Patricia Ohanian Blog- Wrapping It All Up 4/26/2020

I have always wanted to take a class from Kip Redick because I have always heard that hes an awesome professor that wears Hawaiian shirts and walks around barefoot. I was sold from that.
But this class was especially fun and surprising to me.
I went to catholic high school and have always been catholic and gone to church, but Ive struggled at times to find a connection.  I always felt like why are these things happening then? whenever bad things would happen.
This class has allowed me to see a different side of religion and spiritual themes.
By viewing seemingly non religious movies but applying religious themes to them, I saw how religion can be placed into non religious spaces.  
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind resonated to me in the way our age handles relationships, the ability to delete people of social media, and the idea of having to seem "perfect" when everything really isn't.
Big Fish reminded me of sitting with my late grandparents.  Sometimes annoyed by their stories I regret not seeing the  meaning behind the "myths" they wanted to share with me.
Blade Runner shows how certain people are becoming slaves to technology and have stopped searching for the one true truth in life, looking for false senses of security. 
Babetts Feast and Like Water for Chocolate called to mind how eating meals and sharing food together have a much deeper meaning.  Our family has always celebrated holidays and special events this way, and even though we are all very different people, it was a place of common communion and understanding.
I could go on, but all of the movies we viewed were normal and realistic enough for me to insert myself and see the sacred and awesome in the seemingly profane and ordinary.

Ive had a lot of turmoil in my life at a young age, and by chance I ended up at CNU.
I often times feel complicated and confused and lost.
But I am so thankful that I am here and that I ended up here because,
I love it here,
I love these people,
and Im thankful that I went through what I did for getting here.

So maybe the Catholic Church itself didnt get me here, but I feel a sacred connection to my journey thus far and I do not feel like its over yet. 

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