Davis Guggenheim + Yvette Nicole Brown + Kevin Sorbo Daniel Dae Kim + Skillet + Empowered Youth + Grant Pecoff
faith hope love
Winter 2011
$4.95 US
From the “Notebook” to “Message In a Bottle”
NICHOLAS SPARKS Amplified risenmagazine.com 01
contents interviews >> 10 Kevin Sorbo :: The Strength of An Actor
Best known as Hercules, this family man talks about his faith, mentoring kids, and opens up about his views regarding Hollywood.
14 Skillet :: John Cooper, Following His Heart
When front man John Cooper formed Skillet, he was just following his heart… little did he know, his Grammy-nominated rock band would break industry molds and bless everyone involved.
20 Yvette Nicole Brown :: Regarding stuff that really matters…
She plays Shirley on the hit show Community. With a personality that can light up any room, Brown talks everything from scholarships to social media, why her friends staged an intervention, and gives solid advice everyone needs to hear.
26 Nicholas Sparks :: Amplified
This bestselling author has penned 16 books in the past 16 years, many of which have been turned into hit movies. But that’s not all this family man has been doing with his time, Sparks talks about the school he founded, how he views success, and the ability to bless others.
32 Davis Guggenheim :: More Truth, Even Less Convenient
He won the Oscar for his documentary, An Inconvenient Truth, and now he’s stirring America once again with his in depth look at public education reform. This filmmaker talks storytelling, faith, and getting fired.
36 Gary Zelesky :: Passionate about Passion
In a time when the economy and world pressures are diminishing all sense of hope for people, it’s even more important to discover your passion. And when it comes to putting your passion into practice, many turn to Gary Zelesky. This motivating speaker and author shares how you can live your dream.
38 Daniel Dae Kim :: Two Hit Shows Make Hawaii True Paradise From Lost to the new Hawaii Five-O, Kim talks about the transition from back-to-back TV shows, parenting, and getting to keep his family rooted in Hawaii.
40 Ron Jeremy and Craig Gross :: The Great Porn Debate
Ron Jeremy is the world’s most famous porn stars; Craig Gross is a pastor of the XXX Church. Both men have distinct views on the industry of pornography and when put in the same room, their answers to questions on sex, love, and the struggles many face when it comes to desires, can create quite a stir.
48 Sugarland :: Least likely to be here now
Traditionally, becoming a country music legend meant a life of ruin. Sugarland has found a healthier way to the top.
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departments >> 54 Film: Vince Vaughn & Kevin James
It’s the first time these two funny men team on-screen and that led to a comedy tour. They talk about being married in Hollywood, parenting, and how to handle one of life’s biggest dilemmas.
56 Q-5: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows :: The Beginning of the End
They have spent nearly a decade on-screen as Harry, Hermione, and Ron… and now Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grintreflect share their feelings on the wrapping of this beloved franchise, and speak candidly about fame, family and their futures.
Emmylou Harris :: The Great Collaborator
Whether she’s interpreting a song or writing her own, this legendary artist has a way of transcending all categories of music. And she has the hardware to prove it… with more than a dozen Grammy’s under her belt, Harris talks about her collaborations and using her celebrity to bring awareness to those in need.
Leonardo Nam :: Rising Star
From Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift to He’s Just Not That Into You, Nam is quickly gaining Hollywood’s attention. The star talks about first coming to America, his heritage and career influences.
Nick Petro :: Sending a Message of Hope
64 Miracle:
Patrick Ivison :: A Wheelchair Can’t Keep This Teenager Down…He Inspires Others
Paralyzed as a baby and told he’d never use his limbs again, this teenager overcome all odds and continues to progress each day. His attitude, heart, and drive are something to be admired.
68 Expressions:
Grant Pecoff :: Dreaming While Awake
This talented artist paints exotic places that are revealed with every brush stroke. Get lost in the colors of his memory and learn how he was able to make his dreams a reality.
Lou Mora :: Passion into Profesion
As a young boy with a drive to take family pictures, this photographer now captures people doing what they do...naturally.
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N ew Ye a r, N ew C h a p t e r
No one knows how to tackle a new chapter in life better than Nicholas Sparks. This bestselling author has penned 16 books in the past 16 years, many of which have been turned into hit movies. Whatever the season of his life – salesman, family man, coach, philanthropist, writer, or producer – Sparks tackles the commitment with a discipline and passion that have led to his continued success. Getting to spend an afternoon with him was such a gift, and it’s no wonder America can’t get enough. I wrote the cover story with a genuine joy to share all the facets of this inspiring man. (page 26) The New Year is also a time when people reflect on the past and make resolutions to do things differently moving forward. Leading the plight for change, especially when it comes to public education reform in America is Oscar-winning writer-director Davis Guggenheim. His documentary, Waiting for Superman is attracting attention and connecting with people on so many levels. (page 32) You can’t help but smile when you talk with Yvette Nicole Brown. She is overflowing with kindness and has an enthusiasm that is contagious. It was such a blessing for me to learn more about this Community star and whether it’s advice, social media or just her outlook on life, what she has to say is worth hearing. (page 20) Many will make the resolution to quit a habit, break an addiction, or vow for a healthier lifestyle…at Risen we’re not afraid to tackle the tough issues and talk about the taboo, including
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pornography. Arguably the world’s most famous porn star, Ron Jeremy, and Craig Gross, the pastor of the XXX church sound off in the same room on sex, love, and the struggles many face when it comes to desires. (page 40) Most people love the beginning of a year because the slate is clean and offers a fresh start. Going after dreams, making a plan and putting your passion into practice is exactly what Gary Zelesky helps people do. Take the challenge to discover your passion. (page 36) As we launch a new year at Risen, we are excited to offer a year packed with remarkable stories about everyday people, a glimpse into the private world of your favorite celebrities and a rare mix of people who are instrumental in making a difference and changing lives.
Blessings to you for a healthy, prosperous and productive New Year!
PUBLISHER :: Allan Camaisa DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS :: Doyle W. Young
EDITORIAL
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF :: Kelli Gillespie MANAGING EDITOR :: Doyle W. Young CONTRIBUTING WRITERS :: Chris Ahrens, Dean Nelson, Patti Gillespie, Megan Camaisa and Krislyn Smith COPY EDITOR: Patti Gillespie
ART ART DIRECTOR :: Rob Springer CONTRIBUTING PHOTOGRAPHERS :: Bil Zelman, Lou Mora, Bronson Pate, Tina B. Henderson, Natalie Thesing, Art Streiber
MULTIMEDIA WEBMASTER :: Brett R. Schoeneck APPLICATIONS PROGRAMMING :: Mick Oyer DIRECTOR OF MEDIA RELATIONS :: Jimmy Rippy DIRECTOR OF MEDIA & FILM PRODUCTION :: Jonathan Hudson PUBLIC RELATIONS & PROMOTIONS :: Krislyn Smith EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR RISEN PROJECT :: Megan Camaisa RISEN Magazine is a subsidiary of RISEN Son, LLC. The views expressed by the subjects interviewed in RISEN Magazine are not necessarily those shared by the staff or publishers of RISEN Son, LLC. All interviews are recorded live and exclusively for use by RISEN Magazine. Interviews remain the sole property of RISEN Son, LLC. All rights reserved. No part of the contents of this magazine may be reproduced without the written consent of RISEN Son, LLC.
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Cover Photo :: Bil Zelman
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The Strength of An Actor:
KEVIN SORBO B
Writer: Kelli Gillespie
est known as Hercules, Kevin Sorbo has played a variety of roles for both television and movies. Under the many layers of those various roles is a guy who is dedicated to his family and his faith and candid about his views regarding Hollywood. He is quick to credit his solid upbringing and as a result he has been instrumental in the advancement of an after-school mentoring program reaching thousands of kids.
Interviewed exclusively for Risen Magazine
Risen Magazine: You were an athlete growing up and played multiple sports in high school and college…so when did you decide to go into acting? Kevin Sorbo: Not until my university days. I wanted to be an actor since I was 11 years old, but I sort of kept that quiet. I was a closet thespian so to speak. We made fun of all the kids in the acting class, even though I wanted to be there, peer pressure was just too much from my fellow jocks so I went, “ Yeah, yeah who wants to be an actor?” I kept it quiet and didn’t do anything with it until I got to the university. RM: You’re most well-known for your role as Hercules in the television series, Hercules, the Legendary Journeys. So did playing sports help you take on that role physically? KS: Oh there’s no question. I know actors say they do their own stunts… most of them don’t. But I definitely did the bulk of my stunts. Probably about 85 percent of them, except for the crazy ones where I could really, really break a leg or a neck. I left those to my stunt double. My ego was still there during that decade and I wanted to do most of the stuff because it was fun. The series had a seven-year run… we actually passed Baywatch in the 90’s as the most watched TV show in the world. It was really quite an honor to be part of something like that. RM: What has it been like working with your wife in TV and film? Does it make things more comfortable, or more challenging? KS: Sam’s easy to work with – that’s how we met. It was during the end of season four on Hercules, she came down to play a princess. I had a good gig for a single guy, every two weeks they sent a beautiful woman for me to work with, so I had honed up on my flirting skills pretty well. When she came along it was one of those timing things and we hit it off and we’ve been married 12 years and have three kids. risenmagazine.com 11
What If… Following in the same vein as the classic It’s A Wonderful Life, and the more modern The Family Man… What If… is an inspiring story of courage, conviction and second chances. Kevin Sorbo stars as a ruthless financial executive, who works round-the-clock closing deals and living in the fast lane. But everything comes to a screeching halt when his car mysteriously breaks down and he finds himself on “the road not traveled.” John Ratzenberger stars as a tow truck driver that shows up just in time to thrust Ben into the life of the path not taken. More directly smack in the middle of domestic chaos while his wife Wendy, played by Kristy Swanson, (which is really the girlfriend he abandoned 15 years earlier) and his daughters are getting ready for church, where Ben is the new pastor. He is forced to learn the value of faith and family and is left wondering if he will ever return to his other life… or if he even wants to. Executive Produced by the best-selling author of the Left Behind book series Jerry B. Jenkins and directed by his son Dallas Jenkins. GMC World Premiere Movie of What If… will be on Sunday, January 30 at 7:00pm ET. The movie will encore at 9:00pm ET and 11:00pm ET.
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RM: Speaking of having three kids, how do you juggle it all? KS: [My wife] stays at home all the time now, she acts only occasionally. She has turned into a writer. She just wrote a book and she’s working on my autobiography along with me right now. And we’re home schooling as well, so they [family] travel with me quite a bit. It makes it easier. Otherwise I’m just gone too much. I just finished a movie in Toronto and they came up for a couple of weeks for that; I spent two months in Hawaii shooting a movie with Dennis Quaid and Helen Hunt, then I was shooting in Tulsa after that for two months – it’s a lot of juggling.
RM: That’s the Bethany Hamilton story correct? (The 13-year-old girl whose left arm was ripped off after being attacked by a tiger shark while surfing.) KS: Yes it is. I’ve already seen it and it’s amazing. Sony is so far behind this thing… and it’s going to be a released this spring. I’ve got another faith-based movie called Rebound that I start shooting in Salt Lake City in February, and then I have three other faith-based films that I’ve raised 50 percent of the money for through my production company. I guess I’m leaning more toward faith-based films, but I’m mixing it up. I leave next week to shoot a comedy where I play the leader of a bunch of really idiot bank robbers, but it’s a kids’
eople want to see movies with good messages, strong messages and positive messages; not all the negative stuff that comes from Hollywood. RM: You have been busy! I feel like there is a big need for family-friendly films that aren’t cartoons... this year you had What If… and you’ve been working on other films with great messages and themes. KS: There’s a huge market out there that is underserved. Hollywood wants to call it a niche market but when you’ve got, in most polls, 90 percent of people saying they believe there is a God, it’s not a niche market. It’s a completely underserved market. And The Blind Side’s success really opened the doors for these studios to wake up a bit and say, “ You know what? We need to open up a faith based division.” People want to see movies with good messages, strong messages and positive messages; not all the negative stuff that comes from Hollywood. RM: What role does faith play in your life now? KS: I’ve always been a Christian. Certainly I’ve had my ups and downs with falling further away from God but, I’ve always been a believer. I’ve always believed in Jesus, I’ve always believed in God, we go to church and it’s a big part of my life. I can’t answer all the questions and most of us can’t about how we all started… but someone had to start all this. Somebody out there knows a lot more than me. I’m just here having my little ride and lucky enough to be in a career that can spread a positive message as well. RM: Hollywood can be a pretty vicious place. How does faith affect your decisions, picking roles, who to work with, or trusting people? KS: Our business got hurt just like anybody else – it’s tough out there right now. There are less movies being made; less television [shows] being made; they still got to put it out there though because people still want the product. A lot of shows that wouldn’t have lasted three, four or five years are lasting into season six and seven only because it’s so expensive to start up a new show. The studios just say, “I know we aren’t doing great in the ratings on this show, but let’s keep it going because at least there is an audience of some kind.” Studios don’t want to take chances right now. People’s salaries are being cut, and all these things are happening. It’s not like I take anything that comes along, but I’m still an actor and I still enjoy trying on different hats so to speak. I really mixed it up this past year-and-a-half with a lot of different roles. Besides What If…out there right now, I have another faith-based movie called, Soul Surfer, coming out. It’s the one with Dennis Quaid, Helen Hunt and Carrie Underwood.
film, its rated G and it’s about teenage kids that solve the crime. RM: So what do your kids think of Dad and being able to watch your material now? KS: I think they think it’s pretty cool. I think initially they thought everybody worked in movies or television. My nine year old, he gets it now; he’s the oldest of the group. Unfortunately, I think he wants to be an actor, but I’m trying to talk him out of that. But we’ll see. RM: You’re the spokesperson and chair for A World Fit for Kids! Why did you get involved with this mentoring program? KS: I grew up in a very lucky environment. My dad as a public school teacher didn’t make a whole lot of money but I still grew up with a very strong safety net – my mom and dad, my neighbors, my coaches, my community, my schools – and I want to return the favor to kids that didn’t have that growing up. I work with the inner city schools here in Los Angeles. We work with over 12 thousand kids, and the school district here, like many big cities, has a huge dropout rate. LA County has a 54 percent dropout rate starting as low as fifth grade – it’s crazy. But the 12 thousand kids that this program works with from first grade through twelfth, has a 98 percent graduation rate. We received an award a few years ago from Governor Schwarzenegger for having the best after school program in the state of California and we’ve decided to go nationwide with it. We’re branching out to other cities now. RM: Who would you say was a mentor or role model to you growing up? KS: It’s a mixture. Certainly it’s my mom and dad, but a lot had to do with my athletic coaches. I’m a big believer in sports for kids. No matter what sport that is. I think getting involved with other peers and learning what competition is all about is really important. I think sports is more than just the physical activity – which I’m a big believer in – but I think it’s really important for kids to interact with each other and learn about winning and losing. It’s a very solid base for kids to learn about the real world when they get out there. You’re not going to win all the time. Use failure as a learning tool, don’t use it as a negative, and use it as a positive to make yourself better at something.
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John Cooper
Following His Heart 14 Risen Magazine
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Writer: Kelli Gillespie
anned from listening to rock music when he was little John Cooper felt God calling him to be in a band. Faced with the tough decision of following his heart or his parents, Cooper chose the desire God placed in his heart to pursue his dream. And blessed he’s been - his Grammy-nominated rock band Skillit has released 7 albums and sold more than a million and half records to date. Fans love their passion, songs, and shows packed with pyrotechnics. And one summer night in San Diego was no exception. The stage went black with only the glow of cell phones and cameras, while the crowd chanted, “Skill it, Skill-it, Skillit.” The voice on the loud speaker bellowed, “Ladies and Gentlemen welcome to the show. You are invited to stand. You are invited to scream…” and scream they did! But before front man Cooper took the stage, he took some time to tell Risen Magazine his story.
