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December 10, 2024

Dear ��ƷSM����ӰƬ Community & Supporters of the CHA,

You are not alone. I was trying to think of the message I most wanted to convey in the final CHA newsletter of 2024, and perhaps I’m telling myself this as much as all of you. We are not alone.

This feeling—of being connected, not alone, and in community with others struck me most powerfully when I visited over fall break. I went for the (breathtaking!) but the piece that I spent the most time with was a multimedia installation by an Icelandic artist, Ragnar Kjatransson’s “.” I’ll share , but the sensation of being in the room, surrounded by screens and music and other museum goers, is something I can’t find adequate words to describe (perhaps if I were a poet). All I can say is that I felt deeply and intimately connected with the sound, the images, the people, virtual and alive, in that room.

I ardently believe that arts and humanities connect us to the humanity within us and to other humans. This is why we are hosting the CHA book club on Ta-Nehisi Coates’ —along with our generous co-sponsors, which you can find . Thank you to everyone —we’ve contacted the people eligible to receive a free book, but if any books remain unclaimed by Friday, Dec 20, we will open up the remaining copies on a first-come-first-serve basis when we return to campus on January 7. We’ll contact everyone who filled out the by Monday, January 6 with the location and time (in-person/zoom) of the book club meetings, so if you want to join the book club .

We’re sending this newsletter on . There are many great causes to support, and we hope you will consider the to be one of those—we’d be honored to receive a gift of any amount today or any day of the year. Feel free to go to our , or email us at cu-cha@colorado.edu to facilitate your giving.

Let me leave you with a quote from one of my favorite novelists, , whose fictional journalist tries to inspire another character to find the courage within himself to do something terribly hard during terribly hard times: “Do,” says Luisa finally, “whatever you can’t not do” (Cloud Atlas 133).

Sincerely,
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Jennifer Ho
Director, Center for Humanities & the Arts

PS. I keep forgetting to mention that this year marks the “Rhapsody in Blue.” Last night I stumbled across by Boston mayor, Michele Wu and an article in WBUR “,” detailing Wu’s path from a 4-year old taking lessons to practicing with the guidance of a Berklee College music professor in preparation for the Boston Pops performance. Wu moved a piano into her mayor’s office so she could play in-between meetings. It’s a reminder that we can always carry the arts we love with us—we don’t have to be professionals, we can make music because we love it, and it fills us with joy.