JFK: From Inside Parkland Hospital
Christie’s father was Dr. M. T. Pepper Jenkins, the head of Anesthesiology at Parkland Memorial Hospital and The University of Texas SouthWestern Medical School. On
November 22, 1963, he was secretly paged to the Emergency Room, to lead the team to resuscitate President John F. Kennedy. After much effort, interacting with Mrs. Kennedy and the Chaplain, and announcing to the team that he was pronouncing the President dead, within days he was again at the helm to resuscitate the assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. Years later Dr. Jenkins operated on Oswald’s own assassin, Jack Ruby.
Miss Jenkins spent years documenting her father’s never-ending interviews with the press, both respectable and nutty. Combining this footage with reports from the Warren Commission and conspiracy reports, this timeless lecture is deeply enthralling and thought-provoking.
Oliver Stone has allowed Christie to use footage from his feature film, JFK, as
Dr. Jenkins played himself in the re-creation of the operating room scenes.
Miss Jenkins discovered a little-known fact – that for 270 years this island had been completely bi-lingual - everyone on it knew English, and Sign Language. Recalling this history to the Martha’s Vineyard community, she created an event featuring old-timers who were alive at that time, authors, deaf actors, island musicians, and video footage, and held it at The Old Whaling Church, where visiting Presidents and celebrities appear. Hillary Rodham Clinton agreed to be the keynote speaker, but in the wake of the intern scandal she had to bow out at the last minute.
Christie has continued to lecture around the country, combining this heritage, along with all of the fascinating facts about Sign Language. Her video How to Talk to a Person Who Can’t Hear has broken new ground and won numerous awards. Now that the general hearing public is eager to learn to Sign, she has spoken in mainstream schools, town halls, and from stage theatres. Additionally, she helps churches to start ministries that will serve the Deaf, and gives Diversity Trainings to companies.
The hidden agenda in the creation of the BUNS projects was to bring about equality of the sexes by giving men the experience of being viewed as overt physical entities first. The immediate success of the work led to Miss Jenkins being called to sit on panels with other cultural changers of the day, such as Gloria Steinem and Susan Faluddi. Current lectures are an affectionate look back at that exciting time in society.
Influence: Christie grew up on an unusual street in the heart of Dallas. Each lot was a verdant acre backed by a creek. As homes went up slowly in the neighborhood, her father would step through the foundations of each and explain what was taking place. Although a world renowned anesthesiologist, he had an early interest in architecture, and probably would have pursued that if his own father had not been the country doctor of East Texas. At age 12 Christie’s father designed the Methodist church for his small hometown, and the church still stands today, with his name in the cornerstone.
Training: Famed innovative architect Peter de Bretteville hired Miss Jenkins to assist him in dealing with his Los Angeles clients. Full time there for three years, on the side she worked as a creative organizer for top level professionals, followed by a long career as an internationally published photographer, which further developed her design, layout, and color senses. As a writer of articles and scripts, Miss Jenkins understands character motivation, which helps her to instinctively serve the needs of anxious home-owners. She combines her architectural training with the now popular Fung Shui, and Chi energy space flow.
Past Work Details:
The most elaborate design was creating a way to get from a second story garage into a sea level home, without destroying the garden that separated them. The more typical homeowner has used their spaces in the same manner for so long, it makes it impossible for them to see how to make major changes without new construction. Christie prides herself on innovative ways to save that cost, and re-use existing rooms in new ways. After a combined plan has been approved and fully executed, she offers furniture shopping, design advice, organization of work spaces, and an estate sale.
Upcoming Projects:
Holliston Methodist Church,
Pasadena, California
new layout for both car and pedestrian flow, re-usage of extra rooms, design older spaces to make rentable, make exterior more inviting.
Bainbridge Island Writers Retreat
partnering with a philanthropist to create a Lodge for writers-in-residence