Interviewed exclusively for Risen Magazine in san diego, ca
Risen Magazine: Being a Christian working in mainstream secular music, how do you stay true to what message you really want to get across? John Cooper: I find it kind of like anything else in life. For instance, when [you go] to college, you’re making a decision to go to college and you know there is going to be new temptations and new stuff out there trying to lead you astray or vie for your affection. You’ve got to make decisions for who you want to be and then hopefully you put in safeguards to help those decisions last. I find [the same] with any kind of business, or relationship even, what I mean is that practically for me, I need to have people in my life that I trust to speak into my life - my pastor and my wife, and whoever that’s going to be that we’re open about things and I know that I’m human and I can mess up and I need those people to be there for me and to keep me, not just to keep me accountable, but to be with me, to fight with me and to pray with me. A lot of bands if I see they’ve really gone off track from where they started from, it’s normally because they don’t have people in their lives like that. It’s very easy to get sucked into this world; the music world is almost like its own separate world from normal life, especially mainstream music.
come and go, all looking for the new thing. I’d say 12-13 years ago, Brittney Spears and N’Sync and all these people popped up on scene… that was the next level of that evolution [with the idea] we can make stars, which kind of lead up to American Idol and stuff like that. There definitely is a ‘Hey we’re going to show you how much power we really have, we can make people be stars as long as they can do this good, or this good, etc…’ That pressure has happened. I was basically told if Skillit wanted to sell one million records, we’re going to have to sign at least a few chests/boobs. It was a conversation with my label, I was saying I’ve been in Christian music for a long time and that’s never come up before. When it happens you don’t really know what to say and there’s an issue of you not wanting to offend people because they’re like, ‘ You’re a rock band and that’s what they do.’ They feel almost like somebody said, ‘Hey will you sign my shirt,’ and you say, ‘No I don’t feel comfortable with that.’ And then they feel offended. It started this whole conversation of basically you’re never going to sell one million records if you’re not cool. So those began to be the challenges for Skillit. You’ll never sell one million records if you don’t do that, you’ll never sell one million records if you’re not willing to sing about some things that you don’t believe in, or maybe it’s not that you don’t believe in it, but it might not be the best influence.
I’ve done a lot of praying and soul searching about what it is God has asked me to do.
RM: Do you have safeguards for that when you’re on the road? Do you do devotions together and hold each other accountable? JC: Absolutely. We do all of those things you just mentioned. Some of that is also natural because my wife is in the band and we have our kids on the road with us. So it really does seem like a family; the whole band seems like a family. We’re very open about what we’re trying to accomplish and who we want to be. We all go to church together and the leaders of our church are very interested in our lives and being that authoritative role for us. All that is set in place, and then yes, we’ll have worship times together. The girls were just in here, and walked out there, they are reading the Bible together. They’re going through the Bible together and that’s what they are doing in the other room now... they do that together every day. And absolutely, if somebody sees something that is questionable we bring it up. The good thing is that as a group we’ve already decided who [we] want to be together. When it doesn’t work, is me coming to you and saying, ‘Hey I saw you doing this and is everything okay with that,’ and you being like, ‘Well that’s just who I want to be.’ From the bottom this is not built correctly. Skillit is built well from the bottom up. RM: You write your own music and are a true artist. I think the industry has changed and it’s more about the game-changing song, what are some of the biggest challenges you’re facing in the industry that you didn’t think you’d have to? JC: That’s always been there on the pop side mainly, with pop artists that
RM: So how do you handle something like that? Do you continue to blur the boundary or do you say, ‘No this is where we’re going to be and we know our music will stand alone?’ JC: We’ve had some issues, but we haven’t gotten music pressure from the label about having to change lyrics, but honestly, I always knew I wouldn’t do that. And I think even if it started to seem like maybe that’s not a big deal, I have my wife, I have my pastor at my church, I have my band together, those things I believe don’t happen because of all of these safeguards. So I don’t sound like a blast to my label, they haven’t been hammering me like you’ve got to cuss in a song, that’s not really what they’re saying... but there have been a couple songs where they’ve said, “If you could just say hell or damn it’s not really that big of a deal, what’s the big deal with this.” And from my point of view, I just say it’s not who I am, it’s not in my artistry and I’m just not going to do it. I think that God has honored that and taken Skillit to a place, that honestly we’ve sold so many records that we’re a little bit of an enigma, I think our label doesn’t know why we’ve sold so many records. I don’t know how we’ve sold so many records. I don’t really know how it’s happened. RM: God doesn’t make mistakes and He places people in specific industries that aren’t necessarily Christian. It’s important to have people like you that are bringing music to a secular crowd that can relate and read into your message more. And it’s not like your songs are preaching, they just deal with real issues. JC: I hope so, thanks. I feel very passionate about all those things you’ve just risenmagazine.com 17
said, why we do what we do, and what I feel called to do. I’ve done a lot of praying and soul searching about what it is God has asked me to do. Five years ago we had a record called “Collide” that was 3 records ago, and that was my 5th record, and that was my first album we ever recorded that I didn’t say Jesus on. It was a real soul searching time for me, I feel like these were the songs that God gave me and I never thought I’d have a record that didn’t say Jesus on it and I don’t know how I feel about it. You know what it was like, for people that care about stuff like this, it was like in the New Testament, Simon Peter’s dream with the animals coming down and God telling him to take and eat and he was saying, no I’m not going to do it, it’s unclean, and God was saying, stop saying that what I’ve told you to do is unclean. I really felt like it was that way. I felt God was saying these are the songs, you’re not meant to say Jesus on this record. You’re starting a new thing and I had a real hard time with it. It was my sensibilities, because I am an evangelist at heart. But I knew it was the Lord and that’s why God just kept taking us down that road and now I can see why He’s done that. Write songs people can relate to whether you’re a Christian or an atheist. I want it to be like last week when we played with Stone Temple Pilots and Alice in Chains, somebody came up to me and said, “Hey I love your music man, I love all your albums, I’m an atheist I’m not Christian, but I don’t even care I love all your records.” I think people are relating to what we’re singing about and a lot of people know we’re Christians, but they just like the way the songs make them feel.
ents are usually a big motivating factor. JC: Yeah, they were really against it. I became a Christian when I was five. My mom was a Jesus-freak, passionate about Jesus, taught me about Jesus and I had a huge respect for my Mom and she is the reason I am walking with God. But there were definitely things in my upbringing I had a hard time with and the reason is because they didn’t make any sense from the Bible to me and that is probably the reason I hate religiousness and I’ve really fought against that my whole life. You know in 5th grade I wanted to wear black jeans and I wasn’t allowed to wear black because it was the devil’s color, and I wanted to have a mullet, I wanted a mullet so bad, like MacGyver, but not allowed to do that because that’s what non-Christians do, Christians don’t do that. So all that stuff really bothered me and I had a real hard time with this whole music thing, I could not wrap my head around why God would create music but there would be a genre of music that was inherently evil or poisoned by the devil. I just couldn’t buy it. I thought they’re trying to control me and I don’t like that I want to do what God says and I want to obey my parents, but this just doesn’t make sense.
I was 18, I feel God telling me I got to do this and it’s either going to be do what the Lord says, or do what my parents say, and there is only one right decision here.
RM: When you were young did you know that this is what you wanted to do? Or did you want to be a basketball player, or a teacher... JC: I did want to be a basketball player and a musician. RM: Because those hybrids are so common... JC: Competitive people. Musicians are very competitive, unless they are high. The high ones don’t care anymore. I started listening to rock music when I was in about 6th grade and it was all Christian music - Petra was my band - Christian music was so impactful to me that I did have a dream of being a Christian musician. I didn’t necessarily think that would happen. I didn’t even know what I’d play, I was a piano player at the time, and thought I could play keyboards and that could be really cool. I didn’t know I’d end up being a singer. I thought that would be amazing. If I could do anything in the world, I’d be in a Christian rock band. It never crossed my mind to be in just a band, because I listened to Christian music. I grew up in a family that was against all music besides Classical and hymns. I wasn’t allowed to listen to Christian music for a very long time because my family believed the drums are from the devil, and guitars are from the devil and Amy Grant is the anti-Christ. RM: So what gave you the confidence then to pursue it? I would think par18 Risen Magazine
RM: So are your parents supportive now? JC: This was all leading up to 6th/7th grade and we started fighting, and fighting and I started listening to Christian music and my parents did not like it but I think they finally realized they were going to lose me. I loved music, my mom was a piano teacher and she felt I was a gifted musician and she knew how much I loved music and when I heard rock music I just freaked out. I just wanted to sit in a house and listen to rock music all the time. I think they realized we are going to give in a little bit and let him listen to Amy Grant, Michael Smith and Petra, or else he might be listening to Metallica and Motley Cru with all my buddies. So they gave in a little bit. My mom passed away actually when I was a freshman in high school and apparently her big thing was - I love my family by the way, I’m close with my family and everything is fine now - but the big thing that my family really believed for years and years was that mom was on her death bed saying her biggest concern for her whole life was that I would get ruined by rock music and Satan was going to use me and they held that over my head for a long time. Then eventually I remember praying, I was an adult, I was 18, I feel God telling me I got to do this and it’s either going to be do what the Lord says, or do what my parents say, and there is only one right decision here. I talked with my pastor about it, it wasn’t like I was being rebellious, I was an adult, I wasn’t 13 or something. It was difficult because still to this day I respect my mom a whole lot, she was the cornerstone person in my life that lead me to Christ. A lot of opposition at first, but now everybody loves it and is really cool about it now. Things have changed a lot in the last 10 years even in the church concerning rock music the way people dress, tattoos, piercings and what not.
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Regarding stuff that really matters…
Yvette Nicole Brown Has Something to Say Writer: Kelli Gillespie | Photographer: Tina B. Henderson
vette Nicole Brown has worked on numerous commercials, movies and television shows, but there’s just something rare about her current series Community with Chevy Chase and Joel McHale. Brown plays a Christian on the hit show and talks about how her personal faith informs the character. She also opens up about everything from scholarships to social media, an intervention staged by friends prior to moving to Los Angeles, and why no matter what, she knows everything is going to be okay.
Interviewed exclusively for Risen Magazine
Risen Magazine: What was your family like growing up, were they supportive of you going into acting? Did they have hesitations about it? Yvette Nicole Brown: My mom was very supportive a long as I continued to do well in school. I grew up kind of poor, so my whole goal through high school was to get a scholarship because unless I got a scholarship, I wouldn’t have been able to go to college. [Yvette did get a scholarship to the University of Akron]. I started off as a singer so when I was doing talent shows and what not when I was in high school, my mom was like, “ You can pursue this as much as you want as long as your grades don’t slip.” And then the same deal came in college when she said, “ You can do anything you want creatively, as long you keep your scholarship and keep your grades up.” So that was the tradeoff. I kept my grades up, and she always came to all my shows. She comes to the set of Community now – she’s always been ridiculously supportive. RM: Whether someone went to a community or four-year college, public or private, come graduation time everyone has some pretty interesting experiences to share, what about you, what was your college experience like? YNB: I was one of those people that tried to get involved in everything. I worked at the radio station, I was a Campus Ambassador – those were the people that gave tours on campus – I worked with the Admissions department, I pledged a sorority… I never knew which opportunity was going to give me what I needed to further my life. I wanted to be well-rounded, so I kind of just jumped into everything. As far as graduating - it’s so funny - I just went back to my college to receive an award. And I talked to a lot of groups of kids and the ones that I found the most fascinating to talk to were the seniors, because they were terrified. There was this feeling of, “Okay, now what?” I told them, and I believe, that the feeling of now what? is where the magic is. The idea of having your entire life ahead of you and being able to do anything with it – it’s just magical. And so I told them, “Feel the terror of the moment, but then toss the terror aside and go boldly into your future, knowing it can be anything you want it to be.” Right when you’re 22 going out in the world is the most amazing time of your life. RM: Speaking of going out in the world, what was your thought process like
when you decided to move to LA? YNB: I was probably too naïve to realize I should’ve been afraid. It was funny. Right before I came out, two of my friends staged intervention.They were like, “Let’s go to dinner and see a movie or something to say goodbye as you move to LA.” And when we got back to my house, my friend Kim was driving and she put the car in park and locked the doors, and I was in the back where the child locks were. She, and my friend Felicia, turned around and looked at me in the back and said, “We’re very concerned about this move to LA. We don’t think you’ve put the time in; we don’t think you’re ready; you haven’t saved any money.” It was this big you’re making the worst decision of your life [conversation.] I remember having this peace. I govern my life by peace. If there is peace, I know that’s where God is and I go down that path. So I felt peace about it and I told them, “All of your concerns are telling me you guys shouldn’t move to LA! I don’t have those concerns.” I knew I didn’t have a lot of money saved. And I didn’t really know where I was going to live beyond the first three days. This is just the naivety of a 22-year-old. I just really felt like I was supposed to be there. And as scary as it was moving out, and all the times I was sleeping on someone’s couch, or didn’t really have any money – I still felt that peace. And I’ve governed every decision I’ve made out here from a pathway of peace. When it comes to choosing roles, turning down roles, it’s all governed by peace and [the question] do I feel this is my path? and if it is, I stay on it, and if it’s not, I move on. RM: So at what point then did you know entertaining was your calling? YNB: I felt a call towards entertaining from the standpoint of making people feel better. I didn’t know if it would be as a singer, or if it would be as an actor. I just knew that my call in life was to lighten people’s loads in some way. I initially thought that I wanted to be a kindergarten teacher because I felt if you can catch the babies at 5 and 6, before life has kicked their teeth in – right when they are getting that spark of creativity, that spark of joy about life – you really are in a position to affect generations. So I always felt maybe I would be a teacher of some sort. But it all goes to the aspect of giving back. I’m not someone that believes that anything is given to you in life, so you can just pile it up and say, “Look at risenmagazine.com 21
my bounty”. It’s not ever about you. Great things happen, opportunities happen, money comes into your life for you to find a way to funnel it to someone else who needs it.You make enough to take care of yourself, your friends and your family, and then the rest of it needs to go toward charities and causes, and things that will matter. If you are given an opportunity to have a platform where people are willing to listen to what you have to say, you need to say something. Even with something like Twitter. I ran from Twitter for a while because I was bothered by the word follower. [On Twitter you click on a follow button so you can have access to the person you want to know better] Who am I to have followers? As a Christian, it felt a little sacrilegious to have followers. Then I realized it’s a blessing to have followers, if you lead them somewhere. So I try to make sure that my tweets are inspirational, funny, or encouraging and I try to make sure my page is open for everyone. I see the whole social networking and messageboard thing as another opportunity to let people know it’s going to be all right, just keep believing, and stay on your path. I know it probably comes off a little Pollyanna to some people that may be jaded, but life is hard. And we all need to know that it’s going to be okay, or be reminded that today is hard, but tomorrow is going to be better. It’s not an ego exercise for me; it’s more to give back in some way. And also to get people to watch Community because I think it’s a cute show. They put life lessons in each episode and an episode may seem cynical but in the end there is a message there for everyone about friendship, or faith or loyalty. I think it’s important for people to be reminded in that way too, through entertainment, so that’s why I promote the show like crazy.
Even before I played Shirley – as a black woman, as a curvy girl, a big girl, I’ve always tried to make sure that none of my roles make black women, or thicker girls look bad. Now I’ve just added another layer to it. I have no problem showing the humanity of Christians because we’re not perfect. We’re flawed people. The only difference between us and the world is that we know we need God. That is the only difference. If I can adequately show that, and show that she has the same problems other people have and she struggles with her faith in the same way others struggle with life and show the humanity of her, then I will feel like I have succeeded. I never wanted to play a perfect Christian, because they don’t exist. It’s awesome I get to take this ride with her and see Shirley’s flaws and with my acting find a way to imbue the words they give me with the level of remorse and repentance that any Christian walking with God would have after they’ve fallen. I think that’s important. And that’s also something I don’t know that someone who wasn’t a believer would know to do. There is a heartbreaking nature to sin for Christians. It’s the whole feeling that I’ve let God down. Not that I’ve done this horrible thing to another human being, but I’ve let God down. There’s a heaviness; a heartbreak; that comes with that. There’s no condemnation in Christ so we don’t stay there, we repent and we endeavor to do better, and we keep it moving. But there is that moment of “Oh what have I done.” I wanted to make sure as we show Shirley’s flaws we’re able to show that moment of heartbreak for her.
