The Raven Foundation

Ann Feldman, Founder and Artistic Director of artistic circles

Ann E. Feldman, Ph.D. has produced a variety of nationally and internationally syndicated television and radio programs, public events, and musical CDs.  Dr. Feldman is the Founder and Artistic Director of artistic circles, a nonprofit organization begun in 1989, which creates collaborative media projects to promote social change.  During her career, she has received numerous awards including the Professional Achievement Citation from The University of Chicago Alumni Association (2000) and the Studs  Terkel Humanities Award from the Illinois Humanities Council.  She has won the Gracie Allen Award from the Foundation for American Women in Radio and Television (2000) and a "Special Jury Award" from the Seventh International Radio Shanghai Music Festival (1999).  

 

Post 9/11, Dr. Feldman spent five years bringing together Chicago’s Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities in interfaith and diversity programs, which resulted in the award-winning Ties That Bind video documentary.  EMMY-nominated Ties That Bind premiered at the Council for the World’s Parliament of Religions and UNESCO conference on Pathways to Peace in Barcelona, Spain and on Chicago’s WTTW/Channel 11. Ann was Director of Outreach for Ties at Bind, and has facilitated several dozen town hall meetings at international conferences, community events, theatres, high schools, houses of worship, colleges and senior centers.   For the fifth anniversary of 9/11, Ties That Bind was syndicated to public TV stations in the U.S. by NETA (National Educational Telecommunications Association) and internationally by John McLean media.  The documentary won a Gold Medal from the Aurora Awards (2007) and Honorable Mention from Accolade and Chris Awards (2006.)

 

Dr. Feldman is also the producer of various radio documentaries that were broadcast on WFMT Network, Chicago Public Radio and radio stations affiliated with Public Radio International.  Those radio documentaries include the 12-part Unbreakable Spirits series about women and girls in China; and the ten-part Noteworthy Women series about women in music.  Two of her musical CDs  - Women at an Exposition and The Eternal Feminine  - have received Grammy nominations. 

 

Currently, Dr. Feldman is producing Water Pressures, an hour-long video, that highlights an innovative and globally reproducible water management model from the deserts of India.  She and her video crew have already filmed in Rajasthan, India in partnership with the Jal Bhagirathi Foundation and the Sir Ratan Tata Trust and at Northwestern University.  This March she is taking students from Northwestern to Rajasthan to film an historic educational exchange.   This documentary will be distributed on public TV stations in the U.S. for World Water Day, March 22, 2011 , and internationally by John McLean Media.

 

Ann Feldman has a B.M.E. from the University of Indiana, a M.A. in piano from The American University and a Ph.D. in History of Culture from the University of Chicago.  She is also a Visiting Scholar in Gender Studies at Northwestern University.  In Spring, 2009, she taught the “Water Pressures” course at Northwestern University, as part of the Ford Foundation’s “Difficult Dialogues” series. 

 

Andy White, Founding Ensemble Member and Artistic Director Elect of the Lookingglass Theatre

Andrew White is a founding member of Lookingglass Theatre Company, where he served as Artistic Director from 1990-92. As a Lookingglass Ensemble Member and performer, he has participated in the workshop and development of more than thirty Lookingglass original adaptations and world premieres. He wrote and directed the company’s 1989 production of Of One Blood, about the 1964 murders of Schwerner, Chaney, and Goodman in Mississippi. In 2004, he wrote and directed an adaptation of George Orwell’s 1984, which received a Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Adaptation.

 

Andy was in the 1987 production of Alice, from which Lookingglass derived its name and mission. Since then, his Lookingglass acting credits include The Arabian Nights (1992, 1997, 2009), Our Town, The Wooden Breeks, The Old Curiosity Shop, Hillbilly Antigone, The Secret in the Wings, Race, Summertime, Her Name Was Danger, They All Fall Down, Metamorphoses, Metamorphosis, Eye of the Beholder, The Master and Margarita, S/M, The Third Voyage, The Jungle, and The Odyssey.

