The Public Humanist
Art Ascendant in the MFA's Assyrian Art Exhibition
Sometimes I'm embarrassed about being a humanist. I study ancient art, and it's always more impressive to introduce myself as an archaeologist than as an art historian. In my mind, "history" trumps "art" in my conception of "art...Announcing the Iraq Heritage Project
My previous post for the Public Humanist was a review of an exhibition of Assyrian art at the Museum of Fine Arts through January 2009. Today, there's another story to be told about Mesopotamian art. The First Lady of the United States, Laura Bush, announced the...Good ol' Boys and Democratic Accountability
Recently, my wife and I were fortunate enough to have a vacation in Italy. On that trip we met many Italians (with whom my wife could converse quite well). One in particular I remember because his English was good (my Italian is minimal, at best) and so we were able...Athenian Democracy: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow
Here, for the first time in my brief career as a Public Humanist blogger, I am writing to an assigned topic–"Athenian Democracy"–a topic I accepted during the summer because I was reasonably confident it would provoke thought (in me, for a...The Equality Experiment
My first job was as a cowboy, or rather a horseboy (though that is another story). It was in the rump days of the late 1960s known as the early '70s, in the rump end of Huerfano County, Colorado, the county of orphans, of rolling mesas, silver and straw. Strung...Celebrating Veterans Day through the Stories of Those Who Served
Veterans Day parades, ceremonies and speeches are the traditional ways we honor the service and sacrifice of our veterans. Without editorializing about such traditions, I want to suggest an additional means of observing November 11. Seek out a family member, neighbor...An Unlikely Veteran
My father, Hans Bouricius, was born in Delft, The Netherlands, in 1921. When the Netherlands were made part of the greater German Reich in May of 1940, he was nineteen, and about to join the navy. Unfortunately, the Royal Netherlands Navy had just moved to England....Seeing the US from Afar: How Foreign Observers Might Help Americans Understand Our Brave New World
I was in France this summer during the Democratic National Convention and here in the US for the Republican version. After both events had ended I realized that while I had been interested in the press coverage throughout I had been even more interested in the fact...Seeing the US from REALLY afar: it's not always easy, but it's certainly interesting
A few years ago, I was on a lecture tour in several Persian Gulf countries sponsored by the US Department of State, part of my gig as a Fulbright Scholar in Qatar. My US Embassy hosts in one country, honoring a request of mine, set up a meeting with some local...Why Was the Stoic White Guy Crying?
11:00 P.M., November 4, 2008, the networks call Obama the victor. Was this real? Had Obama actually won the election? 12:02 A.M., November 5, 2008, President-elect Barack Obama is giving his victory speech when tears come to my eyes. This is real; Obama will be the...“I could do that”
In art history survey classes, when I get up to Jackson Pollock, I invariably have a student who says, “I could do that.” And my response is always the same: “Go ahead. If you can make a credible Jackson Pollock, you’ll get an automatic A in my...One Nation Under God? The Role of Religion in American Public Life
Your parents may have told you to avoid talking about religion and politics in public, but almost 300 people did just that on November 22, 2008, when they participated in the fifth annual Mass Humanities symposium, “One Nation under God? The Role of Religion in...Ideologically Thomas
If you have a little boy or girl, then you probably know about Thomas the Tank Engine. No, I don't mean a character. And I don't even mean a show. And, no, I don't even mean a merchandise aisle at Target. I mean what becomes, so very easily, an entire way...Dora the Earner
There have been times in the past year when I was grateful to Dora the Explorer. At the adult-hostile hour of 5:30 AM, I could, with eyes half shut, select an iTunes television episode on a laptop set up on a chair in front of the sofa, and half-snooze until 6:00...The Media Knack and How to Get It
Up until ten years ago I used to get a phone call every week from aspiring filmmakers or parents of aspiring filmmakers (or were they aspiring to be parents of filmmakers?) asking me if their talented son or daughter should go to film school to become another...Seeing the World–And Living In It
“Who you gonna believe, baby, me or yo’ lyin’ eyes?” –Richard Pryor, on being caught in flagrante delicto by his wife. Here’s how I lost my innocence about looking: I was teaching Social Studies to seventh graders at a Boston public...Nativity Scenes from the Non-Christian Perspective
Religious holidays are not only enjoyable, but controversial. For decades American citizens have debated whether towns may erect nativity scenes on public property. We now have a body of law that governs this issue. The basis of the debate is the First Amendment of...Coming Together: Making Art for Change
Amongst Zen Buddhist lore, there is a mendicant monk who goes from village to village collecting useless things. He hauls them in a large cloth sack, wherefore his name, Hotei, meaning “cloth bag.” When he comes around, children follow him. When he sees...International Justice in The Hague
The Hague is the seat of the Dutch government, although it is not actually Holland’s capital (that honor belongs to Amsterdam). It also functions as the center of a system of international courts and tribunals, established since World War II, that function...On the Importance of Being Neutral
Isn’t it nice to know that the city of one’s birth takes as its motto, “City of Peace and Justice?” I am very proud of that. That The Hague is also the place where the first Grand Pensionary (Prime Minister) of the Dutch Republic was executed...The Serial's the Thing!
