Humanities Days 2020 at MC
Welcome to Our 8th Annual Event
See a list and more information for all all our virtual events.
For additional help with registration, please contact troy.shaw@montgomerycollege.edu.
Humanities Days Opening Reception
Tuesday, October 20, 4–5 p.m.
Celebrate the humanities. Connect with the Humanities Days committee to learn more about participating in this year’s unique week-long virtual event.
Facilitators: Humanities Days Committee Members
Contact: Sara.Ducey@montgomerycollege.edu
Humanities Days is sponsored by the Global Humanities and the Paul Peck Humanities Institutes at Montgomery College.
Special HD 2020 Project
By participating in this year's events, you will be contributing to our first-ever Humanities Days' Time Capsule comprised of our HD@MC presentations, conversations, and interactive workshops that will be recorded. There are opportunities to submit your poetry, prose and digital objects as well. This is one more way that MC can provide leadership, looking back and looking toward the future. Follow and record history in our time capsule at #MCHD2020 and #HumanitiesDays.
Presentations Dialogues Workshops Panels
This year’s programming focuses on: Healing Nature, Healing Ourselves; Personal Freedoms and the Collective Good; Capitalism and Economic Justice; Art, Music and Poetry as Transformative Activism; Role of Historical Artifacts in a Changing Society; Our Stories of Isolation and Resilience; Dissecting Data in the Age of Political Polarization; History Revisited; and Change Beyond Our Borders.
For additional help with registration, please contact troy.shaw@montgomerycollege.edu.
Humanities Days Opening Day Events
4–5 p.m.
Facilitators: Humanities Days Committee Members
Contact: Sara.Ducey@montgomerycollege.edu
Connect with the Humanities Days committee to learn more about participating in this year’s unique Humanities Days 2020 week-long virtual event.
12:30–2 p.m.
Facilitator: Chip Gladson and Shayla Atkins
Contact: Chip.Gladson@montgomerycollege.edu and Shayla.Atkins@montgomerycollege.edu
Resources: #MCWritingintheDisciplines #WhyIWrite #WhyIVote
The National Day on Writing celebrates the many themes and styles we use to document our lives and to share our ideas with the world. Since 2009, with the support of the National Council of Teachers of English, #WhyIWrite has encouraged thousands of people to lift their voices to the things that matter most to them.
In this election year, we expand the celebration to include #WhyIVote. Whether you are a registered voter, plan to vote, or support voting in general, tell us why voting is important to you. Join the celebration on Zoom or simply post your thoughts to #MCWritingintheDisciplines #WhyIWrite or #WhyIVote.
- “Why I Vote” Hands-On Quilt Workshop
- Civil Rights and Social Justice in the 21st Century: From Symbols and Slogans to Tangible and Sustainable Progress
- Navigate the News! Understand Why and How to Think Critically About the News
- Time Capsule Workshop Part I: Collecting Thoughts
10–11:15 a.m.
Guest Artist Presenter: Lauren Kingsland
Program Facilitator: Angela Lanier, MC ELITE
Event Information, Contact: Lauren@LaurenKingsland.com
Resources/Media: Lauren Kingsland's websitenew window | City of Gaithersburg, Maryland, Activity Center Gallerynew window
Celebrate democracy and history of speaking out through textiles with a hands-on instructional workshop led by quilt artist Lauren Kingsland.
Register by October 12 to receive a free (first come, first served) "Why I Vote mini quilt Kit," via USPS.
Our workshop is inspired by the exhibition of the same name, Why I Vote, currently on display at the City of Gaithersburg's Activity Center Gallery. Ms. Kingland's quilt (image above) is one of the art objects on display in that exhibition, which is the result of a collaboration between City of Gaithersburg and the Women's Caucus for the Arts. Visit their website for hours and digital images.new window
1–2:15 p.m.
Presenter: Howard Feinstein
Contact: david.sowards@montgomerycollege.edu
Resources/Media:
- Adult Ed. - Racial Justice (PDF,
) - C.R. Timeline (PDF, )
- Fire On The Bayou (PDF, )
Presently, social justice movements take shape within a digital landscape. Join us to learn more about the history and legacy of American movements for social justice.
