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"Visiting the Art Museum","On a school trip from suburban New Jersey when I was in second grade, I could take on the role of Claudia, admiring the works of art on display but also wondering: who made this? Why? How did it come to be here? These questions helped me realize from a young age the enormous potential of the experience of a work of art—to fascinate personally but also to open up a window onto the past. All of this activated by the curiosity to know more about what is staring you in the face. ","My family always visited art museums when I was a child. I’m not quite sure why, as we never talked about the art, and I wondered, in secret, what exactly we were supposed to be doing there. When I was about eight years old, I read a book that answered that question: From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg. It is the story of two children—a brother and a sister—who run away from home to solve the mystery of a sculpture: was it a long-lost work by Michelangelo? They hide in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, borrowing coins from the fountain to buy food, sleeping in a magnificent bed in a period room, and blending in with school groups. More importantly, the sister Claudia is entranced by the Renaissance sculpture of an angel then on display at the museum, and she is determined to get to the bottom of the question of authorship: is it really a Michelangelo? And, if so, how did it end up in the museum?
On a school trip from suburban New Jersey when I was in second grade, I could take on the role of Claudia, admiring the works of art on display but also wondering: who made this? Why? How did it come to be here? These questions helped me realize from a young age the enormous potential of the experience of a work of art—to fascinate personally but also to open up a window onto the past. All of this activated by the curiosity to know more about what is staring you in the face.","E. L. Konigsburg","From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg",,1984,"Morna O’Neill, age 41, art history professor",,,,,,visiting-the-art-museum,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Art Museums,Books & Reading,Children's Literature,From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler,Konigsburg, E.L.,Metropolitan Museum of Art,Museums,New York, New York,Professors,Sculpture",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/8/93/From_the_Mixed-Up_Files_of_Mrs._Basil_E._Frankweiler.jpg,Text,"National Humanities Center Fellows",1,0
"Haunted by Homer’s Sirens","This particular poem helped me to think about a challenge that I was facing in a different way, and helped me try to bring some sense to it. It was a catalyst to help me focus on the present and the “now,” and the worries that come with all of the things that you can’t control, in the future and the past, need to be chased out.","
About seven months ago, our son was in a tragic ski accident, and was in a coma for close to a month. And during that really painful time, we didn’t know what was going to happen. Was he ever going to wake up? Was he not going to wake up?
I, myself, couldn’t sleep and I was haunted all the time by thoughts of what might happen to him in the future, and how did this happen, and thinking about the past. And I remember thinking in one of those late-night moments about “The Odyssey” and about the description of the sirens on the banks. Of Odysseus asking to be tied to the mast, and having beeswax in his sailors’ ears, and realizing I had these kind of spirits that were haunting me.
In that context, I remember thinking very directly, “I know what those sirens are. I know what that’s about.” I didn’t know before then what—at least for me—that poem was saying. And at that moment, I realized the sirens were really from the future and from the past, and that in dealing with this situation with our son—the only way to deal with this—was by staying very much in the present.
",Homer,"The Odyssey",,,"Kevin Guthrie, founder/president, ITHAKA",,,,,,kevin-guthrie-homers-sirens,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,,"Business Leaders,Classical Mythology,Coma,Families,Fathers & Sons,Homer,Illness,Literature,New York, New York,Poetry,Sports Accidents,The Odyssey,Time Perception",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/10/20/odyssey-960x590.jpg,"Moving Image","National Humanities Center Board Members",1,0 "Hamilton and the Performance of Poetry",,"Thomas Scherer describes two related encounters which speak to the power of hearing poetry performed aloud. The first is an explanatory talk and poetry reading by the great literary scholar M. H. Abrams at the National Humanities Center; the second is hearing Lin-Manuel Miranda discuss his award-winning rap musical, Hamilton.
Across generations, cultural divides, venues, and artistic voices, the power of lyric poetry to capture and convey powerful feeling is undeniable. And when poetry is performed and embodied, “brought to life” if you will, its capacity to create change is palpable.
