Wonder, Choice, and the Games We Make Together

Hi, I’m Christopher Rondeau: an English doctoral student here at the University of Tulsa, college instructor, writer, and lifelong fanatic of speculative fiction, comics, and games. Much of my work circles stories: how they are made, how they shape us, and how we participate in them. Gaming has become one of the places where those questions feel most immediate to me, especially when I think about the relationship between wonder and choice.

Wonder is often treated as a passive sensation. We encounter something immense, strange, beautiful, or terrifying, and we stand before it in awe. Science fiction and fantasy are especially good at producing this sensation: the first glimpse of an alien city, a map of an unexplored continent, a mysterious artifact with an unreadable history, a forest that seems to have its own intentions. Games can create those moments too. But they do something different.

In a film, novel, or television show, I may be emotionally invested in what happens, but the story’s major decisions have already been made. I can disagree with a character, imagine another ending, or argue with the author’s choices afterward, but I do not control the next action. The media moves forward without me. In a game, however, I am often required to decide. I must choose a path, accept a risk, trust someone, betray someone, explore the dark corridor, spend the last resource, or walk away.

Of course, digital games can limit those choices. They often offer carefully designed options that stay within a structure someone else created. Even so, the act of selecting matters. I am not only receiving meaning; I am helping produce it through attention, action, failure, and consequence. The story becomes partly mine because I was there when the decision was made.

This is where gaming’s sense of wonder becomes intense. Wonder is not only about seeing something extraordinary. It can also come from realizing that my response to that extraordinary thing matters. A ruined planet is fascinating; deciding whether to save its remaining inhabitants, exploit its resources, or leave it behind is something much more complicated and immersive.

Tabletop role-playing games take that idea even further. A tabletop role-playing game, or TTRPG, is a collaborative storytelling game played through conversation, imagination, rules, and usually dice. Each player takes the role of a character in a shared fictional world. At the same time, a game master describes situations and responds to the group’s choices, so the story develops through the decisions everyone makes at the table.

In a tabletop game, the world is not fully complete before play begins. The rulebook, setting guide, maps, miniatures, and character sheets offer possibilities, but they don’t determine everything. A game master may prepare a haunted village. Players may arrive with suspicious characters, strange ambitions, and completely unexpected questions. Then someone decides to befriend the ghost instead of fighting it. Someone else burns down the inn. A throwaway joke becomes a recurring villain. A minor nonplayer character becomes the emotional center of an entire campaign.

That is part of why tabletop gaming feels so full of possibility to me. It is collaborative, but it is also demanding. I cannot simply wait for the narrative to reveal what my character believes or what the right choice should be. I must decide, often with incomplete information and real consequences in the imagined world. The dice may complicate those decisions, and the other players may transform them, but the choice still must begin somewhere.

Wonder in gaming is not just the feeling of encountering an unfamiliar world, a dangerous creature, or an impossible choice. It is the moment when I have to respond to that world and become the architect of the decision that follows. In a tabletop role-playing game, I might choose to become a hero, a coward, a murderer, or something more complicated, and those choices can carry an overwhelming emotional weight because I helped make them. I am not simply watching a character act; I must live with what my character has done and decide what happens next. My research will expand on this idea by considering how agency, wonder, choice, and emotional investment shape our engagement with games and with media more broadly.

On view September 4th – November 20th, 2026

The galleries at 101 E. Archer St. are open Wednesdays through Fridays from noon until 5 p.m.

Back for Blood: Never Whistle at 101 Archer showcases the killer artist-printed illustrations of all 21 short Indigenous horror stories included in Never Whistle at Night 2: Back for Blood, the highly-anticipated sequel to the bestselling dark fiction anthology. Brent Learned (Cheyenne-Arapaho) is an Oklahoma City-born-and-raised artist whose eerie work gives readers a glimpse of the twisted horrors to come. Visit the North Gallery at 101 Archer to experience this terrifying new exhibit sure to satisfy the darkest of appetites.

Illustrator Brent Learned (BFA Kansas) is a multi-media award-winning Cheyenne & Arapaho visual artist committed to portraying Native American life with dignity, respect, and historical accuracy. His works have been displayed in public galleries and private collections throughout the United States, and he has collaborated with major companies including Disney and Sony. Learned is dedicated to encouraging the next generation of artists through educational programs, mentoring, and community outreach.

