As I sit in the back of the van, I decide to start taking notes while observing my aunt’s actions on this trip. What I notice shouldn’t surprise me as I watch her take a leadership role throughout the day, from making sure that Burger King got our orders right, to taking on the role of tour guide during our trip to Hollywood, to taking care of her baby niece. Yet, I notice that she is different from these three other women (my mom, grandma, and a family friend) as she doesn’t speak Thai with them, and she wasn’t born in Thailand like they were. Her experience growing up was unique to theirs, and my interview with her revealed this.

April is a General Manager of Convenience Retailing and Beverage Strategy in the West Region for Aramark – Higher Education. Simply put, she helps with the marketing and operations of convenience stores and dining centers on college campuses. She climbed her way up the corporate ladder while working as a manager at Discovery Zone during college, then to Java City as a manager and trainer, then to Aramark, where she works today. When I asked her about her leadership style I was surprised to learn that she described it as being an adapter and collaborator, not because I think she demonstrated some type of authoritarian style leadership, but because I identified her with so much of what we talked about in class. As the interview went on, I would soon realize that this class has taught me much more about my own family than I would have ever realized.

My aunt is a second generation Asian-American woman who grew up in a state and community that had other people who looked just like her. Since her father was in the Air Force, she grew up around other military families, and the friends she had were not just Caucasian-American and Asian-American, but were from all cultures and backgrounds. So I wasn’t taken aback when she told me that when she went off to college she was shocked to see that the students had created their own de facto segregation with the friends they kept, because I too am a military brat who has seen first-hand that military children tend to be more colorblind than others. That’s why I was surprised when I saw that the connections between her story and the stories we have discussed in class became stronger as each question was answered.  I would have thought that since she grew up in a more colorblind Americanized society that her experiences would be mostly different; I was wrong.

When she first began working as a manager she faced the challenge of gaining the respect of her colleagues because of her young age, and even as she grew older her appearance remained youthful, so her challenge still continued. She had to earn the respect from older co-workers to prove she was capable of doing her job, but once she did, the barrier was no longer there. Though even as a respected co-worker, she has had to face the challenge of sexism in her workplace. It wasn’t a blatant, overwhelming sexism; instead, it was subtle in nature. For instance, during meetings she is often asked to make copies of something or to run other errands even if there is someone below her at the meeting. The question asked is not, “Who is below, but who is female?”  This type of sexism may not be as dominant as some of the stories that I have read in class, but it certainly proves that the experience is not unfamiliar to my aunt.

Another familiar experience April shares with other Asian-American women is her work ethic. When she works, she does it to gain recognition and respect rather than to get more money or to boost her own confidence. She has also noticed that Asians-Americans, herself included, do not go in and demand promotions or a pay raise like others do; they do their work without complaint. However, if her superiors do not recognize the good job that she is doing, she will move on to another company that will. These types of characteristics she embodies is a side of her I never discovered; I always figured she was one to speak her mind about such issues, but instead she relates more towards the Asian ethic of working hard without complaint.

This hard work ethic started when she was very young. In her family, she was neither the oldest child nor the youngest, and that left her with asking the question, “What was my place?” The answer she came up with was to get good grades and to be the most successful; she wanted to prove herself. So in school, she would make sure to get straight A’s in her classes. Though unlike other Asian-American parents, her mom did not demand of her perfection; instead, she praised her daughter for the good grades she did receive, and encouraged her with incentives for the good grades she could achieve. This did not stop April from feeling the pressure of doing well, however, as she constantly reached for perfection to make everyone happy. She did not want to explain why she got a bad grade to other people, so she just didn’t get those grades.

A turning point occurred in high school when she began cheerleading. Before joining, she considered herself to be shy, but the constant travel and recognition she received for being on a varsity team with only twelve girls helped empower her to be more of a leader. She went on to go to California State University, Long Beach to get her degree in biology; she wanted to be a medical researcher. Instead, she went on to have a successful career in the world of business. Though no matter how successful she becomes, her policy is to always put her family first.

In the 5^th grade, April recalls doing a report on nursing homes and coming home to tell her parents that she would never put them in one once they got older. This is a very common Asian-American attribute, the fact that family is important and should be taken care. That’s why, from the time my aunt was 11 years old to well after she graduated from college, my grandma’s sister lived with the family. That’s why, even though my aunt Donna is a single mother, her daughter has never been in daycare because she is taken care of by my parents and grandparents. It’s because family is so important, and people should sacrifice themselves for the family. This also means that family business stays with the family, so when my other aunt started to get in trouble after hanging out with a bad crowd, my grandma sent her to live with my mom, dad, brother and me to stay out of trouble rather than turning her in for bad deeds.

