Convention Season: In Which I Feel Validated (or The-Book-Which-Must-Not-Be-Named)

Witches, Wizards, and Wands, Oh My! A Parent's Guide to Fantasy, Fiction, and Faith - Adam Andrews

A chance to hear my favorite convention speaker, Adam Andrews, is so welcome! I always leave his seminars motivated to go and teach literature RIGHT! He makes it seem so easy. 

Adam and his wife Missy are the directors of CenterForLit which "offers curriculum materials, online classes, live teacher-training, and parent-teacher support networks, all dedicated to helping readers understand and revel in the beauty of classic books." My friend Darlene and I are teaching a high school literature class this fall using their materials.

Beginning the seminar, Adam acknowledged that some may be attending looking to vilify fantasy literature and some may be attending hoping to validate their literature choices. 

A realization that Adam had while playing golf: We are all just struggling to make par (just good enough) in life. We need to "raise our eyes to the hills and look for help." In other words, our peace must come from God's provision, rather than our efforts at par.

When Adam was with a good friend, he began telling him of this enlightenment he had while playing golf. But the buddy interrupted, saying how much he hates golf. Adam told him not to change the subject.

Yes, this relates to literature! The point of reading is to join a discussion with the author. Metaphorically, ask the author, "What do you want to talk about today?" and then don't change the subject. 

Sit still, pay attention, and don't change the subject. It's rude to change the subject. Instead, recognize which discussion the author is having in the work of literature.

How to we find out the author's real theme? Identify the essential issue by asking the essential questions. 

Adam then related the story of an ancient king in search of wisdom regarding a war. The king's trusted advisor was dead, so he went in search of answers. Since he had driven all magicians from the land, he had to go far and in disguise, looking for a witch who could put him in touch with the spirit of his dead advisor. Having finally found a woman to call forth the spirit, he listens to the voice of his dead advisor who berates him and tells him he will lose the upcoming battle. The next day, the prophecy comes true and the despairing king takes his own life.

Let's ask the essential questions. 

What does the king want? Power, control, independence from the gods.

What kind of conflict does this story show? At least, Man vs. God and Man vs. Self.

But an additional thing to consider is that the supernatural element in this story is incidental to the plot. This is not a story about the evils (or benefits) of witchcraft. The supernatural element here is a symbol of rebellion. This is a story about a power struggle, a rebellion against God, about human frailty. This is what we see when we look carefully and ask the right questions.

In case you didn't recognize the story, it is a story from the Bible, found in 1 Samuel 28. The king is Saul. 

Saul and the Witch of Endor Benjamin West

A human being is a supernatural being. So, the supernatural or the occult in art (including literature) should not be surprising. It's actually more surprising when it is absent, such as in The Hunger Games series. Materialistic art (with the absence of the supernatural) is the real sign of the decay of a civilization.

Adam referred to C.S. Lewis stating that the world must be re-mythologized before it can be saved. (I cannot find this original quote, so if anyone knows it, please comment.)

We have been taught that a myth is something that is not true. However, another way to define a myth is that it is larger than life and usually as true as true can be.

Salvation is a miracle. Minds and hearts that know the spiritual can hear the word of God. Recognizing the supernatural prepares our hearts for the other-worldly heart of Christ.

The crucifixion of Jesus Christ is an occult bargain, hidden from the eyes of the materialistic. 

We need to recognize the universal urge put within us by God to "raise our eyes to the hills" where our hope comes from.

Develop a spirit of empathy rather than judgment when reading. 

At this point, Adam opened the floor to questions from the audience. Here are some excerpts from that Q&A.

In all great books, the setting is tangential to the theme. However, issues of setting *can* be a concern. 

Finally, someone asked about the book which must not be named, which Adam referred to several times in the talk. Adam recommends that we have the conversation with J.K. Rowling that she wants to have in the Harry Potter series.

Uncle Tom's Cabin and The Aeneid were mentioned as books that were seen as dangerous by the public at the time of their publication.

I asked Adam: How do you handle objections from parents to specific works of literature in a homeschool co-op setting? He recommended discussing the Socratic List (of essential questions) with the parents. Tell them that the best hope for our students is to teach them to be good readers and teach them *how* to read. (Not phonics, but discernment, is what I assume he meant looking at my notes now.)

He quoted someone as saying, "Every story is a bridge to the gospel." (I didn't catch the name.)

Someone asked about the addictive nature of some book series which then makes the classics seem boring. Adam answered that when they have been taught *how* to read, a good book will delight them and a bad book will repel them.

I highly recommend the audio of this talk, since this recap can barely scratch the surface of what Adam was communicating. If I find a link to it, I will post it. It would be worth the download fee!

Attending the Con

Have you ever been to a homeschool convention? Since this is a homeschool blog, chances are good that you have! I've been to quite a few.

Well, this past weekend, our family visited our first Comic Con - Motor City Comic Con near Detroit. "Con" stands for 'convention' and this event is a comic book/pop culture mecca. Attending a comic book convention has been David's dream for a while and he asked if we could go together as a family. So, we made it his "senior trip".

