Showing posts with label today in the humanities. Show all posts
Showing posts with label today in the humanities. Show all posts

Tuesday, April 17, 2012

Today in the Humanities... A History Resource for Students, Cambodian Archaeology, and Pulitzer History

Humanities Stories from Around the Globe to Pique Interest and Spark Conversation!




Patrick Awuah makes the case that a liberal arts education is critical to forming true leaders.


A major stop for runaway Southern slaves, Washington, DC, attracted large numbers of blacks after the Civil War. By 1960 the city had a majority black population. The presence of black political organizations and the large marches in the 1960s made Washington a major center of the civil rights movement. Today it is one of the largest and most prominent black-dominated communities in the United States.


Count Basie and Bob Crosby
at the Howard Theatre,
Gottlieb Collection, Library
of Congress
George Clinton surveyed the crowd Tuesday night and let out a soulful sigh: “Boy, do I have memories in this joint!” The legendary purveyor of funk, looking notably tidier sans his equally legendary Technicolor dreadlocks, took the Howard Theatre stage at the historic venue’s VIP grand opening concert and celebration following a $29 million renovation.


A team of young archaeologists from the Faculty of Archaeology at the Royal University of Fine Arts and from the Royal Academy of Cambodia initiated a yearlong project that combined: excavation, cultural resource management and the construction of a museum in order to preserve, document and disseminate information about the rich cultural heritage of the Sre Ampil site.




The Humanities Council [of North Carolina] has been revisiting the notion of The American Dream. During this process we decided to take the conversation outside (literally) and engage folks in conversation around this broad but universally relevant topic. 


“Pulitzer history, of sorts, was made this year when the Pulitzer Board announced that no prize for fiction would be awarded this year,” says Corrigan, who has been published in the New York Times, written a book and writes a mystery book column for the Washington Post.

Monday, March 26, 2012

Today in the Humanities... Architects, Exhibits, and Public History

Scattered Humanities Stories From DC and Around the Country

What makes the U.S. Capitol "symbolically important"? Presented with a variety of archival documents, your students can answer that question for themselves. Working in small groups, the students will uncover and share the Capitol's story. The primary sources are presented to the students as mysteries, with a challenge to tie together the information in the documents or images through research.


Our program contains an array of history and public history sessions designed to satisfy a variety of tastes. We have constructed thematic threads that will especially appeal to teachers at all levels, and we offer sessions of particular interest to those who live and work in Wisconsin as well as to those who want to understand the historical roots of contemporary issues. We have invited senior historians to offer challenging interpretive papers, and younger scholars and public history practitioners eager to try out new work.


How could the author of the Declaration of the Independence own slaves? How could twenty percent of the population of the new United States, founded on the principles of liberty and equality, live in bondage? What was life like for enslaved people in the early republic? This online exhibition uses Monticello as a lens through which to examine these questions. 


The current president of George Washington University spent most of the day Thursday delivering some very good news to nine high school seniors in Washington: each of them won a full, four-year scholarship.


The Octagon is open for self-guided audio tours Thursdays and Fridays from 1:00 - 4:00 pm. The museum may be closed for private events so please call or email ahead if you are planning to visit. The following audio tours are available and may be downloaded to any mp3 player:

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

Today in the Humanities... Civil War Music, Historic Woodlawn Cemetery, and the Poetry Out Loud DC Finals

Humanities Bites from DC and Beyond!

The exhibition features selections from a recently acquired collection of music published in the Confederacy during the Civil War. Sheet music lyrics and imagery are documentary sources that provide insight into the mindset, values, and beliefs of their creators and consumers. 


Commemorate Holocaust Remembrance Day with a special evening of spoken word and music.  Poet and writer, Davi Walders, accompanied by cellist, Douglas Wolters, present a unique collaboration of story portraits of women resisters intertwined with music by composers whose lives were interrupted tragically during the Holocaust.


Nestled in the heart of Ward 7 in Washington, DC, historic Woodlawn Cemetery sits on 22.5 acres, serving as the final resting place for more than 36,000 individuals.  While walking through the rolling hills of Woodlawn Cemetery visitors will find many recognizable individuals who contributed to local and national history.


Housed in a building directly across the street from Ford’s Theatre and acquired by the Ford’s Theatre Society in 2007, the Center features two floors of permanent exhibits addressing the immediate aftermath of Lincoln’s death and the evolution of Lincoln’s legacy; a Leadership Gallery floor to be used for rotating exhibits, lecture and reception space; and two floors of education studios to house pre- and post-visit workshops, after-school programs and teacher professional development; and a distance-learning lab outfitted with state-of-the-art technology that will allow Ford’s to engage students and teachers nationwide and around the world.