OCH will also be hosting several events around this exhibit:

Friday, September 4
Artist Talk with Brent Learned – 5:00pm at 101 Archer (before the Art Crawl exhibit debut)

Friday, October 9
Author Talk with Shane Hawk and Theodore Van Alst – 7:00pm at 101 Archer

Magic City Books will be on site at these events selling both best-selling anthologies

Still Sovereign: Land, Law, Memory examines Tribal sovereignty as a living and ongoing reality. Guided by ancestral memory and Indigenous governance systems in existence long before the United States, the exhibition explores sovereignty through relationships to land, law, and community. Through contemporary and traditional Indigenous art, historical materials and community knowledge, the exhibition demonstrates that sovereignty is not an abstract but an innate concept practiced every day through stewardship, governance, storytelling, and responsibility to future generations.

About the curator:
Carly Treece (she/her) is a Citizen of the Mvskoke Nation and of Cherokee ancestry, based on the Mvskoke Nation in Tulsa, Oklahoma. A lifelong Tulsan born and raised in North Tulsa, she is a multidisciplinary artist, independent curator, cultural facilitator, and community advocate whose work centers Indigenous sovereignty, representation, land, memory and community.

As an artist, Treece creates abstract paintings using oil and cold wax, building layered surfaces that explore her emotional, spiritual, and ancestral relationship with the land in Indian Territory. Her practice engages themes of land and body sovereignty, Indigenous womanhood, place and memory, using abstraction to affirm Indigenous presence and create space for reflection and dialogue.

Treece’s curatorial practice is equally central to her work. She develops exhibitions and projects that center contemporary Indigenous perspectives, challenge colonial narratives, and amplify the voices of Indigenous artists, particularly women and Two-Spirit artists. She has curated exhibitions and contributed to cultural and educational projects across the United States, bringing together art, history, community knowledge, and public programming.

Don’t miss the opportunity to learn more about Carly and her curation process in person at 101 Archer:

Friday, November 6
                           Artist Talk with Carly Treece – 5:00pm at 101 Archer (before the Art Crawl)

Dr. Jesse Wren is an educator, qualitative researcher, nonprofit founder, adjunct professor, and storyteller whose work moves across classrooms, communities, museums, correctional facilities, and the outdoors. He teaches in the Lower School and serves as the Professional Development Coordinator at Riverfield Country Day School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Beyond the classroom, he organizes TEDxRiverfieldCountryDaySchool, leads the Second Horizon Initiative to expand educational opportunities for justice-involved youth, teaches graduate students, and serves on the National Science Teaching Association Board of Directors. His work has taken him from Smithsonian museums and national parks to the Camino de Santiago and correctional facilities, each experience shaping his belief that some of our most meaningful learning begins with curiosity and a willingness to encounter the unfamiliar. Across these varied spaces, his work centers on creating opportunities for people to question, discover, and imagine what might be possible.

Marianna “Annie” Rubino, MFA, PhD, CCC-SLP is beginning her second year as an assistant professor in the University of Tulsa’s Department of Communication Sciences & Disorders. Dr. Rubino is a speech-language pathologist and researcher who focuses on the role of psychological factors in voice disorders. One current project is an investigation of personality and voice disorders using functional magnetic resonance imaging and questionnaires. Dr. Rubino also collaborates with acting voice experts to understand how aspects of acting voice training impact training outcomes. Before discovering speech-language pathology, Dr. Rubino was an improv, sketch comedy, commercial, and classically trained actress in New York City, Chicago, Houston, and Milwaukee. 

Morgan Myers is a junior at the University of Tulsa pursuing bachelor’s degrees in Computer Science and Data Science. At heart, he is driven by curiosity and by the belief that life is meant to be lived fully and learning pursued for a lifetime. Before attending TU, Morgan served nine years in the U.S. Army. Injuries sustained during his service changed the trajectory of his life and forced him to reconsider his relationship with himself and the world around him. Through introspection, mindfulness, and an earnest pursuit of his many interests, he has worked to rediscover the possibility and wonder life has to offer. Alongside his technical studies, Morgan writes fiction and poetry and pursues photography and filmmaking. Underneath these seemingly disparate interests is a core belief that all experiences and fields contribute to exploration within ourselves and the world around us. He is drawn to questions of human experience, meaning, and connection, and hopes to create work that is honest about both the struggle and beauty of being human while reminding others of their inherent worth.