Imagine that you’re an artist painting a picture. You’ve made a start. You revisit your perspective… then voices from over your shoulder scream, “There, to the right! A little more azure! A little more shadow on the left. When will the red go...Are We On the Same Page?
"We’re Reading Again!” The story hit the New York Times, Washington Post, and other major newspapers in anticipation of the release on January 12, 2009, of a new study from the National Endowment for the Arts, which is titled by its conclusion:...Intersecting Art and the Humanities
A partnership between the state cultural agency (MCC) and the state humanities organization (Mass Humanities) on a literary event is kind of a no-brainer, literature being one of the “bigees” in the humanities gang. Even so, when not thinking about it too...Portrait Painting and Coaxing History
I am an artist, and for the last three and a half years I have been engaged in a project entitled 100 Faces of War Experience. This project started as a purely artistic endeavor, but it has become increasingly engaged in the concerns of history and the humanities. As...In Motion: Ira Glass, Harris Mills, and me
Ira Glass always sounds as if he’s got a bag of Cheetos just off-mic for between-sentence scarfing. At least, in my world of radio magic, that accounts for his strange, halting delivery. But Glass is up to something that’s bordering on real brilliance with...Chronicling the History of the Book as Object
Commentators, friend and foe, have made much of Barack Obama’s calculated appropriation of the legacy of Lincoln. What most struck me, as a book historian, was his decision to take the inaugural oath on the bible that Lincoln used in 1861.In the Senate Chamber,...Maybe you can, but you MAY not!
Dependent Child: “Hey Mum, can I go jump off that cliff?”Custodial Parent: “Yes, you can. But you may not.”DC:Aw, that’s not fair. Why not?CP: Because I said so. There’s nothing quite as frustrating as being informed by an entity...The Rivalry: Coming Soon to a State House Near You
I’m standing on a train platform in Springfield waiting for Abraham Lincoln and Stephen Douglas to appear. Springfield, Massachusetts not Illinois, and the men whose arrival I await are actors. I think, “Is this going to work? Will I believe that these two...The History of the Meaning of Poverty in the US
As the United States faces severe economic difficulties many Americans–myself included–are debating which public and private actions might best ward off even worse disaster. Yet at the risk of sounding Pollyanna-ish I want to suggest that a...Recession and the Deepening of Poverty
The current economic downturn has forced a generation of Americans, many for the first time, to make hard choices and revise their expectations about the taken-for-granted prosperity of this nation. This recession has already caused many people, and we anticipate the...Holyoke's Memory Book: Training Oral Historians
When people talk about their lives, people lie sometimes, forget a little, exaggerate, become confused, get things wrong, yet they are revealing truths…the guiding principle for [life histories] would be that all autobiographical memory is true: it is up to the...What We Learned about Mounting an Exhibit . . . Reflections from the Gloucester Maritime Heritage Center
You know how little kids love to “play school?” One person’s the teacher and the others are the students. They setup makeshift desks and chairs, grab books, papers and crayons and then the teacher tells them what to do. Sometimes they “play...Can Documentaries Change the World?
In the late 1970s Jimmy Carter was president, disco was in its death throes, wide lapels were all the rage, and I was a post-hippy child-lawyer living in wet and wild Portland, Oregon. I had moved there from western Massachusetts to take a job as a Legal Services...Voices from the Port
In addition to describing two interesting and rich humanities projects funded by Mass Humanities, this post and the previous one by Harriet Webster provide examples of Mass Humanities’ Cultural Economic Development grants that are available to Massachusetts...Can a Radio Program Change the World?
It’s a question that has been asked about movies (see Phillip Martin, The NY Times, Film Section, “Shaking Up The World or Shaped by It?”, Feb 2, 1997), and most recently in this space (see Larry Hott's previous essay, “Can Documentaries...The Soul of a Nation
As reported in the New York Times, on Monday February 23, 2009, less than six years after it was looted in the initial invasion of Baghdad, the Iraq Museum reopened for visitors. The opening of the museum (also known as the Baghdad Museum), however, was limited to...Sites that Make you Say “Whoaaaaa!”
Nowadays we use the World Wide Web for so many mundane tasks that it is easy to forget the utter joy of encountering a creative, playful, information-rich site, a site that makes you say "whoaaaaaaa!" and keeps you engaged way past lunchtime or bedtime....Romancing the Little Screen
Documentary film purists are apoplectic over the fractionalization and miniaturization of the media. We’ve gone from 35mm theatrical releases to 16mm school showings to television broadcasts and the final indignity, tiny private screenings on your computer...The Meaning of the Fourth of July: Abolition in Massachusetts.
