Arts and Humanities Commons^™

First Person, Noah Balazs

Colby Magazine

It was early morning on the Tabaski holiday in Senegal, where I recently taught first grade at the International School of Dakar. At the home of Almamy Badiane, his sisters and sisters-in-law made preparations for a feast that would last all day and into the night. Venturing into the outdoor kitchen with my dusty Holga medium-format camera, I was not unwelcome, but I knew my place as a guest was beside the host. My own plastic chair was waiting. The result was this image, which appears in a new book of short stories set in West Africa, Everything Is Insha'Allah …

Read/Listen/Watch, Steve J. Wurtzler

Colby Magazine

My favorite film of late was Jem Cohen's Museum Hours- it had a short run at Railroad Square Cinema. Museum Hours is a narrative film, but Cohen explores multiple forms of cinema.

A Collaborative Note: Colby Symphony Orchestra Is A True- And Unusual- Musical Community, Christina Dong

Colby Magazine

After a final warm-up trill, the room quiets and conductor Stan Renard reaches for the baton. As the musicians watch him intently, he raises his arms, takes a breath, and delivers the opening cue. With that, Colby students and faculty, high schoolers, local amateurs, and seasoned professionals begin to play.

The Intersection Of Art And Medicine: Tanya Sheehan Breaks Down The Boundaries Between Disciplines, Gerry Boyle

Colby Magazine

Tanya Sheehan arrived at Georgetown University intending to become a medical doctor. She aced her organic chemistry lab section, eventually was turned off by the rote memorization the program emphasized, and then discovered art history and film studies. "That changed everything," she said, "but I never forgot about science and medicine."

Strengthening A Historic Connection: Center For Small Town Jewish Life To Bolster Community Ties And Replace Them Elsewhere, Stephen Collins

Colby Magazine

For generations, collaboration between Colby and central Maine's Jewish community has been one of the strong threads in the fabric of the town-gown partnership, and in recent years it's grown even stronger. Now a new initiative will extend that tie, attempting to bottle the formula that connects Colby, Hillel, and Waterville's Beth Israel Congregation so colleges and communities across the country can try to replicate it.

Ebullience On Exhibit, Lisa Rowan

Colby Magazine

Omar Wynn '74 is director of the Smithsonian's Office of Exhibition Services, responsible for translating the vision for an exhibit into a three-dimensional experience for visitors. Only when Wynn's team has finished does the collections staff move artifacts into place.

Where's Your Phone?: If You're Lost Without It, You May Have Nomophobia, Jacob Mccarthy

Colby Magazine

Do you feel anxious when your phone battery is low? Check your messages more often than you'd like? You might be a nomophobe.

Lifting The Curtain: New Jersey Symphony Is Susan Stucker's Musical Home, Gerry Boyle

Colby Magazine

When as a sophomore Susan Stucker '89 agreed to manage the Colby Symphony Orchestra, she didn't know she was setting the course for her entire career.

Educating By Poetry: In A Too-Literal World, Metaphor Makes Magical Connections, Adrian Blevins

Colby Magazine

I often rouse students in my poetry classes through hypothetical exams. Sometimes the subject of the exam is quite narrow: Is this image of something "falling light as a thistlebloom" effective in Heather's gritty Manhattan poem? Or the question is vast, universal: What is the purpose of poetry? Why are we sitting here doing this? Shouldn't we cease our literary indulgences right this instant and find some hungry kids to feed?

The purpose of the exam that I don't give and don't grade is just a way to generate discussion, of course, but the fact that it is imaginary could …

Closer To Home, Edwin J. Torres

Colby Magazine

After Colby, a new perspective

The photographs: Edwin Torres ’12 Documents a Life in the Bronx

A Very Big Save, Gerry Boyle

Colby Magazine

In Washington for a White House internship, Colby hockey goalie Sam Parker ’15 rescues woman from dangerous Potomac River rapids

Against The Tide: Colby Reaffirms Its Commitment To The Humanities, Lori Ferguson, Dennis Griggs

Colby Magazine

Alumni, students, and faculty maintain that—contrary to critics who call for a more narrow, vocational approach to higher education—a humanities and liberal arts background is invaluable in a myriad of endeavors.

Mi Familia: Photographer Edwin Torres '12 Focuses On Home, Edwin J. Torres

Colby Magazine

Excerpt from the Colby Magazine online essay “Close to Home."

Hidden No More: Wilhelmina "Willie" Juhlin '61: A Secret Life, Gerry Boyle, Nick Cardillicchio

Colby Magazine

Willie de Kadt Juhlin ’61 tells of her life as a hidden child so that this chapter in history is remembered and in hopes that it will not be repeated.

Seeing The World--And Colby--Through Mark Twain's Eyes, Paula Harrington

Colby Magazine

Twain knew how powerful—and how dangerous—it can be to reach across a divide: why else write a book about an abused boy and a runaway slave surviving together?