 

Andy has also appeared in Northlight Theatre’s Inherit the Wind, the Goodman’s All the Rage, Steppenwolf’s Winesburg, Ohio and Another Time, and Victory Gardens’ Kids in the Dark. Film work includes Love and Action in Chicago, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Since You’ve Been Gone, and American Anthem. His television credits include TV 101, Eerie, Indiana, W.I.O.U., and Missing Persons.

 

Andy has worked in corporate, non-profit, and classroom environments, structuring and facilitating conversations with participants around organizational and community issues since 1990. He has worked in Lookingglass Outreach and Education programs with students of all ages: developing and implementing arts-integrated units in elementary and high schools; facilitating faculty workshops in schools across the Chicagoland area; and working with teenagers across the city to use theater as a means of engaging their peers in dialogue about community issues, from HIV to racism. He has taught Acting as an Adjunct Faculty Member at Northwestern University (B.S., 1987) and National-Louis University. He has worked with medical students and patients at the Rehabilitation Institute; and served as an Illinois Artist-in-Residence at schools in Chicago, Evanston, and Park Ridge. For the last eight years, Andy has been a facilitator with the Anti-Defamation League, and led Summer Institute sessions with teachers for Facing History and Ourselves, with the goal of using theatre techniques to enhance the toolbox with which faculty bring curriculum to their students.

 

In 2007, Andy co-founded Mosaic Experience, a company dedicated to dialogue and an arts-based approach to facilitating conversations about diversity. Mosaic Experience works with educational institutions, non-profit organizations, and corporations throughout Chicagoland. He has also worked as writer and director with The Breakthrough Group (2003 to present), constructing and designing scenarios which address the various needs of diverse corporate clients.

 

He lives with his wife, Shari, and their two children, Julia and Asher.

The Raven Foundation is a proud sponsor  of Chicago Public Radio's Worldview.

Mimetic Theory states that humans are naturally social creatures who influence each other in a variety of profound ways. That openness to one another, which we call our mimetic natures, is what allows us to form individual, culturally specific identities. All of who we become, including our desires, is formed in relationship to others. Desiring the same thing as someone else can lead to bonds of friendship or commitment to shared ideals, causes, or outcomes. But when the desired object cannot be shared, shared desire can lead to conflict. This insight, that conflict arises from shared desires, is the great contribution of mimetic theory and allows us to understand how admiration turns to resentment, love to hate, and friendship to enmity. The Mimetic Theory 101  vlogs unpack these ideas and gives them shape in examples from daily life, literature, history and the bible.

Peace Through Education

There is a prevailing myth that divides violence up into two groups – good and bad. This myth allows good people to use violence and still believe in their own goodness.

 

The myth makes the truth relative and good a matter of perspective. The myth’s governing principle is “the ends justify the means”.

 

The myth distorts truth by making it relative. Truth is not relative but knowable. The truth about violence is there are not two kinds of violence, one good and the other bad; there is only violence itself. When violence is used, there are no good guys or bad guys, only victims and persecutors. Violence only breeds more violence. The means become the end. When viewed without the distortion of the myth, it is clear there is no justification for violence. Providing education about the myth of good and bad violence will free people from its flawed logic and allow for the possibility of authentic peace.

The Raven Foundation is a proud sponsor  of Chicago Public Radio's presentation of Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippett.

The Raven Foundation was established in January 2007 by co-founders Keith Ross and Suzanne Ross. In addition to the Rosses, the Foundation is staffed by Adam Ericksen and Maura Junius.