Hashtags, viral videos and online petitions all contribute to getting messages out in seconds to millions of people. In centuries past, it was a much different story. Ceramics, glassware, metal and paper were the primary ways to mass produce any sort of messaging about a social movement. Slogans, emblems and symbols help reduce justice movements to its most basic part.
1–2:15 p.m.
Facilitator: Jennifer Baugh; Jenny Hatleberg and Cinder Barnes
Contact: jennifer.hatleberg@montgomerycollege
Resources/Media: MC Library Media Literacy in the Age of "Fake News"new window
With all of the challenges our world is facing, and how easy it is to post information (and misinformation) online, it is hard to know where to look for reliable news. It can be difficult to investigate sources of information to satisfy the need for accuracy and credibility. In this session, you will learn and implement strategies to help you identify, evaluate, and choose sources of information.
Learning Outcomes
At the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able to:
- Define the terms “fake news,” misinformation, and disinformation.
- Discuss various forms of bias in relation to the creation and use of information sources.
- Identify types of information sources, discussing format, process of creation, and purpose.
- Implement strategies and criteria to evaluate information sources.
2–3:15 p.m.
Presenter: Jennifer Baugh
Contact: HumanitiesDays@montgomerycollege.edu
Resources/Media: Eight of the World’s Most Notable Time Capsulesnew window
Follow and record history in our time capsule at #MCHD2020 and #HumanitiesDays
This time in history has been a test in the strength of the ideas humans choose to help them form moral judgments and guide personal and social behavior. We confront deep questions of human existence, questions so profound that they have previously been answered, in many different ways, by the greatest philosophers. It’s a test of where all humans stand.
Help document this unprecedented time in history by responding to a series of philosophical questions/prompts using Zoom chat to record beliefs, moral judgments, and social behavior.
- Video: Votes for Women! Student produced (video and discussion to follow)
- Seeding Change from the Ground Up: Reimagining Food, Agri(culture) and Human Sustainability with Eco City Farms
- Looted Art from Napoleon to the Nazis: Will it Ever be Returned?
- Radical Vulnerability: Talking Openly about Racism
- Creativity, Analysis, and Community: Student Essays on Literature from the Sligo Journal
- Monuments and Public Memory: A Conversation between Art Historian Dr. Sarah Beetham and Artist Ada Pinkston
- Speak Truth to Power Open Mic for Domestic Violence Awareness (Open Mic: Spoken Word on Sexual Assault Awareness)
- Movie and Discussion: “No Mas Bebes (No More Babies)” Documentary
11a.m.–12:15 p.m.
Presenter: Pat Ruppert and Teresa Doley
Contact: patricia.ruppert@montgomerycollege.edu
Sojourner Truth, Ida B. Wells, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Alice Paul, Montgomery College students and Dr. Pollard have a simple message: VOTES FOR WOMEN! Our student video was selected to be part of the Montgomery County 2020 Commemoration of 100 years of women’s suffrage.
11a.m.–noon
Facilitator: Zev Cossin
Contact: zev.cossin@montgomerycollege.edu
The COVID-19 pandemic has laid bare inequities in public health, racial justice, and the fragility of our food system. As the virus spread, shortages of food arose in markets across the country as a result of issues in long-distance transportation on and large-scale food production.
In response, many have begun to look again at local food producers, growing nutritious food in our own communities in more sustainable ways. In this event, we learn about the work of growing food and feeding communities with Eco City Farms in Hyattsville, MD. We will see how small farmers produce nutritious food while caring for the earth, feeding their neighbors, and incorporating diverse cultural knowledge around sustainable planning techniques and delicious recipes from around the world. Attendees will learn how they, too, can begin to grow their own food right at home.
12:30–2 p.m.
Facilitator: Ken Jassie
Contact: kenneth.jassie@montgomerycollege.edu
The state-sponsored pillaging of artifacts has been a problem going back to the ancient world.
