look for me on the big screen

about six years ago, a group on my college campus was giving away copies of don miller's "blue like jazz". i thought hey, why not, and read the book. and it changed my life. this book helped me realize that it was okay for me to question my beliefs, to challenge the christian ideologies i had grown up with. this isn't to say i ever stopped being a christian, or doubted the existence of god. it was more of a "do i believe in god because that's what i was told to believe or do i believe in god because i see the evidence of his existence in my life and in the world" kind of doubting. and it was hard. and it was good. and from that, i grew. i don't think it's possible to grow without questioning.

and the thing that i liked about the book was this raw honesty. and don's writing is so conversational, it makes for a quick easy read. my friend and i always joked that it felt like we were sitting down with him over a cup of coffee and just having a conversation with an old friend.*

well, a few years ago, some filmmakers from here in nashville approached don about turning this book into a film. so they worked together and changed some aspects of the book to turn it into more of a storyline, and hired actors and a crew. and then about a month ago, they announced they no longer had the funding to go ahead with the filming. until two guys started up a kickstarter campaign on behalf of the film. they set the goal low - with as little as $125,000 they could scrape together what they needed to get rolling. but records were broken and at the end of the campaign (which was this past monday), they ended up raising almost $350,000. and they began filming yesterday. and i got to be an extra.

so really i spent all day yesterday sitting in a lecture hall pretending to be a student at reed college. we sat in that room for about 10 hours, which will translate to probably 10 minutes of film. and though it had it's boring moments, it was still exciting, especially knowing the story behind the whole thing. and the actors were all incredibly nice. marshall allman is playing the lead character, and as a huge fan of lost, i was totally geeking out over the fact that tania raymonde was brought in as well. and of course, don was around for the whole thing.

so when this movie comes out, keep your eyes peeled for yours truly. there's maybe an 80% chance my shoulder will be seen. if you're lucky, i might sign the dvd when it comes out.

*ever since then, having coffee with don has been on my bucket list. so if anyone reading this knows anybody or has any strings they can pull, please, hook a sister up. he'll be in town for about a month.