In This Issue
contents
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Gaines Takes Washington! National Humanities Advocacy Day 2020
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Alumni Spotlight: Karyn Hinkle
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A Letter from Director Dr. Melynda Price
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Good Luck Seniors! Sharing Gaines Memories
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The Breathitt Lecture: Celebrating 25 Years
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Lafayette Seminar Welcomes Sena Jeter Naslund & David King
Zoom meet-and-greet with the new fellows on April 10
LETTER FROM THE
DIRECTOR It is strange writing to you in these worrying times. The impact of COVID-19 has rippled through all our lives in large and small ways. The Gaines Center, like most of the University, has transitioned to remote work, but we are busy ensuring the wellbeing of the Fellows and participating in university efforts to care for all its students. Dr. Chelsea Brislin, Connie Duncan and I have called, Zoom-ed and emailed in our best efforts to create the supportive connection for which Gaines is famous. The core work of the Gaines Center continues even as we adhere to the guidelines recommended to keep our community safe. Like many of you, I have been consuming a lot of information on COVID-19. From the beginning, I was struck by the role that the humanities are playing in our efforts to understand our scientific, economic and cultural response to the virus—from the use of historical comparison to flu outbreaks at the turn the last century, to visual illustrations of the spread of infection, to the ethics of how we should distribute resources. The humanities stand alongside the scientific efforts to find therapies, vaccines and cures as we all move our way through the uncertainty of the moment. I have been awed by the way artists have been able to uplift or the way a glimpse into museums and galleries through technology has allowed us an escape from our own homes.
Many times I have thought of the vision of John Gaines and Ray Betts and all those who have worked to build the Gaines Center for the Humanities. Their commitment to the belief in the importance of the humanities for each of us as individuals and collectively continues to drive how we see the work that we do. In these pages we celebrate the Senior Fellows, who draw widely from the colleges and majors offered at the university. They move forward into their careers or graduate and professional schools, as we all do at the moment, in a world with a lot of uncertainty. Yet, they have all expressed the significance of Gaines as they chart this new path. We are working to ensure that, even with limitations, we offer new and current students a transformative experience as well as explore how technology can create meaningful space for community engagement with the humanities. When we are finally able to gather on the other side of this emergency, we look forward to seeing all of you all and hearing the influence of Gaines in your lives.
Dr.Melynda Price 4
Seniors! CELEBRATING OUR
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Andrew Calvert
English & History Lexington, KY
Thesis Title
Best Gaines Memory
"The Kentucky Substance Abuse Oral History Project: Methodology, Results, and the Human Story of Substance Abuse in 21st Century Kentucky"
"The junior seminars and trying (probably unsuccessfully) to decipher Marcel Proust!"
Tori Cruz-Falk
International Studies & Spanish Washington DC
Thesis Title
Best Gaines Memory
"Sangre Latina"
"My favorite memory is from junior year. The girls got together and went to support Kate Cox at one of her dance concerts. Afterwards we went and grabbed tacos. I’m really glad Gaines helped this girl gang get together!"
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Cathryn Perini
Thesis Title "Learning From the Enslaved Wet Nurse: Evidence, Silence, and the Recovery of Slavery in Kentucky"
Best Gaines Memory "My favorite memory from my time in Gaines is when, as juniors,
History Hagerstown, Maryland
we all sat in the common area of our cabin at Pine Mountain Settlement School and we shared our hopes, dreams, and aspirations, per Tori's insistence. I remember thinking how very lucky I was to be a part of such an ambitious and humanistic cohort, and I thought to myself, 'These people are going to fix the world.'"
Hannah Edelen
English Versailles, KY
Thesis Title
Best Gaines Memory
"Alone Together and Free: Conversations from the Kitchen Table"
"Gaines has given me so many opportunities, relationships and adventures I couldn't have dreamed of before. But, if I had to choose one, it would be riding 'toboggans' down the Great Wall of China with my fellow senior Gaines Fellows, laughing the whole way down."
Madan Subheeswar
Thesis Title "Examining Interactions of Psychology and Cultural Dimensions in Modern Influenza Vaccine Messaging"
Best Gaines Memory "Though we were all friends by the time we visited China in the summer
Business Management & Biology Louisville, KY
before our senior year, much of our time together had been limited to the classroom. I saw a more adventurous and dynamic side of everyone when we schemed on the top of the Great Wall of China to maximize our speed and fun on the bobsled ride down— and by the time I reached the bottom, I knew I had made memories and friends for a lifetime."
