QC community interacts with Holocaust survivors through virtual reality
The Quad Cities community has a chance to see history from a different perspective.
'Learning history is not something that is static,' said Trevor Meyers, Muscatine Community College's student engagement and residential life coordinator.
Muscatine Community College is offering the 'Journey Back: A Virtual Reality Experience' exhibit, which is open to the public.
'I thought that was pretty neat that we have technology like that now,' said Karlee Harris, a Louisa-Muscatine High School student.
'Journey Back' is an exhibit made possible through virtual headsets provided by the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center.
In total, there are five different films that cover the stories of various Holocaust survivors.
'It brings something to life and preserves these stories for posterity for years to come for when there are no more people that survived the Holocaust,' Meyers said. 'In each of these five films, it is a 360-immersive technology so you can look up, down, left, right, and all around you. You will see a video, pictures, or film.'
For Harris, the virtual reality experience was eye-opening.
'I thought it was pretty interesting that we were actually able to see it and visually learn, since not everyone is a textbook reader and can be like, 'Oh, that's what happened,'' Harris said. 'We can see it now, we can see how people felt, how they acted, and how basically their lives were transformed by this one event in history.'
'All of these survivors are at least 80 years or older, and so unfortunately that means every day we are losing these stories because they are passing away,' Meyers said. '(By learning) from a survivor you become a carrier of their legacy.'
Muscatine Community College will continue to host the exhibit until May 2, and it is free to attend.
To learn how to get tickets, click here.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Tom's Guide
10 hours ago
- Tom's Guide
Marvel Animation debuts first episode of 'Eyes of Wakanda' — and it's got a surprising cameo
Marvel's "Eyes of Wakanda" animated spin-off from the "Black Panther" franchise arrives on Disney Plus in just a few short weeks, but audiences at the Annecy Animation Festival got a special sneak peek of the first episode on Monday. Director Todd Harris introduced the episode, titled 'Into the Lion's Den,' before a Q&A session on June 9. It's the first of four 30-minute-long episodes in the series, which spans Wakanda's 3,000-year-old history to spotlight some of the nation's bravest warriors. Harris, a long-time Marvel Studios storyboard artist who worked on "Black Panther" and its sequel, said the show follows an "anthology" adjacent format." "We have the spark or impetus for the show: someone takes something that doesn't belong to them and like any person or institution, they make a concerted effort to get it back,' Harris told the audience via a Marvel press release. 'Wakanda is a 3,000-year-old society,' he continued. 'They have a very succinct self-identity, and they are preserving that. We get the chance to see the persistence and character of Wakandans. The premise of the show is: What's the kind of culture that builds the Black Panther? You see this even in their generals, their sergeants, everyday citizens.' The show's first episode opens in Crete in 1260 B.C. with a Wakandan general (voiced by Cress Williams) who abandons his post to run a band of pirates. When he steals the nation's top-secret technological treasures to forge his own kingdom, a disgraced former Dora Milaje named Noni (voiced by Winnie Harlow) sets out to bring him to justice. As she braves the seas and brawls her way through the tyrant's henchmen, she uncovers the Hatut Zaraze, a Wakandan secret service tasked with retrieving stolen Vibranium artifacts. "Eyes of Wakanda," which premieres on Disney Plus on August 6, unfolds over different eras as Hatut Zaraze agents track down stolen artifacts throughout history, offering an unprecedented look at Wakanda's history. Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips. 'Everybody in Wakanda is like a physicist… you see their patience over centuries to see work, that they will never be able to see get finished but they believe in their mission as a culture, to see this work through," Harris said. "So we kind of hopscotch through time, as we see these people pursue the goals of their country, which is to preserve the secret of their technology and who they are.' Notably, Harris revealed during the Q&A that Marvel characters we know and love will make appearances throughout the show, including Iron Fist, the subject of Netflix's spin-off series of the same name and a member of "The Defenders." The "Iron Fist" show failed to impress fans, with many criticizing how Danny Rand's iteration rarely used his titular powers. Controversy also surrounded the character embodying "white savior" tropes, fueled in part by a white actor being cast in the role of a martial arts superhero. Those problematic elements aside, "Eyes of Wakanda" marks a chance for Marvel to take the backlash to heart. And it seems like Harris has a distinctive vision for the character. "The only thing I can tell you, which is what I was told to be able to tell you, is there will be an Iron Fist in here, and not the Iron Fist you'd expect," Harris said. The character's legacy spans over a century in the comics, making the anthology format an ideal way for the MCU to revive Iron Fist and broaden his on-screen story.