Imagine a huge vendor hall (a la the homeschool convention) filled with booths selling comic books (instead of workbooks), action figures (instead of manipulatives), art prints (instead of maps), and t-shirts (instead of.... oh wait....). Instead of the homeschool "celebrities" like Steve Demme, Andrew Pudewa, and Susan Wise Bauer, you can meet actors and comic book artists.

Unlike the homeschool convention, many attendees choose to dress up as a favorite character. My son worked for months on a suit of Halo 4 armor (Master Chief) and my daughter dressed up as Hermione Granger (from Harry Potter). The rest of us just wore our geeky tee-shirts. (Mine were Iron Man, Loki, and Firefly.) We saw all kinds of cool costumes - Doctor Who, Darth Vader, Transformers, Star Trek, Batnan, Ghostbusters, Chewbacca, Black Widow, Jack Sparrow, Thor, Loki, and Iron Man. We asked quite a few of them for pictures. (Click the link for an album of the best photos.) David met several other Halo warriors like himself, but I liked David's costume the most.

Speaking of the Master Chief costume, this was a huge hit at the con. We had barely walked in the door when people started requesting photos. "Master Chief! Master Chief!" was a common refrain. Once someone stopped him for photos, then others would continue to ask and sometimes we'd be stopped for as long as 10-15 minutes in one spot waiting until everyone got their photos. He was especially sweet with the kids, encouraging any who were shy or scared, high-fiving the excited ones and posing for as many pictures as they wanted. Everyone was very polite and deferential when asking for pictures.

My favorite moment watching David pose happened when we were near one of the vendors who was selling Halo 4 toys. A blond boy of about six was looking at the action figures with his dad. Dad looked up and saw David dressed as Master Chief and nudged his son. The boy looked over and when he saw Master Chief standing there, his eyes grew round with excitement and his mouth dropped open. David beckoned him over and they took a picture together.

 Most of the costumes were in good taste, but there were a few rather risque outfits, including a very large bearded man dressed as a sexy Alice in Wonderland. As long as we are discussing the inappropriate, I will take a moment to mention that there were several booths featuring former nude models. The banners at their booths had suggestive sexy photos, though there was no nudity. Elsewhere in the convention, many artists featured art either sexy or violent or both, but convention organizers consider this a family convention and require all exhibitors and attendees to keep things at a PG-13 level.

Our tickets were for all three days, and we did attend all three, though only for a few hours each day. Friday was comparatively empty and we walked the entire vendor hall in under an hour, just seeing what there was to see. I wished later that I had taken THAT opportunity to meet more people - actors, cosplayers (those dressed in costume), and artists - because Saturday and Sunday were MUCH MUCH busier. David didn't wear his costume on Friday; he used that opportunity to look around. He did dress up on both Saturday and Sunday.

Saturday, in particular, was so busy that traffic was backed up for miles and the line to get in was a couple hours long. Thankfully a friend texted me and warned me about this situation just as we were about to leave. So we chilled out at the hotel for a couple more hours and waited until it calmed down a bit. Once we got there, we were blessed to find a parking spot that was close (someone was leaving as we were coming in) and were able to use our advance tickets to walk right in. Earlier in the day, advance ticket-holders waited in line. It's unclear whether they were told to do so or whether they just didn't know they could go right in. The volunteer workers must have had their signals crossed about that because I have heard that some didn't give the correct information.

30,000+ people visited the con over the 3 days; 18,000 of those attended on Saturday (which is evidently as many as attend the ENTIRE event in a normal year. So, even when we got there, it was VERY crowded. David was in costume and attracted attention right away as I described above. We followed him around and snapped a lot of photos.

Some other highlights:
I met Alex Winter and shook his hand. He starred along with Keanu Reeves in Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure and he has a documentary coming out about Napster. No pic of him because all the celebrities charge for autographs and photos. The only other actor I really wanted to meet was Cary Elwes, but I didn't have the opportunity. (Norman Reedus was there, but I wasn't interested in meeting him. Stan Lee was also there, but I knew that was impossible.)

Met Captain Jonny Sparrow, quite a good Jack Sparrow impersonator.

The boys did shop for comic books and got some great deals they were pleased with. I bought Suzy some My Little Pony earrings for her birthday. I saw TONS of things I would have loved to buy for myself, but that will have to wait for another year. David bought an Iron Man print that he is thrilled with and he plans to have it framed.

Suzy's birthday fell during the convention, which she was less than thrilled about. However, I think she had fun - the hotel stay, the pool, eating out, dressing up, etc...

Someone asked for David's email address and is interested in having him create a commission for him. We are also now exploring the possibility of Master Chief doing birthday parties. I had NO idea how many little kids would know the character. Actually, people of all races, genders, and ages were interested in high-fiving Master Chief and having their photo taken with him. Rather amazing actually.

EDITED TO ADD another pic of Suzy as Hermione. One day she wore her Gryffindor sweater (pic above in this post) and the next day she wore the cloak (this pic). She didn't want to wear them together - too hot, she said. Her brothers helped her make the wand. I crimped her hair. I was really pleased with her costume overall (although someone did call her Ginny Weasley, I think because she has a red streak in her hair).