My aunt has noticed that even in the work world, Asian-Americans tend to sacrifice more for the family. She has seen more Asian-American mothers quit work, even if they could afford to stay, to be with their children rather than put them in daycare. This is the type of sacrifice my aunt shares. Her exposure to Buddhism has taught her that it does not matter how much money you have once you leave this earth, but how much happiness and content you had while sharing your life with the people that you loved. That’s why, if she had to move back home to take care of her family, she would drop everything to do so.

While this type of family-oriented mindset which is common among Asian cultures can be seen with my grandma, my grandpa is a different story. My grandpa, being Caucasian-American, is not as close with his family like my grandma is. Even though they live in San Francisco, it is my grandma who has to encourage him to contact them. In fact, I have never seen my grandpa’s side of the family, yet have been able to meet most of my grandma’s side while on a one-month vacation in Thailand when I was eight. This can even be seen with my own dad’s family; even though he contacts them on a regular basis, he is not nearly as close with them as my mom is with her family.

It is these types of reflections that I come away with after having my interview with my aunt. They are little characteristics that I may have noticed before, but never assembled together to see the bigger picture of how culture impacts families and people. I would have never guessed that the experiences that I’ve learned about in the classroom would end up being so biographical of my own family’s lives.

For instance, my grandma has her own ethnic hierarchy when it comes to her family dating other people, just like many other Asian mothers do. Even within the Asian race, there are certain cultures that are preferred over others. I also learned that, because the schools told my grandparents that they shouldn’t teach my aunts Thai because it would be detrimental to their ability to learn English, there was indeed a system in place which discouraged multiculturalism and promoted the Americanization of children.

These are not just lessons about some other culture which is foreign to mine, but lessons I’ve learned about my own culture. Although I am only a quarter Thai, the majority of my female influences come from Thai-American women. When I take a class about Asian-American women, I am indirectly learning about the lives of the women who have helped shaped me into the person I am today. I may not be a woman, and I may not be considered an Asian-American, but I am a part of their story more than most would ever realize.

This interview has taught me more about the Asian-American women culture and their leadership roles better than any book could convey, because it dealt directly with someone I knew and was related to. I could better relate to her experiences because it involved my own family too; so instead of learning about some stranger’s life, I was really learning about my family’s life and my own.  Books, while good to use to be educated on certain matters, are no match to the lessons learned from interacting with other human beings.

And with those lessons learned, I will come away from this interview viewing culture as more important to one’s life than I ever did before.  I can now better understand how my own culture has affected my life and my upbringing; I can better understand how learning about APIA women relates to my own life; I can better understand myself.

After I got the phone call from Jordan I proceeded to go downstairs to tell my parents. They were a little upset that they were given such short notice, as I told them I might be flying out Thursday instead of Wednesday, but they got over it and my mom helped me pack my clothes for the 5-day trip. I’m horrible at folding clothes. Anyways, I continued to get ready by grabbing everything I needed from the bathroom and all the files I needed on my USB drive.

I tried to go to sleep but it was a little hard when I’m used to going to bed at 5 in the morning rather than 11 at night. I eventually ended up falling asleep and having an interesting dream. I was at a gaming event with David “DchozN” Cho of 3D fame and Marcus “Zet” Sundstrom of compLexity fame. We were chatting it up and David was asking Zet what happen to that big deal he was supposed to get and that he heard something about it. I shook my head and said, “Ya me too…”, and Zet smiled at my comment knowing I was joking. Then I woke up.

It was one-ish o’clock in the morning and I couldn’t go back to sleep. This always happens to me when I get excited about something, like the first day of school or going on a flight to somewhere special. After awhile of thinking and rolling in my bed I eventually ended up falling sleep. I awoke to the radio at 6:00 to get ready for my flight. My mom walked in to make sure I was up and getting ready. After taking a shower, getting dressed, eating hot dogs and brushing my teeth me and my parents drove to San Antonio International Airport.

It only took about 15 minutes to get to the airport since we live just outside the city. I then went into the airport to grab my tickets. E-tickets are very useful when you’re in a rush. All you do is check in to the front desk and state time of destination and give them your ID card and you boom, you got a ticket. After I received my tickets I parted ways with my parents to enter the security check-in. I swear, my belt always gets me at those metal detectors. Airport security also asked me to come with them to check my bag, dun dun dun! They found my shaving cream, larger than 3oz is against the rules. Woops! I told them to throw it away and he did and we parted ways.

