Perfoming online, Signals and Missed Connections

Hey team,

I've been sitting on this blog post for weeks. I've been sitting on a few blog posts for weeks. So it's late, but check it out. Thanks! J.

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Bonnie Stewart, probably my favourite lecture so far. Everything has been awesome- but the material that Bonnie discussed so far has been the closest to my research and what brings me to this course.

Boooooo.... I just found out that because I'm on my mobile devices- my macbook just doesn't seem to let Collaborate run.... I can't review old recordings :( I may have to use some computers on campus... which is tough because I'm heading off to Toronto in a week. Sigh.  Anyway, I was simply hoping to reference some specific slides, but I can just talk about them. Though I really did appreciate the lecture, and totally understand the scope/quantity of content that Bonnie had to cover, I felt like we moved really fast through stuff. So for this post, I'm going to talk a bit about my project/research and connections I made to Bonnie's lecture.

"We all have to make choices about self representation." was one of her opening lines in the lecture, and part of that discussion, she framed it in the idea that how we identify ourselves is based on the contexts of our social situations. Specifically Stewart was asking us to self identify in the context of this course. Part of how we identify ourselves is by recognizing the roles we play, and "who we want to be." Which is an affordance given to us in online social platforms. We can create our own identities, avatars, we can steal other people's identities for our own. At the same time, Bonnie argues that asking the questions "who do I want to be?" is limiting, and instead, a question she asks instead "what do I want to contribute?" I felt this beginning was great. I think speaks to how hyper aware we as users are when we go online, or how we present ourselves in any social environment where we believe ourselves to be visible.

It was about 40 minutes into the lecture when Bonnie then identified two points that really piqued my engagement. She commented on how some of our defined roles are beyond our control, in terms of how we are received online. She mentioned that how a female, person of colour, minority, etc. is read/perceived differently in many online contexts. And I should say- differently than a (young) straight, (white), male. Discussions on gamergate, trolls, online bullying were brought up. And this is part of my interest in the work.

I think there is a danger in the self-consciousness that is created, or that has been facilitated by the proliferation of social media. When Bonnie asked us to consider "who we want to be?" or "what do we want to contribute?" My instinct is to ask myself, "why do we want to engage?" For me, the immediate response is a need to connect. That's a fundamental part of social media, the social connection- and part of that is deeply rooted in needing to feel: accepted, validated, recognized, celebrated.

Unfortunately, I don't think that there is a lot of talk about the 'celebrated' part, because like all environments, online networks are an equally ideal place for harassment and abuse. In future discussions, I'm sure we'll talk about managing our publics, and I'll blog about it then. But from watching hundred of youtube videos (for this class) and as much as I'm watching the videos, I'm interested in the comments. I think this is what Stewart was responding to, when she talked about mutliple-multiple communications points "the colourful ball of string" where it's no long a single broadcast point- where I send out media to a large network of people, but we can all send to each other.

So back to those needs I mentioned above- I think that online, we feel like we have even more control on how we manicure ourselves to present the best "self" possible. This comes in the form of whatever way we want to perform our 'selfie'- be it with foodporn, or gym selfies, or trolling- we attempt to emulate content that comes before, to be recognized as part of that community, and by how well we perform within that context, we are elevated within that community through approval and likes. This generally makes sense, and is usually acceptable, until our community comes in conflict with another community.

This becomes extra complicated because we exist within multiple communities. This is what Stewart was talking about, when she mentioned the collapse of context, and I believe her quote was "I forgot my grandma/aunt/mom were on my networks." In recent news, one female gamer contacted the mother of one of the trolls who attacked her on facebook. http://uproxx.com/webculture/2014/11/this-woman-is-contacting-the-moms-of-boys-who-threaten-to-rape-her-on-twitter/

How I wanted to tie this into my research-

So I'm interested in autoethnographic performance. A lot of that is autobiographical performance- where we essentially perform ourselves, specifically telling our own stories. I've probably talked about these before. Autoethnographic performance, in a super generalized definition, is looking at the cultural contexts/implications of how we perform ourselves and commenting on it. Deirdre Heddon is a researcher who talks about autobiographical performance, and in her text: Autobiography in Performance she talks about how in any performance, whether it be creating a character that we act on stage, or another form of performance art- the artist is never able to completely separate themselves from the character/work. In this context, this idea applies in the sense that no matter how much we try to control/create/manage an online persona- so much more of ourselves are constantly revealed.

As Bonnie says, in many ways, "the more we reveal, the more vulnerable we are." For me, and I'll talk about this further in another blog, about my video project "Poets in the Kitchen" Probably one of the biggest discoveries for me... was how much more I revealed about myself when watching myself on film. On a physical level- the state of my kitchen, the decor in my home, were all part of the frame. While filming, I was really focused on showing the best knife skills I had, and trying to constantly remember every culinary cooking technique I knew. But also constantly reassuring my viewers, and also asking viewers to be nice- or instead of criticizing me- to give constructive feedback. It speaks a lot to my actual (in)security on film, which in some ways I thinks makes me a bit more accessible.