Madison Von Deylen
Thesis Title "Coercive Mating Behaviors and the Social Construction of Rape"
Best Gaines Memory "The summer spent backpacking through Europe and visiting China was one of the best of my life.
Biology & Chemistry Minor: Gender/Women's Studies Louisville, KY
I would have never had a chance to be exposed to so many cultures and to enjoy the artwork that those areas have to offer without the Gaines Center. I am so grateful for the people I have met and the experiences I have had through the Fellowship."
Umair Bhutto
Biology Louisville, KY
Thesis Title
Best Gaines Memory
"Examination of BioArt: Working Towards a Deliverable"
"My favorite Gaines activity was the Shaker Village retreat. Compared to our fast-paced lives, visiting Shaker Village provided a moment of timelessness and surreal bliss."
Montre'ale Jones
Thesis Title "Student Housing: A Call for Reformed Community Design"
Best Gaines Memory "If gaining 12 new close friends, pursuing a thesis topic that I care deeply about, or deciphering how others see the world in seminar was not enough as part of my
Architecture Minor: Political Science Hopkinsville, Kentucky
Gaines experience, going to China and Italy certainly was! Traveling the world had always been a dream, and because of Gaines I was able to fulfill that dream in the summer of 2019. During my travels, I gained a deeper admiration for Chinese and Italian architecture, cuisine, traditions, etc., wherein I got to share many great memories with some amazing individuals."
Erin Fitzpatrick
Thesis Title "An Explication of Neil Postman's Philosophies of Education"
Best Gaines Memory "My favorite Gaines memory is when we took a trip to Shaker Village and the senior cohort
English & Geography Falmouth, KY
sat around the campfire until about 1 A.M. roasting marshmallows, petting stray cats, and sharing stories that brought us closer. It sounds like a simple memory, but the peaceful setting made it a lovely way to reconnect after the long and busy summer, and I'd never felt closer to my fellow fellows."
Anna Stamm
Art History & Film Studies Lexington, KY
Thesis Title
Best Gaines Memory
"Functions of Film Color: Chromatics in Early Cinema"
"Gaines changed my life. I finally found a group of people who love to think about things as deeply as I do."
Kate Cox
Thesis Title "Finding the Common Essence: Using Dance as a Medium to Explore Analogies Between the Life Sciences and Our Everyday Lives"
Best Gaines Memory "The camaraderie through the fellowship has been my favorite part.
Agricultural & Medical Biotechnology Lexington, KY
My fellows have become my friends, and they have changed how I think about the world. I have many wonderful memories from Gaines, but my favorites are the retreats at Pine Mountain and Shaker Village. The retreats gave us time to really get to know one another, which set the foundation for the many eyeopening conversations to come."
Linda Breathitt (far left) with Gaines' first Breathitt Lecturer, Eric Meiners (middle-left), our 25th Breathitt Lecturer, Tiana ThĂŠ (middleright), and Gaines Center Director, Dr. Melynda Price (far right)
THE GAINES CENTER CELEBRATES
YEARS OF
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Breathitt
Lafayette Seminar FEATURING AUTHORS SENA JETER NASLUND & DAVID KING
Above (left to right): Dr. Melynda Price (Gaines Center Director), author David King, Dr. Chelsea Brislin (Gaines Center Associate Director), and author Sena Jeter Naslund Left: The Gaines Fellows and the Lexington community come together for the 2020 Lafayette Seminar, held in the Hardymon Theater of the Thomas Marksbury Building on The University of Kentucky campus
Two of Kentucky’s brightest literary minds came together on the sunny evening of March 5th, before an audience of Gaines Fellows and book lovers, to discuss their trade, triumphs, and tribulations. Sena Jeter Naslund, author of Ahab’s Wife and co-founder of the creative writing MFA program at Louisville’s Spalding University, and David King, 1990 Gaines Fellowship alumnus and author of such novels as Death in the City of Light and The Trial of Adolf Hitler, sat down in the 21
University of Kentucky’s Hardymon Theater for a conversation moderated by UK English’s Dr. Julia Johnson. As the 2020 edition of the Gaines Center’s Lafayette Seminar, the talk sought to explore the theme of “writing beyond region”—or, how the two authors came to write successful works not limited by the literary stereotype of Kentucky letters as always being tied to the Kentucky landscape itself. Naslund and King, having written critically lauded New York Times
best-selling novels that unfold far away from the Commonwealth, defy a vision of Kentucky literature whose notable works are solely place-based. Wendell Berry et al., make room: Ahab’s wife, incidentally, is from Kentucky, but found her way to New England in time for the events of Naslund’s novel, while King’s historical fictions explore alternate histories of the great cities and lands of Europe. As two of our state’s most respectable contemporary writers, Naslund and King argue for a diverse and far-reaching Kentucky literary culture. The authors’ transcendence of Kentucky’s borders in their writing does not, however, completely divorce them from a Kentuckian creative experience. Naslund is based in Louisville, where, until 2017, she directed Spalding University’s MFA cohort, while King, who lived in Europe for several years as a Fulbrighter, has ultimately settled in Lexington. The authors’ appearance at the Lafayette Seminar was consistent with one of its key themes—community—as they and the audience came together to share the richness and diversity of their literary experiences.
