My Humanities Book Thomas H. Wilson
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My Humanities Essays for Arizona Humanities (2012-2013) Thomas H. Wilson 2015 Table of Contents First Footsteps 1 Introduction 2 Adventures on the Journey of Death 4 Cultural Encounters at the Perilous Frontiers of Linguistics 7 Homage to Teachers and Professors 10 Appreciating Mandela 13 Origins and Extinctions 17 Humanities and Cosmos 18 The Humanities of Origins 22 The Sixth Extinction 26 The Rise and Fall of Complex Cultures 31 The Rise of Civilization 32 The Find 36 Cultural Collapse 38 Should We Fear 13 0 0 0 0? 42 Art and Literature 47 This I Did 48 Of Ginsberg and Catullus 53 The War Poets 56 Under Western Skies: The Art of Carl Oscar Borg 62 Libraries and Museums 70 Libraries at the Cutting Edge 71 Chasing the Muse 76 Law and Humanities 82 Reflections on Japanese Internment 83 Is Creationism Extinct in Public Education? 87 Our Lady: Anatomy of a Controversy 90 Living the Humanities 97 Swimming at Dawn 98 Ambling in the Humanities 101 First Footsteps 1 My Humanities Introduction Thomas H. Wilson Each of us has significant experiences in the In these essays I discuss aspects of my own humanities. Not just those who dedicate great engagement with the humanities. The theme of portions of their lives to the humanities, but the first Arizona Humanities Festival in October, everyone. Those who daily practice the humanities 2011 was Stories of Us. Sometimes, at the might reflect upon the impact of the humanities most elemental level, our engagement with the upon their everyday lives, or over the course of humanities comes down to stories, so I shall their lifetimes. Others might think explicitly less begin with one, the story of how I became an often about the humanities, but nevertheless the archaeologist. humanities are important in their lives. In either I invite you to recall the first book you ever read case, the humanities are significant to each of us. or the first poem you ever learned. I have those These essays explore how the humanities memories. But I can also recall the exact moment influence my life. The purpose is to illustrate when I began my path to become a professional how the humanities may impact individuals and archaeologist. My uncle and aunt owned a ranch to encourage reflection upon the humanities in at the southern end of the Sacramento Mountains each of our lives. An implicit assumption is that in southern New Mexico, about 18,000 acres of one can lead a more full life if one consciously pine forests and juniper and piñon woodland. The explores the impact of the humanities on ranch house and corrals were nestled near where a individuals and on society. small spring provided cool, fresh water. The meaning of the humanities is a personal and One day at the ranch when I was about six, I was lifelong journey. A threshold question is what looking for something to do. Members of my is, or are, the humanities? At its most basic, the family suggested that I cross the canyon next to the humanities are what make us human, the stories house and look for arrowheads. They described an of individuals and the histories of societies. The arrowhead, and by the time I was half way up the humanities live within individuals, and are carried other side of the canyon, I found one. Today we mutually as part of our shared cultures. would discourage this kind of plunder, but this find When the United States Congress, recognizing fired my imagination about the first Americans, that “democracy demands wisdom and vision in who they were, how and when they arrived in the its citizens,” established the National Endowment canyon, how they lived and what happened to for the Humanities in 1965, it defined the them. It was almost magical, how this prehistoric humanities by discipline: literature, history, object, made by a human being and lost at some philosophy, ethics, languages, linguistics, unknown time in the past, now rested in my jurisprudence, archaeology, comparative religion, hand. These questions, first stirred in my heart and those aspects of the social sciences that before I was in first grade, have never left me. employ historical or philosophical approaches. Later, I realized that I could turn an interest into Also, the humanities include the study of the a profession in the humanities, and I became an human environment with particular attention to archaeologist. I investigated those kinds of issues reflecting our diverse heritage, traditions, and in the American Southwest, in Mexico and Central history, and the relevance of the humanities to the America, and East Africa. My work in museums current conditions of national life. took me to northwest Russia and southwest China. 