The idea of having your entire life ahead of you and being able to do anything with it – it’s just magical.
RM: You play Shirley on Community and she’s a Christian on the show. When you were first reading for the role and finding out her identity, did you have any reservations with portraying her the way she was written? YNB: No because you know what’s so funny? I don’t think Shirley was slated as a Christian in the pilot. I don’t remember anything inherently Christian about what she said, or did, and she wasn’t wearing a cross or anything. I think her Christianity morphed from the fact that I’m a Christian. Dan Harmon has taken a lot of our personality traits and infused them into our characters. I remember before we even went into production for the first season, there were these little blurbs on the NBC site called Campus Connection where they listed things about each character and under Shirley’s page it said, “I’m a Baptist and I’m proud of it.” And I was like, “Whoa she’s a Christian! That’s awesome.” It didn’t bother me, and I wasn’t concerned with playing a Christian. I thought it was an honor to be a Christian, playing a Christian, because I can inform the character in a way that someone who is not a Christian maybe couldn’t. Anyone can say the lines, but if it’s something that involves God, there’s a certain understanding I may have about His goodness, or about His faithfulness that will allow me to imbue the line with a little bit more gravitas than someone who hasn’t met Him yet would be able to. So I take it as a privilege and an honor. 22 Risen Magazine
RM: It’s refreshing to see that a network like NBC would allow that theme. Hollywood seems like an easy industry for God to quickly slip from top priority to non-existent. What safeguards do you have in place to make sure you keep focused? YNB: Even before I became an actor, I’ve always been completely clear on where my blessings come from. I’m not someone that thinks I’m extraordinarily talented, or extraordinarily funny, or beautiful, or any of those things. So if there is ever an opportunity for me to be funny, or display talent… I know where that comes from. In my power, I can do no good thing. Because I’m clear on that, there’s very little chance for ego to enter into my life because I’m not doing it. You’d have to be a pretty crappy person to take credit for someone else’s work. My friend Kim Rutherford, she’s an amazing Christian songwriter and singer, but she said once to me, early in my career, “God is looking for people that will do his work, but leave his glory alone.” I thought, what a perfect way of explaining humility. I’m blessed to do this job. There are so many more people that are thinner, more beautiful, funnier, or whatever, that should have this job – and I have it. That’s a gift from God. So I don’t know how to exist outside of that understanding. So for me it’s very easy to stay on the straight and narrow. The wardrobe department on Community gave me a great gift this season in that Shirley wears a cross every week. In my personal life, I suffer with road rage. I get very upset behind the wheel and because of that I have a cross
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hanging around my rear-view mirror and I have Jesus written on the back of my car. People may think I do that because I want to show everybody I love the Lord. No, I do that because I’m consciously aware that I am representing Christ in that car. So that means when someone cuts me off, or someone won’t let me merge, I see the cross in front of me and I know what’s behind me and I don’t want to make Him look bad. So it keeps me in check that way. And it’s kind of the same thing with wearing the cross on the show. I’m aware every day as I put it on, as this character I’m modeling who Christ is and what the Christian walk is.
lars, whose names are known all over the world and they don’t have peace. And they keep chasing for more. That’s not a good life. I’m not someone that can be easily swayed because I have enough. And truth be told, I had enough when I first moved here [to LA]. I’m not a very ambitious person, I never have been, I’ve always been like, “This too Lord?!” I don’t have a sense of entitlement and every blessing that comes is always a complete surprise to me and a wonderful joy. RM: God has definitely placed you in a position where you can showcase his work. Your personality is magnetic and it’s clear your faith is rock solid. What would you say has been the most important tools in building your faith? YNB: At a certain point in your life, you’ve been through things and survived. It seems like all is lost, and it isn’t. If you string enough experiences like that together then no matter what you face you can say, “This is probably going to be okay too.” You think, I don’t have any money right now, I just lost my job and rent is due – this looks bad. But if I think back to 10 years ago when I first moved to LA and didn’t have a job and I didn’t have money, He [God] protected me then. He has a plan. One of my favorite scriptures is Jeremiah 29:11 which says, “I know the thoughts I think towards you, says the Lord, thoughts to prosper you and give you an expectant end.” He has good thoughts about us. He never said it was going to be easy. He never said that every day there was going to be magic waiting on the front doorstep for you. But He did say that His ultimate plan for you is to prosper you, and for your good. If that’s the case, then at the end of this, I’m going to prosper – and I don’t think He meant money. I think God meant in faith, in spirit and in the stuff that really matters. If at the end of this life, I’m going to have a good end and be prosperous in spirit, then does it really matter that the light bill is due and I don’t have the $25 dollars? Honestly, worst case scenario the lights will be off. Then I’ll get the $25 dollars and the lights will be back on. It’s really not that deep. And the plan is to have friends in your life that will remind you of this on the days you forget. We all ultimately forget. Life happens and it seems like it’s the end of the world and you need to have a circle of friends in your life that say, “No, no, now precious, calm down. I know it’s bad, but you know what? Your lights are off, so come to my house tonight.” Or “Here’s $25 dollars for your lights to be on,” or “I’ve got some candles.” As long as there is someone in your life to tilt you towards the right way of thinking, you’ll be fine, and then you do the same for them when they forget. That’s what the journey of life is; reminding each other it’s going to be all right and helping each other through as we find our way towards it being all right - as we stumble toward it being all right, or as we crawl, or as we pray, or as we cry our way towards it being all right. But it’s going to be all right.
If you are given an opportunity to have a platform where people are willing to listen to what you have to say, you need to say something.
RM: What excites you most about working with the Community cast every day? YNB: I love that everybody is so silly. As an adult you don’t really get to play. And it’s kind of like having recess every day for 16 hours. Besides getting to perform as an actor, in between takes everyone is just so much fun. Not just the cast, but the crew – everyone is just silly. That to me has been a gift every single day.
RM: You’ve had a pretty blessed career consistently working in commercials, TV, and film… in a field where everyone is pretty dependent on agents and publicists and studios to help get them work, how do you know who to trust? YNB: I believe I have a really good sense of discernment, and I can sense when I’m talking to someone if they are getting me. I tell young people entering the business, when they say, “How do you pick an agent?” that when you go into that initial meeting you just have to have a sense that someone gets you. I speak in terms of blessings and callings, but you have to understand what your purpose is in this industry. If your goal is just to be famous, and rich, you will compromise… because there is always a shortcut to being famous and being rich. If your goal is to do good work and to have a life that is respectable, and a career that is respectable, then there are certain things you won’t do… because it’s not about the money and the fame. Even before I got Community, as a commercial actor I made more money than a poor girl from Cleveland ever thought she’d make. It’s never been the money for me. I have a house, I have a car, my mother and my brother are taken care of – I’ve got enough. So no decision that I’ve made for the last 6-7 years has been based on paying my rent. I’m not someone that cares about fame. I don’t want people following me when I get my gas; I don’t want paparazzi outside my door in the morning; I don’t want to live in a house I have to build a shelter around for safety. Since that’s not my goal, anyone dangling a carrot saying, “Hey if you do this more, people will know who you are.” [It doesn’t affect me] I don’t need anybody else to know who I am. I’m good where I am. It kind of prevents the carrot from being dangled when you know that you have enough. I think the greatest gift in life is contentment. You find a way to have peace and contentment in whatever situation you are in – you could be living in a box under a bridge, but if you found a way to have peace and contentment about it, no one can touch you. There are people with millions of dol-
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NICHOLAS SPARKS Amplified Writer: Kelli Gillespie | Photographer: Bil Zelman
cold December wind was blowing, and Teresa Osborne crossed her arms as she stared out over the water. Earlier, when she’d arrived…” Even though he wrote The Notebook 16 years ago, Nicholas Sparks can still quote you these opening lines as well as the entire story. This beloved author was reciting the novel while pretending to type on the vintage typewriter brought in for the photo shoot. (I made a mental note to ask him if he has all his novels memorized.) With 16 books under his belt - many of which are bestsellers, and subsequently turned into movies - there is no question Sparks is one of the most successful writers working today. And while success of his level is only shared with a few, it’s not the journey to the top that interests me most, but rather what one does with the success. In that vein, Nicholas Sparks should be the poster child. This loving husband, father of five, coach, mentor and philanthropist, not only balances all of these aspects of his life with ease, but in turn passes his incredible blessings on to others.
Interviewed exclusively for Risen Magazine at Hotel del Coronado in San Diego, California
Risen Magazine: You wrote The Notebook in 1994, and with Safe Haven’s release that makes 16 books in 16 years, a daunting task for anyone…what drives you to keep this schedule? You’re not tempted to take a couple years off ? Nicholas Sparks: Primarily it’s an internal motivation. It’s the nature of my personality. I like to set goals and then try to reach them. Every time I finish a novel my thoughts almost immediately turn to the next potential story. My goal is always to make the next one - the one I’m going to start writing - the best thing I’ve done in my life. It’s a challenge and I’m just driven by challenges. RM: Many of your books have been turned into movies…navigating Hollywood can’t be an easy task. How do you know who to trust? NS: I have great agents and most of my novels are adapted with repeat people. RM: It seems like you’re getting more involved with creative control in the film industry, which has got to be pretty fun…you wrote the screenplay for The Last Song and I hear you’re going to produce Safe Haven. Is there a particular significance with this book, or just something you’ve wanted to do? NS: It was time for me to be a producer and have a little bit more input into the way the film is made. It sounds fun and it’s something I haven’t done before. It will be a new experience, and that’s probably the extent of it. Just because I’m a producer now doesn’t mean I know everything there is to know about producing… that’s why I have two other producers. They know a lot about it. For me, I think I know a little bit about story, but for everything else, I’m more than content to let them take the lead and I’ll sit back and learn. RM: By the world’s standards you’d be considered one of the most successful writers of our time… how do you view success? 26 Risen Magazine
NS: When I get there I’ll let you know what it’s like. It’s always the next thing for me. It’s impossible not to look back on my life and to realize the good fortune I’ve had and the blessings I’ve received. It’s impossible not to realize that my life is different now than it would have been had I not done any of this. But the most important thing to understand about my chosen profession, or anything really in the entertainment field, is that money or fame or power, are simply amplifiers. You become more of the person that you originally were. If you weren’t that nice, you’re not very nice at all; if you were kind of into yourself, you become a total narcissist; if you were a good guy, you become more philanthropic; it’s just an amplifier. And so it’s important not to take any of those things too seriously because they don’t change who you are, it just makes more of it. RM: In terms of amplifying, I’d say your generosity and your spirit of giving back is what gets amplified as your success grows. Your life is not going to be defined by your career; you get tons of attention for your books and films but there is so much more to Nicholas Sparks… like investing your time and money into kids’ lives. Especially through track & field where you volunteered as a coach and built a track for a club whose runners come from low-income and at-risk families. Why does this hold such a special place in your heart? NS: Thank you. Track and field changed my life. It was how I got to college. It was a way for me to chase dreams, to succeed and fail on a daily basis, to get up and try again, to learn to persevere, to learn discipline - it was wonderful in all of those areas and I wanted to share that with other kids. And I just happened to live in a town with a lot of poor kids, and they ended up being the fast ones. [Laughter]. RM: Your son is one of those kids. NS: Well he would be one of the rare exceptions. For the most part, the kids
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who were really fast came from not the greatest backgrounds. That didn’t mean they were bad kids, it was just that they came from tough, tough backgrounds – gangs, violence, drugs, and a lot prison in their family and trouble with the law – and it was a great outlet to get them to focus on something positive and to move toward their own dreams in the future. Between the club and the high school program, I don’t know how many kids we sent off to college on track scholarships, maybe 90-100. For most of them they were the first in their families ever to attend college. It was a lot of fun and we had a lot of success doing it. We were voted the High School Track & Field Team of the Year in 2009. My high school team, over four years, won four straight state championships, and 17 national championships, and set national records… and so it had its moments of fun too as a coach. RM: Do you ever think you’d develop a sports themed book? NS: Maybe. I have a non-fiction book under contract but I haven’t decided what it is going to be – whether it will be on fatherhood, the track program, or the Christian school that I started. RM: Speaking of the Christian school, The Epiphany School, you started in North Carolina is rooted in the Christian faith and focuses on a global education. Tell me more about what the kids learn and why you founded it? NS: First off, it is a Christian school, and yet when you’re in the South that has a very strong connotation of a severe form of fundamentalism. The Epiphany School is not that. The Epiphany School does not teach any doctrine, and is not affiliated with any church whatsoever. You do not have to be Christian to go there and you do not have to be Christian to teach there. The slogan for our school is what Jesus himself said was the greatest of the commandments, Love God and your neighbor as yourself. So for us [founded school with his wife] that’s what the real core depth of Christianity means. Living the example of Christ, do service, be courageous, be a good person, treat others with kindness, and love God. And if you do that I think you really develop a well-rounded student spiritually. The school is however, a very rigorous college prep program. The students average about $90,000 per student in college merit scholarships. That’s not financial aid, that’s not athletic, that’s strictly merit. One of the reasons (for such a high cost) is that it is truly a global education… if you come in as a freshmen, by the time you graduate, you’ll have visited 23 countries on 6 continents, spent 213 days abroad, be fluent in Spanish, learned the culture of all the countries you’ve visited, spent time doing service work in all the countries you visited, plus enjoyed all the great sights. An example would be, our sophomores, like sophomores across the country, would learn about the Holocaust. They would read The Diary of Anne Frank and Night by Elie Wiesel. But then the difference with The Epiphany School is then in March, we put them [students] on a plane and fly them to Poland and they tour Auschwitz and Auschwitz 2, also known as Birkenau. They go to Krakow and see the painted line in the road which defined the Jewish quarter, they go to Warsaw where the uprising was held, they see the sight of Schindler’s factory in Prague, they see Anne Frank’s house in Amsterdam, and it brings it home. They see all the shoes and the luggage, and they walk through the gas chambers and it brings it home. They’re in
Poland, they’re in Germany, they’re in Czechoslovakia and Demark, and now they understand. Auschwitz to them means more probably than to other students because they’ve walked that hallowed ground. It is very important to my wife and me that we keep the tuition very low so that opens up the opportunity to attend the school to middle-class kids, even lower middle-class kids. If you realize… even with all the travel you’d be at $36,000 for 4 years… remember you’re averaging $90,000 in merit-based scholarships, and then if you’re an athlete you get more, and if you need financial aid, which many of our students do, you get more. So a lot of them go to college for a very low cost.
RM: That’s amazing - sign me up! I want to go back to school. What better way to learn than to be hands-on and traveling… which begs the question, have you given thought to expanding this model nationwide? NS: A lot schools tend to overspend on buildings. We don’t have any classrooms that aren’t in use, ever. We’ll throw up a mobile classroom if needed. Is our school the prettiest in the U.S.? No. RM: But you can access the world as your classroom. NS: Sure. They learn about the weather and the rainforest and the ecosystems, so of course we load them on a plane and fly them to Costa Rica. And they hike through the rainforest, and take bungee jumps, and go white water rafting… they hike through the Monte Verde Cloud Forest, they go horseback riding through the plains, they plant trees at the local schools and so they do that. Then they learn about the South Americans, and the next thing you know they’re hiking the Incan Trail heading to Maju Peetu. RM: Obviously, with the idea of service and values, your faith is important to you, what role does it currently play in your life? NS: It plays a central role in my life and it always has. Of course I go to church, but I don’t go to any one particular church - I kind of mix and match. I go to the Catholic Church one week, then the Methodist, and then the Baptist church – I roll around. It kind of depends on where the kids want to go. I think it’s important to keep kids interested. So Miles [his oldest son] and all his friends really like the Baptist church, so to keep a teenager going to church, you go to the Baptist church for a while. But then the girls’ friends are now at the Methodist church, so we go to that one. Really it depends what time we wake up on Sunday as to what church we go to. RM: But it’s important that your kids have that foundation. NS: And that they like it. I talk to God every day. A lot of times it’s at a very high volume with lots of cursing. But that is because God is my friend and He forgives. [Laughter]. It’s much easier to talk to God about my frustrations about writing then it is to burden my sweet, overworked wife with that stuff. So God gets the brunt of that. Then of course we talk it out, I do most of the talking, if not all. risenmagazine.com 29
And then you know it influences what I write in my novels. There’s not profanity, and kids don’t engage in premarital sex, and if there is premarital sex it’s within the context of a loving relationship, it’s not just a one-night stand, you know they [the characters] are going to be together forever. Like in The Notebook, it was there, but you knew they’re moving toward being together forever. I don’t write about adultery, so my faith influences all of those things as well.
tours, movies, people pulling you in every direction…what makes her the perfect partner for you? NS: She takes a lot of things off my plate that I don’t have to worry about. My wife is a mom first and that takes a big load off. In other words, if I’m working I know my kids are getting to the doctor, and the dentist, and they are happy and loved. She handles the stuff around the house, she’s there to listen, she’s funny, she’s pretty, and she’s easy to talk to. She’s much like the female characters in my novels. She’s loyal, she’s confident, she’s strong… my wife is strong, she’s tough. I don’t mean physically, I could take her in an arm wrestle [Laughter]. But emotionally she’s very strong.