Gate 37. Ah, what a gate. It would become my home for the next 2 hours as I await for my flight. Time to get the Zune! Ahh…. I forgot my headphones! Stupid me. Oh well, I waited and called Jordan a few times to touch base – would have worked better if he would answer it, though. After my an hour or so of extreme boredom I started to analyze ticket. I noticed that my final destination would be in Dallas Love Field, not Dallas Fort Worth which is what my e-ticket originally said. But I didn’t know where Cheo, eSportsTV’s Executive VP who was going to meet me at this event, was going to pick me up.

Meanwhile, my airline was continuing to give out Dallas Fort Worth tickets that were available. I started to take this as a sign, but I didn’t want to end up 20 miles from where I was supposed to be (according to my ticket). My parents called to check in, again, and I told them my situation. I don’t think my mom was following what I was saying, but during our conversation the Gate 37 person asked if anyone else was flying this flight. I raised my hand. Apparently the plane had to go in maintenance and they didn’t know how long it would take. He gave me a free offer to change flights to go to Dallas Fort Worth – if this wasn’t a sign from God, I don’t know what is. I took the tickets and went to Gate 35 to board my plane. I was in the very back all alone, which is a good thing, and awaited for my plane to lift off.

The flight was only going to take 45 minutes so I read the magazines they provided in the seat pockets in front of me until we landed. When we did land I knew I had to call Cheo to tell him I was at the airport. When I called him he was already in the shuttle and was telling me about the mix-up.

“Brent, ya there has been a mix up in the tickets. I came to DFW and you are at Love Field right now, so I’m going to have to…”,
“No, I’m in DFW. I changed my flights.”
“Oh, you are? That’s excellent. What terminal are you at, I’ll pick you up.”
“Terminal C23.”
“You’ll be the man with the batman shirt right?”
“Yep!”

For those who don’t know, Cheo loves batman, as do I. I went to my exit and waited for the shuttle to pick me up. After waiting for a bit I noticed a bus that was a few feet away from me. I thought it was going to pick me up with Cheo inside, but then I heard my name from behind me from the shuttle that just passed by, “Brent!” It was Cheo, I went up to the van and was about to jump in, but the driver couldn’t stop and Cheo told me to just follow them to the next exit. I did. I hopped on the shuttle and met Cheo for the first time, very nice guy. We spoke with each other for a bit with the driver about the event and just spoke about different things. Apparently Cheo hasn’t slept in 3 days, busy man.

We then ended up at the Gaylord Texan 5 minutes later, it was a really quick drive. The entrance was very fancy and I looked at my home of the next 5 days. The shuttle driver asked for the fee, 12 bucks. Cheo paid and we were about to walk off but the driver said politely, “That’s 12 bucks for each person.” Cheo, being the nice guy that he is, paid the man. We then walked into the hotel to get our room keys. Our reservation was there but our cameraman’s wasn’t, but we decided to fix that later. The nice lady at the front desk asked for our credit cards to access our room keys. I don’t have a credit card, so I used my debit. That didn’t work either, so Cheo, being the nice guy that he is (again), gave her his credit card. It’s only for liabilities, or something, so he won’t have to pay anything anyways.

So, now to get to our rooms… how do we do that? This place is so massive that the lady gave us a map and drew out our directions. “I have never had to be given directions in a hotel before.” Cheo commented. For being up for the last 3 days he has been quite the socialite. Anyways, we then went to our room on the 9th floor. Luckily for us we are right next to the convention center, about as close as you can get. After we were situated Cheo went off to meet some friends in Dallas and gave me a 20 for lunch. After he left I went off to explore the territory.

The place is very nice, I must admit. Very big, very beautiful, and always 72 degrees inside the dome. I then went to the convention area to see if the WSVG was already set up. You would think the WSVG would have taken up a lot of the space, but they didn’t. In fact, they only took up about 1/5 of the convention space, if that. There was actually a major religious event going on today, too, so you can tell that the Gaylord can really pack a lot of people inside it.

After I looked around I thought it would be a good time to get some grub. After about 15 minutes of looking for the food joint I finally found it. Reservation for one please. I got the Chicken Strips with friends and a Sprite. The food was okay, I actually got a lot of food. But then I looked at the bill, $14.50! For one meal! In fact, everything you buy here at the Gaylord is extremely expensive. Sigh… Oh well.

After eating and a couple hour nap I grabbed my camera to take some shots of the place. I got quite a few photos of the event, but when I went into the WSVG convention area there wasn’t much people. I asked the guys if I could take a few photos, but I’m not sure they knew what they were doing. I think they work for the hotel, not the event, despite their age. Or maybe they just didn’t want me snapping photos. Oh well. After looking around for a bit more I went back to my room.