 

Staff

Adam Ericksen, Education Director

Adam Ericksen is a graduate of Linfield College and Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary.  At Linfield, he received his BA in Religious Studies, with a minor in History.  The title of his Senior Thesis was “The Divine in Disguise: How Judaism Deals with Suffering and Death.”  He continued this theme with his Honors Thesis, which was entitled “The Divine in Disguise: How Christianity Deals with Suffering and Death.”  Adam received his Masters in Theological Studies from Garrett, with an emphasis in theology and ethics.  His Master’s Thesis was entitled “Love and Nonviolence in Christianity and Islam.”  Adam recently delivered a lecture entitled “Islam and the Practice of Non-violence” at Hope College where he explored mimetic theory and Islam.  This April he will deliver a similar lecture on Islam and mimetic theory at the symposium “René Girard and World Religions” that will be held at the Graduate Theological Union in Berkeley, California.  Adam writes blogs and films vlogs on the Raven Foundation website that explore the intersections of mimetic theory, the news, religion, and popular culture.  His personal blog is In The Beginning. He is also a youth pastor where he engages young people with Christian tradition, mimetic theory, and youth culture.

 

Maura Junius, Marketing Director

Maura Junius graduated from the College of Saint Catherine in St. Paul, MN with a double major in Mathematics and Theater. She continued her studies in the Master of Fine Arts program at SIU – Carbondale in costume design for dance. Maura brings her creativity and tech skills to support the foundation’s mission as recording engineer, event coordinator, marketing maven, website administrator, project manager and artist wrangler. A recent accomplishment in which she takes pride is producing and costuming the Raven video of James Alison's Adult Christian Education series, The Forgiving Victim.

 

 

Board of Directors

Andrew McKenna

Dr. Andrew J. McKenna, professor of French language and literature at Loyola University in Chicago, earned a Ph.D. in Romance Languages [French & Spanish] from Johns Hopkins University after receiving his B.A. in French from Holy Cross College. In addition to acting as the host of the French club, he teaches courses in French Literature of 17th, 19th, 20th centuries, Stylistics, French culture and civilization, and Masterpieces of European Literature and Comparative Literature (in translation). For the decade between 1996 and 2006, he was the Editor-in-Chief of Contagion: Journal of Violence, Mimesis, and Culture, 1996-2006. Andrew is the author of Violence and Difference: Girard, Derrida, and Deconstruction.

 Wherever there is conflict, mimetic theory matters
Mimetic theory makes literature so important
Mimetic theory is so simple...and paradoxical
Mimetic Theory deserves a broader audience
Conflict erases differences

Michael McLean

Michael McLean is a songwriter, composer, author, performer, playwright, film producer and director. He has written music and lyrics for more than 20 albums and has sold over a million tapes and CDs since his first release in 1983. Since 1991, Michael has performed The Forgotten Carols to sold-out audiences throughout the United States. He was the original story writer, producer and director of the film Nora's Christmas Gift starring Academy Award winner Celeste Holm. He was also producer and original story co-writer of the holiday television classic Mr. Krueger's Christmas starring film legend Jimmy Stewart. Other films Michael's written and directed include Together Forever, What Is Real? and The Prodigal Son. In September 2000 his stage musical The Ark, written with Kevin Kelly, was featured in the Festival of New Musicals on Broadway in New York City.

As an ad man, I understood desire
Songs for The Wicked Truth About Love
The Wicked Truth opened my eyes
Making religion reasonable

 

Tripp Hudgins

Rev. Tripp Hudgins is an ordained American Baptist Minister and presently serves as the pastor of The Community Church of Wilmette in Wilmette, IL. He has an undergraduate degree from the University of Richmond (1992). His seminary study began at Baptist Theological Seminary at Richmond in Richmond, VA and concluded at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary in Evanston, IL June of 2004 with an MDiv and an MTS in Liturgy.

 

Tripp has spent much of his adult life serving various congregations as a musician. He moved to the Chicago area in 1997 and has served as a musician at Holy Name Cathedral, St Peter's in the Loop, and North Shore Baptist Church. Ministry for Tripp has included work in the creative arts, as a member of an intentional Christian community and retreat center in Richmond, Richmond Hill, and as a chaplain at Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge. He also served as part of the pastoral team at Church of Jesus Christ Reconciler.

 

Tripp is married to Trish Austin, a Chicago-based actress. They have three cats.

