There’s no doubt about it now. Our glorious Central New York fall is upon us. Mornings are crisper, and the dark of evening comes earlier each day. Reflecting on this steady diminishing of daylight, and the ways that we instinctively seek light in times of natural and human-made darkness, I was struck by the appropriateness of October being National Arts and Humanities month.  

Indeed, experiencing or expressing the richness of the human experience creates a warmth and brightness in our lives. And as Professor George Saunders G’88 writes in his new essay on pop singer Dua Lipa’s service95.com website, “Art puts us in touch with this better part of the mind and reminds us that it exists, and that our capacity for understanding and forgiveness and ambiguity is greater than we might think.” 

All this is to say that now is the perfect time to explore the therapeutic and community-building benefits offered by creative pursuits. Slow down to do some writing, painting or music. Visit the SU Art Gallery to broaden your perspective. Or bring more light into your work with one of many A&S-related resources or events. Consider: 

• Making use of the digitized collections of the Art, Ecology, and Climate Project in your teaching or class assignments. Co-curated by Prof. Mike Goode and the Syracuse University Art Museum, each of the fifteen online galleries (e-museums) is devoted to a different ecological topic, idea or issue. 
• Hearing from boundary-pushing artist Eduardo Kac at this year’s Wali Lecture. In the early 1980s, Kac created digital, holographic and online works that anticipated today’s global culture of information, and later coined the term “bio art,” launching a new art form.
• Working with our Engaged Humanities Network (EHN) to help address educational and economic inequity in the Syracuse metro area. Since its founding four years ago, 300+ faculty, staff and students have worked with 35 community-based organizations. You can too.

These are just a few ways you can nurture your spirit and scholarship this month. In doing so, you will surely bring healing and healthy light to our shared world, too. Happy National Arts and Humanities Month!