In Naslund’s case, instituting literary community from its grassroots has been a decades-long project: Arriving to Kentucky from the University of Iowa in the 1970s, she found a lack of educational writing opportunities in the region, and so in 2001 co-founded Spalding’s MFA, the first of its kind in the state. By Ben Jones (Gaines c/o 2019)
She has also worked to foster investment and involvement in other organizations, such as Lexington’s Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning. Her and King’s demonstrated commitment to the Kentucky literary community is part of a greater message to writers and readers—both in and outside of Kentucky—that the Commonwealth is actively working to honor its decorated literary past, nourish its present, and provide for a flourishing future.
The Gaines Center prides itself for its involvement in this cultivation, and we are grateful to be able to play a part in training and empowering young Kentuckian creative minds, exposing the University and Lexington communities to the arts, and promoting the health of our state’s humanities. The Gaines Center would like to thank Sena Jeter Naslund and David King, Dr. Julia Johnson, and all others who attended and helped make possible a successful 2020 Lafayette Seminar. Until next year!
Gaines TAKES
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WASHINGTON
Associate Director Chelsea Brislin and I attended the Humanities Advocacy Day and Conference in Washington, DC, from March 8 through 10, 2020. As part of our responsibilities, we called on staff in the offices of six U.S. Senators and members of the House of Representatives to speak to the importance of humanities. We both spoke from the perspective of higher education faculty and staff with the Gaines Center directly in the spotlight. Our legislators heard Dr. Brislin tell the important story of Gaines as an undergraduate student experience and me speak to not only Gaines, but also to the commitment of our university to humanities education as part of the UK Core program. We also were in very fine company with Barbara Teague, Executive Director of the Council for State Archivists, an active advocate with deep commitment to the pathways for humanities through libraries and archives throughout the nation. Together, the three of us spoke not only of the context of higher education and cultural institutions, but also of the important considerations a humanities view and life path contribute to thriving community life and an engaged citizenry.
On the cusp of the announcements about COVID-19 and the work-from-home orders for federal government employees, we raced back and forth to appointments in the various office buildings surrounding the grounds of the Capitol. As the day unfolded, schedules shifted, necessitating a traverse along the 751’-4” length of the Capitol Building six times during our visits. It doesn’t look that far on a map, but our total path for the day was as if we walked the length of 12 football fields end to end. We certainly got our step count in that day, without question. In terms of evolving protocols that day, we were instructed to refrain from shaking hands with others and to observe some distancing, but certainly not the "six feet" rule we subsequently learned from the Centers for Disease Control.
From a design perspective, the spaces we visited spoke to the kinds of leaders Kentucky sends to Washington. With traditional furnishings, Kentucky colors (both UK and UofL represented), and framed images of idyllic landscapes, it is clear that our elected officials use every opportunity to remind others of the beauty of Kentucky as well as the importance of sports and outdoor activities in our signature parks and spaces. Rather than limiting our understanding of the humanities to readings of written words, these spaces remind us all of the things we hold in common in our Commonwealth, the things that bind us together and make advocacy possible. I rather think of these offices as reflecting the humanity of each representative and their members of staff, who each received us with grace and cordiality.
One surprising observation of the political landscape of Capitol Hill was the opportunity to see University of Kentucky graduates who quite successfully occupy staff positions in the various offices we visited. Each alum spoke fondly and enthusiastically of the education they received at UK and the network they activated through UK to land in such auspicious positions. I guess that is a reminder to us all that it is, in fact, the human connection that makes greatness possible. That person in the Gaines cohort with you, or the professor you had in class, or the staff member who helped you with a university procedure—these are the people who enable us to succeed. Because each took time to guide, mentor, and direct some aspect of your UK experience, you benefitted from their wise counsel and the potentials within you.