Yahoo
15 hours ago
- Yahoo
How the best friends and stars of '1000-lb Roomies' forged their 'unbreakable bond'
When they first met, Nesha Harris noticed one thing about her future roommate and best friend, Jasmine 'Jaz' Wallace: She seemed to 'mother hen' everyone around her. 'I started wanting to beat up people, you know what I mean?' Harris told Yahoo Entertainment with a laugh, ahead of the debut of the pair's new TLC show, 1000-lb Roomies. 'Like, to defend her.' Nobody was taking advantage of Wallace per se, but as Harris remembers it, everything seemed to descend into chaos on the rare occasions when she needed time to herself. Now that they live together as best friends, Harris says, 'I'll tell [Jaz's] daughter all the time: 'Your mom's the real adult.'' 1000-lb Roomies, which premiered on June 3, follows Wallace and Harris's lives in Riverside, Calif., where they live with Wallace's 10-year-old daughter, Nana. The friends first connected thanks to Instagram during the pandemic, after Harris decided to make a personal page separate from her own businesses as a makeup artist and home baker. She'd met a few women through social media, and one of them invited her to Wallace's Zoom group chat. It didn't take long before they found themselves chatting every single day, all day, Wallace says. 'While she was at work, she would literally have her headphones in, and we're just on the phone, talking the whole time,' Wallace says. As they got to know each other, they realized how much they had in common, right down to their birthdays, which are only one day apart. 'We've been through a lot of similar things in life,' Wallace says. 'She was who I spoke to when I felt down, when I felt happy. Every feeling that I had, I spoke to Nesha.' After about a year of online friendship, the duo met in real life when Harris's mother went out of town. 'She was like, 'I'm coming to get you,'' Wallace recalls. ''We're gonna hang out at my mom's.'' During the visit, she enjoyed the best sleep she'd ever had because she felt unburdened by stress. Soon after, when Wallace, who is a social media model, needed help with a shoot, she naturally called Harris — who, in addition to working as a makeup artist, is an experienced photographer. They started spending more time together in person, including a weekend in a palatial Airbnb in Temecula, Calif., with all of their friends. About a year later, the two decided to take things to the next level and move in together. Coincidentally, it was right around that time that Harris heard from TLC about starring in a reality show. At first, Harris wondered if the producers who reached out to her were running some sort of scam. She was still new to what she calls 'fat girl modeling,' and Wallace was still showing her the ropes — including how to spot the difference between legitimate job opportunities and spam. Looking at the TLC outreach, Harris thought, 'This can't be real.' But Wallace encouraged her to pursue it with a fair question: What's the worst that can happen? As it turns out, the team loved them both. When Harris and Wallace shared with producers that they were moving in together, moving forward with a show was basically a done deal. 'After that,' Harris says, 'the roomies were born.' Both women are major fans of the network. Harris says she's watched the bulk of TLC's programming, from 90 Day Fiancé to Jon & Kate Plus 8, while Wallace still has fond memories of watching My 600-lb Life with her mother. In preparing for their own show, which would show off their friendship while following their health journeys, they wanted to shine a light on their community as well. 'We wanted to showcase where we're from,' Wallace says, including the 'beautiful, strong Black women [who are] in our lives. Black businesses.' Equally important to both Wallace and Harris was making sure that their joy came through onscreen as well. 'Just because we're big don't mean we can't be happy,' Wallace says. 'Just because we're big don't mean that we can't dress up and get beautiful. It doesn't mean that we can't take care of ourselves. It doesn't mean that we can't keep a clean house.' The producers of 1000-lb Roomies fully supported its stars' requests, and the two have since come to think of the show's team as family. 'I definitely have a new respect for anybody that ever showed their face on camera,' Harris says, 'because when you're at home watching, you have no clue [about] all the work.' As positive as the experience of bringing their lives and weight loss journeys to television has been, it's also been as intense. As Harris points out, they've embarked on an emotional journey that can be difficult even behind closed doors — let alone in front of an audience. 'You have to touch subjects that we probably haven't talked about since we were little kids, and to bring up childhood traumas, and why we got to this point and this size in the first place,' she says. 