The week in review: 2/27-3/9

So I get a cowl. It's like I'm a Monk. That's my graduation regalia. I'm not sure however if I they put the hood up or take it down during the ceremony. Do I get "frocked", "defrocked", or just "frocked" around... HA! Regardless, it is one cool cowl.

I am one step closer to completion. I turned in my corrected copy of my thesis. Had to go through the maddening detail of making sure that all was in regulation with our colleges desires. Once I had gotten all of the i's dotted, t's crossed, and had to uninitialized every work referenced to within the paper and replaced with quotation marks, I resubmitted it to the graduate reader. So I should be hearing back shortly. Either I got to make more changes... or it will pass muster.

On another front meanwhile, I got back news from a festival. It was a local festival. I had submitted work to it twice in the past. It was the "Thin Line" festival. A ten-year-old festival that had become part of the celebration of Denton's culture. I had continued to be refused, but perhaps this year it would be different.

Indeed, "Wally" was one of the works submitted. I remember the rejection letter for that one. It was so long, so apologetic. Indeed the author even offered me free tickets to the festival in a seeming consolation. But now, it was time for "The Eviction."

"The Eviction" is a social documentary. The camera enters the world of Tent City and brings the humanity of ones loced in a desperate landscape. In riveting interviews the struggles, the hopes, and the desperations of not only those

needing help, but those trying to help out, were captured. Like the world it captured, it's cinema verite approach submerged the viewers into a world they did not know. It is beautiful. Indeed, one of the members of my committee said that my work was proof of a 'real' documentary. Truly it would make it in.

Then I got the notification. My hope had been refuted. Stunned, I almost couldn't read it. How could this have happened? Was it the world that stood against me? Were they so desperate to bring me down that they would reject this work of truth? Was I so hated by that which gave birth to my M.F.A. that it blinded them to the beauty and elegance of my film? What else could it be?

Well really my reaction wasn't that narcissistic. Indeed, by now I am used to the festival circuit. Rejection is part of the game. You want to know the truth? They found that my doc didn't fit the festival. It really is as simple as that. "The Eviction" is after all a social doc and serious subject matter. It didn't fit the goals of the festival. Not only that, but at 37 min, it is a longer doc, and more difficult to schedule. It merely is that simple. Some of the people I

know didn't make it in, and some of the people I know did. This is the part where I say it was an honor to contribute. "Wally" for example was rejected by this festival but went on to win fourteen awards at other festivals including Best Documentary Short, Best LBGTQ short, and a Silver award from other Festivals. Anyway...

...at the end of the day...

I get a cowl... and that is cool.