Clemente Course in the Humanities

Course Spotlight: Clemente Australia Setting Up For Success in 2026

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:53:59 GMT

You may be familiar with Clemente's 30+ programs across the United States, but did you know that Clemente also has a long and rich history in Australia?

It began in 2003, when Clemente founder Earl Shorris visited the country and inspired the program's first class in East Sydney. Today, Australian Catholic University and its community partners offer the program at numerous sites across the continent. In the more than two decades since, many students have gone on to further study and many more have carried the skills and perspectives gained in the program into their lives and communities.

Read on for the latest from Clemente partner Jennifer Tredinnick (ACU Manager of Community Engaged Outreach) on how Clemente Australia is setting up for a remarkable 2026.

Partnership teams in each of our seven campus and community placed Clemente programs, including program coordinators, community partners, ACU lecturers, academic skills/literacies advisors, volunteer learning partners and university student peers, are working to foster vibrant, collaborative learning communities.

Earl Shorris’ vision that all people – regardless of status or wealth – have access to humanities education, continues to guide Clemente in Australia.

Returning to study can be daunting for people who have experienced significant barriers in their lives. Yet, our Clemente students dive courageously into their university studies. Respectful and relational support from our collaborative learning communities, nurtures students’ confidence, capabilities, and self-belief to succeed - and with gentle and persistent encouragement, graduate with a Certificate of Liberal Arts

What We Are studying

Core to the Clemente curriculum is first year ACU Bachelor of Arts units. Clemente students undertake learning and assessment alongside their mainstream university student colleagues. In 2026, our units focus on the disciplines of history, philosophy and literature, exploring scandals and deception across time, global history and what it means to be human. Additionally, our students incarcerated, undertaking our unique prison outreach program, are tackling International Relations (Politics) in their summer semester studies.

Community, Connection, and Engagement through Poetry.

Our Clemente Fitzroy program in Melbourne (home of the Australian Open), plays a special role in nurturing a culture of community, connection, and engagement across our Clemente settings. It hosts a range of extra-curricular activities, including a short poetry workshop series that has sparked curiosity, creativity, and meaningful engagement among students. In this online workshop series, participants are invited to read poems aloud, encouraging them to discover their reading voice, including those who were initially too shy to speak when the program began. One student, who continues to write poetry, reflected on reading Roethke’s villanelle The Waking , sharing that it "spoke deeply to her life" and has become "her favourite poem of all time."

To learn more about Clemente Australia, check out the website and most recent publications, “Critical Hope” (Journal of Academic Language and Learning, 2025) and Lifelong Learning in Adult Education (Springer, 2025).

Course Spotlight: The Worcester Clemente Course Builds Community through Art and Connection

Thu, 16 Apr 2026 13:41:14 GMT

The Clemente Course in Worcester, MA continues to thrive through partnerships that bring the humanities to life in unexpected ways. Hosted by the Worcester Art Museum , the course benefits from inspiring classroom space and exclusive after-hours gallery tours led by Art History instructor Elissa Chase, the first of which took place in early October. A new partnership with Indigo Fire Studio in Watertown brought an especially hands-on dimension to learning this fall: the studio donated 25 pounds of clay and kiln space; and under the guidance of Mass Humanities' Sarah Carroll, students participated in a clay handbuilding class that wove together Philosophy of Art, Art History, and creative expression.

The Worcester Clemente community gathered again on December 9th for a community dinner bringing together current students, alumni, families, and community members to celebrate all things Clemente.

For student Atef Sorial, the course has opened new ways of understanding:

The Clemente Course in the Humanities gives me the opportunity to learn more about myself rather than only learning about others. It challenged my traditional way of learning. It is not about just learning, it is about learning how to learn .

From Self-Doubt to City Hall: Alumni Spotlight on Amy Howard, Port Townsend

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 18:15:54 GMT

Amy Howard on how Clemente changed her life and her community.

When Amy Howard first heard about The Clemente Course in the Humanities, she said no. Then she said no again. She thought she had “broken her brain,” that college-level humanities coursework simply wasn’t for her.

“I didn't think that I was going to be able to do it,” Amy recalls. “I didn't have the capacity to think about thinking like that at that point.” After months of gentle encouragement, Amy finally agreed to join.

Twenty years later, when asked what people should know about the Clemente Course, Amy doesn't hesitate: “I think the most important word is community .”

“When you live in poverty, when you don’t have access to a lot of these resources, it can be harder to build community. It can be harder to connect to people,” Amy explains. “Coming into the course, there’s a bunch of people you don't know sitting around a table. And then you start engaging, you start learning together, you start discussing concepts, not just things, but concepts. And you build this lifelong community. These are people that I engage with 20 years later.”

That sense of community started from day one, with an approach to learning Amy had never experienced before.

“It’s a level playing field when you come into that room, and all of the instructors that I had helped make sure that they were on that level, too,” Amy emphasizes. “They weren’t holding themselves up as higher, they weren’t like, Well, I know things and you don’t . It was, Let’s explore that together .”

Amy recalls how her Clemente Course in Port Townsend, Washington , created community through shared meals and discussions. “When I first started the program, I knew where a solid meal was coming from. I knew I was going to eat at that time, at that course. And the way that my classmates showed up made me want to show up better, which I think made them want to show up better, so it became this cyclical thing.”

Building Community, From Classroom to City Hall

Today, Amy Howard is the mayor of Port Townsend, serving her third term on the city council and sitting on the board of directors for the Association of Washington Cities. And she sees a clear through-line in her story.

“The theme all the way through… through the Clemente course, through City Council, through to the mayor position, is building community,” Amy reflects. “Is figuring out how we work together, knowing we are all weird humans. Let’s look at that and use it as an asset.”

When community members first approached her about running for city council, imposter syndrome struck again. “I was a young, working class, previously homeless woman,” Amy explains. But then she realized: “Maybe I do have a voice that is different and deserves a seat at the table...I don't need to be ashamed of the fact that I have something different to offer.” Apparently, about 76% of her community agreed.

“I would not be where I am today, quite literally, without the Clemente course.”

For Amy, the impact of Clemente extends far beyond her own life; it ripples outward through her relationships and daily interactions. “It doesn't just change my life, it changes the other lives of people that I touch as well,” she emphasizes. “The fact that I took the Clemente Course changed my husband's life, changes the tenor of our conversations, even.”

Looking Ahead

Last year, Amy joined the Clemente Alumni Council , prioritizing it even as she took on the mayor's role.

“I signed up to do this because I knew it would be joyful,” she explains. “Every meeting that I’ve had with the council, those are just absolutely fantastic people. I am fascinated by what they’re doing, and why they're doing it...I cannot wait to see where it goes.”

As mayor, Amy now visits other communities across Washington State through her work with the Association of Washington Cities. “I get to go look at all of the different fun parts of towns, and I get to ask people to show me their favorite thing about their community,” she says, bringing that same community-building spirit she first discovered at a table full of strangers in a Clemente classroom twenty years ago.

Reflecting on the broader importance and impact of the Clemente Course, Amy explains:

“The more people we have in the world that have these basic foundational humanities pieces and they are able to look at the world through those lenses, the better our world is. People are hungry for this. They want it.”

Higher Education for All: Listen to the Humanities= Podcast

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 17:53:19 GMT

25 years ago, The Clemente Course partnered with Illinois Humanities to offer free college-level humanities courses to low-income adults in Chicago through The Odyssey Project and Proyecto Odisea .

Clemente Executive Director, Dr. Aaron Rosen, recently joined Dulce Maria Diaz (Odyssey Project alumna and founder of the SHE Gallery ) and Dr. Rebecca Amato (Director of Teaching and Learning, Illinois Humanities) on the Federation of State Humanities podcast Humanities= .

In this episode, hear how this transformative program changes lives!

Links and More

S.H.E Gallery (Sharing His Energy Gallery)

“ Your Odyssey Begins Here: Three alumni on why you should restart your education with the Odyssey Project ” (Illinois Humanities)

“ Passing the Torch ” (on 2025 Odyssey Project graduates, Illinois Humanities)

Writer Phil Klay To Be Awarded the Inaugural Clemente Course in the Humanities Public Humanities Prize

Fri, 08 Aug 2025 17:44:54 GMT

The Clemente Course in the Humanities is proud to announce writer and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Phil Klay as the first recipient of the Public Humanities Prize.

The Clemente Course Public Humanities Prize , made possible through the generous support of the Mellon Foundation , honors a changemaker whose work reflects Clemente’s belief in the transformative power of the humanities in public life.

Executive Director Aaron Rosen commented, “One of the things that impresses me most about Phil’s writing is the deep empathy that underlies it, his capacity to truly understand what motivates people from all walks of life, and the fundamental questions with which they struggle. He truly speaks to the experiences of our diverse student body.”

One of Clemente’s signature programs is the Clemente Veterans’ Initiative (CVI), which utilizes great works of literature to help veterans explore questions of duty, sacrifice, and moral injury in the company of peers, with similar experiences and challenges. CVI students regularly read Klay’s work as a staple of their curriculum.

A veteran of the U.S. Marine Corps, Klay is the author of the National Book Award-winning Redeployment, the acclaimed novel Missionaries, and the essay collection Uncertain Ground. His work has appeared in The New York Times, The Atlantic, The New Yorker, and other publications. He currently teaches fiction at Fairfield University.

We will celebrate the humanities and Phil Klay on September 18, 2025, at 5 p.m. at the MassArt Design & Media Center Atrium in Boston , with a reading followed by a discussion. If you would like to attend, please click here to connect with Clemente’s Outreach Manager for more information.

For directions and parking, please visit the MassArt website . Please note that MassArt does not have a public parking lot available for visitors to campus. Parking is available at several commercial public parking facilities near campus, as well as parking meters on the surrounding streets.

Clemente Awarded Mellon Foundation Grant

Wed, 05 Mar 2025 21:34:06 GMT

Clemente Receives Largest Grant in its History

The Clemente Course has been awarded a major grant from the Mellon Foundation to support our work in bringing humanities education to underserved communities.

This 3-year, $1 million grant from the Mellon Foundation is by far the largest in our organization’s history. This transformative opportunity could not have come at a more crucial moment. Clemente serves some of the most vulnerable populations in the country–including veterans, unhoused people, justice-impacted individuals, and single mothers. Our work to support and empower these scholars through the humanities is more important than ever.

This grant enables capacity-building at multiple levels. We are excited to tell you more as we roll out new initiatives, but here are some developments to look for on the horizon:

● New courses: we will launch 3 new Clemente Courses with partner organizations around the U.S.

● Access initiatives: direct financial support to keep our 30 existing Clemente Courses thriving through increased recruitment and retention.

● Faculty professional development: Clemente faculty are some of the hardest working professionals in higher education and we are excited to offer increased opportunities for them to undertake further training and share their expertise.

● Impact research: generate fresh data about the impact Clemente has on our students’ lives, positioning Clemente as a thought-leader in public humanities.

● Expanded team: a new Outreach Manager will help us reach out across our network, especially to alumni, for whom the Outreach Manager will design a new online course focused on taking the next steps after Clemente.

● Public Humanities Award: At an annual celebration, we will celebrate the leaders in the public humanities who inspire our work. Nominations welcome!

We couldn’t be more excited to take the next step in our evolution as an organization, nearly thirty years after our founding. Your support has enabled us to reach this stage, ready to seize upon the transformative support of the Mellon Foundation.

Going forward, your support is just as crucial to Clemente. While our new grant will help us grow in exciting ways, it is your continued generosity that helps us meet our core operating expenses . Moreover, in a time of exceptional need for individual Clemente students, your gifts allow us to offer emergency support that enables students to continue their education.

We are thrilled to share this journey with you!

Warmly,

Aaron Rosen, PhD

Executive Director

The Clemente Course in the Humanities

New Clemente-inspired course launches in Michigan

Fri, 16 Feb 2024 02:35:23 GMT

Check out the Wayfinder Program launched by Calvin University in Grand Rapids!

Watch the NBC news story here . And check out the Fox news story here .

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New Clemente Chair in the Humanities at Bard

Fri, 08 Dec 2023 06:42:10 GMT

Professor Marina van Zuylen Named Clemente Chair in the Humanities at Bard College

Bard College is pleased to announce that Marina van Zuylen, Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Bard, has been named the first Clemente Chair in the Humanities. This new Chair is funded by a generous gift from two of Clemente’s long-time supporters, John and Marlene Childs.

“Bard has been Clemente’s key strategic partner for decades, providing college credits for Clemente students around the country,” said James S. Shorris, Board President of The Clemente Course. “Historically, this critical partnership has been overseen by Clemente’s National Academic Director, Professor Marina van Zuylen, in a pro bono role,” said Shorris. “We are thrilled that Prof. van Zuylen has been named the first holder of this esteemed chair, and are deeply grateful to the Childs family for their tremendous support for Clemente, and to Bard College for their enduring support and partnership.”

"My Clemente students often tell me that literature and philosophy have become their lifeline. One student, after reading Virginia Woolf, wrote in her final paper that sitting around our Clemente seminar table in the Kingston public library was her version of having a room of her own, where she finally had the mental freedom to think and imagine different worlds and new possibilities,” said van Zuylen. “Witnessing how our students gain confidence through the sheer joy of sharing their opinions, being listened to, and then processing what they have discovered, continues to be an unparalleled experience."

"I can think of no better inaugural Clemente chair that Marina van Zuylen, said Jonathan Becker, Bard’s vice president for academic affairs. “Marina is a dedicated teacher, a brilliant writer and researcher, and has demonstrated time and again her commitment to the Clemente mission of bringing rigorous liberal arts and sciences education to adults facing adverse circumstances."

About Marina van Zuylen
Marina van Zuylen is Professor of French and Comparative Literature at Bard College. She was educated in France before receiving a BA in Russian literature and a PhD in comparative literature at Harvard University. She is the author of Difficulty as an Aesthetic Principle, Monomania: Living Life as Art, The Plenitude of Distraction, and Éloge des vertus minuscules. She has published in praise of some of the most beleaguered maladies of modernity—boredom, fatigue, idleness, mediocrity—and written about snobbery, dissociative disorders, and obsessive compulsive aesthetics. She has published extensively on the work of the philosopher Jacques Rancière and has written about art and aesthetics for MoMA and other art-related venues. She has taught at Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, and the university of Paris VII. She is the national academic director of the Clemente Course in the Humanities ( clemente.bard.edu ), a free college course for underserved adults, and accepted on its behalf a National Humanities Medal from President Obama in 2014. AB, MA, PhD, Harvard University. At Bard since 1997.

About The Clemente Course in The Humanities
The Clemente Course in the Humanities provides a transformative educational experience for adults facing economic hardship in adverse circumstances. These free college humanities courses empower students to further their education and careers, to become effective advocates for themselves and their families, and engage actively in the cultural and civic lives of their communities.

The Clemente Course in the Humanities is founded on the conviction that studying the humanities enables individuals who face barriers to economic and social opportunities to develop critical, reflective and creative skills that empower them to improve their own lives and those of their families and communities.

Clemente’s seasoned professors provide a rigorous education in literature, philosophy, history, art history, and critical thinking and writing. Students do not need to have a high school diploma or GED to be admitted to study. Rooted in Clemente’s commitment to access, tuition is always free, as is the cost of books, childcare, and transportation.

Courses are accredited by higher educational institutions, primarily Clemente’s longstanding partner, Bard College. For many Clemente alumni, these college credits mark the first step toward receiving a college degree. For all students, whether they choose to pursue additional formal education or not, Clemente aims to increase civic literacy, participation, and advocacy.

Clemente has expanded substantially since its first courses more than twenty-five years ago, conceived by its visionary founder Earl Shorris. Clemente now encompasses over twenty-five courses around the country, has been honored with a National Humanities Medal, and received prestigious grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and other leading bodies. The Clemente National Board (CCH) is an indispensable resource for each Clemente course nationwide, providing assistance with student recruitment, curriculum development, staff and faculty hiring, course accreditation, grant-writing, and faculty training development.

Kingston Clemente featured in Times Union Newspaper

Fri, 22 Sep 2023 02:12:12 GMT

Bard’s Clemente Course offers free humanities classes, new chances

By Maria M. Silva , Times Union, Sept 19, 2023

KINGSTON — Michael Atkin doesn’t have a good memory of his time in college studying philosophy. “The professor hated me and I just didn’t get it,” he said.

Atkin, 65, fared better at computers, a skill that led him to several well-compensated tech jobs. That was until he was caught in a downward spiral about 10 years ago. A layoff, a divorce and a 42-day jail stint later, Atkin found himself living on the streets in Kingston. But his love for reading remained alive, and over the years, he would devour newspapers and books on politics and the economy.

Atkin had been unhoused for two years until his name came up on the lottery to move into Kingston’s Landmark Place , a supportive housing project for seniors built by the nonprofit RUPCO. That’s where, during a conversation with his neighbor, he heard about Bard College’s Clemente Course in the Humanities .

The program offers free, accredited humanities courses to disadvantaged adults who, over the course of nine months, learn about U.S. history, writing, literature, philosophy and art history through twice-weekly class discussions, readings and written assignments. The aim is to build critical thinking skills and self-advocacy.

Atkin was intimidated at first — he hadn’t been in school in decades. But he gave it a try and soon found himself looking forward to the weekly Zoom meetings, learning with others and becoming more himself in the process.

Atkin is now one of Clemente’s most recent graduates.

It took a little bit of courage. I said, ‘I failed once at this. I don’t know, we’ll see what happens.’ But these professors teach right under these banners that read ‘education is a human right’ and that dictates the way they approached us,” he said. “I went in with very high hopes and in fact, I couldn’t have even imagined how great it would be.”

Clemente Names New Executive Director

aaron@clementecourse.org (Aaron Rosen) — Thu, 21 Sep 2023 19:33:20 GMT

Dr. Aaron Rosen Offers His Vision for Free College Courses

NEW YORK, NEW YORK — The Board of Directors of The Clemente Course in the Humanities announces the appointment of its new Executive Director, Aaron Rosen, PhD.

Clemente is a national not-for-profit that delivers transformative, free college courses to economically disadvantaged adults. Since Clemente’s founder Earl Shorris first offered free humanities courses in New York City more than twenty-five years ago, Clemente has grown to include dozens of programs around the country and been honored by a National Humanities Medal.

Clemente’s Board was impressed by Dr. Rosen’s passion for reaching and supporting underserved communities. He comes to Clemente with an extensive track record working with diverse students, from Middle Eastern and South Asian immigrants in London to U.S. military veterans and Native Americans in Billings, Montana to African American and Latin American ministry students in Washington, DC.

Clemente prizes both access and excellence, with rigorous courses certified by Bard College. Dr. Rosen is ideally positioned to sustain and enhance this tradition of excellence. After receiving his PhD from the University of Cambridge, he began his career teaching at Columbia, Oxford, and Yale Universities. Dr. Rosen then moved to King’s College London, where he co-founded one of the first BA programs in Liberal Arts in England.

Most recently, Dr. Rosen served as Director of the Henry Luce III Center for the Arts and Religion at Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington, D.C. He is the author or editor of many books, including What Would Jesus See? and Art and Religion in the 21st Century , and has curated dozens of art exhibitions around the world and earned an international reputation for bringing diverse communities together through creative projects.

Dr. Rosen said, “I am thrilled to join Clemente at this pivotal moment in higher education as students face increasing hurdles and financial burdens. Clemente has succeeded by doing the opposite of what most higher education institutions have done recently. Instead of building grand structures, it educates people in spaces embedded in their communities. As college tuition soars, it remains free. As many colleges curtail or eliminate humanities programs, Clemente wagers on their enduring value.”

Dr. Rosen has outlined a dynamic vision for Clemente’s future, which includes raising funds to support the creation of new programs around the country. In addition to continuing to invest in underserved urban communities, Clemente will play an increasing role in rural communities through online offerings.

Dr. Rosen succeeds Ms. Lela Hilton as executive director. Hilton, the organization’s first executive director, will serve as Special Consultant to the National Academic Director before retiring from Clemente in March.

James Shorris, President of the Board, said: “I am delighted that Clemente has been able to attract a new Executive Director with Aaron’s stellar academic and leadership credentials. His passion for Clemente and its mission was palpable from the moment we first met him, and he has already challenged us with new ideas and strategies for building upon and expanding Clemente and serving its students. The Board thanks Lela for her inspirational service to Clemente, leaving the organization in an excellent position as it embarks on a new phase of growth.”

New Massachusetts law opens college opportunities for undocumented students

Wed, 06 Sep 2023 22:16:45 GMT

Clemente alum Joan Shauri shares her journey

https://www.nbcboston.com/news/local/undocumented-high-school-graduates-will-now-be-eligible-for-in-state-tuition-in-mass/3118994/

https://www.masslive.com/politics/2023/08/this-is-a-great-day-mass-gov-healey-advocates-celebrate-new-law-leveling-playing-field-for-undocumented-students.html

https://www.eagletribune.com/news/healey-headlines-necc-event-celebrating-tuition-equity-for-undocumented-students/article_7853c460-412e-11ee-9060-8379dc044db3.html

Congratulations Governor's Award Honoree Elizabeth Bacon

Thu, 17 Aug 2023 05:38:23 GMT

Elizabeth serves as the coordinator of the Clemente Course in the Humanities, Worcester.

MassHumanities writes: "Elizabeth built strong partnerships with many of Worcester’s colleges, religious institutions, community organizations and artists in this effort.

After a hiatus due to cuts in the city budget, Elizabeth worked tirelessly to bring the program back in 2014. The program has run successfully for more than a decade and is completely free to students including books, laptops, childcare, transportation and meals.

An accomplished educator, Elizabeth is also the founding director of two extracurricular civics programs for Worcester students: The Blackstone Canal Horse and Wagon Tours, a youth leadership development program that teaches high-school students to explore and present Worcester’s rich history to visitors and residents alike and This is MyCity!, a civics education program for elementary students."

Read a fascinating interview here with Elizabeth about her work with Clemente and other terrific organizations.

NPR's ''Says You!'' Fundraising Event

Wed, 09 Aug 2023 06:13:09 GMT

The nationally acclaimed NPR word game show, “Says You!” will present a community show benefiting the Jefferson Clemente Course, a free college humanities course for low-income adults in Port Townsend, WA.

New Paragraph

Dorchester Reporter lauds Clemente graduates

aaron@clementecourse.org (Aaron Rosen) — Fri, 07 Jul 2023 02:11:10 GMT

"Graduates hail the mind-opening values of the Clemente Course in the Humanities"

Seth Daniel, Dorchester Reporter , July 6, 2023

Excerpt from Dorchester Reporter

When Rose Dolin and her two sisters, Hans and Lynda, signed up for the one-year commitment to the Clemente Course in the Humanities at the Codman Square Neighborhood Health Center’s Adult Education program, they had no idea how many doors it would open to them intellectually. They thought they would simply be practicing English speaking and writing.

While they did do that, they also got a tutorial in the finer points of art history, among other studies. During a graduation program this spring in the Great Hall, Rose Dolin took note of how the program has changed the course of her life:

“Coming to this country six years ago has been very hard,” said the native of Haiti. “Feeling a sense of belonging in the US has always been challenging for me. Adjusting has been a really long journey. A lot of times I have felt very lonely, especially during the Covid-19 quarantine. I often asked, ‘What will I do with my life?’ I was on the verge of really giving up before Clemente. For me, Clemente opened up my eyes to so many things with American history, writing, art history and English. I feel enlightened.”

The Clemente Course in the Humanities has been in operation at the Health Center for 22 years. It is sponsored there by the Mass Cultural Council as one of five Clemente Course sites around the state that provide low-income adults with college-level introductory humanities courses, free of charge, for credit that is awarded by Bard College."

Read more from the Dorchester Reporter feature on Clemente

Clemente Is Hiring an Executive Director

Tue, 28 Feb 2023 19:57:00 GMT

After almost 10 years, Lela Hilton is stepping down as Clemente's Executive Director in Summer 2023. Lela has guided and supported the 30+ Clemente Courses across the country through a time of expansion and change, including helping programs navigate the COVID-19 pandemic, developing the Clemente Veterans' Initiative, and launching our recent Inflection Points seminars for graduates. We are grateful for her vision and her years of service.

Clemente seeks a new Executive Director (ED) to lead the organization at a time when our mission could not be more critical. We are looking for a dynamic, entrepreneurial leader with demonstrated organizational and fundraising skills in higher education, public humanities, and nonprofits. Primary responsibilities include board development, donor relations, and fundraising efforts to support Clemente’s network of 30+ programs. The ideal Executive Director will be a self-directed strategic thinker with a proven track record in fundraising and working collaboratively with non-profit boards and staff.

The ED will lead a national team that supports local Clemente Courses to increase student success and support innovation, new programs, and initiatives developed through local, regional, and national partnerships. For more information or to apply, please see the full job description:

PBS POV Announces Clemente as A Recipient of the 6th Annual 'Our America: Documentaries in Dialogue' Grant

Thu, 13 Oct 2022 17:53:25 GMT

The grant will fund documentary programming in our new Oakland, CA Clemente Course

Thanks to PBS POV (a cinema term for "Point of View"), Clemente students in Oakland, CA will enjoy an integrated curriculum centered around the documentary Manzanar, Diverted: When Water Becomes Dust . Readings will include the Declaration of Independence, writings and art promoting the idea of manifest destiny, art from internment camps and indigenous art and artifacts, and essays such as Joan Didion's "Slouching Towards Bethlehem" to explore the relationships between individuals, communities, and our planet. Scholars will also take field trips to local natural and cultural resources such as Angel Island and the Oakland Museum of California to immerse themselves in the rich history and ecosystem of Northern California. At the end of the course, students will work together to curate a public viewing of a documentary of their choosing, featuring a panel that will express the themes and ideas they discussed in class.

For more information about PBS POV and the Our America grants, please see their press release . We are so grateful for this funding, and look forward to exploring documentary filmmaking with our inaugural Oakland course!

Remembering Grace Glueck

Wed, 12 Oct 2022 17:28:00 GMT

The Clemente Course in the Humanities mourns the passing of our supporter and friend Grace Glueck. An early advocate of Clemente, Grace volunteered to teach Art History in our first ever course at the Roberto Clemente Family Guidance Center in Lower Manhattan.

In addition to inspiring our students, she was a role model for generations of female journalists, spearheading a groundbreaking lawsuit against the New York Times that paved the way for better working conditions for women in newsrooms across the country. Find out more about Grace in the Times' obituary here , and join us in celebrating her legacy of fearlessness, confidence, advocacy for the arts, and intellectual curiosity.

Rhode Island Partnership Gets a Standing Ovation

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 18:50:00 GMT

Shakespeare famously said “all the world’s a stage,” and for the Providence Clemente Veterans’ Initiative , so is the classroom. Thanks to a long-standing partnership with the prestigious Trinity Repertory Company , PCVI’s veteran scholars are able to watch their readings come to life as actors perform scenes from plays like Antigone and Arthur Miller’s All My Sons . Afterwards, the Trinity team participates in classroom discussions to weigh in on plot, characters, and theme.

For student Jeremy Bergantini, the research and preparation that the Trinity actors put into their performances helps make the characters feel real. He believes that it also helps build understanding and connection between the veterans–many of whom have lived experience with the themes explored in the plays–and the actors.

“We have our personal experiences that we might be able to relate to some of the characters, but to be able to talk to the actors afterwards about how they view the roles they are playing personifies them even more,” says Jeremy. “It has to touch the actors almost the same way it touches us, so it’s a really good way for those enacting the play to really understand where we’re coming from. And then neither of us has to feel so isolated or alone anymore.”

The actors agree that sharing this experience with the students provides a deepened perspective, sometimes on characters and plays they’ve been working with for years.

“You rarely get the opportunity to do a piece specifically for the group it’s written about,” says Trinity actor Rachael Warren.

The partnership grew out of Trinity’s commitment to theater education in the Rhode Island community, which also includes programs for schoolchildren and teens as well as patrons with disabilities. Artistic Director Curt Columbus, who has family in the military, feels a deep personal connection to the veterans programming, and especially loves working on the ancient Greek plays.

“The thing that is really visible in the conversations with the students is the ways in which they take in these texts,” he says. “You think, how is it possible that over the course of 20 centuries, this could still feel so personal? That’s the revelation to me.”

Though PCVI’s regular meetings will continue on Zoom, the class takes the opportunity to collaborate with Trinity in person whenever possible. Last November, many students participated in an event hosted by Trinity called Veterans Voices, which featured performances, readings, and music from those who wished to reflect on their military service ( watch a recording of the event here ). Student Bill Millette, who was one of the speakers, said that the event made him feel like part of a community and helped him forge new connections with his classmates and other audience members.

Curt, who helped organize Veterans Voices, remembers Bill’s reading vividly.

“It was just one of those moments where you go, wow. These stories are so significant, and they’re not heard,” he recalls. “The next step is to hone in on these stories and find ways to bring them forward.” In the coming years, with plans to expand the Veterans Voices series, Trinity and PCVI will do just that.

A State of the Art Collaboration in Springfield

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 18:47:00 GMT

Most of the time, students learn art history through books and images projected on a screen. But thanks to an innovative local partnership, Clemente students in Springfield, MA, are able to get up close and personal with their studies by attending class inside an art museum!

The Springfield Museums were established over 160 years ago on the conviction that art should not be hidden behind the walls of a private house, but shared with the world. Today, that founding legacy is honored by the organization’s generous roster of programming designed to make art accessible to the Springfield community.

“We believe that direct access to the beauty and creativity of art—being able to really look close, see methods, see brush marks—is inspiring and makes the study of art history more rich, because it is also tangible,” says Karen Fisk, Vice President of Community Investment and External Affairs for Springfield Museums. The space provides a beautiful and inspiring backdrop for Clemente, especially when the class explores individual works through the lens of their readings and discussions.

Meeting in the museum also allows students to become comfortable and familiar with the space. All over the country, students have reported that participation in Clemente changed their perception of cultural institutions, helping them feel at home in spaces that may have once seemed rarefied and intimidating. According to Karen, the Springfield students bring a “positive, electric energy” to the space.

Soon Springfield Museums and Clemente will take their partnership further to improve the gallery experience for patrons who are Blind or low vision. Students will have the opportunity to choose a favorite work of art and write the script for an audio description of the piece, including physical aspects like the work’s size and medium as well as contextual information about the artist and their intent. Museum staff will collaborate, offering suggestions on the text, and then students will record their final description, becoming a part of the chorus of voices working to make cultural spaces more accessible to all.

“The partnership between Springfield Museums and Clemente recognizes Clemente scholars as community members welcomed into the Museum space, and Clemente scholars as knowledge producers supporting access and understanding to the art,” says Gina Ocasion, the Academic Director of the Springfield course. “As with all Clemente sites, this access and value goes beyond the currently enrolled scholars to model a connection with art, history, community, and current events for the children, parents, and friends of Clemente.”

New Alumni Programming Expands Opportunities for Graduates

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 18:44:00 GMT

This summer’s launch of the Inflection Points Seminar , “Time, Memory, and Transformation: Restoring the Salish Sea,” offered through Antioch University with support from the National Endowment for the Humanities , marked the first time that Clemente graduates nationally have been able to take ongoing classes together, regardless of their location. A new roster of offerings this fall will expand these opportunities.

Clemente’s alumni programming aims to create new ways for graduates to engage in intellectual exploration and build community, and in some cases earn more college credits as well. All programming is free to participants, offered virtually, and open to any Clemente graduate.

Each month, the Clemente Conversations series will bring in a faculty member or expert alum to present on a topic and lead a discussion. Topics range from environmental justice to W.E.B. DuBois to the connection between creativity and community engagement. Plus, a partnership with PBS’s POV independent film series will enable us to screen and discuss a documentary with its film team.

A semester-long class will interrogate the creative process , looking at contemporary artists like Kehinde Wiley, Lynda Barry, and Poet Laureate Ada Limón while working through the seminal creativity manual, The Artist’s Way. And this winter, our next Inflection Points Seminar will focus on environmental humanities .

We’ve long known that graduating from a Clemente Course marks the beginning of a journey, not the end of one. Our new alumni programming expands the ways that journey can continue.

Graduates can learn more about course offerings on our website and subscribe to our alumni network newsletter for updates.

South Carolina Program Provides Learning Experience for All

Tue, 06 Sep 2022 18:42:00 GMT

In a unique partnership in Charleston, South Carolina, a local Clemente Course has teamed up with the Medical University of South Carolina on a project designed to empower students to advocate for their own health needs and care—and give future providers the opportunity to learn from real patient experiences.

Originally created in 2015, the Health Awareness Series is a sequence of lectures and facilitated classroom discussions designed by MUSC medical students to provide information about healthy lifestyles and navigating systems like health insurance. The initial series focused on eight topics, such as nutrition and exercise, that were chosen based on existing research about community health needs in the Charleston area.

When the pandemic hit, the project sadly went dormant. But it was revived in 2022 by a small, dedicated group of students and supervising doctors who felt that there was more work to be done. They took the opportunity to reimagine the curriculum, surveying current and past Clemente participants to make sure that the conversation topics aligned with participant interests and covered knowledge gaps. MUSC student feedback mentioned that the honest and open conversations with Clemente participants gave the medical students a rare opportunity to talk to community members about their experiences in the healthcare system, beyond the usual limitations of a hospital or office setting.

“Moving forward, we’re emphasizing that it’s not about us coming in to tell people what should be important to them, it’s asking them about what is important to them and how we can help them find credible information about the topics they want to learn about,” says Thomas Agostini, one of the student directors of the project.

The team is also looking forward to expanding the reach of the Health Awareness Series to anyone with an Internet connection; they’ve secured grant funding from MUSC and Gold Humanism Honor Society , a foundation that champions humanism in healthcare, to take the project online. The online curriculum will include five new sessions on topics proposed by Clemente students: diabetes, high blood pressure, cancer screening, vaccines, and advanced care planning. The preliminary website for the project, which includes links to many of these modules, is available here.

“I’m so thankful for the guidance of our great faculty mentors in restarting this program,” Thomas says. “It was important to make it a learning opportunity for medical students on how to go about doing community engagement in a way that is considerate of everyone. We’re looking forward to working with Clemente and other organizations in Charleston to make the program accessible and provide ways for people to give suggestions of what they want to see in the future.”

Meet Amy Howard, Port Townsend Graduate and City Council Member

Wed, 24 Aug 2022 14:53:00 GMT

This reflection originally appeared on our site in 2018.

Amy Howard is a member of the Port Townsend, WA City Council and is the executive director of the Boiler Room, a community art and social service center.

"I thought I was going to be working in dead end jobs forever. Clemente showed me that I could think and that my ideas were valid. Now I encourage my volunteers and staff to take the Clemente Course because I know that it can change lives.

I grew up in a town of 500 people then moved to Seattle after high school. I became addicted to methamphetamines. When I decided to leave that scene, two street kids put me on the ferry and sent me to Port Townsend. I was homeless at the time, but I volunteered at the Boiler Room and that gave me a purpose.

I learned about Clemente when the program director gave a presentation at the Boiler Room. At first I was afraid to even try learning because I was scared that my addiction had ruined my brain, but the academic director made it seem so interesting that I decided to try.

Clemente was amazing. The subject matter was fascinating and the teachers were engaging. Most importantly, I was surrounded by other people who also faced challenging circumstances but were equally engaged, and wanted to learn. It was the catalyst that I needed to change my life."

Meet Corey Saffold, Odyssey Graduate and Change Agent

Wed, 17 Aug 2022 13:49:00 GMT

This profile originally appeared on our site in 2018.

Around the state of Wisconsin, people travel to hear Corey Saffold speak. The Madison police officer was tapped by the Wisconsin Humanities Council to offer a series of lectures about his work. In “The Paradox of Being a Black Police Officer in Today’s Society,” he reflects on the contention between law enforcement and the African American community in the wake of killings of unarmed black men both locally and nationally.

Corey says he could have never found his way to this role if not for the year he spent in a Clemente-inspired classroom.

Corey graduated from the Odyssey Project at the University of Wisconsin in 2006, spending two semesters immersed in the humanities. Before enrolling, he’d never taken a college class and he considered himself a passive person. He says that he felt embarrassed admitting that he needed help to go back to school. That changed when he met Dr. Emily Auerbach, Odyssey founder and director.

“I was so impressed by her passion for educating people,” he said, “and believing that education can be a turning point in someone’s life.”

For Corey, it clearly was. He says that almost immediately, a switch flipped. He took his time developing his writing and public speaking skills, never missing a class. By the time the year was over, he’d published an op-ed in the Wisconsin State Journal titled “Education Must Trump Prison Time,” a piece that opened with a quote from Frederick Douglass.

Corey was on his way to a career in law enforcement and activism. He joined the police department in 2009, completed his associate’s degree, and is now earning his bachelor’s at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. But it’s his work toward social justice, whether as a friendly face in uniform at a high school or as a leader on equity issues in his department, where he is most engaged. He understands the power of using his voice on behalf of the greater good.

“The program sends us out to be change agents, and that is exactly what I do every day at work, by providing dignity to someone, respect to someone, speaking out against injustice,” he said. “All of that started with the Odyssey Project.”

Meet Jewel Walcott, A Kingston Clemente Graduate Who is Rocking the Vote

Wed, 03 Aug 2022 13:54:00 GMT

This profile originally appeared on our site in 2017.

One thing that’s clear about Jewel Walcott is that she never stops learning. A graduate of the course in Kingston, NY—where she was selected commencement speaker the following year—Jewel carries a notebook with her wherever she goes. “I use it to write down random thoughts,” she says, “or I watch a movie and find myself unintentionally writing an essay about it. My Clemente writing instructor gave me permission to express myself on paper.”

Held at the Culinary Institute of America in nearby Hyde Park, NY, with speakers from the Democrat and Republican parties, as well as a keynote from County Executive Marcus Molinaro, the event drew young people from all over the area. Forty people registered to vote that night, in time for the 2016 presidential election.

For Jewel, this means supporting young people in building good lives. She recognized that there wasn’t much workforce training available locally for those who didn’t go to college. Since she and her partner in an event planning business, Blueprint Consulting, have lots of experience in the hospitality industry, they decided to change that. They piloted a 10-week training covering topics like food handling, customer service, resume writing, and even a pop-up café. The program is licensed through the New York Labor Department and is set to run its second class in the spring.

Those who knew Jewel as a young person wouldn’t be surprised to hear she’s making such a difference in her community. She graduated third in her high school class, was in the National Honor Society, and began college at Temple University in Philadelphia in 2000. But she lacked the funding and support to graduate. She actually spent her first semester without money for books, somehow eking by without them. After two years at Temple, she withdrew.

“Everyone I knew expected me to graduate college and do great things, so I felt like a failure and was very disappointed in myself,” she says. “Clemente restored my faith in my ability to learn. It was my second chance to prove something to myself.”

In addition to her community involvement, Jewel works in the Bard College Development Office, where she handles all receipts, writes gift acknowledgement letters, and assists the Director of Parent Programs. She got the job after graduating from Clemente when she spotted two women with Bard badges at an event and introduced herself. “I mentioned that I was a proud Clementine,” she said, referring to the nickname many Clemente students and faculty use. “One woman said they had some openings. I looked into it and felt that Bard was the right fit.”