2 Those first footsteps in the mountains of New Mexico started my journey and professional life in the humanities. Like all of us, I have multiple less formal interactions in the humanities that have made a profound difference in my life. In these essays, written and electronically published for Arizona Humanities mostly between 2012 and 2013, I explore some of these relationships. Meanwhile, I encourage you to reflect upon your own engagements with the humanities – your own stories of us. Thomas H. Wilson is Director of the Arizona Museum of Natural History and was Chair of Arizona Humanities (2011-2013) 3 My Humanities Adventures on the Journey of Death Thomas H. Wilson I have always loved history. I am The El Camino Real was the great royal road or king’s highway not sure how this interest began, that connected Mexico City with Santa Fe. The Jornada del Muerto but I have an idea. When I was is that section of the Camino Real that abandons the route along a little boy, my mother, a single the Rio Grande near Las Cruces, crosses 90 miles of barren desert, parent working as a secretary to and rejoins the river south of Socorro, New Mexico. Juan de Oñate support us, subscribed to an blazed the trail, based upon earlier Native American routes, on his historical book club for young way to settle northern New Mexico in 1598. Lack of water and readers for me. Every month Apache raiding habitually made the journey perilous. The Jornada another book would arrive, often del Muerto is named for an incident in 1670, when a German trader written by well-known historians, was killed at a location still called Alemán. How can one resist on some historical subject. I read exploring a trail loosely translated as the Journey of Death? about the Civil War, Napoleon, the After considerable planning and training, we set off at daybreak on American West, the Middle Ages, October 17, 2000, from near Las Cruces. We joined the Camino and many more places and times. Real near Paraje San Diego and headed north for Point of Rocks, I received these books for about three years, and read nearly all of them. Later I passed them on to my son. My thirst for history was wetted, and remains unquenched. Give the gift of history to someone you love. In 2000, as director of the Museum of New Mexico, I had the opportunity to actively engage history. We were planning a new state history museum to adjoin the Palace of the Governors in Santa Fe, and a new state monument The Jornada del Muerto near Alemán. near the Rio Grande south of Vegetation here defines the ancient Camino Real. Socorro, the El Camino Real International Heritage Center. In an effort to raise statewide support which looked close but required half a day to reach. At Point of for these projects, Mike Romero Rocks, we discovered an extensive petroglyph site, ominously Taylor and I contemplated walking featuring an image of a large rattlesnake. We pushed on and made the Jornada del Muerto. We wished camp on the desert floor 16.5 miles into the journey. Coyotes to enhance our knowledge of the serenaded us that night. history of the Camino Real in The next day we were off again at dawn. We carried enough food New Mexico and to experience the for the whole trip, but we had to make special arrangements for kinds of challenges faced by those water. Water weighs about eight pounds a gallon, and carrying who previously used the trail for enough for a four-day trip was more than we could manage. Before exploration, war or settlement. starting, we stashed water at the end of the second day’s journey. 4 As we walked, we saw evidence of the historic El Camino Real at various locations, outlined by differential vegetation. Sections of the ancient trail are clearly visible from air photos. As the miles and hours passed, we thought of the history of the Camino Real. In the seventeenth century, the Spanish ran caravans to Santa Fe and back every three years. From Mexico came manufactured goods, horses, musical instruments, clothing, tools and chocolate. Out of New Mexico went hides, wheat, corn, raw wool, salt and piñon nuts. Following the Pueblo Revolt of 1680, the Spanish fled down the Camino Real out of New Mexico; they returned under De Vargas the same way during the reconquest of 1692. During the Civil War, Confederate units from Texas invaded New Mexico and engaged Union forces in February 1862 at the Battle of Valverde near Fort Craig at the north end of the Jornada del Muerto. A tactical victory allowed the Confederates to proceed to their doom at the Battle of Glorieta Pass near Santa Fe on March 28. The rebels fled down the Camino Real.