...just because you have tragedy or something bad happens to you, it is not a free pass to ignore the other responsibilities in your life. RM: Everything you touch seems to turn into success. It’s clear God continues to not only bless your career, but use you to bless others through your words or resources. How does it make you feel to know the tremendous impact you have on others? NS: I don’t know that I think of it that way. I don’t do many things, but the things I do, I try to do to the best of my own ability. And that’s the difference between me and, for instance, my wonderful brother. Like my brother… he’s sailed yachts, he can wakeboard, snowboard, ski, he mountain bikes, he does all of this… me, I ran. But I ran really fast; fast enough to get a scholarship. But he ran too. He does everything and has fun doing it. If I’m going to do something I want it to do well - whether it’s writing, starting a school, running track, coaching track, being a dad - so I’m very limited, I don’t have many distractions. There are so many things I can’t do at all. I can’t roller blade, I’m not a good fisherman, I don’t surf well – my brother can do all of these things. RM: While your life seems too-good-to-be-true, you’ve still had your fair share of challenges…you’ve been open in talking about things your family has had to deal with – from cancer to car accidents and loss – how do you deal with tragedy? NS: That’s a good question. What I do - and it’s funny because my brother and I are kind of the death experts among our friends because we went through it relatively young - we lost our mother, and then our father, and then our younger sister, until we were the only two left. And basically when someone says, ‘What was it like losing your mom?’ We say, ‘Well it’s going to suck for about 6 months. You’re going to miss them and it’s going to hurt. There’s not much anything anybody can do to make you feel a whole lot better.’ But then after about 6 months the pain of loss begins to fade, the emotional ache associated with it begins to fade. You’ll still remember missing them, but the pain associated with that leaves. So you just have to ride it out. What I’ve tended to do is to say, just because you have tragedy or something bad happens to you, it is not a free pass to ignore the other responsibilities in your life. I still had a wife, I still had children, I still had bills to pay, I still had my own dreams, and I still had all these things. Tragedy is not a permanent free pass to not lead the kind of life that you should lead. RM: I’ve never met your wife, but she has to be incredible. Five kids, book 30 Risen Magazine
RM: I read that in your mid-twenties you thought your life was good, but you still wanted to chase your dream. NS: I had a mid-life crisis. RM: You didn’t want to look back and know you’d given up making your mark on the world. I’d say you’ve left a pretty big mark so far, what’s left that you still want to accomplish? NS: I’ve kind of spent the last 12 years, flitting from thing to thing. I’ve coached the track team, I started the school, we’ve built the house, I studied economics and investing with Jim Rogers. I dabbled in non-fiction and right now I’m writing spec screenplays and producing movies in my spare time. And we’ll see, that will probably be a phase that lasts, like all of them, for 3-4 years and then it will be replaced by something new and I can’t tell you what that might be, could be anything, maybe I take up hang gliding, I don’t know. RM: We were joking earlier during the photo shoot as you were reciting The Notebook while simulating typing on the vintage typewriter, do you really have all your books memorized? NS: I have a funny memory. I memorize anything that I want to, in a relatively brief period of time. It’s not completely autodidactic, in other words I have to think about doing it. But yeah. For instance, if you gave me 100 random digits, just random digits, and you gave me, I don’t know, 3 minutes… I could remember it for 50 years, if I wanted. Backwards and forwards, pick up in the middle – I would know it. So it made school much easier than I suppose it is for other people. RM: Wow, your mind is impressive! And is it also true that you still read 100 books a year? NS: At least… about 3 a week. RM: I’m sure that’s more than the average person. Are you reading for competition, for pleasure, have you always been a reader? NS: I read for enjoyment, I read because it relaxes me. I learn something from every book that I read. Sometimes you learn how to do things well, and sometimes you learn how not to do them… but you learn.
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32 Risen Magazine
More Truth, Even Less Convenient
Davis Guggenheim Writer: Dean Nelson | Photographer: Bronson Pate
hen Davis Guggenheim was young and living in the Washington D.C. area, his parents drove him past the local public schools and out into the suburbs where he attended a private Quaker school – the same one that President Obama’s daughters attend today. Guggenheim remembers asking his parents why he had to drive so far away to school when there were closer schools in his neighborhood. His parents told him that the schools in his neighborhood weren’t very good. His parents were right, of course. Now, as an adult and father of three, he drives past the public schools in his neighborhood in Venice Beach, Calif., as he takes his own children to a private school. Same reason. Guggenheim is a filmmaker and a television producer and director. He has directed episodes for 24, Alias, Push, Nevada, ER, Deadwood, The Shield, and many other programs. He won an Emmy for Deadwood on HBO. He was the original director for the movie Training Day with Denzel Washington and Ethan Hawke (for which Washington won an Academy Award), but was abruptly fired by Washington early in the production and replaced. Guggenheim didn’t pick up a camera for a couple of years after that, but when he did, he began making documentaries.His 2006 movie An Inconvenient Truth put the topic of climate change on the culture’s agenda and he won an Academy Award. His music documentary It Might Get Loud portrays guitar legends Jimmy Page, The Edge, and Jack White as both the future and the past of rock music. His most recent movie, Waiting for ‘Superman’ is having the same impact as An Inconvenient Truth, but on the topic of public education reform.His documentaries have rocked public opinion on complicated topics.
Interviewed exclusively for Risen Magazine in san diego, ca
Risen Magazine: In your last three documentaries you tackle big issues – climate change, the evolution of music, and education reform. But you do them all in a similar way – you portray characters we care about, you show the viewers that these characters want something, and then you hold us in suspense as to whether they’ll get what they want. That’s classic storytelling. So is that how you see yourself primarily – as a storyteller? Davis Guggenheim: Yes. My father taught me that. People connect with people. He always said, “Forget the issue -- connect with people.” He passed away right before An Inconvenient Truth. That movie was a challenge because I knew I couldn’t make a movie about a scientific slide show, even though the slides were great. But I was thinking about what my dad said, so I thought, well maybe there’s a story in Al Gore. Maybe the story is outside of the slide show, a personal story. People told me that it was impossible to do what I was attempting, and even I wasn’t sure we could do it. But the movie was about a guy trying to tell this very important story – wanting to impart this truth, and no one wanting to listen to it. RM: You made Al Gore interesting. That’s no easy task. DG: Jack White said that in the movie It Might Get Loud. I made the guitar
the MacGuffin – a Hitchcock device that really drives the plot. In Hitchcock movies you think the movie is about one thing – like uranium – but that’s just a device to show that the movie is really about a love triangle.The movie’s not about the electric guitar at all. An Inconvenient Truth isn’t about Al Gore. He’s the MacGuffin. RM: You have done some incredibly fruitful entertainment shows like 24, ER and Deadwood, but more recently you’ve done projects that have more of a social conscience. Do you have a preference? DG: I really love documentaries. Actually, I like it all. Since these experiences are so different, you constantly get to tell different types of stories. You’re learning different kinds of scripts and you’re constantly honing your skills. But no matter what, you’re constantly trying to do the same thing. You have different tools, but you’re still trying to tell good stories. RM: Deadwood is set in South Dakota in the 1800s during the Wild Bill Hickok era. How is that the same thing as to Waiting for ‘Superman’? DG: You still have a central character who wants something. It’s up to you to help describe those obstacles that are in their way, so you can dramatize the audience’s expectation of whether they will get it. Deadwood and Superrisenmagazine.com 33
man are different in significant ways, too. With documentaries you have to be careful because you cannot fake anything. You can’t make up the characters or the obstacles. Everyone in Superman wants a shot at a better education, and they have obstacles like paying tuition, poor local public school, a lottery, a cruel system. RM: The dominant reaction I had after I saw Superman was, “This is not okay. It is not okay to have this kind of system in this country.” Did you set out to get that idea across to the audience when you started working on this movie? Or did you just set out to tell the stories of these kids? DG: I try not to draw conclusions for the audience. That’s a tricky business. RM: That’s propaganda, right?
DG: Now I can say it was a good thing. But for years, I couldn’t talk about it. I couldn’t see the people involved without being angry, and I couldn’t help feeling taken advantage of. Now I feel it was life sending me in the right direction despite what I thought I knew I wanted. RM: Is that what happened – it sent you in the right direction? DG: I have a friend who said that the best way to make God laugh is to tell him your plans. Getting fired from Training Day was a really painful experience, and it set me back. I was angry and unproductive for a long time. I made my first short documentary after that out of spite. I got a camera and went downtown and did it in a blind, unconscious way. RM: The school you attended in DC has Quaker roots. Did that religious heritage have an impact on you? DG: The school had a philosophy that I liked. They taught a sense of purpose; that you were here on this earth for a reason. But it wasn’t very spiritual. The bigger influence was my father, who instilled in me this sense that you have to use the skills you have toward some good.
I have a friend who said that the best way to make God laugh is to tell him your plans. DG: Right. And I try not to tell the audience what they should think. But I take them to a world that I saw. These kids are subjected to a lottery as whether they would get into the schools they wanted to attend. I did see in the lottery a sort of metaphor for what happens to every kid – even for those who aren’t in that lottery. There are still the haves and the have-nots. There are all kinds of lotteries metaphorically. Warren Buffett says there is an ovarian lottery by who your mother is. There’s a lottery for what teacher you have or what school district you have. You can make the argument that a lot of these families are lucky because they have a choice. There are more districts in this country where you don’t have any options, where you get the school you get. RM: Or you’re born in a Third World country and the option of having any kind of education isn’t possible. DG: Third World country? How about California? Schools in California are in crisis. They’re certainly not First-World country quality. RM: This is a personal movie for you, since you could bypass the bad schools when you were young, and you’re bypassing the bad schools for your own children now. Is this movie a way for you to address your own ethical dilemma of having the means to go to private schools? You narrate this movie and you are heard asking questions of the characters. We hear your voice throughout. DG: I’ve never put myself in a story before. I’ve never thought my own involvement was relevant. I always thought narration was old school, something to avoid. I had friends who said “Why don’t you have Morgan Freeman read it? You’re not so good.” But I thought the simple point of view of a parent, not an expert, but someone who puts his own failings up front, would be important. In the movie I talk about how I betray the ideals I thought I lived by. If I was going to be in a position of criticizing others, I had to first criticize myself. RM: Speaking of failure, would you consider getting fired from the movie Training Day a failure? And was it a good thing in the long run? 34 Risen Magazine
RM: So you were brought up with this sense of purpose? DG: Yes, and with the sense that stories have the power to transform people…to change people’s lives. His very first film was about a bond issue for the St. Louis Zoo. RM: It sounds compelling! Can I get it on Netflix? DG: I’ve never made this connection before, but he had started the public television station in St. Louis, and then was fired. While he was without a job some people gave him money to make a film that had this purpose: “Our zoo needs money. Vote for this bond.” The film worked. The bond went through. It was very simplistic. But he immediately saw that films can do good in the world. There was that sense of it then being a responsibility. RM: Interesting parallel to your own experience. DG: Yes, in a very practical sort of way. RM: Is there a faith component in your own life? DG: A vague sense. That’s all. RM: There just seems to be a significant conscience in the movies you make. I was just wondering. DG: I think there is a vague sense of it. Not really, but yes. There is something always looming. It’s funny because I told everyone who helped make this movie, “God bless you.” I’m not really religious, but here I am saying, “God bless you.” I really believe that little miracles happened for this movie. These doors opened, and these angels came to help the movie…for a reason. That’s as close as I get.
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Passionate about Passion:
Risen Magazine: One of the biggest words in your vocabulary is passion. What is your definition of passion? Gary Zelesky: It’s real simple. Passion is something you would do every day if you never got paid a dime. Your passion shouldn’t be confused with your passions, which are those things that you enjoy doing, like woodcarving or playing a guitar. Your passion is your highest, best purpose. It’s your calling. Passion makes the difference between leading a life you love and a life you merely tolerate. Writer: Patti Gillespie
e’s traveled the world and spoken to thousands of people. His subject is passion and he is both a student and teacher. It’s not the touchy-feely kind of passion usually associated with lovers and starving artists. He won’t try to convince you to move to Tibet or quit your job to climb a mountain. He just wants you to find your passion and he believes you can find a way to make what you love, part of your work every day. Gary Zelesky is passionate about your discovery…he is the passion coach.
Interviewed exclusively for Risen Magazine in Sacramento, California
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RM: It sounds like real passion is more than, It’s all about me and what I love. GZ: Yes! [Smiling] Passion moves hearts and compels people to do extraordinary deeds for others. Living in pure passion is as close as we can come to fulfilling our God-given calling. It’s important to understand that your passion produces a new position in life for you. RM: Okay, let’s back up a little and tell me about your background and how you became impressed with helping people find their passion. GZ: I’ve been speaking since 1972 starting in high schools. I was a youth pastor in Buffalo, New York, and a motivational speaker in school assemblies. I’d go into a large gymnasium with a lousy PA [system] and 3,000 kids; I did that for years, and then about 20 years ago, I started moving towards more of a corporate arena. I would speak for companies to their employees and people would come up to me after and ask, “What’s next? Now that I’m motivated, what is the next step in my life, what is the next thing I should do?”