 

Martha J. Reineke

Dr. Martha J. Reineke (Ph.D. Vanderbilt University) is a member of the core faculty in the Graduate Program in Women’s and Gender Studies as well as a Professor in the Department of Philosophy and World Religions at the University of Northern Iowa.  Her areas of teaching and research expertise include theories of sex and gender, psychoanalytic theory, religion and society, and Existentialism. She is the author of Sacrificed Lives:  Kristeva on Women and Violence (Indiana University Press) and is completing another book:  Intimate Domain: Trauma, Sexual Difference, and Mimetic Theory. She has published extensively on the work of René Girard and considers Girard’s mimetic theory to be a vital resource for understanding and responding to violence in today’s world. 

Professor Reineke discusses the issues of sexual predators explored in the Lookingglass Theatre's production of Trust.

 

Sandor Goodhart

Dr. Sandor Goodhart is a Professor of English and Jewish Studies at Purdue University and Director of the Interdisciplinary Program in Classical Studies.  He is the author of Sacrificing Commentary.  Reading the End of Literature (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996), Reading Stephen Sondheim (New York: Garland Publishing, 2000), For René Girard.  Essays in Friendship and Truth, co-edited with J. Jørgenson, T. Ryba, and J. G. Williams (East Lansing: Michigan State University Press, 2009), and Sacrifice and Scripture in Ancient Judaism and Christianity, co-edited with Ann Astell (South Bend: Notre Dame University Press, forthcoming).  He teaches ancient Greek and modern drama, contemporary critical theory and philosophy, and the (Hebrew) Bible as Literature.  He has long been associated with the work of René Girard, serving as the Executive Secretary of the Colloquium on Violence and Religion (formed around René Girard’s work) from 1999 to 2003, and as President from 2003 to 2007. 

Professor Goodhart examines the familial ties in the Lookingglass Theatre's production of  Icarus.

Reading Stephen Sondheim with Sandor Goodhart

 

Keith Ross, Co-Founder

Keith Ross is a Princeton University graduate who has worked in the financial markets for 30 years. Currently, Keith is engaged with several entrepreneurial ventures. A member of the Colloquium on Violence & Religion, he has been a student of René Girard's work and in January 2007, founded The Raven Foundation with his wife, Suzanne, to increase awareness of Girard's ideas. Keith currently serves as the treasurer for the Colloquium on Violence & Religion.

 

 

 

Suzanne Ross, Co-Founder

Suzanne Ross is a graduate of Bucknell University and a certified Montessori educator. She taught preschool and kindergarten before working as a corporate training consultant. As a member of the Colloquium on Violence & Religion, she has attended and presented at the annual conferences. In January 2007, she and her husband Keith founded The Raven Foundation to increase awareness of mimetic theory. In 2010, Suzanne served on the staff of the first mimetic theory summer school sponsored by Imitatio. Her first book, The Wicked Truth: When Good People Do Bad Things, examines the lessons of myth, scapegoating and forgiveness in the hit Broadway musical Wicked. Her second book, The Wicked Truth About Love: The Tangles of Desire, explores patterns of romantic love and how to create a fulfilling relationship. Suzanne continues to lecture on mimetic theory and popular culture at universities, conferences, churches, bookstores and libraries. She is currently working on the Leader Guide that will accompany James Alison’s Adult Christian Education DVD series, The Forgiving Victim. Her personal blog is Copy That!

  On Love and Chocolate

 

Advisory Board

Jack Miles

Jack Miles is Distinguished Professor of English and Religious Studies at the University of California, Irvine. In 1996, he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for God: A Biography (translated into 16 languages) and is a recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship (2002-2007). Professor Miles was a Jesuit seminarian from 1960 to 1970, studying at the Pontifical Gregorian University in Rome and the Hebrew University in Jerusalem before completing a doctorate in the department of Near Eastern Languages at Harvard. He has been an editor at Doubleday, executive editor at the University of California Press and literary editor at the Los Angeles Times. His second book, Christ: A Crisis in the Life of God, was named a New York Time Notable Book of 2002. His writings have appeared in The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Times, and The Washington Post among other publications. He is the general editor of the Norton Anthology of World Religions (forthcoming).

