Sansone remembers a childhood opportunity to watch from the wings of his hometown theater as Gladys Knight performed. As he describes it, seeing her transform into a dazzling presence on stage, captivating the audience with her music, her persona, and her appearance, was the first time Sansone felt consciously struck by the effect that great … Continued
Thomas describes the impact that a conductor at a childhood music camp had in showing her the transformative potential of music. His passion and intensity led to a strong performative connection between members of the camp’s orchestra. Curator’s note: Laura Thomas is a violinist from Chapel Hill, North Carolina. She has played with symphony orchestras … Continued
Sweet describes stumbling upon a 45 record that altered his perspective on The Beatles. More profoundly, it changed how he understood his place in the world. Transcript My humanities moment is a memory I have—I figured out, I think I was 11, maybe 10 years old, and I went to this store that was like … 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
Matt Smith is a nationally recognized musician, founder of Six String Ranch, and Music Studio Director of Phoenix Academy Austin, a youth residential drug and alcohol rehabilitation facility. Here he recounts how, as a young street musician, he came to understand both the importance of deep listening and the power of manipulative rhetoric. In addition … Continued
There is a term in the humanities known as “the Sublime” (Rabb). The Sublime specifically refers to a concept in art established during the Romantic era when landscape paintings thrived. The Sublime alludes to the beauty in the untamed and dangerous aspects of nature; it is the “awe and reverence for the wild…[it] can also … 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
First, above all else, I consider myself a student of literature. Perhaps I’ve chosen this phrase to generalize my pursuits, or maybe to conceal the small place in the world of literature to which I belong. I am a writer, albeit fairly new to the Creative Writing side of things. My first encounter with serious … Continued
I believe I was in the first year of my undergrad when I saw a video of John Cage’s 1952 composition 4’33” for the very first time. It’s been give-or-take eight years since I sat in that lecture room, but I still keep coming to that day in my thoughts, to that moment when everything … Continued
Musician Dave Wilson describes being struck by the legacy of The Night of the Hunter, a film essentially ignored directly after its release in 1955 but celebrated by critics decades later. (In fact, in 1998 the magazine Cahiers du Cinema listed it as the second most beautiful film of all time.)