For years, every time we covered World War II and the Holocaust in school it was just a fact memorization activity. “Hitler was bad and did bad things.” When I was afforded the opportunity to travel to Germany, Poland and the Czech Republic in college, I got to look at the Holocaust in a new … Continued
This past summer, my son was offered an opportunity to represent the United States and play baseball in Belgium and Holland. Naturally, I took one for the team and volunteered to chaperone him on the 10-day tour. I had never been to the Continent, only to England and Scotland, and was eager to collect more … Continued
Sure, I had studied the Incas in school. I knew about Machu Picchu or I thought that I did. “You cannot judge a man until you walk a mile in his shoes” from To Kill a Mocking Bird describes my moment. The trail went through the Andes, we were able to interact with local villagers. … Continued
I’ve always loved to travel, and one of my favorite parts is getting to have a connection to the place that in our classrooms we refer to in the abstract. It makes the history more tangible, real, and often provides perspective that we don’t get from secondary sources. While travelling in Scotland last summer, I … Continued
Fresh out of graduate school, Jon Parrish Peede embraced the chance to travel, arriving in Eastern Europe during the dissolution of Czechoslovakia. A last-minute decision to see the opera Don Giovanni in Vienna—and a startling conversation with a local ticket-taker—opened his eyes to the double-edged legacy of American military intervention. During that same trip, a … Continued
English teacher Justin Parmenter describes how his encounters with essays by Thoreau and Emerson, and later with the poem “Lines Composed a Few Miles Above Tintern Abbey,” helped him to understand how literature can provide both an escape from the troubles of life and a connection to others who’ve seen and felt the same things … Continued
I have traveled many places and have tried to capture what I found unique, beautiful and different. But, this place, along the Bosporus Strait which merges the European region of Istanbul, Turkey, with the Asian region of Istanbul, Turkey, to be one of my favorites. At first I remember seeing this building and quickly trying … Continued
Craig Watson, former director of the California Arts Council, reflects on the storytelling aspect of the humanities and the time he spent as a teenager in Guadalajara exploring public spaces painted with murals. He notes how people in the humanities help translate and open our eyes to what’s magical and unique about a place. To … Continued
Teacher Lou Nachman discusses how his experiences overseas in the Navy changed him from an indifferent student to embrace life as a teacher and enthusiastic traveler. For Nachman, works of literature such as Big Fish or To Kill a Mockingbird forge an appreciation of human connections in the midst of apparent differences. In doing so, … Continued