Jean Russell

Still curious about who Jean is?

A brief autobiography followed by a few academic achievements.

The bones, muscles, and neural networks of Jean in her own words:

Jean Russell, born Jeanne Luther.

Performance
I have always been interested about how we perform our lives--how we portray our identity to others. I always enjoyed playing with gender (wore a tie to give a lecture once) or playing with class (what clothes elicit different responses from sales people)? I am still at play, testing the boundaries, asking questions... why? how? And why is that? And what other options are there? What makes one option preferred over another?

Language
I have always been interested in language. Why does one word mean roughly the same thing as another but have a different nuance? Why, when I say one thing, do you hear some other iteration? I strive to find the common space where we can communicate. I am open to accepting others on their terms in their way of speaking. (If only I knew more languages!)

Broad, not deep
I am broad, but not always deep. I knit, I crochet, I sew. Acceptably well. I cook and garden. Acceptably well. I know the names of much of the flora and fauna in my area. More than many, not nearly as much as a botanist or zoologist would. I was trained to be a domestic upper-middle class housewife, then told to be an independent woman in the work world instead. My Mom is my best teacher. I am broad but not always deep. I studied biology, theater history, art history, philosophy, cultural studies, and critical theory. Yet I am not an expert at any of them. 10 years of college and no expertise!

Active
I have always been highly active. I ran around a ninety acre playground as a child. I rode horses, climbed tress, swam and canoed rivers, rode bikes, and later I played basketball as well as ran cross country and track.

Natural
I grew up with horses, cats, and dogs. There were wild turkeys on our property as part of an effort to repopulate the area. My parents tried to live sustainably. We gardened and canned. We had an orchard. My Dad built our house. He nestled it into the hillside (geothermal without the equipment). We avoided chemicals and had no garbage service. My parents were supportive when I became a vegetarian after touring a butcher shop in high school.

Community
My parents took in more than 30 foster kids. I was in 4-H for 8 years. We did community service. My Mom volunteered locally. She was in the League of Women Voters. My Dad taught at the local state university. Many of our family friends were foreigners or world travelers. We took in several foreign exchange students. I particularly remember Amir, who was from Iran. He stayed with us while studying at the university. It was during the Iran Contra Affair. We were concerned about anti-Iranian sentiment.

Work
When I graduated, I continued working at the University Galleries. I curated an exhibition called Text and Territory which focused on how language and location map our identity. Then I moved to Chicago. I worked in commercial finance for an international company who had recently bought out an industry leader. I worked with the strategy and integration team. I played many roles there: writer, designer, facilitator, trainer, and researcher. Then, I started Spinorb and bore two wonderful children.

Growth
While I learn as I journey through the world, I still ground myself in my family. My Mom has been coaching me my whole life. My parents taught me about giving, living intentionally, loving all people, and accepting everyone for who they are. They taught me many of the basic presuppositions of NLP (neuro-linguistic programming--the patterns of our thinking).

Distortions
I have a handicap. My Mom had her appendix out while 4 months pregnant with me, and the doctor jarred her uterus. My left arm has undergone multiple surgeries--mostly before I turned four. The bone shape reduces my elbow motion significantly. Most people never guess this about me. It has never stopped me from doing anything important to me. Through this "flaw" I know how strong I am and how humble I am. It has helped me look to the inside of people's hearts for who they are.

Reiterations
And we return to the beginning of the story...seeing people perform who they are and seeing the person behind the performance, then communicating with that person. I cherish the people around me and strive to live in harmony with my environement.

Intentions
Last year my Mom was diagnosed with breast cancer. She was treated successfully. I am not ready to be the matriarch of my family. I still am learning from my Mom. I hope I get to do so for a long, long time. So here I am still learning greedily. Time gets more valuable every year.