Davidson traces an arc through her life story which began when a fifth-grade teacher gave her a copy of the novel Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey. This gesture, combined with the bold and self-affirming nature of a novel featuring a determined young female protagonist, gave Davidson the strength and conviction to surpass her own expectations of … 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
Griswold recalls how a childhood encounter with a sentimental, “middlebrow” poem about a dog and a veteran (which makes her cry to this day) tapped into wells of empathy. She explains how such responses to aesthetic experiences, so often downplayed in academic inquiry, deserve our sustained attention—and even respect.
I was first introduced to David Foster Wallace’s “This is Water” in a Language and Composition class. Our textbook was full of examples of rhetoric, categorized by topic. “This is Water” was originally a Commencement speech given at Kenyon College in 2005. A shortened version was transcribed in my textbook which I had to analyze … Continued
I could go on and on regarding literature or art that has altered my perspective on life. I was tempted to write about watching beautiful sunsets that show that even the worst day can have a happy ending. However, I had to choose a passage from Rupi Kaur’s Milk and Honey which taught me that … Continued
James Hackett describes how his early encounters with some classics of American and British literature—including Moby-Dick—caused him to become more reflective about life. They also taught him the importance of written self-expression.
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
I was born and grew up in rural Southern Appalachia. Books and stories were my pathway out of the holler and into a world of hope and possibility. As a child and teen, I read and listened voraciously, and those stories found in books helped to save my life. Without them, I am not sure … Continued
During the past several weeks I’ve been drafting some thoughts I’ve had for a number of years regarding the way we learn from nature and from other people’s thoughts and writing. My Humanities Moment is a poetic description of a memory I had that was prompted by a poem from Alfred Tennyson — “Flower in … Continued
A single book forever changed the way young Bill Carbone thought not only about drumming, but the world. Grateful Dead percussionist Mickey Hart’s Drumming at the Edge of Magic illuminated the connections between spirituality and music. It also introduced Carbone to the world of ethnomusicology, or the study of music and cultures.