Resources: Turning points

Kirstin Vander Giessen-Reitsma

Though many revelations often take place within the context of conversations that can’t be recommended or purchased, many of the turning points in my life have also been marked by books and films.  Here’s a list of resources I associate with learning more about what it means to do justice in various contexts, from the dinner table to social systems.

BOOK: Amazing Grace: The Lives of Children and the Conscience of a Nation
by Jonathan Kozol (Harper Perennial)
My high school journalism class attended a lecture by Kozol as part of the Calvin College January Series in 1997.  His lecture, combined with reading his book afterwards, effectively broke my heart and helped me begin to understand what is meant by ‘cycle of poverty’.  Kozol, a Jewish journalist, has dedicated much of his life to exposing inequalities in U.S. social systems, particularly those that affect children.

BOOK: The Long Loneliness: The Autobiography of the Legendary Catholic Social Activist
by Dorothy Day (HarperOne)
It was actually a one-woman play about the life of Dorothy Day that was the turning point for me, but I promptly went out and bought her autobiography, which tells the story of her transition for a liberal socialite journalist to the mother of a movement involving voluntary poverty and service to the poor.  Day’s life convinced me that complacency was not an option in the face of the world’s hurt.

PLAY: Major Barbara
by George Bernard Shaw (Shaw Library)
Learning more about Dorothy Day left me with the impression that I had no alternative but to give up every association with the middle class and follow in her footsteps.   Major Barbara helped me see that human needs go beyond the basics and often take the form of a spiritual hunger that especially plagues the middle and upper classes, stunting their ability to see and act against the injustice that surrounds them.

MAGAZINE: Sojourner’s Magazine
http://www.sojo.net
Recommended initially by insightful high school teachers, Sojourner’s gave me a broad understanding of social justice and introduced me to what many people were already doing around the world—from education to missions to community development. The magazine is the flagship publication of a larger movement with many ways to plug in.  The weekly Sojomail is free and they also have an internship program for single people age 21 and older. 

BOOK: Sex, Freedom, Economy and Community
by Wendell Berry (Pantheon)
The first book of essays I picked up by the prophetic, prolific farmer, the essays in Sex, Freedom, Economy and Community touch on many of the issues Berry has written about passionately for over 40 years.  From homemaking to technology, Berry explores how living locally with integrity is part of a larger worldview principle to honor our interconnectedness with each other and with the earth.

BOOK: Asparagus to Zucchini: A Guide to Cooking Farm-Fresh Seasonal Produce
by the Madison Area Community Supported Agriculture Coalition (Jones Books)
This wonderful cookbook has been a part of our household effort to eat more locally grown and/or fairly traded foods.  Globalization has flavorful benefits—pineapple and coffee, for example—but it also has justice implications we’re just beginning to see on a large scale, including subjecting the world’s poorest farmers to a market that doesn’t prioritize their interests.  As we reconnect ourselves to the sources of our food, we renew the possibility of being in right relationship with producers through our food choices.  There are more and more books about eating local and food systems, but a cookbook is deliciously instructional for immediate practice.  Also watch for Simply in Season (Mennonite Central Committee), destined to be another conscious cooking classic alongside the others in the same series, More with Less and Extending the Table.

FILM: Long Night’s Journey into Day
directed by Deborah Hoffmann and Frances Reid (Reid Hoffman Productions)
An emotionally exhausting film, Long Night’s Journey is also a very important film.  It details the injustices committed during South African apartheid, from many angles and with perpetrators on both sides of the conflict, through the lens of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.  The TRC was set up after the fall of apartheid to facilitate storytelling and amnesty, and more deeply, forgiveness and reconciliation.  Through three specific stories, Long Night’s Journey illuminates the revolution of the human spirit that took place after the fall of the government, speaking wisdom and hope into other areas of injustice and conflict.

FILM: Amandla! A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony
written and directed by Lee Hirsch (ATO Pictures)
Another film about South African apartheid.  For me, Amandla! illuminates the role that art can play in protest and in comforting the afflicted.  Exploring the role of music in expressing the black African’s sorrow and anger, the film is a testament to our need for beauty and community, especially in the context of poverty and oppression.

BOOK: The Other Side of the River: A Story of Two Towns, a Death and American’s Dilemma
by Alex Kotlowitz (Anchor)
For me, this book was a catalyst to community discussion about the contemporary reality of racism and segregation.  Journalist Alex Kotlowitz tells the story of Eric McGinnis, a teenager from Benton Harbor, Michigan whose body was found in the river that separates Benton Harbor from St. Joseph—and the white community from the black community.  The Other Side encourages readers to question the status quo and seek out the stories of the ‘other’.

BOOK: Everyday Apocalypse: The Sacred Revealed in Radiohead, the Simpsons and Other Pop Culture Icons
by David Dark (Brazos)
Even though this book focuses mostly on popular art, it demonstrates a theological construction that easily expands to encompass many other parts of life.  Dark explores what it means to be awake to the reality of God’s Kingdom and the power of that wakefulness in questioning social systems and acting for change with an eternal perspective while condemning dualist escapism.  Like Amandla! it acknowledges the role that art can play in informing just action.