Since the French Revolution, however, it has become both more systematic as well as more contested. In this presentation, we will discuss such infamous cultural pillaging as the Elgin Marbles from Greece, the Punitive Expedition of 1897 in the Benin Kingdom of Nigeria, and Nazi pilfering of public and private collections during World War II. Recent New York Times articles on some of these subjects point to the challenges and complexities involved in righting past wrongs.
12:30–1:45 p.m.
Facilitators: Karl Smith and Carol Moore
Contact: karl.smith@montgomerycollege.edu and carol.moore@montgomerycollege.edu
Resources/Media: Social and Racial Justice MC Librarynew window
Explosive social forces have recently created a pivotal moment in the long history of racism in our nation. Montgomery College students bring their questions, thoughts, emotions and lived experience regarding these events to the College community.
The purpose of this workshop is to help equip us all to engage in honest conversations
about racism from a position of greater self-awareness.
Learning outcomes — at the conclusion of this workshop, participants will be able
to:
- Define key concepts such as structural racism, white privilege and white supremacy.
- Help foster a culture of radical vulnerability which requires willingness on the part of white people to be uncomfortable and to risk getting it wrong sometimes when talking about racism.
- Utilize resources about racism in their work/studies at the College as well in developing their own knowledge and self-awareness.
12:30–2 p.m.
Facilitator: Greg Wahl
Contact: gregory.wahl@montgomerycollege.edu
Resources/Media: The Sligo Journalnew window
Students from Professor Greg Wahl’s ENGL 101 courses will share their essays responding to works from Montgomery College’s Sligo Journal.
The Sligo Journal features original art, photography, fiction, nonfiction, and poetry. Students will also lead discussion about the transformative power of reading and writing about literature. Since the Sligo Journal is an MC community enterprise, we hope some authors whose work is discussed will also be in attendance to respond to the student analyses, as will some of the editorial team for Sligo Journal.
1–2 p.m.
Facilitator: Amanda Miller and Liz Melanson
Contact: amanda.miller@montgomerycollege.edu
Resources/Media: The presenters have each created a 30-minute presentation that may viewed to prepare
before the live event.
Dr. Sarah Beetham, Confederate Reckoning: Toppling Statues in the Summer of Iconoclasm.
Ada Pinkston, On the Aesthetics of Truth: Monuments, Memory, and Hegemony.
Please email amanda.miller@montgomerycollege.edu for a link.
Additional resources include:
- Artist Ada Pinkston Asks 'What Would A Monument To All People Look Like?'new window
- Ada Pinkston’s professional websitenew window
- Dr. Sarah Beetham’s professional websitenew window
Dr. Sarah Beetham specializes in monuments erected to citizen soldiers after the Civil War. Ada Pinkston is a multimedia artist, educator, and cultural organizer whose work addresses public memory. In a Zoom conversation, they will each share their perspective and expertise on the topic of monuments and public memory.
2–3 p.m.
Facilitator: Angela Dawson
Contact: angela.dawson@montgomerycollege.edu
Use spoken word, song, storytelling, or any performance art to bring awareness of the prevalence of domestic violence and its impact on our community. Survivors, loved ones of survivors, or anyone who wants to use their voice and talents to create awareness and work toward eliminating domestic violence are encouraged to attend and participate. This workshop will not be recorded.
4–5 p.m.
Facilitator: TBD
Contact: sara.ducey@montgomerycollege.edu
Film Website: No mas bebes movie websitenew window
NY Times-Magazinenew window | NY Times-Televisionnew window
Relevant Panel Discussion about "No Mas Bebes": YouTube Videonew window
No Más Bebés (No More Babies) is an American documentary film that tells the story of immigrant women who were sterilized upon going into labor. Having been sterilized without knowing at the Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, the mothers sued county doctors, the State of California, and the U.S. government. Having collected hospital records from a whistleblower, Chicana lawyer Antonia Hernandez led the lawsuit against powerful institutions.
Montgomery College students and faculty, specifically those who are Health Science majors, and our community will be able to learn about medical practices that have and continue to impact vulnerable populations and the importance of informed consent.
