Experiencing authenticity
To connect and feel
Broadly speaking, there are two types of experts. The first are the academics; these people spend years studying. They read countless volumes, often spanning multiple languages in order to gain a clearer understanding about their subject. Countless hours spent in libraries, conducting interviews, scouring the Internet, and eventually producing quality articles and books which add to a greater understanding and increased factual knowledge.
The second type of expert is the practical expert – those who learn from experience, from the act and the art of going and doing. In a perfect world, inspired individuals can strive to be both knowledgeable in the academic sense, but also present and connected in the practical sense.
My work as a teacher and researcher, along with my devotion to travel and the lived experience, have enabled me to work towards this joint identity, and it is something I try to instill into my students.
Each summer, I along with some devoted colleagues, lead groups of students abroad in order for them to connect and feel connected to the subjects and events we teach about during the academic year.
Wszystkie zdjęcia w tym tekście: U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum
Michael Xiarhos, Salve Regina University