Dr. Jingyi Chen is the Decker Dawson Endowed Professor of Geosciences in the McDougall School of Petroleum Engineering at The University of Tulsa. His research spans geophysical and environmental modeling, and the applications of machine learning to the Earth sciences. His interdisciplinary work has included projects supported by NASA, the National Science Foundation, Chevron, and the American Chemical Society. As a Wonder Fellow, Chen looks forward to exploring connections among scientific discovery, human experience, and the stories through which people understand the natural world.

Whitney Breshears, LPC, SEP, KAP is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, and Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapist based in Oklahoma. As the founder of Somatic Healing Touch, she specializes in trauma healing through nervous system regulation, Somatic Experiencing®, Co-regulating Somatic Touch, and Ketamine-Assisted Psychotherapy. She is passionate about integrating neuroscience, embodiment, and compassionate presence to support lasting healing. Whitney has completed advanced training in Somatic Resilience and Regulation and will return to Seattle in 2027 to begin training in Transforming Touch®. Alongside her clinical work, Whitney finds restoration in nature- connecting with the trees, caring for her farm animals, and creating Hummingbird Farm-Oklahoma as a place where the healing power of the natural world and somatic practices come together. Her vision is to offer a welcoming space where members of the community can slow down, reconnect with themselves, and experience somatic healing in relationship with nature. She is honored to join the TU Humanities Fellowship and looks forward to exploring the integration of healing, human connection, and the humanities with this year’s cohort.

Maryalice Carroll is a ceramic artist from New Jersey and now lives and works in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her work acts as a physical representation of the unseen feelings bodies experience under stress. Her work is abstract with textured glazes and often colorful. She received her BFA in Craft and Material Studies from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and MFA in Ceramics at the University of Arkansas. She has shown nationally including Studio Break Gallery, Chicago; Magic Sad Gallery, Oklahoma; MIXD Gallery, Arkansas; and Abington Art Center, Pennsylvania. She is also involved in a curatorial artist collective, Crust Bucket Collective, and has curated shows across the United States, Iceland, and online.

Isaac Castleberry is a screenwriter and a senior at the University of Tulsa double-majoring in Film Studies and Media & Communications. In high school, he earned his Eagle Scout rank, was the Academic Team Captain, and graduated as Valedictorian. During his time at the University of Tulsa, he has interned as a production assistant at OKPOP, worked with NYU Tulsa as a research assistant for their Film Landscape Survey, and participated in the D’Arcy Internship Program with Clear Content, a Tulsa-based media marketing business. He is the President of the Alpha Chi Chapter and the Collegiate Province Representative of Province 8 of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, the world’s oldest and largest secret national fraternal society in music. In his spare time, he enjoys playing music, watching film, engaging in criticism, and exploring political theory. As part of the Oklahoma Center for the Humanity’s Wonder Fellowship, he wants to explore the ambivalence of wonder in film as well as its social functions.

Annolee Thompson Schwartz is a 3L at The University of Tulsa College of Law, pursuing her Juris Doctorate. While in law school she has served as the Women’s Law Caucus Fern Holland Chair, a Student Bar Association Supreme Court Justice, Candidate and Articles Editor for the Energy Law Journal. She has also served as a Research Assistant to Interim Dean Marc Roark researching and writing on law, property, language, and institutions. She has taken every opportunity to research and grow in her studies including researching administrative remedies to land pollution in New Mexico, restrictive legal practices following the Tulsa Race Massacre, and legal functionalisms and formalisms of property ownership. As a life long learner, Annolee is grateful for the opportunity to examine and discuss Wonder in an interdisciplinary setting.

Christopher Rondeau is a speculative fiction writer and tabletop narrative designer whose work explores immersive worldbuilding and the storytelling potential of games. His contributions to the Tian Xia Character Guide and Tian Xia World Guide develop setting lore, character frameworks, and narrative structures that invite players to engage deeply with fantastical worlds. His forthcoming creative and academic projects examine ethics, play, and narrative design in contemporary storytelling. Rondeau is also a doctoral graduate student in English at the University of Tulsa, where he studies the intersections of literature, game theory, and narrative form. From 2018 to 2021, he was among the first full-time professional game masters, running tabletop role-playing games at major conventions, including Gen Con and Third Party Kon, as well as numerous other events. Learn more at rondeauwrites.com.