More importantly, and I talk about this in episode 4, which you'll see soon :), was how much I performed myself in terms of some of the identifiers we discussed in the lecture. I didn't notice it prior (during filming) but in the viewing- I saw how I performed my Asian identity, and especially my Queer self. And I do not mean, I was playing up any stereotype, but just noticing how I speak about my family, and how in my attempts to build rapport with a camera... or perhaps through a camera... I consciously slip in 'baits' or nuggets of my life that I think will connect with the audience, but I am unconscious of, or do not plan what nuggets I'll drop. After watching these videos, and sitting on them for a while before posting- it became a journey for me to actually upload and post. This is because I felt vulnerable. I've had lots of dealings with the media, that aversely affected my family- and in this- leading up to my last point- is where some problems come up that I'm questioning.

Not only do our personal networks conflict when differing contexts/communities clash, but also our virtual and physical communities clash.  So Bonnie added a link to an article on digital dualism vs augmented reality. In SUPER SUPER brief, she talked about how some people separate the real world from the digital, where one seems more real, and in augmented realities, there are a lot of affordances that are given in terms of how much we can engage, and feel accomplished. I feel like this blog post is running away with itself, so I want to kind of focus it in- by sharing a personal example. I talk about this in an upcoming video- so check it out!!!! #videoplug #selfpromotion

I have been in the media several times for attending the first Gay Wedding Showcase at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, and for producing/performing in the first Queer Theatre Festival in South Western Ontario, and other activist events that support LGBTQ rights. All of these in some way have gotten back to my family, my networks in my professional career, and especially with my family- have been detrimental.

So what I'm interested in with this work- is how as much as we may define ourselves, feel alienated, or displaced- which is what many marginalized people feel- when we create a space that we want to use to perform our truths and speak our stories- we risk facing ridicule, abuse, and assault from outside communities. And because of the systematic oppressions that exist, it's not only us that are vulnerable- but the people in our lives that associate with us.

So I don't necessarily support those (and I don't think Bonnie does this- which is why I loved this lecture) that believe the conversations end with "who do you want to present online?" or even "what do you want to contribute?" but I think the reality for a lot of people is, "what do I dare contribute, because I once felt safe, and now do not?"

2 more to go... and this one's personal...

Hey foodies, EC&I 831, youtubeez,

In this weeks episode of Poets in the Kitchen, I rock out my mother's Vietnamese Lemongrass Porkchops. Probably the easiest of all my recipes, but also the most rushed. It's been so tough coordinating with artists. I'm in scramble mode, trying to get postings up, but trying to not rush the product.

My original premise was creating an almost reality tv-esque aesthetic with candid footage, and always having an audience. This time around- it was super tough, so I wrestled with how am I going to show the cooking and art, and if it would be ok to just shoot them separately and show them.

I decided it was ok to do this. Not just because I needed to get stuff up, but what I realized- which I'll chat more about in my reflection post on this- is I discovered why I decided on working on this project. Spoken word, comes from a place of speaking out loud. Recent history has tied it with many community based art practices, but specifically with activism and social advocacy. People without voices, join in community, to create a space where they suddenly have a voice, a platform to speak. And part of the agreement is that people will listen. Much like cooking shows, and cooking for friends- it's a space where one decides to cook, and creates a platform for that to happen, where bystanders/audience members/guests agree to eat and take in what is offered. I think it's about the communal identity that is created when entering an agreement to share something between two or more people.

This week has also been especially hard... in light of all the recent news about Ferguson, and racism across N.America... a lot of the work I do has been impacted by it. And it shows up in my poem. One point of sadness- I was hoping to put my intro/preamble of my poem and my poem together in 1 video, but length was a concern- so sadly, I had to split it. Anyway, enjoy! As always, comment and spread if you like :)

P.S. as promised... more attractive friends- even though Michael is a repeat guest :) And also a smoke alarm candid fiasco that you just can't script. LOL.

Thanks,

Johnny.

Poets in the Kitchen Episode 3 reflection thus far!!!!

More than any episode I think Poets In The Kitchen Episode 3 has been the most revealing, most successful, and closest to the products that I want to create. I’ve decided that this project is going to continue- even beyond this class.

At the same time, I feel incredibly vulnerable with the video. In all my videos, I don’t make a public statement about my sexual orientation, for a lot of reasons. The primary reason- is that I am making a point to not make an issue of it. I perform myself all the time, I made/make a choice to be as authentic as possible and not try to hide. One thing that I’ve learned is that, especially with the cameras rolling, if I have close friends I trust, and good company around me- I’m more likely to act like myself in the most candid way. Much like the strategies I’ve learned from watching reality tv (specifically for this course- I don’t watch reality tv much- beyond top chef J). The other main reason is that I’ve had incredibly challenging relationships with media, and being public.

