(from “Why I Hire English Majors” in The Huffington Post) When you hire an English major, you’re likely hiring someone who brings cognitive empathy to the table. Keith Oatley, one of the researchers, said the reason fiction improves empathy is because it helps us to “understand characters’ actions from their interior point of view, by entering into their situations and minds, rather than the more exterior view of them that we usually have.” This improves interpersonal understanding and enhances relationships with customers and business associates.

Steve Strauss, a columnist for USA Today and a small business expert, tells us about a research on the impact of studying literature, But what many don’t realize is that there is so much usefulness in literature. There is very little room for what are (inaccurately) perceived to be purely aesthetic endeavors like literature and other forms of art. Schooling has become a pragmatic and utilitarian endeavor. In his famous TED Talk, Sir Ken Robinson says that schooling kills creativity, and I wonder if it also kills interest in experiencing others’ creative productions like poetry. Now you may eat!” You can’t tell me that’s not poetry. My kindergartener says that at school, before they eat, they say to each other, “ Bon appetit. Everything they do rhymes and the very way they acquire language itself is poetic. Poetry is everywhere in the lives of children. I think we’re all born with the capacity for creativity, and for poetry. I just want to grab them and say, “Can’t you see? Don’t you see just how beautiful and amazing these words are?” I keep thinking, how can we get more of that?Įven as a professor in the English department at Howard Community College, I don’t often witness such excitement about literature, especially poetry, from young people. While the performance by Dove and Coyne was phenomenal, it’s these three young women who linger in my memory after the event. These three young women were stirred by the whole evening. Dove, and later they also posed with Coyne and his friend Emmett Tross the singer. They whispered to each other, “That was so cool” and “I wonder if she’d take a picture with us?” I offered to take a picture of them with Ms. They stood behind me in line to have their programs signed by Ms. Violinist Joshua Coyne and singer Emmet Tross pose with three very happy Akpan sisters.īut in my memory of that evening, I am thinking of three young women that I met after the event. Starting today, we will be showcasing poems written and read aloud by black authors hosted by HoCoPoLitSo over our forty-five years, whose art examines and illuminates our American experience. In an effort to do our part, we offer something new - HoCoPoLitSo’s Poetry Moment - as a way to address, extend, and deepen these crucial conversations. We believe black lives matter, and we stand in solidarity with all those seeking to effectuate long-lasting change in our communities. We are profoundly sad and outraged by the violence perpetuated against black lives and by the ongoing systemic lack of accountability. We all benefit when we seek to deepen and extend our understanding of the experiences of others and ourselves. We believe that opening a book, reading a poem, or attending a literary event can be a powerful humanistic journey of exploration, education, and enlightenment.

HoCoPoLitSo was founded to celebrate diverse literary heritages and to foster literary appreciation in diverse populations, including varying gender, ethnic and cultural identities, age groups, and income levels. HoCoPoLitSo Stands Against Racism Poetry is One of Our Weapons In this clip, Dove reads her poem about the statue, “Lady Freedom Among Us” from her book On the Bus with Rosa Parks. 23, 1993, when the buffed-up and repaired statue was lifted back onto its pedestal atop the Capitol building, Dove read her poem for the ceremony.ĭove visited HoCoPoLitSo audiences in 1999 and in 2015. Capitol Building by helicopter in May 1993 for repair and cleaning.ĭove thought the statue looked disheveled and dirty, rather like a homeless woman, and was inspired to write a poem.įreedom, who wears a helmet of stars topped with an eagle’s head and a robe trimmed in fur, holds a sheathed sword, a laurel wreath, and the shield of the United States. The statue was lowered from its perch atop the U.S. In an episode of The Writing Life, Dove explains to fellow poet Michael Collier that in 1993, she walked down to see the massive bronze statue of Freedom. The former National Poet Laureate and official national treasure Rita Dove stars in this week’s Poetry Moment, featuring her poem “Lady Freedom Among Us.”

Rita dove famous poems