Red Emma’s Bookstore Screening and Recap

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Screening at St. John's Church in Baltimore

After we had screened in the Baltimore area during our last tour, we got an email from Red Emma’s Bookstore asking us if we could set up a screening with them. While we weren’t able to schedule anything in our Fall 2010 tour, we made sure to contact them for this one.

The film showing was held at St. John’s United Methodist Church, which Red Emma’s uses for performance-related events. It definitely was the most unique place we’ve screened Autumn Gem in! In some ways, it reminded me of the church from the John Woo film, The Killer. I was half expecting doves to start flying around the church when the film started!

We had an eclectic group of about 30 people at the screening, ranging from students at Johns Hopkins to a teacher and students at College of Notre Dame at Maryland to San Francisco Bay Area residents who were in-town visiting! We had come with Larry, Caitlin and Caitlin’s father to the screening. Afterwards, we drove down to Red Emma’s for a quick bite to eat. We noticed that Qiu Jin was listed among the various F-Bomb feminist revolutionaries in the bookstore’s main window.

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Arizona State University Screening Recap and Photos

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Autumn Gem at Arizona State University

We had a tremendous time in Arizona for our screening at Arizona State University. Three co-sponsors, the Asian Pacific American Studies Program, the Confucius Institute and the Chinese Language Flagship Program pulled out all the stops for us on our two-day stay in Tempe, Arizona.

On Friday, we spoke at two of Professor Jeff Ow’s Intro to Asian Pacific American Studies classes. We went through a presentation that described our lives growing up as Chinese Americans and the forces that shaped us into the artists we are today. Our original goal with Autumn Gem was to introduce the story of Qiu Jin to western audiences. We did not anticipate that this project would also serve as a bridge between our generation and our parents’ generation. Older audience members frequently tell us how much they enjoyed the film and how it reminded them of their own childhood when they first learned about Qiu Jin. They are proud that two members of their children’s generation is bringing this story to a wider audience.

Lunch was spent with members from the Asian Student Coalition at this on-campus restaurant which served organic and locally-produced dishes; for dinner, we went to the House of Tricks just outside of the ASU campus, with Mia and Irene from the Chinese Language Flagship Program. It was great comparing with them their experiences growing up in Arizona with ours in California. We shared stories about our travels to Asia and our future desires to learn Chinese. Irene kept stressing that it’s not too late for us to learn Chinese, and as I mentioned in my previous post, it’s on our to-do list!

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College of Southern Nevada Screening Recap

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Rae at the College of Southern Nevada

On Thursday, we held a screening at Professor David Wang’s Chinese language class at the College of Southern Nevada. The students who were taking the class came from very different backgrounds, and their reasons for taking Chinese were equally diverse. One individual had a dream of moving to China and setting up an orphanage. Another student was half-Chinese and wanted to connect with her parent’s family in Taiwan. Yet another saw China as the next thing and didn’t want himself nor his family left behind in the coming years.

There’s a photo of me when I was a child learning Chinese characters, but I don’t really recall every going to Chinese School. I studied French from junior high through college. Living in France was never a problem for me because I was confident in my language abilities. That confidence was non-existent in China or even Hong Kong where my parents are from. I think I speak for many Asian-Americans of my generation who either (1) didn’t go to Chinese School or (2) didn’t really pay attention at Chinese School that I really wish I went to and excelled at Chinese School! It’s never too late for me, however, and I’m looking forward to the day when I will learn Chinese.

Here are some photos from our screening at the College of Southern Nevada. Afterwards, Cynthia from the US China Peoples Friendship Association drove us to the airport so we could catch our flight to Phoenix, Arizona. Big thanks go out to her, as well as Pongky and Myta for hosting us in Las Vegas.