One experience was in 2004 when I attended the first gay wedding convention with my then- ex-fiance, Jordan. To this day, I say that we weren’t planning on wearing matching cream sweaters, scarves, satchels…. But gay marriage was a hot topic in Canada, and they got a shot of us looking at orchids. Of course. I asked to now have my last name used, but they did it anyway. I believe it was the Toronto Star. I was still unphased- I was already out to my family- though we never talked about it- and I was relatively convinced that “they don’t read the Star or the Globe or whatever the paper was.” Anyway- unfortunately, the convention was in the same print as some major awards- i.e. the Golden Globes or Oscars or something… and it was immediately in the section behind it, so it ended up in many papers, the metro, 24… and word got out... Hard. I learned that it wasn’t about coming out to my family, but it was my family coming out to the ENTIRE Asian community and the networks therein. People from Alberta were commenting. This led to a stint of disownment, homelessness, and a lot of strife between myself and my family. To this day, I get calls whenever Pride comes around- “make sure you don’t end up on TV.” To be clear, I wasn’t the victim here- I created a situation based on my public performance of my sexual orientation that hurt my family.

The most telling part of this episode for me, was my performance at the end fo the video. I recently performed the piece at the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word. It was so well received that I was asked to perform it on the Final Stage as a highlight from the festival… and that is a huge honor.

One thing about performance and art/performance art, there is often a discussion of rehearsal, authenticity, replicability and repetition. For my guest on episode 3, I had Michelle Ilbalio, a friend, screenwriter, and coworker. I was expecting to read some of her sides, or have her talk about her writing, but nerves got the best of her… which often happens to everyone, especially those who prefer to be- behind the scenes. So I ended up performing the piece, it’s titled ‘Ferry Man.’ It’s a play on words, referencing “Fairy” (a historical pejorative for queer man) and Kheron, the ferry man in Greek Mythology. The poem was inspired by, and is an account of sexual violence against young men- specifically in a religious context of the Christian Church. I have experienced sexual violence in this context and others. It’s been a journey to come through it. I still identify as Christian, but the poem is a comment on religion, and hypocrisy/fallibility of men in power in the Church, closeted men, who- so repressed, become predators, and the men who have survived despite them.

For me, what’s telling, is that I’ve performed that piece 4 times in this final iteration. The first time, was for a poetry slam as part of the CFSW Festival in Victoria. The moment of being on stage, actually competing with this personal story was overwhelming. I have many strategies in my arsenal as a conservatory trained actor to decompress, enter, and exit a performance safely and to practice self care… but I was so lost in the piece… It was really well received. Standing ovation. But after I performed, I had to leave the stage to take a few minutes to return to a more public state. I performed it again at the Final Stage, which were the finals of the festival. But having just performed it a couple days before, and with little notice about performing it again- it lacked a lot of the energy and commitment. I was less honest… correction… I was as honest as I could have been. Anyway, that brings us to episode 3. I thought, ok, this is in my living room, in my new kitchen, I can make this facebook friendly, and youtube accessible, and it will be watered down- but perhaps because it was such a personal space. It totally ‘dropped in’ (as we actors say) with little difficulty. I was less prepared for what happened on camera. And it shows in my reactions after.

So what I’m trying to say is, that I’m openly performing my sexual orientation in the episode. Fears and anxiety about family seeing this, or people I know seeing this… are not… small. I’m not taking risks for this class. I’m making choices because I feel it’s time to.

There are too many silenced voices. I speak from a male voice, even if it’s from a person of colour’s voice, but a voice of relative priviledge in Canada. If we want to make things better… my family is strong enough to bare the resistance of the community they live in. I also don’t think it’s likely they’ll viralize a random blog vs. a national paper J.

For me this reflection is about talks from Bonnie Stuart on performing self, and also ties in the guest lectures of storytelling, and Audrey Walters speak about gendered lines… and really- identity.

What I take away from this episode is I’m much more aware of how when we perform ourselves- we consciously perform what we think we want people to see, but may not realize what we never intended for people to see. I recognize now that, perhaps unconsciously, subconsciously, I wanted my friends as a live support for these revelations. And that we are not performing only ourselves, but performing our networks, our histories, simply by realizing that those memories and connections helped form how we behave in the present.

I’m now speaking both about episode 3, and also episode 2. It’s strange the contrast being being in a group setting, vs. being very intimate with only one guest.

What is also interesting which I can talk more on later is how peers, colleagues, friends- all of them, commented on ‘how natural I was on camera, how the camera loves me, because I am very comfortable and personable to the camera.” I chalk this up to some solid theatre/film training, but it also made me focus more on how I am on camera, and playing up that “strength.” By focusing on that, and trying to heighten that- I discovered how much more of the rest of my self that I revealed.

I hope you enjoy episode 3! Please let me know if you make it at home and share comments!!!!!!

