Faculty Focus: Atkins teaches, writes on “Mean Mad Genes”

By Laura Scuffins '09

Professors teach certain courses for a variety of reasons. Some teach a course because of personal preference, interest or to learn more information about the subject itself.

Cynthia Atkins, a lecturer in English at Roanoke College, teaches a composition class called "Mean Mad Genes: Mental Illness and the Artistic Temperament." She does this because she has struggled since childhood with the marginal stereotypes mentally ill individuals often face. She also has recently published a book of poems, "Psyche's Weathers" (Custom Words, 2007), which uses the weather as a metaphor to explore various mental and psychological states of the soul or psyche.

Using her past experiences with a bipolar father and a schizophrenic sister, Atkins is able to analyze the battles mentally ill people encounter on a daily basis and how prescription drugs influence creative minds.

"My family history includes some bouts with bipolar disorder and schizophrenia, so I thought it would be interesting to look at artists who were affected by mental illness. I wanted to find the connection between creativity and the so-called 'abnormal' processes of the human brain," Atkins says.

To this end, Ms. Atkins recently organized a roundtable discussion on the link between abnormal behavior and the creative mind. The project was sponsored by Fine Arts in Rockbridge and organized through "Writers at Jordan House," a literary venue founded by Atkins and for which she is artistic director. Participants included dancer and therapist Nancy Johnston; artist Christine Drake; Associate Professor of Art History at Washington and Lee University, George Bent; bassist Peter Mathews and Atkins.

Her performance poem, titled "Family Therapy (IV)," deals with how easy it is to ignore the mentally ill and how it is our job to bring these issues to light. An excerpt of her poem reads, "Hush, we'll never tell, yet deep down we know, the mind's pain is the last inconsolable and extra gene. Rabid dog in the school yard- Mean and mad and frothing." That illustrates the danger of leaving the mentally ill to themselves and the hazard of ignoring issues raised about the mentally unstable. Also, Atkins was extremely moved by Drake's creation of what she called "sirens" in her paintings, or masks that figures in her art wore to hide pain, truth and emotion.

"I thought that was a very clever way to introduce the problems of society," Atkins says. "We often try to cover the truth as a means to get away from it, but it is just making things worse."

Following their discussions, often based on questions from the audience, the group put together an improvisational performance piece where they cross-pollinated the spoken word with music, painting, and interpretive dance. Atkins read her poem, "Family Therapy (IV)," which concludes:

"Hush, we'll never tell, yet deep down/ we know the mind's pain is the last/ inconsolable and extra gene./
Rabid dog in the school yard-/ mean and mad and frothing."

In her course, "Mean, Mad Genes," Atkins challenges first-year students to examine and question the stereotypes surrounding the mentally ill and to reconsider the sometimes blurry line between mental illness and artistic brilliance. After teaching the course for three years, she feels students are becoming more aware of how contemporary society is confused about how to deal with these very complex issues regarding mental health.

The course took on fresh significance for her students last spring, in the wake of the Virginia Tech shootings.

"When the incident at Virginia tech happened, my students realized, among other things, that the way we marginalize and ignore people with mental illness tends to exacerbate the problems. It's a vicious cycle, and it feeds off itself through ignorance."

Atkins says her goal with the class is to challenge assumptions about the mentally ill and question ways of dealing with them. Most of all, she wants to explore the "gray areas" of mental health: "I hope my students can step back from the situation and make more informed decisions about these complex cultural problems."