Two years ago, the National Center for Education Statistics reported that Humanities degrees had declined almost 30% from 2012 to 2020. Surely that explains the precipitous drop in Humanities majors across the country. I checked a number of other rankings and found that English majors in particular and Humanities degrees in general were usually near or at the bottom of initial earning power. That’s where I found the English major on a list of the relative earning power of 159 college majors. Even more important perhaps was the recognition that thinking creatively, embracing critical analysis, asking questions, and reasoning based on all three can not only explain the world, but also change it.īut first you have to start at number 149. My preference - aside from a soft spot for American history and a few good books - was not the Humanities my goals were getting scoops, exposing frauds and hypocrites or creating feature stories that moved someone to laugh, to cry or to act.Įventually, I made an earnest peace with my English major and, by extension, the Humanities, not simply for instilling in me an appreciation of history, literature, languages, philosophy, fine and performing arts, media and culture. While reading, discussing and writing about books and ideas accompanied me in college, I was initially a reluctant participant in the Arts and Letters universe. You can fill in the blanks from there: While poised to be the next Walter Cronkite, I dabbled in the likes of Chaucer, Dickens, Faulkner, Shakespeare, Hemingway, poets from Ginsberg to Giovanni to Alighieri, the usefulness of rhetoric, Melville, Molière, Milton … the roll call a procession of brilliant writers and thinkers, some of whom I actually understood. In those days a journalism major at UNL was automatically also an English major. The reaction I sometimes get to this revelation usually runs along the lines of poverty vows or money wasting, but the backstory to my academic path has some utility. The Parachute Jump is a defunct amusement ride and a landmark in the New York City borough of Brooklyn, along the Riegelmann Boardwalk at Coney Island.By George Ayoub, Nebraska Examiner June 12, 2023 Situated in Steeplechase Plaza near the B&B Carousell, the structure consists of a 250-foot-tall (76 m), 170-short-ton (150 t) open-frame, steel parachute tower. Twelve cantilever steel arms radiate from the top of the tower when the ride was in operation, each arm supported a parachute attached to a lift rope and a set of guide cables. Riders were belted into a two-person canvas seat, lifted to the top, and dropped.
The parachute and shock absorbers at the bottom would slow their descent. The ride was built for the 1939 New York World's Fair at Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, also in New York City. Capped by a 12-foot (3.7 m) flagpole, it was the tallest structure at the Fair. In 1941, after the World's Fair, it was moved to its current location in the Steeplechase amusement park on Coney Island. It ceased operations in the 1960s following the park's closure, and the frame fell into disrepair.ĭespite proposals to either demolish or restore the ride, disputes over its use caused it to remain unused through the 1980s. The Parachute Jump has been renovated several times since the 1990s, both for stability and for aesthetic reasons. In the 2000s, it was restored and fitted with a lighting system. The lights were activated in 2006 and replaced in a subsequent project in 2013. It has been lit up in commemoration of events such as the death of Kobe Bryant. The ride, the only remaining portion of Steeplechase Park, is a New York City designated landmark and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The Parachute Jump is 250 feet (76 m) tall. While at the 1939 New York World's Fair, the Parachute Jump was 262 feet (80 m) tall, having been topped by a 12-foot (3.7 m) flagpole.
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