Johnny.

Poets in the Kitchen Episode 3!!!!

OMG How did we come this far, and where did my work go? Hey EC&I 831. So lots of happened to me over the last few weeks. It’s been terrible to be honest. BUT here is  my final latest videos that I’ve been making for Poets In The Kitchen.

So as promised, one of the problems with my last video is that I RAN OUT OF ROOM!!!!! L Lesson learned? DO NOT try to make a holiday special for your second episode with 3 different recipes in one.

But this one is for my desert from Asian Thanksgiving. It’s for my caramel croissant bread pudding. Please let me know what you think! Try it at home- it’s soooo easy…. The things you can do with some milk, eggs, and sugar. #Bless #givethanks #ECI831

Check out these videos, and definitely check out the poetry in the end. It's probably my most personal work... and then have a look at my reflection- wow- I didn't realize how intense and revealing this project is becoming.

More to come soon. PS. I know it's late in the game. I had no idea term was only one more week- I thought we had until exams ended. So if you still have time to look and comment, that'd be so appreciated.

Cheers, J.

People are actually trying it! YAY! Thai Red Curry Recipe

A few people asked! So here is the recipe- it's my first stab at writing, some slight inconsistencies with video- but general feel/foundation is the same. Let me know how you do!

Here it is on the blog as well! So glad you're wanting to try the recipe. I've not written one before, so here is a first stab. Let me know what questions you might have!

Ingredients:

1 small can of coconut milk
1 larger can of coconut milk light
1 small jar (60ml) of red curry paste
2-3 tbsp of fish sauce
6 kaffir lime leaves (if you don't have these, I just throw in limes)

1 large onion (I prefer sweet yellow, but some use red also)
1 head of garlic
3 bulbs of shallots
1 yam
1 large carrot
2 stalks of celery
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
(most of these veggies are optional, its whatever you have on hand or want to use)
Optional- Chilli Paste
Optional- Thai Chillis
Optional- Jalapenos
3 Tbsp of extra virgin olive oil

I also like to add:
1 small handfull of cut chinese long beans / plain old green beans
1 can of baby corn
1 small handful bunch of chopped asparagus (if I want to get fancy)

1 block of medium soft tofu (optional)
3 chicken breasts (I prefer 5-6 boneless/skinless chicken thighs) Or any protein you like- (I've used shrimp, mussels, clams, lobster, and beef- but I generally don't like this recipe with beef- it's too easy to overcook it).

salt and pepper

thai basil or regular basil
mint leaves
cilantro
lemongrass (you can buy a small jar of frozen and prechopped lemon grass that works great)

I know it seems like a lot, but again, so much is up to what you like, so you can cut most of these out if you prefer.

Instructions:

I prep my protein (if I'm going with a meat option) by taking about 1 tsp-2tsp of the red curry paste and rub it all over the meat so it can marinade for a show while. You can totally do this over night, by mixing the paste with some chillies, minced garlic, and onion.

I chop up my mirepoix (the onions, carrots, celery) and in this case, also the yams into even chunks. Turn the oven on to medium high, pour in the olive oil, as the pan starts to heat up, toss in the chunks of veggies. These harder vegetables take longer to cook, so I let them sit in the pot for about 5 minutes, with minimal stirring- so long as they don't burn/char on the bottom... too much. The idea is to let them soften slightly, and start to cook.

While it's cooking, I chop up the shallots, smash the garlic into tiny bits, and dice up the peppers into even chunks. I then toss these into the pot, and stir a bit more vigorously- you don't want your garlic to burn to black.

Once I've added that in, I chop up the green beans into manageable chunks, or if using regular green beans, I snip off both ends and try to cut them into relatively even pieces. They go in the pot.

Once the aroma of the garlic and other veggies start to rise, I mix in all the red curry paste and stir vigorously. You want to get the paste all over the veg, and not clump or burn. Once the smell starts to rise, I pour in both coconut milks. You should start to really smell that base thai curry aroma around now.

I stir a fair bit until things appear to be well mixed and even. At this point, I'll add the tofu, that is sliced into even cubes, and I'll strain the baby corn and add that in. (I usually buy baby corn in a can- again cutting the baby corn into similar sizes).

I then leave it to simmer by turning down the heat slightly.

In another pan, that marinating protein I have been saving is going to be used- again- in a different pan. I like separating my meat from the curry in the even that you need a vegetarian/dairy free/gluten free option, by being able to set stuff aside. I fry up the meat until it's JUST cooked, even slightly under- because it's going to sit in the curry stew for some time, you don't want to over cook the meat. With seafood, you can just toss them in, and wait until they open. Once ready, I set the protein aside.

Once all the veg are in, and it's starting to smell up your kitchen, I add my other aromatics. i.e. the lemon grass, basil, I usually save the mint as a garnish, but sometimes i'll toss it in earlier. Someone told me once that if you slap the herb leaves in between your hands, you activate the flavour in the oils. I dunno if it's true, but I slap them anyway. I also add the bunches of cilantro and potentially mint.

