By Kevin Ford
Student Reporter
Here is something few people know; Roxie James loves the old school Power Rangers.
“The best Christmas present I ever got was the Power Rangers soundtrack,” James said. James teaches English and writing for the English department here at Northwestern.
Who is Roxie James? Some may have seen her and Dawn Allen walk together on campus, but few know that the two actually have a routine together. They walk two laps around campus between two and three times a week.
“We created a good routine out of it, considering how slow we were the first time we actually walked around the entire school campus,” Allen said. So who really is Roxie James? Just an English professor, as one of her fellow English professors might say. However, she is probably the most popular comp teacher on campus, Dr. Kathryn Lane said. James is a great professor, and one who has a unique way of connecting with her students, she said.
James said her journey to Northwestern was very interesting. James had a five-day window from the time she was hired until the time she had to be in Alva, ready orientation. The English department was in need of a replacement, and James was contacted by phone and interviewed.
She mentioned that she had heard about the university before, but had no clue where it was located. After the hiring, she was told she had to depart Louisiana to come into Oklahoma and start teaching. The following day she booked her flight from New Orleans to Wichita. She had little time to pack and prepare her belongings, but she got it done in time for her flight.
Fast forward to her departure. She landed in Wichita late on the fourth day, the day before she had to be ready for her orientation. To her inconvenience, the airline had left her luggage in Houston, where she had a layover before continuing to her final destination.
“I was in the middle of nowhere without any clothes and toothpaste,” James said. The instance was funny when she looked back at it, but at the time it was incredibly stressful, James continued.
However, one thing that is not stressful for James is that she’s always guaranteed to have chocolate on her desk, Kathy Earnest said. Earnest works alongside James in the English department. “She values and cherishes her book collection, in particular her Harry Potter series,” Earnest said. James said she loves the fantasy and young adult genres. James said where rules do not apply, the settings are limitless and there are no boundaries for what is physically possible. She acknowledged the amount of freedom writers have in fantasy novels and science fiction type themes.
“It was really the gothic genre that got me engaged into fantasy,” James said. Edgar Allen Poe was a big impact on modern horror, she said. She enjoys reading his work, in particular “The Raven”.
When it comes to non-fiction, James said it is a bit boring sometimes for her taste. “I like to escape our world for a more imaginary, free world,” she said. This is one of the biggest reasons she prefers supernatural themes.
“My life is full of weird stories,” James continued, beginning when she was born, She was almost named Melissa as a baby. “Roxie” is a family name,” she said. Her grandmother was named Roxie and her mother as well. “I also have an aunt named Roxanne, and a cousin named Roxie,” James said.
Her mother wanted to name her Melissa. So how did she become Roxie? “First, my father followed the nurse when they took me to get weighed,” she explained. When the nurses were looking for him to go with my mom to recovery, they realized he was with me. The nurse comes back to my mom and says Roxie and your husband are on their way, and my mom replied: ‘Who is Roxie?’ My mom told me how my father beat her to my birth certificate. In hindsight it makes me cringe, I do not see myself as a ‘Melissa’ at all.” James said.
Another thing that makes her cringe is losing her book collection, in particular her Harry Potter series. “I love my books,” James said.
One of the other English professors knew James was fearless, but was surprised to learn a couple of things. James is terrified of snakes and airport security is a sneaky deal she has no trust in either. One thing that influenced James when she was younger came at a karate lesson. “My brother took karate classes when I was around 14 years old,” she said. “I used to go with him just to keep an eye on him.”
One day when she was sitting down watching her brother’s karate practice, she got some company herself. An old woman sat next to her with the intention to have a conversation or so it seemed.
She was talking to her in a nonchalant way; however, she managed too never break eye contact.
“Every time I would act shy or look away or do some weird gesture, she would tell me directly; ‘Don’t brake eye contact’,” James said. She realized how strong her command for her attention was because of maintaining that eye contact. The woman was not interrogating her, but teaching her, that strong eye contact gave her a sense of seriousness that she could personally adapt as a strategy for communication. The lesson was simple; “Eye contact is key when you are trying to convey a message to another individual.” James said. “I remember that moment stuck with me like none other did, and I use this technique when I try and communicate with people.”
James said this lesson has taught her a lot about connection with people. “As a teacher you have to be able to personally get through to your students in a way that makes them feel like they can trust you,” James said. She said it helped her get through college.
“Chemistry and math are as far from English as it gets,” James said. “I would say I wanted to be an English teacher after I took calculus 2 at LSU. When I first got into college I wanted to be a pediatrician. I was taking my science and English classes for my pre-med at LSU. Of the two courses I took, English was more fun,” James said. She graduated from LSU in 2006. She would later get her masters in English at Northwestern University at Louisiana. She finally got her PhD in English in 2014 at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
Looking back on her life, James would give herself some words of advice.
“If I could go back 15 years and guide myself I would tell myself to save money and travel more,” James said. She would say this because she wants to explore as much of the world as possible and she wishes she could have started on that as early as her first year in college. She said she wishes everyone could take time to travel and see different places.
“It is so beneficial for your mind, just like reading, to introduce yourself to a completely different atmosphere,” James said.