My Films

Tuesday, November 29, 2005

Being Busy

I've somehow convinced my self to work 3 jobs on top of the volunteer work that I do. In all of it's various forms it's a contribution to peace, so I have no major complaints other than I'm really looking forward to my holiday vacation. :)

Most recently I've started an Assistant Editing gig with Sirena Films, working on documentary that is taking a hard look at the current situation in Kosovo. It's heart wrenching to see how much ethnic fear there still exists among the Serbs and the Albanians. To me they've created these invisible lines that they threaten each other from. It's like when I was a child looking out the airplane window and seeing that there were no actual borders that separated nations. Why? Why?

Also since August, I have been editing a documentary that is exploring one woman's spiritual journey to heal herself and the world. It's like the saying, "When you meditate for yourself, you meditate for the world" We've got a couple more months of work on it and the process of carving out a story out of hundreds of hours of footage is exciting. Anyways here's a link to the production company August Moon Entertainment.

I also have been teaching a music video workshop for inner city Los Angeles teens. The organization is called Live Arts Group. We meet twice a week, and I have been working with a group of five 12-16 yr olds. We just finished shooting two weekends ago and looking forward to screening day in two weeks time.

Sunday, November 06, 2005

Talking with an Eight Grade Social Studies Class

This past Thursday, I had the opportunity to talk to an Eight Grade Social Studies Class at Our Lady School of Malibu. I spoke to them about what it means to be an active citizen shaping our government today, and specifically about the Department of Peace legislation. A little nervous about standing in front a class of 25 Thirteen years old, I feel good about what I shared. The 8th graders asked some great questions, such as "is the DOP saying that war is bad?" I also shared with them how two 13 yrs old from Minnesota were able to inspire and motivate their Senator Mark Dayton to introduced the bill in the Senate. So that even though they can't vote yet, they still have a power to help shape our democracy.

I think I am finally seeing the fruits of my work at California Peace Action, where for five months I went door to door to talk to people about anti-nuclear poliferation, and my work with kids in the film arts program. I think I am getting much more comfortable about standing infront of a group and talking to people about the issues that I care about. yay!