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"Reading Dune as a Woman",,"I am in the middle of reading Dune, and while Frank Herbert has some good takeaways and powerful quotes, I was most specifically struck by how far women in media have progressed since 1965, when the book was published. In Dune, even the most powerful women follow a common trend of submission, even when they do not agree with their husband or the leadership. In general, there are very few lead female characters who are portrayed as important to the narrative, especially in comparison to the many military men depicted. The ""Bene Gesserit,"" described in the novel as a fearsome and dangerous group of women, have power and wisdom, but ultimately serve the purpose of creating good genetic matches with men across the empire. Their power is immediately usurped by the protagonist of the novel, Paul Atreides. The women of this novel are continually overruled by men, and it is almost exhausting to read this as a woman in a time where we have more agency and chances to advocate. Rather than give up on the book entirely, I was met with the realization that Dune is an example of how far we have come. I had finished reading Leigh Bardugo's Shadow and Bone series right before starting Dune, and in this series, as in many other modern works, women are given more advocacy. The trend in more modern books shows how we have continued to overcome the oversights of past literary and cultural norms for women, and though much progress still needs to be made, it is encouraging to read older works with this mindset.","Frank Herbert",Dune,,"January 2022","Christine Taylor, 20, College student and copywriter",,,,,,reading-dune-woman,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"Alexandra Cenatus, assistant director of the Humanities Engagement Scholars program at UF","Change,Feminism,Novels,Reading,Representation,Science Fiction",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/539/lunar-landscape-g9b57fd92c_640.jpg,Text,,1,0
"Why Representation Matters",,"The sixth grade stands out for me as one of those important milestones in life. As an adult, I have numerous precise moments of recollection where a memory is so vivid it feels as if I can recall every word and emotion. Our school was a small neighborhood Catholic school with a tragic past. In the late 1950s, the school burned down, and ninety-five people lost their lives.
My experience as one of the few kids in the neighborhood who did not attend public school was nuanced. I never thought much about my identity outside of being the girl who went to Catholic school. My neighborhood was majority Latino and Black, and Chicago was and remains a largely segregated city. I saw white people at school and on television and Brown and Black people in my everyday life. I never noticed that the people I watched on tv shows and working in my small Catholic school did not represent my life or the lives of the people I knew.
That all changed when Mrs. Maureen Hart started her teaching career in my sixth-grade class. I could share countless stories about Mrs. Hart's dedication to teaching and her desire to really make a difference in the lives of her students. Still, this particular moment is about our sixth-grade production of A Raisin in the Sun. We spent weeks preparing. We watched the 1961 movie adaptation, we read the script, and we designed the set. We learned all about Lorraine Hansberry and her groundbreaking accomplishments. We learned that the original play was set in Chicago and that Hansberry herself was a Chicagoan. The information made our production even more important. After all, we had to do justice to Chicago's own playwright.
Studying and preparing for that play brought a profound sense of pride and ownership. I fell in love with the characters and all of their imperfections. It was the first time I experienced black characters who were flawed and proud on paper and in film. The struggles of the world around them were not the focus of the story. Family and kinship were central to the plot. When I finished the play, I clearly remembered a profound sense of knowing that I had a place in the world. My stories, although not heroic or regal, mattered and was worthy of praise and notoriety.","Lorraine Hansberry","A Raisin in the Sun",,1988-1992,"Bridget H., Ph.D. student",,,,,,why-representation-matters,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"2021 NHC Summer Graduate Student Residency ","A Raisin in the Sun,African American Authors,African American Literature,African American Women Authors,Chicago, IL,Family,Hansberry, Lorraine,Kinship,Representation,Teachers & Teaching,Theater and Drama",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/18/479/sunset-2180346_640.jpg,Text,"Graduate Student Residents 2021",1,0
"Reading and its Superpowers",,"I cannot remember who first introduced me to the work of Roald Dahl, but it is his books that sparked a lifelong love of reading for me. I grew up as the only girl between two brothers and our house was peppered with sports equipment; our calendar was controlled by games, practices, and tournaments. We all played sports, and I was frequently the only girl on the boys’ baseball teams, in the age division, and for a long time, in the league. Off the field, I loved school, reading, and arts & crafts. So, at times, I felt a little different or out of place. Like most kids, I often wondered how to act or how to be.
I can’t remember now exactly when I read Dahl’s Matilda, but I remember identifying with the storyline about a young girl who felt out of place and who found comfort in stories. She was young, but was smart; she was independent and self-sufficient. She read books far beyond her age. Eventually, she learned she could control objects with her mind and she used these powers to outsmart the terrible people around her. In short, she became a hero.
It wasn’t that our situations were the same that I felt an affinity with Matilda – I certainly wasn’t surrounded by terrible people as she was – but I think it was because she, too, felt a little different and she too, liked to read. I loved reading before Matilda, but I think that story made me feel like reading could lead to superpowers. She wasn’t a boy with a cape; she couldn’t scale buildings or fly; she didn’t have some extraordinary strength (and to be fair, it wasn’t the reading that gave her her superpowers, but that is what stuck with me). Rather, she had a library card and some quiet time and a few people that believed in her. So, it was also Matilda that made me feel that reading curled up in the back of the school bus or sitting out recess to finish a book wasn’t something to be embarrassed of, because that’s what she did. I wanted to have the mountains of books she did; I wanted to read everything she had.
Now, I am sure I haven’t read everything Matilda did and I have been privileged to have had no real terrible things or people to overcome personally, but one part of her story did resonate. I did stumble into some superpowers. From reading stories, I learned empathy and kindness, connection and perspective, humility and humanity. I could hear stories from other people who were not me, who did not grow up in the world I did, who did not express their stories in the same ways as I would. It isn’t only children’s books that did this and continue to do this for me, but back then, Roald Dahl and so many others started it.
These days, I mainly read and write nonfiction. I love how language creates moments and images; I love how writers make words live together on the page. I now study essays & poems, but sometimes I still think of them as kinds of stories. And I still think reading them (or listening to them) leads to those superpowers of connection, compassion, and humanity.
But my connection with this children’s book goes beyond that, because it has also taught me why representation is so important. All young people should be able to see themselves in a story, to have that moment of realization, identification, and inspiration. Everyone deserves to see themselves as the hero, no matter their age, gender, race, class, sexual orientation, or disability. No matter if they read themselves in a book, hear themselves in a song, or find themselves in dance, theater, or the fine arts. The ability to see glimpses of our own stories in others is important, because I think it prepares us to be open to other stories completely different than ours. For me, it started with Matilda. And as an adult now, I am still a woman who loves to read and who still believes in its superpowers.","Roald Dahl",Matilda,,,"Bailey Boyd, 32, Ph.D Candidate ",,,,,,reading-superpowers,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,"NHC Graduate Student Summer Residency","Books & Reading,Children,Children's Literature,Dahl, Roald,Identity,Literature Appreciation,Representation,Self-Realization,Superheroes",https://humanitiesmoments.org/files/original/18/477/books-2463779_640.jpg,Text,"Graduate Student Residents 2021",1,0