IMPRESSIONS Fa ll 2015

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Honors Humanities NEWSLETTER FALL 2015

I remember one HHUM105 lecture last fall quite distinctly: “The humanities are not ‘ho-hum,’” Professor Staley had said, explaining that the name implied that the humanities were pointless and boring. I’d only been at college for a few weeks, but I had heard the sophomores throw the term around. In fact, I’d begun to use it myself. What Professor Staley said made sense, though—the honors program I was in was definitely the opposite of boring.

by Jenna Bachman

It wasn’t even October, and I’d already had a late night discussion about the musical Into the Woods, gone on midnight milkshake runs with others in the program, and attended an impromptu Harry Potter movie festival in the basement of Anne Arundel. And so, I tried for a few weeks to avoid calling it “HoHum,” as it had been so christened by those who came before. I tried to say “H-HUM,” the way the course codes are written. But it didn’t have the same ring to it. And

Photo Credit: Facebook

so, like all of my classmates, I started saying “HoHum” again. At freshman orientation this past summer, Professor Staley announced something radical—the staff would now begin referring to the program as “HoHum.” The sophomores and I there to help out all exchanged excited glances—our little moniker had finally gotten the recognition it deserved. When we call it “HoHum,” we are referring to the community we’ve built and the people we love; we are defining who we are. We are one AM discussions about the symbolism in Les Mis. We are Naruto Nights, Banned Book Clubs, and Secret Staley gift exchanges. We are the program a little obsessed with manatees that lives the dorm where you’ll always find someone singing or playing the piano. We are the program whose director yells “Jake, hold me!” before jumping into someone’s arms for a group picture. Professor Staley did get something right during that lecture a year ago—we are not ho-hum the adjective. We are HoHum the noun, and we are proud to be here.

The Home in HoHum Attending a school as large as the University of Maryland seemed very intimidating initially; I was afraid that I would get lost in the crowd and be seen as a number rather than an individual. However, the Honors Humanities program provided me with a community that felt like home amongst a sea of strangers. The program is small enough that I was easily able to get to know the instructors, which made me more comfortable when reaching out to professors in my other classes. I also

by Lauren Baker

loved spending time with my fellow HoHummers who are all connected by a love for humanities but still have enough differences to make every conversation unique and exciting. Having a mentor from the humanities program also made the transition to college easier and more enjoyable. Simply knowing that there was a friend nearby who has already gone through the struggles of freshman year was very comforting. When surrounded by such amazing and interesting people, it is impossible

not to build lasting friendships. I know that being a part of the Honors Humanities community made me much happier with my decision to attend the University of Maryland. Being a part of the program made a campus of over twenty thousand people feel more accessible, more exciting rather than intimidating, a place where I could not only learn thoroughly but live happily.

Creativity > Consumption by Jenna Bachman

“I call this one my ‘Sad Machine’ inspired rainbow mermaid,” Meghan laughed, referring to the Porter Robinson song. She’s recently begun to add color to her pieces, but still prefers drawing in pencil, because she “doesn’t want to be shell-shocked by the permanence of pen.” “It’s imperfect,” she added. “I am too.”

Before she even knew about HoHum, she illustrated a children’s book featuring our program’s official mascot—the manatee. “Everyone was just putting clipart in,” she said of the high school project, “I wanted to create something. And I wanted a relatable protagonist. Who’s more relatable than a friendly manatee?”

by Alexandra Kindahl In between Contemporary Ethical Issues and the Humanities and procrastinating on my Keystone this semester, I took an unusual and aptly-named course called LGBT People and Communication (LGBT350). With prerequisites of LGBT200 (Introduction to LGBT Studies) and departmental permission, it was full of other students also pursuing LGBT Studies minors or certificates, ready to discuss queer theory.

Freshman math major Meghan Chulock has been drawing as long as she can remember. When asked why it is her passion, her answer was simple: “Creativity is greater than consumption.” From rainbow mermaids to cartoons of real people to friendly manatees, Meghan loves to create.

