Striving for Truth, Beauty, & the Good

Choosing the Light

I was teaching when the assassination of Charlie Kirk was reported. I ended my Shakespeare class by telling my students to be kind, stay safe, and condemn all political violence. It was a fine and true thing to say, something I sincerely believe, but after the last few days of monitoring the sheer amount of rage, vitriol, and despair, I did begin to wonder if it was too trite. 

When I was an undergraduate and graduate student at BYU, I took a few Shakespeare classes from the late Brandie Siegfried. Dr. Siegfried was an absolutely brilliant and incredible professor, and one of her main teaching focuses was helping us recognize Truth, Beauty, and the Good not only in Shakespeare’s works but in our lives. She expected academic excellence with the earnest purpose of helping us become better scholars and more virtuous people.

In 1865, John Wilkes Booth, a well-known Shakespearean actor, assassinated Abraham Lincoln. Booth had become obsessed with Brutus, as characterized in Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar, and seemed shocked that his murder of President Lincoln was met with near universal condemnation. Before he was captured he wrote in his journal that he was “being hunted like a dog . . . for doing what Brutus was honored for.” If you’ve read Julius Caesar you know that Booth was missing the mark or even the “main message” of this play. While Shakespeare does portray Brutus empathetically, Brutus’s assassination of Caesar results in political chaos, is broadly reviled, and leads to Brutus’s suicide at the end of the play. Julius Caesar, like many of Shakespeare’s plays, contains much of Truth, Beauty, and the Good. But it is a tragedy when people like Booth instead choose to identify with and perpetrate what is ugly, untruthful, and wrong. 

Literature and rhetoric–both in their creation and interpretation–can help us and our students to see more clearly and practice discernment. When political violence happens so close to home, when the ugliness of our country’s disunity feels overwhelming, when outrage and violence are touted over honest discourse, we, as teachers of rhetoric, writing, and literature, can offer something of great value to our students.

President Nelson’s beautiful and prophetic 101st birthday message in Time Magazine stated that “If we embrace these eternal truths—honoring our own worth, treating others with dignity, and nurturing our families—our lives, and our world, will be steadier and more joyful.” In addition to your efforts in your own homes, you are also teaching students how to discern Truth, Beauty, and the Good and to create arguments that respect their own and others’ dignity. I know that so many of you are striving to model constructive discourse in your classrooms. You are teaching students to engage in critical thinking accompanied by both spiritual and logical discernment. You are teaching that honest discourse is always preferable to, and can in fact alleviate violence and hate.

I have been heartened by the conversations on the Adjunct GroupMe about how you are handling this tragedy in your classrooms. Thank you for extending love and understanding to your students, many of whom witnessed this terrible act of violence first and second-hand. Thank you for bearing your testimony of the power of turning to Christ. Thank you for giving space to your students to discuss their reactions and thoughts. Also, thank you for doing what you were already doing before this tragedy: teaching your students to engage in empathetic, constructive, and thoughtful argumentation and dialogue. 

I am so grateful for powerful teachers like Dr. Siegfried who taught me to love Shakespeare, literature, and beautiful rhetoric but who also encouraged me to use discernment to discover what was actually right and powerful about those texts. There will always be people who use their agency to identify with what is ugly and wrong in the world, but you can encourage your students to find and love the light. I am so grateful for your perspective, strength, and persistence during this time. What you are doing in the classroom is not trite and matters immensely. 

Adjunct Book Club

This semester we’ll be reading Provocations of Virtue by John Duffy and meeting Thursday, November 6th at 11 am in 4186 JFSB. If you’d like a copy of the book please fill out this form by Monday, September 22. Hope you can make it!

Upcoming WTW

This semester’s Writing Teacher Workshop (WTW) will be held November 13 at 11 am in B106 of the JFSB. Brian Jackson and Shannon Stimpson will report on the new Inquiry Unit (the braided essay assignment!) and how it went.

A Zoom Writing Group?

Last semester we had a small, in-person adjunct writing group that was really quite delightful. This semester I’m thinking of trying out a Zoom writing group to see if that makes it easier for more people to get involved. If you are interested in participating in a Zoom writing group this semester, please reach out to me via email and let me know what times would work for you!

College of Humanities Events

Hopefully you are receiving the Humanities Newsletter! While there are many events that may be useful to you, of particular interest is the roundtable the College is hosting on Teaching with AI on October 9 from 3-4:30 pm in 4010 JFSB. Click here to subscribe to or see the Humanities Department newsletter in its entirety.

Stuff for your calendar

OCTOBER

• Thursday, October 9: Humanities Department AI Roundtable from 3-4:30 pm in 4010 JFSB.

NOVEMBER

• Thursday, November 6: Adjunct Book Club @ 11 am in 4186 JFSB

• Thursday, November 13: WTW Workshop Inquiry Report @ 11 am in B106 JFSB.

• Monday, November 24: Withdraw Deadline