Humanities & the Arts Blog
"Death is not the opposite of life, but a part of it." — Haruki Murakami
What does it mean to live life to the fullest? What makes a life worthy of remembering? Often, more times than not, the concept of life and what it means to live lingers on our minds. These thoughts awaken our consciousness and force us to question what it means to be.
In the midst of January, as winter break came to an end, Life Writing 36800, taught by Professor Elizabeth Mazzola, began as one of several internship-integrated courses facilitated by the HELPS Program (Humanities Experiential… Read More »
Life Writing, a course taught by Professor Elizabeth Mazzola in partnership with the HELPS Program (Humanities Experiential Learning Partnership Seminars), allowed students to examine the ins and outs of writing a biography while also analyzing writers who tell stories of a place or person in deeply unique ways. Throughout the semester, my classmates and I interned at The New Jewish Home. We worked closely with residents, documenting lives through memory, observation, and conversation. Our final projects became more than biographies; they transformed into reflections on history,… Read More »
For her third and final piece on her experience as an intern through the Publishing Certificate Program and Humanities Internships program, student writer Sophie Torres reflects on the closing chapter of her undergraduate career and her internship with PEN America’s Prison and Justice Writing Program. In this essay, she considers how the transition from classroom learning to professional experience helped her build confidence, adaptability, and a clearer sense of purpose as she prepares for life after graduation.
As the semester comes to an end and summer inches closer,… Read More »
On April 29, the CCNY Humanities Internships program (HI) came to life in its most meaningful form, not through a brochure, not through an email, but through the voices of students who had lived it. Beginning in 2021 with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, the HI Program has placed humanities students in paid internships at New York City's top cultural and nonprofit organizations. After a soft launch, the program is now gaining momentum across campus, and a group of students from the Advertising and Personal Relations (Ad/PR) program were eager to come alongside help… Read More »
Step into the Bronx Museum and you will find an emotional landscape built from metal, glass, and fragmented time. CRT monitors glow atop metal stands, their colorful cables physically mapping the complexities of diasporic memory. Faced with a lack of surviving photographs from her mother’s childhood in rural Peru, Diana Guerra—a Peruvian American lens-based artist and City College alumna—had to build her own archive by sourcing a 1960s German educational film about a young rural Peruvian girl. This culminating work of the 2024 AIM Fellowship at the Bronx Museum weaves those found… Read More »
In her first article, Sophie Torres took us inside the uncertainty, urgency, and small victories of landing an internship, demystifying a process that often feels out of reach for students navigating it for the first time. Now, in the second installment of this three-part series, she shifts from getting in the door to what it actually means to be there.
At PEN America, Sophie’s work quickly revealed a side of publishing that is rarely seen from the outside. What began as an opportunity to build professional experience became an encounter with the fragile, complicated systems… Read More »
I had just gotten out of class when a friend told me there was free pizza and live music somewhere on the fifth floor. I didn’t know anything about the Jewish Studies Program at CCNY, and I wasn’t looking for anything in particular: just a way to fill an hour between classes. I followed the sound to room 5-202. As it turns out, that’s exactly how most people find it.
Along every wall, bookshelves rose floor to ceiling, packed with Jewish literature, history, reference books—decades of cultural memory pressed spine to spine. Natural light poured in through large windows, and at… Read More »
From Waitressing to Wall Street (kind of): a look from the inside of what it's like to land an internship
For many students, the path from classroom learning to professional work can feel opaque, even overwhelming. In this new series, senior Sophie Torres pulls back the curtain.
Over three articles, Sophie will take us behind-the-scenes of her experience in the Publishing Certificate Program (PCP) and the Humanities Internship Program at CCNY, offering an honest, step-by-step look at what it takes to secure and succeed in a competitive internship. Sophie is currently interning at PEN America for the full Spring semester and will be giving us updates along the way. Enjoy this first… Read More »
How 2025 Alum Arsen E. Simkhayev built a unique path of study that led to a graduate program at Stanford University
Arsen E. Simkhayev immigrated to the United States in 2002, and because English was not his native language, subjects such as math and science often felt inaccessible. The technical vocabulary they used, combined with lessons delivered in English, made it difficult for him to fully comprehend what was being taught. History, however, felt different. Even while his English was still developing, he could understand dates, events, and broader historical narratives. Learning about figures like Ivan the Terrible and Peter the Great gave him clarity and confidence. History became what… Read More »
Even in rooms filled with accomplished individuals, doubt can follow quietly. Imposter syndrome, the internal experience of chronic self-doubt despite the success one has obtained, was a common theme that echoed across the Health Communications Career panel. Directed by both the CCNY Advertising and Public Relations (Ad/PR ) program, the student-led American Advertising Federation (AAF) and Public Relations Society of America (PRSSA) club, and supported by CAPAcity, the panel brought together 70 students from the Division of Humanities and Arts to hear from a wide range of… Read More »
Last Updated: 08/16/2024 12:02