Published on March 17, 2014
First, congratulations to our distinguished student writers for having their papers accepted for publication in Artifacts. I hope that this step is a turning point in the students’ life to write more and more and get other papers published. The decision of selecting these papers to be published out of the huge number of papers submitted was based on academic criteria and guidelines. The decision of selecting the three winners was very hard though I consider that all the 11 students are winners. Having a paper published is the biggest prize, as far as I am concerned. On behalf of the Campus Writing Program staff, we appreciate the generosity of Mizzou Advantage in sponsoring the prizes of $500, $300, and $200 for 1st Place, 2nd Place, and 3rd place respectively.
This issue is distinguished by the papers’ diversity in tackling different topics in areas such as culture, food, science, cinema, music, and arts. These papers highlight different topics that suit almost all audience trends and desires. The writers’ voice is clear in all the papers published, and the papers are informative and discuss important issues. I, for example, was so impressed when I read the papers, which talk about the importance of arts in our life, sent by students who have visited the Museum of Art and Archeology. From these students’ papers, we learn about the role of art in our life. The students’ papers show us how paintings, status, sculptures, and pictures affect human life, not only in the past, but also in the present and future. Thinking of this shows us how we benefit from our ancestors’ experiences, through art, to shape our present and future experiences.
Art provides us with knowledge about our ancestors’ strategies in tackling the challenges they encountered; hence, we improve these strategies to tackle the challenges we encounter in our daily experiences. Art provides us with knowledge about old civilizations. For example, we know about the old Egyptian civilization through painting and carving on the walls and caves. The Pyramids provide us with information about how ancient Egyptians were living 8000 years BC that no other means – but art – might provide. Art in forms of paintings, carvings, sculptures, and status show us how our ancestors were managing their ways of life; accordingly, we shape our ways of life in present and future. Art provides us with knowledge to understand our lives in comparison to our ancestors’ images and perceptions. Thanks to art, human beings reach the most optimum level of civilization and living.