Should you have the opportunity to advocate on behalf of the humanities in the civic realm, I hope you can remember the important lessons I experienced in Washington, DC: Remember the power of place and expression, recognize the ability of one person to make a difference, and wear sensible shoes. By College of Design and Gaines Faculty Dr. Patrick Lee Lucas (far left)
i n m u l A
SPOTLIGHT
FEATURING KARYN HINKLE
Tell us about your early life: where you're from, your schooling days and how you ended up going to UK for undergrad. I was born in Lexington, KY, but only lived there for a few months before my parents moved to a small town in Oldham County about 25 miles from Louisville, where I stayed through high school. Oldham County was more rural in the 1980s and early 1990s than it is today.
My town had one local pizza restaurant and one fast food restaurant when I was very young (it was something called “Druthers” and then a Dairy Queen), and then later we got a Little Caesar’s and a Subway, the staffing of which were coveted jobs when I was in high school. Now there is a bunch of stuff there, and the whole suburban east end of Louisville kind of bleeds into Oldham County, but when I was in high school, it was a long drive on narrow, dark highways to get to Louisville’s coffee shops, bookstores, and music lessons, and the city felt like a world apart. I wanted more and more of that feeling of being in the city and I desperately wanted to go to college in New York, but my parents were even more desperate for me to stay local and go to UK. They had the hard-to-argue weight of financial reason on their side, and, in retrospect, I know I am extremely fortunate to have graduated without any student loans, and I am proud to have graduated from UK.
What did you study at UK? How did you first hear about Gaines and what piqued your interest in applying? I started as an English major at UK, but as soon as I took my first art history class in freshman year I was hooked; I immediately switched to art history.
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One thing that made me feel at home on UK’s huge campus was the Honors Program, which was then a series of small, reading-anddiscussion-based classes for freshmen and sophomores. I heard about the Gaines Center from our Honors professors, and the opportunity to continue taking my favorite types of classes, those small discussion seminars, in an even more close-knit community appealed to me greatly. Many of my favorite Honors, art history, and English professors were involved with the Gaines Center at various points, and that also made it feel like such a special group of people on campus that I was proud to join.
What was your Gaines experience like? What projects did you work on? What was your favorite aspect of being a fellow? Tell us some interesting ways in which Gaines was different then to how it is now. Some of my fondest memories of college involve the Gaines Center. Because of the wide interests and experiences of all the faculty, administrators, board members, alumni, and friends of the Gaines program, I traveled to Whitesburg, Kentucky, to square dance in the mountains and meet the people who founded and worked Appalshop; entered a professional restaurant kitchen for the first time and helped stuff squid for a Roman feast fundraising dinner; interviewed rare whiskey collectors visiting from Japan about the bourbon industry in Kentucky; and took trips to New York (with my fellow Fellows), Europe (on my own, for thesis research), and China (as part of the Bingham Seminar, a class that year on Confucianism and the family).
My class of 2000, then seniors, took a trip to New York with Jim Gray circa 1999, and in my memory—I think this is true—this was the firstever Gaines trip to New York. We saw a Broadway show, visited art museums and Chelsea galleries, and had lunch at Tavern on the Green, the wildly kitschy and amazing restaurant in Central Park. I love that the New York trip later became such a formalized tradition for the program! After I graduated, I lived in New York from 2000 to 2015 and met many, many later classes of Gaines fellows when they visited, sometimes joining them for dinner, or a museum visit, or a drink near their hotel along with other Gaines alumni based in the city from many different years. I believe the more recent annual UK Confucius Institute/Gaines Center trip to China started long after my time as a Fellow, so it was a coincidence that the Bingham Seminar took a trip to China in summer 2000 (to study Confucianism, no less!), but I also love that visiting China, which was such a memorable aspect of my Gaines experience, is shared by many later alums.
Tell us about your path to your current position as someone who works with archives and libraries. What about this work interested you initially? What keeps you interested? What effect, if any, did your time in Gaines have on your professional/post-grad path? Like I imagine most Gaines Fellows are, I am someone who has loved libraries all her life, although I initially pictured myself more as a library researcher than as a librarian.
