Author, educational advocate, and entrepreneur David Bruce Smith reflects on the manner in which his parents encouraged and valued his engagement with visual art while growing up. Years later, while working as a property manager and developer, he realized that his ability to analyze his surroundings and to create efficient, balanced, aesthetically appealing environments was … Continued
Author, educational advocate, and entrepreneur David Bruce Smith recounts how his passion for reading biographies as a child instilled in him an enduring love of history and allowed him to overcome scholastic pressures he faced to deviate from his intellectual path. This exercise also connected him more strongly to a shared literary tradition within his … Continued
Between the years of 2012-2014, the book The Fault in Our Stars written by John Green was one of the most popular books and films for teenagers. The book was such a hit Hollywood decided to make it a film, and they did a great job sticking to the original novel. This novel is about … Continued
Music has always been a powerful and connective force, especially when we least expect it. My father dedicated his life to classical music. Classical was the only form of music we would hear coming from a radio or his cello as he practiced in our living room. Rock n Roll was only allowed with headphones … Continued
My humanities project is on the K-pop group called BTS. BTS helped me overcome my challenges in life, helped me feel better about myself, and helped me become happier than I was 5 years ago. I had it rough in jr high. No one wanted to be my friend or wanted to talk to me. … Continued
I was always an avid reader as a child. As a matter of fact, I read a majority of the Harry Potter books when I was in elementary school. These books meant so much to me, it explored my sense of wonder and magic that my young soul craved. As a matter of fact, after … Continued
The video clip I saw of a young Vietnamese-American woman who opened an art gallery in Vietnam led to my humanities moment. She said that her mother disowned her because of her decision to go back to Vietnam. I could relate this to my personal experience. My mother was very upset when any one of … Continued
When I was young my father, knowing of my interest in music and war, gave me a book entitled “Singing the Vietnam Blues: Songs of the Air Force in Southeast Asia.” Actually, he had it hidden so well he lost it and gave it to me years after he intended. I ended up losing it … Continued
Answering the question whether a humanities moment looks different across generations, David Denby shares an example of such a moment he and his son experienced together at the Art Institute of Chicago.
Throughout their son’s childhood, Stephen Hall’s parents, both children of sharecroppers, crafted a “deeply humanistic perch” from which he could “view the world.” Though possessing none of the benefits of class or race privilege, they harnessed the power of the book, searching for what historian Isabel Wilkerson has called “the light of other suns” in … Continued