In case you managed to miss it, for a couple of months now, I have been immersed in Frederick Douglass’ celebrated Fourth of July speech, the one in which he famously asked, “do you mean, citizens, to mock me, by asking me to speak today? What, to the...Crossing Over
I was fascinated by filmmaker Larry Hott’s post about how online streaming of filmmakers’ content has the potential to upend traditional models of documentary filmmaking, fundraising, and distribution. Since my own interaction with Massachusetts filmmakers...Catholic Sisters' Remarkable Role in Establishing Healthcare across the Country
In 2007 I produced a documentary film, Faith in Providence: Women Religious in America, with the support of the Mass Humanities. This program examines the lives of women from a Catholic religious congregation in Massachusetts known as the Sisters of Providence of...Liberal vs. Practical Education
Provide for the esoteric, exotic, and impractical in the curriculum; the practical and pedestrian will take care of itself. If it does not, you have not lost much anyway; so I think the impractical things are the most practical and important in the long run. (Herman...Breaking News on New WORLD Theater & Reflections on the Possibility of Hope
When I was first asked to write a blog post for The Public Humanist, I was unsure whether or not it would be wise in these uncertain times. Uncertain for the arts, definitely, for our communities and the nation. New WORLD Theater’s multiracial, multidisciplinary...The Marginalization of the Humanities
The pressures bearing down on colleges and universities across Massachusetts and the nation as a result of the country’s economic woes have reignited the long simmering debate about the marginalization of the humanities and the value of a liberal arts education....‘Though this be madness, yet there is method in't’
"Shakespeare? Ugh!" “I love Shakespeare myself, but my students hate just the mention of the name.” “How do I feel about teaching Shakespeare? Terrified.” “It’s the language that gets to me. If I don’t ‘get...The Checkered Past of Newspapers
When people ask me what the death of the newspaper means to historians, I respond, what do you mean by death? or newspaper? I’d say, first, reports of its death are greatly exaggerated because (unlike Mark Twain) it can exist simultaneously in multiple forms and...Self-Publishing: Power to the Author or to the Reader?
As the Massachusetts Book Awards (see www.massbook.org) enter their tenth year, I find myself reviewing the guidelines to improve on the program and one of the primary things I puzzle over is a guideline about self-publication that has been rendered meaningless over...Transparency in Holyoke: Educating the Masses to Preserve the Past
The city of Holyoke has a complex and fascinating history of immigration and migration. Once considered the Paper Capital of the World, and home to premier cotton and silk mills, the history of Holyoke offers a microcosm of American industrial development. Founded in...Reading List for Understanding the Arab-Israeli Conflict
Who has a heart large enough to contain compassion both for the longing for Zion, for sanctuary, for a homeland, of the Jewish survivors who emigrated to the nascent Israel after WWII, and at the same time the longing for return, for justice, for a homeland, of the...Rediscovering Hawley's Old Town Common
But gradually, as people thought more of manufactures and less of husbandry, locations along the streams became important, and the settlements away from them, and often quite above them, were gradually abandoned.This transition had already been going on for some time...Exceptionalism, Hopedale, Hope
There is something about western Massachusetts that seems to breed exceptionalism, exceptionally so, and I have struggled to figure out why. Over and again, I have heard from long-term residents how unusual the region is, and they seem to insist that something...Higher Education and the Criminal Justice System
Let’s begin with two basic assertions: first, at least at the macro level, crime and the economy are related and second, at least at the micro level, higher education has a positive impact in reducing criminal behavior. A plethora of research exists that...Key Documents for “Understanding the Arab-Israeli Conflict”
The Sykes-Picot Agreement concluded in 1916, was a secret agreement between the governments of the Great Britain and France, with the assent of Imperial Russia, defining their respective spheres of influence and control in the Middle East after the expected downfall...The Invention of Printing
All of us “know” that the invention of printing was an epochal development in human civilization. Gutenberg and/or his invention of circa 1439-40 ranked at the top or very near the top of the lists of “greatest” of the millennium that...Being strangers in the land of Egypt, the United Arab Emirates, the US, or wherever
The Bible is perhaps the most famous of very old sources that remind us of the importance of how we treat “the stranger in our midst,” which is also often cited by political philosophers as the true test of any civilization. The early Jews were commanded...The Masculine Vision Quest that is LOST
The pop culture indulgence I’m most devoted to is LOST. For those of you who don’t know (do you exist?), LOST is an ABC prime time drama with a serial format. It piloted in 2004 and is currently in its fifth season. I caught up in ’06 and have been...Binary Thinking and Gender: Father, Daughter, iPod
So I’m talking with twenty-five year old Casey Llewellyn about music and I’m praising the digital sound quality on my iPod and she comes back at me with how analog sound reproduction is more accurate than digital, and tube amps are superior to solid state,...Israel's Right of Self Defense, and Gaza's?
There is a great deal of difference between Presidents Bush and Obama, not least in speech. President Bush spoke in short, often disconnected, spurts that gave him the appearance of not understanding what he was saying. President Obama speaks in complete sentences,...Freaks and Other Others
The phrase "binary thinking" is a curious one. Even just the sound of it is unpleasant, hardly inviting or comfortable – I mean, really, who is in favor of something called "binary"? Well, perhaps we should understand the term a bit. For all...E-Edition
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