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To read the Center for Humanities & the Arts (CHA) APril 2025 Month Newsletter, click on the button below.
Director's Letter of the Month:
| April 1, 2025 Dear CU Boulder Community & Supporters of the CHA, Athough this is April 1, this is not an April Fool’s Newsletter. Nobody needs to feel pranked right now when there’s so much happening in the world, and when mainstream news articles feel like they could come straight out of The Onion, April Fool’s jokes lose their appeal. I usually like to share what I’m reading in a post-script but I want to quote from a work that I’m re-reading in preparation for hosting the 2025 Cox Family Process Speaker, Dr. Caleb Elfenbein: “A foundational premise of this book [Fear in Our Hearts: What Islamophobia Tells Us about America] is that widespread fear or suspicion of Muslims results from the corrosive effects of hate—and, more precisely, public hate. Public hate is public speech or activity that draws on and/or perpetuates negative stereotypes about a particular group of people and that encourages others to fear or suspect all members of that group” (Elfenbein 3) Dr. Elfenbein will deliver a talk, “Conditional Inclusion: What Islamophobia Keeps Telling Us about America,” on Wednesday, April 2, 4:00-5:30pm (with a reception to follow) in the Aspen Room of the UMC. You don’t want to miss this—especially because anti-Muslim hate is, tragically, still a topic in which we need to educate ourselves and others, particularly in the times we are living in. If you missed our co-sponsored event with CU Art Museum, COVID Five Years Later: A Conversation, you can see photos and read Professor Lucy Chester’s remarks about what it has been like, for her, to live with long COVID. We will also be continuing our Thursday Pomodoro Writing Sessions (1:00-4:00pm) through April 24, and we are also returning to Summer Accountability Working Groups – if you are interested in being in a working accountability group, where you meet (either in-person or remotely) with 4-6 other people also working on projects this summer, fill out this Google Form and we will put you into groups – this is open to all graduate students, staff, faculty, and community members – please fill out the form on or before May 2 (Friday) and we’ll get you set up the following week so you can start meeting and working with others who need some help with being accountable on their projects. Times are dark and stressful. But if you read history, you know that as long as there have been humans, there have been dark and stressful times. There have also always been things we can do to combat the dark and stressful times. Arts and humanities are one such antidote. So let me close with one more passage from Fear in Our Hearts as an enticement to have you join us on Wednesday, April 2, 4:00-5:30pm: “There are many little things that we can do to overcome fear and fear mongering and create the circumstances for all American citizens to engage in public life freely and on their own terms. They aren’t grand. They don’t need to be. Being a good ally is often about the little things” (Elfenbein 144). The little things we do matter. During Spring Break I received an email from a CU Boulder colleague I don’t know very well but whom I respect tremendously. She wrote to just tell me she was thinking of me and hoped I was doing OK. This email meant the world to me—I read it at the end of a very hard day. The email made me feel seen and cared for and reminded me that the small acts of kindness truly matter during the dark and stressful days. Sincerely, Jennifer Ho Director, Center for Humanities & the Arts PS. So I can’t help but end with a poem since April is National Poetry Month and “Haiku and Tanka for Harriet Tubman” by Sonia Sanchez has the kind of fierce energy that we all need right now. May we all find inspiration from General Tubman—she is proof that all of us can make a huge difference in the world, especially when we work with others. |
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