At Bard and in the community, Jewel demonstrates her commitment to learning and creating opportunities for others. Marina van Zuylen, Jewel’s professor and Academic Director of the Bard Clemente Course says, “To me, Jewel embodies the Clemente philosophy: every human being should be allowed a way out of his or her inner and outer constraints, and what better than the humanities to jump start this process?”

Spotlight: Janine de Novais, Member of the Clemente Board of Directors

Wed, 27 Jul 2022 15:38:00 GMT

We are so excited to announce that scholar and writer Janine de Novais has joined the Clemente Course Board of Directors. A graduate of Harvard and Columbia, Janine spent many years working at Columbia's Center for the Core Curriculum , a program that offers all Columbia students a grounding in the humanities to scaffold their further studies, regardless of their major. While working at the Center for the Core, Janine met Columbia professor (and Clemente board member!) Dawn Delbanco , and the two stayed in touch as Janine's path led her to her doctorate and further academic work at Harvard and the University of Delaware. When a seat on our board became available earlier this year, Dawn reached out to Janine, whose experience and passion for the humanities make her a natural fit (and a wonderful resource for Clemente).

Get to know Janine with our quick Q&A!

What do you do outside of the Clemente universe—for work and for play?

I’m a writer and newly independent scholar. I’ve been an academic for the last decade, more if we consider my work on higher education administration. I work on race, culture, and critical pedagogy. I’m a student of human culture—even when I teach about it.

Excellent times with friends and family is my favorite kind of play. Besides that? Writing (I have 3 projects I’m working on), reading, movies, travel, and I have a serious podcast habit.

What makes Clemente and the study of the humanities special to you?

“The humanities” is a specialized name for “thinking about culture”, so they are everyone’s birthright and everyone’s inheritance. Unfortunately, our world has become increasingly hostile to the idea that all people are more than their labor and have interior lives worth cultivating. So the humanities are not taught except in a very small elite set of institutions. I believe, like Clemente does, that engagement with the humanities should be widely accessible because it’s such an integral part of the human experience.

Please share a favorite Clemente memory, or something about the program that makes you proud to share your time and support!

For many years, my good friend Tim McCarthy told me about his “course” that he taught outside of his regular job at a university. I’ve heard many amazing stories from Tim, who I’ve known since he was a grad student to be a masterful teacher, about this course. Imagine my happy surprise when I found out, when joining the Board, that it was a Clemente course. I’m incredibly proud to be of service to the work that Tim and other Clemente teachers and learners are doing.

Meet Irene Salas, A Free Minds Graduate Expanding Her Horizons

Thu, 21 Jul 2022 15:29:00 GMT

This profile originally appeared on our site in 2017.

On the last night of class this year in Free Minds , Irene Salas addressed the students she had mentored since August. “Thank you for your courage,” she told them. “Thank you for your persistence. And most of all, thank you for bringing your voices – your individual voices – to the room. I love to hear all of y’all because it makes the world a lot bigger.”

It was the desire to make her own world bigger that led Irene to Free Minds in the summer of 2013. She was just turning 40 with a husband, two children, and an extended family she helped care for. She had hungered to go to college, but had never even taken a class. In fact, no one in her family ever had. Then her husband Benny received an email about Free Minds at his job in maintenance at the City of Austin. He shared it with Irene.

“I told him it was too good to be true. Who’s going to pay your tuition, pay your books, watch your kids, and feed you? C’mon.”

Irene admits she almost didn’t finish the program after encountering a family crisis. She was ready to give up when a Free Minds professor talked to her as they walked to their cars after class. He offered empathy and helped her realize that quitting was the easier route, but not the best one. Since then, Irene has been a model of dedication. She has attended classes at Austin Community College each semester, working toward a degree in liberal arts that she plans to further with bachelor and master’s degrees. This fall she was inducted into the local chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, the national honor society, in recognition of her academic achievement. It’s clear that what happens in a Clemente Course impacts not just the individual student but the world around them, and Irene is the perfect example of that. Her success ripples outward. Her presence in the Free Minds classroom helps others move toward their goals. And in June 2016 her husband Benny started taking college classes, earning As just like his wife. Their two children are awestruck at how hard their parents are working. And Irene knows their worlds are growing bigger as a result. “They are both seeing that education helps you to be the kind of person you always wanted to be,” Irene says. “I’m glad they are getting to see us do it. In turn they are going to be much better versions of themselves a lot earlier than Benny and I are getting to be. If they thought we were good before, imagine how much better we are going to be in the next few years.”

The Power of Telling Your Story: Portland Alumna Sosan Amiri's Journey to Advocacy

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 18:23:00 GMT

This spring, in graduation ceremonies across the country, Clemente students spoke passionately about how their time in the classroom gave them the tools they needed to tell their stories. Alumni often report that participation in the course helped them become better advocates for themselves and their families ; in the case of Sosan Amiri, an alumna of the Portland-based Humanity in Perspective course, these skills helped her gain the confidence to address some of the highest-ranking politicians in the nation.

Sosan was born in Kabul, Afghanistan, and lived for a time in Russia before her family received refugee visas to enter the United States. She enrolled in Humanity in Perspective in 2019 as a way to strengthen her English, finding herself especially absorbed in conversations about social justice movements. When the US withdrew from Afghanistan in 2021, Sosan realized that someone needed to advocate on behalf of those left behind. After contacting dozens of senators, she became involved with the effort to evacuate hundreds of refugees from the country, and was invited to speak to members of Congress about her work.

In June, Sosan sat down with HIP's Academic Director, Rozzell Medina, to talk about her experience and how the course helped her find her voice. Read an excerpt of their conversation on Oregon Humanities' blog , or listen to the whole interview on their podcast, The Detour !

Notes on The Power of the Classroom, from Academic Director Amelia Pace-Borah

Fri, 01 Jul 2022 15:11:00 GMT

For ten years, Amelia Pace-Borah has served as the Academic Director of Free Minds Austin , providing mentorship, support, and encouragement to every single student who entered the program. 2021-2022 was Amelia's last year in the role, and she shared the following reflection at the program's graduation ceremony in May.

Some of you know that this is my last Free Minds graduation as academic director—after ten years of working with Free Minds, I am stepping away from my position at the end of this month. So I am reflecting tonight on the remarkable Free Minds students of 2021 and 2022—and I’m also reflecting on the meaning that this program has held for me over these years, which has been profound.

And what I want to shout from the rooftops—from one completely biased—is a secret that Free Minds faculty and students already know. The Free Minds classroom is a unique and special place, a place that is difficult to sum up in words—but I’m gonna try.

In Free Minds, it isn’t just that we read texts that we may not casually pick up on our own. We navigate our confusion, we write down our thoughts, we share our ideas with each other. We do this to examine our ideas out in the light, to open ourselves up to feedback. The courage that you students have shown is a crucial part of the learning process, and it’s hard. In thinking of our class as a brave space, I’m reminded of an essay that we read together in fall 2021—an essay by poet and activist Audre Lorde. In this essay called “The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action,” Lorde writes about how a cancer diagnosis forces her to face up to her mortality, saying

“In becoming forcibly and essentially aware of my mortality and of what I wished and wanted for my life… what I most regretted were my silences. Death might be coming quickly without regard for whether I had ever spoken what needed to be said… And I began to recognize a source of power, within myself that comes from the knowledge that while it is most desirable not to be afraid, learning to put fear into perspective gave me great strength.”

I’ll say that again, learning to put fear into perspective gave me great strength.

So much of what we have done together has been to put our fear of speaking and writing into perspective, so we can practice the courage needed in order to learn.

The Free Minds classroom is also a place where we encounter each other across difference in order to share a common experience. Our classes over the past few years have been rich in their diversity—our paths came together through this class, and we know that we arrived here from all different directions—I mean all different directions.

In spring 2022, we began the semester thinking about Nigerian novelist Chimamanda Adichie’s TED talk , called “The danger of a single story.” In her talk, Adichie argues that the single story of a people or nation or culture can lead to stereotyping and dehumanization. But she says,

“Many stories matter...stories can be used to empower and to humanize. Stories can break the dignity of a people. But stories can also repair that broken dignity.”

By coming together, sharing even small bits of our stories, being open to each other’s perspectives in their complexity, we have expanded our ability to see the humanity in all those around us.

Finally, at its best, the Free Minds classroom is a space of joy, playfulness, and fun. Maybe it is because we often deal in challenging topics—but we laugh a lot in Free Minds. And this brings me back to Helen Keller’s autobiography The Story of My Life — Michelle just shared a portion of this with us, and this is another piece that we often read together toward the start of the semester. In describing how Helen Keller’s teacher Ann Sullivan approaches lessons, Keller writes,

“Even when I studied most earnestly it seemed more like play than work… whenever anything delighted or interested me Miss Sullivan talked it over with me just as if she were a little girl herself. What many children think of with dread, as painful plodding through grammar, hard sums and harder definitions, is today one of my most precious memories.”

To put this another way, as the wonderful Free Minds alum Ebonie Trice told us in a recent visit to our class: Learning should be fun. There’s an innate pleasure in the process of discovery, in understanding something new. There is a joy in learning something like how to write a clear thesis statement, how to read a poem or unpack a visual image. Truthfully anyone who has visited Free Minds has seen the way that our Free Minds faculty—Matthew, Pat, Vivé, Karma, Janis, A.R.—share a love of what they teach and a love of learning that is infectious.

And so, to wrap this up, students and everyone gathered here tonight, as you all move into the next phase of your journey, there will be so much more to learn.

And my hope is that you’ll approach that learning with courage, that you’ll seek out spaces to be in conversation across lines of difference, and that you’ll cultivate that seed of curiosity within you—the part of you that finds learning as necessary to life as breath.

Congratulations and best wishes to you all!

Stirring Words from 2022 Dorchester Graduate Diana Scott

Tue, 14 Jun 2022 17:08:00 GMT

This year, we're inviting everyone to join us in celebrating Clemente graduates across the globe. Below, read the graduation address that Diana Scott shared with the 2022 class of Dorchester Clemente.

Let me first thank all those who played any part in bringing the Clemente Program to Boston specifically Dorchester, MA. It has been one of the most affirming and exhilarating experiences of my lifetime.

I want to appreciate the instructors and interns who passionately presented lessons in their areas of expertise and who labored in connecting with us, where you found us, to impart the wisdom and truths gained yourselves over so many years of intensive study. You accurately discerned our levels of comprehension and personally took it upon yourselves to slow down or accelerate so that we might not only walk away with new information but new insight as well.

I want to thank my peers for standing in there for the long haul and I am so appreciative of the bonds and connections that we have made. For jointly figuring things out in those break-out rooms and returning with credible offerings. I will never forget you.

Over fifty years ago I stood to encourage a group of bright and energetic graduates, of which I was one, as we eagerly stepped forward to discover and conquer new worlds. I remember quoting a few words from Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill, “This is not the end. It is not the beginning of the end. It is RATHER the end of the beginning.” Most of us are beginning again but for others of us this is a magnificent CALIBRATION, a second-wind of sorts, even a RE-CALIBRATION. I love to bake. The one thing I abhor is an oven that does not perform as it should. Unacceptable! So you bring in the experts to clean and breakdown and reassemble and blowout. If that doesn’t work you get a new oven. Thankfully most times the adjustments work. Especially for things that are fearfully and wonderfully made.

Over the past ten months as we engaged in lessons of art, literature, poetry, writing, history and philosophy and with some soul-searching we have been able to relate with the expressions, dictates and demands of the artists, writers and statesmen. Their existences and predicaments, their victories and celebrations were not so unique to them and as a matter of fact we are still solving and resolving and evolving from some of the same issues of the past. Their humanity has become our humanity. Let us pray that their inhumanity does not become ours.

The great digs discover aspects of a cultures past. They uncover how they lived, how they slept, the kind of dishes they used, the kinds of instruments they played and the kinds of wars they fought – all features of their communities. A forensic archeologist can also tell the stories of how groups of people related to one another; how they loved one another but also how they despised and hated one another.

In these humanities courses we studied issues of slavery and segregation red-lining and separation; issues of gender in both races; creation of wealth and wealth gaps; poverty of immigrants and the utter desecration of race and wars.

Today architects, artists, designers create these same components to accommodate the style of living that people gravitate towards today. Tomorrow others will uncover the stories about our lives. After all the digging and excavating of the Twenty-first century components, will our stories be different? Will the artifacts of our lives tell a story of continual decline of humans toward one another or will a picture be painted of a people who moved closer together in community and camaraderie and hope?

My fellow graduates, while the past may have disappointed our elders and brought us to a place where, even with the passage of many laws to the contrary, we still view strange fruit all around us.

We cannot afford to remain indifferent. A former anti-Semitic Nazi supporter turned Lutheran priest came to weighty conclusion in his writing, ‘First they Came’ . Martin Niemoller said,

“First they came for the socialists; but I did not speak out because I was not a socialist.

First they came for the trade unionists; but I did not speak out because I was not a trade unionists.

First they came for the Jews; but I did not speak out because I was not a Jew.

Then they came for me, BUT there was no one left to speak for me.”

Life will come for us, so we must live our lives with the courage of our convictions and observant of the golden rule where possible.

I call not Martin or Malcolm or Fannie or Maya into the room… but Marianne Williamson…

“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous?' Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you... We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same…”

Thank you Clemente, you have unleashed sleeping giants. We have asked and answered a question for ourselves. What will we do with our new beginnings and calibrations? What will be our take-away?

We must move away from this reflection pool because we cannot stay here - ‘downtown’. We must travel back ‘uptown’ where we can make the most impact; where we will play it forward. We must determine to die empty. Our content, our outlook, our mental and emotional intelligence and agility, our mental acumen can no longer be confined to the denigrating and humiliating form of assimilation. We no longer fit into the narrow boxes and confines allotted to us by a society that is indifferent to our needs – our personal needs, our family needs or our community’s needs. We go back A-B-L-E.

St-ABLE

Unstop-ABLE

Uncontain-ABLE

Reli-ABLE

Sustain-ABLE

Remark-ABLE; Remark-ABLE; Remark-ABLE; Remark-ABLE…

[The Graduates say]

“Thank You Clemente, we got this. We’ll take it from here!”

Diana Scott has resided in the Roxbury section of Boston for over fifty years and has seen the neighborhood go from urban blight to privileged thriving by way of gentrification. Inspired by the curated Clemente offerings, the staff and her peers, she leaves the course with a great sense of empowerment and motivation. Her hope is that she and others have emerged to thrive with the power and courage of their convictions so as to bring peace and stability to their homes, neighborhoods and abroad. Her personal mantra is, “If I can help someone, then and only then, my living will not be in vain.”

As an avid reader who loves to bake with a developing ‘book in her belly’, Diana is involved in Women’s ministry within her local congregation, Holy Tabernacle Church-Dorchester, where she seeks to holistically empower others in their spirit, mind and body.

"We Started A Journey," A Graduation Poem from 2022 Grad Jamie Thrasher

Tue, 14 Jun 2022 17:07:00 GMT

This year, we're inviting everyone to join us in celebrating Clemente graduates across the globe. Below, learn about Springfield graduate Jamie Thrasher in her own words, and read the graduation poem she wrote to share with her classmates!

My name is Jamie Lee Thrasher and I am a Clemente graduate of 2022. I am a mom of 5, grandmother to one and 31 years old. I joined Clemente at a local community event run by my mother in law and had the pleasure of meeting Brenda Hill. She introduced me to the program and followed up with me for weeks talking me through all of my concerns and helping me decide if this was the right choice for me.

I am so inexplicably happy that she did. This program came into my life at a time that I had no idea where I was heading or what I wanted as a career. Also due to Covid as a combination social butterfly/introvert I was feeling alone and under-stimulated. But having my classmates meet me in my room every Monday and Wednesday subdued the loneliness. Especially as we began to share our stories and our everyday issues.

By the end of my courses I made so many new friends and connections I never thought would be possible and my future goals are now a little more clear. Even now after graduation, the opportunities are still presenting themselves to me.

Through my classmates' support, I have started a manuscript that I hope one day will be a book I can be proud of and share with so many others. I can never thank the Clemente Program enough for the impact they have had on me and my future.

We Started a Journey

By Jamie Thrasher

We started a journey

Unknowing the outcome

Looking for more education

But we found so much more

Together we found a family

We found a truly deep bond

With each class discussion

We began to not only see ourselves

We saw each other

Whether the topic was heated or happy

Every answer was celebrated or acknowledged

Our difference in age had no effect

A hardship was shared amongst us

And the support was endless

Our bond was built in a tumble of various classes

In creative writing

We learned not only how to write

But how to write with passion and power

And we really got to see everyone

As a writer, a student, and a person

In Philosophy

We learned where our morals stand

We learned to question our view points

And each other

And we grew together as a group

In History

We learned our true history

It opened so many doors and questions

And again together we learned and grew

In Literature Class

We learned we all have dysfunctional families

Within each story we saw all sides

Of the stories and of each other

In Art History

We learned there's always more to see

There’s always a rhyme and reason

And sometimes deep dives are called for

Because here your interpretation matters!

What a road we have traveled

Which ended not at a destination

But to more open road

Where we hopefully find

Our passions and explore them more

Where we hopefully find

our next destination

That brings us closer to who we want to be

But I hope theses roads intersect

And we find our way back to each other

This isn’t just a graduating class

This is the Clemente Family of 2022

And I am proud of each and every one of us

Meet Dianna Calvente, Odyssey Project Graduate Sharing Her Love of Learning with Her Own Students

Wed, 08 Jun 2022 15:20:00 GMT

Though Dianna Calvente is celebrating her graduation from our Chicago course, Odyssey Project , this spring, her journey with Clemente began long ago. Dianna first began the course in 2013, but a difficult pregnancy led to a hospitalization that put her academic plans on pause. After she recovered, Dianna’s interest in health and wellness led her down another path as she trained to become a yoga instructor and an Ayurvedic health consultant.

Although she loved the work, Dianna never forgot about her Odyssey experience.

“It was a bummer for me that I couldn’t finish, but even just the time that I was there, I really enjoyed it,” she says.

A few years ago she decided to reapply, just missing the application deadline. Odyssey staff encouraged her to apply again the next year, but then the pandemic hit.

Finally, in fall of 2021, Dianna was able to get back into the classroom. Even though it was a different group of students than her first cohort, she still felt at home in the Clemente environment.

“We all felt comfortable in our virtual space to ask questions, to not be afraid to be ourselves, and to express ourselves without being judged,” Dianna says. “My experience in high school and elementary school was that if I didn’t understand something, my teachers would move on, and then I got stuck and didn’t understand the next thing and then I just kind of gave up. [In Odyssey], if there were things we didn’t understand, we could always go back to it.”

Dianna’s love of supportive, student-driven learning is reflected in her work co-leading a program called Breaking Ground , which provides a learner-centered environment for adults pursuing high school equivalency. In Breaking Ground, success in college/career pathways is defined through a reflective process, with holistic offerings focusing on career skills and mental and physical wellness.

“We started Breaking Ground to think about the whole student,” says Dianna. “In that way we are very similar to Odyssey because our intentions are for the person to be able to fulfill what they have been wanting to do all along, no matter what their situation is.”

Dianna has urged several of her Breaking Ground students to enroll in the Odyssey Project, a partnership that she is passionate about continuing. And in the meantime, though she’s sad to leave the Odyssey classroom, she’s excited to keep in touch with her classmates and cheer them on in their future endeavors.

“The relationships that we built in the class, with our classmates, are beautiful,” she says. “It really feels like we’re building a community, and we can move forward together.”

Meet Samantha Jordan, Odyssey Project Graduate Changing her Neighborhood for the Better

Wed, 25 May 2022 15:09:00 GMT

Samantha Jordan found the Chicago Clemente course, Odyssey Project , in the midst of a personal reckoning. The pandemic shutdown had recently upended her family’s life, and their usual routines—school, work, and live performance,

which was critical to Samantha’s art as a hip hop musician —were stripped away.

Rather than sinking into despair, Samantha decided to use the sudden change to pursue new goals, working to connect with community organizations in her neighborhood of Austin and signing up for Odyssey as a first step toward going back to school. By 2022, she had won a $1.5 million grant to renovate a local park, started recording a new EP, founded a new open mic series on the North Side, changed careers to advocate for housing justice, graduated the Odyssey Project, and begun filming a documentary about her journey.

“Looking back, I definitely think it was too much at once,” she laughs, but she was grateful that her Odyssey professors encouraged the all-remote class to participate in whatever way made them most comfortable. “I remember Michael, one of the instructors, was like ‘There’s days when you’re not going to feel like showing up, but once you do, I promise you you’ll be glad.’ That was absolutely true. I just loved that everybody was just like me, tired of just work, work, work…trying to get back to humanity. No pun intended.”

Samantha says her experience in Odyssey gave her the confidence to pursue higher education. The supportive, noncompetitive atmosphere helped foster a sense of belonging and personal connection that she worried would be missing in a traditional lecture hall filled with hundreds of people.

Her classes also sparked an interest in new forms of creative expression, like short stories. She considers the Clemente model revolutionary, as a firm believer that revolution takes many forms: “It’s not just yelling and screaming. It’s giving yourself the freedom to look at a painting and express what it makes you feel…it’s taking back your time so you can write your short story and express yourself creatively. Because that’s part of being here, is showing your point of view.”

In fact, Samantha, whose stage name is FURY, is calling her upcoming music and documentary project “FURY Revolution.” As she prepares for what’s next— spearheading the park renovation , completing another semester of classes, and preparing to go on tour—she is glad that her eleven-year-old daughter will be along for the ride.

“I want her to see you can change everything around you,” says Samantha, who credits Odyssey with helping her learn how to advocate for a better world. “That’s another reason it was important for me to go back to school. It’s important to me for her to see all these things, because you can make a difference. I can’t wait to see what she’s going to do with her friends one day, because if I think I’m a star, she’s a super-mega-star in the making. I just love that she gets front row seats.”

You can follow Samantha’s music at , www.furyhiphop.com and support her project on Patreon at , www.patreon.com/furyhiphop .

The SCOPE Boston Features Dorchester Clemente: "More free and more human – community college reimagined in Dorchester"

Thu, 19 May 2022 17:29:28 GMT

Writer Sophia Paffenroth charts the impact of Dorchester Clemente on students and teachers alike

In a multimedia article featuring several student voices, The SCOPE Boston paints a powerful picture of the community created by the Dorchester Clemente Course. Audio sound bites provide a chance to hear students discuss their journeys in their own words, creating a chorus of voices that illustrate the Clemente experience. Alumni Judith Foster, Ginette Powell, and Alexandra Perez discuss how Clemente's intimate classroom experience and supportive environment allowed them to learn for the sake of learning and reignite dreams of higher education.

"Learning ought to be free. Knowledge ought to be free. And Clemente opens that, where you get to taste the scholarly works," says alumna Judith Foster. "For someone like me, that was just amazing, because I love learning."

Read the full article on the SCOPE Boston's website here .

Meet Bill Murphy, CVI Graduate with an Extraordinary Story

Wed, 11 May 2022 16:43:00 GMT

After he retired, Bill Murphy realized he had a story to tell. He began taking writing workshops in his hometown of Boston, which led him to the Clemente Veterans’ Initiative (CVI) in 2019. There he found a connection to his own stories and the stories of fellow veterans. “You sit down in a Clemente class surrounded by vets,” he says. “There’s no one story, everyone’s got their own story, but Clemente just brings it together.”

Bill’s extraordinary story took him from Massachusetts to Viet Nam and back. Born and raised in Dorchester, Bill’s college years were rocked by the chaos of the late 1960s: classes were canceled his senior year following the shooting at Kent State University, and his career plans were thrown into uncertainty by the looming threat of the draft. Hoping to take his future into his own hands, Bill applied to be a linguist for the Army Security Agency and spent nearly a year studying Vietnamese at the Defense Language Institute in El Paso, TX. He finished third in his class, going on to serve in Viet Nam from April 1972 to February 1973, one month before the last serviceman left after the Paris Peace Treaty.

“When I came back, I was floundering,” says Bill. He ended up getting a Master’s Degree in Criminal Justice from Northeastern University, embarking on a decades-long career in special law enforcement. Comparing the humanities-focused, seminar-style CVI to his earlier educational experiences, he says, “is like comparing apples and pears.”

Even after the pandemic moved everything online, Bill continued to stay involved, taking the opportunity to participate in CVI courses as far away as Seattle. The classes helped him discover a new appreciation for subjects he had previously disliked, such as art history, which he found helped him make connections across different areas of his life.

“Clemente has pulled a lot of my life together which would on the surface not be connected,” says Bill. “I took four years of Latin in high school and we read the Aeneid , but when you’re sixteen or seventeen you’re focusing on the language and the grammar. Reading it later on, after having the experience of living through the 60s, and then you sit down in a Clemente class surrounded by veterans, you get more out of it.”

One of the best parts of his Clemente experience, says Bill, was bonding with his fellow students, including Carl Chandler, one of the stars and co-producers of

the documentary A Reckoning in Boston .

“He’s showing me pictures of his grandkids and his daughters,” Bill remembers. “He’s Native American, and at the end of class he gives me two books about Native Americans. I gave them to my grandchildren. It’s that personal touch that makes Clemente totally different from all other classes.”

This year, faculty from CVI Boston are currently collaborating with faculty from Virginia to offer an online version of the course, generously funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities . Meanwhile, Bill is still in touch with many of his classmates, several of whom are pursuing their own story-telling projects. Bill continues to work on his memoir, and one former classmate is interviewing him for a documentary on the Catholic Worker Movement’s anti-war efforts in the 60s. Bill says his experience in the course continues to enrich his daily life.

“Yesterday, in The Boston Globe , there was an article about Nietzsche. I would never have been exposed to that if not for Clemente. Often, I’ll open a newspaper, and there’s something we talked about in Clemente.”

Ibrar Mirzai: a Journey to the Liberal Arts

Wed, 27 Apr 2022 14:01:00 GMT

When Ibrar Hussein Mirzai enrolled in the pilot year of the Socrates Project , a Clemente-inspired program that launched in 2019 in Budapest, he was signing up for a very different educational experience from those in his past.

“I was struck from the beginning when one of my professors said, ‘I am not here to teach you. I am here to discuss with you and share my experiences and then listen to you share your experiences. That way we might be able to learn something from each other,’” Ibrar says. “That kind of approach toward education was alien to me.”

In high school in Pakistan, and later in Hungary, learning felt like a one-way street. In the Socrates Project, learning was an exchange. Ibrar quickly knew it was the kind of educational experience he wanted to pursue for his future.

Ibrar found out about Socrates Project from a professor at OLIve , a program at Central European University designed to help refugees and displaced people start their educations. He grew up in Pakistan, where his family had fled after being targeted as an ethnic minority by the Taliban. Ibrar was granted asylum in Hungary in 2016. As an avid reader he was drawn to the Socrates Project’s focus on reading and discussion.

“I was interested in philosophy and in politics to some extent, given my background,” he says. And he liked the idea of being guided toward a collection of books he may not have encountered on his own. One of those was Plato’s Apology , a text that has stayed with him. The two class sessions spent discussing it kindled an interest in philosophy. And it led him to study at a liberal arts college, another thing he couldn’t have imagined as a child in Pakistan.

“In Pakistan it is traditional that you are going to be an engineer or a doctor or you don’t do anything. I had internalized that. I wasn’t thinking critical enough about what I wanted to do,” he says.

Today Ibrar is a student at Bard College Berlin on a full scholarship, studying economics, politics, and social thought. He appreciates the experience of being in small, discussion-based classes with students from various parts of the world. And he values the way that, like in the Socrates Projects, knowledge is co-created in the classroom instead of being passed down from a professor. “It provides me the opportunity to discuss ideas and also dispute ideas,” he says. “It recognizes that ideas are not absolute.”

The Socrates Project is now offered in Vienna and Berlin, as well as in Budapest, and in German and Hungarian and the minority languages of Turkish, Arabic, and Bosnian-Serbo-Croat. It aims to reach as many adults as it can to bring them a rich encounter with texts and ideas. For Ibrar, whose goal is to continue his education beyond the bachelor’s degree to a PhD and to teach in a university, the program opens doors to education, but also to new ways of thinking.

“It teaches you a method of critical thinking and a way forward,” he says. “It is a place to learn how to learn.”

Clemente on the Big Screen: New Documentary Tells the Story of Common Good Atlanta

Mon, 11 Apr 2022 14:42:00 GMT

When documentary filmmaker Hal Jacobs first heard about Common Good Atlanta , the program that offers Clemente courses to people who have been incarcerated in Georgia, he felt compelled to bring their story to a wider audience. With permission from the professors and students, he began filming a series of interviews that would become the basis of the 2022 documentary Breaking Down the Walls of Mass Incarceration: Common Good Atlanta .

The first few times that Hal visited the classroom with his camera, student Janine Solursh was a little self-conscious. She had just been released from transitional housing, and she and her classmates were finishing up the Clemente Course she’d begun in her last few months of incarceration.

“You have no privacy in prison,” she explains. “Once I got out, it felt amazing not to be watched. And then all of a sudden there was a camera again.”

But she trusted her professors, and as she got to know Hal, she grew more and more invested in the project.

After the course ended, the two stayed in touch, and Hal asked if Janine would like to accompany him to record follow-up segments with some of her fellow students. Soon, she became an official collaborator on the project, conducting on-screen interviews, assisting with editing, and participating in panels at early screenings. Janine, who has always had a knack for language and story, is credited as a co-writer on the film.

“It was a really good opportunity to see a different side of Common Good,” she says. “I got to see a different side of the professors and volunteers. It’s such a genuine interior investment they’ve made [in this program] with their souls. You see it in every aspect of their lives.”

The project also brought her closer to her fellow students and alumni, many of whom are profiled in the film. She says they are proud to use their talents and voices to help bring more attention to the program, and she is grateful for Hal’s guidance and support.

“When you’re in the place of having been a prisoner, it’s hard to tell your own story. Having people from the outside being willing to give you a platform and hold your hand and tell it with you is really special.”

https://vimeo.com/481336885

Breaking Down the Walls of Mass Incarceration: Common Good Atlanta is screening at several locations in Georgia this spring, including this Thursday at the Georgia Museum of Art at 7:00 PM . For more information on the project, check out their website at https://www.commongoodatldoc.com .

Spotlight: Linnea Iannazzone, Director of Outreach and Engagement

Mon, 04 Apr 2022 14:31:00 GMT

When Linnea Iannazzone accepted a position at her alma mater, Bard College , in 2019, her office was across the hall from Clemente's National Academic Director Marina van Zuylen. Their conversations inevitably led to Marina's work with Clemente, and after learning about Linnea's background in small non-profits, Marina asked if she would like to get involved. She became Clemente's first-ever Project Coordinator, and now, Linnea is stepping into the role of Director of Outreach and Engagement.

Get to know Linnea with our quick Q&A!

What makes Clemente and the study of the humanities special to you? I was fortunate enough to get a wonderful liberal arts education at Bard College, and my experience with seminar-style learning in undergrad undoubtedly made me a more curious and thoughtful person. I still remember the first time a professor asked me if I agreed with one of the course texts—up until that point, I hadn't realized that disagreeing with an assigned reading was even an option. I believe that everyone should have the experience of engaging with the humanities in a supportive and respectful environment—it's a proven way to build community, explore our differences, and connect to the common thread of the human experience. I'm so glad I get to help bring that experience to more people through my work with Clemente.

Please share a favorite Clemente memory, or a favorite "fact" about the program that makes you proud to share your time and support!

My favorite Clemente moments have been the times when I was able to connect with students, professors, and alumni to hear their stories and learn about the ways that Clemente has made an impact on their lives. I love attending the annual Academic Director retreat and watching our brilliant educators inspire and learn from each other. Another favorite memory was the Q&A after a screening of A Reckoning in Boston featuring Clemente alums Kafi Dixon and Patrick Rodriguez, who both spoke passionately about the importance of a humanities education as groundwork in the fight for a more equitable world.

What do you do outside of the Clemente universe? I'm proud to say that Clemente is now my full-time job! Beyond that, I write fiction and serve as a Senior Editor at the literary magazine Conjunctions . I also love to hike with my dog, volunteer in my community, and enjoy the vibrant arts and culture of the Hudson Valley.

Clemente Featured in Antioch's Alumni Magazine

Mon, 28 Mar 2022 19:48:49 GMT

Champions for the Humanities: The No-Cost Clemente and Bridge Programs Keep Changing Lives

Antioch University is host to two courses in the Clemente network, both of which are featured in this new story in their alumni magazine, " Champions for the Humanities ."

The Bridge Program , founded in 1999, is built on the Clemente model and provides a university-level education for students who might not have otherwise had access to higher education. In Seattle, the Clemente Veterans' Initiative (CVI) has been serving former military members and their families since 2016. Like other CVI programs, the course uses texts in the humanities to examine issues relevant to those who have served, including civic duty, family, and sacrifice.

The magazine feature highlights how both courses offer spaces for exploration and intellectual community and how they open doors for individuals to imagine new possibilities for their lives. “That is the power of the humanities,” Bridge Co-Director Russell Thornhill says in the article. “When it’s done right, it leads to kind of a discovery of the self—a discovery of one’s own freedom, creativity, uniqueness, and agency.”

Humanities for All

Fri, 25 Mar 2022 13:24:00 GMT

Lela Hilton, Clemente's National Executive Director, reflects on the power and beauty of advocating for the humanities.

Every year in mid-March the National Humanities Alliance hosts an advocacy day to promote the humanities with elected officials on Capitol Hill. This day is not about politics. It is meant for constituents to meet with their Senators and members of the House of Representatives and urge them to support funding for the humanities in the federal budget. We form delegations with representatives from humanities institutions in our own states—everything from big state universities and research centers to small-town libraries and nonprofits—and go from office to office with a common message: The humanities are a fundamental component of a free and democratic society. Please vote to fund them.

The first time I participated was over 10 years ago when a panel of Clemente faculty was invited to inspire advocates the day before their meetings on the Hill in a kind of humanities pep rally. We shared the podium that day with Senators Elizabeth Warren and Richard Durban, both of whom represent the states with our largest Clemente programs, as well as former ambassador Karl Eikenberry. Admittedly, I was a bit starstruck.

But what still resonates deeply about that day was Ambassador Eikenberry’s comment that the most important work he’d done as ambassador was to rebuild religious and cultural centers. Because Ambassador Eikenberry came from such a strong military background, this surprised me. He was talking about roses, not guns. But of course, it made perfect sense. To rebuild or strengthen a country, it is critical to preserve its history and culture.

March 15th was the second virtual Humanities Advocacy Day since COVID. It was tough hearing from colleagues how the economic fallout from the pandemic had shattered so many cultural institutions and communities, particularly the smaller ones. And I missed the majesty of the Capitol building and the Mall and the gentle camaraderie that builds over the day as we learn more about each other’s work, finding common purpose regardless of whether we are from red or blue states.

But what was more palpable than ever this year, even through back-to-back Zoom meetings—will they ever end?—was the urgency and commitment in each conversation. I was moved by the creativity and vision that humanities organizations have harnessed to help their communities navigate through COVID to address housing and food insecurity, and help families keep their kids healthy and connected to their schools. And I was impressed by how positive and receptive our elected officials and their staff were to the notion that to weather this, and the next storm, we need strong cultural and community institutions. What was true for Ambassador Eikenberry over a decade ago is also true for us today.

Clemente, like our universities, libraries, and larger cultural institutions, plays a critical role in maintaining the resilience of our communities and our democracy. The stories we hear regularly from our students and our faculty are every bit as inspiring as any of the stories I heard during my day “on the Hill.” In the research we’ve done about Clemente over the last 25 years, one of the key messages we hear from our students is that studying philosophy, history, art, and literature, honing critical thinking skills, and becoming stronger writers builds their confidence and gives them a profound sense of agency.

The joy of seeing this work firsthand comes with the responsibility to be a voice for Clemente, continuously communicating its value and advocating for the resources to bring transformative educational experiences to as many students as possible. It is always an honor to represent Clemente at the Humanities Advocacy Day, and I’m looking forward to doing so again next year—hopefully, back on the Hill.

Clemente Thrives Down Under

Tue, 08 Mar 2022 16:26:00 GMT

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyyvb4VdOts

In 2003, Clemente Australia offered its first class in East Sydney, after a visit to the country by Clemente founder Earl Shorris. Clemente had found a home on a new continent.

Today, Australian Catholic University--with its community partners--continues to offer the program at numerous sites across Australia. Since its inception, Clemente Australia has been enriching the lives of both the students who engage in the program and those that play a role in its facilitation. Across four Australian states, students have continued onto further study, and many more have taken the skills and knowledge gained in Clemente to instigate positive change in their own lives. This can be summed up in the following reflection from a recent graduate:

During the COVID-19 pandemic Clemente Australia took the opportunity to pivot to online classes, which was difficult for some students with limited computer literacy. However, as so often witnessed in this program, students rose to the challenge, and online options continue to provide opportunity where the pandemic still makes it difficult for some students to attend in person.

Clemente Australia has continually evolved and is committed to engaging with community and community partners. This commitment has led to book clubs and alumni groups. Students have furthered the important relationships formed in the class and in learning partner pairs, as is articulated so well in a recent Australian news article .

Occasionally, the programs in the U.S. and Australia have the chance to come together, such as when Australia Clemente professor Michael Griffith visited the Harlem Clemente class while in New York City and shared a session on Australia indigenous history and literature with the students. Michael noted that the experience of being with students in the U.S. was the same as it was in Australia, as the spirit of the classroom crosses time and distance. He said he loves how his Clemente students bring their full selves to the experience: “You can take a single poem to a Clemente student and suddenly their whole heart and mind is opened through being able to see through different eyes.”

Learn more about Clemente Australia on its website and in the video at the top of this story.

At 78, Socrates Project Student Embarks on New Educational Experiences

Mon, 07 Mar 2022 20:37:00 GMT

In 2019, the Socrates Project was launched in Budapest, bringing a Clemente-inspired course to adults through the Central European University (CEU). The program has since added classes in Vienna and Berlin. In this profile, reprinted with permission from the CEU , we meet Emőke Csipke-Hargittay, a student in the first Socrates class whose life story bridges the U.S. and Europe.

Emőke Csipke-Hargittay hesitated before applying to the Socrates Project, an initiative at CEU offering free university-level courses in the humanities and social sciences to those who have not had a chance to study earlier. At 78, she thought she might be too old to take a class on ideologies and public goods – but having finished the course, she now sees it as an inspiration and plans to take another one in the spring. We spoke to her on the occasion of the closing ceremony marking the end of the first Socrates courses on the CEU campuses in Budapest, where Csipke-Hargittay studied, and Vienna.

Why did you apply to the Socrates Program? My mother used to say learning is the only thing no-one can take away from us. Many times I told my children that if I could live my life over, I would finish college. My son called my attention to the Socrates courses. I hesitated for a while – won’t I make a fool of myself at this age?

What was the experience like? Was it the way you had expected it to be? Learning and critical thinking have always been important to my family. At first, I just thought of it as a challenge to be among people of different ages, backgrounds, life experiences. Attending the classes filled me with fresh vitality. The lectures were inclusive, required critical thinking, discussions were lively and interesting. From the first day I felt part of a friendly and diverse group. Now I'm reading things I never thought I'd be interested in. Although at the age of 78 my thoughts formalize slower than the younger people’s, I am learning new expressions, phrases, thinking about the various ways in which things can be interpreted. Tell us a little about yourself - why did you move to the US a long time ago, and back to Hungary more recently? Did you attend university earlier? We lived in Budapest, on Erzsébet körút. In 1956, revolution was all around us. We marched, built barricades. On November 4, our mother set up a first aid station for about 12-15 freedom fighters, 2 of whom were shot dead through the window. We then felt we have to leave ‘for a while’ – only until the Russians left the country. Well, that took decades, but in our hearts we always knew we would come back someday.