When I was an undergraduate, I thought I would go on to do a PhD program in art history… until the combined experiences of trying to write my Gaines thesis after studying abroad in a global city like London taught me that what I really wanted to do was live in a global city all the time and work a job that ended at the end of the day. I moved to New York and started an entrylevel job in book publishing, and I loved it for years. But eventually I did miss the academic life. Book publishing is filled with smart humanities types, but I missed studying topics at a deeper level. When I discovered there were programs where you can do dual masters degrees in art history and library science, which is the terminal degree required to become a professional librarian, the idea resonated deeply with me, and I knew that was the type of graduate program I would be happy to do. I went to library school at the Pratt Institute, which is most known as an art school and for their architecture and design programs, but they also have one of the oldest accredited library and information science programs in the country. I chose it because I could keep doing my job at Random House during the day and go to school in the evenings; the library science program was then located on their Manhattan campus a few subway stops from my office in Midtown. The experience was as satisfying as I had hoped and has fueled my professional life ever since. Working in art libraries puts me in constant contact with the arts and humanities-based subject matter I love, has introduced me to really engaging colleagues and researchers, lets me write and conduct research of my own, and helps contribute to the common good of preserving and promoting arts and culture. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that all of these are very “Gainesian” values as well.
How does it feel to now be a Gaines faculty member? What inspired you to join the faculty? I returned to Lexington sixteen years after I left, when I was hired to fill the role of art librarian at UK’s Lucille C. Little Fine Arts Library in 2016. While some spaces on campus felt deeply familiar, so many other things were completely different; it was like this with the Gaines Center as well. While the Commonwealth House remains its beautiful self, the administration and faculty members and many aspects of the Fellows’ current curriculum were completely new to me. But the Gaines program, in whatever shape it comes, will always have a place in my heart. Several of my friends, including my fellow current faculty members at UK and also some of my fellow Gaines alums, have taught in the Gaines seminar, and many people involved past and present have encouraged me to consider doing the same. When Melynda and Chelsea asked me to join them this year, I could not imagine saying no. Now that I have been back at UK for almost four years for the second time, I am finally starting to feel like a “regular” again. My time with the Gaines Center has definitely helped with the feeling of reattachment.
What overarching lessons do you hope to instill in your Gaines students? I cannot believe it has taken me this long to address in our interview, but I am writing from home (like we all are), in the midst of a global pandemic in spring 2020. My seminar section with the Gaines fellows was supposed to begin on March 31, a few days after the UK campus was closed and all classes moved online.
My visions of field trips and fun evenings at the Bingham Davis House quashed, I quickly tried to revamp my class in Canvas and Zoom, and I was and remain unsure of how effective my plan was. But the junior Fellows, class of 2021, have been incredible! They have been flexible, kind, and curious, with a sense of being up for adventure and willing to try new things in a strange time. I couldn’t hope for better overarching lessons to instill in this time or any other.
What do you think is the value of a humanities education? How has your study/appreciation for the humanities (including through Gaines) impacted your life? Some of my favorites of the humanities’ many objectives are crafting narratives; understanding stories; and, especially, considering the emotions and motivations of other people, past and present. These mindsets have informed my whole life, not just in the work I do as an arts librarian, but in the way I respond to the world. In my opinion, one of the best things about a humanities education is the personal, human, broadly encompassing worldview it can inspire. In addition to helping us understand ourselves, studying the humanities can encourage us to think compassionately about other people, other experiences, and other ways of being in the world.
Finally, do you have any advice, academic or otherwise, for the Gaines Fellows? Advice can range so widely, depending on the time, person, and place! I can think of advice I would have given Gaines fellows in the prepandemic past, and some of it still applies (choose your thesis topic wisely, something in a manageable research scope that you care about in just the right amount—something neither too far from your soul, which can get boring quickly, nor too close to your soul, which can often be paralyzing!). However, in spring 2020, other pieces of advice, like “travel when the opportunities present themselves!”, sound downright outlandish and honestly very sad right now. I have to trust the world will eventually recover from the COVID-19 pandemic, and we will be able to visit new libraries, meet new people, see new places in the world. When that happens, my advice is to embrace the chance! Even in our stay-at-home present, my advice is to say “yes” to that which expands your life and worldview. Read. Read about other people’s experience. These are the things that enrich us. Be well!
Karyn Hinkle was interviewed by Ben Jones (Gaines c/o 2019)