Uncovering Vocation Series
Uncovering Vocation is a partnership betweenÌęCampus MinistryÌęand theÌęChristensen Center for VocationÌęat Augsburg University. Every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month, a member of the Augsburg community is invited to share a component of their vocation story. It has become a way of building community, becoming reacquainted with one another, and celebrating the diversity of people and vocations that make Augsburg University the beautiful placeÌęit is.
Our most recent Uncovering Vocation talk was given on Tuesday April 9, 2024 by Dr. Kristen Chamberlain from our department of Communication Studies, Film, and New Media. Kristen earned her PhD in Communication Studies from North Dakota State University in 2007. She has been teaching a variety of classes as part of the Department of Communication Studies, Film, and New Media since the fall of 2007. Kristen is particularly passionate about environmental communication and has identified as an environmentalist since 9th grade. She is also always ready to talk about the media, favorite books, and cats.
A reading from The Art of Noticing by Rob Walker
ââPay attention,â Susan Sontag once advised a young audience; she was speaking of the creative process, but also of living. âItâs all about paying attention. Itâs all about taking in as much of whatâs out there as you can, and not letting the excuses and the dreariness of some of the obligations youâll soon be incurring narrow your lives. Attention is vitality. It connects you with others. It makes you eager. Stay eager.â
To stay eager, to connect, to find interest in the everyday, to notice what everybody else overlooksâthese are vital skills and noble goals. They speak to the difference between looking and seeing, between hearing and listening, between accepting what the world presents and noticing what matters to you.â
Is anyone else in here familiar with the movie masterpiece âFerris Buellerâs Day Offâ?
In the movie, Ferris famously says:
âLife moves pretty fast. If you donât stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.â
Of course, he then skips school, picks up his bestie, and then forces said bestie to commit an act of fraud so that they can get Ferrisâ girlfriend out of school. The fraud includes borrowing his bestieâs dadâs Ferrari, which they proceed to take into downtown Chicago for an adventure.
The story of my vocation journey doesnât include any of those things… sorry to disappoint. But it does include the importance of stopping, looking around, and thinking about the ways that you choose to spend your time.
I always knew that I was interested in communication and media. I have always loved visual media – especially television and movies. Iâve also always enjoyed speaking in front of others. I gave my first public speech when I was in 7th grade. I joined the speech team in 8th grade and even won a state championship when I was in 11th grade. When I started college I thought I was going to be the next Katie Couric. Shortly after starting my first class on media writing I realized that having to interview people for a living was a special kind of nightmare for me. The desire to be a journalist was born from passion, but it was the passion of an analyst, an observer, not the passion of a professional. I already had passion for my profession, but I had not yet noticed it.
In fact, I have only recently realized that my vocation has been a common thread throughout my life. When my kids were old enough to start Sunday School, I volunteered to teach my daughterâs Sunday School class. I did that for several years. Then, right before the pandemic, the person who had been the director of the Sunday School stepped down. No one else volunteered to step into the role, so I said I would do it. For awhile, I told myself that I did it because no one else would. But when I stopped to think about it, I realized that I very happily avoid volunteering for all sorts of things.