Introduction

When reading through the list of choices of NEH Seminars and Institutes, I paused and was intrigued by this one:  Literatures, Religions and Arts of the Himalayan Region. I’ve been curious about the religions for years, love mountains, had thoughts of Shangri-La, and wondered about their folktales and if I could create plays for my elementary students to continue my pursuit to teach them about the world via Theatre.

This website was created as a result of my profound experiences at the 2011 NEH Summer Institute: Literatures, Religions and Arts of the Himalayan Region in Worcester, MA.
http://www.neh.gov/projects/si-school.html
http://college.holycross.edu/projects/himalayan_cultures/

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I teach Theatre Arts in an elementary school located in Austin, TX with a population of about 750 K-5 students in the 2011-2012 year. They attend PE every other day all year. On the other days, they attend music, theatre, and art, each for a third of the year. So, when broken down, the students have each of the three fine arts subjects the equivalent of 50 minutes every day for six weeks.

Through the years, in my quest to teach students about people in other times and places through theatre, I’ve introduced plays/tales from Africa, Japan, Shakespeare, and more. Now I can include the folktales, myths, and Jataka tales of the Himalayas. Jataka tales are the stories of the Buddha in his previous incarnations -- including those as animals. (Several books are listed on my resources page.)




This NEH Institute has FAR exceeded any expectations I had had. Though I had read the syllabus, schedule of lectures and presenters, workshops, and readings, I did not realize the depth, quality and quantity of the lecturers, expert presentations, and information included. Experts were flown in, not only from all over the U.S., but from Paris, Nepal, and Tibet which included published authors, specialists, and a Buddhist monk. Holy Cross College was an excellent and welcoming host.  We learned in a month what, if you were lucky, you could learn in a year or more of college and it would probably only have one local professor.

THANK YOU NEH!
THANK YOU HOLY CROSS COLLEGE!
THANK YOU PROFS. LEWIS AND VAN DER KUIJP!!!


This institute has and will continue to truly change my life

and will also change the understanding and depth of my teaching.

"Before enlightenment, chop wood, carry water.

After enlightenment, chop wood, carry water." (zen proverb)