'It's emotional.' The show's premiere offers viewers a preview of what's to come, as Wallace struggles with mobility issues during a family trip to the pool. When Harris coaxes her friend into a trip to the beach, she fears how people might look at and treat her and decides to stay in the car. And when a friend shows Wallace a life expectancy calculator that suggests she might only have a few years to live if she does not change her lifestyle, she becomes terrified of what the loss would do to Nana. It's then that she decides to look into weight loss surgery — a journey Harris supports but, at least at the start of the series, does not want for herself. Wallace likens the entire TV journey to ripping off a Band-Aid. 'You basically have to heal on camera,' she says. The good news? She and Harris are both strong by nature. When they finish a scene and notice crew members crying, she says, they'll often be the ones pushing production to keep going. In talking with these best friends, it's easy to see the strength and comfort they've found in one another — and not just because they're both Scorpios. For both women, this friendship has offered a new level of understanding and support. They can see and hold one another in ways each of them had not experienced before. 'I have siblings, but I lost a sibling young, and my other siblings, I don't talk to at all, so it's really cool,' Harris says. 'I've never experienced having a sister, and we can share clothes.' For Wallace, the friendship feels like the first time she's been truly supported. Although Harris had made sure earlier in the interview to avoid putting words in her friend's mouth, Wallace, the perpetual mother hen, went ahead and said it: Harris became 'one of the first friends I ever had that made me feel like she wasn't using me. Everything just felt so genuine with her.' At the end of the day, Wallace says, she appreciates what she and Harris have, 'just being able to vibe with each other, laugh with each other, cry with each other, be there for each other, defend each other.' Like any roommates, they 'do get on each other's nerves,' Wallace admits. But at the same time, she says, they know each other well enough to know when one of them is having a bad day and needs a little extra empathy. Each of them has bonded with the other's family, and most importantly, Nana loves and adores Harris — which is crucial because 'I don't let anybody around my child,' Wallace says. The pair share what Wallace calls an 'unbreakable bond.' We should all be so lucky to find that kind of friendship.
Yahoo
19 hours ago
- Yahoo
King ‘told Conclave author he watched papal selection film'
The author of the hit novel turned Oscar-nominated picture Conclave said the King revealed to him that he has watched the film. Robert Harris, 68, was formally made a CBE by Charles for services to literature in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace on Tuesday. Harris said it was 'eerie' and 'like an out of body experience' to see his 2016 book turned into a film, and then to see the papal selection process which he had researched in so much detail play out in May after the death of Pope Francis. '(It was) very odd, I suppose because I researched it very thoroughly, and really it's the sort of thing that can practically only be done in fiction because you have to have a lot of conjecture,' Harris told the PA news agency. 'And so it acted as a kind of primer for journalists and for people, so that was very strange. 'And then, of course, the extraordinary fact that the new pope watched it on the eve of the conclave.' Pope Leo's brother John Prevost told NBC News his younger sibling had watched the film before the secret vote. Harris said the King also asked about his new book. 'We talked a bit about Conclave, which he has seen,' Harris said. 'He's been reading my books for years, so it was nice to see him again.' The journalist-turned-novelist also joked about how seeing the inside of Buckingham Palace could provide him inspiration for his future books. 'There'd have to be some mystery in the throne room, yes, murder in the throne room! It's got possibilities.' Harris said it was a 'very generous gesture' to receive the honour and he had 'never thought about it' before being asked. Author Dame Jacqueline Wilson was made a Dame Grand Cross for her services to the same industry at the ceremony. The 79-year-old former children's laureate is widely known as the creator of Tracy Beaker and has written more than 100 novels. 'It feels like a dream,' Dame Jacqueline said on receiving the honour. 'I'm so pleased, so proud. 'I was just totally taken by surprise. To be utterly truthful, I didn't even know this particular honour existed. I'm so proud and so overwhelmed. 'If little girl Jacqueline could be told that I'd be standing outside Buckingham Palace with medals and a sash, she would have been astonished.' Dame Jacqueline said the King was 'jovial' and they laughed about getting her sash on over her 'silly hat'. 'And I did thank him, and particularly also thanked Her Majesty the Queen, because she takes such an interest in children's literature, and that makes all of us writers feel very pleased,' she said. Last year, Dame Jacqueline released her first adult novel since the 1970s as she returned to her beloved Girls series. The novel, Think Again, was nominated at this year's British Book Awards.