I worked full time all of my adult life, so I could not attend college during the day, and only took courses in the evenings. This left a void in me. Therefore, I went back to college in my forties, next to working and also being a mother to my children, but I didn’t get a degree.

What was it like to return to Hungary? Did you experience a culture shock? Have you gotten used to life in Budapest since then?

My husband and I always planned to move home after retiring. We visited my in-laws several times over the years - it was important for our children to know them as well as their heritage. Thirteen years ago I made a very daring step, I moved home alone as a widow after 52 years in the US.

No, there was no culture shock, but some disappointment. I so wanted to feel I am home, be part of everyday life, be an active citizen of my country. I realized I aged and changed. Looking in from outside is always different from what you find inside. People, generations, governments, ideologies change. Of course I reminisce a lot, I miss some things, but I am closer to my children who also left the US after completing their PhD’s in the U.K. Now I even jot down my feelings occasionally in my diary, which I started writing daily during the revolution as a child. Do you have any favorite moments from the Socrates course?

We were split in three groups (government, opposition parties, corporations) presenting plans to solve the evident clean water shortage facing the world. I was in the government group. After a heated argument between the governing and opposition parties, we came to 100% consensus to go with the more environmentally friendly, albeit less profitable solution. (A good lesson for all governments!)

Who would you recommend our courses to? Everyday people of every age from different social and ideological backgrounds. Open-mindedness is key. Also, I realized that at my age a thirst for knowledge, my ability for rational, critical thinking, and having an active open mind is more important than a diploma. The Socrates course has been an inspiration to me. Learning, like many other things we take for granted in life, should not be a privilege, yet many millions never get a chance to study.

Tim Blades: Anti-poverty Advocate and Halifax Humanities 101 Graduate

Tue, 01 Mar 2022 19:57:00 GMT

Tim Blades is a 2017 graduate of Halifax Humanities 101 , the Clemente-inspired program offered by the Halifax Humanities Society in Nova Scotia. Tim, who lives with several disabilities and health issues and is caretaker for a parent, also serves on the organization's Board of Governors. In this reflection, he talks about his work as an anti-poverty advocate and his experience with the course.

The funny thing is that my involvement in antipoverty advocacy that led to me enrolling in Halifax Humanities, and it was my enrollment in Halifax Humanities that allowed my antipoverty advocacy to continue.

There is a documentary called My Week on Welfare that follows the lives of several recipients of the ESIA (Employment Support and Income Assistance) program in Nova Scotia. The documentarian, Jackie Torrens—herself a former welfare recipient—tries to feed herself on a welfare budget for one week. Watching this documentary encouraged me to the antipoverty movement, and I became friends with Jackie and Aron Spidle, one of the subjects of the documentary.

During a bout of depression, I was having a discussion with Jackie. She mentioned Halifax Humanities. As it turns out, Aron was a first-year student of Halifax Ht that time. I was seeking a way out of the rut depression I was in, and the more I looked into Halifax Humanities, the more I knew I had to be involved in the program.

Over time, the true value of the program became apparent. I saw classmates form support systems. I saw people regain confidence to enter the workforce or to gain additional education. One classmate says the class gave them their life back—that they went from being a self-described recluse to participating in society again. So much good can happen when barriers are removed.

One aspect of a text that has stayed with me is from Plato’s Republic—whether it is more important to actually be fair/just or merely have the reputation of being so. I have seen this often in antipoverty advocacy. Previously, the provincial government would announce a $40 increase to personal allowance for ESIA recipients, while not mentioning the woefully inadequate shelter allowances. In reality, a recipient would have to spend that personal allowance increase on their rent—even though on paper and in the media it’s a personal allowance increase.

In 2016, my transportation expense (i.e. bus pass money) was taken away from me. My then welfare caseworker felt that I didn’t have enough medical appointments to warrant a transportation expense. Thankfully, the antipoverty group I was involved in would meet on Tuesdays, right after Halifax Humanities. In fact, the group would meet 3 minutes away from where Halifax Humanities held their 101 classes. Halifax Humanities provides free transportation to and from their classes via bus tickets. This allowed me to continue attending the antipoverty meetings.

My connections to the antipoverty world and to Halifax Humanities have impacted others as well. Some of my Halifax Humanities classmates have become advocates, while some of my antipoverty friends became students of Halifax Humanities.

I would love to see social support systems like welfare systems adopt the approach of Halifax Humanities. The systems that are supposed to help often serve to further marginalize those who are already marginalized. Halifax Humanities hands a lifeline to those same people.

Spotlight: Dawn Delbanco, Member of the Clemente Board of Directors

Wed, 09 Feb 2022 18:54:00 GMT

Dawn Delbanco joined the Clemente Course Board of Directors in 2021. A lecturer in the Department of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University since 1991, Dawn says that although her expertise is in Chinese art, her favorite teaching experiences have come in “Masterpieces of Modern Art,” a course required for all Columbia undergraduates. She says, “I have found it deeply rewarding to open the eyes of a variety of students who knew nothing about art and would never have taken an art history course if it hadn’t been required.”

Get to know Dawn with our quick Q&A!

When did you get involved with Clemente and what motivated you to do so?

I first became aware of Clemente ten years ago when I attended a conference at Boston College organized by Mass Humanities. The benefit dinner after the conference was notable for its main guest speaker, Anita Hill (whom I had last seen giving testimony in a televised confirmation hearing). But what really moved me were the after-dinner presentations given by two Clemente graduates who spoke about the transformational impact of Clemente on their once-desperate lives. I had never heard of Clemente, but I was blown away by these two articulate and dramatic advocates for a free adult education program. Inspired by the work various organizations such as the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Teagle Foundation have been doing to address the ever-widening chasm between rich and poor, I was honored to accept the invitation to join the Clemente Board of Directors in 2021 and to take a more active role in supporting the necessary work that must be done to achieve a more equitable society.

Please share a favorite Clemente memory.

My favorite Clemente memory is from 2014 in the White House when I watched Marina van Zuylen accept a National Humanities Medal on behalf of Clemente from President Obama.

What makes Clemente and the study of the humanities special to you?

I didn’t fully understand why Clemente is so special until I had spent a number of years as a member of the advisory council to the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH). Reviewing the multitude of NEH grant programs, and especially those associated with state humanities councils, I became more deeply aware that the humanities are for all people--no matter their background--and for every state in the nation. There is an unfortunate and widespread perception that the humanities only have a place in the elite colleges and universities on the two coasts; that they are of interest only to a wealthy and privileged leisure class. Not so. In fact, I came to see that reading such authors as Plato and Martin Luther King had far more of an immediate and meaningful impact on those who have lived lives of adversity and deprivation, or who have faced the unspeakable while fighting wars. Indeed it would be fair to say that in these contexts, engaging with the humanities can save lives—which is why Earl Shorris was a man of remarkable insight and foresight when he created Clemente.

What do you like to do outside of the Clemente universe?

Left to my own devices, I would attend a master class for any instrument at Juilliard or the Manhattan School of Music. But perhaps more than anything else, I love to wander on the streets of New York. My husband and I don’t do much traveling, but when you live in New York, you don’t have to. When I leave my Morningside Heights location and go down to, say, the Village, I feel I’m on vacation!

Investigating Inflection Points: New Courses for Graduates

Wed, 02 Feb 2022 17:43:00 GMT

With our academic partner, Antioch University , the Clemente Course has been awarded a grant by the National Endowment for the Humanities to bring new courses to graduates in four communities in 2022. They will focus on a timely and essential theme: Inflection Points.

"Over the past two years, COVID has magnified examples of social injustice and inequities in our communities," says Clemente's Executive Director, Lela Hilton. "We are in a collective moment where we must look at the lessons of the past, the challenges we are facing, and the rich individual and cultural resources we can harness in response to this inflection point. How do we respond? Where do we participate with integrity and creativity?"

The seminars will draw on philosophical, literary, historical, and artistic responses to moments of profound cultural change in order to help participants reflect upon and respond to current national and global challenges. While the courses will explore some common texts, each location will have a unique, locally-relevant topic to investigate as well. In New Bedford, MA , that will be "No Silence Among Friends: Civil Rights." In Austin , "No Borderlands/Sin Fronteras." Seattle will look at "Restoring the Salish Sea" and Los Angeles , "This Land: Environmental Humanities."

The Inflection Points seminars will mark the first time graduates from across the country can come together into courses that are not bound by geography and physical spaces. "Because these courses are online, they create greater access for our graduates who may be place-bound, or who don't have access to second-year programs through their local courses," Lela says. "As important, it gives our graduates the opportunity to create a larger, national community of inquiry and civic engagement."

Seminars will be offered free of charge, with college credit available through Antioch. The college's long-standing commitment to social justice and its track record of serving adult students make this a natural and exciting partnership for Clemente. We are grateful for the continued support of the NEH in creating this new opportunity for Clemente's graduates across the country.

NEH Humanities Magazine Features Clemente in "Building the Just City."

Tue, 01 Feb 2022 22:16:49 GMT

"From ancient philosophy to modern-day Boston, the search for wisdom and justice finds expression in a gritty new film," the article asserts

The Winter 2022 issue of HUMANITIES, the magazine of the National Endowment for the Humanities, includes a feature story on Clemente, the film A Reckoning in Boston, and the value of the humanities. " Building the Just City ," by Lydialyle Gibson, captures the power of the documentary film by James Rutenbeck in its investigation of systemic racism in the city of Boston. It also looks closely at the Clemente classroom and the way the study of the humanities impacts the lives of the film's subjects, Clemente graduates Carl Chandler and Kafi Dixon, who carry poems by Amiri Baraka and Socrates' conception of the city into their lives beyond Clemente.

“Let me tell you about the humanities,” says Chandler. “For myself, and I think for most of the people I went to school with [at Clemente], it’s a vehicle for personal empowerment—which is something that poor people and people of color really need nowadays.”

You can read the full story in HUMANITIES magazine .

A Reckoning Round Up

Thu, 27 Jan 2022 18:14:00 GMT

On Martin Luther King Day, January 17th, A Reckoning in Boston made its national premiere on PBS. Started in the Boston Clemente classroom, Reckoning follows two students in their lives inside and outside the classroom and is a testament to the power of the humanities as well as the real and lasting damage of systemic racism.

If you missed the premiere, you can still catch the film on the PBS streaming app. And you can read the many articles and responses in the press to this honest and impactful film. We at the Clemente Course are proud to have our story included alongside the story of Kafi, Carl, and James.

You can find more press coverage of Reckoning on its website .

NEH Funds Clemente Inflection Points Project

Mon, 17 Jan 2022 21:31:18 GMT

New $150,000 grant supports alumni seminars

What do cultural and political inflection points have to teach us about how we—collectively and individually—respond to c hange?

That question is at the center of the Clemente Inflection Points Projects for which the National Endowment for the Humanities has awarded the Clemente Course and Antioch University a new $150,000 grant. The grant will support the development and piloting of four second-year interdisciplinary humanities seminars to take place in Austin, Los Angeles, Seattle, and New Bedford, MA.

Designed for Clemente graduates and offered for college credit from Antioch, the course will look to humanities texts as wide ranging as Diego Rivera’s Man at the Crossroads , Robin Wall Kimmerer’s Braiding Sweetgrass , and Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower to understand how individuals and cultures have made sense of a changing world.

The four seminars will examine the way historical inflections points alter our understand an d make strange what we previously took for granted. The worlds we inherit or make

in the wake of these monumental events may in many ways still resemble the former worlds, but even minute differences demand that we reexamine our assumptions about who we are and how we live. They will ask how the humanities can guide us as we navigate and claim our own place this evolving landscape?

Each seminar will serve 15-20 graduates from across the Clemente network and be offered for three credit hours. In addition to this grant, the NEH has generously supported the Clemente Veterans’ Initiative through NEH’s Dialogues on the Experience of War initiative.

PBS Interviews Clemente Grads About A Reckoning in Boston

Tue, 11 Jan 2022 20:11:22 GMT

In advance of the PBS premiere of A Reckoning in Boston on January 17, Independent Lens interviewed filmmaker James Rutenbeck and Clemente alums and subjects/producers Carl Chandler and Kafi Dixon.

You can read the story -- FILMMAKER AND CLEMENTE COURSE STUDENTS TEAM UP TO RECKON WITH SYSTEMIC RACISM -- on the Independent Lens blo g .

Reckoning with A Reckoning in Boston: A Study Guide

Tue, 11 Jan 2022 14:14:00 GMT

In conjunction with the release of the documentary film A Reckoning in Boston , which airs nationally on PBS on Martin Luther King Day, January 17th, the Clemente Course has developed a study and discussion guide. We encourage viewers to follow their screening of the film with a conversation about its themes and lessons.

You can download the full study guide here. We have also included the questions for discussion below.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION

How did participating in the Clemente Course change Kafi and Carl’s lives? How does discussing books and ideas with other adults change their relationship to these texts--and to each other?

Kafi and Carl work very hard and sometimes their efforts are rewarded, and sometimes they are not. As the film’s protagonists, do you find them heroic?

The film opens with a quote from Socrates: “If you’re willing, let’s first find out what justice is in cities, and afterward, look for it in the individual to see if the larger entity is similar in form to the smaller one.” How does the film take up Socrates’ challenge? Do cities shape their residents, or vice versa?

Texts from the humanities classroom--a quote from Socrates, a poem from LeRoi Jones (Amiri Baraka), a passage of scripture--appear periodically in the film. Why was it important for the filmmaker to include these texts? Do they contribute to your understanding of the story?

In the film, James, the director, comes to the realization that he can’t tell the story of Kafi and Carl without acknowledging his own complicity in the systemic racism that defines their experience of the city they share. In what ways does James recognize his own privilege? Can you relate to his experience in any way?

A “reckoning” is the settling of an account. What do you think about the film’s title? What is the “reckoning” in this film?

Boston is a “majority minority” city, and yet this is not the impression many people have of the city. How does this film change your perception of Boston? What would be people surprised to learn about your own community?

Over the credits, Carl says of himself, “People just see this exterior, make a judgement and it’s like the real me is invisible.” He continues, describing the Clemente Course, “I came here and had this experience, and I became visible… to people I respected and I became visible to myself.” When have you felt invisible? When have you felt seen?

The film advances the idea of lifelong learning, whether in a formal or informal setting. After watching, what books are you inspired to read, what subjects are you inspired to learn more about? What books or teachers continue to shape your life?

It is not easy for adults to make new friends, or for people to make friendships across racial or economic barriers, and yet James, Kafi and Carl count each other as friends by the end of the film. How did they become friends?

If you have been part of a Clemente classroom yourself, do you feel the film captures the experience of the course? What feels familiar? What is different?

The film seems to suggest that we should do as the director did -- not just observe or document others, but deeply examine ourselves, our roles in our communities, and our perspectives. Have you seen this happen in your own community? Or in your Clemente classroom?

Would you recommend the film to others? Why or why not?

This study guide was developed by Boston Clemente’s Jack Cheng and Vivé Griffith from the national Clemente Course in the Humanities.

Meet Reckoning's Carl Chandler

Mon, 10 Jan 2022 22:11:00 GMT

On Martin Luther King Day, January 17, A Reckoning in Boston will air nationwide on PBS. As we get ready for the premiere, we're sharing a March 2020 profile of one the film's subjects and producers, Clemente graduate Carl Chandler.

Carl Chandler is profiled in the new documentary film, A Reckoning in Boston , which focuses on the Boston Clemente Course. We meet him in two moments.

In one, he is pushing his young grandson Yadiel in a stroller around Boston. In the other, he is engaged in deep discussion after class with Tim McCarthy, Clemente’s history professor. These glimpses into his life encapsulate what makes Carl tick: his commitment to learning and his commitment to family. And this fall [2019] he carried both of those commitments into his first semester as a student at Harvard. While Harvard was literally down the road for this native Bostonian, Carl says that Tim and the Clemente experience made him realize attending the university was possible. “Once you eliminate doubt you realize ‘I’m capable.’ That’s the gift Clemente gives you,” he said. “Once you realize you’re capable, you want to be as capable as you can be.” Carl discovered Clemente after his youngest daughter headed to college and he was faced with an empty nest. He knew he needed to stay active physically and mentally, but he wanted a wider context for his reading and study. When he spotted a flyer for Clemente at the library, he thought it was too good to be true. What he found was a place where his intellectual curiosity was honored and fed. “It was beyond what I expected. Our professors are extremely competent, but they’re also good people,” he said. “They were really respectful of everybody’s input and most of all, they wanted people to succeed.”

In an early Clemente class, students were asked what they wanted to do when they finished the course. While students had a range of answers, one said she wanted to go to Harvard. Jack Cheng, Boston academic director, told the students that in fact a Clemente graduate had gone to Harvard. And graduated. This made Carl curious. He’d taken community college classes many years earlier and excelled. But was Harvard an option for him? And at this stage of his life, as a grandfather of seven? Later in the semester he asked his Clemente history professor, Tim McCarthy, who is also Professor of American History at Harvard, if he thought he was Harvard material. For Tim, the answer was simple. “From the very first day of class, it was clear to me that Carl was going to be one of our most exceptional students. He has a brilliant mind, a tenacious work ethic, and he loves learning for its sake,” he said. “It's the perfect combination. When Clemente was over, I encouraged Carl to think about finishing his degree at Harvard. He's now doing that and I know he's going to flourish. As someone who teaches both in Clemente and at Harvard, I couldn't be more thrilled!"

Any conversation with Carl is wide-ranging, covering everything from the first English translations of Homer to the class system in the United States. He has found his rapport with his professors to be particularly rewarding, and he wants to take full advantage of his time at Harvard. But he knows that in the end, going to Harvard isn’t what will define him. “I’m just an older person who saw an opportunity and wanted to explore it,” he said. “If I walked away from it tomorrow, it would have been valuable. I’ve got a lot of stuff to do before I check out.” One of those things in seeing the Reckoning film into the world in his role as a producer. The documentary traces Carl’s journey through Clemente alongside the journey of his classmate, Kafi Dixon. Carl admits that it’s uncomfortable to watch himself on film. He prefers to fly under the radar. But he sees a larger purpose to letting his story be told: “My part in the film is to encourage people who think they might like to try something but don’t know if they’ll be accepted or capable. I hope when they see me and see me with my grandson and daughters they’ll think, ‘That man is curious and interested in things and has an imagination. If he can do it, I can too.’”

You can watch A Reckoning in Boston on PBS on January 17th. Check your local PBS listings for details.

An End-of-Year Reflection

Wed, 22 Dec 2021 14:34:00 GMT

Lela Hilton, Clemente's National Executive Director, offers some thoughts about Clemente and the humanities as we close out 2021.

When I first read about Clemente in Harper’s Magazine , I was working for a big state university and charged with developing educational programming to address the collapse of our region’s natural resource based economy. Like most efforts to served displaced workers, ours was focused on acquiring new, marketable skills, which all seemed to make perfect sense at the time.

But Earl Shorris’ 1997 article reminded me that what was even more essential for the survival of these workers, their families, and our community was that those who were most impacted have a voice in how our community responded to these challenges.

Shorris’ words also hit home for me because as a single parent who had put myself through college, I knew that it was poetry and art and philosophy that helped me make meaning when I felt myself slipping into despair and powerlessness. And it was because of a World Revolutions course I took in high school that I believed I had a right, and an obligation, to use my voice in service to my community. Why wouldn’t the same be true for my neighbors whose way of life had all but disappeared over the course of a few decades? To find out, I quit my big university job and started the first, and still the only rural Clemente Course in 1999. And I never looked back.

In our most recent Clemente Quarterly — subscribe here —you will meet six graduates who have achieved great things, one of whom was one of my very first students, Amy Howard, now in her second term on city council. Their stories are exemplary, but they are by no means uncommon for , Clemente graduates . What their stories and my experience teaching and learning in a Clemente classroom will tell you is that deep, sustained engagement with the humanities changes lives, and often does so most profoundly for those of us who are the most vulnerable.

Ask my student who had a breakthrough in her struggle with addiction after a class discussion about Marcus Aurelius’ Meditations . Ask the young man who had skipped parole but turned himself back into the court after a class discussion about what our founders meant by “the pursuit of happiness.” Ask the victim of domestic violence who “reclaimed her power back” after reading the Ring of Gyges. Ask me, and I will tell you that what I have learned from my Clemente students and colleagues has changed me profoundly, and often, over these past two+ decades.

There is a lot of discussion these days about the efficacy of the humanities. How do we define the humanities, and who gets to decide? Where and how should they be taught, and by whom? Will they help me get a job? Will they make me a better person? These are important questions, and in and of themselves, they reflect the central elements of humanistic inquiry: self-reflection, critical thinking, humor, empathy, courage, civic engagement, self-actualization, creativity, humility.

Here’s to more humanities for all of us in the new year!

25 Lessons for 25 Years!

Mon, 06 Dec 2021 17:40:00 GMT

If you've spent time with Clemente on Facebook or Twitter this fall, you've seen our #Clemente25 campaign, highlighting 25 years of Clemente and its graduates across the country. We've had so much fun sharing photos, milestones, and highlights from our courses around the country.

Central to that campaign has been #25lessonsfor25years, a compendium of what we've learned in bringing humanities classes to adults over a quarter century. Our academic directors and staff put their heads together to capture some of the top lessons we carry into the next 25 years, lessons that might help other organizations serving nontraditional students build engaging and supportive classrooms. Also, they're snazzy!

Our first lesson was posted online on August 24th, and our final lesson on December 4th. You can now find them all here. We hope you'll find some to delight and surprise you!

1. You had us at hello! We learned that the process of building strong relationships with our students starts from the very beginning, whether we meet them at official Clemente interviews, recruitment events, or at our local grocery store.

2. Every table is a perfect table! We learned that as long as our students can gather face to face (physically or virtually), we can build the caring and welcoming classroom community that is the hallmark of a Clemente course.

3. Everybody loves Shakespeare! We learned that the Bard has a play or a poem for every circumstance. King Lear is a particular favorite of Clemente courses all across the country.

4. Embrace disagreement! We learned that engaging with those who have different opinions helps our students open their minds, communicate effectively, and clarify their own perspectives.

5. The community is the classroom! We learned that sometimes, our best partnerships grow in the places you’d least expect--like a Toyota dealership that offered us a conference room for class.

6. They’re called the classics for a reason! We learned that even thousands of years later, texts like Plato’s Allegory of the Cave resonate with modern students, even as they live and learn in a very different world

7. Educating a parent educates a family! We learned that a love of learning is contagious, and parents who are passionate about their studies serve as excellent role models for their whole families.

8. Socrates was onto something! We learned that setting up our classroom as a dialogue where all participants have equal voices is the key to showing students that they are heard, understood, and valued.

9. The classroom door is always open! We learned that maintaining a caring, nonjudgmental attitude is the best way to support students who were not able to finish their Clemente course the first time around. We have encouraged many students to try again and helped them succeed, sometimes years after their first contact with us!

10. Don’t fear the conflict! We learned that nearly any classroom disruption can be handled if you approach your work with compassion and treat every student with respect and dignity.

11. History is now! We learned that the key to making the study of history relevant to our students is to show them that the figures we study were real, vibrant people much like themselves. We love to remind them that we are all living through history every day.

12. Say it with art! We learned that discussing controversial topics through visual art, poetry, music, and literature can help shift the conversation from students’ actions or opinions to those of a character or artist.

13. Go ahead, be vulnerable! We learned that in the classroom, the students (and professors) who are willing to take risks and introduce tough topics help make the Clemente experience richer for everyone.

14. Belonging is everything! We’ve learned that it can take a little extra effort and care to make the classroom feel welcoming to nontraditional students, but that this groundwork is critical if we want our students to thrive.

15. No classroom, no problem! We learned our students are so dedicated to learning that they’ll join on the subway, in a park, or anywhere in between

16. Bring on the hard stuff! We learned our students don’t shy away from the tough topics but embrace them head on.

17. More than a trim, please! We learned that hair salons, barber shops, and other natural gathering spots are great places to connect with new students.

18. Libraries are the lifeblood of our communities. We learned that libraries--from Halifax to Madison to Austin--make great classrooms where books and technology are readily available and learning is always at the forefront.

19. Socrates and Shakespeare feed the soul but don't put food on the table that night. We learned that for families near the poverty level, providing wrap-around support and emergency aid is key to success.

20. Don't forget the cheese! We learned that students might manage in class with a forgotten pen, book, or extra paper, but breaktime snacks are non negotiable. You can't read philosophy and literature without some brain fuel.

21. Students make each class their own. We learned that when we hit the point in the academic year where the students run the class and shape the conversations around material, we know we've done our job.

22. More writing! We learned that the prospect of writing makes the smartest, most proficient student nervous. But if we fold writing into each class, we demystify the process and build students’ confidence.

23. Douglass does it again. We’ve learned from one of the most widely read books across Clemente Courses, Frederick Douglass’s autobiography, that the residue of slavery is felt across generations.

24. We are in this (learning) together. We’ve learned that students teach faculty as much a faculty teach them. Our classrooms are always a dynamic interchange, where we learn and grow in conversation with the texts and with each other.

25. It’s never too late to live a better life. We learned that students from 18 to 80 arrive in the classroom with ambitions to make a fresh start. No matter their age and background, they can build something new from their Clemente experience.

Spotlight: Vivé Griffith, Director of Outreach and Engagement

Thu, 02 Dec 2021 16:35:00 GMT

Writer and educator Vivé Griffith has been part of the Clemente community for nearly fifteen years. After serving as the Academic Director of Free Minds Austin from 2007-2016, Vivé was hired as the first Clemente Course in the Humanities Director of Outreach and Engagement. Get to know Vivé with our quick Q&A!

What motivated you to get involved with Clemente? Like so many people, I first learned about Clemente when I read founder Earl Shorris's essay in Harper's Magazine . I was a graduate student at the University of Cincinnati, and the article was included in a course packet I was teaching from in a freshman composition class. I like to say that I'm not sure whether the essay stuck with my students, but it ultimately changed my life.

A decade and another graduate degree later, I learned about a Clemente Course, Free Minds, being started at The University of Texas, where I worked as a writer. I asked to visit class, and I was awestruck by the engaged conversation in the room and the fierce intelligence and commitment of the students. I came home that night and knew I wanted to be involved. I had no idea that just a month later the program would be hiring its first staff position for an academic director and that I'd get the job. I ended up directing Free Minds for close to a decade.

Please share a favorite Clemente memory, or a favorite "fact" about the program that makes you proud to share your time and support!

It is so exciting to see how the humanities come alive through our students' engagement with them, and often in surprising ways. I have countless stories about this, but one of my first remains one of my favorites. In a philosophy class, we were reading Plato's Republic , all ten books over the unit. A student, Kellee, had a baby son in the childcare room who just wouldn't settle down, so she brought him into the classroom. While the class debated Socrates' controversial ideas about rearing children, Kellee walked the classroom in circles, nursing her son under a blanket. She never stopped participating in the conversation, arguing for the role of mothers while in the very act of being a mother. She was in direct dialogue with a 2400 year old book!

What do you do outside of the Clemente universe—for work and for play? I write essays and poetry, keep a year-round vegetable garden, and take epically long walks. (I've walked parts of the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage trail four times.) In September 2020 I installed a poetry box on the curb of my house, and I put in a new poem every week for my neighbors to read as they walk by. It's been my favorite pandemic hobby of all. [ You can subscribe to Vivé's poetry box newsletter here . ]

What makes Clemente and the study of the humanities special to you?

At its heart, Clemente is about community. The texts become a way of knowing ourselves, knowing each other, and entering a conversation that's been going on throughout human history. How do we live a good life? What do we owe to each other? What is justice?

We so rarely get to step away from the frenzy of our modern life to ask these big questions, and Clemente offers the opportunity to do that in community with others. There's nothing quite like it. And we need more of it in the world.

Spotlight: Timothy Patrick McCarthy, Stanley Paterson Professor of American History, Boston Clemente

Fri, 26 Nov 2021 04:00:00 GMT

Harvard professor Tim McCarthy has been part of the Boston Clemente Course in Dorchester, MA, since its founding in 2001. Recruited by his friend Neal Dolan, Boston Clemente's founding Academic Director, Tim originally came on board to teach American History. He went on to serve as Academic Director for nearly a decade, and in 2014, he was awarded the distinction of becoming the Stanley Paterson Professor of American History, Clemente's first (and still only) endowed chair in the nation. Get to know Tim with our quick Q&A!

What motivated you to get involved with Clemente? I joined the Clemente faculty because I believe in the power of the humanities to transform lives and I believe that everyone has the right to this kind of education. I also believe that people like me who are based in universities have a responsibility to do our work more broadly—in deep, ongoing solidarity with communities that might not yet have access to the schools where we teach.

Please share a favorite Clemente memory, or a favorite "fact" about the program that makes you proud to share your time and support!

I am proud of everyone involved in the Clemente Course—our brilliant scholars and graduates, my devoted faculty colleagues, the amazing staff at the Codman Square Health Center, and the many stalwart supporters at Mass Humanities. Together, we are all engaged in something very special, and rare. One of my favorite memories of Clemente happened during my second year teaching American History, in 2002, which was also my first year as Academic Director. We had been discussing documents from the American Revolution, during which we talked about the importance of people speaking up and acting out in the face of tyranny and oppression. The next week, the students came to class buzzing. They asked me if they could attend a town hall meeting taking place across the street to protest statewide budget cuts to public education and social services. I was initially hesitant, mostly because this was going to cut into the first half of our class that evening, and our time was precious. Then one student (echoing Abigail Adams) said: “But Professor Tim, we want to foment a rebellion!” I laughed, let them go, and they did just that. We all learned a lesson that night.

What do you do outside of the Clemente universe—for work and for play? My “day job” is teaching at Harvard University, where I am on the faculties at the Graduate School of Education and the Kennedy School of Government. I’m also a historian of politics and social movements who teaches courses on race, ethnicity, and equity in education; social justice movements and protest literatures; African-American and LGBTQ+ histories; and leadership and communications. For play, I volunteer for various political campaigns, work on various projects with the American Repertory Theater, go for walks on the beach with my husband and our dog in Provincetown, and cheer my niece on in AAU basketball. It's a full life.

What makes Clemente and the study of the humanities special to you?

I have long defined the humanities as the study of what it means to be human so that we can all become more humane. Humanists are not people who hoard wealth, wage war, and abuse power. We ask critical questions, search for deeper truths, and try our best to foster human connections. That’s why the humanities are best when shared—a common commitment to something bigger than ourselves. I believe deep in my bones that this collective work, which is the heart and soul of Clemente, can help to free us all. We need this now more than ever.

Meet Clarence Jackson: A Veteran Serving Veterans

Wed, 24 Nov 2021 18:18:00 GMT

Since the Vietnam War, Clarence Jackson has made it his mission to help fellow veterans find the resources and support they need in their civilian lives. After participating in the Newark Clemente Veterans’ Initiative (CVI) in 2020, he says he can be an even better advocate for those who have served.

Clarence was taken by so much of the material he studied in class, from Greek mythology to the Gettysburg Address. But just as important, he found the open conversation about the course texts transformative. “One thing I really took from the experience was how to respect everyone’s views and perspectives when they approach a text or piece of art. We each bring our own history and see things in different ways,” he says. “It has changed how I interact with people going forward.”

Clarence spent six years in the Air Force during the Vietnam War. As a Personnel Specialist, he was responsible for making sure that soldiers had the training they needed for their assignments, that their goods and families were moved appropriately, and that their career changes were documented. His job was to support the troops in the field, and even though he left active service, he didn’t let go of this mission.

In 1975 he joined the American Legion and began helping veterans get the information they needed to file claims for benefits. He continued that work as commander of the Disabled American Veterans chapter in Newark and now serves as Chairman of the Essex County Veterans Advisory Board.

When he received an email about the CVI course in Newark, Clarence thought it looked interesting. His expectations weren’t high, but he was immediately struck by the range of texts he encountered and how they seemed as relevant today as when they were written.

Reading Sophocles’ play Ajax , where the great warrior of the title feels shame and remorse over the acts he committed, was powerful for Clarence. And when he was asked to make a presentation to his community afterwards, he integrated some of the story into his remarks. Clarence says when we talk about PTSD for veterans, we should be thinking about its long history: “2500 years ago they wrote in the story of Ajax of the consequences of continuing to be in battle. And 2500 years later we haven’t done anything to protect our guys from experiencing the horrors of war long after they have left the battlefield.”

Other class assignments opened his eyes in different ways. When writing about an anthem or song that had meaning for him, Clarence did a deep dive into Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Going On.” He discovered that the song spoke of a kind of turmoil in the country 50 years ago that is mirrored in our culture today, right down to protests against police brutality. A 16th century Dutch painting by Pieter Bruegel the Elder made him think about how different stories, like the myth of Icarus, can carry on over time. And Tim O’Brien’s “The Things They Carried” gave him a real glimpse into the lives of combat soldiers in Vietnam.

“It causes you to say that everybody who was over there was a hero,” Clarence says. “It was awe inspiring reading.”

Clarence says he’s “on pins and needles” waiting for the next round of CVI in Newark. He can’t wait to jump into new readings and to discover the perspectives other veterans bring to the work. He also appreciates how the course offers its participants the skills and confidence to take their next steps, whether in college or pursuing other goals like starting a business.

As an advocate for veterans, he’d like to see CVI be included in the packages of resources offered to everyone who has served, especially for those who might be interested in returning to school. “CVI is sort of the second chance of second chances,” he says.

Patrick Rodriguez: Dreaming of a World Based in Grace and Forgiveness

Tue, 16 Nov 2021 15:36:00 GMT

Through the Beyond the Box Georgia campaign, Patrick Rodriguez aims to open the doors to education by removing the criminal convictions question from college applications across the state of Georgia. It’s one of many ways he is advocating for reform in the prison education space, and one he says reflects “working to solve the problem I am closest to.”

Patrick saw very few options for continuing his education when got out of prison in December 2019. He wanted to get back to Kennesaw State but needed to take a first step. The Clemente Course at Common Good Atlanta , which is specifically geared toward those transitioning out of the justice system, was the step he was looking for.

“It was the only thing available for somebody like me, and that was why I joined,” he says. “But then I walked into a room where everyone understands what I just went through. Clemente provided a space for me to become a student again.”

It also provided a community of support that extended beyond the classroom, both in the fellow students and the faculty and staff. This allowed him to take concrete steps toward his future. “Clemente is about looking ahead,” he says in a video he created for the program (below). “It’s not about looking back. It’s about looking at who you are, what you’re capable of, and where you want to go. And it’s going to help you get there.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUGE0lokvtM&t=16s

Some of that help came from Common Good Atlanta’s Academic Director Bill Taft. Patrick likes to tell the story of the time he and Bill huddled in a makeshift office they jokingly called the “broom closet” to talk about his academic future. Patrick worried there were too many barriers in front of him to continue his education, including money owed and dropped classes. But Bill helped him sort through options.

“We had an honest conversation in there,” he says. “The broom closet was really the place we were able to get grounded. I was able to think more clearly in that cluttered broom closet, because that’s what it takes sometimes.”

Since the broom closet—and graduating from Clemente—Patrick has returned to college at Kennesaw State University, where he’ll complete his bachelor’s degree this spring, and he’s preparing to apply to law schools for 2022. (Don’t text him in December, he says. He’ll be hunkered down preparing for the LSAT.)

In the meantime, he is working on prison education reform, especially in Georgia, which has one of the highest per capita rates of incarceration in the U.S. and the world. Patrick is now the Director of Advocacy and Community Engagement at Common Good Atlanta, which offers the Clemente Course in which he participated as well as programs for those who are still incarcerated. He also serves as Co-Executive Director of The Georgia Coalition of Higher Education in Prison .

And this year Patrick was one of eight people selected out of a pool of 432 awarded a fellowship with the Education Trust . There he is learning to research and write policy that can bring about real change for directly impacted individuals around educational access, including the changes he’s advocating for in the Beyond the Box Georgia campaign.

While he is fighting for changes in policy and logistics, for Patrick, this work represents something even larger:

“I see our world as it is now. Right now we are in a punitive state, which I don’t think is acceptable. But I dream of a world that is based in grace and forgiveness. That is the world we want to live in.”

Amy Howard: Creating Opportunities in Port Townsend, WA

Sat, 06 Nov 2021 16:24:00 GMT

As a City Council Member in Port Townsend, Washington, Amy Howard is always seeking ways to equalize opportunities for members of her community. A graduate of Jefferson Clemente , Amy understands the value of removing barriers, particularly for those living on low incomes and seeking housing in an increasingly expensive city.

When Amy arrived in Port Townsend off the ferry from Seattle at age 18, she was homeless and addicted to methamphetamines. She left behind a life marked by abuse and drug use, and the move offered her a chance for a fresh start. She found that in a nonprofit called the Boiler Room, a coffee house and arts space with supportive programming for teenagers in need. It gave her the foundation she needed to start rebuilding her life. And there she learned about Clemente.

“At first I was afraid to even try learning because I was scared that my addiction had ruined my brain, but the academic director made it seem so interesting that I decided to try,” she says.

After Clemente, Amy continued taking college courses, ultimately earning a number of certificates, including ones in nonprofit management. She also went on to become the Boiler Room’s Executive Director. And she ran for City Council of Port Townsend—and won. She’s now serving her second term.

One of the issues she’s focused on is affordable housing, recognizing that stagnant wages and ballooning housing costs have made it hard for lower income people to stay in her community. “I get to advocate for zoning changes and changes to the housing code to remove barriers,” she says.

She also works directly on the issue in her role as Manager of Volunteer Engagement at Habitat for Humanity of East Jefferson County, where she gets to collaborate with other people committed to improving their community. And she volunteers as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of OlyCAP, an organization that provides equitable access to resources and support for those who need it.

Today Amy dedicates her time—professionally, personally, and on the dais—to creating opportunities for her neighbors to build better lives. It’s a role she didn’t know could be hers when she first set foot in Port Townsend, and one Jefferson Clemente helped make possible.

“I actively encourage people to take this course anytime it is available to me to promote,” she says. “I firmly believe that it is a game changer.”

Meet Jacqueline Velez: Writer and Advocate

Wed, 27 Oct 2021 22:20:00 GMT

Many people got to know Jacqueline Velez, a graduate of the Clemente Course in Holyoke, MA , when her essay was published in O, The Oprah Magazine , early in the pandemic. But Jacqueline was a powerful advocate for prison reform and a community organizer long before her story, “ I Survived 20 Days in Solitary Confinement: Here’s How I Got Through ,” lit up computer screens across the country.

The seed for the essay came in her Clemente Course. After reading Rainer Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet , with its romanticized images of solitude, instructor Tziviah Gover asked students, “Have you ever been alone for an extended period of time?” For Jacqueline, the answer was yes. She’d spent nearly three weeks in solitary confinement at Rikers Island, an experience that changed her life. And years later, when O Magazine was gathering stories of isolation amid the coronavirus shut down, it was just the piece they needed.

