Thursday, July 5, 2018
Brother Juan of Japan - the Movie
On 4/19/2018 I finished my first ever movie script entitled the above. It is registered with the Writers Guild of America, West - registration number: 1945548. The thing I learned about the process was just how much my experience writing my masters thesis prepared my to write a movie script. It was nearly an identical experience. It was entered into the Emerging Screenwriters contest so we'll see how that goes. It was a great experience and I hope people like it.
Wednesday, September 20, 2017
Brother Juan of Japan Treatment
Been awhile since I've posted on my blog but that doesn't mean I've not been busy. This past year I taught myself how to write a screenplay. As a result, I've recently completed my treatment or the story of the screenplay without the dialogue. Dialogue comes next, but I wanted to celebrate the treament a little bit before moving on. I've never done this before but what I've proven to myself is that I can create story. Using the multiplicity of resources I had from my master's thesis, I did what all writers must do - create order out of chaos. I think it turned out well and now I am starting to show it to people to get feedback. Wish me luck!
Monday, July 13, 2015
The Graduate Liberal Studies Symposium held at Reed College
I recently attended the Graduate Liberal Studies Symposium held at Reed College in Portland, Oregon. There were only two representatives of Mount St. Mary's University; Dr. Michelle Fine and yours truly. It was a great experience with a lot of very interesting Humanities presentations. The main reason for my attending the symposium of to observe other's presentations and ask questions. Last year when the GLS visited MSMU, I presented a paper on Brother Juan, but I was at a loss and wasn't sure what was going on. It was a great learning experience. Next year the GLS Symposium will be hosted by Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada. I hope to present a paper at that time.
Reed College is very nice. Sort of like a very high-end prep school. The campus is incredibly green with massive trees. The lawn at the entrance of the school is 10 acres of nothing but grass and trees. (Being from Los Angeles, this impresses me.) Portland, where Reed is located, is a very nice city. The neighborhoods are very livable filled with nice homes and bike paths seemed to be everywhere. The downtown section reminded me a lot of San Francisco. When I mentioned this to some of the locals they complained that San Franciscans are moving to Portland in droves, thus driving up home prices. Apparently high tech industries are moving there as well; for example, AirBNB is relocating to that city.
One thing I learned was there were many difference presentation styles. A young Dutch student pointed out, some presentations were more self-indulgent exercises in personal fulfillment than academic papers and this contrasted with how things are done in Europe. There is definitely some truth to that statement. But that is more the exception than the rule.
The highlight for me was meeting a group of very impressive Maastricht University students. These kids where so intelligent. I came away with the feeling that the Millennial Generation is in very good hands.
Reed College is very nice. Sort of like a very high-end prep school. The campus is incredibly green with massive trees. The lawn at the entrance of the school is 10 acres of nothing but grass and trees. (Being from Los Angeles, this impresses me.) Portland, where Reed is located, is a very nice city. The neighborhoods are very livable filled with nice homes and bike paths seemed to be everywhere. The downtown section reminded me a lot of San Francisco. When I mentioned this to some of the locals they complained that San Franciscans are moving to Portland in droves, thus driving up home prices. Apparently high tech industries are moving there as well; for example, AirBNB is relocating to that city.
One thing I learned was there were many difference presentation styles. A young Dutch student pointed out, some presentations were more self-indulgent exercises in personal fulfillment than academic papers and this contrasted with how things are done in Europe. There is definitely some truth to that statement. But that is more the exception than the rule.
The highlight for me was meeting a group of very impressive Maastricht University students. These kids where so intelligent. I came away with the feeling that the Millennial Generation is in very good hands.
Sunday, May 3, 2015
Today was an important day for me personally. Mount St. Mary's University Graduate Division held its Graduate Student Forum and Reception for us master's students that are graduating. It is a symbolic event that we made it and have officially graduated. It was good to see the deans, Dr. Linda Moody and Dr. Millie Kidd. They've been so nice to me and supportive the entire time. But it was especially nice to see my thesis adviser, Dr. Monseratt Reguant. Thank God for her help.
Each of the grad students spoke about their thesis topics and for some reason I spoke of the process involved of writing the paper and not so much on the subject of the thesis. The thing about writing the paper is that one is very much alone throughout the entire process and one doesn't really engage the adviser until there is something substantially written. The reality is that everyone is so busy, and only when there is something concrete to work with is it worth it for all involved.
