Maggie and fish

Maggie with fish at traditional Chinese restaurant in Taichung.

Temple in Taipei

G Yao took me to pray

Writing from Taipei

I leave tomorrow to return to New York. After a week in Taipei I traveled south to Taichung for a couple of days – there I was able to spend time with Maggie! What an exciting and interesting experience that was. She was very gracious with me – took time to take me around Taichung. Not surprisingly, she is a published author of two books and just completed a master’s degree in philosophy, and is working on writing a children’s book. I was actually able to talk shop with her about story design and character – something I rarely do given that I know few people who can go there with me. But she seemed interested enough, and I am hoping will help me, especially with the Chinese poetry for the story that I can’t possibly write myself.

Additionally in Taichung, I met with a couple of professors at Tunghai University and we talked about issues with teaching English to Taiwanese adults over coffee on the campus of the university. I really enjoyed meeting them – one is an American working on a dissertation and the other is a Taiwanese professor who received her PhD from the University of Iowa – we had things in common to share with one another. What a small world it is.

In Kaohsiung, I was well hosted by one of my former students from Hunter College. Steve is a securities trader and was very gracious to be my everything while I was there. He accommodated my stay at 85 Skytower – the second largest building in Taiwan and a very lovely place to stay. I was also hosted by an American, JB, who is in the process of preparing to return to the US after seven years in Kaohsiung. She and I had many things in common and I enjoyed getting to know her. We will be able to continue to get to know one another in New York when she finally lands in a few weeks.

The only damper on my travels has been that I did fall ill while in Kaohsiung and had to scale back all of my sightseeing as well as business networking push. I’m feeling a bit better now.

Amazing things in Taiwan – the people – really gracious and kind; The High Speed Rail – fast, clean, super cool; the architecture – rapid growth, beautiful modern buildings with Taipei 101 being a crowning jewel; the mountains and how they inform the life here; the art – Taiwan has amazing artists that connect ancient Chinese, Buddhist, Taoist, literature and nature into fabulous paintings and sculptures.

This has been only my introduction, but it has been a wonderful one. I am off to do my last-minute gift shopping before I leave tomorrow!

Best Sarah

with a student

Out with one of my Hunter College students. Mission: keep me awake a few more hours. Adjusting from the jet-leg has been difficult

So many bikes!

I am impressed by the number of bicycles and scooters all over the city. These bikes are parked at National Taiwan University

A warm welcome to me and hello to all our UNC connections

G Yao sends her best to all of you back in the States!

First meal in Taipei

GY and I went out to dinner my first night in Taipei

Greetings from Taipei

Greetings from Taipei!

I have survived the raging wind and pelting rain of Typhoon Sepat! Actually, being sequestered in a luxury hotel in Taipei meant that I was completely safe, could not even hear the howling wind and suffered no power outage. Unable to leave the hotel, I slept through the worst of the storm. The only thing I have had to suffer was a change to my travel plans. All and all, things are going very well. I have been exceedingly well cared for by friends, friends-of-friends, former students and complete strangers. People speak English surprisingly well and if they don’t, they will still do the best they can to help.

I took two Chinese classes via one of my English students before coming, but I’m hopeless. I can only manage HELLO and THANK YOU. I do seem to recognize some words like, basic numbers, ENGLISH, TNU and names of streets. I can even read two words – the symbol for the Taiwan dollar and the symbol for EXIT. Thankfully, the language issue is not really a probably, in fact, I speak no Chinese and have been getting along better here than I did in France in May and actually, I do speak some French. The Taiwanese are universally impressive with their language skills and their willingness to accommodate English-speaking foreigners. (Although I am aware that things are different when one gets outside the major cities.)