The essay only tells part of Jacqueline’s story. Coming out of jail, she didn’t believe she could ever go back to college or build a rewarding career because of her felony conviction. She says, “I thought my life was over. I was not going to be able to pursue my dreams.”

Ultimately she found an organization where her lived experience was of critical importance. Jacqueline became a volunteer and then a paid employee of a New York nonprofit advocating for criminal justice reform. She worked on a campaign to repeal the Rockefeller drug laws and another that led to the 2009 anti-shackling law, banning the shackling of laboring women. When Jacqueline moved to Massachusetts from New York, she found work as a community organizer and later as a regional director for the reelection campaign of Senator Markey. She also found a way back to education through Clemente.

She graduated from Clemente and then transitioned to the Bard Microcollege Holyoke , where she earned her associate degree. Through it all, she worked on the essay that ultimately found its home in O and continued writing each week with Voices from Inside , an organization that offers creative writing opportunities for women who are currently or formally incarcerated. Jacqueline will be one of the featured writers in an upcoming documentary about the organization, tentatively titled, “Finding the Words: The Power of Voices from Inside.”

Today Jacqueline serves as Racial Justice Organizer for Massachusetts Jobs with Justice , working on several environmental and climate justice campaigns, police accountability, and incarceration issues. And she serves as Vice Chair of the Hampden County Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, supporting the movement toward gender equality in her community. In her work and volunteer time, she is making good on the dreams she held when she came out of incarceration and started building a new life. And she’s kept writing beyond the story she told in O Magazine , with the hopes to one day write a memoir.

“Writing saved my life. It has been my sanity,” she says. “I’d never written like that until I took my first Clemente Course. It opened my eyes to this whole world, this whole canon of writers. It also opened up something in me that might have died or never fully come alive.”

Spotlight: Audrey Petty, Director of Sojourner Scholars

Tue, 26 Oct 2021 22:01:00 GMT

Audrey Petty joined Clemente in 2007, when she was teaching in the Creative Writing Program at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As a lifelong advocate of educational equity, Clemente's mission appealed to her, and she found that teaching in the course was "an exciting, meaningful way to be more engaged and connected to [her] community in Urbana-Champaign." Since then, she has worked with Clemente host Illinois Humanities on the Odyssey Project and to develop the Sojourner Scholars program , which offers college-level humanities courses for high school students in Chicago's South Side. Get to know Audrey with our quick Q&A!

Please share a favorite Clemente memory, or a favorite "fact" about the program that makes you proud to share your time and support! Developing the Sojourner Scholars program over the past seven years has been one of the greatest joys of my life. The teaching team for Sojourners is phenomenal and ever expanding; the care and knowledge that they bring to summer seminars is extraordinary. I'm most proud of how the program has become one in which young people (high school students from Chicago's South Side) engage, document, and produce knowledge about their city's histories and cultures.

What do you do outside of the Clemente universe? I write essays and stories, and I'm currently at work on a novel. I also love discovering new music, watching movies, and walking with friends and family near Lake Michigan. (I'm fortunate to live in a Chicago neighborhood that's very close to the lake.) Over the past year, I've been involved in a mutual aid project, connecting with my neighbors on the greater South Side of the city.

What makes Clemente and the study of the humanities special to you?

The study of the humanities is a lifelong invitation: to pay close attention, to listen and watch and read the world with curiosity and intention, and to make meaning and connections all the time.

Spotlight: Chris Eklund, Member of the Clemente Board of Directors

Sat, 16 Oct 2021 12:00:00 GMT

By profession, Clemente board member Chris Eklund is a venture capitalist and investor focused on biotechnology and pharmaceuticals. But after the workday ends, Chris devotes much of his free time to music, theater, and the arts. This aligns perfectly with his interest in Clemente, where he is inspired by our graduate's stories and the growth of the program over the past 25 years. Get to know Chris with our quick Q&A!

When did you get involved with Clemente, and what motivated you to do so? I became involved with Clemente a number of years ago after learning about the organization from Star Lawrence. I liked the idea of helping people by introducing them to the classics, which have played such an important role in my own education and continue to inspire me. I define the classics in a broad way—the humanities, theater, art and music. When I first heard the Clemente story, I was immediately struck by the power of the humanities to transform people’s lives—empowering them to reassess themselves and their abilities through an immersion in the original texts and the world of ideas. Clemente’s work has been remarkable—its success stories are inspiring. It has clearly succeeded in its mission to improve the lives of disadvantaged adults. The concept applies not only to those living under adverse circumstances, but all people. It was a real “ah ha” moment for me. What do you do outside of the Clemente universe? I am a venture capitalist and investor by profession, focusing on biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and other areas of interest. Our firm has been involved with cancer therapeutics, antibiotics, stem cells, dermatology and most recently, a best-in-class drug for migraine headaches (Nurtec, developed by Biohaven Pharmaceuticals). I have a busy life outside of work, with particular interest in music and the arts. I am involved with the Metropolitan Opera National Council, which auditions promising young opera singers and assists in the development of their careers. My favorite composers are Wagner, Verdi and Puccini. I play the piano and have studied some basic acting (a great way to learn Shakespeare!). I have three children: Alex (6), Anna (11) and Julia (29), who with her husband runs Sovi, a company in Napa CA that makes non-alcoholic wines.

What makes Clemente and the study of the humanities special to you?

For me personally, the “Power of the Humanities to Transform Lives” is a compelling concept. But what amazes me is the way Clemente has been able to put these words into action. 34 free, accredited, rigorous, college-level courses … 110 classroom hours across five disciplines … focused on critical and creative thinking. Wow. I hope we can double that.

Monique Henry: Still Rising

Fri, 08 Oct 2021 21:48:00 GMT

In January 2017, Monique Henry co-presented a paper at the Ethnographic and Qualitative Research Conference (EQRC) in Las Vegas. Standing in front of a room full of academics on the other side of the country was not what she expected when she applied to Harlem Clemente in 2015.

Monique learned about Clemente through her job in the mailroom at Columbia University. A naturally buoyant and social person, she often spent time chatting with students as they came to pick up packages, sometimes striking up friendships. In the spring, one of those new friends stopped by with her graduation gown in hand and her mortarboard already on her head.

This made Monique reflect on the fact that she might have been graduating herself if she’d continued full-time in college. Her friend asked her, “Why don’t you go back to school? You would thrive in the classroom.”

That was the push she needed. Monique met with Maria Tetzlaff at Columbia’s Double Discovery Center , who directed her to Clemente. Monique arrived at the Clemente welcome picnic ready to restart her education. And her identical twin sister joined her.

In Clemente Monique found a community of people who were committed to learning, what she called a “built-in academic family.”

“Clemente reignited the student in me,” she says. “It challenged me to live up to my full potential. Each class gave me something to build on the foundation I already had.”

The course also changed her relationship to the city she lived in. She took field trips to museums and cultural institutions that she had never visited, even as a lifelong resident.

“As a New Yorker, sometimes you forget where you live. You just go to work and go home and you don’t take advantage of what the city has to offer,” she says. “You don’t know that you’re sitting on a gold mine.”

After graduating, Monique continued with school, taking classes at LaGuardia Community College and the Borough of Manhattan Community College. She was inducted into the National Society of Leadership and Success and earned a 4.0 grade point average.

She also reconnected with Charity Anderson, then a PhD student who was studying Clemente for her dissertation. Monique had first met Charity at the welcome picnic and got to know her as Charity observed the class during the year. But a meeting over coffee changed the dynamic of their relationship.

Charity invited Monique to co-author a paper reflecting on the qualitative research experience from the perspective of both researcher and research subject. Monique said the resulting project was one of her best experiences. She and Charity worked together on the publication and then flew to Las Vegas to present at the EQRC conference. Monique called it the “icing on the cake” of her Clemente journey.

While her experience may be an outlier – not every Clemente student ends up at a conference across the country – Monique thinks the program can open all kinds of doors. “It’s important to pay attention while you’re in the program to make the connections that will help you make the next move,” she says.

Last fall Monique and her fiancé relocated to Charlotte, NC, where they are excited to build their lives in a new city. Monique is preparing to begin classes again, this time at Central Piedmont Community College, where she’ll complete her nursing degree. She’s interested in transferring to earn her bachelor’s degree and then pursue a master’s degree to become a nurse anesthetist.

She’ll move forward armed with her bright personality, and with the skills and renewed confidence she gained in Clemente. And she’ll do it donning a favorite necklace, one connected to her goals for herself.

Around her neck Monique wears a line from poet Maya Angelou in gold script: Still I Rise . Asked what it means to her, she says, “It’s a silent affirmation. Every day you are allowed to restart, you are allowed to begin again. I am still rising because I have not yet reached my academic goals, my social goals, my spiritual goals. If I ever need a reminder, it helps so much.”

Sandy Fernandez Believes in Always Aiming High

Fri, 01 Oct 2021 16:08:00 GMT

Sandy Fernandez remembers how nervous she was when she first entered the classroom in August 2017 to begin her journey in Free Minds , the Clemente Course in Austin, Texas. But giving the program a try was true to her motto: “Don’t hit low. Always hit high.”

“Sometimes we put limitations on ourselves, and they get so strong we don’t have the vision to do more,” she says. “I wanted to see if it was possible for me to go to college, and this was the opportunity to find out.”

Sandy was born in Mexico City and completed all her prior schooling there. While she could speak English well, she wasn’t confident in her ability to write in the language, and she’d never read a whole book in it. Soon she was tackling Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure and Plato’s Republic alongside her classmates and drafting her first college papers.

They wouldn’t be her last. After excelling in Free Minds, where she read an original poem in the graduation ceremony, Sandy continued at Austin Community College . She earned her associate degree and applied for programs in social work. She was accepted everywhere she applied, including The University of Texas at Austin .

That, too, was a way of “hitting high.” Fewer than one in four transfer applicants are accepted into the university, and it can often seem to community college students that it’s not even worth trying. For Sandy, those were motivators. She decided that was where she wanted to go and tailored her schedule around taking the classes that would get her there. She earned more than 80 credits, far more than the 30 she needed to apply. And she kept a detailed diary of all her volunteer activities and hours to make her application as strong as possible.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CgsJzmwIvtI

Today she’s not just a student in the UT Austin School of Social Work, but an endowed scholarship recipient as well. She will graduate in 2022. And she hopes to use her degree to help other immigrants overcome obstacles and move toward the life they aspire to: “I want to empower people to do whatever their dreams are and to believe in the possibilities. I want them to know they can do it.”

Attending college full-time while raising two school-aged sons, working, and helping run a family business is hard work, and Sandy admits that she doesn’t always know how she juggles it all. Sometimes she feels guilty that going to school has made her less available for her children, a concern common to adult students. But recently her younger son told her to “Just keep doing it” and she realized that pursuing her dreams is not something she does just for herself. She does it for her family too.

“When you put your own goals so high, they know they have all these possibilities and that they can do things,” she says. “They cannot look down.”

That’s a lesson she is glad to be able to share with her children and a reminder that even though she was nervous and uncomfortable during each step of her journey, the important thing was that she stepped through the doors anyway, including that first one in 2017. “Free Minds was the beginning of everything,” Sandy says. “If I hadn’t jumped in, I wouldn’t have seen the possibilities for myself. Sometimes I feel like I’m dreaming, believe me.”

Spotlight: Pat Garcia, Literature Professor at Free Minds Austin

Thu, 30 Sep 2021 13:52:00 GMT

Professor Pat Garcia brings to her teaching in Free Minds , a Clemente course in Austin, TX, her dual expertise in English Renaissance Literature (Shakespeare!) and Latino/a Literature. In her class students might practice performing scenes from Measure for Measure or consider the ways that Sandra Cisneros' The House on Mango Street echoes Virginia Woolf's edict that a woman needs "a room of one's own."

Pat began teaching in Free Minds in 2013 after discovering it through the enthusiasm of other passionate educators, including her husband, who had previously taught with the program. She is part of a team of professors from UT Austin and Austin Community College who serve as the program's faculty. Once involved, Pat says she was "impressed with the community of students, scholars, and activists involved."

Now, Pat teaches literature and helps plan curriculum for Free Minds. Get to know Pat with our quick Q&A!

What makes Clemente and the study of the humanities special to you? This program feeds my soul. I love teaching, and these students remind me why. They bring a wealth of experiences to the classroom that enhance our learning, and for many, it’s the first time these experiences have been recognized as part of our learning. The humanities are about humans and how we interact with the world.

Please share a favorite Clemente memory, or a favorite "fact" about the program that makes you proud to share your time and support!

My favorite Clemente/Free Minds memory is a tradition I started of having students sign my copy of the book we read together, Sandra Cisneros’ The House on Mango Street . It’s become my yearbook for that year and an inspiration to read their messages.

What do you do outside of the Clemente universe? I am a senior lecturer of English at UT Austin. For fun, I read, hike, travel, and shop for shoes!

Brenda Nicholson: Leaving the FLDS and Becoming a Voice for Women

Fri, 24 Sep 2021 20:17:00 GMT

When Brenda Nicholson enrolled in Venture, the Clemente Course offered by Utah Humanities in Salt Lake City, she was undertaking a series of “firsts.” It was her first college class. It was her first educational experience outside of the conservative church school she had attended all her life. And it was the first time she saw herself as someone who had a voice and value beyond being someone’s wife or mother.

“The experience was absolutely life changing for me,” Brenda says. “It changed my entire world view.”

Venture came into Brenda’s life at a critical moment. She, her husband and six children had recently fled the FLDS (Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Chris of Latter-Day Saints), a polygamist group that had broken off from the Mormon Church. Leaving the organization meant losing everything they had ever known, including their family members. They had to start over in Salt Lake City without any safety net. Brenda found a job as a gardener, her first work outside the home, and a coworker let her know about Venture.

In class Brenda was amazed to find herself among the most diverse group of people she’d ever spent time with, including several refugees, one of whom was a woman from Afghanistan who became a friend. “The people were accepting and beautiful,” she said. “They gave me hope that the outside world was nowhere near the terrible thing I’d heard it was.”

Brenda says she had to work up the bravery to raise her hand in class. Once she did, “I could hardly recognize my own voice squeaking out the answer to the question. But nobody laughed, nobody acted like what I said was crazy.”

Instead, she found that she had something to contribute. “It was the first time I felt that I had an opinion that was valid,” she says. “It was incredible to feel supported and safe and find my own voice.”

Brenda also fell in love with the course work and felt her curiosity come to life again. Her previous education had been entirely in FLDS schools, where she wasn’t exposed to history or philosophy and where college wasn’t an option, especially for women. Now she was exploring texts and ideas she hadn’t even known existed, something she calls a “breaking through point.”

Since graduating from Venture, Brenda has focused on using her voice to help others who are leaving fundamentalist religious environments. One of her Venture professors, Jeff Metcalf, referred her to a program called Humanities in Focus that enabled her to work with University of Utah students to make a documentary about her life . She began sharing her journey out of the FLDS in a blog and with the media. And she earned her associate degree in psychology from Salt Lake City Community College. She hopes to earn her bachelor’s and become a therapist to help those getting out of situations like her own.

In 2016 Brenda attended the first United States of Women Conference in Washington, DC, a solo cross-country journey she once couldn’t have imagined making. She sat in the same room with the Obamas and Oprah Winfrey. When she heard then-Vice President Joe Biden talk about the Violence Against Women Act, she cried. She saw that there were people who cared about what women faced, and she hoped that more activists would turn their attention to the girls in organizations like FLDS, to help us “get to a place where all girls in America will be free.” Her goal is to have her own voice be part of making that a reality.

“When you educate women, you educate the world, because women go out and share,” she says. That’s why she believes programs like Clemente are so important. “I wish everyone could go through a program like Venture. I think it would change the world.”

Spotlight: Marina van Zuylen, National Academic Director

Fri, 17 Sep 2021 12:00:00 GMT

Professor Marina van Zuylen fell in love with the Clemente model during her time teaching at Columbia University. After reading Earl Shorris' article in Harper's Magazine, Marina realized that she wanted to help bring the beauty and urgency of the humanities to students outside the traditional classroom. This prompted her to leave Columbia for Bard College , an early supporter and champion of Clemente. At Bard, Marina was able to teach Clemente in a variety of locations—Poughkeepsie, Dorchester, and presently, Kingston.

In addition to serving as Clemente's National Academic Director, Marina still teaches a Clemente Course in Kingston, NY. Get to know Marina with our quick Q&A!

What makes Clemente and the study of the humanities special to you? Teaching literature is always an extraordinary experience, but with the Clemente students, one often feels that the writers and philosophers we take for granted have become lifelines. How many times have I heard: “the Clemente Course is like leaving Plato’s cave”; "because of Virginia Woolf, I realize that all aspects of my life can make it into a book"; "museums are like welcoming churches, not intimidating sacred spaces." Seeing students gain confidence through the sheer joy of sharing their opinions, being listened to, and then processing what they have discovered with their fellow students, is an unparalleled experience.

Please share a favorite Clemente memory, or a favorite "fact" about the program that makes you proud to share your time and support!

My favorite memory involves a former Clemente student, Peter, who didn’t show up in class one day. I tracked him down to the local hospital. He was on a respirator with tubes in his arm. When I asked him how he was, what had happened, he pulled out the oxygen tube and gestured to the book on his bedside (Melville’s Billy Budd ), whispering: “How did the discussion go. I can’t believe I missed it.” I realized that the oxygen he felt he needed the most was between the covers of the book. He recovered and is one of the most avid readers I know.

What do you do outside of the Clemente universe? My hobbies usually involve setting up playdates with dogs, gardening, and reading a combination of novels and philosophy.

Lamont Smith: Five Olympic Games and Counting

Thu, 16 Sep 2021 17:25:00 GMT

Over the summer, Lamont Smith flew to Tokyo for his fifth Olympic Games as a video editor for NBC Sports. A 1997 graduate of the original Clemente Course in New York City and now a board member for the national Clemente organization, Lamont's career has taken him to four continents and 14 countries and even to winning an Emmy Award. But as a man in his early 20s, he didn't see any of this in his future.

"It all started with that Clemente Course in the Lower East Side in a folding chair in 1996. It is honestly amazing," he says. "I felt I could do more, contribute more, and jump to something else. But I wouldn’t have had the confidence if not for the Clemente Course.” Lamont grew up in public housing in New York City and always excelled in school, but found his options were limited: “My curiosity for the larger world outside my neighborhood definitely outran what I was offered in my local public school. I sensed from early on that I was being prepped to be a worker instead of being exposed to the teachings of thinkers like Nietzsche and Plato.” He ended up leaving high school early and earning a GED. He was in a workforce training program when he saw a flyer for the Clemente Course on a bulletin board. Clemente was in its earliest years, recruiting just its second class. For Lamont the chance to explore philosophy, an area he had dabbled in but not studied formally, drew him to the course.

“Clemente was the opposite of the experience I had in public school. Everyone was there on purpose and excited to learn,” he says. “These were college professors giving us college-level work, not dumbing it down. They respected our intelligence and advanced it.” After graduating from Clemente, Lamont enrolled in classes at the City University of New York right and took a job in the mailroom at the NBA offices. Soon he caught the “television bug.” He took every small production job he could find and launched his career through an unpaid internship with a hip-hop television producer. After his time with Clemente, he was sure he could handle the work in front of him. Today Lamont is 20 years into a career that he loves and has traveled the world from Korea to France to Brazil to Russia. He has let go of any inferiority complex he might have had as a young man and knows that he belongs in the academic and professional spaces where he finds himself. And he's passing that knowledge down. He and his wife have a daughter in elementary school, and he will make sure she doesn’t suffer from what he calls “the bigotry of low expectations.”

He has also come "full circle," joining the board of directors of the national Clemente Course and helping steer the organization into its next 25 years. He says the power of the course lies in unlocking and helping people see what they have inside them already.

“From the moment I stepped into that class, they made me feel that I was worthy,” he says. “Knowing and being made to feel that we belong and that our voice and intelligence matter made all the difference.”

A Special Clemente Screening of A RECKONING IN BOSTON

Tue, 14 Sep 2021 19:57:00 GMT

In celebration of Clemente's 25th anniversary, members of the Clemente community are invited to join us for a virtual screening of the feature-length documentary film, A Reckoning in Boston . The film, which critics have called " remarkable " and " an absolute must-see ," began in the Clemente classroom in Dorchester, MA. Filmmaker James Rutenbeck set out to document our adult students' engagement with the humanities. Over time, however, the film became about much more.

Reckoning follows two students--Kafi Dixon and Carl Chandler--in their lives in and outside the classroom, as they navigate the violence, racism, and gentrification that threaten their very place in the city. Kafi and Carl become producers and collaborators on the film and challenge James to question his own perspectives of the place where he lives. Five years later, Kafi and Carl come to surprising new places in their lives, and following their lead, James does too.

Use the button below to register to join us for the screening.

Once registered, the film will be available for screening from 10am to midnight ET, on September 30th, with a shared screening time of 6pm. A Q&A and discussion will follow afterwards at 7:30 ET, featuring:

There will be time for audience questions and conversation.

A Reckoning in Boston will air on PBS Independent Lens next season, so this screening offers a sneak-peek of a documentary that will soon have a national audience. It is a moving and powerful piece of filmmaking and a rare look inside the Clemente classroom. We hope you'll join us in experiencing it and marking our quarter century of bringing important conversations to the community.

Ginnette Powell: Always End Up on the Side of Good

Sat, 11 Sep 2021 13:00:00 GMT

Recently on Clemente’s Twitter account , Ginnette Powell posted a photo of herself at her Clemente graduation, a rose in her hand and her proud son’s arm around her. The photo was a throwback. Ginnette graduated from the course in Dorchester, MA , 17 years ago, but her connection to Clemente has stayed strong. “I still have the books on my shelves all these years later,” she says.

She first found out about Clemente from a newspaper article, but she jokes that it was something more basic that brought her to the program. “I’m like my cats—and I’ve got six of them—incredibly inquisitive,” she says, laughing. “I like to see what people have to say.”

That inquisitiveness led her to the classroom, as did the feeling that it was time to do something that was just for herself. She’d spent years supporting her family and raising her son. But in 2004 he was a student at UMass-Boston and Ginnette faced the unfinished goal of earning her own bachelor’s degree. Clemente seemed the perfect place to begin: “It felt right for me to be there, to be with my classmates and engaging with them. We all challenged each other and brought out the best in each other.”

The course materials really expanded her thinking—she loved studying art history, visiting museums, and being immersed in texts she’d never encountered before. And sometimes the class connected to her life in surprising ways. She found herself reading the Greek tragedy Antigone in Clemente at the same time that her son was performing in it as a theater arts major in college.

After celebrating her Clemente graduation, Ginnette enrolled at Simmons College as an African Studies and Women’s studies major, where the habits of reading and writing she acquired in Clemente came in handy. She then transferred to Northeastern University to complete her bachelor’s degree in sociology, landing on the dean’s list and writing a blog about being a working adult student.

For Ginnette, the blog was just one way in which she could give back to her community. Her career has been another way. Her work in development has taken her to roles at Boston University, Harvard Business School, and MIT, and she now works at Massachusetts General Hospital. Back in her neighborhood, she’s the lender of books and the finder of lost cats. And with her Unitarian Universalist Church, she is involved in social justice campaigns and Black Lives Matter. “I try to end up on the side of good,” she says.

This is no surprise to Jack Cheng, who teaches art history in Dorchester Clemente and has worked closely with Ginnette in the classroom as a student and alumna. “In class Ginnette was always engaged, always listening to the other voices at the table, so I’m not surprised that she carried that sense of mutual responsibility outside the classroom and into the community.”

Ginnette’s son now lives in San Diego. In addition to her work at Mass General and her involvement in organizations like the Association of Black Sociologists, Ginnette has made sure she keeps her connection to Clemente alive, taking part in classes for graduates and keeping a close eye on opportunities on social media. She credits Clemente for offering a safe place for her inquisitive nature.

“I would very much say that in the tree of my life, Clemente is one of its strongest branches. It provided nurturing and shade and food and birds would come to nest,” she says. “My life doesn’t look the same without Clemente. It really broadened my horizons.”

Spotlight: Patricia Chui, Volunteer and Donor

Thu, 09 Sep 2021 12:01:00 GMT

Though Clemente is now an international movement with more than 30 courses spread across the globe, it all started with a single classroom. When the first Clemente Course was coming to life in NYC's East Village, Patricia Chui was an editorial assistant at W.W. Norton, working closely with editor-in-chief Starling Lawrence. As Star and Patricia worked with Earl Shorris on the book that would become Riches for the Poor , Patricia became passionate about the Clemente mission and offered her services to Earl as a volunteer writing tutor.

Patricia was paired with a student named Samantha, and quickly got to work helping Samantha learn how to strengthen her arguments and express herself on paper. "By the end of our time together," says Patricia, "not only was she a stronger writer, but she also had more confidence in herself and a better understanding of who she could become and what she could accomplish. I wish I could take credit for her growth, but naturally it was the Clemente Course that gave her the tools she needed to take a huge leap forward in her life." Since that initial experience, Patricia has stayed involved with Clemente's work as a donor and advocate. Get to know Patricia with our quick Q&A!

What makes Clemente and the study of the humanities special to you? When I was a kid, I didn't play sports or join clubs. I read books...constantly. I was that cliche of the kid with a book and a flashlight under the covers when I was supposed to be asleep. I majored in English in college and, aside from a few required science classes, I only took courses in the humanities, because that's what interested me. It wasn't until I started working with Earl Shorris and the Clemente Course that I began to understand how crucial the study of the humanities is to being able to think critically and engage with society — and how a lack of access to this type of education can create systemic barriers to academic and economic progress. It really is revolutionary to think that studying the humanities can be not just enlightening but empowering, and that's something that I hope I'll never take for granted again.

Please share a favorite Clemente memory, or a favorite "fact" about the program that makes you proud to share your time and support!

My favorite Clemente memory consists of every single conversation I had with Earl Shorris, as he explained how transformative the humanities could be for low-income adults who had never studied them. I was an English major and, to be honest, had always taken the humanities somewhat for granted. Earl was so passionate and persuasive about his mission that I became an advocate for it, too. I'll never stop being awed by the way he took his vision and turned it into a reality, in the process changing so many lives. What I'm proud of is that I was able to play a very small part in helping him do that.

What do you do outside of the Clemente universe--for work and for play? I've worked as an editor in both book publishing and digital media, and am now executive director of partnership strategy at Insider, working within their branded content division.

For play? I'm a big TV and movies fan, so I'm usually watching something (some current and recent favorites: Ted Lasso, Starstruck, Hacks, For All Mankind). As a former book editor, I'll always have a book on my nightstand. And I enjoy eating out at restaurants, cooking, traveling, seeing live music, and going to Broadway shows — all of which, of course, I look forward to doing more of once we get through the pandemic. Except for the cooking. I've already done a LOT of that over the last year and a half.

Anna Mangahas: The Value of Wrestling with Big Ideas

Fri, 03 Sep 2021 03:00:00 GMT

For Anna Mangahas, the richness of the classroom community in Chicago’s Clemente Course, the Odyssey Project , was a powerful motivator.

“There’s something about pulling unlikely people together in a room to address and interact with a text that feels sacred and unique,” she said. “We got to explore these big ideas that we don’t get to explore anywhere else because we’re so busy trying to figure out our grocery lists or how to help our children with school. It was so enriching.” Anna wasn’t new to college when she came to Odyssey in 2005, but she hadn’t been in the classroom in a long time. She started work toward a degree at age 18, but wasn’t ready then to see it through. Instead, she joined AmeriCorps and traveled from her native Chicago to California to serve as a reading tutor in an elementary school. She loved the experience, but ultimately returned home to begin her work life and her family. She put her plans for a degree on the back burner. When her son started growing up, she realized that if she was telling him he had to go to college, she needed to commit to completing her degree as well. Enrolling in Odyssey felt like a “baby step” toward that goal. “It allowed me to be in a school environment with other adult learners,” she said. “And because it was in the evening, I could still work full time. It was what I needed to commit to my own education.” Once she got started with Odyssey, Anna kept going. She enrolled in classes at Northeastern Illinois University and built her career as a community organizer. After years of working in direct service with individuals transitioning out of incarceration, she wanted to help change the systems that get people caught up in criminal justice. Today she works with ONE Northside on police accountability issues. While much of the work focuses on policy and strategy, she sees a parallel between the humanities she studied in Odyssey and the work she does in the community.

“In both cases, it’s about telling stories and sharing ideas,” she said. “In our work, we listen to people’s stories, pull out the big ideas, and then use those stories and ideas to build ordinances that can help change lives.” Anna stayed connected with Odyssey over the years, participating in facilitation training for the Long Overdue Book Group and then organizing book group meetings in her neighborhood with fellow graduate Jo McEntee. She also enrolled in the second-year bridge courses for alumni. In fact, the credits she earned for those courses ended up being the final ones she needed for her B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies degree at Northeastern. “I had to do a writing portfolio to complete my degree, and I used things from the second-year course for that portfolio. It all came full circle. It was the Odyssey Project that got me started, and it was those final credits from Bard College that enabled me to finish my degree.”

As Clemente celebrates its 25th anniversary, Anna reflects on the difference the Odyssey Project made for her and her family: “I really do think there is a lot of value in having the stillness to wrestle with these big ideas, and that stillness is hard to create unless you’re in a setting where there is accountability and where you are part of the discussion. My opinions and experiences were valued there,” she said. “I wish everyone could have that stillness and generative space to reflect on big ideas and how their lives interact with these big ideas and then go back into the broader world. It’s incredible and hard to replicate unless you’re part of the Odyssey Project.”

Amelia Templeton: Veteran and Artist

Thu, 02 Sep 2021 14:24:00 GMT

Amelia Templeton’s Artists in Arms brings together her two greatest passions: giving back to her veteran community and art. She was fueled to create the organization by her experience in the Clemente Veterans’ Initiative (CVI) Houston , which she graduated from in spring 2020. “Clemente reignited my excitement for learning and discussing the arts and promoting the arts,” she said. “This is what I love.”

Amelia served in the Marine Corps for five years, joining shortly after high school graduation. “I joined the military because I thought I would either get a career or get an education. Either way it seemed like a great plan,” she said. Her experience was a good one. She got to work on helicopters, test her mettle, and see parts of the world she’d never otherwise see. But then she was injured while in Iraq and medically retired from the Marines. It was the first time she lost her whole career with no warning.

The second time was during the Covid-19 pandemic. Amelia was employed as a props artisan with Houston’s prestigious Alley Theater, until the pandemic forced the theater to lay off 75% of its full-time staff. Her three children were suddenly attending school at home. She and her husband were midway in the process of rebuilding their home, which had been flooded by Hurricane Harvey. As she put it, “Overnight my whole world exploded.”

CVI was one of the saving graces.

“The Clemente Course helped keep me from throwing my hands up in defeat,” she said. “Having this each week to go to really mattered, as did the subjects we explored. We were already talking about how experiences and trauma and pride can coalesce into who you are as a person when it all came crashing down. It really helped me process it.”

She was particularly taken with the play, “Grounded” by George Brant, about a female fighter pilot whose career comes to an end due to her pregnancy. Amelia said, “I was experiencing trauma as I was taking the course. It was fascinating and helpful to talk through the play and see my story reflected there. I could say, ‘Okay, I’m not alone. This is a thing that people go through.’”

The CVI experience was so powerful for Amelia that she signed up for a second year, this time as co-facilitator of the course. She will help support the veterans beginning the course this fall by leading small group conversations and helping participants connect the course materials to their own histories.

“I hope that by facilitating discussions and guiding attendees through the coursework, I can help them explore their own experiences and find that the camaraderie of the military does not have to be relegated to our past,” she said. “We can continue to have each other's backs, challenge each other, and lift each other up by acknowledging and discussing our experiences truthfully and with a willingness to learn.”

At the same time, she’ll continue building Artists in Arms into the multifaceted organization she envisions. There will be classes for veterans to build their artistic skills, and she will promote veteran artists through meet-the-artist events and pop-up galleries. Similar organizations have launched in other cities, but while Houston has a thriving art scene and the second largest veterans population in the country, nothing like it existed there. Amelia saw an opportunity to build one.

Artist in Arms’ first official event will happen on Veterans Day: a one-night-only series of scenes from William Shakespeare performed by veterans and their loved ones. Like CVI does, it will bring together classic texts in the humanities with the real lived experiences of veterans transitioning to civilian life.

“By getting our voices out there and exploring our creativity, we can show the world that you don’t have to be a veteran OR an artist,” Amelia said. “We are people. We are both.”

Moise Koffi: From Clemente to a PhD

Sun, 29 Aug 2021 12:00:00 GMT

As a mathematics professor at Hostos Community College in the South Bronx, Dr. Moise Koffi has made it his mission to support underrepresented and economically disadvantaged students in their goals to earn college degrees. It’s a natural fit for this 2000 graduate of the Clemente Course in Poughkeepsie, NY:

“For me, it’s like a call to help minorities and underserved students because I understand the social forces against them. I understand the issues they face.”

Moise joined the Clemente Course after immigrating with his wife and two children from Ivory Coast in West Africa. He only spoke French when he arrived and was working low-wage jobs and seeking ways to create better opportunities for himself and his family. He came to believe that “education will be the solution to move from the bottom to the top.” Clemente was the perfect place to start.

“Clemente was a great experience because it really provided me with the skills and confidence to dream big, and this is important,” he said. “I improved my writing skills, my reading skills, and then my critical thinking skills. As [Clemente founder] Earl Shorris, said, ‘Knowing is better than not knowing.’”

Despite the hard work of supporting a family and raising his children, Moise’s passion for education only grew significantly after Clemente. He went on to earn his master’s degree and ultimately a doctorate in Mechanical Engineering from the City University of New York. That meant reading philosophy textbooks in the car while his family shopped at the mall or working long into the night after helping his children with their homework. He didn’t sleep much during those years.

Moise knew that he was building a pathway that his children could follow for their own educations and careers. Creating a learning environment in the household was critical for him.

And Moise’s children have indeed followed his lead. His daughter earned her bachelor’s at Bard College and then completed a master’s degree in global finance. She currently works as an associate analyst at a credit rating agency in New York. His son recently graduated with an engineering degree and is working for an aerospace company.

At Hostos, Moise’s work extends far beyond teaching mathematics. Since joining the college in 2003, he has gone on to direct three programs that cumulatively serve thousands of underrepresented and economically disadvantaged students in preparing for degrees and careers in STEM. Between Proyecto Access, STEP, and CSTEP , his programs are touching his community from middle school-aged students to those applying for graduate school. In his day-to-day work, he is mentoring and preparing the math and engineering leaders of tomorrow.

He’s also a tenured professor, deputy chair of his department, and was recently selected as a CUNY Mindset fellow to help train and prepare professors to cultivate motivational mindsets in their classrooms in order to maximize students’ learning outcomes. As he publishes and presents his research at national and international conferences, Moise is proud to have mentored more than 10 award-winning STEM projects at statewide student research conferences.

It’s a busy life that is rich in the satisfaction of knowing his work has an impact on his community, both down the street and beyond. But for Moise, a key goal still remains:

“My dream is to create a Clemente program at Hostos Community College in the South Bronx,” he said. The course can provide the skill-building and mind-opening experience he knows first-hand can make all the difference in someone’s life. “When students attend a Clemente program, they say, ‘I’m not too old to study. I can do better.’ Why not help people to dream big?”

Spotlight: Lela Hilton, Previous Executive Director

Fri, 27 Aug 2021 12:00:00 GMT

Long before she was Clemente's first Executive Director, Lela Hilton was an educator and an active member of a small community in rural Washington where many families made their living off the land. After watching many of her neighbors lose their incomes due to natural resource depletion, Lela realized that her community needed a way to process this loss.

Earl Shorris's 1997 article in Harper's convinced her that accessible humanities education would provide the space for self-reflection and growth, empowering people to imagine new futures for themselves and their families. Lela left her job to start the Jefferson County Clemente Course and has been involved with the organization ever since. Get to know Lela with our quick Q&A!

What makes Clemente and the study of the humanities special to you? What I love about Clemente most is its capacity to shake things up in a way that pretty much is always for the good. Our students see themselves in a new way. We faculty teach and learn differently than in our more traditional classrooms. I think we all—students and faculty alike—feel freer and braver. And our community partners change how they look at poverty, and what works best for people trying to live good lives and make positive changes for themselves and their families. Clemente classrooms are magical, fierce and tender places and the only part of my job that makes me sad is that I’m no longer in them on a regular basis! Please share a favorite Clemente memory, or a favorite "fact" about the program that makes you proud to share your time and support!

Gosh, there are so many. I think it’s when students see themselves in a piece of literature, or through discussions in art or philosophy, and something really visceral is activated in them. They see that they are a part of something pretty powerful and universal that they can really build on and share. Something that is certainly practical but that is also deeply aspirational, and that can’t be easily taken away from them. There is profound joy in these moments, for all of us, and if we’re feeling lonely, there is real connection. I love being able to create opportunities for that kind of joy to be shared. It’s what we need more than anything these days.

What do you do outside of the Clemente universe--for work and for play? I live on 20 acres of forest land most of which was clear cut when we bought it, so I spend a lot of time messing around outside in the gardens and keeping the wild berries at bay. We built our own house and until a year ago, we lived off the grid. It’s all a never-ending project. I love to swim in the lakes and nearby Puget Sound, so summer is an especially happy time for me. Last year I helped run a friend’s campaign for county commissioner and that was an eye-opener. During these fraught Covid time, what I love most is time with close friends and our kids and grandkids. Those moments are especially precious these days.

Clemente's Turning 25 -- Celebrate with Us!

Mon, 23 Aug 2021 12:00:00 GMT

In the spring of 1996, the Clemente Course in the Humanities graduated its first class in a ceremony attended by New York City Mayor David Dinkins. The radical idea championed by Clemente founder Earl Shorris had come to life.

Since that first course, Clemente has grown and evolved into a network of programs spanning the globe that has served as a turning point for tens of thousands of students.

Today there are 35 Clemente Courses operating across the U.S. from rural Washington State to Atlanta, from Los Angeles to Boston. There are courses for veterans, for young mothers, and for those transitioning out of incarceration. There are second-year courses and special writing seminars that lead to publications in anthologies. Clemente is thriving and looking toward its next 25 years.

We will be celebrating our silver anniversary all year, and you’re invited to celebrate with us.

To begin with, we’ll tell the story of Clemente through a season of social media fun. To join in, follow us on , Facebook , , Twitter , or , LinkedIn . Keep an eye on our blog for new stories and profiles. Look for #Clemente25.

We’ll share 25 lessons from 25 years, revealing what we have learned over more than a quarter century about bringing humanities courses to underserved adults.

We’ll trace Clemente’s history through its major milestones, from its founding in Lower Manhattan through courses launched on the cusp of a global pandemic in 2020.

We’ll meet Clemente graduates, faculty, staff, and board members who will share what the program means to them.

And we’ll highlight how each local program opens doors for adults to explore their intellectual potential, engage in powerful conversations, and ultimately find new meaning and purpose in their lives.

Please save the date -- September 30! -- for an exclusive Clemente screening of the documentary film , A Reckoning in Boston , which will air on PBS in 2022. Details to follow soon.

We have much to celebrate! The party has just begun. We hope you’ll join us.

