Resources for Teachers and Students
We are pleased to offer the following online resources to encourage teachers and students to enhance their engagement with the Lowell Humanities Series. We encourage you to adopt our speakers' most recent book as well as shorter essays and contextual material as part of your syllabi. Additionally, the resources below can be paired or used separately to fit a single class or a longer unit. These links allow students to watch a Youtube video, or read a short essay or interview, before or after one of our events. Teachers might also consider using these resources in conjunction with evening reflection activities, or opportunities for reviews/reports during or beyond class-time. For speakers book titles, please see their bios. Articles in academic journals are available to members of the BC community through the library webpage.
Bill Rauch
“Adaptation: A Lifetime of Building Bridges”
April 03, 2024
7:00 p.m. | Gasson Hall 100
Interviews:
- American Theatre: Bill Rauch’s Next Once-in-a-Lifetime Move https://www.americantheatre.org/2018/02/16/bill-rauchs-next-once-in-a-lifetime-move/
- New York Theater: The arts looking forward from 9/11: Q & A with Bill Rauch of the PAC at the World Trade Center https://newyorktheater.me/2021/09/11/the-arts-looking-forward-from-9-11-q-a-with-bill-rauch-of-the-pac-at-the-world-trade-center/
Reviews:
- The New York Times: World Trade Center Arts Space Gets a Lease, and a Leader https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/arts/world-trade-center-arts-space-gets-a-lease-and-a-leader.html
- Los Angeles Times: After revolutionizing West Coast theater, Bill Rauch takes his inclusive vision to New York https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-ca-cm-bill-rauch-oregon-shakespeare-festival-20180907-story.html
- The New York Times: In This ‘Oklahoma!,’ She Loves Her and He Loves Him https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/15/theater/oklahoma-same-sex-oregon-shakespeare-festival.html
Roya Hakakian
“Iran’s Women Have Risen: Should We Care?”
January 31, 2024
7:00 p.m. | Gasson Hall 100
Interviews:
- New York Review of Books: Looking Back at the Land of No https://www.nybooks.com/online/2021/03/13/looking-back-at-the-land-of-no/
- CNN: Is Iran on the verge of another revolution? https://www.cnn.com/videos/tv/2022/10/08/exp-gps-1009-roya-hakakian-iran-protests-revolution.cnn
- MSNBC: What's Next for the Women-Led Protests in Iran https://www.msnbc.com/the-mehdi-hasan-show/watch/what-s-next-for-the-women-led-protests-in-iran-151669317654
- The Good Fight: An Iranian in America https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/an-iranian-in-america/id1198765424?i=1000531316842
Reviews:
- The New York Times: By the Ayatollah’s Decree https://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/books/review/assassins-of-the-turquoise-palace-by-roya-hakakian-book-review.html
- The Wall Street Journal: ‘A Beginner’s Guide to America’ Review: Welcome to a New World https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-beginners-guide-to-america-review-welcome-to-a-new-world-11614380054
Articles:
- The Atlantic: What Hamas Promises, Iranians Know Too Well https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/11/iran-islamic-revolution-israel-hamas/676073/
- The Atlantic: The Poisonous Atmosphere That Pervades Iran https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2023/04/iran-regime-schoolchildren-poisoning-protest/673641/
- The Columbus Dispatch: 'Mahsa Amini could have been me.' Why Iranian women fight for life, liberty https://www.dispatch.com/story/opinion/cartoons/2022/11/16/roya-hakakian-u-s-senate-testimony-about-iranian-women-uprising-pujan-roka-illustration-mahsa-amini/69652154007/
- Time: The U.S. Capitol Attacked Reminded Me of the 1979 US Embassy Seizure and What Happens When Extremism Wins https://time.com/5930621/u-s-capitol-attack-iran-revolution-extremism/
- The New York Review of Books: The Refugee’s Internal Exile https://www.nybooks.com/online/2022/03/20/the-refugees-internal-exile/
