PERSONALIZED ARTS AND HUMANITIES EDU-THERAPY
RE-HUMANIZE YOURSELF IN A DEHUMANIZING WORLD
USING THE THINGS YOU LOVE TO
WATCH, LISTEN TO, PLAY, AND READ
NOTE: THIS IS A WORK IN PROGRESS AND ONLY REPRESENTS THE FIRST DRAFT
GOT QUESTIONS?
(THAT’S A GOOD PLACE TO START)
Do you like movies? TV shows? Music? Games? Books? Poems? Theater? Art?
Want a friend? A mentor? A person who will listen to you? A person who can give advice, or make you laugh? A person who will recommend a good movie to watch— or three? Someone who will listen to your favorite song and suggest seven in return? Someone who will share a good book or short story? Someone who will create a cartoon for you— or maybe a poem? Someone who’ll write a funny essay about you— or a tweet about your favorite food?
If you’ve ever wondered how the things you love could possibly enrich your life more, Crossroads just might be the thing for you.
WHAT CAN WE GIVE YOU?
We can give you all of those things above— and more.
In short, Crossroads provides creative customized, one-on-one relational arts and humanities services at the intersection of culture, therapy, and education— and all online.
Think of it as having a personal fitness trainer— only for your mind and spirit, your thoughts and feelings. And it uses a whole world of movies, music, art, literature, games— all the things you love. We start where you are, and you can take it at your own pace. You might want a one-off challenging and rigorous workout, or some sustained, easy toning.
HOW DOES IT WORK?
Whenever you’re ready, we meet in whatever way you feel most comfortable: video chat, email, phone. Over the course of a meeting or two, we figure out where you are and where you want to go. For your intake we use a combination of industry assessment and professional ascertainment.
Then we curate a path for you using arts and humanities resources, specifically tailored for you and your preferences. No artificial intelligence tracking your consumer habits or inaccessible teacher requiring you to read something without getting to know who you are.
A real flesh-and-blood expert will prescribe some things for you to watch, listen to, play, and read. Then we follow up and share our reflections about the experience. What will likely emerge from that first step is a sense that some skilled, experienced, caring professional is walking along with you and together we can create and explore a path (maybe several) to help you develop more holistically. If you choose to continue, it will have a cumulative effect.
For example, you might like AC-DC, so your path might include listening to The Who’s “Tommy” on Spotify. You might like watching Disney animated musicals, so your path might include watching Miyazaki’s Spirited Away. It may start with “I recommend you play Settlers of Catan, listen to this song by Bob Marley, watch Parasite, and read this short story by Margaret Atwood,” but it will evolve into a deeper, more personal conversation that is playful and enriching.
Explore the different templates you can choose from. Or we can create a brand new one together.
HOW MUCH WILL THIS COST?
How much does a really great meal cost— the kind where you go out and celebrate life with your friends and family? To be more specific, the price point starts at $50-$60, but we offer a sliding scale customized to your financial situation. We’ll find something fair that works for you. (Trust us, we understand struggling to pay for everything! We’re in the arts and humanities. It comes with the territory.)
The next time you buy a brand-new Xbox game, purchase a nice pair of jeans, or pay for a month of cable, just ask yourself how they ultimately helped you to flourish as a full human being.
As much as possible, the resources recommended by Crossroads will be free, and deference will be given to the services you already subscribe to, whether Netflix, Kindle, or Steam.
As with many online transactions, you can pay with Paypal— and getting started is as easy as buying shoes on Amazon.
HOW DO I GET STARTED?
It starts with one step.
Explore the sample tracks here.
WHO ARE WE?
We are inclusive, LGBTQ+ friendly, Black Lives Matter friendly, non-neurotypical friendly, eco-friendly (we’re just plain friendly, ok?), age sensitive, FERPA observant, truth seeking, religiously pluralistic, and in search of nonviolent ethical solutions.
We take a generalist interdisciplinary approach, but our Crossroads associates’ fields of specialization include art, theater, creative writing, education, philosophy, ethics, religion, therapy, cooking, marketing, business, health care, social work, and information technology. We’re mostly teachers and professors who are sensitive communicators with terminal degrees and life experience. In certain cases, the services and advice of these trusted area specialists will be consulted or recommended.
WHAT’S OUR STORY?
Crossroads was created by professor Matthew Dwight Moore, PhD. He holds four degrees in humanities, history, and literature, and works as a freelance artist, writer, and performer. For over 20 years, he has taught over 200 college courses in film, literature, composition, history, geography, and political science at four accredited colleges and universities, and recently won a National Endowment for the Humanities grant to direct two fully online college degree programs in arts and humanities, which he helped create. He has created such popular interdisciplinary courses as the world history of food, gamified fantasy literature, love and romance, and comedy films.
Dr. Moore’s academic writing has been published by University of California Press and Wipf and Stock, and his plays have been professionally staged and produced. He has performed in or helped produce over 50 plays and musicals. He worked for six years as a paid political cartoonist and won an international cartoonist of the year award the year after Charles Schultz, the creator of Peanuts. He managed an art gallery of nearly 1000 works of art in the third largest living history museum in the United States.
Matthew Moore was ordained by the Universal Life Church, which also ordained Sir Paul McCartney, Conan O’Brien, and The Rock. He studied religion and philosophy, volunteers in interfaith community building ventures for homeless families, and has taught extensively at two religious colleges.
His choir performed on stage with Sir Christopher Plummer and officially represented New York State in the French Revolution Bicentennial. His voice can be heard on three professional music CDs. As an award-winning professor, Matthew Moore has traveled to many states and provinces, sharing his original interdisciplinary scholarship on history, literature, film, and politics and has been a member of the American Historical Association, Modern Language Association, American Name Society, and Film and History Society.
After teaching for years in different departments, Matthew Moore eventually realized that his work has a lot in common with what his wife of over 20 years, a licensed master social worker and professional hypnotherapist, had been doing for years— empowering people to live more fulfilling lives. Getting to know students as they learned a general education course in literature, for example, required him to create positive paths from non-majors to the reading material, which often transformed into a kind of therapeutic session for students from all walks of life. This confluence of interdisciplinarity and human diversity inspired Moore to create Crossroads. His wealth of experience in personalizing recommendations and wealth of professional friends helped quicken Crossroads into what it is today.
WHAT’S YOUR STORY?
Since we observe FERPA as a professional standard, we want to get to know you, but will keep your information confidential. It will never be shared online or be given to third parties. But getting to know you is crucial.
Every child is an artist, singer, dancer, or thinker. At some age, most decide to turn away from these creative outlets, but the interest will linger. It’s deep and universal. Crossroads helps you reconnect with those creative outlets in order to live a more fulfilling life.
So much psychological literature suggests that who you become is based on how you tell your story. This is the home of the arts and humanities— a home you have loved since you were a child. Now use the things you love to go where you want to go.
Are you at a crossroads? We can walk along with you, with a catchy song buzzing in our ears, stimulating thoughts to share, and a great story to chat about.
Fantasy Map Blog 