Introducing the CGA Project Showcase

Mon, 16 Aug 2021 21:56:00 GMT

When Jonathan Shelley was designing his “Shakespeare and the Common Good” classes for Clemente alumni in Atlanta, he had a clear goal: to bring student voices and perspectives to the curriculum, shaping the way Shakespeare and the humanities are taught in the future in nontraditional education settings. Now a new website, the CGA Project Showcase , is helping him do just that.

Jonathan taught a sequence of Shakespeare classes during 2020 and 2021 to Clemente graduates of Common Good Atlanta (CGA), a project supported by a grant from the Whiting Foundation . Over three semesters students explored Shakespeare’s plays and poems in collaboration with the Shakespeare Tavern . The classes were lively and engaged, even though they were offered virtually. The students sustained a deep conversation and experimented with performance as well as interpretation.

Underlying the course were a few key questions: What does Shakespeare have to offer to adult students, particularly students like those served by CGA who are or have been incarcerated? And how can students help create materials for shaping how Shakespeare is taught in future courses?

In considering the first question, student Julius Campbell wrote:

The second question is answered in the new website. The CGA Project Showcase gathers student reflections, creative work, and pedagogical materials for use in teaching Shakespeare in other settings. It includes a trivia game focused on Shakespeare, an interview with actor Harry Lennix, who appeared in the Julie Taymor film adaptation of Titus Andronicus , and an assignment for writing sonnets.

Students in Georgia Tech’s Computer Science program designed the site as part of a capstone project . They jumped in head-first, interviewing Clemente students, visiting classes, and sharing protypes. The final product places a spotlight on student work and voices while instructors on how to create dynamic and inclusive curricula to bring The Bard to new audiences.

Though Jonathan will be leaving Clemente and Atlanta to take a new faculty position in Rochester, New York, the CGA Project Showcase is only beginning. The website is built to expand to include more work, including video and multimedia content. “My genuine desire is for it to grow as more Clemente courses happen,” Jonathan says. “It acknowledges and creates a record of the important work we’ve done together.”

** Read more about "Shakespeare and the Common Good" in our , Winter 2021 newsletter.

One Person Protests: Exploring Social Movements Through the Humanities

Thu, 08 Jul 2021 19:44:00 GMT

Rozzell Medina, who directs Portland's Clemente Course, Humanity in Perspective (HIP), shares a behind-the-scenes look at a class for program alumni offered last fall. The curriculum covered the history of social movements, weaving literature, art, and historical documents into a lively exploration. The final project asked students to consider what issues they are willing to stand up for, quite literally.

Fall 2020: In the thick of Covid-19, Oregon was also in the aftermath of historic fires and smoke exacerbated by human-made global warming, which affected the entire region. Additionally, while massive, ongoing protests that erupted after the murder of George Floyd were dwindling in Portland and other parts of the state, the movement was still very much on people’s minds and in their hearts.

In this tender and dynamic context, Oregon Humanities ’ Clemente Course, Humanity in Perspective (HIP), convened its fall bridge course: Exploring Social Movements through the Humanities.

For ten weeks, the HIP learning community studied the American Indian Movement (AIM), the Black Panthers, Black Lives Matter, the environmental movement, the disability justice movement, and more. We read parts of An Indigenous People’s History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Black Against Empire by Joshua Bloom and Waldo E. Martin, and essays by John Trudell, Mia Mingus, and others. We also watched films like Agnes Varda’s excellent slice of life documentary The Black Panthers , Crip Camp , and Mossville: When Great Trees Fall .

Studying social movement is often bittersweet. Learning about the creative, spirited, and strategic ways that people have struggled, collaboratively, for survival, progress, rights, dignity, and liberation requires investigating the oppression that necessitates social movement.

We wanted to wrap up the course with a sense of lived experience and empowerment related to social movement, while also honoring the boundaries that some of us felt related to being around other people in public because of Covid-19. And so, for our final project, everyone in the class was invited to participate in the One Person Protest Project.

The parameters were fairly simple:

For one week in December, the HIP learning community took to parks, street corners, porch steps, and grocery store parking lots to demonstrate our care and concern for a variety of issues that felt urgent to us. Our causes included water, healing ourselves and the Earth, mental health care, the gender wage gap, and others. We also published a series containing everyone’s pamphlet for future distribution to the public.

In their reflections on participating, HIP students shared a variety of feelings and experiences. One student got her daughter involved, transforming theirs into a two person protest against the gender wage gap. Another, advocating for pollinator awareness and protection, dressed up to match her sign. This opened the door for ample conversations and engagement on her way to and from the farmer’s market, where she protested. One student, drawing attention to the fact that “WATER IS LIFE,” stood bravely by the entryway to her local grocery store with her sign, hoping to make particularly concrete the connection between water and daily choices.

A lot of students commented on feeling a mixture of nervousness, excitement, and inspiration. As one student, Luis Medina, who brilliantly framed mindfulness as a social movement, put it: “This experience made me realize that I need to do more things that make me uncomfortable. Why should spreading a good message and doing the right thing make me feel that way initially? I think I'm just beginning to break out of my shell.”

The Classroom as a Place of Healing

Wed, 30 Jun 2021 13:00:00 GMT

How do we create safe and welcoming spaces for those who may have felt estranged from the classroom? How do we design educational environments that are ones of healing as well as ones of learning? In 25 years of working with adult and marginalized students, Clemente educators have developed approaches and practices that welcome students of all backgrounds and support their success inside the classroom and beyond it. This informational video, streamable on YouTube, aims to share these experiences with a broader audience.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eNNMPp6CjoQ

Trauma to Recovery Through the Humanities was first offered at a conference of the American Association of Colleges and Universities in February 2021. Dr. Mark Santow, Academic Director of the Providence Clemente Veterans' Initiative (CVI) and professor of history at UMass-Dartmouth, presented a six-minute Pecha Kucha, followed by a conversation with educators from Providence CVI and Antioch University Seattle. They explored where Clemente's classroom practices intersect with trauma-informed pedagogy and what that looks like in a classroom curriculum.

This video expands on that conversation and offers techniques, assignments, and frank assessments from those who have extensive experience working with underserved student populations, including veterans. We believe these lessons will be valuable to other Clemente Courses as well as anyone working with veterans or marginalized groups in higher education. And after more than a year of living through a global pandemic that turned all of our lives upside down, understanding how to effectively respond to trauma in the classroom will arguably be important to all educators.

Choosing to Celebrate Love: A Reflection on Clemente Graduations

Wed, 23 Jun 2021 16:42:00 GMT

Lela Hilton, Clemente's Executive Director, attended numerous virtual Clemente graduations this spring. She reflects on where we were in March 2020 and the heartening discoveries we've made along the way.

Over a year ago when we faced the unknown reality of Covid 19, I think we all had moments of real doubt about Clemente’s ability to weather the coming storm.

Our model of education relies so deeply on close-knit classroom communities, people and books, coffee, a sandwich or a slice of pizza. Our nightly discussions centered around age-old questions about justice, beauty, the nature of creativity, and the individual’s obligation to their communities provoke profound moments of both agitation and joy. We sense each other’s fear and offer comfort. We witness courage and celebrate it. We stand by and protect the silences that come into our classrooms as moments for refection, and raucously applaud other wonderful moments when humor and wisdom crash together in a resounding “A-ha!” Learning together in this way is profoundly emotional, and it gives us an enormous amount of pleasure.

In March of 2020 our classrooms closed literally overnight, with no time for faculty or students to prepare. The disparities in access to technology for our students were immediately obvious. Many of them were called to step into their now life-threatening jobs as essential workers, often without adequate support for their kids who were stuck at home with no access to schools or childcare. Under these circumstances, what could Clemente possibly still have to offer, and how could we make it accessible?

After a bit of a pause, most courses came back together through patchworks of interactive online classrooms, email, snail mail, and book drop-offs. And texts. Lots and lots of texts.

Community hosts helped raise funds for tablets and hotspots, supporters got their friends to donate used laptops, and faculty strapped go-pros on their heads to take their students on virtual art history tours. Commuting students attended classes on their phones. Others joined classes from their cars to access community hotspots because they didn’t have the internet at home.

And in May and June, across the country, like almost every other educational program in the world, we celebrated virtual graduations to honor the brilliance and resilience of our students, their families, and our Clemente faculty. And now, a year later, we have celebrated the Class of 2021 at all but two of our sites.

The record attendance was 250+ Zoom boxes, but every graduation was mighty. What struck me in those that I could attend was the profound sense of grace embodied by our graduates and the palpable love they had for each other and for their faculty. Love of courage, of difference, of the mind, of risk, of creativity, of struggle. And I wondered how this was still possible, given the disconnected, disembodied year we’d all experienced. How does love grow in a Zoom classroom?

Years ago, we had a community discussion in one of our Clemente classrooms about universal human rights, and after a rigorous debate about cultural appropriation, moral relativism, imperialism, colonialism, etc., a local poet and artist stood up and said, “Well, you know, to me human rights are really about treating everyone as if they are a guest in your house.”

When I think about Clemente, when I think about the hellish year we’ve all been through, I think about this simple observation. A good host is graceful and humble. A good host treats every guest with dignity, and doesn’t stint even in the face of scarcity. A good host sends you on your way feeling full, and longing to come back. And they do this not out of obligation, but out of love.

So, to honor the Class of 2021, I choose to celebrate Clemente love, and all the magnificent ways we have welcomed each other over this past year. Let’s see this graduation as another step in an ever-expanding journey through the community of ideas, in the company of the people who love them.

Congratulations to our darling Clementines, the Class of 2021!

This Is Your Democracy: New Essays on Civic Engagement

Thu, 17 Jun 2021 21:52:00 GMT

Brian Boyles, Executive Director of Mass Humanities , introduces us to the newest anthology of writing from Clemente Course graduates, This Is Your Democracy

In spring 2021, fifty-five graduates of the Clemente Course in the Humanities enrolled in a special course exploring civic engagement. The focus of the course was apt for a nation grappling with political conflicts and a global pandemic; in fact, the first online classes began the day before the January 6 attack on the Capitol.

That week, scholars hailing from seventeen Massachusetts communities read excerpts from the memoir of a civil rights legend, Congressman John Lewis. Over five weeks, the classes studied the movements for LGBTQ+ rights, rights for people with disabilities, Indigenous rights, criminal justice reform and other issues. Readings and class discussions required each scholar “to read widely, think critically, and write ethically about different movements” for equality and justice.

As the classes tackled works by Stacey Abrams, David France, Nikole Hannah-Jones, Jessie Little Doe Baird, and others, the participants did what Clemente scholars do every year, powerfully and fearlessly: they related the struggles of other Americans to their own challenges. As a final assignment, the scholars wrote about the connections they saw between their lives and civic engagement. This Is Your Democracy is the culmination of their efforts.

The essays in This Is Your Democracy look at the commitments we make to justice, not only through protests and voting, but also as friends and family members. In writing about hunger and homelessness, the Clemente scholars remind us that compassion between individuals is a service that benefits all of us. Several stories reflect the journeys of immigrants, from the hardships faced in countries of origin to their lives in Massachusetts.

For these writers, bad policies show up on street corners and in classrooms, so civic engagement includes aiding friends affected by those policies. These essays connect personal histories to a fuller understanding of the history of our nation, the decisions of a family with the conditions in a city. Their embrace of our responsibilities to one another recalls the words of John Lewis, who said, “Democracy is not a state. It’s an act.”

We hope you will share the writings in This Is Your Democracy with your friends, family and elected officials. We thank the Clemente community, supporters, and faculty for supporting the project. Most of all, we are grateful to the writers who made time to consider what our democracy means to each of them, and why it belongs to all of us.

New NEH Grant Opens Doors for Virginia Veterans

Tue, 08 Jun 2021 16:45:00 GMT

Service in the military comes with a clearly defined purpose, and the transition to civilian life can come with uncertainty about how to contribute once out of uniform. A new grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities , will help veterans discover new opportunities to find greater purpose in civilian life.

The NEH funding, part of its “Dialogues on the Experience of War” initiative, supports Clemente Veterans’ Initiative (CVI) programs that provide humanities courses in history, literature, art, and moral philosophy designed especially for those who have served and their families. These free courses help veterans understand how they can use their skills and their military experience to feel less isolated and gain confidence to contribute to their communities and improve their lives.

The NEH funding supports a new CVI program in Blacksburg/Roanoke, VA, in partnership with Virginia Tech (VT), and the relaunch of a program in Dorchester, MA, with both on-line and hybrid course models. The program at VT reflects the region’s large military population and the university’s investment in veterans. VT has one of the largest Corps of Cadets in the nation. VT faculty member Jim Dubinsky, who will direct the program, developed the Veterans in Society initiative, which brings academic attention and support to veterans and their families. He says the aim of the new CVI program is to investigate how veterans can approach civilian life with a new sense of duty and service.

“We will explore Homeric epics, the American Revolutionary and Civil Wars, and WWI, to ask questions that challenge our assumptions about service, duty, and equality,” says Dubinsky. “Studying these wars through the lens of service allows us to better understand how US history informs and guides our service to our democracy, both as soldiers and citizens.”

We at Clemente are delighted to bring our courses to new communities and grateful to the NEH for its continued support of our Veterans’ Initiative. Applications for the Roanoke and Dorchester courses will open later in 2021.

Jacqueline Rosário Believes Everyone Needs to Be Heard

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 20:59:00 GMT

Jacqueline Rosário learned about the New Bedford Clemente Course the day before the recruitment deadline, but that didn’t stop her from getting her application in on time. She had immigrated from Cape Verde, an island nation off the coast of West Africa, a year earlier, and Clemente offered a perfect opportunity to reignite her intellectual life and connect her with the community. “I didn’t think about not getting in,” she said. “I thought, ‘I have to do it.’ I’m the kind of person who has to be engaged in something. I have to be thinking all the time.”

From the first class in the Fall of 2020, Jackie knew the rush to apply to Clemente had been well worth it. Her diverse group of classmates brought powerful voices and stories to the table, and her professors approached the group with empathy and care. After the first meeting, she said, “I already knew this was the best thing I’d done. And it was.”

Though Jackie had studied economics in Portugal and works as a teller at a credit union, she never thought she needed to study the humanities. In fact, she wasn’t interested. But class by class, she became a convert. She says that philosophy changed the way she thought about her life, and writing helped her build her skills in analysis. Just encountering art scared her; she worried she’d lack the skills to interpret it. Instead, she discovered she loved art and learned to bring her own ways of seeing to the work. The painting “A Woman in the Sun” by Edward Hopper left her thinking, “Surely this woman could be me.”

But as a recent immigrant to the United States, the history unit left the strongest impression. “When I began the course I knew nothing,” she said. “Or, as I told the history teacher, I thought I knew all about America. Now I know that people that live abroad just make an idea, and the idea is based on what America advertises.” In Clemente she was being introduced to real historical documents and coming to understand the country beyond the slogans. That gave her a new vantage point from which to see the world she lived in. “With the Clemente Course while I was experiencing and learning, I was adapting myself to all that I was learning,” she said.

Alongside the course curriculum, Jackie was impacted by the diverse voices that filled her classroom, even virtually. The open discussion and respectful listening were new to her and she thinks we need more of that in the world. It offered her something she plans to bring to her community of Cape Verdeans in Massachusetts: “What do people need? They need to be heard.” To make sure they are, she’s proposing a regular listening time to the Cape Verde parliament and has applied for a job with the Cape Verde consulate in Boston. And if that doesn’t go through, she’s considering running for office.

“Clemente just improves the sense of the need to do something for my community,” she said, “I’m going to find a way.”

New Board Member Lamont Smith Reflects on How Clemente Helped "Light My Path"

Wed, 26 May 2021 20:20:00 GMT

In May, the Clemente Board of Directors welcomed two new members. One of them, Lamont Smith, is a 1997 Clemente graduate who has gone on to become an Emmy Award-winning video editor with NBC Sports. His career has taken him far afield--to five Tours de France and three Olympic Games (with Tokyo on the horizon)--but he's chosen to circle back to share his time and talents with the Clemente Course, a place he called "home" nearly 25 years ago. We couldn't be more delighted.

In sharing his news with his community, Lamont wrote about his journey. He's allowed us to share with with you:

Let me tell you a story.

It’s a story about a guy in his early 20s from the projects of Harlem and the Bronx who really didn’t know what to do with his life. He always did well academically but he dropped out of high school because neither he, nor any of his teachers, really cared if he actually showed up. He began working dead-end fast food jobs but he still loved to learn. He would read James Baldwin and Gandhi and John Stuart Mill in the break room because the ideas excited him.

A good friend then challenged him to start applying himself and he took her up on it. He went back and got his diploma, took some job training courses and even scored a cool job in the mailroom at the NBA.

Then, someone told him about this program called The Clemente Course In The Humanities down on the Lower East Side. It was a free, college-level course where they studied and discussed philosophy, literature, art history, U.S. history and critical thinking. They read Plato and Descartes, wrote papers and essays and the students were pushed academically but nurtured intellectually by some amazing Humanities professors.

This guy LOVED it. He was home. For the very first time in his life, he felt that his intellect was respected and his love for learning wasn’t seen as an impractical waste of time.

He excelled in the Course, became that year’s Valedictorian and even got to meet one of his personal heroes, Mayor David Dinkins, at the commencement ceremony. With his intellectual passion validated and his confidence higher than it had ever been, this young man enrolled at City College of New York and soon left that mailroom cart behind.

A new life awaited him. A new life that he’d create without a road map or guardrails but those factors made it all the more exciting and all the more worthwhile. For the first time in his life, he realized that he was the master of his own fate and that Course opened his eyes to the fact that there was nothing stopping him from activating himself fully. He realized that he wasn’t a product of his environment but a product of his expectations.

Twenty-four years passed and that same young man has traveled around the world working in the television industry. From the bustling boutiques of the Champs Élysées in Paris to the peaks of the Swiss Alps to the favelas of Rio de Janeiro to the towering skyscrapers of Seoul, he’s enjoyed and been grateful for it all. He’s now a loving husband and father, a homeowner, an Emmy Award winner and sometimes he still wakes up and doesn’t quite believe it’s all real. That maybe it was all just a dream and he’ll wake up in that break room at the McDonald’s on Jerome Avenue in the Bronx. But it is real.

In fact, because the nature of the universe is circular, an amazing thing happened to him this weekend.

That same young man who found his way into the Clemente Course almost a quarter century ago with his baggy sweatpants and a dog-eared copy of Richard Wright’s Native Son in hand was just elected to the Board of Directors of the Clemente Course in the Humanities.

Now, celebrating its 25th Anniversary, Clemente is a nationwide nonprofit organization offering free, college-level instruction from coast-to-coast to people facing economic hardship and to returning veterans. They’ve been going strong and making a difference this whole time and even won the National Humanities Medal in 2014.

In case you hadn’t figured it out, that young man is me. I am thrilled and excited to serve on the Board of an organization that helped to light my path and has served as that same beacon for thousands of others. I look forward to helping the Clemente Course expand its reach, go global and possibly inspire millions of individuals to activate the gifts and the potential they have inside.

I invite you to take a look at the redesigned website for the Course and if you know anyone who may be interested in attending a Course near them or if you’re interested in supporting us in our work, please visit: https://www.clementecourse.org

The Clemente Course in the Humanities is a non-profit organization and depends on the support of regular folks to keep these Courses going.

Keep striving, keep dreaming and keep believing in yourself and betting on yourself.

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day.

#clementecourse #fullcircle #strivers #dreamers

The Power of Good Podcast Features Clemente Grads and Faculty

Tue, 18 May 2021 20:30:44 GMT

The team from the A Reckoning in Boston documentary offers a powerful look behind the scenes and thoughtful reflections on the value of a humanities education.

Clemente alums Carl Chandler and Kafi Dixon join Clemente history professor and Harvard instructor Tim McCarthy for a spirited conversation on the Power of Good podcast. The episode, A Reckoning In Boston: The Growing Racial & Economic Divide In The City , takes listeners behind the scenes of the documentary, which held its New England premiere at the Boston International Film Festival and will air on PBS Independent Lens next season. And it explores what difference an engagement with the humanities in a welcoming and supportive classroom can make for students and the community.

Clemente Featured in Next City

Tue, 18 May 2021 18:18:06 GMT

"How Classical Philosophy and Art History Helped These Adult Students Make Sense of 2020"

Journalist Elizabeth Pandolfi first learned about Clemente when living in Charleston, South Carolina, where she wrote about the Charleston course hosted by Trident Technical College for a local publication. A decade later, she captured the ways that Clemente has offered intellectual community and welcoming spaces amid the global pandemic. In " How Classical Philosophy and Art History Helped These Adult Students Make Sense of 2020 " she focused on the courses in Boston and Chicago, each of which pivoted to keep students engaged and connected even as the world shifted to global learning. At its core, the c reation of spaces to have meaningful--and sometimes risky--conversations.

Pandolfi wrote: "Clemente Courses have always been about giving people those kinds of safe spaces—but the kind of safe space that is inextricably tied to true intellectual freedom and academic respect."

Jacqueline Velez: in O Magazine and in Cap and Gown

Thu, 13 May 2021 17:16:00 GMT

It was a big year for Clemente Holyoke graduate Jacqueline Velez. She worked on the reelection campaign of Massachusetts Senator Ed Markey, saw her essay published in O ,the Oprah Magazine , and completed her associate's degree at Bard Microcollege. As she said in a profile on a local TV station , she's now looking toward the future. "For the first time in my life, I believe I can do anything I set out to do."

A prompt from her Clemente writing professor planted the seed for the essay O, Magazine , “ I Survived 20 Days in Solitary Confinement: Here’s How I Got Through .” After reading Ranier Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet , with its romanticized images of solitude, instructor Tziviah Gover asked students, “Have you ever been alone for an extended period of time?” For Jacqueline, the answer was yes. She’d spent nearly three weeks in solitary confinement at Rikers Island, an experience that changed her life. And years later, when O Magazine was gathering stories of isolation amid the coronavirus shut down, it was just the story they needed. The development of the essay mirrors the trajectory of Jacqueline’s educational experience. She got the idea for it as a student in the Clemente Course in Holyoke , MA, a program for mothers hosted by the Care Center . Then she began drafting it in a second year Clemente Bridge Course focused on writing. After that class, she transitioned into the Bard Microcollege , where she completed her associate’s degree. There the essay expanded to 17 pages, and her professors offered space to work on it and critical feedback even during the summer.

For Jacqueline, Clemente and Bard offered a way to claim her place in the classroom. Reflecting on her early education, she said, “I literally never went to high school.” She obtained her GED at age 16 and never thought of college as an option. She knew nothing about financial aid or scholarships.

“I was used to watching the Huxtables,” she said, referring to the upper middle class family portrayed on the Cosby Show , “I thought you had to go away to a campus. I didn’t know anybody in college or anybody to ask.”

Years later, in 2004, she took her first college class at the urging of her young

daughter, but her degree was interrupted by the months of incarceration she writes about in her essay. Coming out of prison, she didn’t believe she could ever go back to college: “I thought my life was over. I was not going to be able to pursue my dreams.” What she found instead was an organization where her lived experience was of critical importance. Jacqueline became a volunteer and then a paid employee of a New York nonprofit advocating for criminal justice reform. She worked on a campaign that led to the 2009 anti-shackling law, banning the shackling of laboring women, as well as one that led to modifying laws mandating minimum sentences in drug offenses. When Jacqueline moved to Massachusetts from New York, she found work as a political organizer and later as a regional director for the reelection campaign of Senator Markey. But she also found a way back to education through Clemente.

From the beginning of her Clemente experience, Jacqueline was struck by the positivity of the faculty and staff, the way they created a supportive and welcoming environment. And the course material in literature, history, and art revealed new ways of seeing the world. “Maybe if I’d had all that stuff in high school, my life would have taken a different turn,” she said. With a new house and a young son to raise, Jacqueline's hands are full. Her goals are to return to school for her bachelor’s and to start a nonprofit to expand advocacy around criminal justice in the region. And she wants to write a memoir. “Writing saved my life. It has been my sanity,” she said. Though she accumulated mountains of filled notebooks, she never dreamed she could be a paid and published writer. “I’d never written like that until I took my first Clemente Course. It opened my eyes to this whole world, this whole canon of writers. It also opened up something in me that might have died or never fully come alive.”

Larry Madden on "The High Cost of Fear"

Mon, 03 May 2021 20:22:00 GMT

The powerful stories of Clemente graduates across Massachusetts are collected in the anthology We, Too, Are America , published this fall by Mass Humanities. The essays were written during summer classes in Boston, Springfield, Worcester, and New Bedford. Larry Madden's work closes out the collection, reminding us that "what unites us is greater than that which tears us apart"

The High Cost of Fear

Even on the morning of my mother’s funeral, I was trying to find a way out of it. The idea of spending time with a happy, loving family has always interested me. Spending time with mine has not. I had, after all, just spent several hours masked and wrapped in plastic sitting at my mother’s bedside, but no words were exchanged. I was too late. She was in a coma. It was just a matter of time, the nursing home staff had told us. Time. I had failed to heed the passing of time. A sense of loss washed over me. The young mother of seven was gone, the family of my childhood, where I never felt welcomed, was gone. And it was happening at a time when all of us are being ravaged by a pandemic, getting slammed economically, and being torn into two pieces, one red and one blue.

My mother’s service was limited to fifteen of us spaced six feet apart. I felt safe there. It was the gathering later at my sister’s home that had me concerned. When I had asked her a couple of days earlier if social distancing and masks were going to be expected at the luncheon, her answer was exactly what I had anticipated. “Oh no, to hell with that BS, we are all family. Besides there will be enough alcohol to kill all germs.” I cringed knowing that I could not place my sixty-three old husband who has underlying conditions in this situation. I was convinced my family was not a moderate, fiscally conservative, bootstraps type of Republican family but much more of the pick-up truck driving full sized American, Black, and Blue Striped flag waving, rifle rack in the rear window type of Trumpians. Okay, I decided, we’ll be polite and stop by briefly. I didn’t want a confrontation.

I was touched when we arrived at my sister’s place, five separate tables with chairs, each with a fan for comfort, had been set up spaced around the large yard and the swimming pool area. A screen house contained the food: three large sheet pizzas, a silver bowl of tossed salad, sterno warmed pans of sausage and peppers, penne pasta and meatballs in marinara sauce, a platter of Italian grinders, a platter of chicken salad and tuna salad sandwiches and of course, a separate smaller table for desserts. All for twenty-one people. Uncle Roland, the last of Memere’s and Pepere’s nine, sat with Aunt Eileen at the head of one table. Meanwhile the rest of us, four generations, mingled, laughed, ate and drank while Barry Manilow sang quietly in the background. Things were going smoothly and despite my fears, it almost felt as though I had been with my siblings just yesterday.

Then the moment I had feared arrived. As we toweled off a after a swim, my little brother, said: “I’ll tell you Larry, this Black Lives Matter stuff is f—– bullshit. All lives matter.” I froze with a lump in my throat and quickly tried to arrange my response in my mind. Before I could, my niece’s husband, a former policeman and retired Army Airborne soldier—buzz cut, tattoos and skull and cross bone t-shirt—jumped right in. “Of course all lives matter. That’s an undebatable truth, just like ‘not all cops are bad cops.’ When people say ‘Black Lives Matter,’ they are not saying that they matter more than other lives. If that is what we hear, than we are part of the problem, not the solution.” My baby brother looked so embarassed in that moment that I almost wished I could shield him—even though I disagreed with him. I stood looking at him, a truly good man with a heart of gold, a hard-working, family man–yet an unwitting product of his surroundings and experiences, the same surroundings and experiences which molded me until until bootcamp, 1979. If I ever wanted to be a member of a big happy family, I needed to quit judging him from a distance and have the patience to listen to his story and the courage to share mine, trusting that we don’t need to agree on everything in order to form a bond.

Sometimes in our saddest and most painful moments, humble truths reveal themselves. Our nation is witnessing just such a moment. An epidemic of division has infected our national story. We have been through tumultuous times before and probably will go through them again. Isn’t this exactly why it is called “The American Experiment?” Now is the time to heed the words of the late John Lewis: “Don’t let our divisions define us. We all live in the same house.” What I was reminded of, sitting by the pool the day of my mother’s funeral, is that each and every one one of us has a unique and equally valid story to tell. The Greek Stoics taught us that no matter how vehemently we may disagree with a person, we must remember that a grain of truth may exist within their words. If we can learn to listen to each other, get to know each other, our divisions can heal. We do not need to agree on everything nor have the same beliefs but I do know that when I get to know you better, I know me more profoundly. Listening to and telling our stories just might be exactly what we need right now.

That afternoon in the backyard, while the children splashed and swam and Uncle Roland napped in his armchair with his chin on his chest, the rest of the adults laughed and reminisced. I smiled thinking how delighted my mother would be to see her family gathered together like this. Suddenly, summer storm clouds and a brisk wind reminded us that it was time to wrap things up.

As I left with aluminum foil packets of left-overs wrapped by my sister, I understood that my family will never be the Waltons. But we can be a real family. My fears had prevented me from truly knowing my family, and that had cost us precious time together. I can only hope that my bigger family, our American family, won’t make the same mistake. Let’s use this moment of national pain to recognize, as I did the day of my mother’s funeral, that what unites us is greater than that which tears us apart.

Larry Madden (2015 Worcester Clemente Graduate): I am a sixty-year-old married man. My husband and I have been blessed with four sons and six grandchildren; the twins are due to arrive within weeks. I currently work in administration at UMass Memorial Medical Center but my career has been in nursing and teaching English. My soul job is poet and playwright. We are devout Italophiles, having lived there for many years. I am passionate about cooking and gardening as well.

The Impact of a Humanities Education

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 21:27:00 GMT

Over 25 years and in dozens of communities, our graduates tell us that Clemente often marked a turning point in their lives. The course offered them the skills and confidence to pursue degrees, expand their career paths, and build better futures for their families and communities.

Those aren't just anecdotes. In 2019, Clemente partnered with New York-based Metis Associates to examine the ways in which our programming impacts those it serves. In a wide-ranging study of Chicago's Clemente Course--the Odyssey Project -- we confirmed what graduates have said all along: our program helped them see themselves and the world in new ways and realize long-lasting change in their lives.

EDUCATION AND LIFELONG LEARNING

Clemente’s humanities curriculum exposes students to texts and ideas that expand their views and whet their appetite for learning. Since completing Clemente:

The course’s rigor builds their confidence in their abilities to succeed in a college classroom, as well as improved skills in reading, writing, and critical thinking.

They also enroll in higher education institutions at high rates:

CONFIDENCE AND PERSONAL AGENCY

Graduates name increased confidence in various areas of their lives as a key program outcome, recognizing that with confidence comes a sense of agency that enables them to make positive changes in their families and communities. Sixty-seven percent of graduates are confident about supporting themselves and their family, as opposed to 44% before Clemente. Graduates note large impacts in personal confidence, including:

FAMILY AND COMMUNITY

Many Clemente students are parents, often single heads of household, and modeling the value of education for their children is a potent motivator for enrollment.

Clemente graduates also report impressive levels of civic engagement, levels that far exceed those of their peers in the 2010 Chicago Civic Health Index study. Seventy-six percent of graduates have volunteered with a civic, community, or environmental organization in the past 12 months, and 27% have served on a nonprofit board or community committee.

CRITICAL THINKING AND COMMUNICATION

Since its founding, Clemente has focused on the power of deep engagement and reflection, and graduates tell us that since Clemente they are more confident testing their own judgments against others and questioning things. They also say the program had a significant impact on a variety of skills:

LIFE SATISFACTION AND HOPE

It's clear that the impact of a Clemente Course goes far beyond simply building the skills typical of a college classroom. Clemente makes space for personal exploration and allows people to recognize their own abilities and connect to their higher aspirations. It changes how they think about their lives and possibilities.

Ultimately, Clemente's success lies in the way our graduates bring their classroom experience into the world, whether publishing essays, running for office, facilitating book clubs in their neighborhoods, or showing up at the polls. As ambassadors and role models, they and their successes lead the program into its next 25 years.

From Trauma to Recovery Through the Humanities

Mon, 22 Mar 2021 22:15:00 GMT

What do Clemente Course instructors have to share with other educators working with nontraditional and adult students? Plenty!

Since 1995, Clemente has opened the door for adult and marginalized students to make a successful transition to higher education. Our courses have developed approaches and practices to facilitate learning and create safe and welcoming spaces for those who may have felt estranged from the classroom. In many cases, these practices intersect with the tenets of trauma-informed pedagogy, especially in our Clemente Veterans Initiative , which was established in 2015 to support veterans in their transition to civilian life.

Now, as we prepare to celebrate our 25th anniversary, we are beginning to share our experience more broadly.

A first stop was a conference of the Association of American Colleges and Universities in February. There a team of Clemente educators developed a Pecha Kucha , a tidy six-minute presentation of 20 slides, offering a view into the principles that guide our Clemente Veterans Initiative classrooms, “From Trauma to Recovery Through the Humanities.”

The presentation was led by Mark Santow, Academic Director of the Providence Clemente Veterans Initiative (PCVI). He was joined in conversation by fellow PCVI instructor Cheryl Foster as well as PCVI graduate and current creative writing instructor Lucas Pralle. From Antioch University in Seattle, host to the Seattle CVI, academic director Edward Durgen and Jane Harmon Jacobs, Special Assistant for Academic Affairs participated in the discussion.

The team explained the way trauma manifests itself in the classroom and how specific approaches to the humanities can help make the classroom a place of healing alongside one of learning. It looked at outcomes Clemente has seen in the classroom, as detailed in this slide:

Soon the lessons of our classrooms will be accessible to many, as the team has recorded a version of their presentation and discussion to share with the Clemente network and beyond. We believe this will be valuable anyone working with veterans or marginalized groups in higher education. And after more than a year of living through a global pandemic that turned all of our lives upside down, understanding how to effectively respond to trauma in the classroom will arguably be important to all educators.

Stay tuned for more from this team of insightful Clemente professors!

Erik and the Bhagavad Gita

Mon, 15 Mar 2021 19:45:00 GMT

With 200,000 verses, the Sanskrit epic the Mahabharata is considered the world’s longest narrative. Erik Sean Montoya-Treanor, 2007 graduate of Jefferson Clemente , has been reading the text slowly as a way of better understanding Indian mythology and philosophy. “It’s like the Bible mixed with Lord of the Rings, all in poetry,” he said.

It was an obvious jump to the Mahabharata from the Bhagavad Gita , a part of the epic which Erik first encountered in Clemente. He had been raised Catholic and never explored the foundational texts of world religions until he enrolled in the course. There he read stories from the Book of Genesis as well as Sufi texts and the Bhagavad Gita. These days he rereads the Gita every year and loans copies out to his friends.

“I’m fascinated with how Sanskrit is the skeleton on which our modern language is built,” he said. “And every time I read it, I find something new. We’re always learning, and there’s no reason to stop.”

Though Erik’s intellectual curiosity is clear, he wasn’t sure at first about enrolling in Clemente. He was working at a video store in Port Hadlock, WA, where Lela Hilton was a regular customer. Lela, who was then academic director of Jefferson Clemente and is now executive director of the national Clemente Course , often asked Erik for film recommendations. He turned her on to historical documentaries and quirky comedies like “Waiting for Guffman.” When she told him about Clemente, he hesitated.

Though he was a self-proclaimed “bookworm,” after dropping out in the 10th grade, Erik didn’t believe he could “kick it” in college. A peek at the Clemente curriculum changed his mind. “What drew me to it was the humanities focus,” he said. “I love history. English was my best class, and I’ve always been a sucker for art.”

After graduating from the course in 2007, Erik went back and took it again in 2009, just for the experience of encountering the texts anew. He also earned his GED and earned his associate’s degree. He’s begun work toward a bachelor’s degree with the intention of becoming a history teacher. His Clemente classes, with texts that amplified the voices of women and indigenous and formerly enslaved peoples, expanded his notions of history. He wants to do the same for his students.

“To study history you have to think critically,” he said. “No matter our age, we can all learn the skills of looking closely at things and asking big questions.”

In the meantime, he’s bringing his belief in intellectual curiosity and challenging our ideas to raising his three kids as a single dad. Though he once thought he wouldn’t succeed in college, he knows he can succeed and that being open to discovering new things is key.

“If you go through life trying not to look stupid, you’re never going to learn anything,” he said. “I tell my kids all the time, the smartest thing you can say in the world is ‘I don’t know what that is, tell me more about it.’”

Free Minds Shakespeareans Take the (Virtual) Stage

Wed, 03 Mar 2021 00:29:00 GMT

In Austin's Clemente affiliate, Free Minds , program graduates have a unique way of coming together this spring, care of a committed educator and a 16th century bard. Dallas Klein, Free Minds Community Liaison, tells us more.

This spring Free Minds is proudly hosting a virtual Shakespeare workshop led by University of Texas’ Shakespeare at Winedale Outreach Coordinator Clayton Stromberger. For this 10 week workshop, Free Minds graduates—from our first year of programming to our most recent cohort—will be tuning in to look at monologues and speeches from Shakespeare’s vast repertoire.

Each participant joins with their own connection to Shakespeare. During the group’s first gathering, DeAnna Guilbeau (’16) explained, “I saw my first Shakespeare play when I was 8. It was Othello . As an adult, I recognize it was a heavy thing for a kid to be watching. But as a little Black girl it was one of the first times I saw a Black man in a position of power. My love of Shakespeare began that moment. I was hooked.”

The first monologue the group is acting out comes from one of Shakespeare’s lesser known works, a scene from a play called Sir Thomas More . The play premiered from 1591-93 and was written by a handful of playwrights. One of the major themes in the play is Elizabethan era xenophobia, but Free Minds Shakespeareans quickly and astutely recognized the monologue’s relevance to our current political climate in the United States.

“Wash your foul minds with tears, and those same hands,/ That you like rebels lift against the peace,/ Lift up for peace,” participants proclaimed with great gusto! More’s urgent plea for humanity rang through each of our screens, and we realized—during this divisive time in our country’s history—Shakespeare’s words mean more than ever.

Up next, these Shakespeareans will dig into a portion of Hamlet . Some of the workshop’s participants even remember seeing this play during their fall semester in Free Minds. The group will continue practicing lines, getting comfortable with Shakespearean rhythms and finding ways to bring the language to life. All their practice will build up to a virtual performance the group hopes to record and share amongst our community. We are sure this workshop’s rendition will elicit a standing ovation.

"A Reckoning" in the Classroom

Thu, 18 Feb 2021 23:48:00 GMT

With A Reckoning in Boston making its world premiere this week at the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival , I’m answering two questions about the film posed to me by friends. As Academic Director of the Clemente Course in the Humanities in Boston's Dorchester neighborhood at the time, I was present whenever cameras were in our classroom.

The Room

One friend asked me about the physical setting of the class. The short answer is: that’s not our usual room except for when it is.

The scenes of our classroom were filmed in a black box theater in the building where we have classes. In general our classes are held in a fluorescent-lit room that is used for groups of up to 30 people. Because our regular room is the largest meeting room at Codman Square Health Center , when the health center has its monthly evening board meetings, our class is displaced to the black box theater. So teaching and learning in the black box was not a new thing, but it usually was just once a month.

The filmmakers preferred to film in the theater because it gave them more control over lighting and it allowed the cameras to roam around outside the ring of students. That was good from a pedagogical standpoint because it meant the camera people would not be standing between students and the teacher.

So: our classes don’t always look like that, except for the times they actually do.