Finding your passion involves a process, you don’t just wake up and look in the mirror one day and say, “Here’s what I want to do.” It is an actual process. During that time, my wife, who has worked very closely with me over the years focusing on the business side, was trying to help me find my brand. She would say, “What is the thing that separates Gary Zelesky from other speakers? What is that one thing that separates you?” And one night, she woke up about midnight and woke me up out of a sound sleep and said, “I know what it is. I know the one thing about you.” And I said, “What sweetheart?” And she says, “ You are without a doubt the most passion person I have ever met in my life. You are passionate about passion.” And that began a journey for me to become a student of passion which has taken me all over the world interviewing thousands of people about the one thing that they love to do. I came to realize that I had been speaking, but I wasn’t fulfilled by it; I felt like I was called to bring people to more than a temporary motivational fix. The more I looked and learned about passion, the more I saw its lack. RM: Let’s talk about your book, The Passion-Centered Professional. GZ: The concept of the book came as the result of my speaking and coaching. I was doing a lot of passion coaching – had a lot of clients, and finally someone said to me one day, “ You just need to write this. Instead of trying to get a lot of people in to see you and coach them, write a book about passion.” So, The Passion Centered Professional, was written in a coaching context, in other words, when you read the book, you are being coached. Finding your passion involves a process, you don’t just wake up and look in the mirror one day and say, “Here’s what I want to do.” It is an actual process I take you through in the book to help you discover what that passion is. RM: Why do you think it is so difficult for a person to find his or her passion? GZ: One of the reasons that people find it difficult to find their passion is because somewhere along the line, maybe even as a child, they may have expressed it at some level and said hey mom and dad, this is something I want to be or have always wanted to do, and there was a comment made, a look made, some laughter, and something buried the passion. And passion in its infancy is like fine china that is easily broken. When people begin to share with somebody about something that they have always wanted to do or something they have always wanted to be, and that person laughs or makes a comment, it is like throwing dirt on it. We say to our children, you can be anything you want to be, and if we are really honest as parents, we are saying you can be anything you want to be as long as I agree with it. Or as long as it makes sense to me. Or we’ll say, you know what, you can be anything you want to be, but get a good education so you’ll have something to fall back on, because you’ll fail at what you really want to do. It’s like we give them a failure concept in the beginning when they first express that desire. Honestly, many of us who are parents didn’t have the courage to go after our own passion. And because we neglected our own passion, we try to live our passion through our kids. What we need to do as adults is to ask
ourselves, what are the things that I really love? What are the things that mean a lot to me? So, in my book I tell people that you’ve got to go back and find out what was the thing that you did that made you so happy, made you so complete, that put so much joy in your heart…go find what that is. That is what my book is all about. It’s about that discovery. RM: Obviously people will vary, but how long should the process take for someone to find their passion? GZ: It is so different for everybody. When someone shares their passion and you laugh at them or say you aren’t talented enough for that, or that’s stupid, you’ll never make money doing that or any of those negative comments, it buries the passion. What I say in the book is that you can’t kill passion, it is a spiritual thing. But what you can do is bury it. Just like a bulb in winter planting looks like it’s dead, but it is not, it is just dormant, waiting for the right sunlight and the right dirt the right water, to just break through. RM: You also have a weekly radio show in the Sacramento area. What is the format for the show? At this point, we move to the studio room where the radio show is produced and broadcast live as he is about to go on air. GZ: The show focuses on the passion centered life. I usually open with a passion principle like today’s which says, “Leadership without passion is like a boat without the motor. Well equipped, but no forward motion!” I often invite a guest onto the show and today we are focusing on Passion-Centered Leaders [in the work force]. During the broadcast, Gary reads a passage from the Bible, in the book of John that describes Jesus as a leader with passion who is washing the feet of his disciples and carrying for them. Passionate centered leaders always begin with the feet and work their way to the head. They move forward. Problem centered leaders always start with the head and never get to the feet. They simply never move! Too many leaders want to lead but never serve! The show continues with Gary interviewing a guest who is the CEO of a business consulting company who was coached by him in 2004. The guest emphasizes that the process has impacted his leadership style and as a result is now a passion-centric business for his employees and clients. Gary follows with a personal story and ends with the closing thought, “Humility and brokenness are the two doors to a lifetime of deepened relationships and passion discovery.”
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38 Risen Magazine
Two Hit Shows Make Hawaii True Paradise for
Daniel Dae Kim Writer: Krislyn Smith | Photographer: Art Streiber
aniel Dae Kim spent six years playing Jin Soo-Kwon on the popular television series, Lost, which was filmed primarily in Hawaii. Nearing the conclusion of the show, Kim was cast for the remake of the hit TV series, Hawaii Five-O. Also filmed in Hawaii, this allowed the respected actor and his family to stay where they called home. We caught Kim at the 11th Annual San Diego Asian Film Festival where he was being honored with the “Influential Asian American Artist” award. He spoke to Risen about the transition from back-to-back hit TV shows, life, and parenting.
Interviewed exclusively for Risen Magazine at the San Diego Asian Film Festival
Risen Magazine: You were finishing Lost while filming the pilot for the remake hit show, Hawaii Five-0, how did you score another acting job back in Hawaii? That’s got to be a dream-come-true for most people! Daniel Dae Kim: I have no idea. I feel really lucky that I was able to though. Not many shows shoot in Hawaii and to have one come in right after another was pretty unique. RM: How did you make the transition from playing Jin for six years on Lost, to playing Detective Chin Ho Kelley? They are two completely different characters. DDK: I guess that’s part of acting. It’s not all about playing one character your entire career, hopefully. It’s kind of nice after such a long period of time, playing one character, to switch skins and try something new. RM: Do you have a favorite moment or episode while on Lost? DDK: I think the end of Season One… when we were launching the raft was probably my favorite episode. It had been such an incredible first year and it was a wild ride. It was great to see the entire cast and crew come together and get off the island, or at least think they were getting off the island. RM: Tell me about your new character on Hawaii Five-0. Can you relate to him in some ways? DDK: Sure, yeah! I think he works really hard. I think he is really good at what he does. I’d like to think I work hard [Laughing]. He’s also a pretty friendly guy under pretty bad circumstances. I don’t know if I relate to that part of him, but I’d like to think of myself as a fairly friendly guy. RM: You’re a dad to two wonderful boys so how do you balance a successful acting career with fatherhood? DDK: Each requires full time efforts! I don’t really look at it in terms of balancing as much as it is trying your best at everything you do. RM: Who would you say is your biggest inspiration? DDK: Wow, that’s a really good question. It’s hard to know. I would have to say my work ethic comes from my parents. When it comes to believing in yourself, and working really hard, I’d say them for sure.
those on-campus recruiting interviews and I was going to be a management consultant as well. So acting was never something I thought I could do seriously until maybe junior or senior year of college. RM: What was your biggest obstacle in becoming an actor? DDK: The biggest obstacle is the detrimental effect that constant rejection can have on your self-esteem. There is so much struggle that actors go through because they are constantly interviewing for jobs. Imagine if you had a job interview once or twice a week and you were being rejected 90 percent of the time. You know it’s tough to keep your chin up; I’d say that’s a big obstacle. RM: What do you do to persevere through the rejection? DDK: I think the key is to remember the things that I value in my life and prioritize those things ahead of a job interview. RM: I have been anxious to ask you, what do your kids think of dad being on TV? I think most kids are embarrassed by their parents, do you find yours are different? DDK: My kids are over it. They have been over it for a while. When my youngest son was two years old, he would see me on the television for a second and then just walk away. My older son now, he actually really likes Hawaii Five-0, and his friends are also watching it. So, I think if it makes him a little bit cooler at school it’s a good thing. [Laughs] RM: You’re success has done more then help your elevate your kid’s “cool” factor at school; you’re also being honored with the “Influential Asian American Artist” award…how does that make you feel? DDK: It’s obviously quite a nice honor. Anyone who knows me knows how strongly I feel about the Asian American community, so to be honored in this way is really special. I’m also a really big fan the festival itself. Lee Ann Kim (festival founder) has truly been a pioneer for us, creating SDAFF well before others joined in and creating various other APA film festivals around the country. She deserves a lot of credit for that.
RM: When was the moment you realized that this was your path? DDK: I was going to be a lawyer. Actually when I was in college, I did all risenmagazine.com 39
The Influence of Pornography Craig Gross and Ron Jeremy Sound Off in The Great Porn Debate Writer: Chris Ahrens | Photographer: Bil Zelman 40 Risen Magazine
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Editor’s Note: Every second 28,258 internet users are viewing pornography. Every 39 minutes a new pornographic video is being created in the United States. Every day 68 million pornographic requests are searched online.i If these statistics don’t mean anything to you, let me put it in context… Pornography is big business! The porn industry has larger revenues than Microsoft, Google, Amazon, eBay, Yahoo, Apple and Netflix combined. In 2006, the industry had ballooned to $97.06 billion dollars. ii Aside from being extremely lucrative, how does pornography affect those who indulge? Most will agree it is wrong, or at the very least are ashamed of looking at pornography because it can become an addiction that is usually done in secret. Statistics show that pornography affects the private lives of many. One of the most powerful testimonies I’ve ever heard regarding pornography addiction came from the serial killer Ted Bundy. This man confessed to more than 30 murders and just before he was to be executed by electric chair on January 24, 1989, he granted an interview to James Dobson, Founder and President of the organization, Focus on the Family. Bundy went on record to say: “I’ve lived in prison for a long time now, and I’ve met a lot of men who were motivated to commit violence. Without exception, every one of them was deeply involved in pornography - deeply consumed by the addiction. The F.B.I.’s own study on serial homicide shows that the most common interest among serial killers is pornographers. I’m not blaming pornography. I’m not saying it caused me to go out and do certain things. I take full responsibility for all the things that I’ve done. That’s not the question here. The issue is how this kind of literature contributed and helped mold and shape the kinds of violent behavior. Those of us who have been so influenced by violence in the media, particularly pornographic violence, are not some kind of inherent monsters. We are your sons and husbands. We grew up in regular families. 42 Risen Magazine
Pornography can reach in and snatch a kid out of any house today. It snatched me out of my home 20 or 30 years ago” iii More startling is that Bundy not only grew up in a regular, loving family…he grew up in a Christian home. So if billions of dollars are being made and millions of people are indulging, why is it so hard for people to talk about this subject? Enter Ron Jeremy, arguably the number one porn star of all time. He has taken to the road alongside a pastor to debate the issues, struggles, and stigmas surrounding the porn industry. The pastor is Craig Gross. He founded XXX Church which offers spiritual solutions to pornography. Together they have appeared at over 50 Universities including USC, Yale, and Ohio State where they draw huge crowds on campus and greet students. But for the first time, The Great Porn Debate left the campus setting and landed in a church. Pastor Miles McPherson recognized the need to address this topic at his mega-church, The Rock in San Diego, California which was the first to open its doors and invite Gross and Jeremy to debate. McPherson who also moderated the event says, “I think it’s important for us to acknowledge and recognize the elephant in the room and stop acting like it’s something the church can’t talk about. The Gospel is bulletproof…and we need to have it address every issue there is. When you have half the men and 1/6 of the women in your church watching pornography and you don’t talk about it, that’s a problem. We just decided to take the issue head on.” In an effort to capture the issues at the heart of this controversial topic, Risen sent writer Chris Ahrens to get up close and personal with the debating duo.
In this photo from left to right: Pastor Miles McPherson, Ron Jeremy and Craig Gross
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Interviewed exclusively for Risen Magazine at the Rock Church in San Diego, CA Risen Magazine: Since you and Ron Jeremy are on opposite sides of the porn debate, do people expect that you don’t like each other? Craig Gross: People will often look at the tour bus and say, “Where’s Ron’s bus?” But we travel on the same bus. You hear the word debate, and you often think that opposing sides can’t be friends. It would be awful to do this if we hated each other. RM: Have either of you budged on their position? CG: Well, Ron’s in a blazer and he’s in church [hard laughter all around]. I’m not on a porn set, so…We’ve agreed to disagree on certain things? RM: How did you get started with XXX Church? CG: I was a youth pastor. I’m 34 now, didn’t grow up around the Internet, and didn’t grow up around porn. I realized however, that kids in my youth group had been exposed to it, and I found that the average age of first exposure was eleven years old. I was listening to Howard Stern and he was saying that every year he goes to the porn convention in Vegas. I thought that was the best place to launch our website.
you see that these are real people and that they have lives and you hear their stories.
RM: Not many guys can go to a porn convention and talk to hot women about God. CG: I think most people psyche themselves out and say, “I can never do what you do.” There could be some that honestly can’t go, but I think most people could do it. We’re not shopping at the shows, we’re not walking around; we’re standing in a booth with a big sign on our back. The sign actually says, “Jesus loves porn stars,” so people know why we’re there. If one of us were to somehow fall into this, it probably wouldn’t be at a porn show. When the curtain is kind of pulled back, you see that these are real people and that they have lives and you hear their stories. Many more people could work in this ministry than think they could. It’s not for everybody, but we’re just trying to meet people where they’re at.
RM: So, you’re someplace by yourself and the hottest woman you’ve ever seen slips you her room key. Nobody will ever know; what do you do? CG: I don’t go visit her. But I would say the temptations for me are the same as those that are in youth ministry these days. I’ve had friends that were caught up in crazy, awful things, so it’s probably no different. I don’t travel by myself. I’m not going to put myself in a situation where I can have that possibility. One of the things we try to preach at XXX Church is accountability; to have those people in our lives we can travel with, and have our backs. I’m not saying I’m immune to any of that, but we don’t take this flippantly. I believe that God’s hand has been on this ministry, but we’ve got to be really smart about the things we do. I get crap sometimes where people say, “I can’t believe you travel with a porn star.” Ron’s invited me several times to strip clubs after a debate, and I’ve yet to go with him [chuckles]. My goal in being around these people is to have an influence on them, not having them have an influence on my life. 44 Risen Magazine
RM: As a church ther is often a feeling of us verses them, but porn stars are not the enemy. Is there a lesson there for the church? CG: I think there’s a huge lesson, even in having this debate for the first time at a church. We’re opponents on stage. That’s what we’re here to do and we will get paid to do that tonight. But that doesn’t define us. There’s this friendship. I care about Ron; he knows my family. My son won a turtle at Circus Circus. Ron loves turtles, and my son said, “Dad, give this to Ron.” We need to be around more people that don’t act like us and believe like us, rather than check them off on a scorecard and say, “Okay, I invited them to church and they didn’t come.” Jesus sought people like Zaccheus out of a tree. Here was a broken thief, and Jesus said, “Hey, I’m having dinner with you tonight.” I think the more we can go after people… we see that the message of Jesus doesn’t divide; it unites. I love hanging out at IHOP or someplace afterward, where some kid from the debate will see us and say, “What, you’re together?” We’ll be like, “ Yeah, we’re together, come sit with us.” Ron always says, “Craig’s buying, so of course I’m here.” To me, that’s what is probably the most exciting about being able to do this debate for four years. It’s opened up a friendship. I’ve been to a lot of the premiers for Ron’s movies, not his porn movies… and last year I invited him to my church on Easter. When there’s that trust, that’s when we have influence on the most people. RM: Is the porn industry well regulated? Ron Jeremy: We have to show all kinds of ID, licenses, you name it, making sure they know how old the girl is. Magazines like Playboy are in trouble because of piracy. These pirates come along, take the content, put it on their sites, have no rules or regulations, no model releases, nothing, and they get away with it. Basically, they’re putting everyone else out of business. Rock ‘n’ roll has the same problem. Kids don’t buy tapes or DVDs anymore. The adult cinema industry, the music industry and soon the Hollywood film industry are going to be pirated out of existence. They worry about porn? Ha, go after the thieves and pirates. It’s disgusting, what they’ve done. [Pulls a harmonica from his top coat pocket and plays, When The Saints Go Marching In.] RM: When was the last time you were at a church? RJ: [Whistles and rolls his eyes] Actually, it wasn’t that long ago. I have some friends that go to mass on Christmas, so I go with them. They’re Lutheran, Christian, and Catholic. I always tell my Christian friends, I happen to be a [fakes a sneeze,] Jew! [Laughs] I always tell my friends that we’re basically the same. Our Bible stopped, and yours just kept going. That’s it so simple! You got the old and the new; we got the old. We all agree that Christ was somebody very special. We think he was a rabbi, they think he was a rabbi and a god. Small differences; small. We should join hands, sing We Are the World, and get along.
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RM: Do you consider yourself a moral person? RJ: Yes. Because of my lifestyle, you find that interesting, huh? I don’t think it’s a problem. I think consenting adults having consenting sex for others to watch, is perfectly fine. RM: When ministers recognize you, do you ever wonder how? RJ: Well, I’ve done things other than porn from way back—MTV, theater, music videos and stuff. But I enjoy the differences. I think it [varying opinions] is what makes the world more colorful. Who wants to have just one type of human being out there? I’m glad they get Craig’s message as well as mine. I think sometimes porn should be kept a little bit in check. I’m into freedom of speech, but that doesn’t mean you should be a total putz either, you know?
RM: How would you describe God? RJ: All present, omnipresent, Creator. He’s the one that knows what’s going on. It’s a very interesting thing, because… people always say, “Why does He allow such horrible things to happen?” He places us in certain situations and says, “Here humanity, get a load of this.” He’s got a great sense of humor, that’s for sure. I think I’ve absolutely felt his sense of humor.
People criticize my line of work, and behind closed doors they ve got their whole porn collection.
