Female Student at Stephens by Claire Johnson

Stephens College has given me a lot of hands-on experience in filmmaking and theater.  I decided early on in my life that I was going to attend Stephens due to the fact that my mother graduated from there.  I also like the small class size; the student to teacher ratio is 12:1, and the fact that it is a women’s school ("Stephens College: About Stephens - History").  Having graduated from an all-female high school, I was familiar with going to school with all girls.  The most knowledge I gain while attending Stephens College is during the Citizen Jane Film Festival.  This film festival is an annual celebration and recognition of films made by women (CitizenJaneFilmFestival.org).  Due to Stephens’ high interest in women in film, there are a few notable actresses that attended Stephens College, including Joan Crawford, who attended Stephens for only one semester (Jones “America’s Real Sweetheart).  Even though Crawford was only at Stephens for a semester, she improved her confidence of being an actress after meeting James Madison Wood, president of Stephens College, who gave her words of encouragement when he met her on a train leaving Stephens.  Crawford said of Wood, “He was the first person to tell me that my aspirations are all right. He was the first person to speak as though I might realize them."  Like many students at Stephens while Wood was president, Crawford saw Wood as a mentor (Jones The Best of Everything). 

Like filmmaking, Stephens offers great experiences for theater, which I also participate in.  I attend Stephens’ Okoboji Summer Theater in Spirit Lake, Iowa and this summer actress Dawn Welles will be starring in Steel Magnolias on opening night.  Welles is most well known as playing Mary-Ann on the television show Gilligan’s Island (Harling).  Being involved in film and theater, I have gotten the chance to work with some of the men that attend Stephens.  One thing that I have found is that they are raised on a pedestal compared to the females in the same program.  Seeing the attention that is given to them and the work that is expected from the men sometimes makes me feel as though I am not skilled enough to accomplish what my professors want me to accomplish.  I sometimes find myself wondering why a women’s college needs to have men attending.  I understand that it is essential for us to act with men in order to gain the right experience, but I do not see why the male students should be praised for their work more than the women are praised (Karstens Columbia Missourian). 

One thing that I found interesting was the fact that the two films from Stephens College that were shown at the True/False Film Festival were both made my men (Stephens.edu “Stephens at True/False Film Festival”).  The first film shown was Zielinski, which told the story of photographer, author, and conspiracy theorist John Zielinski, who is the most blacklisted author in Iowa.  Zielinski is known for his investigative approach into the lives of taboo America such as drug dealers, pedophiles, and Satanists (Zielinskifilm.com).  The second film that was shown was The Pruitt-Igoe Myth, which was made to dissolve the myth that Pruitt-Igoe, a housing project in St. Louis, was full of destruction and failure (Stephens.edu “Stephens at True/False Film Festival”).  The reason I found the presence of these two films so fascinating was because I couldn’t believe there were no films shown that were filmed by woman especially coming from a school that is dedicated to just that.

-Claire