Conference Stress

Next Friday I'll be presenting at a religion conference called "Convivencia: Religious Identities in the New World" at Loyola Marymount University. My presentation will be titled "Children of a Babbling Labyrinth: the Reforming Other and Mexican Filmmakers." I will be looking at the films Babel, Children of Men, and Pan's Labyrinth, which were each directed by Mexican filmmakers, and addressing how they represent three unique directions Mexican filmmakers can take in the global film market. My focus will be on how the films feed off each other, as they each premiered in 2006, and the way they each approach topics such as suffering and liberation. All the while, I'll be making a claim that such a viewpoint is necessary for the growing discipline of theology and film studies. As of now, I'm drawing from such scholars as Walter Wink, Gustavo Gutierrez, bell hooks, and several other theo and film scholars.

I looked at the list of paper sessions and I am on a panel with two very unrelated papers: feminist power in Latin American and Muslim/Christian relations in Israel. In fact, there is only one other paper about film at the conference, and of all people, my old professor Carrie Peirce is presenting it. Her class at APU is one of the few that changed my life perspective and now I'm presenting on a similar field as her (this rather makes me feel insecure). Either way, this conference is a great opportunity, though I am completely stressed about what I am going to say and how I'm going to do it. I've debated just writing something out and reading it. I know that sounds boring but I've seen it done several times and it might be a good idea since I'm going to be one of the younger presenters there. That last thing I want to do is worry about stumbling over my words. Well, all I have to do is finish writing that damn thing. For the life of me, I can't seem to tie it all together in a tangible and critical way. My normal textual vomit style of writing papers isn't going to cut. However, there seems to be a light at the end of Plato's fucking cave. We'll see.

AHHHHH!

So everything's been happening at once. I've been having a great time overseeing The Clause at APU and rather bummed that I won't be doing it in that fall as I am simply a fill in. But this has opened up several opportunities for me. I am now going to teach a section of Freshmen Writing Seminar and there is potential for a section of Intro to Journalism and Public Comm-and it's all thanks to a newspaper job I took in West Hollywood. If I didn't get that job, I wouldn't have gotten The Clause gig and I wouldn't have gotten my foot in the door at APU. Thus, I have movies to thank for this all as I got the job at the newspaper because I found an ad on JournalismJobs.com and sent them my writing samples.

Besides the potential for fall classes, I was also contacted by one of my old professors who will be on sabbatical next spring in needs someone to teach his classes. I'm not qualified to teach one of them but the other is Christianity and the Creative Process, which I have been drooling over since I graduated from Fuller. Needless to say I would love this class. Oh, and today I received an email about potentially running the APU yearbook next fall. Apparently the art department is dropping and communication studies or alumni might pick it up. Either way, the chair of the comm department recommended me. It seems kind of funny, but it would be a great chance to improve something that the entire student body would see. I'm trying to see how this would all work as an adjunct who can only teach five classes for the entire academic school year. Perhaps the yearbook wouldn't count as a class...problem solved.

So career events have actually begun to pick up. My plan to teach at APU actually turned out to be an idea that paid off. I'm enjoying myself right now and can't wait to see what happens in the future. I hope my performance reviews go well.

Catching up on films

As I have been out of grad school for a few months, now I have found that the number killer is boredom. The avoid this, I have tried to keep busy with three jobs, attempts at a social life, and viewing far too many movies with a Blockbuster queue. My adventures have taken me through foreign and classic films, anime, and several TV series (By the war, Prison Break is my new addiction, check it out). I recently tried to catch up on all the Oscar films in order to do an "Oscars in Review" piece for the newspaper I write for. In my research, as I like to call it, I finally came around to a film that was not nominated for anything, Lust, Caution.
This was director Ang Lee's follow up film to Brokeback Mountain. There was a large amount of controversy surrounding the film as it was rate NC-17 for some rather graphic sex scenes. Comically, an R-rated version was released for rental in the states. Lee is not the kind of director to bask in such scenes for the sake of pornography. As he has done in other films, he taps into sexuality in its most violent and graceful. It's a very jarring experience. Actress Wei Tang was truly robbed of an Oscar nomination for this role. I didn't really think Marion Cotillard deserved Best Actress for her role as Edith Piaf in La Vie En Rose. Tang deserved a nod and possible win, but an NC-17 film would never be up for the prestigious Oscars, known for avoiding real controversy.
The film's plot was pretty simple. Tang becomes an unlikely spy in China during World War II trying to infiltrate the life of a major leader. But her lust takes over and dissolves her caution against an evil man who is both her love and hatred. SPOILER ALERT: I gotta say, Ang Lee needs to have a happy ending in one of his films. It's become too predictable (like a Martin Scorsese film) to expect everything to south his films. SPOILER END.
If you're okay with the R-rated sex scenes (I know it goes against the principles of art, but I fast forwarded through them), the film is pretty amazing and is the most plot-driven thing Lee has ever done.

Top 10 Films of 2007

I've finally caught up on all the films I wanted to see from 2007, with the exception of Into the Wild, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Persepolis, and Lars and the Real Girl. So my top 10 list may change, but here it is as of now.
1. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly
2. Once
3. The Orphanage
4. Across the Universe
5. Ratatouille
6. The Savages
7. 28 Weeks Later
8. What Would Jesus Buy?
9. Superbad
10. 300
Honorable Mention:
Michael Clayton, No Country for Old Men, Knocked Up, Lust, Caution, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, 30 Days of Night, and Sicko.