RM: Were you nervous when you went in for your first AIDS test? RJ: A little, yeah. Chris Rock has a funny routine about that. You always get a little nervous, your first time. Then you get more used to it, and we do it every single month. After so many years have gone by, “ Yeah, go ahead, take some blood.” Now it’s a routine, but it’s a little nerve wracking at first. It was more of a problem among the gay community than the heterosexual community, and that’s a fact. A lot of my friends who are gay panicked a lot more than I ever did. They were like shaking, you know? I remember how scary it was 15 years ago, 10 years ago, before they had the medication. It was a guaranteed death sentence. Now, because of Doctor Ho’s medication, you can possibly live a normal life. RM: If you were to get married, would you be monogamous? RJ: If my wife wanted that. I want to have kids. The girl I was seeing, Craig knows… if she wanted to have kids with me, I would probably give up the lifestyle. Some people say, “ Yeah right.” But yeah, I would. RM: Do you think there are more hypocrites in the church than elsewhere? RJ: There are hypocrites in all walks of life, but I think the church has its fair share. Are there more? I don’t know, but it’s very unfortunate. I think God probably has a real problem with that, using his name falsely.
RM: According the Bible in John 8: 1-11, a woman was brought to Jesus by religious leaders who had caught them in adultery. By Jewish law, the woman was to be stoned to death. Jesus said, “Let he who is without sin, cast the first stone.” What do you think of that? RJ: He’s right, it’s true. The same expression as glass houses; people who live in glass houses should dress in the basement. [Laughter] No, really, that’s a very important statement. People who criticize are often making the same mistakes. We see that all the time. We’ve seen it with some of the religious leaders too, or senators, or congressmen who speak out against certain things. That kind of thing is just crazy. I’ve witnessed it a lot, in my work. People criticize my line of work, and behind closed doors they’ve got their whole porn collection.
RM: Like in your story with Sam Kinison? RJ: I’ve had situations where it had to be the Lord or an angel or something, because it couldn’t be explained as coincidence. That Kinison story is certainly one of them--the car miraculously skips over trees and comes to a stop. Sam says, “Do you believe in God now, Ron?” I mean, we’re upside down in this car and I said, “ You go to great lengths to prove a point.” [Laughter] Sam’s brother goes, “Sam wasn’t the one proving the point, Ron.” Pretty serious stuff - he was a Pentecostal minister too.
RM: How would God describe you? RJ: What was I thinking? [Laughter] I’ll try again and do it better the next time. Sorry. [Laughter] No, it’s hard to say, I mean I went through school; who knows what my plan was? Did I follow it? I don’t know. RM: Is your life anything like you thought it would be as a kid? Certainly you didn’t think you’d be speaking in a church 20 years ago. RJ: No, no. I have nothing against church, but I never would have guessed I’d become an adult film actor. If you told me 30 years ago I’d be making adult films, I’d say, “ You’ve got to be kidding me.” I wanted to be an actor my whole life. Even as a kid I was in plays at school. I was always the class clown, class ham, kosher, so I was always into that. So, that wouldn’t surprise me, being an entertainer. RM: What do you expect from this debate? RJ: I’m on the defense in these debates. I don’t have a problem with Craig; I like what he does. He has a problem with me. Honestly, there are better ways to spend your time than doing porn. But then, I don’t think you should be a Trekkie either. These kids are learning Klingonese. As a teacher, I would want to go kill myself. They don’t even know Spanish. I think anything overdone can be a bad thing.
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Writer: Chris Ahrens | Photographer: Lou Mora
ountry music legends are supposed to live hard, die young, and leave nice portraits, bad memories, and loyal fans who spend the majority of their adult lives watching tribute bands, attending memorial concerts, and trying to decipher every cryptic word. It’s been that way since before Hank Williams and after Townes Van Zandt. Anyone can see that it’s not that good of a life, clearing the wreckage of an Appalachian-size hangover to accommodate more ruin. Yet somehow the damage looks attractive enough for droves of teens to sign up for the ride as they line up to burn bright for thirty-some years, taking the trail all the way to the wall. Kristian Bush is well on his way to becoming a country legend. But what can you say about a country boy weaned on Black Flag who never desired to pay the ultimate price for success? Bush just wants to play good music with people he loves, enjoy life, and hang out with friends and family. What could possibly be wrong with him?
Interviewed exclusively for Risen Magazine
Risen Magazine: Playing authentic country music nearly requires a person to be a mess. Kristian Bush: [Laughs hard] I think it’s a popular notion that to succeed in country music, you can’t be a mess anymore. What makes you bring that up? RM: I was wondering what keeps you personally from being a mess, and if it was ever attractive to stumble on stage and forget things, like your guitar. [Laughs] You know, the things legends are made of. KB: [Laughs] I don’t know. I think there was a time when I kind of romanticized The Replacements. I might have been nineteen or twenty, but I learned pretty quickly that that not sucking as a singer and a songwriter is more important than being cool. RM: Well put. KB: As I’ve gotten older I’ve found that being cool isn’t really worth it. RM: Alice Cooper told me that all of his friends—Janice Joplin, Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix—died trying to live their image and then he nearly died trying to be Alice Cooper. KB: That makes sense. This is a second life for both of us [including Kristian’s musical partner Jennifer Nettles]. We have this hindsight and a strange second life to apply it. I had a record deal out of college with Atlantic Records in a band called Billy Pilgrim. We made of number of records and toured the world. RM: Did you ever think you would do something else if music didn’t work out? KB: Yeah, I guess everybody feels that way from time to time. It’s kind of the way you deal with failure. Dealing with success—that’s the lesson I’m now learning in Sugarland. I felt that if music didn’t work out, I’d still do it, I just wouldn’t get paid for it and have to find something else to pay me. But hanging up the guitar just wasn’t an option.
RM: So, how do you deal with failure? KB: [Takes a deep breath] If something doesn’t work out, it just means that something else will work out. We’ve had enough successful creative decisions at this point that people keep asking us to make decisions. I’m sure as long as we don’t step off the deep end, they’ll just keep letting us go. RM: That must feel good. KB: Yeah, and the thing that keeps me from going off the deep end is having a creative partner. Jennifer and I work this thing together. At least one of us at all times is going, “Huh, do you think that rolling around in a huge ball is a great idea?” [Laughs] When there’s nobody around to tell, you know, you don’t know when you’re on the edge. RM: There’s a Proverb that says pride comes before a fall. What keeps you from being prideful? KB: Realizing I don’t know everything. That’s the great thing of age—the older you get, whether on an instrument or in life, I’ve always found that the more I know, the more I’m aware of how much I don’t know. As soon as that kinda clicks in, anything’s possible. RM: Describe the emotional difference between having kids, writing a hit song, and winning a Grammy. KB: That’s interesting. Something like a Grammy is a joy of an accomplishment where, I didn’t think this was possible and it just came true. It’s a joy that has some sort of faith in it. Being a father is a completely different type of joy. It’s like, “Oh my gosh, I now understand that my purpose on this planet is to make sure this kid survives.” You have a certain amount of joy in that awareness, that you’re small. You’re no longer large. You’re no longer so important. The other joy is the joy of creating, right? That’s the one that has probably the most mystery and the most payoffs. It makes me completely aware that something else is happening, and that if I just hold still long enough, it will risenmagazine.com 49
keep happening. It’s like you’re kinda channeling a little bit, and it’s an accomplishment as a writer. When Jennifer and I work together, we’re really trying to encapsulate something about the human condition. So, you’re really not workin’ for you, you’re workin’ for everyone else. You don’t realize it at the time; you’re not really thinkin’ like that. But it seems like magic. It’s like what happens when a golfer hits a golf ball. It’s like you swing with a certain amount of strength and speed and it goes ten times further than you should have hit it. It’s the same thing when you’re writing a song. You feel like you’re creating this thing, but it takes on a life of its own. RM: Einstein said he felt that ideas came from outside of him. Do you think that ideas kind of float around and creative people kind of catch them? We often hear of people having the same idea, 5,000 miles apart. KB: Yeah, I think that’s kind of the Jungian collective unconscious and a healthy dose of pop culture. In different times and places you see different movements happen. Once you train yourself to stay open to all that, then you’re gonna catch some. I think that most of it is personal experience. We’re really aware that what we say is being heard. A lot of bands are in genres where what you say is not as important as how it’s said. A lot of other genres depend more on the style and the substance. In country music you just can’t get away with any of that. You have to write a song that communicates to people across time, and a lot of times across gender, age . . . you’re really trying to tap into human condition issues, things that happen in everyone’s life, rather than things that happen at a specific time in your life. I don’t know how many teen angst songs that I love and some that I’ve written . . . but they don’t really apply. We talk more about the meaning of a song than, “Wow, this sounds cool.” RM: Legendary sax player Charlie Parker apparently used to load up the jukebox to listen to country songs because he loved the stories. KB: Yeah, there are archetypes that stretch across history and ring true as a whole. Whether you’re talking about some sort of hero’s journey like Hercules . . . You can even see the election of Barack Obama as archetypal. It means something to people. When you ring that bell, it’s impossible to stay away from it. I think if you’re Charlie Parker and kind of the father of modern bebop, there are things that remind you of what that archetype is. That’s what he’s playin’ on . . . you go where you need to. RM: Some people seem to stick with the genre they’re designated with. Like, you’re a rocker and don’t look past that. KB: I’m always scared to death that somebody’s gonna ask me about this or that George Jones song and I’m not gonna know it, [Laughs] and say, Oh man, he’s a fraud! [Laughs] It all depends. Jennifer and I are products of what we grew up with and I think that’s what most culture is. I don’t think people 50 Risen Magazine
any longer identify themselves with the subculture musically anymore. I was a kid who painted my Chuck Taylor’s and went out to Black Flag concerts. I was searching for who I was. I was standing in line for Adam and the Ants shows. I was that kid . . . If you knew me then, I was probably the least likely to be here now. Had you known me ten years earlier, I grew up in Appalachia, listening to Dolly Parton, who lived down the street. But there are some things I depend on rockers to be forever. I depend on someone like Joe Perry to rip my head off. I expect that when he walks in the room. RM: It seems that there’s a rhythm in life that changes as we get older. KB: I think that music affects you the most between the ages of fourteen and twenty-two. At that age I was holding onto the words of whoever, because I couldn’t say them myself. When you’re a teenager you’re basically insane. You’re technically nuts. [Hard laughter] RM: What you write and sing and say may influence people more than most politicians. Do you try to put out a right message? KB: Absolutely. I think that’s a big part of what we do as Sugarland. It’s a part of Jennifer’s and my relationship as writers. We have messages that are sewn into our songs, maybe not with a capital M like most people think. I was always fascinated with Bob Marley. This guy was giving me a message all the time that you could sing and that you wanted to sing. A lot of times you didn’t realize what you were singin’ until you actually broke it down. Until you knew the words to Redemption Song, you didn’t really get it. I’ve always thought that it matters what you say, not just how you say it. RM: Were you ever conscious of trying to make a better world for your kids through the music you play? KB: [Long breath] I’m conscious of the parenting part. There will be a day when my daughter, who’s three now, will look back on a song her dad wrote and go, I wonder what he meant? RM: What’s the biggest sacrifice you know of that anybody’s ever made to see one of your shows? KB: There are a couple of stories like that. We tend to hear about those things after the fact. We try to end our year by playing locally. We’re from Atlanta and we played a show a couple years ago at a place called Eddie’s Attic. This guy had heard this song when he was in Norway. The way he describes it is that he was really depressed, he was in a dead-end job and he saved his money and heard we were in Atlanta. At the last minute he quit his job and flew from Norway to Atlanta to see our show with 200 other people that day. The next day we were shooting a video and we asked him to be in the video. It’s really amazing to see someone affected like that. The other one was in Oregon last year. We were walking to the stage and saw a young man in a wheelchair. We had finished our meet and greet, and we stopped to take a picture with him. His mom wrote the next day and
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said that he hadn’t spoken in two or three weeks. He had been very sick with cancer but that day he said “Sugarland” when he was standing next to us. He died that night. Later that year there was a benefit called Stand Up to Cancer. His mom’s story reminded us that you have no idea of what you do. You have to be really aware. You have to be reminded that everything you do affects somebody else. Something small that you do may be huge to someone else, and something huge that you do may be small to someone else. You never know. That kind of perspective doesn’t happen often. When we went to Stand Up to Cancer, we wrote his name on our shirts and for a minute we were connected. RM: You’re a nice guy, but how do you handle fans that care too much? You know, I bought all your records, now I’m gonna stay at your house. KB: [Laughs] I think you have to have boundaries, but I think that comes with age. When I was 19 or 20, I would have probably been interested in almost any girl that was interested in me, right? But I have a wife and kids now . . . part of the responsibility in putting yourself in the public eye is that there’s a certain amount of fascination and anxiety that happens when you meet somebody famous. I mean, I do it still. If Eddie Vedder walked by, I would want to have my s—t together and I’m not quite sure I would. RM: Yeah, I always say the dumbest things to famous people. I just called Damien Wayans, Damon Williams. KB: [Laughs] That’s great, man! I’ve let my dorkism be part of my life, so you know . . . [Laughs] RM: Do you ever want to be anonymous anymore? KB: I think that depends on the context. I think there’s a certain amount of responsibility that comes with it [fame], but I think it’s very useful sometimes. RM: Do you ever pray for inspiration? KB: All the time, man. RM: Do you guys ever have any formal prayer together? KB: Before we get on stage we gather up our band and whoever’s in arm’s reach . . . you can see it any day. It’s just to thank God, or, you know, whatever else is out there for, you know, just letting us play. We have the greatest jobs in the world and we don’t ever want to take them for granted. We’re some of the few people who can do the things they love, and we know that we kind of carry that torch for other folks who may or may not be doing what they love. And it matters, and we ask for the next hour and a half that those in the room forget all their crap. Cuz that’s what you do as an entertainer, you provide entertainment and relief and a lot of connectivity to a bunch of people who on any other day, and maybe in that day, feel alone. RM: I’ve always wondered why people go to big concerts after they’re in their teens. KB: Honestly, I feel alone every day, and I’m around all sorts of people. I just love for us to not feel so alone, just for a second.
RM: Can you give me an example of someone misquoting you in print? KB: Recently, I was trying to describe something that music critic Chuck Klosterman said. He’s the only person I know who has written on why country music matters. I was trying to describe an article he wrote to a guy who was a European journalist, so I was jumping not just a cultural barrier, but also a language barrier. I was trying to give him an example that Klosterman gives in his book, comparing Trisha Yearwood to Wilco, and who’s going to actually survive a 50-year run. I was describing to him the song that Trisha Yearwood sang called, I Kissed a Boy and the guy misquoted me as, I Kissed a Girl, and so he thought I was comparing Wilco to Katy Perry. Somewhere it blew up on me. One gender slip and . . . The whole thing is, I was trying to quote somebody smart and I should have just given up. [Laughs] RM: Yeah, you gotta watch it. When The Grapes of Wrath was translated into Japanese, it became “The Angry Raisin.” KB: [Laughs] That’s great. RM: Do you have any recurring dreams? KB: Not anymore. I used to have one where I could fly and I remember my mom telling me that if I looked down at my hands I could get more and more control over it. RM: Twenty years ago you probably knew the names of about as many people as knew yours. Now, far more people know your name than you theirs. Does that ever get weird? KB: I don’t know. I guess it is. I’m not scared of it though, if that’s part of your question. I’m not that sensitive to it. If someone recognizes you and has the gumption to come up and say something to you, you need to say hello. It seems to be the human thing to do. I have far fewer friends now than I did when I started all of this but I think that’s a function of the job rather than a function of the famous part of it. I just work so much that the people I work with are my dearest friends. RM: What’s your favorite track on the new record? KB: You know, it changes. There’s a song called Joey that I like. It’s a teen tragedy. RM: I’ve heard of songwriters who thought one of their songs meant one thing, and realized later it meant something else. Have you ever experienced that? KB: Absolutely. A creative song will redefine itself multiple times over your life. If you’re pulling from the collective creative consciousness, I think you really are kind of part of your own future. You don’t know it; you’ve got a ways to catch up. RM: Where do you see yourself in 10,000 years? KB: Hopefully as somebody’s best friend.
