Alex Knorp

Dr. Parker
ENGL 113-03

Visiting Writers Series: E.J. Levy and Joe Wilkins

I attended the Hope College Visiting Writers Series at Winants Auditorium and
was lucky enough to hear two great writers share some of their work. The first writer
was E.J. Levy who shared with us her short story, The Three Christs of Moose Lake,
Minnesota. Her story is about three men who reside at a mental hospital who all claim
to be the Son of God. A woman named Karen comes to the hospital and specializes in the
case of the three Christs who have all been separated before her arrival. People in the
town all know and gossip about the three Christs and make assumptions about them, even
though they do not know them. All of the Christs truly wanted to believe that he was the
real deal because there is no harder thing than admitting that you are not actually who
you thought you were. Joe Wilkins was the other writer that spoke, and he shared a
couple of sections from his memoir and also two poems. The first section of his memoir
was titled Night, and it was about the losing his father at a young age. He remembered
lots of things about his dad, but there are more things that he cannot remember. He does
not go to see his father after he dies because it is too difficult for him. The next section of
his memoir, entitled A Cheating So and So, is about his grandfather who stepped in to
raise him and his brother. His grandfather did not always know the best way to raise his
grandsons, but he always tried his best and took pride in his responsibilities such as
turning the boys into good card players. The third part of his memoir, entitled Bruce

Warety, is about his favorite grade school teacher who was strict and challenging, but
made learning fun and truly cared about his students. His impact strongly encouraged
Joe to become a writer.
I was not sure how the stories that these writers shared were going to relate to our
class about Disney, but it was surprisingly very easy to connect the themes expressed in
each piece the writers shared to the common themes in Disney movies. One theme in the
story about the three Christs was treating people as inferior because they stray from social
norms. People in the community of Moose Lake, Minnesota judged the three Christs
without even knowing them and believed themselves to be superior in the same way the
white men judged Pocahontas and her tribe or the way the men viewed Mulan when they
found out she was a woman. It is such a common theme in literature and movies to
protest against discrimination, yet it is still so prevalent in our society. Joe Wilkins wrote
about losing a parent, which is also very prevalent in Disney stories. Many Disney
characters (Ariel, Cinderella, Simba, Elsa, Anna, etc.) have one or more parents die
during the movie or before it starts. Luckily for Joe, his grandfather was not the
equivalent to an evil stepmother; however, he brought up the side of loss and forgetting
that is shown in The Lion King. He wants to remember his father, but as he gets older, it
becomes harder and harder. The Visiting Writers Series related to our class also from a
writing perspective because it reminded me why writing is so important. So many
themes, beliefs, and stories can be expressed through writing, which makes knowing that
Ive become a better writer through this course really exciting!