","M. H. Abrams, Lin-Manuel Miranda","Lin-Manuel Miranda's musical Hamilton; M.H. Abrams' The Mirror and the Lamp",,,"Thomas Scherer, Consultant, Spencer Capital Holdings",,,,,,thomas-scherer-abrams-hamilton-poetry,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,,"Abrams, M.H.,Chernow, Ron,Drama,Hamilton, Alexander,Hamilton: An American Musical,Hip-Hop,History,Literature,Miranda, Lin-Manuel,Music,New York, New York,Performing Arts,Poetry,Politics,Popular Culture,Storytelling,The Mirror and the Lamp,United States History",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/10/166/hamilton-marquee.jpg,"Moving Image","National Humanities Center Board Members",1,0 "“I was dragged, kicking and screaming, to a van Gogh exhibition”","I get chills thinking about it even now, because to have this extraordinary storyteller explaining to you what was going on at that point in van Gogh’s life—what this meant to him, what it should mean to us—but still leaving the whole painting open to individual interpretation, it was really something that, to me, was quite profound.","In what I believe was the latter part of the 1980s, I was dragged, kicking and screaming, to a van Gogh exhibition at the Metropolitan Museum. And for the first time in my life, I wore one of those machines around my neck, where you listen to headphones and you hear somebody describe what it is you’re going to see. It was a brand-new experience. The narrator was the then-director of the Metropolitan Museum, Philippe de Montebello, and at the introductory part of the exhibit, I was really struck by the quality of what he was saying. It was so well written that it really bordered on being fine literature.... As we went from room to room, his storytelling, and the visual impact of my seeing these extraordinary paintings by this extraordinary, troubled person, made an impact on me that I still think about, probably, every month. There was a new richness in what I saw, but also a level of insight into what van Gogh had done that magnified to a great degree the impact that it had on me. Looking back on it, coming at a part of my life where I had been underground for a long time, as a law student, and then as a young lawyer, it pulled me back into the knowledge that there was this greater, more interesting world out there; one to which I owed a lot more attention. From then on, I dedicated myself to making sure that I was going to live a life that was more rich. I get chills thinking about it even now, because to have this extraordinary storyteller explaining to you what was going on at that point in van Gogh’s life—what this meant to him, what it should mean to us—but still leaving the whole painting open to individual interpretation, it was really something that, to me, was quite profound.","Vincent van Gogh","An exhibit of Vincent van Gogh's paintings ",,,"C. Allen Parker, General Counsel, Wells Fargo & Company",,,,,,allen-parker-van-gogh,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,,"Art,Art Exhibitions,Art Museums,Business Leaders,de Montebello, Philippe,Metropolitan Museum of Art,Museum Curatorship,New York, New York,Paintings,Post-Impressionism (Art),Storytelling,van Gogh, Vincent",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/21/Wheatfield_with_Crows.Vincent_Van_Gogh.jpg,"Moving Image",,1,0 "The Berlin Philharmonic Plays Mahler",,"David Denby discusses hearing Herbert von Karajan conducting a performance of Mahler’s 9th Symphony—a moment which made him realize the power of music as a universal language.",,"The Berlin Philharmonic's performance of Symphony No. 9 by Gustav Mahler",,,"David Denby, author, journalist, film critic",,,,,,david-denby-berlin-philharmonic-plays-mahler,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,,"Antisemitism,Berlin Philharmonic,Carnegie Hall,Classical Music,Mahler, Gustav,Music,Nazi Persecution,New York, New York,Symphony No. 9,von Karajan, Herbert,Writers",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/1/3/karajan.jpg,"Moving Image","David Denby",1,0 "The Streets of New York Are Like a Library",,"In this video submission, artist Carter Thompson discusses how a recent exhibit on the Harlem Renaissance revealed some of the fascinating history of the century-old building in which he lives and helped him feel a connection across the decades with those who lived in the neighborhood before him. Thompson describes how his sensibilities as an artist are informed by the stories of those who have walked the same streets, or seen the angle of the light in much the same way. He also notes how the humanities help us to bridge differences wrought by time and vastly different life experiences, and to find the common threads of our shared humanity.",,"An art exhibition on the Harlem Renaissance",,,"Carter Thompson, artist and designer",,,,,,new-york-is-like-a-library,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"",,,"Architecture,Art Exhibitions,Artists,Harlem Renaissance,History,New York, New York,Photography,Storytelling",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/36/NY_architecture.jpg,"Moving Image",,1,0 "Fathers and Sons",,"In this video, Scott Gartlan discusses his reaction to seeing Arthur Miller’s 1947 play All My Sons and seeing deep connections between the play’s narrative and his own life story. He goes on to reflect on the power of storytelling to bridge generations and personal circumstances.