- Fists of Fabric: Quilts as Tools of Social Justice
- History Revisited: Discovering the Last Speakers of Lesser Antillean French Creole in the Anglophone and Hispanophone Americas
- Digital Stories: Activism and Coping with the Pandemic
10–11:15 a.m.
Presenter: Angela Lanier
Contact: angela.lanier@montgomerycollege.edu
Resources/Media: Quilts as Tools for Resistance
Hyperallergic websitenew window
American Swedish Institute websitenew window
Event Category: Art, Music and Poetry as Transformative Action
Despite their delicate and decorative nature, quilts can be powerful tools in the fight for social justice. In this session, you will learn about the many ways in which textile artists have engaged in what has become known as craftivism - using arts and crafts as a tool for activism. We will discuss characteristics of quilts created to raise awareness of issues such as the AIDS epidemic, women’s rights, police brutality, and civil rights.
Outcomes:
- Identify examples of craftivism.
- Explain what makes quilts ideal tools for activism.
- Describe at least two quilts used to promote awareness and social justice.
2–3:15 p.m.
Facilitator: James Murray
Contact: james.murray@montgomerycollege.edu
Resources/Media: YouTube video of Nnamdi Hodge’s interviewnew window with Francisco Bompat, a heritage French Creole speaker in the coastal town of Macuro,
Venezuela.
Description: Researchers and authors Nnamdi Hodge and Marise La Grenade-Lashley present their
work documenting the last heritage speakers of Lesser Antillean French Creole in the
anglophone and hispanophone Caribbean. The presentation illuminates a West and Central
African-influenced French creole language and culture in Grenada, Trinidad and Tobago,
and Venezuela.
2:45–4:15 p.m.
Facilitators: Matthew Decker, Jamie Gillan, and Heather Satrom
Contact: matthew.decker@montgomerycollege.edu, jamie.gillan@montgomerycollege.edu and heather.satrom@montgomerycollege.edu
Suggested Resources/Media:
- Montgomery College's Digital Storytelling Internshipnew window
- YouTube Videonew window
Digital Stories @ MC & Global Classrooms collaborate to bring together MC ELAP students working with education and English students at Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas in El Salvador to create digital stories related to social activism and coping with the pandemic. Digital Storytelling Interns from MC partner to serve as guides.
- Virtual Party to the Polls
- Stories of Immigration: Germany and the United States: Reviving Common Intercultural Histories and Identities
- 8th Annual MC Ethics Essay Contest
- Artists Speak to the Middle Passage
- In Honor of Those Who Survived COVID — Generative Poetry Workshop
- Found in Translation: Discovering the Challenges and Joys of Translating Poetry
Activities and events all day
Facilitator: Nik Sushka
Contact: mcvotes@montgomerycollege.edu
Registration and zoom: MC Votesnew window
Event Category: Art, Music and Poetry as Transformative Action
Come Celebrate Democracy. Government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.
9:30–10:45 a.m.
Facilitator: Eddy Arana
Contact: eddy.enriquezarana@montgomerycollege.edu
Resources/Media:
- A Next Generation Strategy for the US-German Relationship (PDF, )
- How people of color experience living in Germany
- Open or closed: Is Germany a country of immigration?new window
This event will engage participants in the exploration of the common historical threads and intercultural experiences bridging the U.S and Germany today. We will also showcase shared immigrant histories between these two nations. In both countries, 20% of their respective populations have an immigrant background. Engaging in dialogue about transnational immigration, and its construction of national identity, facilitates intercultural exchange. This presentation will not be recorded.
11 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
Facilitator/ Contact: Daniel.Jenkins2@montgomerycollege.edu
Suggested Media: Jean-Jacques Rousseau Discourse on the Arts and Sciences
This year's MC Ethics Essay Contest topic is a twist on a similar contest, held by the Academy of Dijon in 1749, that inspired Jean-Jacques Rousseau to write his Discourse on the Arts and Sciences: Are American Colleges and Universities places where people may freely discuss the morally significant problems we face as a society? If so, why, and if not, what would make such discussion possible?
12:30–1:45 p.m.
