兔子先生

by Richard Armstrong

The Human Situation

The Human Situation, the gateway course to the Honors experience, continues to thrive with a participating faculty of 14 professors this fall. Team Omega got into an Egyptian swing in honor of the . They used the Egyptian Book of the Dead to begin the term鈥檚 discussion of 鈥淭he Living and the Dead,鈥� the theme for this year鈥檚 Omega booklist, which included the Biblical book of Exodus, The Odyssey, Sophocles鈥� Antigone, Aristophanes鈥� Frogs, Plato鈥檚 Phaedrus, The Golden Ass of Apuleius, and the 蚕耻谤鈥檃苍 (with special lectures by the University鈥檚 new professor of Arabic, Dr. Emran El-Badawi).

All Human Situation students enjoyed a guest lecture by Dr. Bob Brier of Long Island University, who related his experience performing the first mummification in over 2000 years of a real human cadaver using only ancient Egyptian methods and tools (a feat that has earned him the nickname 鈥淢r. Mummy鈥�). 鈥淚t was a perfect presentation for Halloween weekend. It was very interesting and delightfully grotesque, and the students really enjoyed it. "I always thought you had to make a slurry of the brain to extract it through the nose, and I was overjoyed to be proved right,鈥� said Dr. Helen Valier, who helped sponsor the lecture under the auspices of the Medicine & Society Program. Omega鈥檚 Egyptomania culminated in a final lecture at the MFAH with a visit to the King Tut exhibit.

Alpha students focused on the theme of 鈥淧unishment,鈥� and in addition to The Odyssey and Frogs, read the Book of Job, Aeschylus鈥� Eumenides, Thucydides鈥� History, Plato鈥檚 Apology of Socrates and Crito, Vergil鈥檚 Aeneid, the Gospels of Mark and Luke, and Epictetus. Professors were whipped into an Aeschylean chorus in Dr. Kim Meyer鈥檚 Eumenides lecture, and students performed their impersonations of professors during Dr. Gabriela Maya鈥檚 lecture on the Frogs. The aria 鈥淒ido鈥檚 Lament,鈥� from Purcell鈥檚 Dido and Aeneas, was sung by Honors student Alyssa Weathersby as a special treat in Dr. Meyer鈥檚 lecture on the Aeneid. Perhaps the best surprise was the appearance of two Honors students in the roles of Dionysus and his slave during Dr. Ted Estess鈥� lecture on the Frogs, fully鈥�equipped, shall we say, with balloons in the appropriate Dionysian places.

As the course continues to Modernity this spring, Alpha鈥檚 theme will be 鈥淰oices from the Edge,鈥� featuring works by Shakespeare, Hume, Wollstonecraft, Charlotte Bront毛, Turgenev, Yeats, and a contemporary Irish play by Brian Friel, Translations. Omega forges on with 鈥淭he Soul and the Self,鈥� and has lined up an all-star booklist of Dante, Shakespeare, Locke, Hume, La Mettrie, Emily Dickinson, Tolstoy, Yeats, Primo Levi, and Akhmatova; ending the game, fittingly, with Beckett鈥檚 Endgame.

The Craft of Writing

In addition to the usual combination of plenary lectures and intimate seminars, Human Situation students also flocked to a set of extra lectures by seasoned professors in our Writing Craft Talks. Professor Kim Meyer lectured on the art of passionate reading, Robert Cremins explained the delicate art of formulating an interesting thesis, Professor Gabriela Maya explored the use of textual evidence, and Dr. Iain Morrisson contended that writing a paper is a creative process.

The Craft Talks are part of a larger Honors Writing Initiative attached to the course, which includes a cohort of 16 student peer tutors to assist Human Situation students in drafting their many papers for class. Cremins, an organizer of the Writing Initiative, will also be taking the crafts talks on the road to area high schools to help spread the gospel of good writing and the mission of the College. 鈥淲e were actually contacted by area high schools about these talks, so it seemed a natural thing to do,鈥� said Cremins.

Profblog

Another Human Situation perk this term is the , a place for reflection on the course theme and beyond by Human Situation professors, colleagues, and friends.

The theme of the 鈥淟iving and the Dead鈥� yielded some fascinating entries. Cremins wrote about death in Ireland and penned an original short story in dialogue with the biblical Joseph story; Dr. Sue Collins reminisced about the banshee in the Irish-Canadian culture of her youth; Dr. Jonathan Zecher shared Orthodox Christian beliefs about death and burial; Dr. John Harvey chimed in with personal remembrances about his parents鈥� deaths and stories about dead goats in a green truck; Professor Kim Meyer shared her experiences traveling in the Sinai Desert; Dr. Richard Armstrong pondered the meaning of memorials at Ground Zero and Marathon; and as a special guest, Armstrong鈥檚 brother, the poet James Armstrong, contributed from far off Minnesota a poem cycle, The Tower Variations, a rumination about the post- 9/11 world centered on the indelible and horrific image of one of the attack鈥檚 falling victims. Omega students chimed in enthusiastically with their comments on the blog, as the reader is also encouraged to do, by going to .

Prizes and Awards

The Human Situation continues to offer the Best Human Situation Essay Prize, a contest that highlights outstanding student work. At the 2011 Fall Convocation, Dean Bill Monroe recognized John T. Kramer and Adam Brewer for their outstanding Human Situation essays from the 2010-2011 academic year. In addition, the Human Sit faculty members offered honorable mention to essays by John F. Kramer, Nicholas Heisig, Maryam Burney, Katie Teeters, and Savannah Freeland.

This year, however, the students also get a chance to pick their own winners in the first Human Situation Best Lecture awards. A student committee for each Human Sit team will select the best lecture, based upon nominations made by all the team鈥檚 students. Visit TheHumanSituation.com to read about the winners.