English Students Attend Chicago Humanities Festival: Photogallery

The annual Chicago Humanities Festival gave hundreds of people, including Trinity English students, the opportunity to participate in and learn about the humanities, from October 25 to November 9.

This year, Associate Professor Karen Dieleman, Ph.D., chair of the English department, organized student-faculty trips downtown on November 1 and November 8.

Jaclyn Feddes ’15 of Frankfort, Illinois, shared her experience of hearing author Jesmyn Ward speak on her new book Men We Reaped.

“It was intriguing to hear her describe her writing process and how she came to write a memoir after publishing two works of fiction,” said Feddes. “It was encouraging to hear that such a fantastic writer would also need to continuously be going through drafts and refining her craft.”

Students attended a variety of presentations, such as “Mexicans and Puerto Ricans in Chicago” by Lilia Fernandez, “Man on Wire: Creativity” by Philippe Petit, and “Foreign Policy and Humanities” by Karl Eikenberry.

After attending a presentation about the color blue by art scientist Marc Walton, Kate Meyrick ’17 of Oak Forest, Illinois, said she’ll never look at blue the same way again.

“The Chicago Humanities Festival is such an awesome experience, and I hope to attend a few more sessions,” said Meyrick. “Getting a taste of the cultures of the world in the busy, diverse culture of this amazing city is very inspiring for me and my work in the humanities.”

Trinity faculty established a fund for the event in 2008 to honor the retirement of Dr. Virginia LaGrand, professor of English emerita, from the English department and to allow students to attend the festival at no cost. During her years at Trinity, LaGrand emphasized the importance of the festival.