Bulletin Board of the Brain » The Seattle School/MHGS

Films of Finding Your Voice (without finding a dude)

Kj — Wed, 04 May 2011 01:45:14 +0000

Once again, a faculty member here at MHGS, soon to be renamed The Seattle School of Theology and Psychology, asked me to come up with a list of film recommendations for a class. For this list, the goal was finding films that show a young woman coming into her own voice/coming-of-age. Sounds easy at first until you realize that nearly every coming-of-age story told about a female is actually about her falling in love with a guy. While there are hoards of films about young men stepping into strength of identity without any romantic element, stories that center on a girl’s journey rely almost entirely on linking her self-discovery to being discovered by a male.

Thus, it’s a pretty short list that draws near the hoped-for criteria. Here’s the list & info I sent to the professor. Please submit your suggestions.

Young Women Finding Their Voice/Coming-of-Age Film List

Whale Rider (2002)
Written & Directed by Niki Caro

This is pretty much the pinnacle. I can’t believe I didn’t think of it immediately. It deals with community, faith, tradition and family. The girl’s journey is one of discovery, leadership and living into what she knows to be the truth. Resistance is not necessarily defined as defiance. This is on my list of films that have marked me for life. So beautiful, poetic and visceral.

Whip It (2009)
Written by Shauna Cross, Directed by Drew Barrymore

You* won’t like this movie, but it speaks pretty significantly to the feelings of rebellion that can be helpful in articulating female experience. While the story deals with the culture of women’s rollerderby, which is aggressive and sexualized (in a third-wave feminist kind of way), the film’s victory in my opinion is that it explores issues of rebellion and self-expression in the context of persevering in family relationships, rather than rejecting them. Also, though there is a bit of a romance, it is decidedly not the center of the story.

Girls Rock! (2007)
Directed by Arne Johnston and Shane King

A documentary about a girls-only music camp here in the pacific northwest. I only saw it once a couple years ago, and really liked how it explored the goals for the camp in entering girls’ lives at the critical point where they tend to stop speaking in school and become more reluctant to express themselves. It’s a great documentary (and fun).

The Young Victoria (2009)
Written by Julian Fellows, Directed by Jean-Marc Vallee

This is also in the list of films that have marked me for life. While it is largely about the growing love relationship between Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, it’s essence explores a woman’s struggle to learn whom to trust, and from whom to break free. As a woman who had more power than any woman living at the time, it’s still an intimate portrayal of the challenges of making choices as a woman, and in discovering one’s voice.

Alice in Wonderland (2010)
Written by Linda Woolverton, Directed by Tim Burton

I didn’t love this much, (though I liked it in 3D Imax), but it’s a specific re-framing of Alice in Wonderland as a coming of age story for Alice in the midst of constraining cultural roles. It’s a sequel to the original, so here Alice is a teenager, not a little girl. The fantastical elements & some anachronistic issues make the heroine’s journey a bit dismissible, but I’ve heard it had some great impact for young girls who saw it.

The Secret Garden (1993)
Written by Caroline Thompson, Directed by Agnieszka Holland

Beautiful adaptation of the Francis Hodgson Burnett story, where a little girl, whose neglected childhood has made her bitter, is transformed by hope and relationships, gradually blossoming into tenderness and courage.

*meaning the specific person I was sending this to. You the reader will probably enjoy this film. I did!

My Bookshelves Are Organized By Color

Kj — Mon, 02 May 2011 07:54:59 +0000

Thus, when I receive an email like this from my roommate,

“Do you have any of these?

Plato’s The Symposium
Saint Augustine’s Confessions
Thomas Aquinas Summa Contra Gentiles: God
Rene Descartes Meditations on First Philosophy
Immanuel Kant Prolegomena to Any Future Metaphysics

If so, can i borrow them?
b”

My response turns out like this,

“Pretty sure I still have all of them. feel free to browse the shelves

Plato is on the black shelf with all the Penguin Classics
Aquinas, if I still have him, is on the white shelf. A well-worn copy
Descartes would be with the greens or blues. It’s kind of teal, very thin.
Kant would be on the white shelf and I think it has reddish or burgundy lettering.”

Also, dear roommate, I forgot to mention that Augustine is on the white shelf with the other Oxford World Classics. They have a small red band at the top of the paperbacks.
Enjoy Philosophical Inquiry 1.

