Midday Culture Connections: Reflections On Courage

It's another edition of Midday Culture Connections, with Dr. Sheri Parks. Today we’re asking the question: what is courage? From sacred texts to screenplays to the daily news, our culture is filled with references to courage as an element of character that makes a person worthy of respect. We see courage in the physical bravery of soldiers and first responders. But courage is also the moral strength to do what’s right, when doing so can be hard, or dangerous.Today, we’ll look for examples of courage in the Central American migrants now suffering at the southern US border…in political leaders who’ve put principle above party…and in victims who’ve found the strength to forgive great wrongs.And we’ll ask: what does courage mean to you?Midday’s senior producer Rob Sivak, sitting in for Tom Hall, is joined today, as we are each month on this series, by Dr. Sheri Parks, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at the Maryland Institute College of Art, and author of Fierce Angels: Living with a Legacy from the Sacred Dark Feminine to the Strong Black Woman. Also with us in the studio is Dr. Ana Patricia Rodriguez. She is an associate professor of U.S-Latino and Central American Literature at the University of Maryland College Park. Dr. Rodriguez left El Salvador as a child when her family emigrated to the United States. She has been closely involved with the immigrant community through her volunteer work as a Spanish interpreter for asylum-seeking migrants, and her work with the children of undocumented immigrant families here in Maryland.This conversation was livestreamed on WYPR’s Facebook page, and you can watch the video here.The audio clip of Eva Kor in today's program was taken from a longer 2015 Google Talk conversation with Eva Kor and Ted Green, director of the documentary ----Eva,---- and moderated by Mike Abrams.Email us at [email protected], tweet us: @MiddayWYPR, or call us at 410-662-8780.