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Photo: Universal Pictures
Dept:Film
Movie Turns into Friendship for this Comedy Duo:
Vince Vaughn & Kevin James Vince Vaughn and Kevin James have comedy down. Whether it’s stand-up, movies, or television these two have been winning audiences over with their wit and charm. Now they join forces for the first time on-screen in the new film The Dilemma. Vaughn, recently married and a new dad, talks about fatherhood and the art of multitasking. While family-man James brings his kids to the set and shares the secret to staying faithful to his wife. Sarcastic or serious, this duo is sure to leave you smiling. Writer: Kelli Gillespie
Risen Magazine: The Dilemma is about best friends and one sees the other friend’s wife cheating, so what’s a guy to do? Sadly I’m sure this scenario hits home for all too many people… when it comes to confrontation, how do you guys handle it? Vince Vaughn: If it’s your best friend, I think you have to tell him. What’s fun about the movie is that it’s really about how you tell them, given a bunch of unique circumstances. The movie kind of becomes a psychological comedic thriller, there are a lot of twists, and it’s very funny. RM: Trust is always a hot topic when it comes to relationships… with all the temptations and access in Hollywood I think it would be one of the hardest places to remain faithful, so what keeps you both secure in your marriages? KEVIN JAMES: I’m dead behind the eyes. I’ve been that way for a long time now. There’s just nothing back there anymore. I walk around zombie-like and I’m fine, everything has worked out well for me. [Laughter] RM: A lot of people put on this front of a “perfect marriage,” but relationships are hard work, what have you found to be the most challenging? KJ: I just think it is sharing food with another individual. I didn’t know I had to do that. Bring your own food – that just seems simple. You would think that going into a relationship. VV: But that just becomes a skill. Such as being able to watch the game, and also be able to listen and hear what’s said, and be able to respond to that simultaneously. So multi-tasking is something you have to get better at. KJ: Yes, yes I wasn’t used to that. And bring your own food. VV: You realize in a marriage you can’t really eat like you’re in prison with your arm wrapped around the plate – where you can box them out. It’s kind of a more open --would you like to try one? -- kind of a relationship. RM: People always say working with friends is not a good thing… now that you’ve shared the screen, had a fictitious company together, and toured the country doing stand-up… can you still call each other friend? VV: Boy more so than ever. I had met Kevin a couple of times and I thought he was the funniest guy out there, as well as being a really genuine guy. I always just rooted for him in anything I saw because he’s so able to connect and be honest. Upon meeting – I’ve got to tell you – we had so much fun, which is why we decided to go out and do this [comedy road show] tour and get out and go places. He’s just a gentleman and his wife’s great, his family is
great and we just had a blast making the movie. KJ: I feel the same way. Honestly, we just had a great time. And the benefit of getting to do some movies that have done okay is that you get to pick and choose who you want to work with and spend three months or more with. You don’t have to be with each other if you don’t want to be, but we choose to be, and it’s great and we’re looking forward to doing more together. RM: Speaking of spending time together, Vince what are you looking forward to most as a dad, and Kevin, what advice do you have as a dad? KJ: I didn’t have advice because I got to tell you, he has nieces and nephews and he’s incredible with them. He already knows what to do and there’s nothing I can tell him. He’s a great spirit and he’s going to experience it on his own and he’s going to do great. VV: Kevin and his wife are so great and they are great with the kids; they have such a nice family. It was nice to see on the set how they were all there together and cooperate as a family and I think that it is important to include and do that as you’re working. I’m excited. I don’t know how much help I’m going to be until the kid is two, or able to communicate. I’ll get up; I’ll do what I need to do. I think I’ll be better when I can have a verbal conversation because you know there are only three or four things that the kid may be wanting, but trying to decipher those things can be a little bit intimidating. KJ: And most of the time you can’t give those things [to the kid] anyway. RM: You both have done stand-up for many years, and had so much success in TV & Film…what makes you stop and say, “This is why I got in the business”? KJ: I think it was a bunch of situations and circumstances that made me want to get in the business. VV: For me it was maybe failure at a lot of other things. I wasn’t bringing home straight A’s, there were no scholarships coming in for sports… KJ: Yeah, once you suck at Division III football, it’s time to look into other vocations! Successes or failures, regardless of how these two funny men arrived at entertaining, I think most would agree they definitely found their calling! You can catch them in The Dilemma in theatres in January 2011.
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Dept:Q-5
The Beginning of the End:
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows It’s been nearly a decade since Harry, Hermione, and Ron first astonished fans on-screen in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone. All these years later, with an even bigger following, the trio still finds a way to excite and entertain. You’d think spending most of your childhood in the spotlight, making your first million dollars before you could drive, and being adored by most of the world, would be the perfect recipe for an unappreciative, ego-centric young adult…but Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint defy the odds. Writer: Kelli Gillespie
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Risen Magazine: Having shot the entire film, and breaking the seventh book into two movies, what was the feeling like when you finally wrapped shooting and you knew a decade worth of your work is being immortalized here. Has that had a chance to sink in yet?
Daniel Radcliffe: I haven’t actually thought of it in those terms, but that fills me with pride actually. On the day it was very, very sad. There was lots of crying from Rupert, Emma and I, but since then I think we’ve all moved on. I’m shooting The Woman in Black at the moment which is a gothic-horror movie, and I’m getting ready to do a musical on Broadway next year. My mourning period is sort of over I think. Rupert Grint: It was really sad; actually I was quite surprised at how emotional we all got. We all cried. It just felt really kind of final. Ten years coming down to this one little moment and it just didn’t feel real. I’m definitely going to miss it, but I’m kind of ready to move on now, it’s been long enough. I’m ready to do other things. Emma Watson: It’s really bittersweet. Part of me feels really sad and another part of me is relieved in a way. Making these last two movies back to back was exhausting. It was really hard work. Part of me is relieved I’m not going to be under that kind of pressure for a while at least.
RM: At the level of fame and success that you have, how do you know who to trust or surround yourself with?
DR: It’s quite easy to tell who is genuine and who isn’t. I’ve got pretty good radar for people who are being disingenuous when they are talking to me. It’s not a huge concern in my life. And also I can be quite useless at times when it comes to keeping in contact with people because I will be working like 10 months out of the year. During that time you only really see the people you’re working with and you go home and sleep. That’s kind of the routine so your social life is non-existent. The people that are sort of willing to wait 10 months and see you and reignite the friendship after that - those are the people you know are genuine. That’s kind of how I filter it.
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RG: I suppose it is kind of difficult. You have to look at everyone quite closely. You really have to have a good instinct. It’s something I’ve grown up with… not making new friends when you really have to trust their intentions… kind of a shame but its part of it. I’ve still kept quite a normal life really. I still see my same old school friends and it’s good.
RM: Hermione transports Harry and Ron to places from her memory and one special place to her family. Where is a place in your life that you’d want to go if you could escape?
EW: I was born in France, so my family and I always go on holidays to France to see friends and family. I guess most of my family memories are of my summers in France, which are really nice.
RM: This film is not confined to Hogwarts, it was actually shot on location in London and rural areas and I understand fans would even come watch you shooting this time?
DR: When we were in London a large part of the fan community came out and sort of watched for a little bit. Yes, it was bizarre. We don’t really go on location with Potter, we’re always in studios. Even the exterior stuff is either on a set that we’ve built with green screen or shot on the backlot in the studios, so to be out on location for two months was fantastic.
RM: Emma, it’s exciting to have you in America for college at Brown University, has the experience been what you thought it would be, going to school abroad? EW: I couldn’t really imagine what it was going to be like. I’ve learned so much just being abroad and in a different environment and it’s just been a real adventure for me. I love it. I’m so glad I went.
The final book from the Harry Potter franchise was divided in two films. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, is slated for release in July 2011.
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Emmylou Harris
The Great Collaborator Writer: Kelli Gillespie
Multi-Grammy award winner and Country Music Hall of Fame inductee Emmylou Harris has worked with musicians including Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan, Dolly Parton and Neil Young. Whether she’s interpreting a song or writing her own, this legendary artist has a way of transcending all categories of music. Her passion for her work has carried her successfully through the years, but she’s quick to recognize the need to use her celebrity to bring awareness to those less fortunate.
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Risen Magazine: You’ve won 13 Grammy awards, when you really let that sink in, what does it mean to you to know the impact your music has had and the millions of people that love and appreciate your work? Emmylou Harris: I just feel lucky…to have work that I love. To
be able to make a living doing something that you love, and after all these years I still love it. I’m still inspired by it, the inspiration, who knows where it comes from – but it still comes. Those of us who make our money making music, we feel so blessed and so lucky, sometimes it seems unfair and [that is why] the opportunity to give back actually means a great deal to me. I know my other friends do the same thing - lend their names, and their talent, and their time. We need to do that because we’ve been so lucky to have this gift that was recognized enough to where we can actually make a living at it. It doesn’t happen for everybody. There are a lot of talented people that it just doesn’t happen for – and with me a lot of it was just dumb luck.
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RM: You’ve been so successful whether it is country or pop, folk, and alternative -does the word genre even mean anything to you? EH: No. I basically just do music that comes out of me from the
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RM: Some of your more recent music has themes of perseverance and faith. When it comes to selecting songs or writing your own, where do they come from? EH: God only knows! I was fortunate enough to find a lot of
loved for years called, Kern River. I did a Tracy Chapman song that I’ve always loved that was kind of like a forgotten song on her second record, it wasn’t one that she was really known for. So I love doing that, but I’ve just finished a new record and it will come out in the spring [2011] and I wrote most of the songs on that. It takes a mighty effort on my part to actually write - I have to really let everything else go.
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“artist” and found my own voice was working with Gram Parsons so that was a collaboration that started me as a harmony singer. I developed this love for harmony, and then my harmony partner was no longer there. So I just had to take that road on my own, but then I met up with Rodney Crowell, Ricky Skaggs, and of course Dolly [Parton] and Linda [Ronstadt] and all the different people that I’ve been able to sing with over the years. I think most singers love to harmonize. For a while you weren’t supposed to sing with people on other labels, but now everybody is singing with everybody. And everybody wins in that situation. People like sitting in and collaborating, it’s more fun. You can make music by yourself, but it’s certainly so much more fun to make music with other people.
musicians I’m surrounded by and the music I listen to. I think it’s all becoming one big pool, which isn’t a bad thing as long as it’s original and it touches people. If it touches people, then it has credibility.
songs early on because I didn’t put a lot of energy into writing. Just recently in the last 15 years, I’ve put more emphasis on writing, but I still like to cover songs. I love finding a song that maybe nobody’s heard of, or maybe it’s a little obscure, or it’s just a favorite song. Like on my last record I covered a Merle Haggard song that I’ve
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RM: One thing I love about your work is that you’re so collaborative. When you first started you were collaborative with so many amazing artists and now moving forward at the success level that you’re at, there’s not really a need for you to be collaborative, but yet you still are. Is that a conscious decision? EH: It just happens. I think the point where I really became an
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RM: You are so talented when it comes to interpreting songs; when you hear a song do you immediately know you want to make it your own? EH: No, I don’t know how, but I know I want it and so I just set about trying to find a way to make it work.
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Sending a Message of Hope
Nick Petro
Writer: Krislyn Smith
Motivational speaker, author, mentor and servant, Nick Petro, is asking youth “What is your Life?” Traveling across the world to empower youth by sending a message of hope, he has managed to devote his life to doing just that.
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Risen Magazine: What inspired you to start Mpowered Youth? Nick Petro: It was in Maui when I was sitting at a retreat for
investors and real estate brokers, people that owned their own businesses, and there was an exercise where you close your eyes and envision what it was that your life would look like if you could do anything…if there were no limitations to what it was that you wanted to do. And I had been in real estate and mortgage for a few years, but prior to that I was in youth ministry, teaching, coaching and speaking. When I closed my eyes - 20 minutes into this four hour exercise - I knew exactly what it was I wanted to do. It was to create this tidal wave movement of youth to realize their purpose and to actively give back to their community. I wanted to do that by fostering a mentorship program where we can align and train young adults and really be in their lives on a weekly basis, challenging them and holding them accountable and helping them fulfill what they want to do in their life and what is God’s plans for their life.
RM: Is there a scripture in the Bible that speaks to you louder than others? NP: Simply put and actually the title of my book and everything
that I live by is James 4:14. In the middle of that passage it says, “What is your life?” It’s something I ponder on a daily basis and I find solitude in having answered that calling in my life. It’s a constant reminder for me. Those four words pop up on a daily basis. It’s the vision for what I believe that God had asked me to write in the book for youth.
RM: How do you overcome the challenges you face in life? NP: There are always going to be challenges. I think the challenges that I’ve been able to overcome have been because of a mentor
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I had in my life and also reaching out to other individuals to see how they overcame certain obstacles in their lives. I’m constantly looking for inspiration and motivation in and through the lives of others. I try to see the other end of it. There is always light at the end of the tunnel.
RM: What has been your favorite memory as a mentor? NP: There are a lot of them. One of my fondest memories is one
of the most humiliating. When I was a youth minister a couple volunteers and myself where at a Christian camp. All of the leaders and mentors had to do a skit. It’s one I’ll never forget, because we butchered it. It was awful and we forgot all of our lines. We were red as can be and I mean it was the worst skit. Then I realized that night that all of our kids were able to open up to us more because we were able to act out of character. Working with youth you have to do two things, you have to earn the right to be heard, and you have to meet them where they are at. I believe in that one moment it really opened the doors to be transparent and for them to see us as not only adults, but willing to make mistakes and willing to have fun with it.
RM: What is your message to kids that seem to struggle with their identity or may have low self esteem? NP: I would ponder the four words, “What is your life?” For those
who struggle with self esteem issues, take an inventory of the gifts and talents that you do have; don’t concentrate on the things that you don’t. There is acronym that I made up called CHRIS - compassion, honesty, respect, integrity, and self control. That acronym represents the five key values that make up our character. Without having an identity of who our character really is we are going to flounder, or continue to compare ourselves to other people. My message would be understand what your life is by identifying those five key values that make up character.
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Leonardo Nam Rising Star
Writer: Megan Camaisa
Leonardo Nam has quickly become a rising star in the small, but close knit community of Asian actors on both small and big screens. Nam has a unique and worldly experience that has brought him bankability in film. Born in Argentina, this son of Korean parents, who grew up in Australia, later moved to the United States and became a success in Hollywood. His life experience has allowed him to play a variety of characters in smash hits such as Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift and opposite Drew Barrymore, in He’s Just Not That Into You. Nam has a bright future and is sure to please filmgoers with his vivacious personality and charming looks.
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Risen Magazine: You went from the films Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, to He’s Just Not That Into You, where you played very different characters. What is your ideal character or genre? Leonardo Nam: I like the gamut. I love being able to express all of these different stories and the different characters. Why not?
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RM: You did a lot of theater in New York when you first came to the States. What do you prefer, theater, film, or television? LN: All three. It depends on the writing and the story. Some stories are best told on film, some are best told on television, and some in theater.
RM: How much has your family, specifically your siblings, influenced your career choices? LN: My brother is a choreographer and he actually paved the
way to my understanding of being an artist… and the integrity of choice. My sister is an educator, so she really taught me, and paved the way for me to understand the importance of education.
RM: : How has your Asian heritage influenced where you are at in your career today? LN: You know it’s interesting to see that I’ve come from a different background, as opposed to a kid that’s just born in one country
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and stays there his whole life. I was born in Argentina, and grew up in Australia, so I think overall, having the Korean heritage I do, kind of influenced me to be more hopeful that the world is more accessible to a lot of new things.
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RM: What do you hope your acting legacy will be? LN: I believe at the end of the day, that my work will stand. It
will speak for itself as to the stories that I want to portray and that I have been honored and given the choice to portray.