Jack Miles interview on Australian Radio in September 2010

 

Honorary Board

René Girard

René Girard is a member of the Académie Francaise, the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and is Andrew B. Hammond Professor Emeritus of French and Comparative Literature, Stanford University. Internationally renowned for his work on the nexus between violence and religion as well as his “mimetic theory,” René Girard’s publications have been translated into numerous languages, and the secondary literature on his thought numbers in the hundreds of articles and over fifty full-length books. His major works include: Deceit, Desire and the Novel (Hopkins, 1965); Violence and the Sacred (Hopkins, 1978); Things Hidden since the Foundation of the World (Stanford, 1987); The Scapegoat (Hopkins, 1986); I See Satan Fall like Lightning (Orbis, 2001). His latest book in French, Achever Clausewitz, was published in 2007. His most recent books in English include Mimesis and Theory: Essays on Literature and Criticism, 1965 – 2005 (edited by Robert Doran), published in May, 2008, on Stanford University Press and Sacrifice (translated by Matthew Pattillo and David Dawson, edited by William A. Johnsen), published in 2011 by Michigan University Press. 

 

Robert Hamerton-Kelly

Robert Hamerton-Kelly is Senior Research Scholar Emeritus at the Center for International Security and Arms Control at Stanford University, and is the president of Imitatio Inc., an organization that furthers the study of mimetic theory. As Dean of Chapel and Consulting Professor, he was a full member of the Stanford Faculty. He lectured in Religious Studies, in the Greek section of the Classics, and in the Ethics of International Security in general (Just War Theory and the proper use of military force) and the ethics of nuclear weapons in particular (Deterrence), in the department of Political Science. He retired early from Stanford in 1997 to become Senior Minister of the Woodside Village Church in the vicinity of Stanford, retiring in 2004. Since retirement he continues to host a biweekly seminar with René Girard on the theme of Religion and Violence. He is one of three founding members of the COV&R , and is the author of Pre-existence, Wisdom and the Son of Man ( Cambridge, 1973 / 2004) and Sacred Violence (Fortress, 1992). He has edited Violent Origins: Walter Burkert, René Girard and Jonathan Z. Smith on Ritual Killing and Cultural Formation (Stanford, 1986) and Politics and Apocalypse (Michigan, 2007).

At the end of September I had the great privilege of traveling to Northern Uganda to capture images for an upcoming photo book about the empowerment of women through the Denver based NGO, Women's Global Empowerment Fund, www.wgefund.org. The organization offers micro finance loans & literacy programs to women in need in Uganda, a landlocked country in East Africa with half of its population living below the international poverty line of $1.25 a day.

It wasn’t with much forethought that I jumped at the opportunity to work in a California prison a few years ago. The wretched state of health care and mental health had forced the governor to allocate additional funds, putting more doctors into the prisons. Well, it’s one area in psychiatry I had never seen, so why not explore it?

In eastern Sri Lanka, a team of peacekeepers is helping to secure the peace after a generation of civil war—not by force of arms, but by facilitating meetings and dialogue among the diverse ethnic and religious populations who were recently on opposite sides of war.

The Raven Foundation reads and studies current events, books, movies, politics, business, sports and family life through the lens of mimetic theory in order to create educational resources for everyday use by teachers, government officials, attorneys, executives, religious professionals, therapists, parents and others who have an interest in resolving conflict with justice and peace.

 

Among our resources are curricula, study guides, summaries of presentations, and books by experts on mimetic theory and its everyday applications. The book, The Wicked Truth: When Good People Do Bad Things, authored by Raven Foundation co-founder Suzanne Ross, makes use of the characters and language provided by the smash Broadway musical, Wicked, to introduce the concepts of myth, scapegoating, violence and acquisitive desire.

 

We make Suzanne or other guest speakers available to schools and other organizations through our Speakers’ Bureau. We also offer workshops, sponsor events and participate in major conferences worldwide. Visit our Projects section to find what we're working on now.