Sunday, February 18, 2007

Ongoing Project?

Some of you have asked if this will be an ongoing project... the simple answer is YES. I am about to graduate from my Media Studies program and after that I do plan to continue the oral histories. I am also working on very low funding as well, so if any of you know where I could find donors, or if you can help with writing grants and such please contact me!

Marty

Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Why Clocked?

This project was started by the prodding of a friend at the Transgender Leadership Summit in February of 2006. Gayle R. asked me about ethnographies and oral histories in response to some of the great stories told by the elders at the summit. When I got home, I hit the street and talked to everyone I could about doing an oral history project about the trans community. At the time I was on a fundraising committee for the film Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton's Cafeteria and that gave me the opportunity to talk with Susan Stryker and Victor Silverman about filmmaking. Both thought it would be interesting to see what would happen if the communities were given a voice.

First I needed a camera, and I couldn't use my old VHS-C. Being a working poor student pushed me to get inventive with funding and I applied for some extra financial aid. For the price of a budget 3 chip camera, 10 MiniDV tapes and 20 DVD-R's I got started. I took my love of ethnography and started writing questions for my academic advisor to approve. Once the legal and academic needs were met I grabbed my camera and started filming my first subject, Zion Johnson. His interview was a great experience and when he talked about Clocking T, I asked if I could use the word in the title of the film. Thus the film Clocked: An Oral History was born.

Sunday, February 11, 2007

Cecilia Chung Oral History



Cecilia is the Deputy Director of the Transgender Law Center, a member the San Francisco Human Rights Commission and has been a San Francisco resident since 1985.Cecilia is one of the founding producers of the annual Trans March.

Deadre Bruetsch Oral History



Deadre lives and works in the San Francisco Bay area. She shares her home with her current partner and her adopted mother. Bruetsch is active in the Metropolitan Community Church and volunteers with a number of LGBT organizations.

Zion Johnson Oral History



Zion is a 33 year old electrical drafter in San Francisco, the former President of Female to Male International and the brains behind the 2005-2006 Men of FTM International calendar.

Zander Keig Oral History



Zander has been a queer and trans community advocate and activist since 1987. He resides in San Francisco with his wife, Margaret. In 2007 he will begin a 3 year term as board vice president for Female to Male International.

Saturday, February 10, 2007

Red Jordan Arobateau Oral History



Red is a prolific writer who has documented the GLBT (and straight) communities for 40 years. He is a documentarian, who writes with love, humor and great ideas. His work is available over the Internet at various sites including Amazon & Lulu.

Monday, February 5, 2007

How Do You Identify?



This is one of the first small projects I worked on while editing the film. I started by taking the parts about identity that I had footage of and working them into a snipit about the film.

About Martin

Martin Rawlings-Fein is a former steering committee member of Female-to-Male San Francisco, the former Co-Chair of Female-to-Male International, the former Co-Chair of San Francisco Transgender Empowerment, Advocacy & Mentorship and a current appointee to the San Francisco Human Rights Commission LGBT Advisory Committee. Martin is also a lay leader at Congregation Sha’ar Zahav, San Francisco’s only LGBTIQQS affiliated synagogue and is one of the founding producers of the annual Trans March.