“HoHum has inspired me to draw more,” she said, “It’s nice to be around so many creative people all the time.” Being a math major, she doesn’t get much opportunity for drawing in class. But Honors Humanities has helped—“it gives me the balance I need,” she said.

Speaking Out

After three practice sessions and a few class meetings, my fellow classmates and I started up panels, the portion of the class that earns us the name ‘Speakers’ Bureau.’ Panels were sets of three or four of us who went into a particular classroom for an hour (typically UNIV100 or Sociology classes) and discussed queer and trans issues, answering anonymous and non-anonymous questions from audience members in order to elucidate these topics for people who might be new to the field. We talked about discrimination in employment and housing, intersectionality of sexual orientation and race, flawed media representations, and coming out. More than that, we talked about all of those things while sharing our own personal stories of finding our identities and coping with discrimination. As a queer person, hearing similar—and very different—stories from other queer classmates was a fascinating experience, one that I would highly recommend to other students in the LGBTQA+ community. If you don’t know much about queer and trans issues (but want to!), you can learn with help from the Speakers’ Bureau! In addition to visiting classes, we also do panels for organizations and clubs on campus, including fraternities and sororities. While most panels occur in the fall semester, you can request one for the Spring semester now as well using this form: http://lgbt.umd.edu/speakers.html. Alternatively, if you want to learn even more, you can take LGBT200 next fall!

From the Council: Outreach Campaignby Bronwen Schriml During the Fall 2015 semester, the Honors Humanities Student Council has taken significant steps to improve the programs outreach and expansion of the program itself. Beginning in the summer, the council met with our Program Director, Dr. Gregory Staley, the two program GA, Aaron Allen and Yvonne Slosarski, and the program outreach coordinator, Meg Kuyatt. At our summer meeting we discussed problems seen administratively and amongst the students in the program. We concluded that a main focus of the council and administration for

the year was to develop and implement ways to increase student enrollment in Honor Humanities. To accomplish this goal, the Council has taken various actions. Past the meeting in the summer the council has talked to the incoming class of freshman about their experience, specifically their process for choosing Honors Humanities over other Honors programs and what was confusing about the process for them. They identified that the confusing Honors College blurbs and short time to decide were two main areas of concern. In order to address these problems the Council has developed a plan of action with the Honors Humanities staff that includes a letter writing campaign to high school teachers of students, meeting with Dr. Moyer of the College of Arts and Humanities (ARHU), and working

“…to develop and implement ways to increase student enrollment in Honors Humanities.” A HoHum Legacy For many of us, the people we meet at orientation and in the first few days of living in the dorm tend to stick with us for the majority of our college career. Lowell Ensel was the first person I met (apart from my roommate) who was in Honors Humanities, and in the short period of orientation we found that we had enough in common as to become good friends. When he passed away unexpectedly in May, how to remember him was a common topic of conversation and consideration. How do you memorialize someone who seemed to do everything and who lived with such passion? For Honors Humanities, it was renaming the Honors Humanities Keystone Prize after Lowell, its first recipient. When the idea was sug-

with staff to prepare for the spring, the time period when students make their college decisions. The letter writing campaign involves current students and alumni writing letter to their favorite high school teachers about the program. Sent with a poster describing the program, the letter was meant to spread the word about the program and advertise it to high school students early. This semester the council president, Tori Valcarcel, vice president of operations, Bronwen Schriml, and vice president of community outreach, Aaron Gladstone, met with associate dean of ARHU Dr. Moyer to discuss problems and concern of the program from a student perspective that the administration of ARHU was unaware of. Ideas that the group brainstormed for the coming semester include reaching out to potential Honors Humanities students to attend the Honors Humanities Keystone Symposium.