Finally, when ready, we combine the meat and curry, mix it up a lot, and taste. I then add some fish sauce, to my tastes, and use it as a tool to help with balance. Then to make sure we are balanced, I add in the spicy chillis. I also add the kaffir lime leaves. again if these are unavailable- I squeeze in lime juice and toss in the whole lime(2).

Then you let it simmer for about an hour, or put it into a crock pot on low for a few hours.

Then you serve! I think it's best with rice. The curry tastes even better the day after. Good Luck! LMK how it goes!

Asian Thankgiving WHAT WAS I THINKING?!?!?!

Hey Team,

It's me again- obvi. Sometimes I really wonder about us bloggers who intentionally use conversational tones in our writing. As an actor- I am very used to talking to myself, and imagining a scene partner who responds to me- and gives me imaginary impulses to react on. One thing I do like about blogs is that it's like I'm constantly on an imaginary stage- picturing everyone naked- and being nervous- #awkward. LOL.

Anyway- to blogging...

So- I'm glad people enjoyed the Episode 1. Score. It was fun to make, Episode 2 is here. Also full of some pitfalls and mistakes, but overall enjoyable. HEAR ME OUT FIRST lol- the biggest concern with Episode 2 is really... it's like 3 episodes in one. So part of my production schedule was to meet an artist/week, and I realy wanted to have 2 solid videos down and ready for screening before I officially made that happen.

So I had lined up: Justin Sheppard from many local music groups including the popular group Fur Eel, and no lead vocals for the Bureau that play at the biweekly Regina hotspot Flip on Hamilton. Then I was going to work with Nate Baker, fiddler extraordinaire and collaborator with many of my colleagues- also cute as a button. THEN I was going to film with Jon Neher, keyboardists, musician improviso highly sought after all over Sask. Then I was going to film with Leo Keiser, bioartists, bassist, musician awesomeness.

Everyone cancelled.

Correction, there were a LOT of scheduling conflicts - and bumped days and coordinating.

So I decided to do them altogether at the same time, and it was just around the time of Thanksgiving, and I realy wanted to get another episode finished before I left for Victoria- the Canadian Festival of Spoken Word... So I decided to host an Asian Thanksgiving.

For my menu- Ginger Scallion Lobster- because during Chinese celebrations- especially weddings- lobster is a popular dish and SO EASY to make, but messy to butcher- which you shal see!!!! Bourbon Chicken (Drumsticks because I legit - dislike Turkey, you need way too much butter and fat to keep it moist #nothanks #darkmeatalltheway), Five Spice Beef Stew because it's so tasty, lasts for days, and is easy to make. And for desert- Almond Toffee Croissant Bread Pudding with a Coffee Caramel Ganache/Drizzle #enoughsaid.

My other big strategy was that all of these dishes took drastically preparation times, so I could start them days/hours apart which made it manageable- because despite the offer of help- with the limited time I had... it was going to be a solo venture.

My other learning/teachable moment was FILM and MEMORY. I ran out of film- SO SORRY TEAM! My ipad kept filling up, and as mentioned in my previous post, my inability to make it to campus to upload stuff, and my challenges to transfer files quickly filled my iPad. So you'll see a lot of rushed stuff- because I was also insistent of getting all the lobster butchering outtakes and extra footage. But I think it's worth it.

Dinner was a blast. And everyone was so darn good looking.

I think my favourite part of dinner filming- and I know this sounds narcissistic- were the short clips of people eating and chatting. I took a lot of pride in those moments, where they enjoy the food- so.... Screw this degree- I'm going to culinary school- kidding. I think what really worked for me in this filming was the honesty of all th people- including myself. Nothing felt "put on" and everyoen felt really genuine. I generally hate to watch myself perform, but this video in particular was one of the few that I got to see myself doing sohing th I loved, and that....was nice to watch.

So the bad news is, because I ran out of memory, I wasn't able to show you how to make the bread pudding, but I promise it looked good :) I'll post an image up and you can see the result. It tasted great, and I will do a follow upvideo that shows the recipe. For the art portion we ended up just jamming, and that was awesome. The singin was off key, and timing was off, but we were honoring an age old tradition of group song so I stand by it. I will also post another poem with my desrt video comign up.

So what you're going to see now, is ONLY the prep videos and some of the dinner. I have another 10 vids coming that are just the dinner. EEEK.

KK- here you go- enjoy!

Johnny.

And here is the twitter link to my Almond Toffee Croissant Bread Pudding

OMG I'VE BEEN MAKING MOVIES!!!!!

