Dr. Ben Vinson III is the provost and executive vice president of Case Western Reserve University, as well as a prominent advocate for the humanities. But... what are "the humanities," anyway, and why do they matter? Along the way to answering this question, Dr. Vinson discusses his passion for Latin American history, what college administrators do for a living, why we need to integrate rather than divide the sundry areas of human inquiry, and, of course, Venezuelan soap operas.