Best,
Kj

Enchantment: Living in Magical Reality

Kj — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 05:53:59 +0000

en·chant
–verb (used with object)
1.
to subject to magical influence;
2.
to delight or captivate utterly; fascinate; charm;
3.
to impart a magic quality or effect to;

“Enchantment produces a Secondary World into which both designer and spectator can enter, to the satisfaction of their sense while they are inside.”
–J.R.R Tolkien, ‘On Fairy Stories’

“[The Secondary World] is a place in which transformation can occur; a transformation that does not fade upon reentry into the Primary World, but significantly, casts a new light upon the Primary World. It is, in a sense, a medium of revelation.”
–Kristin Johnson, ‘Tolkien’s Mythopoesis,” Tree of Tales

It is less than two months since I took a fantasy vacation to DisneyWorld and the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. It was a fantasy trip because of the magical, un-looked for generosity that made the trip possible, and now even moreso, because of the enduring enchantment that has continued since my return. I’ve never been a “Disney” person per se, but something deeper and truer than mouse-ears and tween-geared marketing has begun to permeate my world. What was a whimsical trip to a theme park has taken on new meaning in 2011. I’ve become a resident of the Magic Kingdom: not the Magic Kingdom of Orlando—the Magic Kingdom of the Soul.

My ability to take up residence in the Magic Kingdom definitely started in late 2009, when in order to survive the harrowing depths of my final year of graduate school, I became reliant on potent metaphors in order to persevere through impossible tasks and writing of painful words. I was no longer just an MDiv student, I was Hermoine Granger learning with and battling alongside Ginny, Luna, Neville, Ron, Cedric and Hagrid (yes, these are the correlating character identities of my fellow 2010 MHGS MDiv graduates. No one was Harry because we ALL are Harry). I was part of the Fellowship: limping, heavy-laden toward Mordor. I was a Narnian, expectantly awaiting the return of Aslan to bring life where all was cold and dark. These metaphors were not ways of avoiding reality–they were the power to move into difficult and terrifying places, with narrative meaning and life-giving hope. After a year of writing/researching/teaching about the theology of Charlotte Brontë’s fiction and the spiritual power of Mythopoeia, it’s no suprise that my week spent in two physically-constructed fantasy kingdoms would leave me marked with real magic.

Two other enchantment-encouraging factors were that within weeks of my return, I learned that Ian was doing his dramaturgy thesis on audiences’ experience in the narrative environments of Disney rides, and that the three Spiro sisters were spending 2011 watching every single Disney animated feature in chronological order: a Magic Marathon. I was immediately immersed in conversation about the worlds Disney has created, and how we inhabit them. The Disney being talked about was not that of Radio–Disney or 1990’s embroidered Tigger shirts, but the Disney that could take ink and an orchard, and transform the world of imagination forever.

Since coming home, I’ve had a voracious hunger for all things fairy, firefly, castle, starlight and magic. I literally carry a wand in my purse at all times. I’m living proof that a true Secondary World does not fade upon return to the Primary, but instead, transforms everyday life.

What struck me further after watching a documentary on Walt Disney, was that he not only created Secondary Worlds through the myth of his animated fairy tales and stories, but Walt Disney actually BUILT his Secondary Worlds. Tolkien may have written more than three-hundred ages of Middle Earth, but Walt Disney made it possible for us to actually dine in Cinderella’s Castle and fly to Never Neverland. Apparently, Walt would often spend mornings driving the old-fashioned firetruck around Disneyland before opening. He was “playing with his toys,” as his employees would say. He had imagined and created a world he could actually particiapte in: one that we too could enter. It’s a real Secondary World.

And now all of us who have imagined ourselves as Hogwarts students, can now wander through Hogsmeade, wands-at-the-ready, buying candy at Honeydukes on our winter break. (I literally did this!) i know the enchantment is real because my journey into DisneyWorld and Hogsmeade has contiued to grow as I remember and reminisce. When I was there, I kept thinking how sad I would be to leave, but instead, I’ve been able to visit these places in my heart and mind. Here are some of the magical moments and places from my trip now inhabiting my inner landscape:

Leisurely wandering 11 countries in EPCOT’s World Showcase

Hearing Aslan’s voice welcome me as a Queen of Narnia as we stood by the Stone Table in “Journey into Narnia”

Becoming fascinated by Walt Disney’s modernist vision of a future world of progress

Watching an 8 year-old girl being chosen by a wand at Ollivander’s

Watching the Little Mermaid sing live, amidst a shower of bubbles

Millions of dancing Christmas lights on a fictional city street

The taste of Butterbeer and the view from the Hog’s Head Inn

The long, slow, audioanimatronic journey through Spaceship Earth

Co-blogging with Spiro about our Hogwarts journey

Hearing “I Can Go the Distance” amidst fireworks over Cinderella’s Castle on the final night of the trip

What is the Magic Kingdom of the Soul? It’s the capacity to be awestruck with wonder, to watch fireworks with tears in your eyes, to marvel at the early-blooming flowers in your backyard, to be stopped by the sight of the Milky Way as you walk home at night, to be easily surprised and frequently silly. It’s the ability to say YES, PLEASE! to mystery and to allow the knowledge that we are truly made of star-matter to affect our sense of identity.

