Grad Student's Film Explores Human Rights

Published in the American University Eagle on Dec. 7, 2006.
Can also be viewed at http://www.theeagleonline.com/.

Grad Student's Film Explores Human Rights: Chinese persecution focus of Wang's work
By NATALIE KIRKPATRICK

Jinwei Wang, a graduate student in the School of Communication, wants to bring Eastern culture to Western film techniques. Wang, who plans to graduate in 2008, is on her way with a new narrative film, "Shake the World." Wang wrote, produced, directed and edited the film, which although fictional tells the true story of the Falun Gong persecution currently going on in China.

"Film is a Western technique and I wanted to examine how I can [use it with] the Chinese culture," Wang said.

Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual ritual that consists of meditation and exercise. Falun Gong teaches the three principles of truthfulness, compassion and tolerance.

"It benefits individual health," Wang said. "It's very good ... for the whole society and I think that's what the government wants: peaceful people. I cannot figure out why the persecution began," she said.

While many have heard about the persecution in Beijing's Tiananmen Square, Wang's film follows a woman as she suffers from the persecution against Falun Gong practitioners starting in 1999 in Shijazhuang City of Hebei Providence, China. She is not willing to give up her freedom to practice, even though the Chinese government arrests and tortures Falun Gong practitioners.Wang's film is tactfully and artfully done. She produced it with the sensitivity of the subject in mind. Wang displays a level of severity on the issue in a considerate and less graphic manner. It forces one to connect emotionally with the practitioners and the protagonist throughout the film.

"My family moved to Japan before the persecution [of] Falun Gong," Wang said. "I didn't know much about the student movement. They said that no one died. When we moved to Japan we watched the video of the satellite video of the tank that killed the student and I was so shocked and so surprised as to how some government could make such a big lie."

Wang wants to focus her studies on film and shot "Shake the World" in only 17 days. She filmed most of it in Taiwan with voluntary Falun Gong practitioners as the actors, cast and crew.

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Lit Professor Jazzes Up Class

Published in the American University Eagle on Oct. 23, 2006.
Can also be found at http://www.theeagleonline.com/.

Lit Professor Jazzes Up Class
By NATALIE KIRKPATRICK

General education professor Daniel Malachuk has the dedication, aplomb and respect for others that's necessary to make his discussion-based, conversational classes a joy for literature students at American University. Malachuk teaches "Great Books that Shape the Modern World," "Literature Survey of American Lit" and "American Romanticism.

"Malachuk prefers to have a discussion-based classroom as opposed to making his students passively receive ideas of what he thinks.

"[I prefer] a conversation because it takes two. There are so many things in students' lives and my life where we are passive recipients like with TV, PowerPoint, radio and computers," Malachuk said.

"A conversation really makes you be active, because even if [students] are not talking at the time, they are thinking, 'How can I contribute to this?' and I think that creates something in a person's mind that makes them learn better than just sitting there knowing that they are not going to contribute anything," he said.

Along with encouraging his students to take an active role in their education and avoid the passive absorption of information, Malachuk persuades them to probe the books they read for answers to universal questions.

"The books we read are talking about things that the students can talk about and should want to. It's about the questions that the authors started asking; whether it's Plato or the Bible, they asked questions. I want the students to ask the same questions and I want them to feel confident writing about and trying to answer those same questions for themselves," Malachuk said.

Malachuk specializes in 19th century literature and says he finds it interesting that writing was not so specialized then. "The authors that I really like-Emerson, Thoreau, Whitman, John Stuart Mills, George Elliot-they were trying to do things with their writing... that go beyond a single discipline," Malachuk said.

"I liked their attempt to come up with a comprehensive understanding of the world that we live in as opposed to coming up with one little aspect. They felt like what they were writing was an attempt to understand everything," he said.

Malachuk has written a book titled "Perfection, the State, and Victorian Liberalism" and hopes to send his next book to publishers by summer 2007. It will focus on American transcendentalism.

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Martin Offers One-Liners, Music

Published in the American University Eagle on Oct. 5, 2006.
Also available at http://www.theeagleonline.com/

Martin offers one-liners, music
Comedian Demetri Martin tells students to follow heart, have fun
By NATALIE KIRKPATRICK

Demetri Martin is on fire. At 33 years old, Martin has a stunning résumé listing writing jobs for "Late Night with Conan O'Brien" and performances on the "Late Show with David Letterman." He has even been ranked one of Entertainment Weekly's 25 Funniest People in America. His CD/DVD, "These Are Jokes," was released last week.

Martin is the king of interactive comedy. With a style similar to late comedian Mitch Hedberg, Martin's quick-witted, one-liner jokes are sure to please. The 13-track CD is jam-packed with hilarity and it's hard not to be amused.

Martin plays the guitar alongside his jokes. It seems out of place at first, but when given a chance the combination of music and comedy works well.

"When I found comedy it was the same fit [as music], but the nice thing about comedy is that it has a multifaceted quality," Martin said.

"Like music, music is this gigantic world. I don't know how I haven't gotten bored with it after nine years. It's that kind of feeling, you know? What would I do with my spare time? Well, the answer is just what I'm doing with my actual time," he said.

Martin began by attending Yale University and then continued to law school at New York University. After his second year, he dropped out to pursue comedy.

"Since seventh grade I have wanted to go to law school. I didn't think of doing anything else. And then two weeks into it I realized, uh-oh it's boring, and my law school was three blocks from two different comedy clubs so I thought that might be fun," Martin said.

On his DVD, Martin makes jokes out of some questions he's been asked. To answer the often-asked query about where he gets his material from, Martin picks up his guitar and sings of a land in the forest where magicians and butterflies give him his jokes.

Martin's DVD includes more than stand-up. There are introductions from Martin's grandmother, a selection of his drawings and a personal concert in which Martin plays the guitar, foot bells, keyboard and harmonica. Martin claims that they are "material enhancers" but his background music and non-existent vocals simply enhance the hilarity.

"When I'm not trying to impress anyone I can be a poet or a dancer or a writer. It's based on what I enjoy doing. I'm not really good at music or art but combining them made me learn faster, so once I got good enough that I could talk, it got more entertaining for me," Martin said. "I love one-liners but I don't want to do one-liners for an hour.

"Those who explore Martin's animated portions and videos in the extras may be disappointed. Bonus content includes two-minute segments of earlier shows and some of his own drawings and cartoons, but these don't add much to the DVD.

Martin's ability to laugh at his own jokes is refreshing because it shows he really enjoys what he's doing and is not simply focused on pleasing his audience.

"Follow your heart," Martin said.

"Personally, as a nerd growing up I was trying to impress people and then you realize, wait, what's the point? Just do it for yourself," he said.

Martin is also in the process of writing scripts for two films and is interested in acting and directing. He begins his national tour on Oct. 5 and will be performing in Washington, D.C. at the Lisner Auditorium on Oct. 12.

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