Join the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities as we host the D.C. finals of Poetry Out Loud at Arena Stage. Eleven D.C. Public School, D.C. Public Charter School and Private School students will compete for a chance to represent the District at the National Finals.


All lectures begin at 6:30 pm (refreshments will be served from 6:00 to 6:30 pm) and will be held at the German Historical Institute, 1607 New Hampshire Avenue NW (Directions). Please RSVP (acceptances only) by Tel. 202.387.3355, Fax 202.387.6437 or  E-mail. 



Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Today in the Humanities... National Orchestra; Baha'i Celebration; and Ghosts of DC

A Dose of Humanities Happenings and Happeneds for the DC Humanist

An initiative to connect the NSO and its musicians to the residents of Washington, D.C., with performances by the full orchestra and small ensembles in untraditional spaces and multi-disciplinary collaborations.


Baha'i Faith Lotus Temple in New Delhi, India
On Nov. 12, the Baha’is of Washington D.C. and their friends will celebrate the 194th anniversary of the birth of Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith.  This celebration at the Josephine Butler Parks Center in the nation’s capital will join with similar celebrations in over 100,000 localities around the world.


Thanks to a couple readers for sending the great photos of the Howard Theater sign going up right now. Howard Theater is located at 7th and T St, NW and plans on reopening in April 2012.


The DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities is proud to announce the 29th Annual Larry Neal Writers’ Competition, which commemorates the artistic legacy and vision of cultural understanding of Larry Neal, a renowned author, academic and former Executive Director of the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities.

The competition honors the artistic excellence of emerging and established DC writers with monetary awards for submissions in poetry, essays, dramatic writing and short story. Awards will be presented at the 29th Annual Larry Neal Writers’ Awards Ceremony on May 4, 2012, in partnership with the PEN/Faulkner Foundation, at the Folger Shakespeare Library.


This blog is about uncovering stories that have long been forgotten. I walk by buildings every day, and it’s hard not to imagine what happened there fifty or a hundred years ago. I want to learn about lost neighborhoods like Swampoodle and Murder Bay, find out who lived in my neighborhood when Woodrow Wilson was in the White House, and understand the fear of seeing confederate flags ominously flying within site of the Capitol, across the river in secessionist Virginia.


Civil War to Civil Rights: Downtown Heritage Trail is undergoing a facelift! So if you see a blank sign, don’t fret. A new panel wil be in place soon.



Monday, January 16, 2012

Today in the Humanities... MLK Jr. Day of Service; OccupyArchive; and Colonial History in PG

History, Literature, Philosophy, Ethics, and More Wrapped Into a Regular Blog Feature

We want to know how you served on MLK Day 2012. You can share your story here, on our Facebook page, or by sending an email to MLKDay@cns.gov. Your stories will help us highlight the many ways Americans are honoring Dr. King through service, improving lives, and making a difference in our communities.


Currently, the archive includes a growing set of collections of webpage screenshots, movement documents, and digital images. These collections were built with a combination of individual contributions and automated feed importing. Now, with the launch of the OccupyArchive.org website, individuals can contribute and geolocate their stories and files from the movement. Together, these materials will provide an historical record of the 2011 Occupy protests.



Each week, two writing workshops called “Writing for your Health” are offered for people with cancer and other community members in the Nina Hyde Resource Room. One begins at 11:00 am Tuesday during morning clinic and the other in the evening at 6:00 pm. For the morning session, patients are invited to the Resource Room for a brief demonstration of expressive writing while waiting for their appointments.


This year, the Chinatown Community Cultural Center will have a full day of program along with live cultural performances on Sunday, January 29th 2012 from 12pm to 5pm. Visitors will be able to browse the many displays that will teach about the traditions for New Year, participate in a hands-on arts and crafts project, and enjoy the live martial art performances and Chinese musical instrument all of which will be packed in throughout the day and coinciding with the parade.




Each student researches and acts the part of an historic character from the 1860s and traces President Abraham Lincoln's steps as he considered emancipation and its alternatives. These scenes are videotaped and transferred to a DVD for the class to keep. This field trip experience invites students to explore notions of bondage and freedom within the real historic spaces of Decatur House.