True enchantment is perhaps this: to be utterly captivated and breath-taken by reality. I love living here.

Bio

Kj — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 08:19:52 +0000

Since September, I’ve been enjoying my side-project curating and editing the blog for Mars Hill Graduate School, recently re-branded as Stories@MHGS. To complete the site, Josué suggested we should add our bios, and further, suggested we write the bios for one another. I was honored and flattered not only that he wanted to write one for me, but that he trusted me with his. I love the result. Reminds me of those old Friendster days. Anyone? Anyone? Bueller?

Check out the new site, and the bio that makes me blush with the pride of camaraderie.

A Blessing & A Prayer

Kj — Thu, 09 Dec 2010 07:16:22 +0000

Today was the final day of BTI 501 Introduction to the Hermeneutical Task at MHGS where I had the honor and privilege of assisting Prof. Dwight Friesen these past four months. Here’s the benediction I offered the students at the end of their first term of graduate school.

A Blessing

A Prayer

May you read dangerously,
listen passionately,
and write with risk

no matter whom you are running from,
where you are hiding
or who is telling you to beware

and when you find yourself face to face with a story that
awakens your desire
or breaks your heart,
unleashes your hope of adventure
or reminds you why you started seeking in the first place

then dive in, steal it if you have to,
and wrestle it for a blessing.

May you be brave, may you be kind,
may you be haunted by the wonder of God’s Kingdom.

Amen

Why Hogwarts Matters to Me

Kj — Fri, 03 Dec 2010 07:57:22 +0000

After a year of living in New York City on theater-intern pay, I had run out of book money. It’s almost physically painful for me to read and not be able to write in the book I’m reading, so purchasing is always my first choice. But, somewhere around Christmas 2004 I applied for a New York Public Library card, and got on the waiting list for every available Harry Potter book. I’d been reading non-fiction for 5 straight years, and if it hadn’t been for lack of funds, I might never have climbed into the wizarding world of Harry Potter. But I did.

The very first thing I noticed as I read was that the books actually made the act of reading seem magical. The stories, which primarily concern students doing their magical homework in an enchanted castle, have the effect of enchanting your own experience of holding the big books in your lap. Reading felt like I was participating in an enchanted world where learning takes on mythic proportions. No wonder this series got non-readers of all ages to start reading.

Another contributing factor to my reading-enchantment was that I was primarily using the Jefferson Market branch of the NYPL. Right where the East Village becomes the West Village is this red brick castle-looking library replete with tower and spiraling marble staircase. Climbing those steps to pick up my copy of “Prisoner of Azkaban,” I couldn’t help but feel solidarity with Harry, Ron and Hermione.

But reading the Harry Potter books was really just background. My real love relationship with this mythopoeic world of Muggles, wintry villages and talking books, came through the film adaptations. I’d seen films 1-3 before reading any of the books. In fact, I never even saw the 2nd film in theater, skipping right onto the third film, which ranks in my Top 10 favorite films of all time. It was seeing “Prisoner of Azkaban” that made me interested in reading the books.

As soon as I owned the first three films, Kim and I practically had them on repeat in the DVD player of our tiny Brooklyn apartment. They became background and atmosphere setting whenever we had crafting projects or decorating to do. Unlike the Lord of the Rings trilogy, which requires ritual, epic commitment and focused attention, the Harry Potter films provide an aesthetic world you can enter and leave at anytime.

While I find sweet comfort and welcome in the enchanted atmosphere of the films, I have found the series’ themes of orphanhood, bravery and trust both challenging and galvanizing. Along with Narnia and the Lord of the Rings, the metaphors of the Harry Potter universe have offered life-giving paradigms through which to view my own experiences, hurts or hopes. Sometimes you need the distance of an epic story to tell the intimacies of your own story.

And it’s largely because of this, that in my last two weeks of graduate school, I found myself fantasizing nonstop about taking a trip to the (then about to open) Wizarding World of Harry Potter theme park at Universal Studios Florida. I went so far as to price all-inclusive resort trips to Orlando that could get me to see Hogwarts as well as DisneyWorld, which I’d never be able to afford. Well little did I know that some amazing friends were working behind the scenes to gather graduation gift money for me to use however I wanted, with the goal for me to be able to rest in a way I’d not been able to do basically since 2006. When I was given this surprise collection of extremely generous graduation money on June 26th, 2010, I knew exactly what to do with it. And when one of those friends mentioned she’d be shooting a wedding at DisneyWorld Resort during the exact week I wanted to go to Orlando and that she was allowed to bring a guest, I was dumbstruck.