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UNLV Screening Recap

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Autumn Gem at UNLV

Our Spring 2010 Tour of Autumn Gem got off to a great start last night at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. The screening was held at the Marjorie Barrick Museum Auditorium / Harry Reid Center for Environmental Studies (or MSM/HRC for short) and was sponsored by the Asian Film and Drama Club, Asian Studies Program, Department of Foreign Languages and the Las Vegas chapter of the US China Peoples Friendship Association. We first got the idea to come to Las Vegas after meeting with UNLV’s Joan Mann when she in San Francisco for the USCPFA’s National Convention last September. Big thanks go out to her, Cynthia Tripp and Professor Ying Bao for organizing!

We had anywhere from 60-70 people at the screening. This time, we remember to write down the questions that we got from the crowd. Some of the notable ones included:

  • Did Qiu Jin see herself as a poet or literary figure? We certainly feel this was the case. Qiu Jin left behind 200 poems and writings following her death.
  • What prompted us to do the film and how does it relate to today’s sociological issues? Introducing the story of a influential Asian feminist to a Western audience was a driving force behind the project. We certainly feel her example still is relevant to women today.
  • Are we talking to PBS or the History Channel to get this film shown on television? This is certainly one of our long-term goals for the film.

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One Bag Packing Strategy for Spring 2010 Tour

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This weekend, Rae and I saw and enjoyed Up in the Air. Being a packing fanatic, I liked seeing George Clooney’s character pack efficiently for his trips. Each time I travel, I endeavor to travel lighter, smarter and faster.

We’re just a few hours away from our Spring 2010 Autumn Gem tour! This time around, we’ll be traveling for two and a half weeks, heading to Las Vegas, Arizona, Maryland, Boston, New Jersey and New York. We learned a lot about what to pack and what not to pack during our last tour in October, 2009. We’re leaving the rolling Pelican case at home; while it’s durable and can hold a lot of stuff, but it’s sure and tiring to drag around everywhere!

Rae is bringing her REI Traverse 30 backpack once again. As for me, I’m replacing the Rickshaw Medium Commuter Messenger Bag with my LowePro CompuTrekker AW backpack. I did a lot of online research and hands-on testing of backpacks at the local REI store, but I kept returning to the CompuTrekker. Yes, it’s kind of bulky due to its rigid, foam-padded frame, but it can carry a surprising amount of gear, including my laptop in a separate, padded compartment. It’s reasonably comfortable, aided in part by its sternum strap and waist belt, and it has a stowaway rain cover. This might come in handy if the weather gets wet on the East Coast. I’m putting my clothes, DVDs, camera, lens, flash, and various cables in the main compartment. The outside compartment will hold pens, surveys, and other documents. Rae is going to have to fit her laptop in her backpack, but that shouldn’t be a problem since she won’t have to carry any of my clothes.

I recently purchased a Microfleece Hoodie from SCOTTEVEST. I’ve long wanted to try out Scott Jordan’s products, and this trip gave me that opportunity. The hoodie has 11 pockets, and believe me, I’m going to use most of them! The weather in the Bay Area has warmed up significantly, so it’s a bit too warm to wear during the daytime. It stands to be colder where we’re going, so the hoodie should be perfect. I also bought a Ribz vest, but I feel it’s more suited for a backpacking trip than this film screening tour. I may experiment with the Ribz during my next photography gig, however, as it allows for quick access to gear front the front.

Traveling with one bag is a liberating experience. I love not having to wait in line at the baggage claim for our luggage, and I take pride in being able to fit everything I need underneath the airline seat. One of my dreams is to travel extensively with no more than what’s on my back. Ideally, if I could travel with no carry-ons, I would!

Update March 31, 2010: A quick update now that we’re traveling on tour right now. I didn’t quite get it down to one bag for me personally. I’m also carrying an REI Flash UL convertible backpack as a daypack and a clothes carrier. I couldn’t fit both the DVDs that we’re selling and my clothes into the CompuTrekker AW. Sometimes the clothes go into the backpack and sometimes the DVDs are in the Flash. As we sell through our lot of DVDs, more space will become available in the CompuTrekker, and my goal is to fit everything into that by the time the tour ends next week. I’m also routinely carrying Rae’s laptop and my laptop in the back pouch of the CompuTrekker (yes, two MacBook Pros can fit in there!). In addition, we sometimes travel with some food, drinks and snacks, which we carry in a plastic or paper bag with us. Still, traveling with one and a half bags is a whole lot better than lugging around a rollable suitcase. We’ve gotten a number of compliments on our packing strategy!

