Guest Lecture and Home Church

This morning Andrew braved the "treacherous" road conditions to drive me to Trinity Presbyterian Church in Atlanta. I'm sure the roads were icy somewhere, but I think we saw two little patches of ice the whole way, so we made it to our destination just fine. 

I was so nervous about delivering this lecture, but Andrew reminded me that my audience was there not to tear apart my arguments but to take something away from what I said. They were there to listen and learn, not judge. 

It was actually difficult to decide what to say because although I've presented at eight academic conferences (which isn't a ton, but which is some experience), I have never tried to communicate my research to an audience unfamiliar with the world of literacy research. So I had to lay some groundwork about Rosenblatt's transactional theory of literacy (that a reader brings knowledge with them to a reading encounter, and that no two reading encounters are ever the same because our base of knowledge changes every time we reencounter a text), as well as Rudine Sims Bishop's metaphor of mirrors, windows, and sliding glass doors, which is the basis for how we consider multicultural children's literature today—books can act as a mirror or a window (or sliding glass door) for readers, with some windows/mirrors being easier to locate than others (and we should be pushing for a world in which there is a mirror-text for every child). 

I actually started out by sharing how I had been reading The Little Prince with my kids when I got the invitation to speak—and how Alexander had wanted to dress up as The Little Prince for Halloween.

I used de Saint-Exupéry's opening story about the boa constrictor digesting an elephant to explain how we use our experience to interpret things that we encounter, sometimes mistaking a boa constrictor digesting an elephant...

...for a hat.

And Gene Luen Yang published a comic in the New York Times in 2016 talking about Rudine Sims Bishop, so I was able to share that as well (which was perfect because I was talking about graphic novels).

So I laid all of that groundwork and then talked about what graphic novels are, admitting that there was a time that I didn't understand the value of them in the world of literature (considering them to be fluffy and not worth my time). But I have mended my ways, folks! 

I told the story about how I once told Grandpa (Reid) that I had picked up some graphic novels from the library and he just about fainted because he thought I mean, like, naughty books—explicit books—but what I meant was a "book told in images." 

For that I used this little page I made while I was working on my thesis (though it didn't make it into my thesis). I also had the audience turn to each other narrate what was happening in the top two pictures to each other to...illustrate...how graphic novels involve the reader in the narrative of the story. So while in a book that is solely text the reader has to, perhaps, visualize what is happening in the story, in a graphic novel the reader has to do some of the work of narration. They have to explain to themselves what is happening in the pictures, what is happening between the pictures, and that script is going to be individualized for each reader (which is kind of cool).  

And then I talked about some rather complex religious scenes in Shannon Hale's Real Friends series and Christina Soontornvat's The Tryout, which I felt was appropriate since Shannon Hale and I were both raised in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and Christina Soontornvat was raised attending Presbyterian (and buddhist) services. 

I ended by challenging the audience to look for windows and mirrors in various texts—and to try out some graphic novels so that they can discuss things like the instances of inter-religious conflict that I highlighted with their own children and grandchildren. Or—better yet!—gets some recommendations from their own kids (I shared that Zoë had recently asked me to read The Girl Who Sang after she had finished with it; it's a holocaust survivor story and it was beautifully done).

And then I fielded questions—there were some good ones asking me more about the windows/mirrors metaphor, asking what bright spots I see in the publishing world in regards to diversity, and so forth. 

Afterwards several people came up to talk to me. One man said that he studied sequential art in college, but that he didn't realize there were now graphic novels for young readers—and it's true! That's a newer thing! Many older graphic novels were considered for older readers (think Maus and Persepolis), but graphic novels are really taking off as a medium for younger readers. Another was a high school English teacher who said they'd always avoided graphic novels in their classroom but were now reconsidering that...so were going to look for some that might go along with their curriculum. 

And all of that was wonderful to hear! 

I don't know that I shared anything completely earth shattering, but I was able to introduce a new way of thinking to a few people, and that's a good thing!

I admit that it was rather nice getting to speak in a religious space—the meeting opened with a beautiful prayer, and I was able to talk more freely about the ways religion influences how I read texts. While I felt I had to explain quite a lot of the literacy theory (which I might not do in an academic presentation, where I would simply refer readers to the theory with a simple sentence or two), I felt I was able to simply drop in a few scriptures here and there in my presentation (which I wouldn't typically do in an academic presentation, at least not with a little more explanation). So, I was able to say that the framework I was offered as a youth to evaluate media and literature came from Paul's words to the Philippians...and I could basically be assured the audience understood precisely what I was referring to. So that was nice!

Anyway, I think it went well. 

(Andrew would tell you positively that it did go well). 

Mostly I'm glad it's over so that I can focus on other things that I need to do. 

But it was good to experience something like this—these 40 minute presentations are tough! A lot of conferences only require something between 10 and 20 minutes for a presentation and it can be difficult to condense a research project into that short an amount of time...but how does one stay interesting for 40 minutes to an hour?! It was a lot to consider, that's for sure! 

I have another conference later this month (a 15 minute presentation), and another one next month (a 40 minute time slot, but I'm doing more interactive learning during that presentation so it won't just be me talking the whole time). 

*****

We stopped by someone's house on the way home from this speaking engagement to pick up some Bluey magnatile toys (from the Buy Nothing Group). Phoebe was so excited about them! Zoë followed the instructions to put it together.

The kids had built an entire Bluey village by the time Grandpa arrived for home-church, connecting all the various Bluey houses we have with magnatile roads. They built a bus stop, a few extra houses out of magnatiles, and all kinds of things. I wish I had taken a picture before we cleaned up...but I didn't. 

They were missing the little triangle pieces for the swing set, but the triangles from our magnatiles fit with it just as well.

We had our own little church services with Grandpa, spending some time to talk about what a testimony is, and practicing sharing our testimony about something. It mostly went well, though the kids (and adults) couldn't stop cracking jokes about underwear, thanks to the jargon our family has developed to talk about spiritual thoughts. Zoë was the first to say that a testimony is like an underwear thought. 

Andrew said that bearing one's testimony is akin to giving an underwear thought.

Benjamin clarified that a testimony is what one's faith consists of. 

Oh, and we sang The Creation again. Zoë has been learning the piano part and chooses it anytime she gets to choose a song for anything so that she can play it while we sing and I keep meaning to record it for my mom...and then forgetting to. 

One day if I forget...and then remember...and then forget...and then remember...and then forget...and then remember...eventually I will land on a remembering moment while the going is good and will be able to record it. 

It will happen...eventually.