Facilitator: Grace Graham
Contact: grace.graham@montgomerycollege.edu
Suggested Resources/Media:
- Explore the Dispersal of Enslaved Africans Across the Atlantic Worldnew window
- Zong Affairnew window
Art Prof. Grace Graham will lead an examination and discussion about works done by artists critiquing the inhumanity of the Transatlantic Slave Trade.
Learning Outcomes:
By the end of the session participants should be able to:
- Describe factors leading to and sustaining the mid-Atlantic slave trade.
- Explain conditions and slave trade practices.
- Discuss multiple works of art created as an expression of abolition, or legacy, of the mid-Atlantic Slave trade.
1–2:15 p.m.
Facilitator: Marianne Szlyk
Contact: marianne.szlyk@montgomerycollege.edu
Resources/Media: In Honor of Those Who Have Survived COVID-19new window
We will watch a PowerPoint on people who have survived COVID-19. Afterwards, we will write poems inspired by their lives.
2–4 p.m.
Facilitator: Heather Satrom
Contact: heather.satrom@montgomerycollege.edu
Resources/Media:
- Jona Colson: website
- Alberto Lopez: YouTubenew window
- David Lott: MC Blog
Bilingual poets and faculty members from Montgomery College and the Universidad Centroamericana José Simeón Cañas in El Salvador will explore the challenges and joys of translating poetry.
How do translators capture the meanings and sounds of language in the case of poetry? How do they choose synonyms when words are loaded with connotations? Is it possible for a translation to be better than the original? Poets and MC Faculty members David Lott and Jona Colson will be joined by Salvadoran poet Alberto Lopez and faculty members from UCA in San Salvador to discuss the unique challenges of working in Spanish and English. Students will have the opportunity to participate in a translation workshop.
- Virtual Party to the Polls
- Vinnie Ream — Ambition fuels a young artist through obstacles to opportunities
- The Road to Unfreedom A book discussion with Professor Sowards
- Bringing the Cool of Meditation to the Heat of the Moment
- Time Capsule Workshop Part II: Collecting Digital Objects
- Presidential Politics and Public Health – Lessons from the Past and Present
- Civil Rights and Social Justice in the 21st Century: From Symbols and Slogans to Tangible and Sustainable Progress
Activities and events all day
Facilitator: Nik Sushka
Contact: mcvotes@montgomerycollege.edu
Registration and zoom: MC Votesnew window
Event Category: Art, Music and Poetry as Transformative Action
Come Celebrate Democracy. Government by the people; a form of government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised directly by them or by their elected agents under a free electoral system.
10 a.m.
Presenter: Carolyn Lieberg
Facilitator: David Sowards
Contact: david.sowards@montgomerycollege.edu
Resources/Media: Carolyn Lieberg's websitenew window
Carolyn Lieberg details how a single sentence in a book sent her on the multi-year quest of Vinnie Ream research at the Library of Congress. At the age of 18, Vinnie Ream was selected by Congress to sculpt a memorial statue of Abraham Lincoln, making her the first woman commissioned to create a work of art for the United States government.
11 a.m.
Facilitator: David Sowards
Contact: david.sowards@montgomerycollge.edu
David Sowards will discuss Timothy Snyder’s persuasive book titled “The Road to Unfreedom” which looks at Putin’s favorite Russian political philosopher and the template he set for fake news.
Noon–1:30 p.m.
Facilitator: Carol Moore
Contact: carol.moore@montgomerycollege.edu
Resources/Media: https://mocomeditation.org/new window
Meditation is an evidenced-based way to cultivate calm even (especially!) in the most turbulent times. This session will introduce participants to simple, easily accessible meditation tools that not only restore balance in the midst of stress but also build resilience and foster compassion – for oneself and all others.
Learning outcomes - at the conclusion of this session, participants will be able to:
- Discuss some of the many physical and mental health benefits of meditation.
- Practice two or three different types of meditation based on personal preference.
- Access curated resources to help support them in establishing/maintaining their own practice.
- Envision the positive societal impacts of meditation practice on the future we are creating together.
2–3:15 p.m.
