Public Humanities

This essay was written by Julia Morgan, a BYU Humanities Center student fellow.   Dear Rilke,         I know you were born in 1875, and that you didn’t write Letters to a Young Poet to me. But I’m in need of some counsel, and, as I am a Young Poet as well, …

This essay was written by Chris Rogers, a BYU Humanities Center faculty fellow. I think, write, and teach about language diversity a lot. In my classes students are asked to analyze the similarities and differences between languages from all over the world, how they have independently developed, and what they uniquely represent for the people …

This essay was written by George Dibble, a BYU Humanities Center student fellow. Alone in my room, I listened to a neuroscientist (Caroline Leaf) talk about the 21st century’s rise in preventable deaths. She talked about surging anxiety, depression rates, and especially of my generation (Gen Z). Gallup reports that 47.8 million Americans are diagnosed …

This essay was written by Porter Kindall, a BYU Humanities Center student fellow.   “I want so badly to believe that there is truth, that love is real” – Ben Gibbard  In the landscape of indie rock, few albums have achieved the cult status of The Postal Service’s Give Up. Released in 2003, the album charts the …

This essay was written by Brian Croxall, a BYU Humanities Center faculty fellow. As someone who has been—by one measure or another—very online for about 35 years, it’s fascinating to see technologies come and, sometimes, go. Back in February 2021, the venerable art auction house Christie’s sold its first ever “purely digital work of art.” …

This post was written by Brooke Farnsworth, a BYU Humanities Center student fellow. In first grade, my over-active imagination convinced me that I could control water. The idea made sense—the ocean always seems to listen to my beckoning, churning and whirling in an attempt to follow my demands, and the rain would gradually increase if …

This post was written by Sawyer Wood, BYU Humanities Center Intern and student fellow. I’ve recently been learning more about the idea of flow. As outlined by psychologist Mihalyln Csikszentmihalyi in Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, flow is described as a state in which someone is completely focused or engaged in a task or …

This post was written by Courtney Bulsiewicz, Assistant Academic Director of the BYU Humanities Center. When I was a child and would have to ride in the car for any amount of time, I would look in the cars next to ours and imagine the lives of those that passed us, slipped behind us, or …

This post was written by Cherice Montgomery, a BYU Humanities Center faculty fellow. Come, Follow Me The scriptures are replete with invitations from the Savior to “…come, follow me” (Luke 18:22). I thought I knew what that meant—until I attended the Genesis Writing Retreat in Oxford, England. While there, I had the privilege of lingering …

This post was written by Rex P. Nielson, Director of the BYU Humanities Center. The constant barrage of distressing news stories took a toll on me last summer. Perhaps you can relate. Headlines of crisis impacting nearly every dimension of my personal, social, professional, and political life seemed to reach a fever pitch around the …