by Emily Schaefer

gested to raise money for the award to a total of $8,237, or 102% of our be able to support students in the fu- initial goal of $8,000. With this money, Honors Humanities can ture, I knew a way to help. LaunchUMD, the University of support many more students, celMaryland’s own crowdfunding plat- ebrating work and effort reminisform, allows a way for campus organi- cent of Lowell’s while carrying on zations to run campaigns to raise mon- his legacy in the program for years ey for a cause. Having had experience to come. with the platform before, I helped pull together a team of fellow HHUM students and friends who would be able to reach out to the groups that Lowell had been a part of and anyone else who might be willing to give and help. The campaign began on September 11th, 2015, Lowell’s 21st birthday, and ended a month later on October 11th. Through promoting the campaign on social media The poster from Lowell’s keystone project: and reaching external groups and A film titled In the Midterm. Photo Credit: individuals, we were able to raise Facebook

The Many Paths to the Keystone The Keystone Project is one of, if not the, staple of Honors Humanities. The project is designed to allow students to pursue their passions in scholarly, creative ways. The keystone allows for variety in subject and medium, and also in its process. Some students stick with their original idea, others change theirs upwards of three times, and many fall somewhere in between. What links all of these projects together is that each individual is passionate about what they’re doing.

Third Time’s the Charm Jose Lima-Rosas is on his third keystone idea. He said he had trouble investing in his first two ideas (a series of paintings exploring “the intersection between queer and pop culture” and “a music review blog that highlighted lesser known queer musicians”). His current project is a “translation resource book for Spanish-speaking PGCPS students.” Jose has garnered a relationship with the Board of Education and they will print and distribute the book for the next school year. What has made this idea more special is that people will be truly interacting with his finished work. He said, “It’ll feel really good to see my project in print and actually [make] a difference.”

Pursuing Passion The basis of Bronwen Schriml’s keystone has not changed since she first realized what she wanted it to be about: fashion. Bronwen is creating a YouTube video series entitled What a Feminist Looks Like to “[explore] the relationship between fashion and feminism in the United States.” Though the medium and focus has changed over time, the heart of her project has stayed the same. To refine her focus from her initial idea of “fashion,” she had to ask herself a lot of questions: “What aspects of them [fashion and feminism] did I want to do? Did I want to recreate the clothing? Did I want to tell people about it? If I wanted to tell people about it, then in what medium?” Bronwen has stuck with this project for a number of reasons. The amount of research she has done is certainly a part of it, but the nature of the project also constantly allows for new discoveries. “Every time I find something that I want to do another video on or a piece of information that’s really cool,” she said, “I get really excited about it.”

Back to Plan A

by Julia Maier

Audrey Stambaugh’s keystone project is, succinctly put, a “3D family tree.” During the fall of her freshman year she knew she wanted to research her genealogy (through Ancestry.com), which had been an interest of hers since a high school biology class. Last spring, however, she switched to writing a children’s book because, as she said, “I thought I had run out of research, hit the end.” Over the summer she went back to Ancestry.com and was able to find more of her family tree than she did originally. At the beginning of this semester she officially switched back to her original plan. “When I found myself doing research just for fun over the summer,” she said, “I was like, ‘okay this makes a lot more sense.’ ” Audrey said she ultimately went back to her original idea because “I enjoyed it more. And I found it more natural for me.”

From High School to College

Aaron Gladstone describes his keystone as a “political science and history research paper that looks at nullification and secession in two facets. I ultimately conclude that they are successful when these movements gain the endorsement of the third party.” Aaron started writing this paper in high school when his father suggested he start his own independent research. He said, however, it never went anywhere because of the limitations of high school and his skills. “Before I came to college it was kind of me swinging a bat in a dark room trying to hit something that was good,” Aaron said. So, Aaron came to college with a mission: “Of focusing it and refining it and making it really, really good.” One of the main reasons Aaron chose Honors Humanities was the opportunity to work on this paper through the keystone. He says he has found success in college partly by taking classes in relevant departments and developing skills “to make something that is actually scholarship.” He also said that “working with the HoHum staff refocused it and helped me overcome the challenges.” Aaron is passionate about his work, and he believes this is integral to the keystone and his own personal successes.