Hey ECI 831 and the WORLD-

I've been away- Sorry :( But I've got some great news and learning etc. So as some of you may have been reading, you know that for my project I was going to create a HOW TO Cooking Channel on youtube called "Poets In The Kitchen." To research and develop this project, I spent a week literally watching hundreds of Youtube Cooking Channels. In future posts, I'll include some links to some of my favourite videos. Additionally, I watched a range of amateur to professional videos- I was joking to my students that I now, sound like Gordon Ramsay (except without the cussing).

Anyway, I never realized how much work actually went into making online videos. I've had so many struggles these past two weeks with rendering/exporting, and uploading videos. Additionally, I was trying to find artists and figure out what I was going to teach. But the work paid off... I now have a production schedule for the term, and a bunch of confirmed artists, and my first series of videos is up.

The first series is actually only 1 session, broken up into 8 x 10 min videos. What I learned here is that I can/should/will condense the show way more. So the next video which will be posted this week will only be 30 mins long. BTW- My first video series is up! You can see the imbedded videos below :)

So what happened?

For my first video, I enlisted the help of my good friend Jeff Moser, the first artist I collaborated with upon my arrival to Regina, and a long standing colleague who is doing some amazing things. I also entreated my new friend Michael Andersen, a scholar, athlete, model, and all around great guy to join us for dinner.

For Dinner, I decided to go with a crowd pleaser, my Thai Panang Coconut Red Curry. I chose this as my first dish to share because its easy to make, often a bit scary for people to make, and it can be very versatile in terms of what you put into it. Also, it's relatively affordable, and since it is a stew/soup base, it can last several days. I really wanted to focus on an accessible dish that my ideal demographic (university/young adult/adult folks) would actually try.

There was definite rehearsal and preparation, I started to analyze and breakdown what I noticed about pretty much ALL cooking video channels, especially the ones done professionally. Some key things which I tried to incorporate/consciously disassociate myself from at various times:

1)  Always add very positive qualifiers/adjectives to your recipe/food list/ingredient list, because if we say "this AMAZING kale" vs "kale" viewers will believe you
2) Every few seconds, decrease the level of challenge of the task at hand "As you can see, this is easy... anyone could do it... even one with such a culinary ineptitude as you."
3) Show the food, then show your face, then show the food and your face, and then show your food while smelling and tasting it
4) Have good looking people in good shape and form in your videos to show that "if pretty people eat my food, it must be good" (this is only sort of a joke, and absolutely NOT why I enlisted the cast that I did- they actually are my friends, and my friends simply tend to be attractive INSIDE and Out :)
5) Include somewhere the health/nutritional value of what you're making- and defer to the experts. And if what you are making is NOT healthy- the GO DEEP into how decadent, rich, sinful, and DESERVING you are of it.
6) DO NOT PROFESS AUTHOURITY if you ain't got none. Circumvent the trolls and haters, and open the doors for actual constructive feedback so that You the creator can learn and grow. I think the biggest part of GROUP learning and managing your publics online is making sure that you are as receptive as you give out.
7) With youtube, show your mistakes, don't sensationalize them, the more you make, the more human you become and the more accessible you become.

For a first run, I found many mistakes, that I actually ended up doing AGAIN in my second episode, but Episode 2 is a special case, I'll get to that in my next blog post.

SO- my goals with "Poets In The Kitchen" was to find a balance of really showing everyday folks making food, the time it takes to make the food, and the fun you can have while doing it. I wanted long shots, simple takes, and a lot of candid camera time. I was playing with the balance between being a "host" to the camera, and practicing that voice with a casual hang out with friends. My first mistakes were an assumption of interest from viewers.

1)We haven't established any sense of "character" or hook for the viewers, so they don't necessarily want to hear about our lives.
2) Some viewers really just want to get the recipe, and do the cooking, not experience this tween-age reality show.
3) This isn't meant to be a reality show persay.
4) I've studied social media, and youtube in the past, and as with all things internet-related, things change. I actually hadn't created videos like this- ever, but I thought some principles would be the same- not so. Video length, and upload time are huge factors.

That was probably my biggest mistake, and the main reason why it's taken me so long to post things was that it took hours to do even the simplest edits, and more hours to get them uploaded online. I was travelling a lot, so I was unable to get to campus where the bandwidth and upload times were significantly faster.

The part that got me the most worried was the art. This is meant to be unrehearsed, and candid, and so personally I don't think I did the BEST job, but I also wasn't sure how effective the content would be, and if it would help/hinder the spreadability of the media, because obviously- an eventual goal is subscribership/shares/and distribution. I want EVERYONE to make my tasty food, get a cookbook deal and a show.

To make the videos and edit them, I stuck to the use of my iPad/iPhone, and as little of my MacBook as possible. Part of my practice and research is creating media with personal mobile devices. We're continually inundated with messages of intuitive user-friendly apps and functions, and my work looks heavily at diy, user generated, audience/viewer generated content- so as a methodological framework I wanted to stick to that. This became a big ordeal for episode 2, but more on that next blog.