Facilitator: Jennifer Baugh
Contact: HumanitiesDays@montgomerycollege.edu
Resources/Media: Eight of the World’s Most Notable Time Capsulesnew window
Follow and record history in our time capsule at #MCHD2020 and #HumanitiesDays
Stop, take a step back, and reflect on this time in history. We think hard times may become more manageable through shared experiences, and we offer our Humanities Days Time Capsule as a place to share thoughtful mementos of your 2020 experiences.
In this workshop, you will learn about the stories we tell and don’t tell with our digital media by responding to a series of photos that evoke feelings and emotions using Chat. You will also learn the process for submitting various digital artifacts to the Time Capsule. We welcome photos, drawings and digital objects – memorability – of this unprecedented time at: #MCHD2020 #MCHDTime #HumanitiesDays , or you may send digital media (preferably jpeg files, .mov files, and .mp4 files) to: HumanitiesDays@montgomerycollege.edu (use subject line titled Time Capsule)
3:30–4:45 p.m.
Guest Presenters: Dr. Andrew Nolan (Program Director for History, UMBC/Shady Grove) and Dr. Sunil Dasgupta,
(Program Director for Political Science, UMBC/Shady Grove)
Contact: Rachael.Wilson@montgomerycollege.edu
Resources/Media: UMBC at Shady Grove, Historynew window | UMBC at Shady Grove, Political Sciencenew window
Join us for a lively presentation and discussion about the role of politics in the history of pandemics. Following the discussion, there will be time to learn about opportunities for MC students to transfer to UMBC/Shady Grove programs.
7–8:15 p.m.
Presenter: Howard Feinstein
Contact: david.sowards@montgomerycollege.edu
Resources/Media:
- Adult Ed. - Racial Justice (PDF, )
- C.R. Timeline (PDF, )
- Fire On The Bayou (PDF, )
Presently, social justice movements take shape within a digital landscape. Join us to learn more about the history and legacy of American movements for social justice.
Hashtags, viral videos and online petitions all contribute to getting messages out in seconds to millions of people. In centuries past, it was a much different story. Ceramics, glassware, metal and paper were the primary ways to mass produce any sort of messaging about a social movement. Slogans, emblems and symbols help reduce justice movements to its most basic part.
The humanities help us understand ourselves and others through language, history, and culture. They have the capacity to foster social justice and equality and they reveal how people throughout me have tried to make moral, spiritual, and intellectual sense of the world. Amidst the challenges of a worldwide pandemic, worldwide protests and economic dislocations, we offer our eighth Annual Humanities Days at Montgomery College (HD@MC), Together/Apart: Creating Spaces for Understanding and Reimaging Society.
Here are the facts about this week’s Humanities Days virtual presentations, dialogues, workshops, and panels and privacy as it relates to Zoom and your participation:
- Please note that this event will be recorded (with the exception of two workshops titled Speak Truth to Power Open Mic for Domestic Violence Awareness and Stories of Immigration: Germany and the United States: Reviving Common Intercultural Histories and Identities). By participating in this event, you automatically consent to such recording. If you do not consent to being recorded, you may join, but do not connect your microphone or enter text into the attendee chat. Please discuss any concerns with the host.
- All the material appearing in this conference is the property of the original author(s) and is protected by copyright under U.S. copyright laws. You may not copy, reproduce, distribute, publish, display, perform, modify, create derivative works, transmit, or in any way exploit any such content, nor may you distribute any part of this content without the approval of the original author(s). Violators of this policy may face disciplinary action and/or legal action.
- We obtain data when you use Zoom in order to deliver our college services and provide a better experience to you. The categories of data we obtain when you use Zoom include data you provide to us as well as data that our system collects from you. We do not sell your personal data.
- During use of Zoom. When you use Zoom, some data will be disclosed to other participants
and to meeting or webinar hosts. For instance, when you attend a meeting, your name
might appear in the attendee list. If you turn on your video camera, your image will
be shown. If you send a chat or share content, that can be viewed by others in the
chat or the meeting.
For more information on Zoom privacy: https://zoom.us/privacynew window.