My key contact here is GY – a colleague of mine from graduate school. G has been very helpful in getting me connected with people in the film and theatre community. She has a very formidable position here as a professor of acting at Taiwan National University and she is widely known and well respected in the theatre world of Taipei. Via other channels including my networking from Cannes, I have been able to meet with people who are working in film and have begun to share my film project with them. This is leading to a lot of further networking and excellent advise regarding things I can do to make this short-to-feature international co-production a real possibility.

I had one very helpful and lovely meeting with a very powerful woman in the Taiwanese film world. She works with several organizations and companies (APFF, FPA and MPD among others), JJ came to my hotel late on Friday evening wanting to meet with me before the typhoon hit. She had many great ideas for me, knows just about everyone there is to know in the community and was exceedingly hospitable. The topic of Thornton Wilder’s play, OUR TOWN, came up. This play is highly respected and admired in Taiwan and I was pleased to be able to share with her the fact that I drafted CONTEMPLATING EMILY in the very same room/cottage where Wilder first drafted OUR TOWN at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, NH. This connection with one of America’s greats was very moving for her and I think helped endear my passionate journey with this project to her.

I have not done much sightseeing yet, but will go to the National Palace Museum this afternoon. I did however visit a small paper-making museum/factory across the street from my hotel. I took the video camera and had a lovely time filming kindergarteners making paper. I also took a yoga class at Space Yoga Center in the An-Ho district. That was a fun adventure. The class was an astanga class taught in English by a Brit.

For those of you who have followed the adventures of my film project, you may know that the protagonist is loosely based on a Taiwanese student I had many years ago at Baurch College in New York. ML and I spoke on the phone yesterday for the first time in eight years. She lives in Taichung and we will see one another on Monday. She knows very little about the project and it will be exciting for me to share with her the journey I have had so far with this story. I am really looking forward to seeing her.

I leave on Monday for Taichung. I will be there for a couple of days and then will continue south to Kaohsiung. Another student of mine from Hunter College has graciously made arrangements for me to stay at a beautiful hotel while there. I am planning to then return to Taipei on Friday and will fly back to New York on Sunday.

More in a few days, Sarah

Greetings from Taipei

I have survived the raging wind and pelting rain of Typhoon Sepat! Actually, being sequestered in a luxury hotel in Taipei meant that I was completely safe, could not even hear the howling wind and suffered no power outage. Unable to leave the hotel, I slept through the worst of the storm. The only thing I have had to suffer was a change to my travel plans. All and all, things are going very well. I have been exceedingly well cared for by friends, friends-of-friends, former students and complete strangers. People speak English surprisingly well and if they don’t, they will still do the best they can to help.

I took two Chinese classes via one of my English students before coming, but I’m hopeless. I can only manage HELLO and THANK YOU. I do seem to recognize some words like, basic numbers, ENGLISH, TNU and names of streets. I can even read two words – the symbol for the Taiwan dollar and the symbol for EXIT. Thankfully, the language issue is not really a probably, in fact, I speak no Chinese and have been getting along better here than I did in France in May and actually, I do speak some French. The Taiwanese are universally impressive with their language skills and their willingness to accommodate English-speaking foreigners. (Although I am aware that things are different when one gets outside the major cities.)

My key contact here is GY – a colleague of mine from graduate school. G has been very helpful in getting me connected with people in the film and theatre community. She has a very formidable position here as a professor of acting at Taiwan National University and she is widely known and well respected in the theatre world of Taipei. Via other channels including my networking from Cannes, I have been able to meet with people who are working in film and have begun to share my film project with them. This is leading to a lot of further networking and excellent advise regarding things I can do to make this short-to-feature international co-production a real possibility.

I had one very helpful and lovely meeting with a very powerful woman in the Taiwanese film world. She works with several organizations and companies (APFF, FPA and MPD among others), JJ came to my hotel late on Friday evening wanting to meet with me before the typhoon hit. She had many great ideas for me, knows just about everyone there is to know in the community and was exceedingly hospitable. The topic of Thornton Wilder’s play, OUR TOWN, came up. This play is highly respected and admired in Taiwan and I was pleased to be able to share with her the fact that I drafted CONTEMPLATING EMILY in the very same room/cottage where Wilder first drafted OUR TOWN at the MacDowell Colony in Peterborough, NH. This connection with one of America’s greats was very moving for her and I think helped endear my passionate journey with this project to her.