Overall though, and the reason I'm going ahead with my first attempt, I think I hit most of my goals. I'll know better for Episode 3, and I want to honour and respect the work that my guests did, and recognize that they did great, despite the systematic challenges that some of my oversights placed upon them. At the same time, I want to honour the parts where they excelled, again due to the same constraints that I established.

So that said, here is are links to my first episode, and if you continue to follow the channel, you'll see the rest of the videos! Woot!

Thanks for watching, subscribe and share!

Johnny.

Thoughts from Rick

I wanted to write something quick before I forgot, and I'm stuck waiting in the Center for Kin, while my room mate is in some lecture about Buddhism.

First- to expand on my first thought about corporate sponsorship in education.:

I need to read up more on group growth vs individual growth. Rick said a whole lot of terms that are relatively new to me- as I live in my performance art world vs. teaching world. But I think technology is great when it, as he says, "helps [teachers] facilitate education to meet how the students are learning" though I don't think it's realistic to say that they will replace teachers. As the discussion went on- I thought more about how technology impacts the content. Specifically sponsorship/involvement from corporations.

So some folks totes quoted M. Mcluhan "the medium is the message" and I'm gonna twist that a bit and say, "What happens when the brand of the medium is the message?" My example was... a thousand years ago when I was in highschool- Rogers TV offered to put flat screen TV's into every classroom and boost our media "program" to allow us to show tv broadcasts of our morning student news and announcements, but in return we had to watch some Rogers stuff everyday.... and of course- see Rogers branding- every-bloody-where. I don't think many schools jumped at this, we certainly didn't- though I will say that I think we turned it down more from the fear of technology than the... social/brainwashing implications of it.

I went to uWaterloo... kind of the home of engineering and mathies... to a lot of people. Our alumni created Blackberry (formerly RIM) blah blah blah, and continually Google, Microsoft, EA, Blackberry, Lucas Films come to school and throw jobs at people. I'm not bragging, I'm not actually proud of this- but I'm happy for our grads who get it.

But what it made me think about is access and outcomes. A few people on our thread talked about measuring outcomes, and a big part of that comes down to what our students expect to do with their education, and the realities of what they will do with the education.  For uWaterloo grads, a lot of our hard science & tech students aim to move to Seattle, Silicon, San Francisco, etc. And the tech they use/develop/learn are directly in line with their trajectory.

On the other side of this.... I recently got to travel to some more... remote towns in Saskatchewan- and found these schools where they were BLINGED OUT (even more than some buildings on campus) with smart boards and wifi, etc. Unfortunately- half of the faculty didn't know how to use this tech, and there was one or two lone (often young) teachers who were charged with being the "tech" teachers who knew how to run this stuff.

In an attempt to keep up and be state of the art... I think they missed the mark on staying present with how and what the students learned. I think there is something to be said about staying present with your students vs. staying current with tech... to be hip if nothing else- or to take advantage of what funding you can get from whoever funds you.

And somewhere in between these two, or perhaps on another side iof its own, Dr. Charity Marsh from UofR taught some guest lectures in some of the Creative Technology classes that I was TAing. She discussed going to Nunavut, and how remote schools from remote "fly in only" cities used youtube and social media to connect to each other and share information.

Ugh- I  feel like I'm dribbling into some mass stream of consciousness- I guess this is my 'flow' but I'm continually unconvinced by this notion of balancing and using technology or assuming that anyone is an authourity or an expert. I feel like if we're actually going to adapt to the learning styles of the students, we need to actually continually talk to our specific students and negotiate how they learn.

I predominantly teach performing arts and fitness- theatre, movement, music, dance, yoga, etc. And it's definitely been impacted by technology- not only in reassessing the patterns/habits of how students connect to each other, but also in how they consume the content that we teach. I'm totes not bragging, I'm just saying it's tough because I have to be transparent when I talk to them and not pretend to know their pup culture references or latest hashtags or assume I'm still cool. LOL, not saying that's what anyone else is doing, but I think I'm saying that- THEY can tell when we struggle, and somewhere in that struggle we still have to be Experts.

Ahhhh, I'm an extrovert- thanks for reading- I need to type it out to realize what I'ms saying, and I'm saying- we need to trust the experts and set outcomes that match how they learn.- even if it's sad.

I was teaching a lit class in Canadian Theatre and none of these students read the plays or tried to critically look at the content... correction... very few of them did. In an honest (unfrustrated way) I asked, "what do you think you'll be doing when you graduate? don't you think you'll be the future of Canadian Theatre?" to my devastation- the answer was almost a resounding "No." Yay liberal arts classes where you have to foster and recognize why they learn something to create realistic standards while not compromising the quantity of information that they leave retaining.

So leading to my second thought- I'm saying that the students are, in fact, the experts to their own individualistic learning, so how do we prepare and offer content for them to learn and exist somewhere between edutainment and education on demand?