The People

Another friend asked about the main subjects, Carl and Kafi, and how they were chosen to be the protagonists in a film like this.

First of all, every applicant to the Clemente Course that year was informed of the upcoming filming at their initial interview. I was worried that having cameras in the classroom would discourage some people from taking the class -- or encourage the wrong kind of person to take the class!

There was also the problem of high expectations. In test footage from the year before, director James Rutenbeck had captured an interview with a student about his favorite philosopher -- Nietzsche -- in between taking orders for pizza at the restaurant he was managing. The pizza philosopher would have been an ideal subject!

However, remarkable people enter the Clemente classroom every year .

Another student in the filmed cohort has a very compelling story, working in the arts on a temporary visa -- his story may have bent the film towards issues of immigration, rather than housing. For a while James followed at least four or five people before narrowing it down to Kafi and Carl. I was not involved in this choice, but I’m sure their honesty and accessibility, as well as the fact that they represented different genders, ages, and stages of life, were all factors in this decision.

For the record, every student in our classroom has harrowing, funny, crazy stories to tell, injustices they battle, and personal triumphs that are worth celebrating. Not everyone is willing to share these with strangers, and I commend Carl and Kafi for their courage to do so.

A Reckoning in Boston will initiate many conversations as audiences experience it this year, including ones about our classroom and approach to humanities education. Overall, I think the film captures the truth about what the Clemente Course is, how it affects participants, and how the course fits into the fabric of a city.

The World Premiere of a Very Clemente Story

Wed, 10 Feb 2021 18:51:00 GMT

Kafi Dixon and Carl Chandler are the true-life lead characters in a new documentary film inspired by the Clemente Course in the Humanities and premiering at a national film festival.

Kafi had worked as a gravedigger, fishmonger, and bus driver, and sought to create an urban farm for working class women of color. Carl was a community elder living in one of Boston’s most challenged neighborhoods who would describe himself as poor, but not impoverished. Both chose to enroll in a Clemente Course, where they joined others in studying the classics and great literature. And both found inspiration to move forward in their lives by learning from the great minds of the past.

That is the Clemente promise—and it is the genesis of a the film , A Reckoning in Boston , which premieres at the prestigious , Big Sky Documentary Film Festival later this month.

Kafi and Carl represent the thousands of Clemente graduates in cities around the country who have acquired the skills to advocate more effectively for themselves, create better futures and contribute to their communities by lifting up others through civic engagement. Their Clemente experience has given them a voice in a national conversation about racism, social justice, and how to bring about lasting change.

Ten years ago, filmmaker James Rutenbeck set out to document how engagement with the humanities in a rigorous classroom setting could change futures for underserved populations. “The idea of transformation through an immersion in art, literature, and history was something I thought could be cinematic and compelling,” he said.

What he didn’t expect was that Clemente would change him as well, as he came to understand his own complicity as a white man in the racial inequities that shaped his city. As he spends time with Kafi and Carl in the making of the film, he becomes more aware of the violence, racism and gentrification that threaten their lives and futures.

Reckoning shines a light on Boston, but it’s relevant for cities across the country, where unjust systems often hinder individuals who seek to build better lives for themselves and their families . Documenting the transformative process of self-discovery, for the characters and the director, offers insight for a nation struggling to understand what systemic racism is and how to confront it. It also offers a glimpse of how the Clemente Course can catalyze meaningful change in lives and communities.

“I hope viewers will question their assumptions about the capacity, intelligence, or life experience of people they meet--a bus driver, service worker, or subway passenger sitting across from them,” says Rutenbeck. “Carl is often viewed as a street person; Kafi drove a bus for years. The filmmaking, like the Clemente Course, allowed them both to express their deep feelings and reveal their intellect to the wider world.”

A Reckoning in Boston will be available for screening February 21-24 through the Big Sky Documentary Film Festival. After its premiere, the film is also being made available for community showings throughout the nation.

From Odyssey to a Cap and Gown

Thu, 28 Jan 2021 20:54:00 GMT

In the UW Odyssey Project in Madison, WI, co-director/founder Emily Auerbach and the entire team work to assure that the pathway from the Odyssey classroom to a college degree is as clear and smooth as possible for their students. This photo represents just some of the Odyssey alumni who earned two-year, four-year, and advanced degrees in 2020 despite the pandemic.

Dauntrea (on the left) first started thinking about college at age eight in Odyssey's childcare while her grandmother attended the program; in 2020, Dauntrea earned her UW bachelor’s degree and is applying for law school.

Next to her is Mustafa, who also earned his UW degree in 2020 and has just been accepted to a doctoral program at UW in Occupational Therapy. He escaped with his family from war-torn Iraq.

Both Marisela and Shaimaa (pictured with stethoscope) earned nursing degrees and are on the front lines now.

Tiffany, who raised four children and served in the military after completing Odyssey in its very first year, has completed her bachelor’s and been accepted into a master’s degree program in architecture.

These five faces represent just a small sampling of the 500 amazing graduates of this exemplary program, which is now in its 18th year and is inspired by Clemente and Berea College. “Odyssey helped me unwrap my gifts and rewrite the story of my life,” one student said.

For Aimee Luna, Homeschooling Is a Way of Life

Thu, 21 Jan 2021 20:41:00 GMT

In Austin's Clemente Course, Free Minds , graduates gathered this fall for a writing course designed for alumni and offered for credit at Austin Community College . Students completed a unit on op-eds, learning effective research methods and using those skills to write about issues that matter to them.

Aimee Luna, a 2017 Free Minds graduate, offers her perspective on distance learning and her belief that the school system should continue to support homeschooling well beyond the restrictions of COVID-19. Read Aimee's thoughtful op-ed below. She continues her work toward a degree in creative writing this spring.

In March, 2020 my five-year-old granddaughter left school on Friday afternoon looking forward to spring break. Eight months later, we still haven’t returned to school. Not much is certain these days. However, one certainty is we’re now a homeschooling family. Our experience has made one thing crystal clear, Texas must expand resources for homeschooling families beyond Covid-19 .

I’m fifty-one years old and the primary caretaker for my granddaughter. We’re officially enrolled in public school, receiving school work through the distance-learning program. I’m referred to as her distance-learning coach. I feel honored to have this role in her life as this is her education and will affect her entire future. We take it seriously.

While I wholeheartedly agree there are advantages to educating children in traditional schools, I contend that there are equally important advantages to homeschooling them. In Psychology Today , Dr. Peter Gray states, “Education is the sum of everything a person learns that enables that person to live a full and meaningful life. ” Dr. Gray connects to one of the biggest advantages of home-schooling: the opportunity to customize the agenda. Take, for example, civic engagement. While the school teaches civic engagement through discussion and worksheets, due to home-schooling flexibilities we’ve made it more meaningful. After our lesson, we promptly went to the local food bank where we’re now volunteering in the garden every Friday morning. From this experience, my granddaughter learns: responsibility, that she can contribute to making a difference in other people’s lives, the benefit of hard work and sacrifice, inclusivity of people, job skills, and how to fill idle time wisely.

These are all crucial life-skills.

The Nebraska Extension Early Childhood Development website states , “Research suggests adults who engage children in culturally responsive educational experiences help to: 1) build young children’s self-confidence and skills, 2) increase children’s awareness, appreciation and inclusion of diverse beliefs and cultures, and 3) maximize children’s academic achievement and educational success.” For example, our social studies assignment addressed, “Why Diversity Matters.” But the assignment was merely a five minute video accompanied by a worksheet with five questions. I wondered, “Is that really the extent of her studies on diversity for the entire first grade year?” Regardless, it piqued her interest and, again, due to homeschooling flexibility, we capitalized on this moment. We spent the month on books, documentaries, and projects expanding our knowledge of how children live all over the world simultaneously making memories of family time.

Families have many compelling reasons for opting for homeschooling. , The National Home Education Research Institute notes, “customizing the curriculum and providing guided and reasoned social interactions with youthful peers and adults” as some of the biggest factors. During this unprecedented time, every family in Texas is faced with the daunting decision of keeping their children home where they’re safer from Covid, or allowing them to return to school, exposing them to an illness we’re just now learning about and which could lead to death.

To be sure, not every family can choose homeschooling. Not all have someone in the house who can dedicate the time to schooling the children. However, consider this data from the , Texas Home School Coalition , the most prominent homeschooling interest group in the state - 3,114 families (15% increase) have withdrawn their children from school in July, 2020, up from 201 last year. The reality is the longer families engage in homeschooling, the greater the possibility they’ll decide to continue after Covid. Right now there’s no end to this crisis in the foreseeable future.

Now is the perfect time for Texas school districts to expand resources for homeschooling families. There have been tremendous strides made, and we now know that it’s completely realistic. To go back to the way things were would be ludicrous. “Everything is bigger in Texas,” and this should apply to our homeschooling resources too.

The Humanities as Healing for Veterans

Mon, 11 Jan 2021 17:57:00 GMT

While accepting the 2020 Innovation in the Humanities Award from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities , Providence CVI director Mark Santow explained how the humanities can make veterans--and the rest of us--feel less alone, and why that's so important for the scholars in his classroom.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4yGt6ENOHV4&t=17s

A Clementine Eyes the Capitol

Wed, 23 Dec 2020 15:24:00 GMT

Danielle Allen may be a scholar, political theorist, and columnist, but we know her as a fellow Clementine.

The Director of Harvard’s Edmond J. Safra Center for Ethics, she has been a member of the broader Clemente community for years. She was instrumental in founding Chicago's Odyssey Project , where she taught for many years. Her 2014 book Our Declaration: A Reading of the Declaration of Independence in Defense of Equality is based partly on her experience teaching the founding document to those students.

More recently, she penned the introduction to the Mass Humanities anthology of Clemente writing, ,, We, Too, Are America . She wrote there, "Fighting our way out of this pandemic, and out of the challenges that pre-existed it, requires that we revive the roots of solidarity, a feeling of being in this together and of wanting to help one another out."

...

It is with that spirit of solidarity that Danielle announces that she is exploring running for governor of Massachusetts. Whether or not she continues her run or is elected, we are excited to see someone with such a strong commitment to Clemente eyeing a move from the classroom to the statehouse.

In a recent opinion piece for the ,, Washington Post , she wrote: "Ideas are the rich treasure the academy can yield. But they must be linked to a capacity for both politics and governance."

Graduate Casts Her First Ballot

Mon, 21 Dec 2020 22:50:00 GMT

This election season, through the efforts of activists and volunteers, numerous Americans have voted for the first time. Our own Lauretta Calamito, 2020 graduate of Free Minds in Austin, has one such story.

In her 60s and a resident of Foundation Communities , the nonprofit that is home to Free Minds, Lauretta had reasons for not voting in the past. “I never thought a politician was worthy of my vote,” said Lauretta. “I never trusted them.” A native of Staten Island, NY, Lauretta felt discouraged by corruption and a lack of checks and balances in her home town.

This year was different for Lauretta. “I wanted to take an active part and be civic minded. I wanted to vote for things that can help others, especially students and the elderly,” she said. Lauretta recalls with pride the day that she cast her vote at the Austin Central Library--when she informed the volunteer poll-worker that she was a first time voter, the woman announced it, and the entire line broke out in applause. What an apt reminder to celebrate every voice in this country.

Lauretta spent much of her adult life as a caretaker for her aging parents, and she now devotes her time volunteering for those experiencing homelessness. With this background, Lauretta says she will continue voting with particular interest in local elections, where policies can more immediately impact those in her city and neighborhood.

“There are so many who would give their right arm to vote. I thought about all those people who can’t, and I’ve realized it really is a privilege,” said Lauretta.

We thank you, Lauretta, for reminding us of the power of our voices!

Dallas Grad Renee Micha'el Jones Publishes AlphaBlack

Thu, 10 Dec 2020 18:47:00 GMT

Renee Miche’al Jones, a 2015 graduate of the Clemente Course in Dallas, has just published her first book, AlphaBlack , a cultural learning resource for children and educators. AlphaBlack is aimed at providing tools of African and African American awareness and self-esteem to urban youth, nurturing in young children a love of reading and a love of Black culture.

Renee was a bold and brilliant student in the first Dallas Clemente class, which was offered by Free Minds Dallas , partnering with Frazier Revitalization and the Foundation for Community Empowerment , as well as El Centro College . Reflecting on her experience in the Clemente Course, Renee says, "It is truly what started my turn around and helped me to get my life back." In 2018, Renee graduated from the University of Texas in Austin with a Bachelor of Science degree in Human Ecology.

Since completing her Clemente Course, Renee has focused on offering resources for diversity awareness for public schools and families. And she’s working on her next books, of course. Renee is currently pursuing a Master of Science degree in Child and Adolescent Development Psychology from Northcentral University in San Diego. She expects to graduate in August 2021.

Congratulations to Clemente graduate Renee Jones for her extraordinary accomplishments!

For Mallory Shelly, Everything Offers an Opportunity to Learn

Tue, 08 Dec 2020 16:27:00 GMT

“I get chills,” said Mallory Shelly, when reflecting on her summer Clemente Course in writing and the anthology of student work— We, Too, Are America —that grew from it. “I love that everybody is so different and brings something to the table. These aren’t stories we would have heard otherwise.”

For Mallory, a 2020 graduate of the Clemente Course in Worcester, MA , taking the writing class was an extension of the learning she’d done throughout the year in Clemente. She’d enrolled in the program after meeting faculty member Elizabeth Bacon at the public library. Mallory was there gathering materials for studying Spanish. Elizabeth was sharing information about Clemente. It was immediately clear to Mallory that the program was a perfect fit: “I’m always immersing myself in education through work or being in school.”

The class exceeded her expectations, even though her second semester was interrupted by the pandemic and she and her classmates had to finish the course online. One of the features that she loved was that her two children, age 10 and 6 when the program began, took part in their own classes alongside her Clemente class. The Worcester program offers a parallel learning experience for students’ children, cultivating intergenerational learning and conversation. “What we were learning in class, they were learning about in their program too,” Mallory said. “We could talk about it.”

One of the texts everyone explored was the epic of Gilgamesh . So when the Worcester Art Museum offered a reading of the poem last fall, Mallory brought her children to see it. The kids were delighted.

“I need my children to see there is more outside of these four brick walls we live in,” she said. “I want them to know there is more obtainable out there for them.”

That same desire to help her kids expand their horizons led her to bring them to a Black Lives Matter protest this summer. Mallory felt a protest could also be an educational experience, a way for them to start to understand the history of police brutality. “It’s important for me to show them that black is not just a skin color, it’s your culture,” she said. “It’s important to share education whenever I can, because the more education we share the more well-rounded a person they might become.”

She explains this beautifully in the essay she wrote for the class and that appears in the We, Too, Are America anthology published by Mass Humanities . Mallory admits that she answered a lot of questions about why she took her children to the protest, and her essay is a way of explaining her decision to a broader audience. To do so, she had to dig deep and tell the truth, two things that were emphasized by her professors.

“Clemente gives people a chance to see what they may be good at that they’ve never tried before,” she said. “The stories people wrote in class were so remarkable.”

You can read Mallory's essay, "Why I Took My Children to a Black Lives Matter Protest" here . It begins: ,I took my seven-year-old son and eleven-year-old daughter to a protest in downtown Los Angeles four days after George Floyd was murdered.

Woman on an Odyssey: Dane County

Tue, 08 Dec 2020 01:18:53 GMT

“The Odyssey Project opened doors for me. It helped me to believe in myself.”

Original article: The University of Wisconsin-Madison

Keena Atkinson ’15 knows what it means to persevere. Before she became a UW-Madison graduate and was recruited by a major corporation, she was a homeless, single mother. What changed her life trajectory?

Many things, including Atkinson’s hard work and inner drive to change her life for the better. Another factor was the UW Odyssey Project .

“The Odyssey Project opened doors for me,” says Atkinson. “It helped me to believe in myself.”

The Odyssey Project helps men and women living near the poverty level to find their voices and get a jump-start on earning their college degrees and finding meaningful work in their communities. Often, Odyssey Project participants are dealing with addiction, incarceration, depression, or other barriers to education. Participants receive free tuition, textbooks, childcare, and a weekly dinner.

The Odyssey Project opened doors for me. It helped me to believe in myself.

With a child to care for and the child’s father serving a 10-year prison term, support from the Odyssey program was essential to giving Atkinson a start. She loved being in a classroom again.

“Toward the end of the Odyssey program, I realized that I didn’t want to be done with school,” she says. That’s when she made a decision to find a way to get a degree at UW-Madison.

Despite her determination to earn her degree, Atkinson knew that her top priority needed to be her son. So, first she went back to school to earn a cosmetology degree to ensure that she would have a job that could support her family while she pursued her college education. Then she began her path toward a bachelor’s degree by enrolling at Madison Area Technical College, later transferring to UW-Madison. That is where the real challenge began.

“I didn’t really have a social life at the UW,” she said. “Everyone’s between 18 and 22.” But, Atkinson eventually found a community on campus at Wisconsin’s Equity & Inclusion Laboratory (Wei LAB).

“That’s where I met the people who were interested in the same issues I was interested in,” she says. “I could talk about things freely with white people and black people. I never had a chance to have those conversations before.”

Through the many hours of work, finding childcare, working, and figuring out ways to finance college, Atkinson kept a profound sense of gratitude for her college experience. “I just appreciate everything I did to earn that degree,” she says. “I earned it, and I’m so proud of it.”

Hope, Heart, and the Humanities -- on the Radio

Wed, 02 Dec 2020 17:47:00 GMT

As the oddest of academic semesters draws to a close, let's return to a conversation from the past. In this interview on Utah Public Radio's " Access Utah ," Jean Cheney talks about the Venture Course, a Clemente Course in Salt Lake City, offered by Utah Humanities . This hour-long conversation covers the origins of Clemente in Earl Shorris's visit to a Westchester County prison and the moving stories of individual Venture students, whose commitment to learning is always inspirational.

The occasion of the interview was the publication of Hope, Heart, and the Humanities: How a Free College Course is Changing Lives by the University of Utah Press. The book, edited by Jean Cheney and her Venture Course colleagues, takes the reader into the Venture classroom, with reflections on teaching literature, history and more in a community space. Throughout the book are powerful stories about the students who brought their intelligence and aspirations to the table amid countless challenges.

The book offers the most comprehensive rendering of a Clemente Course since Shorris's own Riches for the Poor and is an invaluable asset for anyone interested in knowing more about our courses--or starting their own.

Dive into this important conversation here .

Seattle CVI Professor Reflects on Community in Clemente

Thu, 19 Nov 2020 20:57:00 GMT

For Veterans Day, Johnny Horton, a professor in Seattle's Clemente Veterans Initiative (CVI) at Antioch University Seattle, wrote a powerful piece in Crosscut about teaching literature in the Clemente classroom.

Profiling several of the veterans in his classes, including George Williams , Johnny makes it clear that the experience of CVI goes far beyond the texts. t becomes a place of bonding and healing.

You can read the full article, along with viewing photos of some of the veterans in CVI, here.

Reflections on the Clemente Veterans' Initiative

Thu, 12 Nov 2020 01:24:44 GMT

In honor of Veterans Day, Clemente Veterans' Initiative literature professor Johnny Horton writes about the rich community of the CVI classroom at Antioch University Seattle in this opinion piece in Crosscut.

"Ultimately, I think the humanities build a community that fortifies against the dangers of isolation. The humanities reinforce our communal nature through communication. In this way, it feels religious, like communion," Horton writes. Read the full article here.

Providence CVI Receives Innovation in the Humanities Award

Thu, 05 Nov 2020 21:28:00 GMT

On October 15, the Providence Clemente Veterans' Initiative (PCVI) was honored with the Innovation in the Humanities Prize from the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities . PCVI Academic Director Mark Santow was on hand to receive the award at the virtual Celebration of the Humanities event, sharing the screen with PCVI graduates.

'This award also honors the work of our scholar-veterans ," Mark told the nearly 200 people joining the virtual celebration. "Who have bravely shared their stories, spread the word, and reminded my colleagues and I of the extraordinary power the humanities have to help us find meaning and self-understanding. This is an award for them as much as it is for us."

PCVI is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and offered in partnership with Trinity Rep and Operation Stand Down Rhode Island . It is offered free of charge to all veterans, regardless of race, gender identity, service years, deployment history, disability status, or discharge status. Faculty from ,UMass Dartmouth , the ,University of Rhode Islan d, and the ,Rhode Island School of Design teach in the program. Graduates have the opportunity to earn credit from ,Bard College ,.

You can watch the awards ceremony on the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities YouTube page. PCVI's award presentation begins at 17:00.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-6T4ZDEhDDM

Meet Mateo Gonzalez

Thu, 05 Nov 2020 19:16:00 GMT

Mateo Gonzalez was always drawn to literature, but before enrolling in El Proyecto Odisea—the Spanish-language program of the Odyssey Project —he’d never had to chance to study it formally.

His education in his birth country of Mexico and later in his adopted home of Chicago was always technical, designed to support his career as a machinist in a manufacturing setting. That changed when he heard an advertisement for Odisea on the radio.

“At the time, I wasn’t doing anything extracurricular other than my job,” he said. His three children were grown and mostly on their own, leaving a peaceful and quiet house. “I was working eight hours and coming home early, so I was free to do other things. It sounded like an interesting way to spend my time.”

It turned out to be much more. The class kindled his love of literature, but also his love of writing. He knew he had an imagination, but it was in an early class that he discovered how people responded to that imagination on the page. A professor asked students to write descriptively and turn their work in to her. The following week, when Mateo entered the room a few minutes after class had begun, everyone started clapping.

“I thought it was some sort of punishment for arriving late,” he joked. Instead, the professor had shared his work with the class. “They said, ‘What you wrote was amazing.’ I was surprised. After that I started cultivating my writing more.”

He also cultivated his appreciation for culture and stories, saying that the class actually “kind of awakened the Mexican in me.” While offering Odisea in Spanish opens up possibilities for intellectual exploration for those who might not have the English skills to take other Odyssey courses, it turns out that the greater value is offering a space to dive deeply into the humanities through a Latin American lens. Mateo’s limited education in Mexico didn’t include studying Mexican culture, the Aztecs, or writers like Juan Rulfo, Octavio Paz, and Carlos Fuentes. It was an affirming and eye-opening experience.

“I see the world differently now,” Mateo said. “As a Mexican, as an indigenous person, I always had the belief that I was inferior. But this class gave me proof that I have value, and ever since then I feel more equal to other people. I embrace people more. I can have deep discussions with people, and even if I don’t agree with them, I can explain my point of view.”

In the years since graduating from Odyssey, Mateo has gone from someone who simply works his eight hours and heads home to someone whose life is shaped by stories and community. He enrolled in the Odyssey second-year course in English, and then he became a teaching assistant in Odisea, spending evenings in the classroom supporting students and faculty. He provides the link between professors and those who had never been in a college setting but are enthusiastic about learning and ideas.

Mateo also completed facilitation training for the Long Overdue Book Group and has been coordinating two different book groups, using literature from Albert Camus to Eduardo Galeano to create bridges in this time of isolation. And he earned a scholarship to attend the University of Chicago’s Basic Program of Liberal Education, a four-year course in the humanities. He’ll continue those classes virtually this fall.

“Yes, I am busy,” Mateo acknowledged, though it’s a kind of busy that reflects his intellectual curiosity and drive. “I still write, and I keep reading philosophy. Now I know what it’s like to be more connected with people. I discovered a side of myself I didn’t know was in me through Odyssey.”

Meet Mateo Gonzalez

Sat, 15 Aug 2020 00:30:12 GMT

2014 Odyssey Project Graduate and Book Club Facilitator

Mateo Gonzalez was always drawn to literature, but before enrolling in El Proyecto Odisea—the Spanish-language program of the Odyssey Project—he’d never had to chance to study it formally.

Providence Clemente Veterans' Initiative Receives High Honor

Wed, 29 Jul 2020 21:32:43 GMT

Providence CVI has been awarded the Innovation in Humanities Award by the Rhode Island Council for the Humanities, an honor that recognizes the work of the program in making the state a vital place to live and work.

The honorees will be celebrated at a virtual Celebration of the Humanities event on October 15, 2020. The Providence Clemente Veterans' Initiative is supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities and offered in partnership with Bard College and Trinity Rep . It offers a two-semester class in the humanities to veterans, regardless of race, gender identity, service years, deployment history, disability status, or discharge status. Faculty from the Rhode Island School of Design, the University of Rhode Island, and UMass-Dartmouth teach in the program.

Clemente Featured on Podcast

Mon, 06 Jul 2020 21:42:35 GMT

Boston Clemente's Jack Cheng appeared on a recent episode of the Creative Minds Out Loud podcast, hosted by Mass Cultural Council.

You can hear him talk about Antigone, visiting the Museum of Fine Arts with students, and why the humanities are "dessert."

Tune in here for "Sharing the Bounties of Human Culture."

A Message of Solidarity

Tue, 30 Jun 2020 21:48:23 GMT

At Clemente we stand with our students and neighbors of color in this critical moment and are aligned with the message shared by Leon Botstein, President of our academic partner, Bard College: "...we must confront the complacency and hypocrisy with which this country has dealt with the systematic injustice based on race that is visible every single day."

Dear Members of the Bard Community,

I am writing to all of you today with sentiments that I know are widely shared throughout the Bard College community.

Words cannot properly express the anger, sadness and despair each of us feels at the murder of George Floyd by police officers in Minneapolis, the killing, by two civilians, of Ahmaud Arbery in Brunswick Georgia, and the murder, once again by officers sworn to uphold the law, of Breonna Taylor, in Louisville, Kentucky. The victims were all black; the perpetrators were all white.

On behalf of the entire Bard College community, I want to express our solidarity with all who grieve for the deaths, with all who live in constant fear of the brutality of racial discrimination, and with all who find themselves without hope in these dark and violent times.

As we all continue to follow the unfolding national crisis, I also wish to express Bard’s support for the journalists who have covered and continue to report on these events and their aftermath, particularly those of color such as CNN’s Omar Jimenez, who have been punitively targeted by the police because they are professionals of color. Not only are black lives in danger, but our fundamental civil liberties, including freedom of the press are at risk today.

The Bard College community includes members and families connected to Bard’s main campus in Annandale, Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington, Massachusetts, and Bard’s seven public High School Early Colleges in New York City, Newark, Baltimore, Washington D.C., Cleveland, and New Orleans. Bard’s family includes the students and their families in the Bard Prison Initiative, Bard’s Microcolleges in Brooklyn and Holyoke Mass., and our Clemente Courses throughout the nation. The majority of the students Bard serves across its network are non-white, and nearly half come from families in poverty.

The mission of this nation’s universities and colleges requires faith in the proposition that language and reason are the proper shared instruments of politics and society. Places of learning are dedicated to the belief that, in the long run, the pen is indeed mightier than the sword. Bard takes pride in its commitment to these ideals.

However, if we are to redeem these noble and just convictions, we must confront the complacency and hypocrisy with which this country has dealt with the systematic injustice based on race that is visible every single day. The COVID-19 pandemic has made the tragic consequences of our tolerance of economic and social inequality plain, as we watch Americans of color suffer disproportionately from the epidemic and the national failure to combat this new disease and its spread.

We must do more than express outrage. Something has to change in a way that actually helps the lives of our fellow citizens and neighbors of color. We have witnessed too many of our nation’s failures to make progress in the matter of racial justice after eruptions of civil unrest. The failures to make sufficient progress, during Reconstruction, after the racial violence of the 1920s, the broken promises of Brown vs. Board of Education of the 1950s, and the dashed hopes after the urban riots of the late 1960s remain vivid in our collective memory. To add insult to injury, we seem to accept with striking passivity the divisive hostility, the open appeal to prejudice, the incompetence, mendacity and ignorance that now represents the Executive Branch of our Federal Government.

We have come to accept as normal the persistence of discrimination, the toxic link between race and economic justice, in which the quality of our public schools plays a central role, and the daily experience of fear on the part of people of color. Universities and colleges must no longer accept the unacceptable that we have the power to change: a substandard education for people of color, particularly in our cities. In an era when the rich have become richer, and when the technological consequences of economic inequality—the digital divide---have accelerated, how can we tolerate the status quo?

I want to assure each and every one of you that Bard College will continue to do its utmost to lead in the task of articulating a better vision of democracy and government and a better reality for all in our country in the sphere of education. Bard’s mission is not restricted to the pursuit and dissemination of knowledge. It seeks to forge a link between what is true and what is right and good, a connection between epistemology and ethics. Bard is proud to be an institution committed to combating injustice through education. Its investment in educational access for historically underserved populations is in support of the cause of a more just and civil society.

I recognize this is a deeply frightening, frustrating, and challenging time for students, faculty, and staff, particularly those of color. On behalf of the College, please know that Bard is with each of you in spirit, even if, for the time being, we cannot be physically together. In the face of these difficult circumstances, our commitment and resolve is to work together to play our part in building a better future. We will try to do our best as the nation confronts its failures and, guided by its better angels, resolves to change, and realizes the promise of freedom and justice for all.

Leon Botstein
President
Bard College

Reprinted from the Bard College website.

We also recommend this list of Black Lives Matter Solidarity Resources from Bard College at Simon's Rock .

Holyoke Grad Featured in Oprah Magazine

Tue, 26 May 2020 23:15:26 GMT

A prompt from her Clemente writing professor planted the seed for the essay Jacqueline Velez published this month in O, The Oprah Magazine, “I Survived 20 Days in Solitary Confinement: Here’s How I Got Through.”

Jacqueline with her son and daughter in a photo taken by
Bud Glick for the People Before Prison campaign in 2013.

After reading Ranier Maria Rilke’s Letters to a Young Poet, with its romanticized images of solitude, instructor Tziviah Gover asked students, “Have you ever been alone for an extended period of time?”

For Jacqueline, the answer was yes. She’d spent nearly three weeks in solitary confinement at Rikers Island, an experience that changed her life. And years later, when O Magazine was gathering stories of isolation amid the coronavirus shut down, it was just the story they needed.

The development of the essay mirrors the trajectory of Jacqueline’s educational experience. She got the idea for it as a student in the Clemente Course in Holyoke , MA, a program for mothers hosted by the Care Center. Then she began drafting it in a second year Clemente Bridge Course focused on writing. After that class, she transitioned into the Bard Microcollege , where she graduates this spring with an associate’s degree. While enrolled at the Microcollege, the essay expanded to 17 pages, and her professors offered space to work on it and critical feedback even during the summer.

For Jacqueline, Clemente and Bard offered a way to claim her place in the classroom. Reflecting on her early education, she said, “I literally never went to high school.” She obtained her GED at age 16 and never thought of college as an option. She knew nothing about financial aid or scholarships.

“I was used to watching the Huxtables,” she said, referring to the upper middle class family portrayed on the Cosby Show, “I thought you had to go away to a campus. I didn’t know anybody in college or anybody to ask.”

Years later, in 2004, she took her first college class at the urging of her young daughter, but her degree was interrupted by the months of incarceration she writes about in her essay. Coming out of prison, she didn’t believe she could ever go back to college: “I thought my life was over. I was not going to be able to pursue my dreams.”

What she found instead was an organization where her lived experience was of critical importance. Jacqueline became a volunteer and then a paid employee of a New York nonprofit advocating for criminal justice reform. She worked on a campaign that led to the 2009 anti-shackling law, banning the shackling of laboring women, as well as one that led to modifying laws mandating minimum sentences in drug offenses.

When Jacqueline moved to Massachusetts from New York, she found work as a political organizer, and today she is a regional director for the reelection campaign of Senator Ed Markey. But she also found a way back to education through Clemente.

From the beginning of her Clemente experience, Jacqueline was struck by the positivity of the faculty and staff, the way they created a supportive and welcoming environment. And the course material in literature, history, and art revealed new ways of seeing the world. “Maybe if I’d had all that stuff in high school, my life would have taken a different turn,” she said.

As she graduates from the Bard Microcollege, Jacqueline has full plate. She recently purchased a house, she is raising her young son, and she’s busy with the campaign. Her goals are to return to school for her bachelor’s and to start a nonprofit to expand advocacy around criminal justice in the region. And she wants to write a memoir.

“Writing saved my life. It has been my sanity,” she said. Though she accumulated mountains of filled notebooks over the years, she never dreamed she could be a paid and published writer. “I’d never written like that until I took my first Clemente Course. It opened my eyes to this whole world, this whole canon of writers. It also opened up something in me that might have died or never fully come alive.”

Providence Veterans Take a Virtual Walking Tour

Tue, 26 May 2020 22:57:50 GMT

Sometimes what's needed is a camera and a little ingenuity. In the Providence Clemente Veterans' Initiative (CVI), a planned walking tour of Providence's war memorials appeared impossible after shelter in place rules were enacted. But art history professor Suzanne Scanlan thought otherwise.

She grabbed her camera and set off on foot to film the tour herself, bringing it to the class via Zoom in the evening. Her tour was followed by a virtual visit from RISD archivist Claudia Covert, who offered a history of camouflage to the veteran scholars.

This is one in a series of innovations from Academic Director Mark Santow and the Providence CVI faculty this spring. The students in this NEH-funded program —veterans of Vietnam, Bosnia, Afghanistan, and other conflicts—have been meeting since September to explore questions of war and duty through art, literature, philosophy and history. Like the 35 other Clemente Courses across the country, the course was designed as an intimate seminar held around a table. The pandemic changed that. But the students and faculty have risen to the occasion.

Twice a week they come together on Zoom to continue the conversation. In addition to the virtual walking tour, they have hosted a visit from Tommy Furlong and Travis Weiner, veterans of Afghanistan and Iraq respectively. Their documentary film-in-progress, Meatgrinder , tells the story of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars from a soldier's perspective. Students have also explored the concept of moral injury and discussed the music that reflects their military experience.

Providence CVI students are so engaged in the course that they've asked to continue meeting after their graduation on May 28. On to the summer!

Summer Newsletter Features Graduates from Coast to Coast

Wed, 28 Aug 2019 21:50:36 GMT

Our summer edition of the Clemente Quarterly gathers photos of graduates from Clemente Courses across the country. Read on to meet some of those we celebrated this spring and summer.

You can subscribe to the Clemente Quarterly at the bottom of this page.

Clemente Awarded Two NEH Grants

Fri, 29 Mar 2019 23:50:33 GMT

The National Endowment for the Humanities has announced that Clemente is among its 2019 grant recipients, awarding two grants totaling $198,930 to expand its work in the NEH Dialogues on the Experience of War initiative. The grants will grow the Clemente Veterans' Initiative to three new sites.

CVI was developed in 2014 to provide a meaningful intellectual community to veterans who are struggling to adapt to civilian life. CVI is based on the idea that guided discussion of humanities texts can provide these veterans with an opportunity to reflect on their military experiences and move out of isolation and into community.

One grant will establish a two-year CVI program in Providence, RI. The other will support three new 12-week dialogues with veterans. Dialogues use humanities texts from the Ancient Greeks to contemporary literature to explore themes of war and reconciliation, considering universal human experiences and questions. Dialogues will be held in the Spring of 2020 in Houston, TX; Newark, NJ; and Tacoma, WA.

All courses will be offered free of charge to participants. Books, child care, and transportation assistance will be provided at no cost. Transferable college credit will be available from Bard College.

“We are deeply appreciative of the National Endowment for the Humanities’ continuing support for our Veterans’ Initiative,” said Lela Hilton, Executive Director of the Clemente Course. “It reaffirms our belief that engagement with the humanities is central to our ability to participate most actively in our communities, and to live a full and joyful life. To co-create and share this experience with veterans is a true honor.”

Teagle Foundation Awards Clemente a Grant for Youth Programming

Thu, 14 Feb 2019 00:56:29 GMT

The Teagle Foundation has awarded Clemente a $37,000 grant for its “Pathways to the Liberal Arts” initiative. The grant will enable Clemente to undertake an in-depth review of affiliate programs geared toward youth and determine how best to expand those programs to other locations.

Clemente programs for high school students are currently held in three places:

Chicago: Sojourner Scholars , supported by Illinois Humanities
Salt Lake City: Clemente Course , supported by Utah Humanities
Portland: Alder Early College Course , supported by Oregon Humanities

Each of these programs brings the Clemente model of an intensive humanities seminar to high school students, building communication and writing skills as well as preparing them for the transition to college. Students explore literature, art, US history, and philosophy with college faculty and have the opportunity to earn college credit. The programs have strong partnerships with local educational and community organizations. There is no cost to the student for participating.

More information about our youth programming is available in our Fall 2018 newsletter .

The grant from the Teagle Foundation will support a working group that will determine how Clemente youth programs operate in their respective communities, gather key practices from those courses, and articulate models to support future programs both locally and nationally. As Clemente enters its third decade, we are investigating how we can adapt our courses to serve both adults and specific and often-overlooked populations, such as opportunity youth, veterans, and those aging out of foster care.

We are grateful to the Teagle Foundation for its generous support.

Meet Patricia Nerison

Thu, 07 Feb 2019 01:08:27 GMT

Literature Professor, Jefferson Clemente , Port Townsend, WA

Pat Nerison was about to step down after years of teaching composition and literature in community colleges when she was introduced to the Jefferson Clemente Course in Port Townsend, WA. Jefferson Clemente founder (and current Clemente Executive Director) Lela Hilton made a presentation about the new program and Pat was sold. That was in 2000.

Pat offered the literature unit in Jefferson Clemente the following year and has ever since. The things that first drew her to Clemente remain: the purpose is clear, the staff energized, and the students bring knowledge and diverse experience to the table. And she still responds to the question of why she teaches by saying, “It doesn’t get more fun than this.”

Pat’s Clemente curriculum usually includes Antigone, often a play by Ibsen, and always a Shakespeare play. She loves using poetry, too. This year’s course theme, “Beginnings and Rejuvenation,” sent her curriculum in new directions. She’s teaching To Kill a Mockingbird for the first time in Clemente, and she’s chosen to include Measure for Measure, Shakespeare’s complex play with its famous line, “Some rise by sin, and some by virtue fall.”

“The play ends with three marriages, which represent reconciliation and rejuvenation,” Pat says. “But the questions are larger: What is justice? How much mercy is necessary to do the right thing? How do we respond to an unjust law? How can we think anew about troubling issues?”

Jefferson Clemente is the most rural Clemente Course in the country, held in a town of less than 10,000 residents. Pat sees former Clemente students in the community and hears stories about the program’s impact: many go on to more college; some take their children to Shakespeare in the park; a man who described himself as a redneck bought a volume of Langston Hughes’ poetry.

Her enjoyment of Clemente keeps her coming back, but so does her sense that what happens in Clemente is important, not just in the classroom, but beyond it.

“I see it as an opportunity to work with ideas, but also to facilitate civil conversation about difficult topics on which people disagree” she says. “Our models for public discourse are deteriorating everywhere, and this is a chance for people to engage with openness, curiosity, and respect.”

Meet Freddy Carnes

Mon, 05 Nov 2018 01:31:27 GMT

Teaching Artist for Kids in Free Minds .

When Freddy Carnes arrives to teach a few doors down from the Free Minds—the Clemente affiliate in Austin—he might be carrying a guitar, a box of costumes from a Shakespeare play, or a stack of journals kids will fill with their writing through the year. One thing is for sure: he’s there to create some magic.

Freddy is a teaching artist at Creative Action, a Free Minds partner organization that provides arts-based youth development programming in Central Texas. For four years he has offered the children of Free Minds students their own humanities class, mirroring the adult curriculum in engaging, kid-friendly ways.