Excerpts:
- Penguin Random House: Excerpt from Journey from the Land of No https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/73604/journey-from-the-land-of-no-by-roya-hakakian/9780609810309/excerpt
James Alison
“Catholicity, Sacrifice, and Shame: Subverting Polarization in Our Contemporary Ecclesial and Political Cultures”
February 07, 2024
7:00 p.m. | Gasson Hall 100
Interviews:
- The Dishcast: James Alison On Christianity https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/james-alison-on-christianity
- Encounter: Befriending a Vengeful God https://jamesalison.com/befriending-a-vengeful-god/
Reviews:
- America: Renewing the Tradition: The theological project of James Alison https://www.americamagazine.org/issue/renewing-tradition
- ABC News (Australia): What is scapegoating? Why Gay Catholic priest James Alison spent years learning why people target minorities https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-03/why-do-we-scapegoat-bible-religion-ethics-girard/103028190
Articles:
- Outreach: Conscience reveals to LGBTQ people who we really are https://outreach.faith/2023/07/james-alison-conscience-reveals-to-lgbtq-people-who-were-really-are/
Excerpts:
- Girardian Reflections on the Lectionary: Excerpt from James Alison's Faith Beyond Resentment: Fragments Catholic and Gay http://girardianlectionary.net/res/fbr_ch-1_john9.htm
Joy Harjo
“Indigenous Poetry and Native Literature”
February 21, 2024
7:00 p.m. | Gasson Hall 100
Interviews:
- On Being: Joy Harjo: The Whole of Time https://onbeing.org/programs/joy-harjo-the-whole-of-time/
- Vogue: Joy Harjo On When She Realized Poetry Has Power https://www.vogue.com/article/joy-harjo-interview
- NPR: 'Poet Warrior' Joy Harjo Wants Native Peoples To Be Seen As Human https://www.npr.org/2021/09/07/1034751793/poet-laureate-warrior-joy-harjo
- Khôra: Interview with Joy Harjo https://www.corporealkhora.com/issue/19/interview-with-joy-harjo
- Chicago Review of Books: Joy Harjo on the Power of Poetry, and on Building a Comprehensive Canon of Indigenous Poems https://chireviewofbooks.com/2020/10/13/joy-harjo-on-the-power-of-poetry/
Reviews:
- Chattanooga Times Free Press: Review: Joy Harjo’s latest book seeks to understand the work of poetry and place https://www.timesfreepress.com/news/2022/dec/03/review-joy-harjos-latest-book-seeks-to-understand/
- The New York Times: From the Country’s New Poet Laureate, Poems Reclaiming Tribal Culture https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/13/books/review/an-american-sunrise-poems-joy-harjo.html
Excerpts:
- Poetry Unbound: Joy Harjo: “Praise the Rain” https://onbeing.org/programs/joy-harjo-praise-the-rain/
- Literary Hub: Joy Harjo on Listening and Writing with Intention https://lithub.com/joy-harjo-on-listening-and-writing-with-intention/
Daniel Alarcón
“Stories Everywhere: Listening to Latin America”
February 28, 2024
7:00 p.m. | Gasson Hall 100
Interviews:
- Granta: Daniel Alarcón | Interview https://granta.com/interview-daniel-alarcon/
- The New York Times: Daniel Alarcón: By the Book https://www.nytimes.com/2016/01/24/books/review/daniel-alarcon-by-the-book.html
- Los Angeles Review of Books: Three Questions for Daniel Alarcón https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/three-questions-for-daniel-alarcon
- Michigan Quarterly Review: Latin American Storytelling in the Trump Era: An Interview with Daniel Alarcón https://sites.lsa.umich.edu/mqr/2018/11/latin-american-storytelling-in-the-trump-era-an-interview-with-daniel-alarcon/
- The Creative Independent: On the liberation of starting over https://thecreativeindependent.com/people/writer-daniel-alarcon-on-the-liberation-of-starting-over/
Reviews:
- The New York Times: Displaced Persons https://www.nytimes.com/2018/01/01/books/review/daniel-alarcon-the-king-is-always-above-the-people.html
- The Guardian: The King Is Always Above the People review – moving tales of migration https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/feb/25/the-king-is-always-above-the-people-daniel-alarcon-review-moving-tales-of-migration
