Alas, another week has flown by and so that means another publication the BA is here! If you’re looking for something fun to do next week, there is an event for you. Humanities Homecoming! What is Humanities Homecoming? Well, it is a gathering filled with current humanities students, their favorite history professors, and karaoke! It is on November 13th in the Bank Building. The event will kick off with a procession & bonfire in Logan Gallery at 7:30pm, then at 8pm in the Bank building until 11pm.
This is a soon-to-be-15 year old event where you can also (highly encouraged!) dress up as any decade you want! To give me more insight on this occasion, I had the honor of interviewing Dr. Whitney Leeson about the event! Here’s what she answered.
Q: What has been your favorite part of History Homecoming? Any costumes that have left you astounded?
A: “So I love the dancing. I am all about dancing. I am always amazed at my colleagues Rob Williamham and Jason Hawke. They are the Footnotes, they both sing…to see them perform and sing…I love the karaoke…But I also love the opportunity to see the students in a way we don’t see them in class…There was a guy one time who dressed up as a newspaper boy…somebody dressed up as Martin Luther one time…”
Q: What are the eras of time you see most often?”
A: “The 20s tend to be popular, 70s…60s…50s too. The other one is the Regency era. I assume that’s because…Pride and Prejudice is in their head…and then Bridgerton. Bridgerton helped because…opened that up because they’re playing for fun.”
Q: If someone has never gone, what would you tell them to get excited for History Homecoming?
A: “You don’t need to worry about a costume, you don’t need to worry about doing karaoke, if you just come, you will have fun.”
Q: Do you get to see this event as a way of preserving history for a modern audience?
A: I put this in the category of public history…its not recreating history, not even preserving history in the sense of preserving an outfit, but what you are doing is you are building a little bit of empathy with the past…Even if they are just spending an hour thinking about what someone in 1920 wear and how can I even come close to doing that in terms of costume?.. Any time we can make that kind of connection, it’s a little bit of empathy.”
Q: Of all the historical costumes you see, what is one historical fashion trend you hope makes a comeback?
A: “…Hats…I was just stunned, but…hats would be fun to come back…”
