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THE DAILY ASTORIAN • FRIDAY, MAY 12, 2017
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Why we need the National
Endowment for the Humanities
widen when I told them about the per-
mafrost, and described what it felt like
to walk on it.
In a New York Times column,
Nicholas Kristof asked: What could
the humanities be in a digital age?
“Our world is enriched when cod-
ers and marketers dazzle us with
smartphones and tablets,” he wrote,
“but, by themselves, they are just
slabs. It is the music, essays, enter-
tainment and provocations that they
access, spawned by the humanities,
that animate them — and us.”
Today, the humanities are as essen-
tial as ever, as is the National Endow-
ment for the Humanities.
The agency is essential to the nur-
turing in our society of individuals and
groups who still need honest and rel-
evant information from public media,
who receive an education from teach-
ers in the humanities, and who seek to
empathize with all members of soci-
ety using the knowledge gained from
the humanities.
A local remembers
an agency-funded
fellowship in Alaska
By DENISE REED
For EO Media Group
In 1965, President Lyndon John-
son created the National Endowment
for the Humanities and the National
Endowment for the Arts.
The National Foundation on the
Arts and the Humanities Act was the
culmination of a movement calling
for the federal government to invest in
culture, as it had invested in science.
Thus, science and the humanities
became our country’s most signifi cant
pillars of cultural advancement.
Without
these two fi elds
our
society
becomes less
civilized, and
unable to sup-
port the cultural
development of
the diverse peo-
ples that make
up the U.S. The
NEH funds cul-
Denise Reed
tural institutions
— such as museums, libraries, col-
leges, universities, public television
and radio stations — and, frequently,
individual scholars.
I don’t consider myself a scholar,
but I, along with 12 other educators
from eleven states, received NEH
fellowships for a project in Alaska
during the summer of 1988.
After completing a rigorous vet-
ting process, and completing prelim-
inary study requirements, I was off
to the University of Fairbanks. The
title of our seminar was “Orpheus: A
Creator’s Myth.” We were charged
with investigating the work of com-
posers, authors and oral histories that
contained references to Orpheus, the
poet-musician of Greek mythology.
The grant provided me and my
NEH fellows with the oppor-
tunity to study the myths
of First Nation peo-
Keeping us human
Submitted photo
Denise Reed (far left, second from top) and the group of “Orpheus fellows”
ples and those of other cultures that, in
some way, incorporated the Orpheus
story, which speaks to the power of
music to shape thoughts and beliefs.
The group’s musicians conducted an
extensive study of the early operas on
this subject.
As essential as ever
What an experience! The semi-
nar involved four full days of study,
which sometimes carried on into the
late evening. And why not? It was still
light out at 11 p.m., and there was an
annual Native American cere-
mony, occurring on the
university campus, that
boasted continuous
drumming over a
period of two to
three 24-hour
days.
Weekends,
meanwhile, were fi lled with discover-
ing Alaska, which I later realized was
part of what NEH intended to support,
along with our formal study.
The fellowships changed our lives;
as educators, we would come to ful-
fi ll the agency’s goal: to strengthen
teaching and learning in schools and
colleges, provide opportunities for
lifelong learning, preserve and pro-
vide access to cultural and educational
resources, and fortify the institutional
base of the humanities.
I will never forget, or be able to
release, the infl uence this opportunity
had on me and, subsequently, on my
students. I returned from the seminar
with knowledge about myths, First
Nation peoples and the ways in which
many cultures approach the myster-
ies of life. And I returned having had
adventures in what was then the last
frontier. I watched my students’ eyes
We need the NEH to continue to
do all of this and more through their
numerous grant programs. Our soci-
ety should never accept the possiblity
of these agencies disappearing.
I was elated when, on May 1, I
received an email from the Americans
for the Arts Action Fund that shared
the news that — because of grass-
roots arts advocacy, and because peo-
ple contacted their representatives —
funding for the NEH and NEA would
continue, and would, in fact, increase
in some areas, instead of being cut as
predicted.
But let us not become complacent.
It is still possible that some of these
programs may be cut in the coming
years. The humanities are essential to
the growth of civilization. It’s what
keeps us human, keeps us questioning
and trying to make sense of our exis-
tence, and it is what fosters critical
thinking about the meanings of justice
and peace.
Denise Reed is the conductor of
the North Coast Chorale and a mem-
ber of the Oregon Humanities Board
of Directors. She teaches opera and
music appreciation, along with world
music and the histories of some
of America’s popular styles
of music at Clatsop
and Tillamook
Denise Reed
in Alaska, 1988.
Submitted photo
The humanities are essential to
the growth of civilization. It’s
what keeps us human, keeps us
questioning and trying to make
sense of our existence, and it is
what fosters critical thinking about
the meanings of justice and peace.
Denise Reed
conductor of the North Coast Chorale and a member
of the Oregon Humanities Board of Directors