hello

hi my name is patrick. this is my first quarter at ucla as an art major. i just transferred from citrus community college in glendora but i am originally from claremont, which i am starting to realize is a place not too many people are familiar with because no one seems to know where it is other than the fact that it's east of pasadena.
i've always been into queer film but i started getting really into it when i had a netflix account. it allowed me to explore the many subgenres of queer film from the french to spanish to documentaries to indies, etc.(best year of my life! i swear) my favorties have been the foreign/independent ones, like bad education, before night falls, come undone, shortbus, etc. etc. and the list goes on. (and if you haven't seen any of those i highly recommend that you do!) i am excited to take this class because american queer film isn't something that ive had a chance to really explore and i think that this class will help me do so. queer film has always played an important role in my life because i like watching films where i can relate to the characters, even though the their experience may not necessarily resemble my own.
anyways,
you can check my facebook out if you like: pdarole@ucla.edu
or you can visit my myspace at: www.myspace.com/191431
or you can say visit me at my work (american apparel) right in westwood village.

Well Hello there Stranger,

Kamran here, a Jr transfer and my what fascinating courses I finally had the pleasure of choosing from my first quarter at UCLA including this rather Queer film class.
I am not a film major but deeply have always been deeply in love with the art and see any time spent watching the films as an opportunity to take in something great that I would probably otherwise never be exposed to... a crime. Im really fond of the discussions as well, having your cake and eating it too so to speak. In other words, you can put a face to this blog in class when notice the guy that has something to say about almost everything.
I am in the process of professionalizing / legitimizing my myspace and so will have a link up to share soon my email is KPayman@ucla.edu. say hello!

Bye!

I HOPE IM DOING THIS RIGHT?

HI EVERYONE,

MY NAME IS HUGO A. MARTINEZ I'M A 5TH YEAR CHICANA/O STUDIES AND EDUCATION, I GREW UP IN GARDENA SINCE I WAS 8 BUT I HAVE LIVED ALL OVER CALIRFORNIA, FARE NORTH AS MERCED TO DOWN SOUTH AS SAN DIEGO. THE PLACE WHERE I HAVE LIVED THE LONGEST IS GARDENA OFF THE 110 SOUTH FREEWAY. I AM 23 YEARS OLD, SINGLE FOR THE LONGEDST BUT IM COO LIKE THAT. I LOVE THE OUTDOORS MORE THAT THE CITY. I LIKE TO FISH CAMP AND THE RAIN.I LOVE FOOD MEXICAN FOOD ON TOP BUT I LOVE ALL TYPES OF FOOD. THIS IS MY LAST QUARTER AT UCLA I AM APLYING TO UCLA's MSW PROGRAM I HOPEEEEEEEEEEEEE I GET IN. I WANT TO WORK HELPING KIDS AT FOSTER Center's I HAS A FOSTER KID MYSELF SO I WANT TO HELP OTHER KIDS JUST LIKE I WAS HELPED.... IM TALING THIS CLASS BECAUSE I THINKS ITS IMPORTANT TO BE A WELL ROUNDED EDUCATED PERSON IS BETTER THAN TO BE SUBJECT TO THE NORM WHAT I MEAN IS THAT I WANT TO KNOW MORE ABOUT ALL RACES, SEXUALITY ETC. I HOPE TO REALY HAVE FUN IN THIS COURSE AND TO GET TO MEET EVERYONE IN CLASS. IF YOU ALL SEE ME IM THE ONLY CHICANO IN THE CLASS I THINK SO HIT ME UP ANYTIME...

SEE YOU ALL IN CLASS

HAVE A GOOD ONE.......

“Love takes off masks that we fear we cannot live without and know we cannot live within.”- James Baldwin

Defining queer is just as difficult and as much as an abstraction as defining love. Love in it's purest essence is rather queer both physically and metaphorically. And being queer is all about love's decisive fluidity. It is because of these vague metaphysical alchemy between love, body and spirit that I always knew I was "queer".