Cirriculum Vitae

EDUCATION
• Master of Arts in Cultural Studies, 2009 – Present
Emphasis: Media Studies
Claremont Graduate University, Claremont, CA
• Master of Arts in Theology, 2007
Emphasis: Film, Culture, and Media
Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, CA
• Bachelor of Arts in Communication Studies, 2005
Double-emphasis: Media Studies and Journalism
Azusa Pacific University, Azusa, CA

ACADEMIC EMPLOYMENT
Azusa Pacific University
• Faculty Adviser, Spring 2008, Fall 2009 – Spring 2010
Oversee approximately 40 students of the university newspaper, The Clause, providing support and guidance on news reporting, interviewing tactics, and page design, along with organizing the newspaper budget, managing 16 paid student workers, and serving as a mediator between the staff and the campus administration.
• Adjunct Instructor, Spring 2008, Fall 2009 – Present
Courses:
Public Affairs Reporting, JOUR 430
Studies in Popular Culture, COMM 370
Student Publication Workshop, JOUR 325
Desktop Publishing and Design, JOUR 315
Introduction to Journalism, JOUR 210
Freshmen Writing Seminar, ENG 110
Readings in Communication, COMM 497
Advanced Public Relations, JOUR 460
• Assistant Faculty Adviser, Fall 2008 – Spring 2009
Providing technical support for the paid student staff of the university newspaper, The Clause, teaching design software (InDesign, Acrobat, and Photoshop), along with critiquing news articles and training the staff on diversity issues

Biola University
• Adjunct Instructor, Fall 2008 – Present
Courses:
Studies in Critical Thinking and Writing, ENG 110A (argumentation)
Studies in Critical Thinking and Writing, ENG 110B (literature)

ACADEMIC HONORS
• Journalism Student of the Year Award, 2005

PROFESSIONAL SOCIETY MEMBERSHIPS
• College Media Advisers, 2009 – Present

PRESENTATIONS
• "Othering the Media: An Introduction to Moving Beyond Dominant Ideologies," presented at the 8th Annual Common Day of Learning at Azusa Pacific University, March 3, 2010
• “Covering Race, Ethnicity and Culture on a Faith-Based Campus,” presented at the 88th Annual Associated Collegiate Press/College Media Advisers National College Media Convention, 2009
• “Popular Culture From the Margins: A Methodology,” presented at the 7th Annual Common Day of Learning at Azusa Pacific University, March 5, 2009
• “No One Can Hear You Scream: Los Angeles in Horror Cinema,” presented at the 30h Annual Meeting of the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Association, February 2009
• “Children of a Babbling Labyrinth: The Reforming Other and Mexican Filmmakers,” presented at the 2008 Convivencia: Religious Identities in the New World conference at Loyola Marymount University, March 2008
• “The Importance of the Media in Shaping the News,” presented at the 6th Annual Common Day of Learning at Azusa Pacific University, March 5, 2008
• “Connections of Disbelief: Network Narrative Films & the Real California,” presented at The 28th Annual Meeting of the Southwest/Texas Popular Culture and American Culture Association, February 2007

PUBLICATIONS / WRITING CREDITS
• Contributing writer of the NavPress publication, 7Minutes with God

RELEVANT EMPLOYMENT
• Park La Brea News/Beverly Press
Reporter/Page Designer, part-time, 2007-2008 (film critic to present)
• Bonita Unified School District
K-12 Substitute Teacher, part-time, 2007-2008
• MosaicRC
Music Director, part-time, 2004-2007
• University Relations (Azusa Pacific University public relations department)
Writer and Photographer/Photo Librarian, part-time, 2004-2005

FREELANCE EXPERIENCE
• Contributing writer for publications Get Your Tournament and rednoW
• Writer for Skratch magazine, 2005-2006
• Film reviewer for The Semi, Fuller Theological Seminary, 2005-2007

WFF!

To my future has been unfolding in unusual ways lately. Here's the nutshell:

So things have been interesting lately. I've decided to stay on at the newspaper in West Hollywood. It's a consistent job and good opportunity. In the next few weeks I'm gonna see if they'll let me run an extensive piece on the Academy Awards-do a review on the past year instead just one film. It should be fun. I also have the opportunity to redesign their website if I learn how to do it, so if anyone knows where I can learn HTML stuff, that'd be great.

Advising The Clause is a truly unique experience. I wonder what my old prof felt like when she first took this job. It's an odd way to begin teaching at college. There's no lectures. All class work comes at the end of the semester. Everything else is more hands on outside the classroom. In some ways I like it because of the fluid structure, in others, it's harder to understand what's expected of me.

I had an interview to teach Freshmen Writing Seminar at APU. The interview lasted like five minutes. I was asked why I wanted to teach the class and a few other questions. I was then told that since I have already gone through the adjunct interviews, things are looking up. He ended by saying that he wished I had an English degree but was willing to look passed it. So things are looking good for me to teach FWS in the fall. I have some other possibilities too, but nothing is certain.

Soon enough I'll be looking for PhD programs again. What the hell am I going to do during the summer!

Life

So I'm sitting here watching The United States of Leland, writing this blog, taking a break from writing an article about a spike in MRSA among gay men, ages 18 to 35, and listening to Steven laugh his hardy laugh in the other room. My mid-weeks are always interesting. I wake up on Tuesday and drive out to West Hollywood. I hate that damn drive, but I do it because I need the money, though I no longer enjoy working for this boring little newspaper that has a bigger ego than a puppy that doesn't know it will soon be castrated. (Steve is laughing again) So after the newspaper, I went home for a few minutes and got ready to head to my second job, faculty advising for The Clause. I felt a wee bit awkward last week, but this week felt a lot better. I'm really gonna enjoy this. I've been answering a shit load of emails for work. After the meeting was over I came home and got into a rather loud argument about if a president should or shouldn't pledge to the flag or not. It was a quite long argument and I got kinda bored halfway through, but I continued until the end. So that's about my average mid-week day. A little tiring but fun.