Living and Learning? When I got accepted into the Honors College here at the University of Maryland, I was more than excited. After looking over the potential programs I could join, I decided that Honors Humanities was the best fit for me; it was a smaller program and focused on something I’m very interested in – the arts! I was enthusiastic to start until I recognized a potential problem – Honors Humanities was a Living and Learning Program here on campus, but I would not be living on campus. Living ten minutes away from campus, I made the decision to save some money and to live at home. While this decision made sense from a financial perspective, it scared me once I started looking at my living arrangements from different perspectives. As a college student, how different would my college experience be from the experiences of others? Would it be less fun? More stressful? As an Honor Humanities student, how would my enrollment in the program change? Would I not be able to join the program after all? Would I miss significant events after I go home in the evenings?

by Jose Lima-Rosas



In the end, I was very happy to learn that the Honors Humanities Program does not require you to live on campus in order to be a part of the program. While I was relieved that I could still be a part of the program, another concern dawned on me: would I really be a part of the Honors Humanities community? After all, most of the students in the program live in the same building while I would be living in a completely different zip code! As my third semester in college comes to an end, I have found that there are many things commuters can do to feel like a part of the Honors Humanities community: 1. Drop by Anne Arundel Hall on the nights of events! Many of these events, like Hippie Night or the occasional seminar, relate to the material you will learn in class, are good ways to relieve stress, and give you the opportunity to talk to other students who you may not have class with.

2. Join a team! I’m a shy person, but once I became involved with the program’s newsletter, I began talking to more people. At first, the conversations were exclusively about the program. However, weeks into the newsletter, I was having casual conversations with people who I may have never interacted with before having a spot on the editing team. Try joining the newsletter, become an Honors Ambassador, or try joining the Honors Humanities Student Council. 3. Join the Facebook group! I didn’t have a Facebook during my first two semesters in the program and I regret it deeply. The Facebook group for Honors Humanities is a good way to find out what’s going on in the program. People constantly announce events that they will be hosting or attending. Many of these events are interesting and you’re bound to meet someone new!

Orgo Can Be Fun (Seriously!) by Emily Haase I’m a sophomore in Criminology and Criminal Justice here in Honors Humanities, but at the end of the next semester, I’ll be adding a Chemistry major! It’s not exactly been an easy addition (and certainly made me a little more grateful for my humanities classes!) but HoHum was actually super helpful with my STEM classes. A pro-tip: you can definitely get through organic chemistry through straight memorization of hexagons and mechanisms and infrared spectroscopies. It’s terrible and boring, but definitely an option a lot of students take. And, sure, you learn a little bit about

what you’re doing in organic lab, but you never really make the connection between what you’re learning and what use it actually has. But one of the things humanities really drills is analysis. Thinking about what you’re learning and why we’re learning it. And science really loses some of that ‘when are we ever going to use this’ feeling if you try to analyze it and how it helps. If you stop thinking objectively about STEM, it starts to mean a lot more. Take the example of mass spectrometry (mass spec). Mass spec can be an incredibly boring analysis

that essentially looks at molecular ion peaks so it ruins your week. But if you look into it a little, mass spec is used a lot in forensics (which I personally really want to go into, but I think everyone can agree is pretty cool!) to identify poison, trace evidence, arsons, you name it! So, take heart, STEM majors in HoHum! Humanities will make STEM a lot easier and a lot more bearable.

What We’ve Been Up to This Semester. . . Photos courtesy of Katie O’ Reilly and Gillian Casey

A group of freshmen bonding during a D.C. scavenger hunt in August

Sophomores Ashley Kitchelt and Matt Town engage in discussion at a HoHum Happy Hour

Hohummers enjoying the annual trip to the pumpkin patch

Sophomore Aaron Gladstone and freshman Madison Meyer groove with Professor Staley at Hippie Night

Anne Arundel residents gather for the first HoHum Happy Hour of the semester

Klara Boger, Bronwen Schriml, Madison Meyer, and Ashley Kitchelt pose at the annual Holiday Party

Newsletter Editors

MEET THE STAFF!

Julia Maier, Jenna Bachman and Jose Lima-Rosas

Dr. Gregory Staley

Meg Eden Kuyatt

Aaron Allen

Yvonne Slosarski

Program Director

Program Coordinator

Program/Outreach Coordinator

Program Coordinator