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2013 Bollingen Poetry Prize Goes to Charles Wright

By Guest PostJanuary 23, 2013Culture, Literatureamerican poetry, bollingen poetry prize, bollingen prize, books of poetry, charles wright

Charles Wright, hailed as one of the leading American poets of his generation, has been named the winner of Yale’s 2013 Bollingen Prize for American Poetry. (more…)

A Family’s Lost Story Found, and the Sephardic Studies Initiative

By Guest PostJanuary 20, 2013Cultureladino language, seattle sephardic treasures, sephardic hebrew alphabet, sephardic jewish culture, sephardic jews, sephardic studies initiative

For Devin Naar, the Sephardic Studies Initiative is not just a valuable historical archive; it has also been a personal journey revealing an untold family story from the years of the Third Reich. (more…)

Violent Video Games Intensify anti-Arab Stereotypes

By Guest PostJanuary 19, 2013Cultureanti arab attitudes, arab men, arab terrorists, arabs, caucasian man, counter strike, craig anderson, effect, emotion, harmful impact, iowa state university, muniba saleem, negative belief, negative stereotypes, nonviolent golf game, prejudice, psychology of violence, researcher, russian terrorists, stereotypical appearance, terrorism, typical arab, united states, university of michigan, violent video games, weapon, woman

ANN ARBOR — Playing violent video games about terrorism strengthens negative stereotypes about Arabs, even when Arabs are not portrayed in the games.

That is one of the findings of an innovative new study in the January issue of Psychology of Violence, a peer-reviewed journal published by the American Psychological Association. (more…)

Questions for Rick Benjamin: Rhode Island’s New Poet Laureate

By Guest PostJanuary 19, 2013Cultureadrienne rich, aids project, brown, community service, courtney coelho, daily practice, eliot, environmental studies, hiv, immemorial, intellectual practice, kevin young, langston hughes, lincoln d chafee, lucille clifton, new jersey, nonprofit work, ordinary life, poem, poetry, public humanities, rhode island, rick benjamin, robert hass, rutgers, ruth stone, spiritual practice, state poet, tibetan scholar

Rick Benjamin, adjunct assistant professor of environmental studies and public humanities, was recently appointed state poet of Rhode Island by Gov. Lincoln D. Chafee. A five-year position, the state poet serves as principal advocate for poetry in Rhode Island. Benjamin has dedicated much of his career to the intersection of poetry and community service, a relationship he incorporates into “Poetry and Community Service,” a course he teaches at Brown and other schools. Courtney Coelho spoke with Benjamin about his poetry, his mission of service, and how he intends to incorporate the two in his new position.

Describe your poetry. What is your style? What are your influences?

I have a wide range of influences. I tend to learn everything through the ear. My early influences were always oral and musical, starting with poetry I probably didn’t really understand by Eliot that my mom was reading me. So she would say things like, “So intimate, this Chopin, that I think his soul should be resurrected only among friends some two or three, who will not touch the bloom that is rubbed and questioned in the concert room.” There’s not a lot of that that I would have understood when she said it, but I did hear it and I really loved the sound of it. And Langston Hughes is a poet I became acquainted with really early on and again it was the sound and the rhythm and the music in the poetry that I responded to first. In terms of poets that I read now: Lucille Clifton, Adrienne Rich, Ruth Stone, Robert Hass, Kevin Young. (more…)

Searching for the Lost Royal City of Nubia in Northern Sudan

By Guest PostJanuary 18, 2013Culture, Scienceel kurru, kings of nubia, kush, lost royal city, northern sudan, nubia, nubian capital, nubian pyramid

ANN ARBOR — Geoff Emberling is doing what few archaeologists do anymore in a world that has been worked over pretty well by picks, trowels and shovels. He’s searching for a lost royal city. (more…)

Recognizing Psychological Common Ground Could Ease Tensions Among Those with Different Religious Beliefs, says MU Psychologist

By Guest PostJanuary 13, 2013Cultureabdolhossein abdollahi, agnostics, allah, atheists, awareness of death, belief, buddha, caricature, christians, conflict, crucifix, death in christians, deity, different groups, ease tension, fear of death, foxholes, Germany, god, halle, higher power, how, human knowledge, immortal entity, individual, influence, iran, islamic azad university, jamie arndt, jesus, kenneth vail, motivation, muslims, opposing viewpoints, philosophies, propaganda, psychological similarity, relationship, religious symbol, religious tradition, saale, st marienkirche, stories, supreme being, thoughts of death, thoughts of mortality, understanding, united states, university of missouri, wartime aphorism

COLUMBIA, Mo. — Understanding how thoughts of mortality influence individuals’ beliefs sheds light on the commonalities among different groups’ motivations and could help ease tensions between opposing viewpoints, according to University of Missouri experiments that tested the relationship between awareness of death and belief in a higher power. The study found that thoughts of death increased atheists, Christians, Muslims and agnostics conviction in their own world views. For example, contrary to the wartime aphorism that there are no atheists in foxholes, thoughts of death did not cause atheists to express belief in a deity.

“Our study suggests that atheists’ and religious believers’ world views have the same practical goal,” said Kenneth Vail, lead author and doctoral student in psychological science in MU’s College of Arts and Science. “Both groups seek a coherent world view to manage the fear of death and link themselves to a greater and immortal entity, such as a supreme being, scientific progress or a nation. If people were more aware of this psychological similarity, perhaps there might be more understanding and less conflict among groups with different beliefs.” (more…)

Chipping Away at the History of Plaster in Sculpture and Medicine

By Guest PostJanuary 10, 2013Cultureage of industrialism, angel, art historian david bindman, birmingham, british sculptor, casting process, countess spencer, death mask, exhibition, funerary memorial, georgiana, great ormond street, hospital collection, ikon gallery, john flaxman, line to contour, marble, mourning figure, murderer, neo classical artist, pathological specimen, plaster, sculpture model, ucl art museum

A new exhibition about plaster and the casting process, highlighting the sculpture models of the neo-classical artist John Flaxman (1755-1826), starts at the UCL Art Museum this month.

Shown alongside Flaxman’s art will be more unusual applications of plaster pulled from UCL’s stored collections, including Victorian death masks used for the early study of eugenics and casts of human pathological specimens, including the cast of a seven year old’s leg with rickets from the Great Ormond Street Hospital Collection. Many of these macabre objects highlight the efficiency of plaster and its unique ability to capture fleeting moments in time. (more…)

Jan. 8-22: ‘The Abolitionists’

By Guest PostJanuary 2, 2013Culture13th amendment, 1863, 1865, abolitionist movement, american history, angelina grimke, beyond lincoln, black, black abolitionist, civil rights, documentary, drama, emancipation proclamation, end slavery, erica armstrong dunbar, female, frederick douglass, harriet beecher stowe, historian, john brown, male, pbs, slavery, the abolitionists, university of delaware, white, william lloyd garrison

UD’s Armstrong Dunbar a featured expert in PBS series ‘The Abolitionists’

The Abolitionists, airing on PBS this month, is timed to coincide with the 150th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, but it offers viewers “a real understanding of the complexities of what it took to end slavery” beyond Lincoln’s proclamation itself, a University of Delaware historian featured in the series says.

Erica Armstrong Dunbar, associate professor of history with joint appointments in Black American Studies and in women and gender studies, was approached by creators of the three-part series to provide her perspective on the issues and individuals featured. The Abolitionists is part of the “American Experience” series and is scheduled to air Tuesday nights, Jan. 8, 15 and 22. (more…)

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