When Free Minds students read Hamlet, their kids learn the “To be or not to be” monologue, complete with hand gestures. When they read the ancient Greeks, their kids sing a song Freddy wrote titled, “Poseidon: God of Wind and Sea.” When they discuss Frederick Douglass’s narrative, the kids learn about Douglass as well as Harriet Tubman and other historical figures. They ask what it means to stand up against injustice and how they too can be role models.

For Freddy, bringing the hands-on learning of Creative Action to Free Minds kids was a no brainer.

“From the minute I heard of it, I knew this was a very forward-thinking way of approaching college education and something we need desperately,” he said. “Through the liberal arts we are challenging students in the way they think about the world and themselves and their community. We are investing in them to become leaders.”

A seasoned theatre artist—he’s co-written and directed more than 40 operas—Freddy has worked with Creative Action since 2005. His teaching has brought him into schools, community centers, and museums. He believes in not underestimating the abilities of even the youngest kids to understand complex texts and ideas.

“Kids can handle a lot more than you think they can, especially if you give it to them in a way that they can understand. It will lead to really interesting discussions.”

Those discussions extend beyond the classroom. The Free Minds-Creative Action partnership promotes intergenerational learning, and parents and kids report finding new ways to connect around their shared classwork. Parents are both modeling education for their kids as well as engaging in it side by side.

At graduation each spring, Freddy calls children to the stage, one by one, to honor their hard work. He hands them the writing journal they have kept all year. As kids walk away to the applause of the audience, they are carrying their own words and the knowledge that will support them into the future.

Meet Trea Vance

Mon, 05 Nov 2018 01:25:46 GMT

Graduate of Odyssey Junior in Madison, WI

At the NAACP office in Washington, D.C., where she is interning this fall, Trea Vance collects stories of racial discrepancies in the criminal justice system. A junior at the University of Wisconsin majoring in political science and legal studies, her work in Washington has furthered her resolve to go to law school. As an attorney—and ultimately a judge—she believes she can make a difference.

Trea's drawing from Odyssey, age 8

“I have a passion for wanting to help my community,” she said, “and I want to advocate for minorities and others who really need someone to represent them.”

Trea is one of ten children and the first in her family to attend a four-year university. And she was offered a full-tuition scholarship to do so. The possibility of higher education began to open up for her when her grandmother, Annette Bland, enrolled in the Odyssey Project, the Clemente affiliate in Madison, when Trea was eight. Accompanying her grandmother to class and seeing her study at home shifted Trea’s outlook on education and made her take school more seriously.

“I remember while my grandmother was doing my hair, I was reading her college level books from Odyssey,” she said. “Those books helped me intellectually. They expanded my desire to learn.”

Odyssey became a big part of Trea’s family. After her grandmother completed Odyssey, Trea’s uncle enrolled. Later, her mother did as well. And as a teenager Trea took part in Odyssey Junior, the program focused on giving family members of students a similar opportunity to engage in writing, visual arts, literacy and theater. Trea believes these programs help to level the playing field for children of color, making them more prepared for further education.

As she continues toward her degree and starts preparing to apply to law school, Trea wants other young people to know that college can be an option for them.

“I stuck with it, and now I am going to one of the top ten public universities in the world,” she wrote to Odyssey Junior students in a recent letter. “If any of you feel like you are not college material or just don’t know what you want to do in your life right now, I strongly encourage you to at least look into college programs so that you can get a glimpse of the college experience and decide if college is for you. I think you will realize that college will give you opportunities that you cannot even imagine.”

Clemente Course inspires underserved students to continue their education.

Fri, 05 Oct 2018 00:39:15 GMT

Original Post : University of Utah | College of the Humanities.

Utah Humanities partners with the University of Utah to bring the humanities to high school students.

Prior her junior year at West High School, Amina rarely spoke up in class and was too timid to join in classroom discussions. Through her participation in the Clemente Course, an interdisciplinary humanities course for underserved high school students, Amina now understands the value of her opinions and lets them be heard in class and freely engages in difficult dialogue and debates.

“We have debates on topics you wouldn’t normally speak about in regular classes and the teachers really make us question and talk about everything,” said Amina, who is in her second year of Clemente. “The teachers don’t always give us the answers and they make us think on our own.”

Offered in partnership between Utah Humanities, the University of Utah, Westminster College, Salt Lake Community College, West High School and East High School, the Clemente Course is intellectually rigorous, focusing on significant multicultural works using primary documents, group discussion, writing and group projects as the basis for learning.

The goal of Clemente is to encourage students like Amina to apply for and succeed in college. West High students are also eligible to earn three college credits when they complete the more advanced Clemente 2 course.

“We want to provide equitable services and access to our students,” said Josie Wankier, head counselor at West High School. “This course provides opportunities for students to do concurrent enrollment and to know that college isn’t that scary after all.”

These are the very reasons Chelsea, a senior at West High School in her second year of the Clemente Course, joined the program. A competitive swimmer since the age of six, she has her sights set on a swimming scholarship and wants her college applications to stand out. She also appreciates that the majority of the course work occurs in the classroom.

Professor Brings College Education Off Campus

Thu, 06 Sep 2018 00:47:42 GMT

Original post - UMass/Dartmouth - Published by Office of Public Affairs.

Associate Professor Mark Santow teaches Clemente Course in the Humanities to economically disadvantaged residents of New Bedford and Providence.

For the past 15 years, Associate Professor Mark Santow (History) has seen the Clemente Course in the Humanities change lives. Starting in Spokane Washington before moving to the SouthCoast and working at UMass Dartmouth, Santow knew the power of the program that gives low-income adults the confidence and the skills they need to transform themselves.

“Clemente provides a supportive and inspiring bridge to college for low-income adults, and it does so through engagement with the humanities. Too often, it is assumed that the study of the humanities isn’t necessary or useful for the economically disadvantaged – but we must expand our definition of what is ‘useful,’” said Santow, who is the Academic Director of the New Bedford and Providence programs. “Recent studies make it very clear that the humanities provide a clear path to lifelong learning, critical thinking, and problem-solving. They also help people feel more connected to their history, their society, and their community.”

The Clemente Course in the Humanities, which was founded in 1996, was designed to give adult learners the opportunity to earn college credits outside of the traditional pathway. According to the Clemente Course website, the average age of a student is 39 and 74% of student households earn less than $30,000 a year. Classes are generally between 15-20 students, offer free on-site childcare, transportation, and school supplies, and are free of charge. This alleviates many of the barriers to educational access for adults.

The core curriculum of all Clemente Courses is Moral Philosophy, Literature, U.S. History, Art History, and Writing. Five years ago, New Bedford became the first Clemente Course in the country to include Public Speaking. Santow believes that another positive of the program is that it exposes students and their families to plays, poetry readings, art museums, lectures, and historical societies, as well as texts and works of art that can help improve their critical reading, writing and thinking skills, and to find meaning in their lives.

In New Bedford, UMass Dartmouth faculty teach all courses and the university awards credit. The New Bedford program, which will start its 14th year this September, is the oldest continuing Clemente Course in the state. “New Bedford benefits from Clemente not only because it increases educational attainment in the city, but also because students who complete the program have a positive impact on their relatives, neighbors, co-workers, and their children,” states Santow. “The typical New Bedford Clemente graduate is a single mom, and it is a powerful thing for their children to see her going to class, studying, and taking the life of the mind seriously.” Over 200 students have come through the New Bedford program. Most have earned college credits, taking them to BCC and UMass Dartmouth, as well as other institutions. Two recent graduates are now full-time scholarship students at UMD; one of them will soon become an English teacher.

In spring 2019, Santow will be running Providence’s first Clemente Course for veterans and their families through a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. This veteran-focused course will take into account the unique needs and experiences or veterans and prepare them for the workplace and further education opportunities.

The Clemente Course is funded by Mass Humanities, UMass Dartmouth, the Island Foundation, and PACE Inc.

Click here for more information on the upcoming Clemente Courses in New Bedford and Providence.

Clemente Course inspires underserved students to continue their education

Wed, 05 Sep 2018 17:08:04 GMT

Original Post : University of Utah | College of the Humanities

Utah Humanities partners with the University of Utah to bring the humanities to high school students

Waiting for the Late Bus, a Friendship Is Forged

Tue, 31 Jul 2018 17:13:48 GMT

Katly Toles and Lukiki Akola often had to wait around to take the last bus home after their Clemente Course at the Care Center in Holyoke, MA. The time that could have been drudgery instead nurtured a friendship that has the two women calling each other mother and daughter. Now the Clemente graduates will be supporting one another as they both continue toward a degree at the Bard Microcollege.

Very different journeys brought Katly and Lukiki to Clemente.

Katly was born in the U.S. but spent her younger years in Haiti. After finishing high school in Brooklyn, she took a few secretarial classes, but focused on working and raising her three children. She was at work as a security guard at the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, and the losses from that day are still very present for her.

School didn’t seem an option for Katly until her oldest son came home from buying his college textbooks and handed her a book bag, notebooks, and some pencils. “What are you trying to tell me?” she asked him.

“I don’t know, Mom,” he answered, “What do you think?”

“He knew it!” Lukiki chimes in, hearing the story. And he did—a year later Katly was enrolled in Clemente. A week after she completed the program, her son graduated with honors from Springfield Technical Community College.

Lukiki’s journey began in Central Africa. She was born in the Congo, but raised mostly in neighboring Zambia, sometimes in a refugee camp and sometimes at her grandmother’s. She came to the U.S. in 2015. English is her fifth of seven languages, and the idea of taking a class that focused on reading and writing intimidated her.

“I didn’t want to write anything,” she says, “and I didn’t want anyone to read anything I’d written.”

But with the encouragement of a mentor at the Care Center, she took a chance and applied to Clemente. “I was so excited when they accepted me,” she says. “You can have a plan inside you, but without someone to lead you to the destination, you cannot express it.”

The women, whose rapport and affection is apparent to anyone who meets them, admit that their time in Clemente wasn’t easy. Both considered quitting after facing the unfamiliar material and heavy reading. In fact, Katly jokes that she declared “I quit!” nearly every class, all the way up to graduation, when she was chosen class speaker.

The support of the faculty and staff—and each other—enabled them to continue on, not missing any sessions through the year. Waiting together for the bus, they would talk over class and try to work through difficult material together. And they would play with Lukiki’s two-year-old daughter, Emily, who adored Katly from the beginning. When they finished the program, Lukiki was given the Next Step award to continue school, and both were offered the opportunity to keep working toward a degree.

The Care Center, which focuses on bringing education and arts to young mothers, is entering its 20th year of offering a Clemente Course, making it the longest continuously running program in the country. In 2016 it became site of the first Bard Microcollege, a new model for bringing education to the community by offering college classes with a local partnering organization.

For students like Katly and Lukiki, it means they continue toward an associate’s degree with the kind of support they received as Clemente students. This summer they’ve been taking a seminar on the Odyssey titled “The Raveling” and both have fallen in love with the book.

They agree that their time in Clemente prepared them for their next steps.

“I’ve grown as a person with the Clemente program,” says Katly, who appreciated the diversity of the classroom in Holyoke. “Sitting down and being able to have a conversation with people of different nationalities and points of view broadened my perspective and mindset.”

And Lukiki, who feared putting pen to paper, says, “I love writing now! I used to feel the teachers were putting pressure on me, but now I know they were building me up. I have progressed from one step to the other.”

Katly and Lukiki plan to support each other toward their degrees, taking comfort in having a familiar face in the classroom—and on the bus.

“Helping her a lot of times means helping me, because it takes my attention off my fears. It keeps me going too,” Katly says. “She’s a beautiful person and I love her. And I love her daughter. She’s my granddaughter.”

When Art and Activism Collide

Thu, 14 Jun 2018 17:42:47 GMT

Co-authored by Clemente's own Vive Griffith .

Original post at Safe and Peaceful by Abe Louise Young and Vive Griffith.

Young people find voice, power and change.

The high school generation is galvanizing people worldwide to demand gun reform, and the mobilization of hundreds of thousands of protestors at the March For Our Lives this spring made their leadership clear.

Protesters with signs in Ferguson (Jamelle Bouie)

Now that the march is over, how can adults who came out for the march continue to support and help build youth power?

As arts educators, we offer one potential answer: To catalyze what's possible, adult writers and artists need to share their tools and platforms with youth.

In our combined 30 years of experience facilitating writing workshops with communities under pressure, we have seen that before people can take action, they must reimagine what's possible. A poem scribbled in a writing workshop becomes human rights testimony before the U.S. Senate. A monologue performed in a tiny community theater leads to a career in documentary film.

If we dedicate arts mentorship time to amplify youth voices, it will radically expand the perspectives heard in our democracy. Artistic practices plant the skills necessary for civic engagement, such as critical thinking, empathy, and using a public voice.

Some have argued Parkland, Florida, students offer prime examples of a creative education paying off. Their fairly wealthy school offered training in drama, creative writing and visual arts that prepared them for this moment by nurturing their courage and self-expression.

Likewise, teens in the Black Lives Matter movement , who have been calling for gun safety for a long time, offer examples of the value of arts—via community-based arts taught by grassroots groups. A recent Youth for Black Lives teach-in in Chicago offered workshops in photography, poetry-as-self-healing, and the study of educational inequity.

Parkland survivors and Youth for Black Lives met to join efforts. Parkland activist Emma Gonzalez wrote in Time, "[w]e stand in solidarity with those who have struggled before us, and we will fight alongside them moving forward to enact change and make life survivable for all young people."

March for Our Lives, March 2018, Chicago (Spirobolos)

So often the arts are treated as an unnecessary luxury in our education system, and few public schools offer Parkland's array of arts electives. Yet we can't wait for school funding trajectories to change before creative education is accessible. We have resources at hand: community spaces, artists and writers.

The co-founder of Youth for Black Lives, Eva Maria Lewis , 19, was nurtured and mentored through the poetry slams, art, dance. She performed at Chicago's famous Louder than A Bomb youth poetry festival as a teen, and launched " The I Project ," which uses art and activism to provide resources for an impoverished elementary school. She also writes for Teen Vogue .

Our intern, Lilli Hime, a 20-year-old poet at St. Edward's University, was nurtured by the Austin, Texas, poetry slam team and her writing professors. She then began hosting literary creative events on her campus, with themes like speaking out against sexual assault. Her desire to make safe space for the voices of others propelled her to found an organization called America I Will to support civic engagement and social justice work among students.

Where are the writers and artists who have time to mentor youth and lead workshops in communities? While many already work with youth (often for free) to contribute to social change, many more are needed. What if the nearly 4,000 people who graduate each year with a master's of fine arts degree in creative writing each reached out to one student? We could begin there.

Arts education alone can't counter all the forces working against our youth, but it can help advance a movement. And while offering opportunities to students, it will also change the adults who work with them. Because if we are committed to having a reciprocal relationship with young people, ready to honor, listen and truly hear, we will transform our own lives as well.

The epidemic of gun violence has brought people to the streets to demand change. It has also offered us powerful young activists like Eva Marie Lewis and Emma Gonzalez, whose powerful speech at the Washington march has gone viral.

Yet we know there are thousands more like Lewis and Gonzalez out there, smart and visionary youth who want to build a better world than the one they inherited. They deserve our support — at their marches and in the offices of our legislators. And also at their afterschool programs, open mics, community centers and face-to-face at a shared table.

For more information about free Clemente Courses in the Chicago area, look here .

Abe Louise Young is a poet and educator who leads story-based social change workshops for advocacy groups nationwide. Vivé Griffith , a Public Voices Fellow, is an essayist and former director of Free Minds, a program offering free college humanities classes to low-income adults.

This is a story about the Community Safety and Peace strategy of the Partnership for Safe and Peaceful Communities.

Meet Mark Santow

Wed, 09 May 2018 17:56:15 GMT

Academic Director in New Bedford, MA

If you’re looking for Dr. Mark Santow, try a classroom. As founding director of the Clemente Course in New Bedford, MA, and Chair of History at UMass-Dartmouth, he’s got plenty.

He added more in 2015 when he became a member of the Providence School Board, a position the city’s mayor has appointed him to for a second term. And now he’ll turn his attention to creating a new Clemente Veterans’ Initiative course in Providence, one of three funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities .

For Mark, his involvement in these varying educational opportunities makes perfect sense. “In my scholarly work and my university classes, I focus on the sources of inequality in modern American life—housing and education, especially. So part of why I’ve gotten involved in Clemente and in the Providence public schools is out of a sense of moral obligation,” he said. “It is one thing to teach and write about something, and about how it should change, and quite another to get inside the thing and attempt to steer it.”

He also sees that whether it's a third grader, college student, or returning adult, there are few things more empowering than a humanities education. He loves witnessing how his Clemente students make links between Frederick Douglass’ rendering of the experience of slavery, Plato’s Allegory of the Cave, and recent texts by Ta-Nehisi Coates.

Mark with students at the Shaw Memorial in Boston

It speaks to what the humanities always offer us: “To me, the study of the humanities—especially the way we do it in Clemente—pushes us to think through the connections between the personal and the universal, and between the individual and the political. In short, if explored in conversation with others, it enables us to cultivate practical wisdom, making us better people.”

Mark is excited to see this conversation continued among veterans in Providence. Thousands of veterans live in the area and struggle to access higher education and readjust to civilian life. In addition to serving the veterans themselves, he hopes that the course will become part of a broader discussion in the city about the costs and responsibilities we undertake as citizens when we send one another to war.

“After more than a decade of teaching in Clemente, I believe deeply in the power of the humanities to help us better understand ourselves, connect with one another, and explore the benefits and burdens of democratic citizenship,” he said. “The Clemente Veterans’ Initiative is needed here, and I can’t wait to see what blooms from this first seed.”

Mark with students at the Shaw Memorial in Boston

Meet George Williams

Wed, 09 May 2018 17:49:01 GMT

Graduate, Clemente Veterans' Initiative in Seattle

George Williams is on his way to becoming a psychiatric social worker. He hopes to work with veterans and addicts, people whose lives may not have been so different from his own. He credits his time in a Clemente Veterans’ Initiative class for preparing him to pursue his dream.

George served three tours in Iraq, spending 12 years in the Army before leaving in 2014. He considers his time in the military sometimes great, sometimes difficult, but always rich in connections to his fellow soldiers. “Those bonds will never be broken,” he said.

And it was the sense of connection that drew him to enroll in the Clemente Course in Seattle in 2017. He met Jeb Wyman, the program’s academic director, through another veteran and realized Clemente offered an environment where he’d feel comfortable as a nontraditional student.

“I wanted to be around other veterans because the transition out of the military is not easy,” he said. “When I got out I felt kind of lost, but reconnecting with other veterans and working on things that they were teaching us in Clemente helped us put our head together like when we were in the military.”

The class was a community, and the material, whether or not it connected directly to the military, always gave students an opportunity to think deeply about their lives. George says that in particular, the art history classes surprised them for how they opened up opportunities for self reflection. While learning how to interpret works of art like paintings by Rembrandt and Velazquez, the students were also learning how to think visually. In one exercise, they made masks.

Veterans made masks in the art history class

It was an an assignment with particular resonance to the veterans. George explained, “Sometimes we all have to put on a different face when we are confronted with traumatic or fearful things in life. But you learned it’s okay to wear a different face. You still remain who you are.”

Clemente helped him see beyond his own masks, and it’s also helped him share his story with other people. He speaks publically now, talking openly about his experiences with fellow psychology students at Seattle Central College and larger groups in the community. In many ways, it’s all part of his work helping people who have faced difficult times.

“If someone hears my story about war, about what I’ve gone through and how I’m embracing my past, it enables them to see a real person and not just someone from a film. I guess you can say that for a civilian struggling with life, it can help them to live.”

Veterans made masks in the art history class.

Turning to old texts – today Clemente students read ‘Julius Caesar’

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 18:01:03 GMT

Katie Kowalski
Port Townsend Leader , Mar 14, 2018

“I hate Shakespeare.”

It’s the line every teacher of the Bard has heard at least once, probably more.

Arendt Speser takes that comment as a personal challenge.

Speser is the academic director of the Jefferson Clemente Course in the Humanities, which offers free college-level courses to low-income adults.

This year, the class he is leading will be introduced to “Julius Caesar” through a public reading the class is presenting at The Boiler Room next week.

“I don’t expect everyone to love 'Caesar' by the end of our sessions, but I do hope to encourage a new enthusiasm for the old Bard,” Speser said.

The student readings take place from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., April 23 and 25 at The Boiler Room, 711 Water St.

TIMELY

Including a Shakespeare play in the Clemente Course is standard; the play can change from year to year.

“It can vary depending on the course theme and instructor preference,” said Speser.

This year, Speser chose “Julius Caesar” to tie into the Royal National Theatre of London performance of that play, which will be screened at The Rose Theatre April 21 and 29.

“I have no doubt in my mind they picked this play because of what it says to our current political climate.”

“‘Caesar,’” Speser said, taps into issues of power, corruption and the tension between tyranny and democracy. “In a more intimate way (it’s also about), what happens when conspiracy destroys relationships between friends and countrymen.”

One scene that will be acted out is a scene between Brutus and Portia.

That scene, Speser said, “speaks in shockingly contemporary tones about our current anxiety about gender and power.”

KNOWLEDGE IS KEY

Port Townsend’s Lisa Wentworth, who said she loves to learn just for the sake of learning, is one of the students participating in the class.

“If we don’t learn from our history, we are doomed to repeat it,” she said of the importance of turning back to older texts in modern times.

Turning to classic texts is fundamental to the Clemente Course.

“I highly recommend Clemente,” Wentwort said. “Knowledge is key, and it can open up a whole world for you.”

The community is invited to attend the public readings next week.

“Above all, the play speaks to the dangers of empire and the hazards of a blind patriotism,” said Speser. “It asks the fundamental political question: Is what is good for Rome good for Romans, and vice versa? We see a public trying to exert its political will, while also being manipulated by men in power.”

This, Speser added, is a relevant topic for today.

NEH Announces $96,000 Grant To The Clemente Course In The Humanities To Support Courses For Veterans In Three Locations

Fri, 13 Apr 2018 18:04:57 GMT

The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) today announced that the Clemente Course in the Humanities is among its 2018 grant recipients, awarded $96,000 to expand its work in the NEH Dialogues on the Experience of War initiative. Projects funded through NEH Dialogues on the Experience of War grants will support humanities-based programs for military veterans and their families.

This is the second consecutive NEH grant Clemente has received to support the Clemente Veterans Initiative (CVI), which was developed in 2014 to provide a meaningful intellectual community to veterans who are struggling to adapt to civilian life. CVI is based on the idea that guided discussion of humanities texts and images can provide veterans with an opportunity to reflect on their military experiences and support their transition to post-military life.

Dialogues will be held in the Spring of 2019 in:

Providence, RI, at the University of Rhode Island
Charleston, SC, at Trident Technical College
Boston, MA, at Codman Square Health Center

Each dialogue will enroll 15-20 students, the majority of whom will be veterans. Dialogues will meet twice a week for 12 weeks, using diverse texts and images to explore themes such as loyalty, moral injury and reconciliation. The course, including books, child care and transportation assistance, will be offered free of charge to participants. Transferable college credit will be available from Bard College.

“For more than 20 years, we have seen how the humanities helps marginalized people place their stories and life experiences into a broader examination of historical and moral questions,” said Lela Hilton, Clemente’s National Program Director. “In Clemente, we do this in small, classroom communities where conversations begin without judgment, and can then move toward understanding how our stories fit into the larger questions. What does it mean to live a good life, to be a citizen, to be human? We are thrilled to share this work with men and women whose lives have been so deeply impacted by serving in the military. It is a true honor.”

Founded in 1996, the Clemente Course in the Humanities is now offered in 30 sites in the US. It provides free, accredited college courses in the humanities to those facing economic hardship and adverse circumstances. Students are guided by highly experienced college faculty who, using the Socratic method, provide a rigorous education in literature, philosophy, American history, art history, and critical thinking and writing. Clemente was awarded the 2014 National Humanities Medal by President Obama.

For more information:
NEH Announcement
Dialogues on the Experience of War

Meet Kafi Dixon

Tue, 06 Mar 2018 19:11:47 GMT

Kafi Dixon is the founder of Seeds of Change, an organization that allows individuals to come together to purchase food items collectively from local farms and wholesale distributors. She is also featured in the documentary A Reckoning in Boston about the Boston Clemente Course.

I never went to high school. I was homeless; it was just too hard. When I was 16, I got pregnant and had my first daughter, and then when I was 19 I had my second daughter. Over the years I was ashamed because I didn’t have an education. I started several small businesses; a bedding shop, a farm stand, anything to get away without having to explain that I don’t have a GED. It was like this dirty little secret I was carrying around.

I really wanted to start a farm, but I needed a business plan to do that. I was paralyzed. I was unable to communicate my ideas for this business in writing. I’m more than capable of running a business, but I lacked confidence to write the plan, and I didn’t have networks of people I could turn to that had skills in writing, research or business planning.

That’s when I found Clemente. Clemente took my natural abilities and shined them so that others could see them. The professors and my fellow students also pushed me to recognize my own strengths.

Before Clemente, a simple question like “tell us about yourself” was enough to discourage me from completing an application or a business plan. I had gotten off of welfare; I had raised children who went to college. But I was ashamed of my story because I didn’t have an education.. Through Clemente I gained the skills I needed to write that business plan, and I was able to start The Women of Color Cooperative Farm in Boston. More importantly, I gained the confidence to interact with people across class and cultural lines.

Meet Arendt Speser

Wed, 07 Feb 2018 20:22:14 GMT

Academic Director, Clemente Course, Port Townsend, WA

There’s a new kid on the Clemente block. In 2017, Dr. Arendt Oak Speser joined the team as the new academic director of Jefferson Clemente. He’s the program’s second director, stepping into the role vacated by Clemente National Program Director Lela Hilton, who founded the Port Townsend, WA, program in 1999.

For Arendt, the decision to return to his hometown on the Olympic Peninsula to work with Clemente was obvious. “As someone who has dedicated his scholastic and professional life to the humanities, using a curriculum like this to address the cycle of poverty makes perfect sense to me,” he said. “I believe these works are relevant to people from all walks of life.”

Port Townsend is the most rural of Clemente programs, situated in a town of just 9,000 residents. Arendt understands the need to consider the specific nature of the place when designing the program. In fact, his familiarity with the community is one of the many strengths he brings to his new job.

“Arendt is uniquely prepared to guide Clemente here,” said Lela Hilton. “He has deep appreciation and affection for the place, but is clear-eyed about the fact that the remarkable natural and cultural resources we have here can very easily gloss over what is not only deep economic disparity, but also a profound insularity among and between people.”

Thus, Arendt sees his first task as opening doors. He takes inspiration from a surprising source: the years he spent running programs for the University of Washington in Rome, Italy. Like Clemente, those classes were interdisciplinary and provided a powerful educational experience for students.

“Working in Rome encouraged me to think about breaking down barriers, even in terms of classroom space,” he said. “I’d ask students to go out into the city, to visit a museum or find something to draw, and I’d see them come alive in a way that was directly related to their lived experience.”

That connection to lived experience is essential to the Clemente classroom as well. If the program is to serve the students and the community as it always has, participants must engage not just with the texts, but with their relevance to their lives today. “As much as possible I want students to see that the work they do academically is directly related to who they are and their choices in life,” he said. “In their encounters with the humanities, I want to ask, ‘How can you make them your own? How can you apply them to your life?’”

Jefferson Clemente alumni will have the chance to answer that question this spring, when Arendt leads a bridge course for them, with a complete faculty of five professors. He’s also offering a workshop on Homer’s Odyssey to community members, who can have their own encounters with the humanities through a groundbreaking new translation of the text.

American Family Insurance funds a counselor to work with Odyssey Project students

Tue, 23 Jan 2018 20:43:45 GMT

American Family Insurance funds a counselor to work with Odyssey Project students.

With a free humanities class, the University of Wisconsin–Madison Odyssey Project helps low-income adults overcome obstacles to higher education.

But sometimes those obstacles become overwhelming. Current Odyssey students might have trouble sticking with the class due to substance abuse, mental health issues, or eviction. Odyssey alumni might have trouble continuing their education due to job loss or immigration issues.

To help participants solve such problems, the Odyssey Project has hired a new counselor with seed money from American Family Insurance Dreams Foundation. Emily Vander Velden will draw on her experience as a case manager and psychotherapist to ensure that Odyssey students and alumni have every chance of improving their lives.

“Over the Odyssey Project’s 15-year history, we have helped more than 400 adults pursue their dreams of higher education and meaningful lives,” said director Emily Auerbach. “With the generous support of American Family Insurance, our new counselor will provide additional resources for breaking the generational cycle of poverty.”

Every year since 2003, 30 adults have taken the two-semester Odyssey humanities course, earning six credits in English from UW–Madison. Odyssey provides textbooks, childcare, and a dinner at each Wednesday evening session. In recent years the program has launched Odyssey Junior, a weekly class for students’ children and grandchildren; and Onward Odyssey, which supports alumni on their educational and career paths. A recent survey found that the program’s graduates are more likely to read, vote, go to college, and feel hopeful about the future.

In her new position, Vander Velden will provide even more hope. She will counsel students and alumni in distress, connecting them with campus and community resources. Partnering with an academic counselor at UW–Madison Continuing Studies, she will also help them map out goals.

“We will look at where they want to go and start removing the obstacles in their way,” said Vander Velden. “That will involve addressing such issues as housing, transportation, and employment. I plan to focus on developing a safe and accessible place for Odyssey students to overcome personal challenges, and also to forge strong connections with local social service providers.”

American Family Insurance invested in the Odyssey Project with the intention of making a difference in the Madison community.

“Anytime a program can help more people gain the knowledge and experiences needed to fully engage with life and with the community, we’re all better as a result,” says Judd Schemmel, American Family’s community investment director. “The Odyssey Project makes a real impact on the lives of students of all ages, meeting them where they are in life. The chance to have a counselor with them in this journey may be the influence that removes a barrier and keeps them going.”

Auerbach points to Keena Atkinson as an example of an Odyssey student whose journey could have been easier with a counselor’s assistance. After graduating from Odyssey in 2010, Atkinson continued her education at Madison College and UW–Madison but still ate at the Salvation Army with her son. Then she had a second child and struggled with childcare costs.

Vander Velden will ensure that more Odyssey students weather such crises as well as Atkinson did. She persevered to earn a degree from UW–Madison and landed a management position with a major national company.

“I’ve been homeless, jobless, and depressed,” Atkinson noted, “yet…being in the Odyssey Project has shown me that I am somebody and I too can make it.”

For more information about the UW Odyssey Project or to donate, see here or contact Emily Auerbach, 608-262-3733, emily.auerbach@wisc.edu

Professor John Macready is interviewed about Free Minds Dallas

Sun, 08 Oct 2017 19:50:31 GMT

Dr. John Macready LIVE on The Jeff Crilley Show

Watch the recording of the October 4th live interview with Dr. John Macready on The Jeff Crilley Show where he discusses Free Minds Dallas.

Meet Jewel Walcott

Wed, 04 Oct 2017 19:57:19 GMT

2016 Clemente Course Graduate from Kingston, NY

These days, Jewel finds herself creating learning opportunities for others as well. Last year after attending a screening of the film Selma with kids from her church youth group, she asked them what their generation’s cause was. They didn’t know. Jewel believes so strongly that young people should be using their voices that she and her business partner organized a Rock the Vote event.

Held at the Culinary Institute of America in nearby Hyde Park, NY, with speakers from the Democrat and Republican parties, as well as a keynote from County Executive Marcus Molinaro, the event drew young people from all over the area. Forty people registered to vote that night, in time for the 2016 presidential election.

“Clemente definitely encouraged us to be civically engaged, to take information and apply it to make an impact,” she says. “It encouraged me to continue doing that work."

For Jewel, this means supporting young people in building good lives. She recognized that there wasn’t much workforce training available locally for those who didn’t go to college. Since she and her partner in an event planning business, Blueprint Consulting, have lots of experience in the hospitality industry, they decided to change that. They piloted a 10-week training covering topics like food handling, customer service, resume writing, and even a pop-up café. The program is licensed through the New York Labor Department and is set to run its second class in the spring.

Those who knew Jewel as a young person wouldn’t be surprised to hear she’s making such a difference in her community. She graduated third in her high school class, was in the National Honor Society, and began college at Temple University in Philadelphia in 2000. But she lacked the funding and support to graduate. She actually spent her first semester without money for books, somehow eking by without them. After two years at Temple, she withdrew.

“Everyone I knew expected me to graduate college and do great things, so I felt like a failure and was very disappointed in myself,” she says. “Clemente restored my faith in my ability to learn. It was my second chance to prove something to myself.”

In addition to her community involvement, Jewel works in the Bard College Development Office, where she handles all receipts, writes gift acknowledgement letters, and assists the Director of Parent Programs Director. She got the job after graduating from Clemente when she spotted two women with Bard badges at an event and introduced herself. “I mentioned that I was a proud Clementine,” she said, referring to the nickname many Clemente students and faculty use. “One woman said they had some openings. I looked into it and felt that Bard was the right fit.”

At Bard and in the community, Jewel demonstrates her commitment to learning and creating opportunities for others. Marina van Zuylen, Jewel’s professor and Academic Director of the Bard Clemente Course says, “To me, Jewel embodies the Clemente philosophy: every human being should be allowed a way out of his or her inner and outer constraints, and what better than the humanities to jump start this process?”

Meet Rosa Garza-Mourino

Tue, 03 Oct 2017 20:01:51 GMT

Professor in Bridge, Antioch University Los Angeles

Anyone who wonders how the experience of studying the humanities translates to the real world should talk to Rosa Garza-Mourino.

A longtime faculty member in Antioch's Clemente-inspired program, Bridge , in 2011 Rosa created Bridge Service Learning (BSL).

This optional class for Bridge students gets them out of the classroom and into the neighborhoods of one of the country’s largest cities. Part service learning, part ethnographic fieldwork training, BSL offers students the opportunity to design and implement community building projects while reflecting on the humanities.

“In BSL we ask critical questions about how to engage in the community,” Rosa says. “What does it mean to be inside? To be outside? How can we respectfully and ethically approach a community that is not necessarily our own and learn from them? How and why do we serve others? ”

BSL students meet for two hours on Saturday mornings in addition to their twice-weekly Bridge classes and have the opportunity to earn additional college credit for the experience. The class meets in the streets of Little Tokyo and in South Los Angeles.

With the collaboration of undergraduate teaching assistants, Rosa teaches students how to approach a community in three key ways. First, they enter as an observer. In fact, Rosa tells them to take the stance of the flaneur, the French figure associated with strolling in urban environments, halfway engaged and halfway detached. To do so, they have to shed their preconceptions, and even their digital devices.

“The flaneur doesn’t need a phone,” Rosa tells her students. “Turn it off. Instead of a phone I’ll give you the tool of the flaneur—a clipboard—and teach you how to use it in a respectful way.”

While observing the community, students are also making connections to the humanities and recording these in writing. Little Tokyo is filled with public art. Always striking to students is a traditional Ninomiya Kinjiro sculpture depicting a peasant philosopher who reads a book while carrying a load of wood on his back. When students encounter the sculpture they immediately make a connection between the scholar and the worker, saying, “That’s me!”

In the next phase, students step into Central Avenue in South LA, a neighborhood with a rich history of African American creativity and resilience. Unlike the Little Tokyo streets, Central Avenue has no commissioned public art nor plaques that acknowledge its history. In order to learn from this community, students have to observe and analyze information produced by organized community members about their priorities. Finally, students identify realistic tools they can offer. Over the years students have provided a day of service for the local recreation center, or designed community resource fairs hosted by local organizations. The entire process is collaborative, and throughout students are writing, reflecting, and connecting the humanities conversations of their classrooms to the process.

“In BSL we are flipping the narrative,” Rosa says. “Traditionally the demographic we work with in Bridge would be considered recipients or targets of service. Here they are becoming the providers of service. This is essential to the framework of the class. Students can eventually replicate these anywhere they choose to after graduation.”

While the class is optional, students who participate in BSL are more likely to complete the regular Bridge class. They build strong partnerships in the community, and the class requires them to step up as leaders. In fact, Rosa believes that while the non-classroom setting of the course may tempt the teacher into controlling everything top down, her real job is to get out of the way.

“There is a crucial moment in the learning process when I actively start stepping back as a teacher and make students realize they are already leading the process,” she says. “They take ownership of the idea they are standing for. They now know the humanities are portable. “

Halifax Humanities Interviews by Student Filmmaker

Mon, 31 Jul 2017 20:09:37 GMT

Congratulations to Halifax Humanities

Kings College student and filmmaker, Rachel O’Brien, interviewed and filmed Halifax Humanities students and teachers for this short film .

The Halifax Humanities 101 Program offers free liberal arts education at a university level to adults living on low incomes. The course follows a challenging curriculum of literature and philosophy taught entirely by professors from eight different Nova Scotia Universities.

Meet Jean Cheney

Thu, 29 Jun 2017 20:55:21 GMT

MEET JEAN CHENEY
Founder, Venture Course in the Humanities in Utah

Twelve years after founding Venture, a Clemente-inspired course in Utah, Dr. Jean Cheney is more convinced than ever of the value of humanities education.

“It opens people up to new ways of thinking about themselves and their world. And it empowers them to make changes they want to make going forward,” she says. “I am a believer because of what I have witnessed.”

When she joined Utah Humanities in 1997 after a career as a freelance writer and English teacher in high schools and colleges, creating a college humanities class for low-income adults was not on her mind. But after hearing Clemente founder Earl Shorris speak a year later, the wheels got turning. In fact, Jean says she had “a sort of epiphany.”

“Imagining the people in Earl’s Clemente classroom opened my eyes to a reality that should have been obvious: all people deserve a good humanities education, are richer for it. And some people may even be saved by it,” she says. “I don’t apologize for that language. Since being directly involved in this education since 2005, I have seen many, many people turn their lives completely around because of this one course.”

It took several years and a generous donor for Venture to be created, but it’s been growing under Jean’s direction since. In addition to the original course in Salt Lake City, there are courses in Cedar City and Ogden. A Clemente-inspired high school course in Salt Lake City is wrapping up its fourth year, and there are plans to create a course in Ephraim, a farming community in Central Utah.

The story of Venture is captured in Hope, Heart, and the Humanities, a book Jean edited and co-wrote with other faculty, published by The University of Utah Press in 2016. It is a book from the trenches that tells the story of how one community adapted the Clemente model and the inspiring ways students have used the experience to shape new lives. Jean hopes the book will be one of many tools to help people start more Clemente Courses.

In May Jean retired from Utah Humanities after 20 years. She was honored with a Distinguished Service Award from the Utah Academy of Arts and Letters for her work with Venture. The award is “given to an academic professional for exceptional services to the higher education community in Utah.” While she plans to work on a book project and spend more time with her four grandchildren, don’t expect her to drift far. Next spring she’ll teach English in the Clemente High School in Salt Lake City, and Hope, Heart, and the Humanities will continue to bring the story of Venture to new readers.

That’s exactly as Jean would hope. “I have been pleased by the positive reception to the book. Through the students’ stories, readers come to understand that the humanities really do touch our hearts and heads and are essential to both,” she says. “People realize that studying the humanities isn’t just for the elites. It’s education that could and should be available to everyone.”