When I asked my mother at four what I should be when I grew up she literally told me, "a lounge singer or an erotic novelist." Of course, I didn't understand the appeal and the romanticism of these professions but now at the age of 26 I profess I think my mother was right. And although she wasn't right about a lot of things, she was also right about another thing--I have been bisexual since the day I was born.  She would tell everyone that I liked both boys and girls . I have had crushes on both boys and girls since earlier than a child usually remembers. In preschool, I had both a girlfriend and a boyfriend and we walked around kissing each other. When I learned to read at an early age, I did so by reading my mother's trashy harlequin romance novels, so my sexuality was never daunting to me. It was something completely normal. When I first discovered poetry it was at 10 years old when one of the nun's at my Catholic school gave me Sappho. And of course the list goes on. Art and sexuality have always been intrinsically tied for me. 

I am now a senior at UCLA. I came to UCLA with ideas of becoming a sex and relationship therapist, but realized that my "ideas" were dissimilar to my "dreams" of becoming a writer and an educator. Now I am an English major and women's studies/ LGBT minor. I came into realizing my "dreams" later in life because from 16-24 I worked full-time in the music industry, sang in a rock band in England, had a career, and then woke up one day feeling completely dissatisfied with the way I was using my intellectual capacities or how I was filtering my artistic yearnings. My "dreams" now are to go to grad school and study metaphysics in sexual dissidence in romantic and bohemian literature and to one day....teach a class to students such as yourselves! 

My facebook can be found from my e-mail address : thesnakecharmer@gmail.com

And my myspace is http://www.myspace.com/jurassique

My AIM is DontFreeWinona

Oh! And I live in Silverlake right near Video Journeys where they have an AMAZING LGBT film selection if you are looking for something and you need me to pick it up for you. Or if you want to discover the mountainous beauty, urban culture, and artistic integrity of the Eastside, come over yourself and I'll show you why the Westside sucks. ;) Yes, I am an Eastside elitist and PROUD!

"Love and other inside sports",

Nadia

My name is Ashley. I am 25 years-old and a senior majoring in Political Science. I had to take some time away from school, so I am just getting back into the swing of all of this. My sexual orientation is somewhere in the happy middle (I can get into a long argument about the connotations attached to the term bisexual, but...)

I grew up Southern Baptist in a state where the Klan still has rallies. When I was a kid, all of us who were too weird to fit in--for whatever reason--tended to band together. Queer films were a big part of that. We all tended to live in the subtext. I grew up queering the text of films, though I would never have known to call it that. I almost feel, strange as it is, that this course is going back to my roots. (Please insert embarrassed laugh.)

Well--Hi!

My e-mail is alstratton@verizon.net.

Heyyyyyyy

Hey, my name's Angelica. I'm a transfer student from San Francisco, so this is my first quarter at UCLA, and my major's Anthropology. So far, I really like the classes at UCLA. All of my classes are really interesting. I decided to take this queer cinema class because it sounded really fun and interesting, and also because I've never taken a class like this before, so I thought it would be a good experience. I'm from San Francisco which has a pretty large gay community, so I'm very liberal and I always keep an open mind. If you type in my e-mail address (angelicaalyssa@ucla.edu) in the search box of facebook you can find me. Unfortunately, I just got it so it's completely empty, but I plan to fix it up soon!

Hola!

Hello everyone

My name is Gunther, I'm an exchange student here at UCLA. Im majoring in Business Econ and minoring in Media/Communication at my university back in Chile.

I've enjoyed the 2 weeks I've been here very much, and a big part of it has had to do with this class and UCLA in general. I feel like I'm at a "real" university where diversity is valued and different fields of study are respected (correct me if I'm wrong, but that's my impression so far...) I can't imagine my university in Chile having this kind of classes (not even Women Studies), it's a catholic university. Don't get me wrong, it's a great school academically speaking but it lacks of the openness to diversity that I expect, so looking for that I decided to study abroad for a semester (2 quarters here).

I think this class is a great opportunity for me to learn more about queer culture and about myself. I have a friend in Chile that came to UCLA a year or so ago and she took a class in lgbt studies and she loved it and recommended me to take one as well.

I really love the entertainment industry and mass media and I also love men, so why not mix it all together and attend Queer Film and Tv History! experience in this field? not really... or not that I can remember :)

Im looking forward to having a great time with all of you, contribute to the class and learn as much as I can about film, history and people.

I'm always on facebook so that's the best way to reach me, look me up under gkaempfe@ucla.edu