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A Wheelchair Can’t Keep This Teenager Down…He Inspires Others:
Patrick Ivison Writer: Krislyn Smith
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atrick Ivison is like any other normal teenager. He likes horror films, surfs and plays sports. He has a driver’s permit and takes honors and AP classes. The only difference is that Patrick is a quadriplegic. At the young age of 14 months his life took a dramatic turn when he was struck by a vehicle. Narrowly escaping death, his journey had just begun. Patrick has a C4/C5 spinal cord injury, which at first left him paralyzed from the neck down. Doctors said it wouldn’t be likely that he would ever move his arms or hands again and Patrick would need assistance for the rest of his life. From that day forth nothing has stood in Patrick’s way. He is a true fighter and believer. When he puts his mind to a task, he gives it his full heart and drive. He is considered to be an inspiration by his friends and family. Patrick continues to progress each day. Despite the doctor’s words, he is able to move his arms and has feeling in his hands. He is also relying less and less on others to assist him. When Risen Magazine caught up with Patrick and his mom Jennifer Kayler, he was doing squats at the Project Walk facility in Carlsbad, California, where his trainer, Jason Smith, was assisting him. This remarkable boy smiles through it all, gaining more and more strength and ability day by day.
Interviewed for Risen Magazine at Project Walk in Carlsbad, California Risen Magazine: Tell me about Patrick’s story. Jennifer Kayler: On the day of his accident, I was walking to a neighbor’s house to use the phone. Both Patrick and I were walking behind a car. The driver and his girlfriend were arguing and put the car in reverse. It happened so fast. It happened before I could grab him. The driver completely ran Patrick over. He was pinned between the tire [and the pavement]. I tried moving the car and it wouldn’t budge. There was a gentleman that saw the whole thing happen and ran over and moved the car enough for me to get Patrick out. I knew the second that I pulled him out, he was gone. He had no life left in him at all and was already turning blue. He wasn’t making any sounds and was completely limp in my arms. I have never been so terrified and scared in my entire life. There was another man named Bob Misko who had convinced me to put him on the ground. He gave him CPR mouth to mouth. After a couple rounds, Patrick started to cry faintly. Mr. Misko had just finished a refresher course in child and infant CPR a week before the accident. RM: Hearing this reminds me that God puts little angels in everyone’s lives. Patrick Ivison: Yeah, he was a minor league baseball player. He had hurt his shoulder pitching the night before. JK: And he always played baseball on Sundays and it was the first time he had missed a Sunday. He was sitting and icing his shoulder and lived across the street from where the accident happened. RM: Was there another instance where one thing led to a greater purpose? PI: I had been in San Diego Adaptive Sports Foundation. That was kind of my original therapy. I was a little kid at the time and I didn’t understand that therapy was good; I just thought it was really boring. So my mom was like “ha-ha” I’ll put him in sports, so then he’ll have to work out [laughing]. I loved it; I still love it to this day. So it was Christmas Eve 2004, we had gone
see Santa. We went through the line and Santa asked me what I would like. At ten years old, I was trying to be all cool so I said, “I don’t know surprise me”. He then looks at Sam, my little sister. He asked, “What do you want for Christmas little girl?”, she answered, “Can you make my brother walk again?” Mom, Santa, and I are both like, “Oh, no”. Santa was really cool. He did say, you must love your brother very much, I’ll see what I can do. Same day, we are leaving Santa and headed back to our car. We passed two guys who were in wheelchairs as well. It’s kind of like the unwritten wheel chair code, you just kind of say hi when passing each other. So, we said, “Hi how you doing?” We then continued on our way and were just about to get into the parking garage when they caught back up with us. They were like, “We don’t usually stop people just because they are in chairs, but we just wanted to tell you about this organization we have. They started telling us about fighting chair sports. They also told us about a place called Project Walk. We thought it sounded really, really cool. We got back home, went online and checked it out. There were people with my same exact injuries, C4/C5, and they were walking across the gym. There was one girl that I remember doing jumping jacks. So we’re like [laughing], “We got to start here.” Although it cost a lot and the insurance didn’t cover it. JK: I was thinking once I graduated from school and had a good job I could get Patrick into Project Walk. A couple of days later, my grandma’s friend was over at our house. PI: My grandma said, “Tell her about the guys you met the other day.” My mom showed the friend the Project Walk website. The next day, my grandma’s friend calls my mom and said, “I know how to fundraise; we could raise some money to get him there”. We had a garage sale for the first one. JK: We passed out flyers at Patrick’s elementary school. So many of the parents brought a lot of things and we had furniture and antiques. We had a risenmagazine.com 65
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lot of yard sale fundraisers at the beginning. Little girls would come out and have bake sales for Patrick. At the same time, he was being granted a wish by the Dream Factory. They were going to send Sam, Patrick and me to Hawaii to go surfing. When he found out about Project Walk he asked the Dream Factory if they would send him here [to Project Walk] instead. They did and it [the proceeds] went towards the first six weeks. This was all a huge blessing. RM: Do you remember your first day at Project Walk? PI: I remember it crystal clear. They wanted me to bring my legs up, and I twitched it a little bit and they were like, “Ok he’s got movement, let’s go”. Every spinal cord injury is different. With my diagnosis, typically you aren’t supposed to move well from the neck down. So the fact that I can open and close my hands, and move my legs, and I sort of wiggle my toes a little bit, that’s a miracle. I was excited to be here.
here. I love it when I’m here. It is a lot. I kind of think of it as me doing some sort of sport after school. RM: Speaking of sports, I hear you’re a Pro Adaptive Surfer! Take me through a morning of surfing. PI: We always get out pretty early in the water. Once I start putting on the wet suite, my adrenaline starts building up. Then when my friends and I go out, we sit on the outside in the lineup and it’s so still. You can look out for miles, and then when you look back on shore, you can’t even hear anyone. It’s peaceful. It’s always neat to see dolphins and sea lions out there.
I was dealt a pretty rough hand early on in life. Growing up, I’ve never really thought about me being in a chair.
RM: Every day he’s making progress here, how is that inspiring to you? JK: The biggest thing is that it showed me that there isn’t a cap to his recovery. He never says can’t. PI: My original goal before walking at graduation was to go to college without my mom. And I think that was kind of her goal too. JK: Yeah, the biggest thing I think that people with spinal cord injuries want is independence. Coming here has given him so much more independence then he had before. It makes me feel really grateful and thankful that we found this place and we’re here. So many people have been supportive and Patrick can still continue to come here. He’s got a great attitude. He never complains about coming. He wants to be here. But it is all very inspiring. I know I’m a better person because of him and because of my daughter, because of how they are. It’s been quite a journey.
RM: I understand that you and your sister are pretty close. PI: She’s a punk [laughing]. No, she’s incredible. She’s definitely 13 going on 35. She likes to come surfing with me and she’ll usually help me in the water. My friends love her. They almost want to hang out more with her than me. RM: I was reading your blog, and it said Patrick stood up for the first time on October 3, 2005. You are seeing these little milestones. How is it to see your progress? PI: I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I’ve been saying for a couple of years that I want to walk at graduation. Today for instance when I was riding the bike, it was difficult and not any easier, but my legs were tracking better. Both Jason and I noticed at the same time. We were like, “That’s new!” My body is reforming itself. Every time that happens it’s another step closer to meeting my goals. JK: In September of last year, on the way home he called me and said you should bring your camera tomorrow and take pictures. I’m sitting there and Patrick got up and walked with Jason. It was unbelievable. I have to catch myself too. Like I said, I feel like his recovery has no limits but I was floored! RM: Patrick how do you keep that drive? Not only do you come here, but you’re a full time student. Homework isn’t easy for anyone. PI: It’s not easy at all. I have fun with it though. I legitimately enjoy coming
RM: Surfing seems to be Patrick’s passion, how does it make you feel? JK: It makes me feel incredibly happy. It’s hard to put into words. I just love the people that are out there with him. I feel so blessed. Our lives are blessed by so many different people and experiences. Surfing is huge in Patrick’s life. It just makes me really happy. RM: Who is your inspiration?
PI: Everyone at Project Walk inspires me, just by the fact that they’re here, because that shows th eir drive to get better. My family inspires me definitely, for putting up with me [laughing]. The volunteers who have helped me surf from the Life Rolls On Foundation are also an inspiration to me. RM: What is that you’d like to do in life? PI: I love speaking at schools and churches. I love to be able to reach out to little kids, teenagers, and adults. I was dealt a pretty rough hand early on in life. Growing up, I’ve never really thought about me being in a chair. I just think about how I overcome challenges. I’ve always adapted to things. I also incorporate the safety message. I don’t wish I was out of the chair and I think I’m a better person for being in this chair. I do think it would make life a lot easier. I’m in the position I’m in because someone wasn’t paying attention. The message for younger kids is safety. RM: Tell me about your favorite quote. PI: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith Jehovah, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you hope in your latter end.” Jeremiah 29:11. I saw that [verse]and I was blown away. It hits it right on the head. His [God’s] plan for me getting hit was for me to help others. Now that I’ve had this experience and the opportunity to experience a lot more than my peers have, I can go to them and say, “Look you’re having fun, but you have to come back to reality”. RM: What’s one thing you’d like to say to others with your same injuries? PI: People sometimes have asked me, why I’m always happy. I am a legitimately happy person. I have gotten depressed in the past, and thought, well this sucks. But I think about it and realize that there are a lot of people with a lot more problems than I have. I can handle this. I’ve gotten pretty good about cruising around in a chair. There is still a lot of future left. The message is stay positive because there is hope.
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Dreaming While Awake:
Grant Pecoff Writer: Krislyn Smith
rant Pecoff has made his living painting exotic places from his past to present. Snuggled away in his studio atop a busy downtown pizza parlor he recreates these memories with every brush stroke. His surreal paintings share moments captured in time. Intrigued by traveling to far off places as a kid, Pecoff has made his dream a reality.
Interviewed exclusively for Risen Magazine in San Diego, California Risen Magazine: When you were a kid, did you envision yourself as a talented artist? Grant Pecoff: Not at all, I did it for fun. I think I also did it as an escape. I was always a shy kid and it was a way for me to get out what was inside, and put it onto paper. I didn’t have a future set up as kid. I was going to be a martial arts instructor which I was into since I was eight years old. When I was 21 or 22, painting was a hobby and I saw a commercial on TV about the Academy of Art in San Francisco. I was like, “Man that’s something that strikes a chord in me. I could really do that!” That’s when I decided that I had two paths I could go down. I had somebody that wanted to invest in me for a school to do martial arts, or I could do my art full time. I was like, “I’m going to do my art.” RM: It must have been a good feeling. GP: I think it was scary to go down that route, but also so exciting. The excitement won over the fear. RM: How would you describe your artistic style? GP: Someone once described it as dreaming while awake; it’s somewhere in between. They are all real places just seen through the eyes of a child. I think everything out there has movement or has certain liveliness to it. Everything is alive; everything has God in it. Maybe that’s what people pick up on. RM: From books you and your wife wrote and illustrated together, to designing the top of city recycle trash cans - you seem to have a deep appreciation for the environment and kids. Where does that come from? GP: My father is a horticulturist. He’s always worked with plants. Growing up on acres and acres of property in a geodesic dome house with a generator, he’d send my sister and me out when we were young to pick seeds. He’d travel to far off places like Papua New Guinea, Saudi Arabia, Honduras, and then he’d come back and show us photo slides. We’d spend hours looking at the plants. It was boring at the time [laughing] but these cultures would just 68 Risen Magazine
Under the Pier
San Francisco de Assisi Church
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Aspens Diptych fill my head and imagination. I was like, “Wow, what would it be like to be there?” He was an influence on that. Also, my wife and I think it’s important to bring an uplifting message to kids. We thought about what we could do for our community and how we could influence kids in a positive way. There are so many kids in pain out there. Maybe our books or paintings can stimulate or can bring hope to them. Live your Dream has a lot of great messages about unconditional love, treating everybody as a sister or a brother, taking care of the planet, being humble in the face of success -- you know the kind of messages that we need to be reminded of. You have the paintings with the messages done in a very lyrical style which makes it fun. When it’s fun for kids, they get jazzed on it. Now when people go to the recycling (center), they can be greeted by some color. RM: You and your wife sold pretty much all of your belongings and moved out of the country. What point in your life were you at to make such a bold move? GP: We just came back from the Caribbean and we were met by a lot of stimuli. Everything was moving so fast; there were a lot of distractions. It really kept us from our number one priority at the time and that was spirituality. We asked, “What are we doing, what’s it all for?” That’s when we said, “let’s move, let’s go somewhere.’” We looked online and we saw the beautiful aqua waters of the Bahamas. We were like, “We could do that.” [Laughing] We went over there for a month to check it out, and fell in love. We came back and closed the gallery down. We sold our house, our three cars, donated stuff, and had garage sales. We moved our dog and cat and drove across the country to Florida where we put everything on a pallet on the ship and moved. It was phenomenal; I mean it was just amazing over there, it was gorgeous. We’d wake up relaxed, swim, paint. It was definitely a time of stillness and introspects. RM: Were there times you regretted that decision? Did you ever miss the simple luxuries of home? GP: After a while, you get a little bit of rock fever. I’d say the food - you’d don’t get as good of food as you do here [in the states]. You don’t get organic food. You sometimes get moldy food, and a lot of processed foods. The mail boat comes once a week. The little creature comforts I missed most, but they didn’t outweigh actually being there. I’ve always looked at it as, “ You don’t know if you’re gonna go [die] tomorrow, so why not live now. Do what you want to do now.” That’s one thing that contributed to us making the move and I’m really glad we did. 70 Risen Magazine
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Surfin’ the Pier
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Passion into Profession
Lou Mora Writer: Krislyn Smith
ou Mora has turned passion into profession. Even after graduating college, most kids struggle with the decision of what to do in life… the daunting task of figuring it all out. However, as fate would have it, Mora would soon meet his destiny in an abandoned dark room. While in college, Mora had a close friend who was living in Sweden. When she invited him to come and visit, Mora jumped at the opportunity. He recounts, “I pretty much sold everything I owned, bought a camera, packed my bags and left.” It was there that Mora discovered his true calling and career. In the basement of the Swedish house there was a dark room that hadn’t been used for several years. Mora researched the steps and tools needed to make this dark room functional once again. During that process, he figured out what chemicals to use and taught himself how to process film. “When it came to being in the dark room and actually printing the pictures and seeing that whole process… that’s when something inside of me just clicked.” After six months and a new found passion, Mora left Sweden saying, “I definitely knew that this is what I wanted to do for the rest of my life.”
Interviewed exclusively for Risen Magazine
Risen Magazine: How do you define your style? Lou Mora: People have always described my photography as subtle. Whenever I shoot people on my own, the things I look for are light and a nice background. With the person, I don’t like to give too much direction. Suddenly their head is titled this way, and their hand is that way, and it looks super awkward… and that’s not what I’m about. I tend to like to have people doing whatever it is they enjoy. RM: What do you get out of your profession? LM: It’s all about shooting people. Real people and real moments - that’s what I love. All my life I have played around with photography. My dad was kind of into it and I would always take his camera at family events and go and shoot. I always remember people telling me, ‘Oh this is actually a really good picture Lou.’ 72 Risen Magazine
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RM: When it comes to your career, do you tend to be a goal-setter? LM: Ever since I started shooting, I’ve always had these little goals for myself. It’s also little silly things that I want to accomplish that make me feel successful, like to drive down the 405 and see one of my images either on the side of a building or on a billboard. RM: What drives you in such a competitive industry? LM: Photography is definitely one of the most competitive industries out there, especially now that there’s digital photography. Every Joe can go buy a camera that isn’t that expensive and go shoot pictures and then start a flicker site. The market is oversaturated with photography and photographers. You just have to have the drive to keep going and going. It’s tough. You’re going to get rejected constantly. You have to be motivated in order to make it in this industry. Last year with the economy, it was really a rough year. There were points where I didn’t know what was going to happen, but it goes back to having the drive. Are you going to give up now or are you going to go for this. To me, there is no other thing that I want to do in life. This is my passion. It’s the love of photography. I see how people react to my photography and how it makes them feel. That’s all really wonderful to hear because when I’m shooting, that’s what I want to capture.
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Impacting today’s generations through positive messages about contemporary icons. Risen asks people about their successes, failures, challenges and spirituality. We tell stories by digging beneath the surface because life is raw, it’s real, and so is Risen.
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