UC Santa Cruz Screening Recap

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Rae at UC Santa Cruz

First off, apologies for the tardiness in getting this entry up. After the UC Irvine screening, I realized that I never wrote about the UC Santa Cruz showing that was held on January 25, 2010. This happened during the big winter storms here in the Bay Area. Fortunately, when we drove down to Santa Cruz, it wasn’t raining too much; it helped that we took Highway 17 when it wasn’t busy with commuter traffic. I’ve driven in that once or twice, and it’s not fun when there’s no rain, let alone a torrential downpour!

Department of History Professor, Gail Hershatter, greeted us when we arrive at the University. We had dinner with several of her graduate students before heading over to Merrill College Room 102. Due to the weather, Rae and I weren’t sure how many people would come, but we were pleasantly surprised to have over thirty students and faculty members present.

At the time of this writing, we’re getting ready to embark on our two and a half week tour to Las Vegas, Arizona, Maryland, Boston, New Jersey and New York. I’ve reread my packing strategy and packing recap posts from our October 2009 tour, and I’ve been making the necessary adjustments to get our load down to just two carry-on items for the entire trip. I’ll have a full post about this before we leave. In the meantime, here are a few photos from our UC Santa Cruz screening.

Here are photos from our screening at UC Santa Cruz.

American Association of University Women Screening Recap

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Adam and Rae with Qiu Jin's great-grandnephew!

This past Saturday, we screened Autumn Gem at the Willow Glen Branch Library in San Jose. The event was sponsored by the local chapter of the American Association of University Women, an organization dedicated to advancing “equity for women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy and research.” Marilyn, Linda, Mary, and the rest of the AAUW staff did an excellent job advertising the event. We filled up the Community Room to capacity with 63 people! Also in attendance was Kien-Wei, our friend who played one of the Qing soldiers in the film.

During the question and answer session, a question was asked about the whereabouts of Qiu Jin’s descendants. I mentioned that we’ve tried to locate Qiu Jin’s granddaughter, but have not yet been successful. “You just can’t enter Qiu Jin’s Granddaughter” in Google or Facebook and hope to get the address!” Imagine our surprise near the end of the Q&A when a Chinese gentleman in the front row raised his hand and stated that he was the great grandnephew of Qiu Jin! Charles then explained that he was very moved and honored watching our documentary. Suffice it to say, we were honored to have him at our screening!

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UC Irvine Screening Recap

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Autumn Gem Screening at UC Irvine

Last week, Rae and I traveled down to Southern California for a screening at UC Irvine. Professor Hu Ying, Associate Professor, East Asian Languages & Literature, was one of our three academic interview subjects in Autumn Gem. We showed the film at Connecticut College and Brown University during our October 2009 tour, so we were excited to complete our scholarly tour!

We drove down a few days before to meet up with filmmaker Arthur Dong, who screened his latest documentary Hollywood Chinese at the South Pasadena Library on Thursday. Meeting with him on Saturday at the Chinese American Museum in Los Angeles, we discussed methods to better market the film to our core audience of educational institutions and Chinese/women’s organizations.

On Tuesday, we returned to UC Irvine for the first time since we interviewed Professor Hu Ying in May, 2008. It certainly doesn’t feel like nearly two years have passed! We attended her Gender in Chinese Poetry class and listened to three of her students presenting their interpretations of Qiu Jin’s poems. Although the English translations were different, I could immediately identify some of the ones we used in Autumn Gem. Following lunch at the University Club, Rae and I retired to the spacious Student Center to get some work done before the screening. A few hours later, we headed to the McCormick Theater in the new Humanities Center building.

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