Who Would You Like to Meet?

At a luncheon in Chicago, I was seated next to Jesse Owens in 1956. We didn't reminisce about his track and field victories at Hitler's 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. We discussed why attitudes toward race were different in suburban Chicago and other areas of the city.

     The Atlantic magazine ends each issue on its last page by asking readers to respond to a question. In June, 2018, the question was: "Which two historical figures would you most like to introduce to each other?" It is a question young and old anywhere in the world can and should pose to each other.

     Reader responses reminded us to recognize the enduring influence of people from diverse backgrounds, such as Julia Child, Albert Einstein, Louis Braille, and Mother Teresa.

     Why readers wanted to hear the conversations of the people they introduced revealed interesting topics. One wondered what Alexander Hamilton would tell Lin-Manuel Miranda he got right and wrong in his prize-winning musical.

     Another wanted Barack Obama to show Abraham Lincoln "the fruits of his enormous accomplishment."

     What would Leonardo da Vinci and Nikola Tesla chat about over coffee, a woman wondered. And then, someone thought William Shakespeare and Mae West would realize they both live on through their quotable remarks.

   

Back to School with a New Perspective

Preparing for a new school year probably doesn't require the purchase of a harmonica, paint brush, and Thesaurus. Yet Einstein played the violin, Samuel Morse painted portraits, and Galileo wrote poems.

     Study after study shows the value of the arts. Playing music asks the brain to coordinate the notes eyes see and two hands play, to listen, and to recognize rhythms. Add dance and the whole body gets involved. In the process of drawing, painting, sculpturing, and writing stories, essays, and poems, students tap into their creative juices, express emotions, and discover their individual identities. Mistakes are made and corrected just as they are in every subject and life.

     Music, art, and literature connect students to each other, their communities, and the world. One study, for example, found that children who participated in a dance group for eight weeks were less prone to anxiety and aggression compared to a control group. At the same time, the arts promote the creativity and innovation needed to deal with a rapidly changing global economy.

     Consider how one kindergartner used an art project to discover there were two ways to find the total five. While one student had shown five by taking a photo of two red scissors and three blue scissors, another saw five, because the direction of four scissors pointed left and one pointed right. Math and science thrive on the same unexpected discoveries and strategies celebrated in the arts. Is there another way to do something is a question that has produced a Salvador Dali and a Thomas Edison.