But I talked about how the concept of my topic evolved out of a travel study trip to China and my subsequent visit to Macau. I talked about how I was fortunate to have taken a class with Dr. Jennifer Tran-Smith who at the time had just completed her Ph.D. at UCLA. Her insights helped me tremendously and I hope to cross paths with her in the future to thank her personally.
Everyone I spoke to encouraged me to continue on in this subject area. Dr. Jane Crawford even said I have a potential Ph.D. dissertation topic.
I do have some ideas of which way I'd like to go next. But just grateful to have reached this one goal successfully.
If anyone is interested a few weeks ago I added to the Juan Fernandez Wikipedia page that already existed. However, the only entry was a blurb from Catholic Encyclopedia written in 1913. Click link. Brother Juan Fernandez
Each of the grad students spoke about their thesis topics and for some reason I spoke of the process involved of writing the paper and not so much on the subject of the thesis. The thing about writing the paper is that one is very much alone throughout the entire process and one doesn't really engage the adviser until there is something substantially written. The reality is that everyone is so busy, and only when there is something concrete to work with is it worth it for all involved.
But I talked about how the concept of my topic evolved out of a travel study trip to China and my subsequent visit to Macau. I talked about how I was fortunate to have taken a class with Dr. Jennifer Tran-Smith who at the time had just completed her Ph.D. at UCLA. Her insights helped me tremendously and I hope to cross paths with her in the future to thank her personally.
Everyone I spoke to encouraged me to continue on in this subject area. Dr. Jane Crawford even said I have a potential Ph.D. dissertation topic.
I do have some ideas of which way I'd like to go next. But just grateful to have reached this one goal successfully.
If anyone is interested a few weeks ago I added to the Juan Fernandez Wikipedia page that already existed. However, the only entry was a blurb from Catholic Encyclopedia written in 1913. Click link. Brother Juan Fernandez
Saturday, April 18, 2015
New Project: Adding to the Juan Fernandez entry on Wikipedia
My first experience of adding to Wikipedia is mixed. It is fairly easy to add information and even easy to cite resources. However, as usual, it is important to save one's work along the way. About two hours worth of work was lost. Errrrgh!
With my thesis complete, I am graduating in May
In January, my master's thesis was completed and, as a result, I graduated. I now possess a Master's in Humanities degree. In May, 2015 I will participate in the graduation ceremony or "Walk." The title of my master's thesis is: Brother Juan Fernandez: Missionary Companion to St. Francis Xavier to Japan (1549-51).
Monday, March 16, 2015
2015 LA Writers Conference
This past weekend I attended the above conference that was held at Mount St. Mary's University and co-sponsored by the LA Chapter of the Women's National Book Association. I knew that the Brother Juan blog was laying dormant since last June, but there was a reason for that. After presenting my paper at the Graduate Symposium, I finally starting meeting regularly with my adviser, Dr. Monserrat Reguant, and with her encouragement, I finished my master's thesis.
Curiously, during a boot camp on how to promote one's book, the presenter said that having a blog is a good strategy. That's me! I thought, so now is a good time to start adding to the blog. But first I'd like to mention that the LA Writers Conference was a wonderful experience. I was surprised that the turnout was so large. There had to be 300+ attendees of whom 95% were women. I suppose the benefit of attending a woman's college like Mount St. Mary's is that I did not hesitate to register since I knew that I'd be welcomed. It was a very diverse group of writers and the organizers did such an excellent job in putting it together. The workshops were tremendously informative and the speakers were superb. The thing that impressed me the most was just how much fun everyone seemed to be having. I am so glad to have attended because I have a better grasp of the publishing side of getting a book written.
I look forward to the next conference in 2016.
Curiously, during a boot camp on how to promote one's book, the presenter said that having a blog is a good strategy. That's me! I thought, so now is a good time to start adding to the blog. But first I'd like to mention that the LA Writers Conference was a wonderful experience. I was surprised that the turnout was so large. There had to be 300+ attendees of whom 95% were women. I suppose the benefit of attending a woman's college like Mount St. Mary's is that I did not hesitate to register since I knew that I'd be welcomed. It was a very diverse group of writers and the organizers did such an excellent job in putting it together. The workshops were tremendously informative and the speakers were superb. The thing that impressed me the most was just how much fun everyone seemed to be having. I am so glad to have attended because I have a better grasp of the publishing side of getting a book written.
I look forward to the next conference in 2016.
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