Matt Cooper is an Applied Assistant Professor of American Sign Language at the University of Tulsa. Born a CODA (Child of Deaf Adults) to two Deaf parents here in Tulsa, Matt could sign before he could speak. After graduating from high school in Owasso, Oklahoma, he attended Tulsa Community College and then Oklahoma State University, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Secondary Education – Science. He taught math and science while also working as an adjunct American Sign Language instructor at Tulsa Community College, beginning in 2017. He eventually transitioned to teaching American Sign Language at Broken Arrow High School before becoming full-time faculty at the University of Tulsa in 2022. In May 2026, Matt graduated from Oklahoma State University with a Master of Science in Educational Leadership Studies and a Graduate Certificate in College Teaching. This fall, he will begin his Ph.D. at the University of Oklahoma in Educational Administration: Curriculum and Supervision.

UTulsa’s Oklahoma Center for the Humanities is thrilled to be hosting a two-day symposium at 101 Archer, with an additional discussion taking place at Magic City Books.

When it comes to the sovereignty of Indigenous art, who is creating it—and who is enjoying it? Consuming it and benefitting from it … passing it on? From the music that moves us to the food that nourishes us, to the books we read and the typography that frames them, the ink we carry on our bodies to the clothes we wear, Native art is alive and thrives far beyond the confines of what is typically found, static, on gallery walls. And always has. Join us on September 11th & 12th and experience what Indigenous sovereignty means today through the entry point of art in its many iterations. Experts from across Turtle Island and from various Tribes are gathering in Tvlse Town to consider not just art as sovereignty, but sovereignty itself as art.

The symposium is free and open to all.

Registration is encouraged, but not required. Registering in advance helps us plan for seating and catering and ensures we have enough food and materials for everyone. Register for the symposium here!

Symposium Schedule

  Friday, September 11, at 101 E. Archer Street

  Saturday, September 12, at 101 E. Archer Street

  Saturday, September 12, at Magic City Books (221 E. Archer Street)

The Oklahoma Center for the Humanities is pleased to feature Musonium Grand Prize Award winner Andrea Kowch’s “Unexpected Company,” as well as works by Cherokee Nation artist Richard D. York, in the South Gallery on May 1st during the First Friday Art Crawl.

Andrea Kowch is an internationally recognized American painter whose work in magical realism has earned her widespread acclaim across major museums, galleries, and global publications. A graduate of the College for Creative Studies in Detroit, where she earned her BFA summa cum laude with High Honors, Kowch has built a distinguished career defined by evocative, narrative-driven paintings that bridge the real and the surreal.

Kowch’s work has been the subject of numerous solo exhibitions, most recently Mysterious Realms at the Museum of Art – DeLand (2023), a sweeping retrospective that solidified her place among leading contemporary figurative painters. Her paintings have also been exhibited widely in prestigious group exhibitions, including Truthful Illusions: Realism in the Age of Abstraction at the Fort Wayne Museum of Art (2025) and Transcending Tradition: Selected Works from The Bennett Collection of Women Realists at the Muskegon Museum of Art (2025). These exhibitions highlight her continued relevance in conversations surrounding contemporary realism and narrative painting.

Her achievements have been recognized at the highest levels internationally. Kowch was awarded the Grand Prize in the global Keller Prize in 2025 and the Musonium Grand Prize at the Beautiful Bizarre Art Prize in 2024, both distinctions awarded to a single artist worldwide. These honors underscore the exceptional impact and singular vision of her work within the global art community.

Kowch’s paintings are held in significant public collections, including the Fort Wayne Museum of Art, the Muskegon Museum of Art, the Grand Rapids Art Museum, and The Bennett Collection of Women Realists. Her work is also widely collected privately across North America, Europe, Australia, and Turkey, reflecting an expansive international reach.

In addition to her exhibition record, Kowch’s work has been extensively featured in major art publications such as American Art Collector, Fine Art Connoisseur, Hi-Fructose, and Forbes. A major monograph, Across a Rural Skyline: The Art of Andrea Kowch, published in 2025, further cements her influence and documents her evolving practice.

Through her psychologically charged and symbolically rich paintings, Kowch continues to expand the boundaries of contemporary magical realism, crafting timeless narratives that explore the complexities of human experience, memory, and the natural world.

Richard D. York, is a citizen of the Cherokee Nation. Richard currently lives in Sequoyah County within the Cherokee Nation reservation. He earned his BFA with a dual emphasis in painting and photography in 1996 from Boise State University. In 2014 Richard completed his MFA in Visual Studies at  Pacific Northwest College of Art (PNCA) – a studio art degree with a primary  emphasis on studio painting and a focus on Pedagogy and Theory. He works in a wide variety of media including oil, acrylic, watercolor, digital media, and he also crafts a variety of traditional Native items..

