Julie Gaynes OC ‘13

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Gadjah Mada University, Indonesia (2013-15)

Julie Gaynes majored in Creative Writing and Religious Studies. Active as a performer, acrobatics instructor, and public relations administrator for OC Circus, Julie also served as a Creative Writing Intern. She also interned in publishing and performance during her summer breaks from Oberlin. She traveled to Ghana, where she interviewed approximately 40 local religious leaders, and also conducted a review of spiritual organizations throughout Chicago for a 100-page paper exploring religious and cultural diversity. She was drawn to Yogya because it is an intersection of all her interests: religious and cultural diversity, story telling, and performance. In the future, Julie hopes to pursue a PhD in Anthropology in South East Asian religion and would like to incorporate her experience as a Shansi Fellow in her research.

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Of the Stuff of Demons: A Metamorphosis
Of the Stuff of Demons: A Metamorphosis

Julia Gaynes ‘13, Gadjah Mada University Fellow

During the previous night’s show, when I had struck my inversion for the final pose (too far downstage it turned out), the stage curtains swept over me and I had rolled towards the audience like a cat stumbling into the wreathes of hell.

Search for Cleaner Air: A Tale of Sincerity from Central Java
Search for Cleaner Air: A Tale of Sincerity from Central Java

Julia Gaynes ‘13, Gadjah Mada University Fellow

There was some poetry to the eruption, particularly in the way it shut me in on Valentine’s Day among ash that stuffed up Yogyakarta like dust in a box. Perhaps this was why, after being woken up in the early morning by messages warning me to shut my doors and windows, I walked out onto my balcony, breathed in the gray, and smiled.