The district, located off Livingston Road between Oxon Hill and Fort Washington roads stretching along the Potomac River, considered to be the area first settled by colonists in the Washington, D.C., region, currently is recognized by the county as a historic site and includes Harmony Hall, a Georgian country house dating to the 18th century.


Friday, January 13, 2012

Today in the Humanities... The Giver, Ethics, Soviet Monuments, and 100 Year Old Sound Recordings

Humanities News and Events from DC and Beyond

Children's book author Lois Lowry used to store her rough drafts in the crisper drawer of her refrigerator so that if the house burned down, she wouldn't lose what she was working on. After a book was published, she'd toss her manuscripts in the trash. She figured they had no value.


The Undersecretary for History, Art, and Culture, and the Director of the Smithsonian's Anacostia Community Museum invite you to attend the 27th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Program featuring keynote speaker Harry E. Johnson.


"Gonna Lay Down My Sword and Shield," Amanda Poppei. Join Amanda as she uses Dr. Martin Luther King's anti-war work as a springboard for thinking about America's military, the ethics of support for the military generally and for individual troops, and WES's own involvement in conscientious objector status work.


Soviet Monument in Sofia, Bulgaria
The destruction of the monuments of the Soviet past and a buildup of new monuments was supposed to be an indication of the new values that came to the post-Soviet societies after the collapse of the Soviet system. However, not everywhere and not always did it happen to be true.


That collaboration has resulted in unlocking experimental sound recordings made more than 100 years ago by Alexander Graham Bell and associates. The recordings, now available for listening by the public, can be found at http://irene.lbl.gov/volta-release.html.


Thursday, January 5, 2012

Today in the Humanities... Igloos; Internets; and Cultural Tourism's Top 12 of 2011

Catch the Latest Humanities Stories and Check Out Some You Might Have Missed

The Kiplingers, a prominent Washington business dynasty, started collecting rare photographs and prints of Washington in the 1920s. They assembled work dating back to 1791, added the work of Civil War photographers Mathew Brady and Alexander Gardner, and then gathered examples of Washington history through the mid-20th century.


The prestigious Carnegie Corporation of New York and New York Times "I Love My Librarian" award goes to D.C. public librarian Venetia V. Demson.  Demson is one of 10 librarians in the country and the first in this region to receive this annual award.


Most of us leave breadcrumbs behind us online. Say you’re shopping online and a pair of leather boots catches your eye. You zoom in, reading reviews. Finally, you refocus and click a link to a Washington Post article. There, in an ad box to the right, are those boots. It’s like they are meant for you, calling out to you.


One of the few things that we can be sure about in this period of accelerating change is that the monumental advances in communications technology spawned by the invention of the computer and the chip have epochal implications for human learning. A revolution has commenced where science and technology are melding with the humanities.


Students from the Arts & Technology Academy, a public charter school in Washington, recite portions of Frederick Douglass’s 19th-century speeches in annual contest.


Although there may be extremely cold temperatures outside an igloo, amazingly the inside can be as warm as sixty degrees due to the natural insulation properties of the snow. But igloos aren’t the only type of snow buildings. From hotels to castles to entire villages, people are building all sorts of snow structures around the world. 


The Top 12 of 2011 DC Insiders list gives you a sample of some of the many different activities there are in the city.


Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Today in the Humanities...

Streep for Women's History Museum; Anthropology and Philosophy on the Defensive; DC Government Ethics; and the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards

This new regular feature funnels current humanities stories from Washington, DC and around the world to your computer!

Known for her film work, Meryl Streep is going off script to rally for a National Women’s History Museum by the National Mall in Washington, D.C. She’s donated $1 million to the cause, but money isn’t the only requisite. Congressional approval is required for the location.


2011 featured pernicious political posturing over what we know and how we discover it. Florida Gov. Rick Scott told the state’s universities that they should be educating students in areas “where people can get a job in this state.” Accordingly, he intends to invest higher education dollars in physical science, math, engineering and technology departments, and let the humanities, arts and social sciences go fallow. Scott singled out anthropology as an example of a job-less education, saying, “Is it a vital interest of the state to have more anthropologists? I don’t think so.”



“Perennially, departments of philosophy are under attack,” said Andrew Light, the George Mason University professor who organized and monitored the panel discussion. “We’re always looking for better ways to sell the major.”



The D.C. Council will take a second and final vote Tuesday on the sweeping ethics bill that has dominated its agenda the past few months.



The President’s Committee on the Arts and the Humanities, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute of Museum and Library Services, invites applications for the 2012 National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Awards.