York received a MFA Merit Scholarship (2012–2014) while attending  PNCA. In 2013 he was selected for the Caldera MFA residency. His work has been featured in The Art of the West Exhibit  at the High Desert Museum in Bend, Oregon (2019, 2020, 2021, 2024). He was awarded the LIFT Award from the Native Arts and Cultures Foundation in 2021. In 2022, he was one of five Native artists in the United States selected by Google to design Chrome themes and Chromebook wallpapers for Native American Heritage Month. In 2024 Richard received The Artists in Business Leadership Fellowship from First Peoples Fund. Currently, Richard also works for Cherokee Nation Cultural and Economic Development as  a Historical Interpreter.

This exhibit runs May 1 – June 27, at UTulsa’s 101 Archer in the South Gallery. Our galleries are open Wednesdays through Saturdays from noon until 5 p.m. Special closures for private events will be announced on our social media pages. As always, admission is free.

Envisioning Tomorrow, a free, all-ages photography exhibit by award-winning photographer, Anitra Lavanhar, opens Friday, March 6th at the Oklahoma Center for the Humanities.

The exhibit, which is supported by the Artists Creative Fund, consists of 26 large-scale black and white portraits, each paired with a short narrative that draws from the subject’s hopes and dreams for the future. Visitors will be invited to participate in the exhibit by contributing their own written narratives on a designated wall.

“Envisioning Tomorrow was born from my deep concern about the fear and division shaping so much of our national conversation, and from a belief that another story is possible,” says Lavanhar. “This portrait series reflects a small but powerful cross-section of the remarkable diversity found in the Tulsa area and challenges the assumption that differences in belief, background, and lived experience must inevitably divide us.”

Lavanhar asked each of her subjects to imagine the future they hope to create.

“By speaking our hopes aloud and making them visible, Envisioning Tomorrow reveals the common threads of humanity that bind us together, reminding us of our collective power to turn what we imagine into what we can build, together,” she says.

This exhibit premieres at the First Friday Art Crawl on Friday, March 6th 6-9pm and runs through Saturday, April 25 at UTulsa’s 101 Archer in the South Gallery. Our galleries are open Wednesdays through Saturdays from noon until 5 p.m. Special closures for private events will be announced on our social media pages. As always, admission is free.

Since time immemorial, humans have been fascinated and terrified by the inexplicable. Ancient people found a way to explain these phenomena: through stories. Epic tales of heroism, dire warnings, and evolving tales of deities have always helped bring us together. These stories detailed gods from Greek, Roman, Norse, and many other cultures, cryptid creatures, heroes and villains, and ordinary people doing the extraordinary. Places and cultures were built on what are often called “myths.” However, many of these myths are old and often connected to a different part of the world. What about now, here … where we are?

This exhibit represents a deep dive on American myths, stories that have shaped what today is called “America” and its people. The pieces you see around you reflect something that is deeply, truly, and comprehensively American in nature and origin, from Indigenous stories to political narratives that frame this land’s history.

You are invited to look at myths through five different lenses: Invention/Creation, Cryptids/Fears, Doomsday/Violence, Hope/Heroes, and Reinvention/Resilience. Consider how you approach each of the pieces – and where you reside within it. Think about the American myths that were not included, how they interact with the story that is being told, and imagine which myths you would like to see added.

American Myth is a student-led exhibit which started as a Tulsa Undergraduate Research Challenge (TURC) project. Founded in 1992, TURC encourages and supports undergraduate students who engage in exciting research projects while also devoting time toward serving the community. TURC also enables undergraduates to conduct advanced research under the guidance of top UTulsa professors. The project was spearheaded by Emmalie Maez, with research support from fellow TURC students Aeric Beck and Katherine Renteria. Professional and gallery support was provided by Danika Bryant, Jessica Mehta, and Schuyler Tracy

This exhibit runs Friday, Feb. 6–Saturday, Apr. 25, at UTulsa’s 101 Archer in the North Gallery. Our galleries are open Wednesdays through Saturdays from noon until 5 p.m. Special closures for private events will be announced on our social media pages. As always, admission is free.

