Telling My Humanities Story

Telling My Humanities Story

Part I:

2022 Reading List: 

Proulx, Annie. Brokeback Mountain. Scribner, 1999.

• This short story tells the story of two men who are paired up to work together on a mountain and find romance within each other. Despite the internalized homophobia and societal prejudices, they find ways to be with each other in secret until a tragic ending keeps them apart forever. Despite the sad ending, I enjoyed this short story and would recommend it.
  

Seth Holmes and Phillipe Bourgois. Fresh Fruit, Broken Bodies: Migrant Farmworkers in the United States (Volume 27) (California Series in Public Anthropology). First Edition, University of California Press, 2013.

• This book covers Seth Holmes’ journey as he traveled and worked with the Triqui people. He incorporates his research into action and documents the struggles that farmworkers face. While this was an assigned book for class, I believe that the information provided is extremely valuable and I am glad to have been able to read it.
  

Ted Talk by Seth Holmes

Russell, Kate Elizabeth. My Dark Vanessa: A Novel. Reprint, William Morrow Paperbacks, 2021.

• This novel, whose storyline centers around the Me Too Movement, focuses on the story of a woman named Vanessa who was groomed by her high school English teacher. As the story flips between her adult life in 2017 and her years at the boarding school, she recounts the “relationship” that still affects her in the present day. The author’s use of time and unreliable memory, mixed with deep and raw emotion creates a powerful novel that I really enjoyed. 

My Dark Vanessa- Kate Elizabeth Russell

Christenson, Allen. Popol Vuh: The Sacred Book of the Maya: The Great Classic of Central American Spirituality, Translated from the Original Maya Text. Illustrated, University of Oklahoma Press, 2007.

• This sacred text tells the Mayan story of creation and focuses on the story of the Hero Twins. It was hard to follow at times, due to the complexity of the writing and web of characters, nonetheless, it was an interesting read.
  

Fitzgerald, Scott. The Great Gatsby: The Original 1925 Edition (F. Scott Fitzgerald Classics). Independently published, 2022

• The Great Gatsby details the life of a man who forms a close relationship with a millionaire. This leads to him becoming entangled in their complex web of deceit and affairs, and ultimately ends in tragedy. This book was interesting but, at times, difficult to process. 
  

Boyle, Tom Coraghessan. The Tortilla Curtain. The Viking Press, 1995.

• This story takes difficult topics such as racism, xenophobia, and white privilege and weaves them into a story that makes readers reflect on society’s true feelings towards immigrants. Despite some parts being upsetting, I enjoyed reading this.
  

Gilman, Charlotte Perkins. The Yellow Wallpaper and Other Stories (Dover Thrift Editions). Unabridged, Dover Publications, 1997.

• This short story focuses on the mental deterioration through the perspective of the woman experiencing it. Her slow descent into mania centers around her obsession with a woman she believes to be trapped in the wallpaper of her bedroom. The unreliability of the narrator creates a complex and captivating story, making it one of my favorite reads of 2022.
  

The Yellow Wallpaper- Charlotte Perkins Gilman

 

Part II:

For the project, my group focused on the relationship between technology and invention in the creation of art. We included the way in which technology and art influenced the Olmec, Maya, Colonial, and Contemporary societies. I liked reviewing the information we learned from previous modules in order to bring our final project together. One part I really enjoyed was being able to see how our blog posts and discussions helped us to achieve the final draft. Lastly, I enjoyed my role as graphic designer because I was able to create a final slide design that I was proud of. I spent about seven hours total on the project. During this time, I was able to create the slideshow design, gather information from previous modules and past assignments, and place data and information (which included photos, videos, and hyperlinked blog posts) where it was necessary. 

Part III:

When I reflect on my first week in this class, I remember being excited for what the semester would bring. I expected this class to be challenging, but rewarding in terms of what I would end up learning. I had a goal of ending the semester with an A, or at least a high B. I was able to accomplish this goal and right now, I have a 90.74%. This class was challenging as I had expected, yet it was incredibly rewarding to be able to see how much knowledge I was able to gain as a result of the assignments. I am also able to more clearly define humanities as the study of cultures and civilizations throughout different eras.

I was interested in many of the civilizations that were presented in the modules, but the module which fascinated me most was the one about the Olmecs. I was able to learn a lot about the colossal heads. Learning about ancient sculptures has always been exciting to me because I get to see how their works compare to the ones in the present day. I learned a lot more about labor and immigration, which is something that I already had previous experience learning about. I was able to learn more about the way that art and technology came together to influence colonial cultures, as well.