To learn more about the impacts of the global pandemic, we asked the experts within the College of Liberal Arts at The University of Texas at Austin.
Commentary
Getting Ahead with World Languages
From Akkadian and Arabic to Yiddish and Yoruba: The University of Texas at Austin offers courses in dozens of world languages. But why does language learning matter? In today’s world of industry, science and politics, can’t people get by with knowing just English? The answer is simple: If all you want to do is get […]
With or without Netflix, there will be a new chapter for The Last Czars
November 7th marks the 102nd anniversary of the Bolshevik Revolution, but many questions about that pivotal event have been left unanswered, including those surrounding the remains of two other Romanov children, found in 2007. The six-part docuseries The Last Czars (2019), currently streaming on Netflix, strives to answer some of these questions through its lively […]
See the Unseen: Help our Vets Heal Through Art and Performance
We miss a lot that is important in life because we are busy with our day-to-day concerns. When we do have leisure time, we choose mindless activities for good reasons. It does our souls good to vacate our minds. Right after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 traumatized our nation, our president advised us: […]
Unlocking Affordable Housing in Austin
Driving through the heart of Austin’s Latino Crescent — east of Interstate 35 and north of the Lady Bird Lake — you’ll come upon a familiar scene: Happy families grilling asada at someone’s house, or if the weather’s nice, at a park. It could be brisket instead, but there’s always arroz, frijoles and, of course, […]
Why is it so Hard for Women to Get Equal Pay?
With the recent announcement that deodorant brand Secret will donate more than $500,000 to help close the gender pay gap for the U.S. women’s soccer team, one has to wonder why it is so hard for women to get equal pay to begin with. Despite their stellar performance over many years, the women’s pay lags […]
Apollo: A Texas Farm Boy’s View
A simple country kid from the Rolling Plains of Texas, I had the good fortune to witness firsthand the vision, power and technical complexity that took America to the moon — perhaps the preeminent technological accomplishment in human history. I managed to graduate (with supremely ordinary grades) from The University of Texas in August 1958. […]
Don Graham Commentary: “The Grapes of Wrath” has Outlived Its Relevance
Eighty years after John Steinbeck wrote the classic American novel The Grapes of Wrath, it remains a hardy perennial on many high school reading lists. But a casual survey of sixty-six upper-division English majors at the University of Texas in March of this year reveals that forty-nine students have not read the novel and that […]
Consider War Stories Without Romanticizing Them
For as long as there have been wars — which in human history is forever — there have been stories about war. They stretch back to Homer’s riveting epic songs of the battlefield — the “Iliad” — and of returning home from it — the “Odyssey.” They come forward in truly sensitive films like Richard […]
Decoding the Language of Love
“She looked at him through the light. She saw the pride and the interest on that handsome, poetic face, with the edgy cheekbones under the scruff, as he’d worked through the day without shaving. She saw both in his eyes, pure gray in candlelight.” –Excerpt from “Year One” by Nora Roberts The secret to romance […]
Four Reasons Everyone Should Study History
In the past, STEM and the arts and humanities have largely been taught as unconnected disciplines, but there is more overlap between fields than many realize. Erika Bsumek, an associate professor of history in the College of Liberal Arts and a 2018 recipient of the Regent’s Outstanding Teaching Awards, wants to help students see how […]
Extreme Summer: Speaking the Many Languages of Climate Change for Texas
Summer is coming. In Texas, this warning — not unlike the familiar Game of Thrones motto — makes residents vigilant. And the admonition becomes dire as summers get hotter and drier, fueling wildfires, flash floods and worse. 2017 was Texas’ second-warmest year on record, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and those temperatures […]
The Dead Deserve Peace and Privacy
“To display the dead, after all, is what the enemy does,” writes Susan Sontag in Regarding the Suffering of Others. Logan Paul became Public Enemy No. 1 after posting a videolog on YouTube of a dead, hanged body of an unidentified person in Aokigahara forest, a dense thicket on the northwest side of Mt. Fuji, […]
U.S. Interests Hurt By Withdrawal From UNESCO
“Since wars begin in the minds of men, it is in the minds of men that the defenses of peace must be constructed.” So begins the preamble to the Constitution of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). They were words written in 1945 by the American poet and playwright Archibald MacLeish, who […]
How Hanukkah Has Changed in the U.S.
The Jewish holiday Hanukkah is upon us, and to mark the eight-day holiday, dignitaries will gather to light the National Menorah across from the White House, and families will light their own nine-armed menorahs, known as Hanukkiot, one candle per day for eight days. Although Hanukkah today is one of the most popular and recognizable […]
Life Is Very Big and We Are All So Small
The Romans called the first month of the new year January because, like the two- faced god Janus, we look to things ahead even as we glance back at where we were. If you’re like me, with over 60 years of tail wind, you might share my feeling that whatever you choose to do, you’ll […]
Tis the Season to Learn About Our Loved Ones
During the two big traditional family holidays in the United States from late November through late December, we celebrate with the family and friends who can gather around us. Year to year, we notice changes and learn how our living our lives relates to them living theirs, all the while revealing different aspects of who […]
The “Unfreakingbelievable” World of College Football
I have followed and written commentaries about big-time sports at UT Austin for some fifteen years. Between 2008 and 2011, I was UT and Big XII representative on the national Coalition on Intercollegiate Athletics. I was invited to lunch by former athletics director DeLoss Dodds, who knew and adeptly practiced the art of keeping your […]
School Rules
Texas Lawmakers Need to Rethink the Program that Gives Property Tax Breaks to Corporations Since the 2002 creation of the economic program known as Chapter 313, Texas has awarded more than $7 billion in tax credits to companies. The program is intended to attract investors by providing abatements to offset some of the property taxes […]
Earth Day 2017 Must Be About Science and Politics
Natural scientists would rather work in their labs or their natural labs, such as in the Maya Tropical Forest or on Himalayan glaciers. Every part of this planet holds unanswered questions that scientists would joyously study for a hundred lifetimes. It takes much to rouse scientists to explain their concerns for humanity about the declines […]
We’re Not Going to Eat It: Channeling Teens’ Appetite for Rebellion
During this school year in Texas we’re likely to see between 15 and 20 percent of teens with obesity and more than 15,000 cases of preventable forms of youth diabetes. We can do better, and it starts with the messaging teens receive. School administrators and parents currently try to explain to teens how their food […]
How To Survive A Night in Dracula’s Castle
“Suddenly I became conscious of the fact that the driver was in fact in the act of pulling up the horses in the courtyard of a vast ruined castle, from whose tall black windows came no ray of light, and whose broken battlements showed a jagged line against the moonlit sky.” With these words, Jonathan […]
Architecture of Coexistence
Stephennie Mulder, an associate professor in the Departments of Art and Art History and Middle Eastern Studies, was invited to Tehran, Iran, in February 2016 to receive the country’s World Award for Book of the Year from the Iranian Ministry of Culture, which was to be awarded in a ceremony by Iranian President Hassan Rouhani. Her […]
Navy ROTC Celebrates 75 Years
The year was 1940: Europe was in its second year of war, and Japan was continuing its nearly 10-year expansion into Pacific Rim countries, especially China. The United States was able to stay away from the fray, but the summer would bring disturbing developments that would put the U.S. on high alert. In June the […]
Happy Birthday to Dante and Don
The party for Dante’s 750th birthday was extensive — he was a Gemini (May 21 – June 21) born in 1265 — with nearly 200 events taking place in Italy and another 173 sponsored by Italian cultural centers around the world. Italian astronaut Samantha Cristoforetti kicked off the festivities by reciting the opening lines of […]