Essays and Reflection
BY REBECCA MCNAMARA, ASSOCIATE CURATOR, THE FRANCES YOUNG TANG TEACHING MUSEUM AND ART GALLERY | As an art curator, I was interested that Olamina must see another person to share鈥攁nd has no choice once she sees. This sensorial specificity offers respite; she can hide from screams of agony and avoid pain. We, too, often hide from others' hardship, and sometimes their joy as well.- BY PATRICE MALATESTINIC, LECTURER OF MUSIC AND PRIVATE MUSIC INSTRUCTOR | Butler鈥檚 novel reinforces my belief that, not only artists and creatives, but, all humans are responsible to make the personal choices that create their work, their lives and their world. When they are prevented from doing so, by themselves or others, or by conditions or disparities, all humanity suffers.
- BY ELIZA KENT, PROFESSOR AND CHAIR OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES | At the heart of Parable of the Sower (1993) is a religion, Earthseed, crafted with painstaking care by the novel鈥檚 15-year old protagonist, Lauren Oya Olamina. Lauren is a prophetess who derives the verses that make up Earthseeed: The Books of the Living not from divine revelation, but from deep reflection on experience.
- BY JULIA ROUTBORT BASKIN, ASSOCIATE DEAN OF STUDENT AFFAIRS, HEALTH AND WELLNESS | Parable of the Sower asks questions I urgently need answers to, answers I cannot find on my own. Redwoods burning, authoritarian Presidential candidates promising to return America to a mythical Christian past, big box stores guarded by men carrying automatic rifles, the erosion of democracy and supply chains - the world in the novel is horrific, plausible and just a half-step away from our own.
- BY JOHN MICHAEL DIRESTA, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF THEATER | Theatrical adaptations of literary source material allow artists and audiences to reconsider the relevance of period texts in our contemporary world. In adapting and directing this passage from Parable of the Sower as a zoom play, I worked with actors Chavon Patterson 鈥�24 and Gigi Brown 鈥�24 to examine the resonance of this 20th Century work today.
- BY LISA JACKSON-SCHEBETTA, CHAIR AND ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF THEATER | In Parable of the Sower, fire is a destroyer of worlds. Water, in contrast, is a creator.
- BY MARY CRONE ODEKON, PROFESSOR OF PHYSICS | If you鈥檝e never seen the utopian space-colony art of the 1970鈥檚 (or if you just want to look at it again), try searching 鈥淪tanford torus鈥� or 鈥淥鈥橬eill cylinder.鈥�
- BY GREG SPINNER, TEACHING PROFESSOR OF RELIGIOUS STUDIES | As a long-time student of religion, I understand how closely entwined religion is with suffering, whether religion prompts its acceptance or promotes its avoidance. Lauren鈥檚 vision for Earthseed emerges from a desperate alchemy of exigency and empathy, a never perfect balance between the needs of the self and the 鈥榮acrifices鈥� one is willing to make for others.
- BY RODRIGO SCHNEIDER, ASSOCIATE PROFESSOR OF ECONOMICS | In the parable of the sower, Jesus teaches his disciples that as the word of God is preached to people, some will disregard it. Some are going to be excited about it, but as soon as sacrifices are demanded from them, they will give it up. Some will learn about the word, but the attractiveness of the secular world will keep them busy and far from following it.