I have not done much sightseeing yet, but will go to the National Palace Museum this afternoon. I did however visit a small paper-making museum/factory across the street from my hotel. I took the video camera and had a lovely time filming kindergarteners making paper. I also took a yoga class at Space Yoga Center in the An-Ho district. That was a fun adventure. The class was an astanga class taught in English by a Brit.

For those of you who have followed the adventures of my film project, you may know that the protagonist is loosely based on a Taiwanese student I had many years ago at Baurch College in New York. ML and I spoke on the phone yesterday for the first time in eight years. She lives in Taichung and we will see one another on Monday. She knows very little about the project and it will be exciting for me to share with her the journey I have had so far with this story. I am really looking forward to seeing her.

I leave on Monday for Taichung. I will be there for a couple of days and then will continue south to Kaohsiung. Another student of mine from Hunter College has graciously made arrangements for me to stay at a beautiful hotel while there. I am planning to then return to Taipei on Friday and will fly back to New York on Sunday.

More in a few days, Sarah

Going to Taiwan!

I leave for Taipei, Taiwan in just a few days. I’ll be flying from New York on August 12 and arriving in Taiwan on August 14th early in the morning. This trip has come together very quickly and is in large part thanks to an educator’s grant I received via the PSC (Professional Staff Congress), which is the teachers’ union for employees of CUNY.

My purpose for the trip is two-fold. First, in order for this to relate to the proposal for which I received the grant, I am going to visit with teachers of English at a few universities and talk with them about issues regarding writing proficiency in English and how Chinese-to-English concerns are addressed in Taiwan.

Secondly, I hope to meet with people in the film community and begin to get an idea of what production in Taiwan might entail. I would like to softly pitch the project and see if I might be able to meet with and perhaps audition some actresses for the lead role. There is still a lot of work ahead of me regarding the re-write and I hope to bring better authenticity to what is becoming more and more a Taiwanese screenplay.

If you have a great connection in Taiwan – someone in the film industry that might be willing to share some of his/her knowledge with me, or even someone that would be interested in hosting a New Yorker for a night, please let me know. I will be in Taipei for the first five days 14-18 and then will travel to Taichung for two days and then on to Kaohsiung and back to Taipei for the last two days. I return to New York on the 26th.

Since returning from Cannes, CONTEMPLATING EMILY has screened twice on Staten Island, first as part of a small monthly series of screenings hosted by film dude, Bill Woods and then again for the Staten Island Film Festival. We were pleased that our fans came from Manhattan to be there - including cast member Asta Hanson. We were not, however, so impressed by the festival itself. CE was grouped with the short horror films. A lesbian love story coupled with slasher films - now, that was a choice. It was also disheartening to note that a couple of the films were using music for which they had not acquired the rights. This reflects poorly on the festival organizers as they were charging admission to the screening.

On a brighter note, A big thanks to musician/filmmaker/lesbian activist Sandra Grace who gave away a couple copies of CE at the New York City Pride Parade in her role as MC for the parade in the heart of the Village. It was thrilling to see lesbian and gay couples run – yes literally RUN to Sandra’s side to receive their DVD copy of the film. I was even thanked by a young man who didn’t get a copy, but was just grateful to know that as a filmmaker I was there and that films by for and about gay people are (there.)

Folks, we have an audience, there is a need and my research suggests there is a market for this story. Say a prayer, wish me luck, I’m traveling farther from home then I ever have before in the hopes of bringing this film project closer to the homes of all the thousands of people who lined the parade route on June 24, 2007 and the many others who eagerly await films that tell the stories they relate to best.
Sarah E. Shively