As I see it, myth is a fundamental human tool. It makes space for our innate desire to create and derive meaning from the world around us. Myths seemingly arise from a worldly curiosity—across cultures and centuries, humans develop the same patterns, the same symbols, and the same essential questions. For example, there is a Great Flood story recorded in the mythology of peoples around the world— from the Christians and the Greeks to the Innuit and the Chinese. At the root of that story is a colossal archaeological event, an event so formidable that it demanded some sort of fantastical explanation. How else would humans be able to make any sense of it? It is in the moments where we realize our mortality, our need for togetherness, and our desperation for more than an existence that myths are born. When engaged collectively, mythologies tend to illuminate a record of inquiry into the human condition: what it means to be human, who we are as part of a larger ecosystem, why and what we think about, and how we engage creatively throughout our lives. They are both evidence and result of cultural and historical traditions: transmissions of experiences and values defined by language

And these myths do not simply die; they become woven into the fabric of our essential humanity. Nor are they stagnant; instead, mythologies are like ecosystems— they exist in conversation with their audiences without any boundary or rule. There is no authority. Myths are collective creations that develop a tradition, but are constantly retold and adapted. They both form and are informed by culture. The familiar foundational myth of Romulus and Remus, the boys raised by a she-wolf? That myth is still tangible in contemporary Roman culture; around each corner, the sense of who they are and where they came from is clear. The stories that survive in cultures around the world are the collections of generations of human experiences—they tell us what we have learned and where we might go. Myth is this unique and elusive mode of communication that not only preserves the tradition of knowledge but also shapes our understanding of identity and community.

In our OCH seminar, we have yet to define myth. We dance around it each week, discussing “myth-busting” and monomyths, stories, and religions.  Here’s the thing: our language only allows us to define terms and concepts by what something is not. But maybe “myth” just is. Maybe it’s education, culture, experience, the personification of the human condition, and anything else that we need it to be. Myth is a universal product and a producer of meaning altogether, so maybe it cannot be traditionally defined.

In my first week on campus as a freshman, my friends and I walked past a conveyor belt in the dining hall, and I, in a moment of great fascination exclaimed, “It is crazy that things move!” Unsurprisingly, my friends chuckled at this much belated discovery of mine, and yet, I am still captivated by the idea of movement – physical and spiritual.

A story consists of motion. Motion towards, motion away, but motion, nonetheless. While this claim seems rudimentary, it has fascinated me for some time now. Why are we, as a species, so fascinated with motion? This question is partially answered in Algernon Blackwood’s essay, “Psychology of Places.” Here, Blackwood establishes the concept of the liminal zone: a space between two spaces which forces an individual to move into one or the other. This space requests and requires motion, but more importantly, it requests and requires change. A story requires a liminal zone, much like it requires motion. A story with no motion is no story; it is a description (although this distinction is not always clear… is history a description or a story? Is it myth?)

We are fascinated with motion because we are fascinated with change, and for a species so obsessed with change, we do not seem to do it very often. We are asking the same questions our ancestors asked; we are challenging the same biases that our ancestors challenged, and we are committing the same crimes that our ancestors committed. The only difference is our environment. Maybe this is why motion and change fascinates us; it feels impossible yet unavoidable.

What, then, is myth? If myth is a story, it must have some form of motion. Moreover, if we are willing to categorize various different stories as myth, they must have some unifying movement. This movement, I argue, is the movement of humanity towards Divine power. Notably, when I say, “Divine power,” I do not exclusively refer to a Judeo-Christian God. Rather, I refer to a tradition that attempts to imagine the unimaginable and explain the unexplainable. What can we constitute as Divine Power? Well, to return to our conversation on movement, Thomas Aquinas claims that the Divine is the “Prime Mover.” God, therefore, is the ultimate cause, creator, and ruler. With this in mind, it may be argued that mythology depicts humanity partaking in Divine Creation or Divine Rule. This holds true when one examines classical mythological stories, as they portray mortals who attempt to become the arbiters of justice, creators of worlds, and usurpers of the gods.

I find that I am most intrigued by the act of Creation. Humanity partakes in creation every day of our existence. Whether this be procreation, artistic creation, or building communal bonds, we are constantly creating. These acts, I argue, are mythological in nature. Each time we create something anew we are realizing our Divine ability. In saying this, we create a type of “meta-myth.” Now, both the story and the author/speaker are mythological; both depict movement from human to Divine.

I began this fellowship in an attempt to discover and define the boundaries of myth, and now it seems as if I have only blurred and extended them. But this does not disappoint or deter me. In all actuality, it is better if these boundaries move as our conception of myth does, for this allows for a much more flexible and culturally aware approach to understanding mythology. And so, I will end this with the seemingly obvious, yet possibly complicated revelation that my questioning began with: “It is crazy that things move!”