A car driving through a spooky road of trees

Ghost Stories and Our Search for Truth

This essay was written by Jorja Webb, a BYU Humanities Center student fellow. I know it’s past Halloween, but I want to talk about ghost stories.  I’ve had little exposure to them; my experience is limited to specters meant to frighten around campfires and entertain in novels. In both these contexts, the supernatural always had …

The Colosseum from above, with some people inside

The Roman Colosseum and Megethos

This essay was written by Jon Balzotti, a BYU Humanities Center one-year faculty fellow. The recent BYU vs Notre Dame game had a little bit of everything. 65,000 spectators inside an enormous concrete amphitheater watching two groups fight over an oddly shaped ball. In the stands were spectators with painted faces and some dressed in …

The abstract shape of a bored-looking person with sitting with their head resting on their arm and another person inside their head staring out a window

Reading Bored

This essay was written by Henry Purser, a BYU Humanities Center student fellow. Recently, people from all over the disciplinary spectrum have taken up boredom as an object of curiosity. Consider, for example, David C. Brooks’s (locally famous for the BYU briefcase anecdote) YouTube segment “You Need to Be Bored. Here’s Why”: A little over …

Joseph Brodsky, Russian poet, standing on a doc with a city in the background - presumably Venice

Lost, with Lions: Venice with Joseph Brodsky

This essay was written by Cannon Sharp, a BYU Humanities Center student fellow. I never like to cross a border unaccompanied. There is always some author in the knapsack, a stowaway chaperone, and choosing whom to smuggle is the most critical packing decision I make. Patrick Leigh Fermor’s accounts of his transcontinental walk served as …

A view of the Globe Theatre in London, including a live audience

“All the World’s a Stage”

This essay was written by Brett C. McInelly, a BYU Humanities Center one-year faculty fellow. Situated on the south bank of the Thames—only a stone’s throw from where Shakespeare’s playhouse originally stood—the Globe Theatre offers Shakespeare enthusiasts the opportunity to experience the Bard’s dramatic works in a setting designed to replicate as much as possible …

A group of soldiers in a boat thrust spears into the side of a flying harpy-like creature, and a white-bearded man, the central hero, wields a sword.

Novelizing the Epic: Kalevala and Bakhtin

This essay was written by Brendan Murphy, a BYU Humanities Center student fellow. In English classrooms (at least those in which I often find myself), it’s common to hear complaints or praise for various literary genres. The novel is definitely winning the popularity contest, but lyric poetry also seems to be firmly in the race, …

in a dictionary of some kind, the word "hope" is in focus while hte rest of the words are blurred

Hope in the World

This essay was written by Rex P. Nielson, Director of the BYU Humanities Center. In 1962, Paulo Freire, a young and idealistic lawyer-turned-educator, embarked on an ambitious educational experiment that aimed not merely to teach people how to read, but to transform Brazilian society itself. Consider this startling fact: the 1960 Brazilian census recorded an …

Two hands in dim light crafting a food of some kind - perhaps a wonton

Wǎnān

This poem was written by Marie Hua, winner of the 2026 Artistic Narrative section in the 2026 Humanities Center Tell Your Story Contest.   Tonight, my Nǎinai makes wontons: ground pork bok choy xiāmǐ  thumbs up! chop to mix, hǎo hǎo hǎo… We wrap them like small talk; like how on the way to buy …

A stream of light emerging through a window

Angle of Incidence

This essay was written by Paige Winegar Fetzer, winner of the Creative Nonfiction section of the 2026 Humanities Center Tell Your Story Contest.   Most of what I know about God has arrived sideways—caught like dust motes illuminated in a warm slant of light. The summer before I started graduate school, the sun slipped through …