So in less than a week, I will set off on my magical, mythical, enchanted, still-can’t-believe-it’s-happening, trip to Hogwarts and DisneyWorld, paid for almost entirely by my friends. I still tear up when I ponder their love and generosity.

Expecto Patronum.

My Other Other Other Job

Kj — Fri, 15 Oct 2010 04:49:45 +0000

As of the start of this Fall trimester, I’m one of the editors for MHGS‘s blog Experience MHGS. As an editor, I’m mostly focusing on generating content by inviting folks to write about what’s going on: collecting stories and storytellers. It reminds me of my favorite part of directing theater: Casting. I love finding the right person for the right role, matching talent to task, as well as searching for those sparkling super stars that are hiding under a bushel.

I’m enjoying working with Josue on a more regular basis, and its nice as an alum to still be keeping my ear to the ground as it were, listening for where life is happening within our walls and in our community.

Check it out.

Jet Bike Steve, Jimmy Fallon and Other Signs of our Changing Textual Identites

Kj — Thu, 07 Oct 2010 05:10:32 +0000

In “Introduction to the Hermeneutical Task” today at MHGS, I got to lecture on some questions that have been buzzing in my brain for quite some time now. I am obsessively curious about and amazed by the changing role of text and author in a culture where, due to blogs and social media, we are now largely the authors of the texts we read. What do the expressive capability of Twitter, Facebook and the like, bring to bear on our perception of “Author” and ourselves as “Reader” and what opportunities might this provide us as interpreters of scripture?

My hope was not to provide application ideas or explore “internet-as-metaphor,” but rather, in a class focused on the art of interpretation, to wonder what about ourselves we might be able to learn through the now ubiquitous presence of free and instant global communication. Does the new social landscape show us something about ourselves that has been obscured significantly since the printing press?

I certainly don’t have answers to these questions, and indeed, I hope the questions themselves are more helpful than the answers one might come up with. But today I finally got to talk about Twitter in an academic setting! I used some examples of new text and content being spawned by Twitter, as well as the displacing of “author”ity due to readers’ presence on the internet. I used an article I really enjoy by Dr. Bridget Cowlishaw, which I was lucky enough to hear her present at this year’s SWTX Popular & American Culture Conference.

Basically, since 2006, the word “text” is officially a verb. We also now live in a world where a 20-something guy can tweet stuff his dad says, and within a year, it becomes a sitcom starring William Shatner. This amazes me, and i believe it merits reflection.

Here’s some presentation images.

Also, here’s a link to an excellent TED talk by Clay Shirky. I used a clip of it as well.

Really Kj? Another Picassa Collage?

Kj — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 06:05:47 +0000

Last week I had my first day as Teaching Assistant for “Introduction to the Hermeneutical Task” at MHGS. Professor Dwight Friesen invited me to introduce myself using any images I might like. I hemmed and hawed, and eventually since it was a class about how we approach and interpret text, I decided to show a collection of the major texts I spent time with this summer. Also, most importantly of all, I put Sofa Square in the center, because, well, Sofa Square is the center of my life. …Or at least the place where i encounter most of my texts- be they DVD, music or book. I love Sofa Square, and I want everyone to know it. I’m not ashamed. Umm.

So here’s what I showed 80 people on their first day of class.
I have no idea what the outcome of this action may be.

Kj’s Corner: Mythopoeia, Monsters and Jesus Oh My!

Kj — Fri, 23 Jul 2010 23:27:10 +0000

For my second Kj’s Corner in “Theology & the Artistic Impulse” I explored the concept of Mythopoeia as described primarily by George MacDonald, JRR Tolkein and CS Lewis. For part of the lecture, (screenshots below) I also used a scene from the documentary Monster Camp (see the trailer below) and the preview for the documentary We Are Wizards (also below), to look at some cultural examples of how we attempt to inhabit the narratives that either enchant our lives or drive us to escape our lives. Thanks again Chelle for the opportunity to teach a bit, and thanks to the class for your gracious engagement and conversation around my little corners.

(This image is “Lucy & the Lampost” by Bridget Beth Collins. I have a copy hanging on my wall.)

Suggested reading on Mythopoeia:

C.S. Lewis: “On Stories” & “On Three Ways of Writing for Children”

George MacDonald: “The Imagination” & Lillith

JRR Tolkein: “”On Fairy Stories” & The Lord of the Rings (duh)

Kristin Johnson: “Tolkein’s Mythopoesis” in Tree of Tales

The Christian Imagination edited by Leland Ryken