the legacy of matthew arnold's idea and how humanities enrich us because they are open to the rest ofhat we have, thought and said your co- -- and said." in today's diverse and global universe, there is still timeless questions. >> i think there are such questions and for example, in some of the veteran programming we have done, we have supported a very unique entity at n.y.u. and they have been using greek tragedy in and with the production, support provided by and for veterans. and it's been very interesting for me to see how timeless those texts are with respect to the issues that veterans are facing. i attended a reading group in maine, funded by n.e.h. through our state group in maine, the maine humanities council in which veterans of three wars were reading "the odyessy.” the book is about coming home from war. and i was again quite struck and pleased by how passionate these participants were about that texan how revealing they felt it was. so there are some dimensions of these timeless attributes of the humanities. but we need to be attentive to the ways in which our current cu

the cultivation of the best of what has been fought and known and the often repeated words of matthew arnold's to the public and where the public actually lives. end quote the current condition of national life. that's also from the legislation. john watson who was an early member of our national council and was an official atlantic public school system expressed this populist impulse in a wonderful way which i love. when he called for the neh quote to broaden the general area of the humanities as the equipment as the equipment of all the citizens. and so for nearly 50 years neh is carried on its work with these twin purposes in mind to ensure leadership in the realm of ideas in the spirit engaging the humanities with the public and with the circumstances of contemporary life. this marriage of what we think of or our might think of as the classical and the pragmatic or the scholarly and popular is not always been easy quite frankly. like many marriages my wife discouraged me from saying most marriages -- [laughter] like many marriages there is experience misunderstanding and even jealousy but

any -- any age cherokees spoke about the two strains of public humanities the legacy of mark matthew arnold's ideas about how humanities enrich us because they are quote the best of what has been thought and said unquote and also william james idea that humanities have a pragmatic purpose to shape quote the conduct of life unquote. in today's diverse and global universe are there still timeless questions? >> i think there are such questions. and for example in some of the veterans programs we have done we have supported a unique entity in new york at nyu called the tukwila theatre project and they have been using great tragedy and end with the production support provided by and for veterans and it's been interesting for me to see how timeless those texts are with respect to the issues that veterans are facing. i attended a meeting group in maine funded by neh there are state humanities council in which veterans of three wars vietnam iraq and afghanistan were reading the odyssey was a scholar from the university of southern main maine map. the odyssey is a book about coming home from war if th

to the cultivation but the best what has been thought and known and in the repeated words of matthew arnoldo the public and where , the public actually lives. " the current conditions of national life." that's also from the legislation. an early member of our national council and was an official in the atlanta public school system expressed this populist impulse in a wonderful way, which i love. when he called for the n.e.h. to broaden the general area of the humanities as the equipment of all the citizens. and so for nearly 50 years n.e.h.'s carried on its work with these twin purposes in mind to ensure leadership in the realm of ideas and in the spirit while engaging the humanities with the public and with the circumstances of contemporary life. this marriage of what we think of or what might think of as the classical and pragmatic or the scholarly and the popular has not always been easy quite frankly. like many marriages, my wife discouraged me from saying most marriages -- [laughter] -- like many marriages, it has experienced misunderstanding and even jealousy. but it's also been enorm

chair you spoke about the two strains of public humanities, matthew arnold's idea and how humanities enrich us because it is what has been thought and said and william james' idea that humanities have a pragmatic purpose to shape quote, the conduct of life, unquote. in today's diverse and global universe are there still timeless questions and conducts? >> i think there are such questions and for example, in some of the veteran programming we have done we have supported a very unique entity at n.y.u. and they have been using greek tragedy in and with the production, support provided by and for veterans. and it's been very interesting for me to see how timeless those texts are with respect to the issues that veterans are facing. i attended a reading group in maine, funded by n.e.h. through our state group in maine, the maine humanities council in which veterans of three wars were reading "the odyessy." the book is about coming home from war. and i was again quite struck and pleased by how passionate these participants were about that texan how revealing they felt it was. so there are s