We’re out there. Hitting that pavement.

It is comforting. And since I posted this, two of the three have come around and done really awesome projects. One wrote a poem and another did a short video editing project. So, some progress!

Hi. This is a humanities class. So I think mostly students would expect to interpret art, music, literature and film within historical and theoretical contexts. But…I mean…art shouldn’t be a total surprise in a humanities class, right? I was on my syllabus from day one, too. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Some of the teachers I admired most in undergrad had a very strong articulated viewpoint in art, politics, society, yadda yadda. Even those I disagreed with challenged me to think in new ways. I’ve always thought about how much I appreciated them and wondered where I fall on the spectrum of apolitical vs. supercharged, rabble-rouser. This semester I’ve been a little more reserved than I have been in the past for a lot of reasons. A guarded sense of professionalism. A new program. Different kinds of students here. Focusing more on my own work. I need to figure out how to encourage students to explore valid emotional intelligence. I thought the Palmer reading was really interesting.

I really appreciated your taking Edelstein’s argument further, and I agree that people in the humanities might be more likely to learn about local culture. I also think a humanities background helps people think of different or new solutions. (In other words not just recreating what has worked in other places, like tapped water.) I like your framing humanities as a real world, practical concept. I’m trying to do that more myself.