In this podcast episode, Peter Kunze, assistant professor of Communication at Tulane University, talks with Kristi McKim about her new RUSHMORE book.

Following the 6:30 pm screening of Rushmore, Kristi McKim will discuss her new book, Rushmore (BFI Film Classics, 2023). Program begins at 8:15 pm in the Ron Robinson Theater. Moderated by Kevin Brockmeier

Kristi McKim — or Dr. McKim, if you’re lucky enough to have been her student at Hendrix College in the years since she joined the film studies faculty in 2008 — recently released “Rushmore,” a book examining the Wes Anderson movie of the same name….McKim’s prose frequently soars with personality, especially when she allows herself to drift into the first person, giving the reader a peek into her own life.

Hendrix film studies professor Dr. Kristi McKim’s new book RUSHMORE was released this month by the British Film Institute. The new work examines the 1998 cult classic by American director Wes Anderson and starring Bill Murray. The book is the latest entry in a line of classic film companion books.

Film Matters, a magazine celebrating the work of undergraduate film scholars, has announced a new partnership with the Hendrix College Film and Media Studies program and Department of English…“My own writing and teaching grow out of a love of experiencing films and reading books …As an undergraduate student, working together with my co-editor of our college literary magazine, I learned the power and intimacy of a friendship built through collaborative writing and shared inquiry,” McKim said. “Such opportunities that blend our learning with community, our professional interests with personal passions, are those that I always want to nurture in my students.”

We are pleased to announce our latest partnership, with Hendrix College, who will now be responsible for managing our online content here. Under the expert guidance of Kristi McKim, who has been a longtime member of our advisory board, not to mention the guest editor of several dossiers (both online and in print) over the years, undergraduate students at Hendrix College will serve as joint authors and editors of the Film Matters site.

When I first read the invitation, from Hendrix’s Office of Development, to describe my teaching under these circumstances, I confess that I laughed out loud at the incongruity of the ask in proportion to my then-present reality: it had been a challenging afternoon. Still in pajamas at 4 p.m., I was juggling a steady stream of school emails, holding my napping toddler, typing with one hand, and homeschooling my kindergartener rather ineptly. As a mother of young children, teacher, and English department chair, I felt to be failing miserably at these converging responsibilities, concentrated in our home, now newly-conceived as a kindergarten, preschool, college classroom, and office. Though this opening confession dwells on my felt inadequacy more than sense of achievement, I begin here so as to foreground my approach to teaching during the pandemic: a willingness to acknowledge the challenge and to appreciate our new and shared vulnerability.

The Carole Herrick Award for Excellence in Academic Advising is given to recognize high-quality academic advising, which includes contributions in advising that help students formulate and achieve their intellectual, career, and personal goals. Students speak to the warm, encouraging, and caring nature of this year’s award winner. They credit her for helping them build their strength and confidence in their academic abilities as well as their abilities to succeed as human beings. Her love of her work and her students is apparent to students both in the classroom and through her mentorship. She is described by students as someone who has “changed their lives” and whose value to their education is like “a ray of light in a dark room.” Her unique way of working with students makes “education feel like a consequence of being alive.” The 2019-2020 Herrick Award winner is Dr. Kristi McKim.

"I'm completely surprised and grateful to receive this generous award, especially as selected by my colleagues, whose hard-working dedication to teaching and serving our community inspires me continually,’ said McKim. “It's an honor, every day, to work alongside such accomplished and passionate teachers; and it's thus humbling to be singled out for my own accomplishments. I am, after all, first and always a student to the generations of teachers (in my family, with my own formal education, and here now at Hendrix) who have inspired me to love learning; that I might receive public recognition for what so meaningfully enriches my life feels like the best kind of dream."

Film is a sensory experience for Dr. Kristi McKim. It's easy to enjoy but more difficult to analyze. “It's a challenge to express a complex aesthetic … to take what you see and write about it, to convey a multi-sensory experience in words," she explained. “Studying film gives us practice in paying attention to details and movement, whether on the screen or in our lives.”