- NPR: Empathy And Detachment Mix In 'The King Is Always Above The People' https://www.npr.org/2017/11/02/560097325/empathy-and-detachment-mix-in-the-king-is-always-above-the-people
- The Washington Post: Book World: ‘At Night We Walk in Circles’ by Daniel Alarcón https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/books/book-world-at-night-we-walk-in-circles-by-daniel-alarcon/2013/11/12/46cd82b2-4500-11e3-bf0c-cebf37c6f484_story.html
- Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Daniel Alarcón’s drifters seek refuge, but rarely find it https://www.jsonline.com/story/entertainment/books/2017/10/27/daniel-alarcons-drifters-seek-refuge-but-rarely-find/792011001/
- Columbia Magazine: Daniel Alarcón Tells Stories Without Borders https://magazine.columbia.edu/article/daniel-alarcon-tells-stories-without-borders
Articles:
- The New Yorker: A Pandemic Tragedy in Guayaquil https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/03/14/a-pandemic-tragedy-in-guayaquil
- Literary Hub: From Squalor to Salon: The Amazing, Improbable Life of Emma Reyes https://lithub.com/from-squalor-to-salon-the-amazing-improbable-life-of-emma-reyes/
Excerpts:
- Penguin Random House: Excerpt From At Night We Walk in Circles https://www.penguinrandomhouse.ca/books/314123/at-night-we-walk-in-circles-by-daniel-alarcon/9781594632839/excerpt
Ada Ferrer
Cuba: An American History
March 13, 2024
7:00 p.m. | Gasson Hall 100
Interviews:
- The Public Archive: Dark Specters and Black Kingdoms: An interview with historian Ada Ferrer https://thepublicarchive.com/?p=4497
- PBS: History with David Rubenstein: Ada Ferrer https://www.pbs.org/video/ada-ferrer-pmppp9/
Reviews:
- The Guardian: Cuba review: American history of island neighbor is telling and timely https://www.theguardian.com/books/2021/sep/04/cuba-american-history-review-ada-ferrer
- Los Angeles Review of Books: Another World: On Ada Ferrer’s “Cuba: An American History” https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/another-world-on-ada-ferrers-cuba-an-american-history
- The Wall Street Journal: ‘Cuba: An American History’ Review: That Infernal Little Republic https://www.wsj.com/articles/cuba-an-american-history-review-that-infernal-little-republic-11630707517
- The Nation: Our America https://www.thenation.com/article/world/ada-ferrer-cuba/
Articles:
- The New Yorker: My Brother’s Keeper https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2021/03/01/my-brothers-keeper
- The Washington Post: Five Myths About Cuba https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/five-myths/five-myths-about-cuba/2021/09/16/78a2941c-14b9-11ec-a5e5-ceecb895922f_story.html
Excerpts:
- Literary Hub: Excerpt from Cuba: An American History https://lithub.com/ada-ferrer-on-the-connections-between-cuba-and-the-us/
Bill Rauch
“Adaptation: A Lifetime of Building Bridges”
April 03, 2024
7:00 p.m. | Gasson Hall 100
Interviews:
- American Theatre: Bill Rauch’s Next Once-in-a-Lifetime Move https://www.americantheatre.org/2018/02/16/bill-rauchs-next-once-in-a-lifetime-move/
- New York Theater: The arts looking forward from 9/11: Q & A with Bill Rauch of the PAC at the World Trade Center https://newyorktheater.me/2021/09/11/the-arts-looking-forward-from-9-11-q-a-with-bill-rauch-of-the-pac-at-the-world-trade-center/
Reviews:
- The New York Times: World Trade Center Arts Space Gets a Lease, and a Leader https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/16/arts/world-trade-center-arts-space-gets-a-lease-and-a-leader.html
- Los Angeles Times: After revolutionizing West Coast theater, Bill Rauch takes his inclusive vision to New York https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-ca-cm-bill-rauch-oregon-shakespeare-festival-20180907-story.html
- The New York Times: In This ‘Oklahoma!,’ She Loves Her and He Loves Him https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/15/theater/oklahoma-same-sex-oregon-shakespeare-festival.html