and learn from its mistakes, instead of biting my tongue about them. The Humanities are frequently studied to learn about populations, experiences, and ideas that may seem to only be relevant in places that are worlds away. Learning about others is of great value. And so is learning from others. But let us remember that the Humanities can always have something to teach us about the worlds that are our own.",,"Borderlands by Gloria Anzaldua",,"September 2018","Gabriela Lopez, 21, Texas A&M University Undergraduate Student",,,,,,things-dont-have-to-be-the-way-theyve-always-been,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Dr. Marian Eide's Violence and Literature class at Texas A&M University","Anzaldúa, Gloria,Biculturalism,Books & Reading,Borderlands,Borderlands/La Frontera: La New Mestiza,College Station, Texas,Gender Inequality,Rio Grande Valley, Texas,Social Justice,Students,U.S./Mexico Relations",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/267/Borderlands-Image.jpg,Text,,1,0