For many years, the performing arts- specifically acting, recognizes that we can NOT separate ourselves as artists and our own histories from the characters we approach and put on. (Check out Heddon on Autobiographical Performance). One thing I am excited about is that like the Brooks Ted Talk, and some of the other folks Rick mentioned- we need to recognize that we bring an emotional, historical self to our experiential learning too.

Shit that was long- I hope that counts for two blog posts. Maybe I'll just split them..... ha....

OK so fun video for this weeks blog- actually inspired by Brooks and this lecture it's.. less funny, but a video that really influenced my journey through tis MFA. The video is by Renny Gleeson and the proliferation of mobile devices and our "obligation to engage"> Check it out!!!

POETS IN THE KITCHEN!!! My proposed upcoming educational video...

Hahah, something you may not know about me is that I'm a budding foodie. Both my parents worked in professional kitchens for many, many, many years. My mother's family had a restaurant in Vietnam, and my dad worked in one of the best fine dining steakhouses in town. I'm subscribed to many cooking channels on the youtubeees and often cook for my friends. The feedback is generally really positive.

Thing is- I have a really hard time cooking for myself- so when I'm alone- it's totally ramen/kimchi/boiled egg combo... which is tasty... but not too thrilling. I love entertaining and cooking for friends. So last year, I simply would post my menu for the night up online and say if friends wanted to join- they could. They just need to bring ingredients/something to share (food/art/drink). For my birthday last year, I had a POETRY Potluck. It was awesome.

A fair bit of food that I cook, and a fair bit of food that I order can be seen on my instagram: johnnydtrinh So go check it out if you don't hate online foodies :) If there is something you like, let me know! And I'll post the recipe or make a video of it.

Something else that people may not know about me- I'm a poet. I'm a feature presenter this year at the national conference/competition: Canadian Festival of Spoken Word as a panelist, and also as part of the Regina Poetry Slam Team: Word Up. We have events every month, and one is coming up this FRIDAY! So come check it out at the Creative City Centre on Hamilton Street @7:30 pm.

I think I'm going to mix poetry with this cooking channel.... OH Shoot, lol, I was so inspired that I forgot to actually write what my proposed project was. I'm going to make a video series on how to cook... whatever comes to mind or is suggested. I'll probably do some baking, and some frying, and stews or something.

But to 'set myself apart' and add something extra, I think I'll also include some spoken word by having poets/singers/guests/friends come over and join me each video. I think I can realistically make 1 video either weekly/biweekly.

But it should be fun! And my video for this post:

Those people you love to hate- food instagramographers:

EC&I831 OMG my feeds are overloading

Hey everyone- this is my blog. I started this at the beginning of my grad studies back in 2012! It's been an intense 3 years, and I am finally finishing my degree this coming spring. I have three more courses left before I graduate, and this is not my first online course, but is will definitely be the most involved.

If you swim through my blog you'll see entries for other courses, but also you'll probably see a trend of viral media and art pieces that pertain to my research and performance interests. I'm really interested in (not just mildly interested in- but REALLY interested in) how we engage and 'perform' ourselves online and/vs. in 'real' life.

I think what excites me about this course is that it looks at education in a relatively new way to how I was taught. Another lifetime ago, I was the communications officer for the University of Waterloo in the Student Life Office. I oversaw the communications that went out internally to students, and connected  a lot of the other departments. I often faced struggles with people who were resistant to social media etc. One area that really got me fired up was this idea that the EQ (emotional intelligence) in young people faced degradation from lack of real human contact, where my belief was that it was simply changing. I admit there is some loss in some areas of interpersonal skills and relationships, but there are also some gains in the nuanced and intuitive ways in which people communicate via sms/twitter/vine/insta/etc.

Over the next few posts you'll probably learn more about me and what I do, actually... I might just do that right after this post. Oooh- some ideas are popping in!

But my focus for this particular entry today was a question:

Does anyone else feel overwhelmed by the sudden ONSLAUGHT of posts and notifications in their newsfeeds? I am so stoked that this class is HUGE and there seem to be so many engaged people, but DAYYYUUUMMMMM.

I'm a big social media kid, and total Apple fan. I usually have my macbook within a few minutes of me, my iPad within arms reach, my iPhone in my pocket, and my pebble watch bolted to my wrist. I teach yoga, theatre, and sometimes dance and work at starbucks. The pebble watch is awesome for controlling my music in class, and a sneaky way to not have to check my phone during my shifts making fancy lattes. But I feel like my wrist has become a perma-vibrator. Because of the nature of the course, and not wanting to miss posts- I haven't figured out what notifications settings I want to put in place, but this is getting excesssssiiivvve. Though, not in a bad way, it's pretty neat to meet you all.

So I'm going to make post number 2 in a few minutes because I just thought of what I want to do for my project.

Chat soon!

Johnny

Also- most weeks I'll probably post some funny social media related parody video or something... maybe a twerking video. But for this week- since we're talking about education and group shared knowledge- a video about Yahoo Answers: