My closet is on a diet...
7:08 PM PDT, May 18, 2009, updated at 7:10 PM PDT, May 18, 2009
More from Teresa Drake's interview with Susy Flory.
Q. What are some of the lasting impacts of writing the book and venturing on your journeys or adventures to change the world? How is your daily life different?A. I think I am measuring my actions, the things I do everyday, in light of eternity. There are some things I have to do to make ends meet, pay the bills, that don’t necessarily have eternal value. But, I am measuring my life, I’m measuring my actions, I ’m measuring the choices I make in light of eternity and with a goal of lasting value. Q. In the book you talk about the particular project where you sold jewelry for fresh water. You took an inventory of the things you owned and were surprised by all that you have. Now, have you found the clutter level climbing back up? Are you more proactive about reducing your purchases or consumption of goods? A. After I wrote that chapter I went through my closet. And it’s not that I’m a huge shopper, but when I did count my shirts and my underwear and my shoes, it really showed me that I had way more than I thought I had, and, definitely way more than I needed. So I did give away a bunch of stuff. I think we can accumulate things sometimes for emotional reasons, almost like overeating. So my closet is on a diet! For more info, go to www.susyflory.com and subscribe to my newsletter, "Start a Little Adventure," and get a free copy of "Top Ten Ways To Live a Life of Adventure." You can also download a free reader's guide for your women's group, book club, or just for yourself! More in the next post... Change the world? Start with yourself and what you like to do!
3:00 PM PDT, May 4, 2009
Q. Because your book is focused on women, do you think it could be considered sexist?
A. To me “sexist” is when you elevate one sex and denigrate or put down the other, and that is not what So Long Status Quo is about. Amazing men have been written about extensively all through history, but women have not, and this book whetted my appetite for women’s history. I’m really trying to focus on a subject – women’s history – that has not been given the time and energy and passion and interest I think that it deserves. I think a good example from So Long Status Quo is Perpetua, a Roman martyr, an educated and amazing woman who wrote her own story, who showed true heroism facing death in an arena – and no one knows about her! Q. If you had to choose some powerful women currently impacting our world in a positive way, who might they be? A. Catherine Rohr was a very successful stockbroker in NYC. Something happened; she felt a call on her life. She sold everything she had, and along with her husband, rented a U-Haul truck and moved to Texas. She started a business-training program in the Texas prisons called The Prison Entrepreneurship Program, and it’s been going for about ten years. She went behind bars and taught business classes to these guys who were the lowest of the low in society. She’s had tremendous success and has given these guys a chance for a new life. Another one is Wendy Kopp. She came right out of college, an Ivy League school, and founded a non-profit called “Teach for America.”She recruits the best and the brightest students across the country to go into inner city schools and teach for a year or two, before they start their careers. A lot of them end of staying in those inner city schools because they love the kids, they love the challenge and find it very rewarding. Wendy is brilliant; she could’ve made a million dollars, but instead she started a non-profit and built it from the ground up. Wendy Kopp is a woman changing the world. Q. In your book, each chapter ends with suggestions for readers to try a little adventure on their own. Where should a beginning volunteer start? A. I think a lot of times when you’re doing volunteer work or you’re trying to make a difference you look at what other people have done. But, I think that’s the wrong place to start. I think that you have to start in your own community, with the needs that are in front of you. Use whatever resources or gifts or talents you personally have. So if you love to knit, knit for others. If you love to create scrapbooks, if you love to cook, if you love to spend time with people, if you love to take care of children, serve others. Start with yourself and what you like to do, and then find someone who needs what you like to do. For more info, go to www.susyflory.com.Sign up for my newsletter, "Start a Little Adventure," and get a free copy of "Top Ten Ways To Live a Life of Adventure." You can also download a free reader's guide for your women's group, book club, or just for yourself! More in the next post... The Most Amazing Woman I've Ever Read About in my Entire Life
11:04 PM PDT, April 27, 2009
Part Two of Teresa Drake's interview with Susy Flory.
Q. The book’s title, So Long Status Quo, sounds familiar. Where did it come from? A. It’s from the chorus of a Nichole Nordeman song called “Brave,” about letting go of your fear and stepping out in faith. I love this line: “So long, status quo. I think I’m letting go…” Faith is about letting go of your plan, and trying to live out God’s plan. And His is better! Q. So Long Status Quo highlights nine amazing women who changed the world. Of those nine, who is your favorite? A. My absolute favorite was Harriet Tubman. She had so many obstacles to overcome. She was born into slavery. She was illiterate. She suffered a brain injury when she was young that caused her to go into a coma. She had slave catchers after her. She had no money. She worked all alone. Yet, she accomplished unbelievable things. She never quit. Even after she had been a conductor on the Underground Railroad – she led 300 slaves to safety, to freedom, without losing one – after that she became an army scout, a spy, and an army nurse during the civil war. She was unpaid, just a volunteer. When she was an army nurse she was the first line of care and would care for the soldiers lying on the battlefield. They were just lying there, suffering and in pain. She took care of them with her own money, her own supplies, and no one to really help her. She was doing it on her own. And, at night, when she would go back to her room, she would bake 50 pies; she would make homemade gingerbread and homemade root beer from actual roots she got out in the woods. Q. She would cook and bake at night after she’d been working all day? A. Not only that, but the next day she’d hire ex-slaves to go out and sell the food and drink in the camps. Then she would use that money to buy supplies for the soldiers. So, I was just amazed by how resourceful she was and how she didn’t give up when she didn’t have the things that she needed to take care of these guys. Even when she was an old lady, she started a retirement home for former slaves. So I just like her. I like that she didn’t quit; I like her resourcefulness. I like that she didn’t make excuses and I like that she used her own hands to help in whatever way she could, even when she wasn’t paid, even when she wasn’t welcome. I think she’s probably just about the most amazing woman I’ve ever read about in my entire life. For more info, go to www.susyflory.com.Sign up for my newsletter, "Start a Little Adventure," and get a free copy of "Top Ten Ways To Live a Life of Adventure." More in the next post... I loved my comfy couch....
7:32 AM PDT, April 23, 2009
From an interview with Susy Flory on SO LONG STATUS QUO: What I Learned From Women Who Changed the World.
Q. You describe your middle class suburban life as safe, boring, and predictable—like staying curled up in a comfortable couch. That sounds pretty good! Why were you so dissatisfied with your life? A. I loved my comfy couch, and my safe life, for a long time. But at some point it became like a trap, like a safe warm cocoon that I couldn’t break out of. Do you remember when you were a kid and you longed for summer vacation? During those long hot days of school just before break you dream about summer and can’t wait for school to be over so you can sleep in, play with friends, relax, and enjoy yourself. Then summer comes, and it’s wonderful, and you get to do those things you were dreaming about, but after a while it goes on too long. You get bored, and there isn’t much of a routine or purpose to your days, and all of a sudden you can’t wait for school to start again. Do you remember that feeling? That was my safe-on-the-couch life. I yearned for something more. Q. So what became the “something more”? A. First, I studied a group of amazing women who changed the world, like Mother Teresa, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Mary Magdalene. I immersed myself in their lives and tried to get to know them better. Who were they? What were their lives like? Why prompted them to step out and make a difference in the world? Then, for each woman, I created a little adventure in order to follow in her footsteps and live out one of her ideals or values. So for Rosie the Riveter, I went into a metal shop and learned how to weld. For Eleanor Roosevelt, I traveled to Cuba on a secret humanitarian mission to work with children. For Mother Teresa, I went on a fast. Now that one was hard! For more info, go to www.susyflory.com. More in the next post... I loved my comfy couch
12:50 AM PDT, April 23, 2009
From an interview with Susy Flory on SO LONG STATUS QUO: What I Learned From Women Who Changed the World.
Q. You describe your middle class suburban life as safe, boring, and predictable—like staying curled up in a comfortable couch. That sounds pretty good! Why were you so dissatisfied with your life? A. I loved my comfy couch, and my safe life, for a long time. But at some point it became like a trap, like a safe warm cocoon that I couldn’t break out of. Do you remember when you were a kid and you longed for summer vacation? During those long hot days of school just before break you dream about summer and can’t wait for school to be over so you can sleep in, play with friends, relax, and enjoy yourself. Then summer comes, and it’s wonderful, and you get to do those things you were dreaming about, but after a while it goes on too long. You get bored, and there isn’t much of a routine or purpose to your days, and all of a sudden you can’t wait for school to start again. Do you remember that feeling? That was my safe-on-the-couch life. I yearned for something more. Q. So what became the “something more”? A. First, I studied a group of amazing women who changed the world, like Mother Teresa, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Mary Magdalene. I immersed myself in their lives and tried to get to know them better. Who were they? What were their lives like? Why prompted them to step out and make a difference in the world? Then, for each woman, I created a little adventure in order to follow in her footsteps and live out one of her ideals or values. So for Rosie the Riveter, I went into a metal shop and learned how to weld. For Eleanor Roosevelt, I traveled to Cuba on a secret humanitarian mission to work with children. For Mother Teresa, I went on a fast. Now that one was hard! For more info, go to www.susyflory.com. More in the next post... The Video Release, and other news ...
9:51 PM PST, December 5, 2006
The Da Vinci Code video released mid-November, to a small ripple but not much more. It seems the ruckus has resolved, and the media and readers are on to other things. However, there are over 50 million copies of The Da Vinci Code still floating around out there, so the discussion will continue, but with much less hype. And that's as it should be; talking about faith, Christ, and the reliability of Scripture are questions requiring not only curiosity, but commitment, passion and a hunger for truth. I have not yet come to the end of my interest in these topics; I hope you haven't either. That said, we rented the video so my husband could see it. It was a disaster; I couldn't stop providing commentary. Finally, I resorted to holding a pillow over my mouth. I'm not sure he enjoyed the experience ... it's hard to be captivated by a film when a know-it-all is sitting next to you. Sorry, Robert! Finally, an update on my new writing project. It's a close look at goddess spirituality, or what Dan Brown, in The Da Vinci Code, labeled "The Sacred Feminine." A growing movement, goddess worship rejects the God of the Bible and instead embraces a female deity. For more, click over to my blog, titled "Unmasking the Goddess." Feel free to check it out and leave me your comments. I look forward to hearing from you!
Will The Da Vinci Code die, or live on?
11:07 AM PDT, July 26, 2006
The Da Vinci Code is high on kids' summer reading lists, according to a library report in Connecticut. Here's an excerpt: "I'm reading 'Angels & Demons,' " said freshman Alessandra Piotti, 14, who had come to the library to get a replacement copy of her summer reading list, referring to the massive tome that follows the blockbuster movie's main character in his quest to stop the Illuminati from destroying Vatican City. "I read 'The Da Vinci Code' and I really liked it." "Apparently, many of her fellow students felt the same way, as Brown was the most recommended author on Greenwich High School's student-generated summer reading list." In other Da Vinci Code news, fans of the book and movie are crawling London and Paris in record numbers, retracing the steps of Robert Langdon and Sophie Neveu. The Eurostar trains credit record ticket sales to Da Vinci Code tourists. The movie is still stirring up controversy in other parts of the world, including Africa, India, Egypt, Pakistand, and, most recently, Iran, where it was banned today. Last, a woman who claims to be a descendant of Jesus and Mary Magdalene has written a novel, published by Simon & Schuster, titled The Expected One. A Chicago Sun-Times religion writer covered the story with a generous dose of sarcasm: "What's next in the increasingly Machiavellian world of book marketing? An author who claims to be Jesus Christ, perhaps?" I wouldn't be at all surprised! Although The Da Vinci Code may eventually die out and be forgotten, the questions it's raised will remain. Who is Jesus? Who wrote the Bible? Those are questions that deserve answers. I dare you to find them ...
Why did Dan Brown attack Christianity in The Da Vinci Code?
10:21 AM PDT, June 14, 2006
The #1 question arising out of The Da Vinci Code is: Was Jesus married? You can get answers from an earlier blog post(May 1) or from our website FAQS at www.fearnotdavinci.com. So, what's the #2 question? It revolves around the motives of Da Vinci Code author Dan Brown. Why did he attack Christianity in The Da Vinci Code? Brown defends himself with the suggestion that controversy is good for the church, provoking discussion and a more intense search for truth. But one can't get around the fact that his claims in The Da Vinci Code attempt to undermine the very foundations of the faith. Here's an example: “Every faith in the world is based on fabrication. That is the definition of faith—acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove” (The Da Vinci Code, p. 341). In this excerpt, Brown suggests that all faiths are based on lies, and that humans are dumb enough to believe them. Here's another, from p. 235: "Almost everything our fathers taught us about Christ is false." Erwin Lutzer, author of The Da Vinci Deceptionand pastor of Moody Church in Chicago, says that The Da Vinci Code is the biggest attack on Christianity he's seen in his lifetime. So, did Dan Brown anticipate the uproar his book would create? Did he intentionally attack Christianity? It's difficult to discern someone's motives. We're complicated beings with many facets and most of us don't even know ourselves well enough to understand our own motivations, much less discern Dan Brown's. I think his motives were much more simple. Brown's writing is his business; he writes for money. Controversial books and movies earn money. With Angels & Demons, Brown hit on a formula that he then used in The Da Vinci Code, leading to success: religion + sex + conspiracy = sales. I think Brown's in this gig for money. Now he's made lots of it. I just read recently, though, that he's building a stone and iron fence around his New Hampshire home to keep out zealous fans and press. Is that kind of success worth the price of losing any chance at a normal life? Of creating a controversy that will follow you the rest of your life? Hmmmm......
Da Vinci Code sequel?
12:31 PM PDT, June 5, 2006
The Da Vinci Code movie is the first episode in what will probably be a whole series of films featuring the conspiracy-obsessed Robert Langdon character. Sony Picturesannounced a few days ago a deal to film Dan Brown's book Angels and Demons, a prequel to Da Vinci Code. I got the news from Christianity Today's excellent film blog. The screenwriter for DVC, Akiva Goldsman, has agreed to write the new screenplay. Tom Hanks may return, but no announcement yet. In Hollywood, success and sequels go together. And although film critics have been lukewarm, calling DVC "spiritual psychobabble," the Tom Hanks film has raked in hundreds of millions in receipts worldwide. According to Jeff Blake, the vice-chairman of Sony Pictures Entertainment: “We are certainly exceeding all of our expectations and pointing towards being one of the top ten opening weekends of all time." So it follows that DVC is just one in a series. Solomon's Key is the next Dan Brown book, due in 2007, also featuring (of course!) Robert Langdon. That one focuses on the America's founding fathers, the Masons, and their secrets. DVC has "sequel" written all over it ... when I first read The Da Vinci Code, I was a little disappointed in the ending; it was a bit of a cheat. Dan Brown's roller coaster ride of a novel ended in a wispy, worshipy scene where Professor Langdon kneels reverently above what may or may not be the site where Mary Magdalene lies buried. Same with the movie. It was a not very satisfactory conclusion to the search for treasure and truth at the heart of The Da Vinci Code. Several critics have noted a much more satisfactory ending to 2004's The National Treasure, starring Nicholas Cage. Different movies, of course. National Treasure is a search for, well, treasure, while DVC is a search for spiritual truth. Are you searching for answers? We all are. Besides the DVC franchise, look for an upcoming array of books and films with spiritual themes as producers, directors and writers continue to focus on these very human questions: - who am I? - why am I here? - who is Jesus? - does the Bible answer these questions? - can I trust the Bible? It's okay to be a seeker, searching for truth. God himself awaits the truth seeker: "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart" (Jeremiah 29:13). In Fear Not Da Vinci news: Gini and I have posted an audio clip (and a podcast) with a greeting and an excerpt from Fear Not Da Vinci on our website, www.fearnotdavinci.com. It's about 20 minutes long. Have a listen!
Movie Madness
5:12 PM PDT, May 19, 2006
I just got back from seeing the Da Vinci Code movie. Why the rush? I'm scheduled to talk to radio show host Brian Sussman tonight on KSFO, and so I need to be prepared. Critics are calling the movie long, tedious, and unexciting. A fair criticism. However, let's apply "the bathroom test." The lunchtime movie crowd was munching on popcorn and drinking lots of soda, so by the middle of the 2 1/2 hour film, most of us had to use the bathroom. But no one got up! I did not see one person leave the theater during the whole movie. As soon as the movie was over, there was a rush to the restroom and then a long line. What does that tell you? The DVC's search for truth intrigues people and no one wanted to miss a single clue or revelation, whether fictional or not. Another observation: the book's hard line claim to be "fact" has been softened in the film. Tom Hanks's character (Robert Langdon) is more of a skeptic in the film and questions many of the controversial points, instead of championing them. Towards the end, in a key conversation with Sophie, the heroine of the film, he tells her that "what matters is what you believe." (Actually, truth is what matters.) There is some additional dialogue as well. Here's a quote from a Christianity Today review which highlights a new line of dialogue for Langdon: "In one of the final scenes, Langdon tries to spell out the film's main theme. Referring to the nature of Jesus, Langdon asks, 'Why does it have to be human or divine? ... Maybe human is divine.' " This is not a question the book delved into, but this line in the film could certainly lead to a powerful discussion on what it means to be human and what it means to be divine. (I had a teacher who used to put it, very simply, like this: God is God, and we're not.) We'll see how much of an impact the film makes as the box office numbers come in, but regardless of the film's impact, the DVC book remains the best selling novel of all time, worldwide. Don't let the moment pass -- use this unexpected phenomenon as an opportunity to share your faith!
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Bio
SUSY FLORY grew up on the back of a quarter horse in an outdoorsy family in Northern California. She attended Biola University and UCLA, where she took degrees in English and Psychology. She has a background in journalism, education, and communications. Her first book, Fear Not Da Vinci: How to Use the Best-selling Novel to Share Your Faith, was co-written with Gini Monroe and published by Living Ink Books/AMG in 2006. Her latest book, So Long Status Quo: What I Learned From Women Who Changed the World, was released in 2009 by Beacon Hill.
In addition to writing books and articles, Susy serves at her local church, and is a popular speaker and blogger. She lives with her husband and two children in Castro Valley, California. Susy is not afraid to dive into the trenches to experience firsthand whatever she’s writing about. If that means smuggling medical supplies into Cuba on a humanitarian trip or sitting down to coffee to talk about faith with a practicing witch, she’s there with a listening ear and notebook in hand. Her creative nonfiction features a first person journalistic style with a backbone of strong research.
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