College 101 to Lincoln Field Trip

 

My College 101 (History and English) joined with Kelli Petersen's class (Music and Art) for a trip to Lincoln on Tuesday, November 1.

Ken Meints helped out by driving a car filled with students--somehow we all managed to squeeze into the three vehicles.

For our first stop, we visited the Sheldon Art Museum on the UNL campus. An enthusiastic and most friendly guide took us, a large crowd of around 25, through two of the visiting exhibitions, Ron Jude's Lago,  and Uncommon Likeness: Identity in Flux. 

I especially enjoyed the following painting about cultural appropriation that offers some serious humor, Enrique Chagoya's Le Cannibale Moderniste:

After an excellent lunch--I chose roast beef and brie cheese--we recovered from poor directions and eventually found the Nebraska Museum of History operated by the Nebraska Historical Society.

There, Ken Meints talked with students about Ponka Indian culture, including art, stories, and music, setting the stage for Joe Starita.

My class reads Starita's I Am A Man: Chief Standing Bear's Journey for Justice, and Joe talked with the audience about this book and his latest effort that first hit the stands on  Tuesday, A Warrior of the People: How Susan La Flesche Overcame Racial and Gender Inequality to Become America's First Indian Doctor.

A seasoned journalist, Joe Starita is an endowed chair in Journalism at UNL.  A few years ago, some students in my College 101 class, as part of their final projects, created a web page devoted to Joe.

After his talk, Joe Starita autographed books and talked with students.  He will visit the campus to talk about his book sometime this spring.

I posted photographs from the trip and, using my camera (I left my video camera in the van and so apologize for the less-than-stellar quality.), I recorded a couple segments from Starita's energetic and informative presentation.