{"id":12666,"date":"2022-12-22T08:08:17","date_gmt":"2022-12-22T13:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/?p=12666"},"modified":"2022-12-22T12:13:25","modified_gmt":"2022-12-22T17:13:25","slug":"no-myth-alumnus-explores-his-calling-through-writing-traveling","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sites.udmercy.edu\/campusconnection\/2022\/12\/22\/no-myth-alumnus-explores-his-calling-through-writing-traveling\/","title":{"rendered":"No myth: Alumnus explores his calling through writing, traveling"},"content":{"rendered":"

When Phil Cousineau was a first-year student, he couldn\u2019t keep his eyes open in class.<\/span><\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t that he didn\u2019t enjoy the material of Judy Serrin\u2019s 8 a.m. journalism class at University of Detroit. But in addition to taking a full course load, Cousineau was also working night shift at a steel factory to help support his mother, brother and sister.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What happened next is what Cousineau \u201974 called \u201ca mentor moment,\u201d the first of a string during his time at the University that helped shape who he became and pushed him toward a long and multi-faceted career following his graduation.<\/span><\/p>\n

\"PhilFrom teaching at the American Film Institute, to hosting a show on PBS, to writing and publishing dozens of books, films and documentaries and being considered one of the \u201cgo-to guys\u201d for mythology in the modern world for several Marvel Universe and Major League Baseball films, Cousineau has used his education to carve a unique and fascinating niche in the world.<\/span><\/p>\n

But it wouldn\u2019t have happened without the help from mentors, like Serrin, who would go on to win a Pulitzer Prize while working at the Detroit Free Press.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe found me falling asleep and she did something that I will never forget,\u201d Cousineau said. \u201cShe took me aside and said, \u2018What\u2019s wrong? You\u2019re a good writer, you\u2019re late with all of your work, you\u2019re falling asleep.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI told her it\u2019s because of working in a factory and you know what she did? She looked at me and said, \u2018I didn\u2019t know, I wish you had told me. So<\/span>,\u00a0here\u2019s the deal: If you can, hand in all of your stories that I ask you to write by the end of the year. I won\u2019t do that for anyone else, but I understand the situation with your family.\u2019 It changed my life.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s something from my journalism professor saying that I trust you, I want you to keep writing, I don\u2019t want you to drop out of school. In many ways, it changed everything for me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Cousineau, who grew up in Wayne, Mich. \u2014 and fell in love with writing the first day he walked into his job at the Wayne Dispatch at 16 \u2014 always had a love of learning. He discovered that rather early in life and it was spurred even further when the family television broke when he was 10. Instead of watching TV as a family, the Cousineau family read.<\/span><\/p>\n

And that yearn for reading, learning and what he calls a lifelong fascination with words continued when he arrived on campus at Livernois and McNichols in 1970.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat U-D gave me was a love of word,\u201d Cousineau said. \u201cI think that goes back centuries in Jesuit lore, where you are taught a love of learning, a love of word, a love of research and that has never left me.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"PhilAnother mentor during his college career at U-D was Theodore Walter, S.J., who, also during Cousineau’s freshman year, pushed him even further with reading and books. Fr. Walter, seemed to know what he needed, Cousineau said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe mostly talked about books. He gave me reading lists from philosophy to mythology to the sciences,\u201d he said. \u201cHe knew what I needed, that love of learning and respect for research. I remember him helping me get into the Stacks in the library and helping me find books for essays I was writing. That rigorous discipline that the Jesuits had been known for centuries was implicated on me. My teachers gave me a discipline that I\u2019ve had for the rest of my life.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And Cousineau carried that Jesuit legacy into his multi-disciplinary career that has carried him on many different pathways since he graduated in 1974. After living for a few years in Europe, soaking up art, history, languages, he moved to California where a chance encounter with a fellow patron at a movie theatre led to him teaching at the American Film Institute.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt was one of those life-changing moments,\u201d he said. \u201cWithin two weeks, I was teaching a course on Myth, Greek and Movie at the American Film Institute with James Earl Jones and Julie Christie in the front row.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEverything that I had been reading, everything that I had learned at Detroit was all coming to fruition.\u00a0<\/span>It felt natural.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Cousineau\u2019s fascination with mythology eventually led him to work with writer Joseph Campbell, whose book\u00a0<\/span>The Hero\u2019s Journey<\/em>\u00a0inspired George Lucas to write\u00a0<\/span>Star Wars<\/em>\u00a0and<\/span>\u00a0has helped pave Cousineau\u2019s unique career path ever since.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI worked with Joe and I\u2019m the one who did the interview with him where he says, \u2018follow your bliss and doors will open,\u2019\u201d Cousineau said. \u201cI was able to get that out of him because that\u2019s what I\u2019ve done, I\u2019ve followed my passion ever since I left U-D.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cRight at that time, nobody, not even George Lucas, had really begun talking about the mythology in movies. That was really the big career break. I\u2019ve carved out this life, one of the most fun things, being the go-to guys for myth in the modern world.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And that path has taken him all over the globe.<\/span><\/p>\n

His mythology expertise has been utilized in films on Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Tony Romo, Wonder Woman, Batman and the Pixar movies,\u00a0<\/span>Coco<\/em>\u00a0and\u00a0<\/span>Soul<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ve always wanted to find patterns,\u201d he said. \u201cI want to know what the connection is between biochemistry and mythology. I\u2019ve studied things like that for years and I was encouraged to do this at U-D because my advisors, especially Fr. Walters, constantly encouraged me to be cross-disciplinary.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\"PhilHis published books include\u00a0<\/span>The Art of Pilgrimage<\/em>, which examines the spiritual inspiration behind why we travel;\u00a0<\/span>The Olympic Odyssey<\/em>, which examines the mythology in sports and Ancient Greece prior to the 2004 Olympics in Athens; and\u00a0<\/span>The Painted Word<\/em>, another ode to Cousineau\u2019s love for words and their origins.<\/span><\/p>\n

The U.S. Olympic committee enjoyed\u00a0<\/span>The Olympic Odyssey<\/em>\u00a0so much that it was presented as a gift to all of the United States athletes who competed in Greece in 2004. His published works have been translated into nearly two dozen languages.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cousineau\u2019s love of learning is still strong as he continues to write, teach students from all over the world, lend his expertise in mythology and lead travel tours overseas.<\/span><\/p>\n

He owes it all to his parents and the strong mentorship and the education he received while attending University of Detroit. And it\u2019s what he passes on.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recently he was guest lecturing in a journalism class just across the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco, where Cousineau resides, to students who were back in the classroom for the first time since the pandemic.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThey looked shell shocked. And I told them what I want them to think about from this point on is, \u2018what can I do to contribute?\u2019 and these kids, you could tell, a tremendous weight had been lifted from their shoulders. It wasn\u2019t just about success. It\u2019s \u2018what is it you can do.\u2019<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cLater, I heard from the teacher who said that most of those kids had never been told that they can make a difference in the world. And I think that I got that originally from my parents and from U-D. That\u2019s what I try to carry on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

More on Cousineau<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n