Learning to question, the Socratic way

Thu, 29 Jun 2017 20:45:45 GMT

Graduates: Humanities courses equip students with skills for any profession

by Katie Kowalski as published at PTLeader.com

Studying the humanities instilled in Justin Lake a deep sense of self and place in the world. He came to see himself as someone who could take part in society, make changes and have a voice.

“I felt like a more responsible citizen,” he said.

Lake is a 36-year-old single father and a graduate of the Jefferson Clemente Course, a branch of the Clemente Course in the Humanities that offers college courses to low-income individuals. He’s a naturalist who teaches all over Jefferson County, and he’s now working on getting a teacher’s certificate.

Erik Montoya, age 37, also is a single father who benefited from the free classes in the humanities.

“I know it sounds corny, but it really was a life-changing experience for me,” said Montoya, who is working to get a bachelor’s degree so he can teach history.

Their stories are not uncommon for Clemente students, said Lela Hilton, a national director who founded the Jefferson County branch of Clemente.

“They get that fire from education, and figure out what to do,” she said. “I think that all of our students see that liberal arts and the humanities are incredibly practical.”

Clemente offers its courses free of charge to qualifying individuals, and this Friday, June 23, is hosting NPR’s “Says You!” team to help benefit the program.

ERIK MONTOYA

Montoya has been living in the Pacific Northwest for most of his adult life. “I consider this my home, and I love it here,” he said.

He dropped out of high school in Oregon after his first year, but it wasn’t for a lack of loving to learn, he said.

Montoya had grown up reading – fantasy, science fiction and Shakespeare. “I was always really into Shakespeare,” he said. In his freshman year, his English teachers asked him to help tutor other students.

But unhappiness with high school culture coupled with family issues such as poverty and moving around for reasons he can’t even remember – it’s a family joke that there was “too much Gypsy” on his mother’s side – brought Montoya out of high school and into working full-time.

Eventually, he came to the Olympic Peninsula.

While working at Peninsula Video in Port Hadlock, he met Hilton, who frequented the shop.

He would give her suggestions on movies to watch.

“He sort of was my go-to person,” said Hilton. “He'd suggest things outside my box.” She notes “Latcho Drom” and “Waiting for Guffman” – “very quirky, wonderful, good stuff.”

Hilton told Montoya about the course for low-income people, and encouraged him to join. “[It] sounded pretty amazing,” Montoya said.

He wasn’t able to join right away, but eventually did.

A CRITICAL THINKER

More than just showing him he could do college-level work – prior to that, he had never felt he was very educated – Clemente helped Montoya become a critical thinker, and a more well-rounded person, he said. And it propelled him to pursue more education.

Montoya was struck by the setup of the classroom alone, with students sitting in a semicircle rather than in rows. “You didn't feel so much like a student as you felt like a participant.” And, there was free food. “You could go in there and you could have something to eat.”

At every meeting, they discussed what they had read in a question-based, Socratic learning style.

One week it might be poetry, another week art history or literature.

“You could give your opinion, and what [the readings] meant to you and what you thought about it,” Montoya said. “It was very intellectually stimulating.”

The classes introduced him to works he’d previously never heard of.

One piece that was particularly eye-opening was Thomas Jefferson’s “Notes on the State of Virginia.”

“It was shocking,” said Montoya of Jefferson’s piece and its “vicious” statements about slaves. “It really challenged my world view of what I thought the Founding Fathers of the country were.” Some of his classmates, he said, were at first unwilling to believe the writing was real.

Another work that affected him was the Hindu scripture the “Bhagavad Gita.”

“I've never read anything like that,” he said. “I bought the whole epic – the ‘Mahabharata’ – it really became something of a personal interest to me after reading it.

A HISTORY NERD

Since graduating from the course, Montoya has earned his GED and associate's degree, and is now working on getting a teaching certificate through an online bachelor's degree program, which he plans to complete in the next two or three years.

“He’s still pushing away to make this happen – it’s quite phenomenal,” said Hilton of what Montoya has been able to accomplish.

He’s also a caregiver for his mom, has three kids, and tutors Spanish, English and history at Peninsula College.

“I’m a super history nerd,” he said. “Eventually my goal is to get a Ph.D. in history so that I can teach at a college level.”

JUSTIN LAKE

Lake is originally from eastern Michigan, where he grew up camping and fishing. A negative experience in the public school system compelled him to drop out and get his GED instead, and take off on his own – wandering and hitchhiking across the country. He explored everywhere from New Orleans to Nova Scotia, he said, and ended up coming to the Northwest for an Outward Bound course in longboat sailing and mountaineering.

Eventually, he ended up on the Olympic Peninsula.

While living in a little cabin in the woods and working at Red Dog Farm, he heard from Hilton about the free classes offered through the Clemente Course.

“I had always wanted to have that college experience,” said Lake, “but I never felt it was something that I could afford,” he said.

A self-described critical thinker, Lake said he has always been driven to learn about ideas and study on his own. He’s explored, in particular, Chinese philosophy and Taoism, he said.

“But I had never studied the humanities before.”

A NEW PERSPECTIVE

The Clemente Course empowered him to continue his education, and it helped him learn to view himself as someone who could instill change.

“I learned a lot from studying history,” he said, specifically noting American history.

“I saw more of why things are the way they are today, and where my place is in it all,” he said.

Lake also was fascinated with art history, and gained new perspectives from reading about different cultures.

In particular, Clemente’s application of the Socratic method – a process of learning that he found engaging – instilled in him a vastly different idea of what education could be like.

“It gave me a new perspective on teaching,” he said.

And teaching others is now what Lake does.

Inclined to live a life that emphasized understanding natural history and gaining survival skills, Lake had always thought he’d spend his life in the forest. “I had no interest in being part of society."

A TEACHER

Taking part in Clemente, coming to understand himself as a responsible citizen and gaining a new appreciation for education made him realize he could teach those wilderness skills he’d gained through experience.

After Clemente, he went to CedarRoot School, Wilderness Awareness School and elsewhere to learn more about teaching those topics, and from there started working in private schools. Since then, he’s come to work for a multitude of different organizations in Jefferson County – places like the Washington State University Extension, 4-H, YMCA, Quilcene Public School’s outdoor education program, the Community Boat Project, CedarRoot and also at the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi – of which his daughter is a member – in southwest Michigan.

“Kind of all over the place,” he said.

“I feel really passionate about teaching and learning and sharing what I have to offer with youth,” he said.

And he found that Socratic questioning style he’d learned at Clemente to be useful as a way to guide students to discover what they are most passionate about.

“The questioning process is great for drawing out their interests,” Lake said.

“I've seen him really take that sense of being inquiring and going in the direction he wanted to go, but with a lot more depth and direction than he had before,” said Hilton.

Now, he’s looking into getting a teacher’s certificate from a state program. That certificate would mean salaried jobs, and not having to work so many jobs to make ends meet. “That’s the next step,” he said.

THOUGHTS ON THE HUMANITIES

“No matter what someone decides to do in their life” – be it a dentist or a doctor or a police officer, Montoya said – “the humanities will make them a more well-rounded person.”

By teaching critical thinking, studying the humanities can rid the “cognitive dissonance that people walk around with in the modern-day world,” he said.

“The aim of the Clemente Course is to make people feel a sense of self-worth and dignity, and they do an excellent job,” said Lake.

The Clemente Course in the Humanities in 2014 received the National Humanities Medal, presented by President Obama, and the local branch was awarded the Humanities Washington Award in 2007.

Clemente provides free, accredited college courses in the humanities to those marginalized by economic hardship and adverse circumstances. To learn more, visit jeffersonclemente.wordpress.com and clementecourse.org .

NPR show tapes live in Chimacum

Thu, 29 Jun 2017 20:32:39 GMT

by Kirk Boxleitner as published at PTLeader.com

Photo by Chris Tucker

National Public Radio fans got to watch one of the network’s most popular word-game shows, “Says You,” being recording live at the Chimacum High School auditorium June 23.

Not only did the taping feature a trio of locals as panelists, but its ticket sales also went to benefit the Jefferson Clemente Course, the regional college branch of the Clemente Course for the Humanities, a national outreach program providing free, accredited college coursework in the humanities to students who have been marginalized by hardship and adverse circumstances.

Port Townsend’s Lela Hilton serves as the national program director of the Clemente Course, and was one of the three panelists from the area to join “Says You” regulars Carolyn Faye Fox, Murray Horowitz, Barry Nolan and Greg Porter for an hour of bluffing, brain teasers, anagrams and trivia.

This year marked Hilton’s second stint on the show, which she last recalled taking part in on June 23, 2013, exactly four years ago.

‘NOT FOSSILIZED’

“It’s really, really fun and very relaxed,” Hilton said at the cast party for the show, which was held at Finnriver Farm just prior to its taping. “Everyone involved is professional, and it doesn’t feel so much like a competition.”

Hilton sees “Says You” as an especially effective means of raising awareness about the humanities.

“It gets people engaged with the humanities by showing that literature and philosophy have practical applications,” Hilton said. “They’re not fossilized, but playful and creative.”

Indeed, aside from the microphones, Hilton deemed the “Says You” taping experience less like a game show and more like “bantering around a campfire with your friends.”

Patti Miles, co-artistic director of the Paradise Theatre School in Chimacum, has put her improvisational performance skills to the test on the “Says You” panel three times.

“It’s always exciting to see what happens, and you have to be sharp,” Miles said. “My favorite part of the experience is the people you get to work with. They’re so expansively intelligent and generous.”

Miles sees “Says You” as a novel means for audiences of all ages to broaden their base of knowledge, and agreed with fellow local panelist Brion Toss that East Jefferson County qualifies as “NPR Country.”

“You’ve got a lot of book-readers here,” Miles said. “We have curious people who want to learn.”

Rigger, author, and regular contributor of trivia and questions to the show, Toss suspects that local folks are more likely to pay for what they listen to, whether it’s podcasts or public radio.

“I can honestly say this is a culture unlike anywhere else I’ve been,” Toss said. “I was in Anaheim recently, at Disneyland. If you compare there to here, one is a place of childlike wonder, and the other is an amusement park,” he said sarcastically.

As he steeled himself for his second appearance on “Says You,” Toss deemed it “the hardest work I’ve ever done, and I’ve ridden a unicycle. These people do this for a living, and they make it look so easy.”

Toss applauded the show for supporting Clemente College, and praised Hilton for her work on behalf of the program.

“You cannot fulfill your full potential unless you learn, listen and communicate,” Toss said. “That’s why I’m doing this again.”

‘RECREATIONAL THINKING’

Fox and Horwitz echoed the assessment that Clemente College “echoes our values as a show” by championing the concept of “recreational thinking,” and even singled out Hilton for her energy and organization skills.

“It takes a lot to get us out here,” Horwitz said. “But we’ve probably been to the Puget Sound region more than any other place outside of Boston.”

Horwitz acknowledged that a familial sense of connection and community is not uncommon between media and their audiences, which he and Fox are reminded of when they get out of the studio.

“Radio often feels like putting messages in bottles that you hope will wash up on shore,” Horwitz said.

“At the same time, it’s very intimate,” Fox said. “Often, when people are listening, they’re alone, so they can feel like we’re speaking just to them.”

The two rushed to reassure their fans that they neither rehearse nor receive any of the answers prior to the show, while taking time to compliment the fans currently receiving them.

“I like the people here,” Fox said. “I love coming back here.”

“I’ve lived a lot of places that are not as exotic as this,” Horwitz said. “People pay a lot to live in places like this.”

Meet Irene Salas

Wed, 28 Jun 2017 20:59:04 GMT

MEET IRENE SALAS
2014 Graduate of Free Minds in Austin, Texas

On the last night of class this year in Free Minds, Irene Salas addressed the students she had mentored since August. “Thank you for your courage,” she told them. “Thank you for your persistence. And most of all, thank you for bringing your voices – your individual voices – to the room. I love to hear all of y’all because it makes the world a lot bigger.”

“I told him it was too good to be true. Who’s going to pay your tuition, pay your books, watch your kids, and feed you? C’mon.”

Even so, she applied to the program. Her previous work in the health and human services area of the county had taught her that if she wanted to change things “on a grand scale” she needed an education. When she determined that Free Minds was indeed for real, she signed on. After graduating in 2014, she was hired as the program’s first classroom assistant. She attends class each night and serves as a role model, cheerleader, and mentor to students. Seeing a peer who had dealt with difficult circumstances can make the difference for a student. “I tell them I did it, and you can too. And I mean it. I was in the same boat. I had barriers, I had problems come up in my life. But the further you get, the more successful you’re going to be with those problems.”

Irene admits she almost didn’t finish the program after encountering a family crisis. She was ready to give up when a Free Minds professor talked to her as they walked to their cars after class. He offered empathy and helped her realize that quitting was the easier route, but not the best one. Since then, Irene has been a model of dedication.

She has attended classes at Austin Community College each semester, working toward a degree in liberal arts that she plans to further with bachelor and master’s degrees. This fall she was inducted into the local chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, the national honor society, in recognition of her academic achievement.

It’s clear that what happens in a Clemente Course impacts not just the individual student but the world around them, and Irene is the perfect example of that. Her success ripples outward. Her presence in the Free Minds classroom helps others move toward their goals. And in June 2016 her husband Benny started taking college classes, earning As just like his wife. Their two children are awestruck at how hard their parents are working. And Irene knows their worlds are growing bigger as a result.

“They are both seeing that education helps you to be the kind of person you always wanted to be,” Irene says. “I’m glad they are getting to see us do it. In turn they are going to be much better versions of themselves a lot earlier than Benny and I are getting to be. If they thought we were good before, imagine how much better we are going to be in the next few years.”

"A Prescription for College Humanities Under the Roof of a Boston Health Center"

Mon, 19 Jun 2017 21:08:59 GMT

Excerpt from The Washington Post

A Community Health Center may seem like an unlikely place to learn about the arts and humanities, but really, when you think about it, the notion is not so implausible. At Codman Square Health Center, located in the working class neighborhood of Dorchester in Boston, the focus is always on the whole health of a patient.

To that end, if a health center patient requires a prescription for intellectual sustenance, Codman Square helps fill that need with a twice weekly course on humanities and art. The course, called the Clemente Course, is one of 31 given around the country (and one of five in Massachusetts). It offers a cultural dive into the great books and ideas of world history — Socrates, Shakespeare, Aristotle, Plato, Homer and writers such as Langston Hughes and Zora Neale Hurston. Students are also exposed to a wide-ranging swath of art history, from Mesopotamia to Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol. There are classes in moral philosophy, literature, American history, art history and writing. The students meet for two semesters. To be eligible for admission a student cannot have graduated from college and must live in a household getting by on less than what is considered a living wage in Boston (about $13.42 an hour for one person). The classes are free. Once the course is complete each student receives six credits from Bard College in New York State that can be transferred to another learning institution.

The concept of bringing college level education to low income populations started with Earl Shorris, a social critic and the founder of the Clemente Course. He said the idea started as a result of conversations he had while researching why the underserved have trouble moving up the economic ladder. In one of his interviews, he met a woman named Viniece Walker who said that the underserved lacked “the moral life of downtown.” Earl understood her to mean that they lacked a humanities education (the museums, lecture halls and libraries of downtown) and he decided to replicate his University of Chicago Great Books program for low-income, adult students. The first course was taught at the Roberto Clemente Family Guidance Center in Lower Manhattan in 1995 and took its name from that community partner. Kristin O’Connell, then Associate Director of MassHumanities, brought the idea to Massachusetts, first to Holyoke in 2000 and Dorchester in 2001. The Clemente Course operates as a partnership between MassHumanities, Bard College, and Codman Square Health Center.

“Codman has always demonstrated a deep commitment to education, as health care alone cannot move an individual beyond the often constraining social determinants of health our patients face. The Clemente Course gives individuals in our community an opportunity to reflect on great works of literature, arts, and philosophy – empowering them to think beyond their circumstances,” says Sandra Cotterell, CEO, Codman Square Health Center. “Though sometimes difficult to quantify, programs like Clemente give individuals their first taste of higher education and can serve as the first step in a more engaged and educated life. The Clemente Course has changed our community for the better over the past 16 years.”

Even though the attrition rate can be as high as 50 percent at times, a study requested by the funders found that two-thirds of the Massachusetts graduates had taken college classes. Many students also reported volunteering for political campaigns for the first time, and being more engaged in public affairs.

“Clemente is about reflecting on major moral and human issues and setting standards and goals for yourself” says Jack Cheng, PhD, founding and current Clemente faculty member. For many of our students, life is a series of reactions to financial, familial or medical emergencies and it’s helpful for them to have had time to think about the principles they want to guide their choices.”

Read more about Codman Square Health Center’s Clemente Course in this article published in The Washington Post .

Original article.

Washington Post Features Clemente

Fri, 09 Jun 2017 21:20:10 GMT

Excerpt from David Montgomery, "Trump wants to kill federal arts funding. What difference would that make?" The Washington Post

Photograph by Bruce DeBoer for Washington Post

The wind is up in Wilson, N.C. Giant pinwheels and propellers start spinning atop tall and spindly kinetic sculptures called whirligigs, which have been erected on a village green being developed into Whirligig Park. The rotating wheels drive chains, belts and shafts that, in turn, set in motion whimsical characters and shapes. Little bicycle riders and unicyclists pedal and wave, helicopters hover, birds flap their wings, fighter planes change course.

The fantastic contraptions have been fashioned from the discard pile of American civilization. A freshly painted blue fan, 19 feet in diameter, spins majestically thanks to the graceful repurposing of the rear axle of a truck, while another big pinwheel is adorned with 96 shiny metal milkshake cups. Vollis Simpson, the junkyard artist who built these figures, worked from a palette that also included ...

scrap metal, bicycle wheels, attic ventilators, hubcaps, brake disks, side-view mirrors, light fixtures and highway signs. His day job was moving houses and hauling heavy machinery. He never threw away anything because, as he used to say, “Next week you’ll need it.”

Long before the National Endowment for the Arts, or anybody else, thought his “windmills,” as he called them, were fit for a city park, he erected them on his family’s land out in the country. The effect was so surreal that the grove became a destination that teenage joyriders dubbed Acid Park.

“Back when I started this mess you never heard of this word ‘art,’ ” Simpson, who died in 2013 at 94, once said. “I’m just an old country boy.” So he was stunned, and a bit tickled, when his whirligigs were called upon to help save Wilson’s ailing downtown.

Much as a whirligig is a meditation on cause and effect, on the way consequence builds upon consequence, Whirligig Park fits within a larger web of chain reactions rippling through the nation. As the Trump administration proposes next fiscal year to eliminate four pots of federal funding for culture — the National Endowment for the Arts ($148 million last year), the National Endowment for the Humanities ($148 million), the Corporation for Public Broadcasting ($445 million) and the Institute of Museum and Library Services ($230 million) — communities across the country are left to ponder what difference that would make.

The total money at stake at the four agencies — about $970 million — is a drop in the $3.9 trillion federal budget. That’s a data point that can be argued both ways: Arts advocates say the cuts would scarcely reduce the deficit but would cripple the nation’s cultural life. Budget hawks say the multibillion-dollar culture industry is so well-endowed by philanthropic elites that the comparatively minuscule federal contribution would not be missed.

After President Trump released his “Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again” in March, the response was studded with dire assertions from defenders of the agencies. Meanwhile, some old Washington hands noted that past threats to hobble these agencies have always failed. (Trump’s detailed budget proposal for fiscal 2018, released in May, would give the four agencies a total of $124 million to fund an orderly shutdown.) What was lacking in the discussion, it seemed to me, was a closer look at how these federal dollars reverberate in the lives of communities and individuals — if they do at all.

...

"What do you see here?" asks the Harvard historian, moonlighting in a basement classroom of the Codman Square Health Center, in a working-class section of Boston's Dorchester neighborhood. He keeps asking simple questions like that, which make the answers seem not so obvious, which reminds the students — nearly all middle-aged black women — of Socrates, whom they read last semester. They are looking at photographs taken by the crusading journalist Jacob Riis more than a century ago, pictures of immigrants crammed into tenements in Lower Manhattan.

“Why do you think Riis took this photograph?” Timothy Patrick McCarthy, the professor, continues, selecting another image.

The students inventory what they see: a seated woman holding a swaddled child on her lap, her eyes cast upward. Beside her is a ladder, and she’s surrounded by buckets, barrels, bundles, a man’s hat on the wall.

“It looks like slavery,” says a student.

“He’s certainly relating this to that,” McCarthy says, then adds: “Those of you who are religious, have you ever seen an image like this?”

“Madonna and child?” asks student Phyllis James.

“Madonna and child!” says McCarthy.

An image of Michelangelo’s “Pieta” flashes on the screen.

“This could easily be read as a sacred representation, where the hat is not literally a man, or a man’s hat; it’s God,” McCarthy continues. “It’s the thing that’s unseen. He captures her looking up, directly at what looks like the hat. Could she be praying? Is this a ladder to heaven? Is this upward mobility in terms of class? ... She isn’t just an immigrant woman with a baby. She also represents something.”

He proceeds to his larger point: “That’s what we do, that’s what this course is about, when we’re thinking about language. Things operate in both the literal and the metaphorical.”

With that McCarthy has handed over another of what his co-professor Jack Cheng calls “the keys to the culture” to people who never had access to the full set that comes with a good college education. In a STEM-obsessed society, the Clemente Course in the Humanities, as these sessions are known, takes an unabashed Great Books approach to education. They were devised two decades ago by the late social critic Earl Shorris, whose central insight was that what keeps the underclass down is being forced to focus so much on the daily struggle that there’s no room for civic engagement. The way to make room, said Shorris, is instruction in the humanities.

Now there are 31 Clemente Courses given around the country. The free Dorchester course, one of five in Massachusetts, receives about $50,000, or half its annual cost including in-kind services, from Mass Humanities. The state humanities council, in turn, gets half its funding from the National Endowment for the Humanities. “Without the NEH money, we could not continue all of them,” says David Tebaldi, executive director of Mass Humanities. “There’s nothing that we do that has the profound impact on individuals that the Clemente Course does.”

Among the requirements for admission, the students cannot have graduated from college and must come from households getting by on less than what is considered a living wage in the Boston area, or about $13.42 an hour for a single person. In two semesters, meeting twice a week, they take classes in moral philosophy, literature, American history, art history and writing.

They read Plato, Aristotle, Kant and Nietzsche; Homer, Dante, Shakespeare, Virginia Woolf, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Junot Diaz; they survey art from Mesopotamia through Picasso, Pollock and Warhol. The work is demanding, and dropout rates can be as high as 50 percent, but those who graduate receive six credits from Bard College in New York state that can be transferred to other institutions. A consultant’s study requested by private funders and paid for with a foundation grant found that, 18 months after graduation, two-thirds of Massachusetts Clemente graduates had taken college classes, and many reported volunteering for political campaigns for the first time and paying more attention to public affairs.

After class, I ask Phyllis James, the student who made the Madonna connection, why she was taking the class. At 50, she says she was “maxed out” in her work as an administrative assistant for the state courts, unless she got more education. “I always wanted to finish my degree, but you get involved with work, family. Time flies,” she says. “This is encouraging me and giving me a doorway to go the next step to achieve my goals.” Like the woman in Riis’s photo, she sees the Clemente Course as her ladder up.

Carl Chandler, 68, an alumnus, told me about being the keynote speaker at his Clemente graduation a few years ago. During his speech he explained to the audience that graduation day was the anniversary of when he was forced into a homeless shelter for a brief time, his lowest moment. Taking the course was part of his comeback. “I’m always going to be poor,” he said to me, “but that’s no excuse not to be informed, to speak up, to try and better myself. Clemente helps you get on that path and stay on that path. It helps you think more and think better.”

Waldo Aguasvivas, 28, graduated in 2013. He had dropped out of high school and got his GED as he was beginning the Clemente Course. “Courses change people’s lives,” he says. “It changed my view on college, that I wanted more, that I wanted to know more. You can talk to anybody, and that feels good, not to be lost in the classroom or not to be lost when you’re talking to somebody and they’re talking about Aristotle, and you don’t even know who that is because you haven’t given yourself the time or just you never came across it.”

Aguasvivas carried his six Clemente credits to Roxbury Community College, then enrolled at Suffolk University. He’s on track to graduate next semester with a degree in applied legal studies. Next for him is law school, he says. “I never even knew what college credits were. Look at me now.”

Read full article by David Montgomery at Washington Post.

Philosophy Class

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:33:53 GMT

My original claim was to assert the need to reestablish an antiquated educational system by demonstrating the apathetic youth it has produced, however this being such a varied subject containing many holes for debate, I've decided to take on a less-cumbersome topic that I am much more familiar and comfortable with; Promoting the expansion of the Clemente Course using this entry as my first step in contribution. As stated by the Clemente Course "the aim of the course is to bring the clarity and beauty of the humanities to people who have been deprived of these riches through economic, social, or political forces. While the course is not intended as a preparation for college, many students have gone on to two- and four year colleges." Four months into this program, I and many other students easily recognize the growth in passion of knowledge among one another. The philosopher Socrates spent his entire life actively wondering why it was that he was regarded the wisest man in all of Athens as he admitted to not knowing anything. Ironically it is because of his admittance and awareness to not knowing anything that declared him wise, because he chased after the "why." At the Clemente, students are encouraged to impose questions upon themselves and to think in a manner that allows one to understand the brightest historical figures and most misunderstood writers alike. Socrates professed that it's best to venture into the things we don't understand, and much like his students, we are enlightened ever so on a weekly basis to do the same As a student to the course of the past four months I can say there is a certain flare our teacher's passions spark that becomes something of a forest fire over the minds of their students that drive them further on the subjects of humanities. A personal favorite occurrence of mine that I've come to enjoy is watching my classmates argue with one another. It's something I've grown to love watching for the sake that the arguments here are never over pointless scuffles, instead we have two sides of the room discuss a debate to challenge each other's beliefs in a very constructive manner. From small group sessions to a full class debate, it's always a sight to see when we share our diverse ideas and passions aloud. In Essence, the Clemente Course is truly a monument to the virtue of humanism. At first glance we are simply a room of people sitting in a box, but if you ask any of us in the most honest of words what it is we do; we learn, we think, and we write.

Juan Baldera
Affiliation: Clemente Course, Harlem

Life is More Than Just Survival

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:32:29 GMT

I have benefited from all the social services this community has to offer. I’ve been homeless, in the battered women's center, AA, welfare, everything. These agencies taught me how to survive, and I’m proud of that. But Clemente showed me that there is more than just survival: that I have a future out there just like anyone, and I can do more than survive. I saw a new horizon that I didn’t even know was there before. So one day I'm going to be a lawyer.

Clemente Course Graduate
Affiliation: Port Hadlock, WA

Congratulations

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:31:39 GMT

Congratulations! To all of us! It was a wonderful experience but it was a real challenge as well, wasn't it? Several weeks into the program, when a few folks dropped out, I realized how valuable my fellow students were to me. It wasn't just words and ideas. It was the human voices expressing those ideas. There was a psychological, emotional, and spiritual energy circulating in that room and most of that energy came from you. Thank you for sharing this year with me. What a magnificent program you folks have created! Every week, not just a new subject but a new professor, a new face, a new voice, a new tone - a new atmosphere. Three quarters of the way through the year and I'm on my way to a class that is just as fresh and unpredictable as the very first day! I never got used to this. I never got tired of it. It seems to me that we all have a little door in our mind that we can close off and allow the words and ideas we don't like to just pass by without touching us. In order to open that door and invite those ideas in, in order to engage those ideas, we need two things - a safe environment, and an idea worth engaging. Week after week after week this program provided both. Several times during this course I've heard discussions about the value of a humanities course as opposed to a more practical, pragmatic program. The problem with practical instruction is that the role of giver and receiver never changes. If you are teaching someone math, it is highly unlikely that you will learn something new about math from your student. In the humanities however, the role of giver and receiver is constantly shifting. Whoever is speaking at the time becomes the giver. This can be a very empowering and validating experience for people in low income situations like us. We are used to being seen as the receiver and are rarely valued for our life experience or our opinions. Being able to share something of ourselves and being validated for this can change our minds about who we are and this change will manifest throughout our lives. Part way through the course, our director left to visit a university in Ontario that is thinking about starting up a free Humanities program, and I remember thinking to myself at the time - "Even if they obtain the funding, recruit the professors, and have detailed instructions on how the program runs, they are still going to need a Mary Lu to make it work." Mary Lu, you have been a bridge between some of the finest minds and biggest hearts in Halifax and ourselves, and the way our society is structured, we really need that bridge because these people would not normally be a part of our lives. Day after day, you created an atmosphere of academic excellence and warm welcome. I could never figure out how you did it, I could just observe the results in every class. I know I speak for the entire class when I say "Thank you so very much. Thank you." -L.D. Halifax Humanities 101, Class of 2011

Mary Lu Redden
Affiliation: Halifax, NS, Canada

On Teaching Adults

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:30:53 GMT

The playing field was level in a way that it isn't when you're teaching youngsters. I stood to learn as much from them as they did from me: these were people with wide and serious experience. For instance, I taught the philosophy of economics to our class this past summer. When you're talking with people who have worked their whole lives, often in minimum-wage jobs or marginal employment, the conversation takes on more depth. The problems and their responses are more urgent and more deeply felt.

Ivan Welty, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Department of Philosophy, Willamette University

Learning From Students

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:29:57 GMT

As a teacher, I always learn from my students. I've never learned more from a single class than I did last summer in the Humanity In Perspective class. Our readings and discussions centered on varieties of love and the relationship between love and living a good life. I was struck by how unromantic about love these students were compared to my normal classes of 18 to 24-year-olds. Humanity In Perspective students, perhaps like most adult students, come fully prepared to disagree with the prevailing myths of popular culture; or, to put it more positively, I've never felt myself in a group more committed to asking tough questions.

Gretchen Flesher Moon, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Chair, Department of English and Director of the Writing Center Willamette University

Humanity In Perspective

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:29:08 GMT

The Humanity In Perspective course may be the most challenging teaching I have ever done. I quickly discovered that a lot of the classroom tactics and strategies that seem to work with Willamette’s standard students, that is, the 18 to 22 year olds, did not work altogether successfully with a group which was so diverse in terms of both age and life experiences. The HIP students simply read the text differently! And I found that frequently I could not anticipate how they would respond. They did seem to enjoy the texts and our conversations about them, and they did read thoughtfully and well. But I found myself devoting many hours of preparation in reflection, attempting to image the range of possible responses and how I might work with those responses. It was an amazing challenge that opened up and renewed texts that I have taught frequently and know quite well. I came to see those texts differently, too.

William Duvall, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Department of History, Willamette University

Changing My Future

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:26:29 GMT

Changing My Future

Venture [Utah Clemente Course] impacted my life in a wonderful way. I was facing many trials and tribulations that were very difficult. Right after I started school, I found out that one of my children were addicted to heroin. I was also dealing with my husband being uncomfortable with my pursuing my interests. Now, my child is clean and sober, and my husband has learned how to support me in going to school and furthering my education. If it had not been for my involvement in the Venture program, I am not sure where I would be today. Going through the Venture program helped me to make decisions that will change my future. I have the confidence now to further my education. I have become more aware of what is going on around me and even though politics leave a bad taste in my mouth, I am trying to learn and understand the issues, propositions etc., more than I did before. I have always had a drive to learn. Now that feeling is intensified. I feel ready to be able to pursue my dream of going to school and accomplishing my goal of becoming a degreed person in the future.

Venture Course Graduate
Affiliation: Utah

Thank You

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:24:55 GMT

Just wanted to thank you, personally, for your support of the Venture program. Ten months ago, my daughter was a 27 year old high school dropout, homeless in Las Vegas, with a felony theft on her record. She asked to come home, and did, and was only able to find work part time at McDonald s thanks to her record. Then she applied to Venture and was admitted. It lit her up. Suddenly, she was coming home Tuesdays and Thursdays wanting to talk about what they d read, the discussion they had in class, essays she was writing. The change was, to us, astonishing. And wonderful.

She not only completed the Venture program, she enrolled full time at Weber State University in January and is completing her first full term here, with good grades. My wife and I were, as I said, astonished at the turnaround, and we both think it would not have happened without Venture and the faculty who work in it.

So, again, from me, my wife, from our whole family: thank you for your support of the program at WSU. It works. If you run into anyone who has doubts about that, please feel free to refer them to me.

Father of a Venture Graduate

Affiliation: Ogden, Utah

Democracy

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:21:41 GMT

[…]Democracy was unreal to me. That word was never in my vocabulary until I took this class, […] My belief in democracy was that "of the people" didn t exist. Democracy to me was full of lying politicians who are hungry for power, money, and fame […] Of the people, it says, until this course I believed that my vote didn t count. My classmates opened my eyes […] Honestly, I didn t understand half of what I was asked to read. Although, I did find them challenging and fun to try learn. But it was my community, my peers, that opened my eyes to see that without a democratic society I would not be free. Free to express myself, free to vote and free to take the Clemente course. I would have a lot taken from me without our democracy.
KH
Affiliation: Clemente Course Graduate 2007

From a Teacher

Fri, 01 Jan 2010 20:16:16 GMT

[…]I have seen students (with severe problems ranging from emotional trauma and substance abuse) who have reached the point of complete despair and resignation, make a complete turnaround after enrollment in Clemente. One student at the end of her dead-end road is now working at an excellent job, saving money, traveling, and making long range plans for her life. She transformed from a dysfunctional "failure" into a caring, contributing member of our community. The single element that precipitated that change was her enrollment in Clemente.

Kit Pinnell
Affiliation: Chimacum School District

Clemente Course in the Humanities

Course Spotlight: Clemente Australia Setting Up For Success in 2026

You may be familiar with Clemente's 30+ programs across the United States, but did you know that Clemente also has a long and rich history in Australia?

Course Spotlight: The Worcester Clemente Course Builds Community through Art and Connection

From Self-Doubt to City Hall: Alumni Spotlight on Amy Howard, Port Townsend

Amy Howard on how Clemente changed her life and her community.

Higher Education for All: Listen to the Humanities= Podcast

Writer Phil Klay To Be Awarded the Inaugural Clemente Course in the Humanities Public Humanities Prize

The Clemente Course in the Humanities is proud to announce writer and U.S. Marine Corps veteran Phil Klay as the first recipient of the Public Humanities Prize.

Clemente Awarded Mellon Foundation Grant

Clemente Receives Largest Grant in its History

New Clemente-inspired course launches in Michigan

Check out the Wayfinder Program launched by Calvin University in Grand Rapids!

﻿

Watch the NBC news story here . And check out the Fox news story here .

New Clemente Chair in the Humanities at Bard

Professor Marina van Zuylen Named Clemente Chair in the Humanities at Bard College

Kingston Clemente featured in Times Union Newspaper

Bard’s Clemente Course offers free humanities classes, new chances

Clemente Names New Executive Director

Dr. Aaron Rosen Offers His Vision for Free College Courses

New Massachusetts law opens college opportunities for undocumented students

Clemente alum Joan Shauri shares her journey

Congratulations Governor's Award Honoree Elizabeth Bacon

Elizabeth serves as the coordinator of the Clemente Course in the Humanities, Worcester.

NPR's ''Says You!'' Fundraising Event

The nationally acclaimed NPR word game show, “Says You!” will present a community show benefiting the Jefferson Clemente Course, a free college humanities course for low-income adults in Port Townsend, WA.

Dorchester Reporter lauds Clemente graduates

"Graduates hail the mind-opening values of the Clemente Course in the Humanities"

Seth Daniel, Dorchester Reporter , July 6, 2023

Clemente Is Hiring an Executive Director

PBS POV Announces Clemente as A Recipient of the 6th Annual 'Our America: Documentaries in Dialogue' Grant

The grant will fund documentary programming in our new Oakland, CA Clemente Course

Remembering Grace Glueck

Rhode Island Partnership Gets a Standing Ovation

A State of the Art Collaboration in Springfield

New Alumni Programming Expands Opportunities for Graduates

South Carolina Program Provides Learning Experience for All

Meet Amy Howard, Port Townsend Graduate and City Council Member

Meet Corey Saffold, Odyssey Graduate and Change Agent

Meet Jewel Walcott, A Kingston Clemente Graduate Who is Rocking the Vote

Spotlight: Janine de Novais, Member of the Clemente Board of Directors

Meet Irene Salas, A Free Minds Graduate Expanding Her Horizons

The Power of Telling Your Story: Portland Alumna Sosan Amiri's Journey to Advocacy

Notes on The Power of the Classroom, from Academic Director Amelia Pace-Borah

Stirring Words from 2022 Dorchester Graduate Diana Scott

"We Started A Journey," A Graduation Poem from 2022 Grad Jamie Thrasher

Meet Dianna Calvente, Odyssey Project Graduate Sharing Her Love of Learning with Her Own Students

Meet Samantha Jordan, Odyssey Project Graduate Changing her Neighborhood for the Better

The SCOPE Boston Features Dorchester Clemente: "More free and more human – community college reimagined in Dorchester"

Writer Sophia Paffenroth charts the impact of Dorchester Clemente on students and teachers alike

Meet Bill Murphy, CVI Graduate with an Extraordinary Story

Ibrar Mirzai: a Journey to the Liberal Arts

Clemente on the Big Screen: New Documentary Tells the Story of Common Good Atlanta

Spotlight: Linnea Iannazzone, Director of Outreach and Engagement

Clemente Featured in Antioch's Alumni Magazine

Champions for the Humanities: The No-Cost Clemente and Bridge Programs Keep Changing Lives

Humanities for All

Clemente Thrives Down Under

At 78, Socrates Project Student Embarks on New Educational Experiences

Tim Blades: Anti-poverty Advocate and Halifax Humanities 101 Graduate

Spotlight: Dawn Delbanco, Member of the Clemente Board of Directors

Investigating Inflection Points: New Courses for Graduates

NEH Humanities Magazine Features Clemente in "Building the Just City."

"From ancient philosophy to modern-day Boston, the search for wisdom and justice finds expression in a gritty new film," the article asserts

A Reckoning Round Up

NEH Funds Clemente Inflection Points Project

New $150,000 grant supports alumni seminars

PBS Interviews Clemente Grads About A Reckoning in Boston

In advance of the PBS premiere of A Reckoning in Boston on January 17, Independent Lens interviewed filmmaker James Rutenbeck and Clemente alums and subjects/producers Carl Chandler and Kafi Dixon.

Reckoning with A Reckoning in Boston: A Study Guide

Meet Reckoning's Carl Chandler

On Martin Luther King Day, January 17, A Reckoning in Boston will air nationwide on PBS. As we get ready for the premiere, we're sharing a March 2020 profile of one the film's subjects and producers, Clemente graduate Carl Chandler.

An End-of-Year Reflection

25 Lessons for 25 Years!

Spotlight: Vivé Griffith, Director of Outreach and Engagement

Spotlight: Timothy Patrick McCarthy, Stanley Paterson Professor of American History, Boston Clemente

Meet Clarence Jackson: A Veteran Serving Veterans

Patrick Rodriguez: Dreaming of a World Based in Grace and Forgiveness

Amy Howard: Creating Opportunities in Port Townsend, WA

Original article: The University of Wisconsin-Madison

Keena Atkinson ’15 knows what it means to persevere. Before she became a UW-Madison graduate and was recruited by a major corporation, she was a homeless, single mother. What changed her life trajectory?