Who am I?

Simple, my name is Josh and I’m just your average person with some ideas that I’d like to share with you through this blog.

As a child I was introduced to myths and folklore, and I greatly enjoyed them. I enjoyed them so much, in fact, that when I attended college I chose to pursue a B.A. in Classical Studies, so that I might learn to read some of my favorite myths in their original Greek and Latin. Amidst earning my degree, however, I began pondering as to the significance of mythology in the modern age. I started reading essays by J.R.R. Tolkien, listening to audio lectures from Joseph Campbell, watching documentaries like Myths & Monsters and Clash of the Gods, viewing interviews of prominent storytellers from my childhood and young adulthood, and attending the many online seminars of Dr. Corey Olsen at Signum University. As a result, I found myself asking new questions that I wanted to research and answer. What is modern myth? Are there any examples of modern mythic storytelling, or mythopoeia? Are myths still being created today?

So, I realized that my interests were deeply rooted in modern mythology, classical reception, and narrative art. I hope that, through this website, I’ll be able to share my thoughts and ideas on modern myth-making and more with you all .

What is Chatting Myth?

For all intents and purposes, Chatting Myth is a prototype. My professional career aside, I have aspirations of one day publishing academic scholarship, as well as a compendium of essays. For now, however, any essays I write will be found here. This blog is meant to be my place of practice, a place where I might produce smaller thoughts and essays in hopes of becoming a stronger writer and more well-rounded scholar.

I guess you can say that Chatting Myth is my first attempt at writing academic scholarship, albeit not in any formal sense. It will, however, be my words, my thoughts, and my opinions that you will be reading. So I ask that you be respectful of the works produced here and, if something interests you, join the discussion.

What can you expect from this blog?

To start, Chatting Myth will be where I do a bit of record-keeping. In the Archives are the lists of content I have consumed year-by-year. Additionally, as I have been fortunate tp be a guests on a few podcast networks in the past, you will also find a list of Podcast Appearances with links to where you can watch or listen.

The real “meat and potatoes” of this blog will come from the Writings & Errata page. As I’ve already said, Chatting Myth is where I hope to practice my writing skills. While my professional career goals do not align with the purposes of this blogsite, I do have ambitions to publish academic scholarship, with the ultimate goal of publishing a compendium of my written essays. To that end, the essays found here may focus on several different topics: classical mythology, modern mythic storytelling/mythopoeia, hero myths, and comparative mythology across different storytelling mediums. There may also be some smaller articles included, things which may otherwise be considered “shower thoughts”.

In all cases, these words are 100% my own and I would ask that you respect what you read here — even if you don’t entirely agree.

Where can you find me?

I am best found on Twitter @chattingmyth. If social media isn’t your thing, feel free to leave a comment and I’ll get back to you as soon as I can.