Cheo informed me that Augestine, a videographer that was joining us at this trip, was coming to the room. Apparently his isn’t reserved today so Cheo decided to sleep at his friends as Augestine will sleep here for tonight. Then I got the call from Augestine to ask me what room I was in, I told him. We then met up a few minutes later and talked a few. After freaking out about where his bags were, which held thousands of dollars of equipment, he called the front desk to have them bring it up here. I saw his stuff, very nice. Two Sony HDVs and a lot of equipment to go with it. This guy is a real professional.

We then just hung out in the room for the next few hours. Watched TV, got to get to know each other, etc etc. After Augestine’s meeting with Jordan, Cheo and Co. at 10PM he ended up going out with his friends here in Dallas. Cheo then came buy to check up on things, gave more money for dinner and I went downstairs to buy the cheapest things I could find. Two bags of chips, a small cereal box and a Sprite – 6.50 please! Wowowow. Cheo has a rental car now, so hopefully we’ll make it to McDonald’s the rest of my time here for the Dollar Menu.

Anyways, after eating the dry chips (baked) and dry Chereos (a lot drier than I remembered) I went to the computer to write this up. I think I went a bit too far, okay I did go too far. But hopefully it would be entertaining to at least one person out there. I have to get up in 6 hours to begin my day tomorrow, I will have a lot more to do as the event will be opening up to the public. Hopefully everything runs smoothly.

Make sure to check in daily until Sunday the 8th for more blogs and updates live from the Gaylord Texan here in Grapevine, Texas. I will be sure to have pictures, articles, demos and all that fun stuff for you to have as the event goes on. And, of course, thanks for reading!

Anthony Perfetto is not your average 19-year old college student. In fact, this Pennsylvanian film maker is currently working toward a major in Radiologic Technology, or as most of you know it, X-Ray Technology. Anthony started playing CounterStrike four years ago on his computer and eventually developed an interest in the popular frag and machinima movies of the day. After playing CounterStrike for two years he decided to create his own frag movie and developed his first two frag videos through Windows Media Player. The movies, well, pretty much sucked, but that did not stop him from loving them. His interest grew from there and the first movie that got the ball rolling for him was “The Machine“.

In the summer of 2005, he started on his next project, Requiem. Requiem was a unique mixture of a frag movie and a machinima film, the first of its kind. The movie received great reviews and the exposure led him to join the three-year-old European company Style Productions. All of this really inspired him to move onto the machinima genre and, during the making of Requiem, the idea of Time was created. Inspirations such as Christopher Nolan, director of Memento, and Darren Aronofsky, director of The Fountain, helped him create the script of the movie. “[These directors] inspired me to make a movie that isn’t straight forward, makes you think, makes you catch every part of the movie to get the movie as a whole and to fully appreciate it.”

Time is about a man in the military, Thomas “Tommy” Page, and his buddy, James Cooper. In the military, Tommy had an accident and fell into a coma for two weeks. Once he woke up he lost the ability to produce, retain, or create any memories. A doctor tried to help Tommy by giving him an experimental drug to help his hypothalamus, a drug which supposedly rebuilt the signals that went inside the hypothalamus. But things are definitely not what they seem to be…

Throughout the creation of this film Anthony received a lot of help from a variety of different community experts. Joseph Moore of JMC Studios, Jake Wire of Wire Servers, Jordan Bowers, FarmerJoe of Style Productions, Stevester of CSFlicks and Daniel Frome of GWFilms all helped him throughout the creation of his movie in one form or another. From voice acting to extraordinary tips from Daniel Frome and the CGI scenes developed by FarmerJoe and Stevester. “This movie is not only jam packed with drama, thrills, and action but the 3D animation is top-notch…”

Many people might be wondering, “With all this help, why didn’t he create the movie in the Source engine?” Anthony has informed eSportsTV that the reason behind the usage of the Half-Life engine was because of the sheer fact that he was comfortable with it after playing competitively in CounterStrike and working on four other films in it. Nonetheless, no one should worry as CGI effects, new models, and great voice acting will all be making it into the movie. To ensure the quality of the film itself, Anthony even decided to do the voice acting for the main character Tommy Page. The director, scriptwriter, video editor, and voice actor – a list of just some of the jobs Anthony has been doing which prove his dedication to this film.

Anthony ensures us that Time will be like no other. He will be taking this beyond the engine and has used illusions, tricks of the eye, to make this movie as real as possible. You will be able to look inside a person’s body, see people jumping through windows, and doing back flips. However, the two hardest parts of creating a film is trying to please everyone and making it original. However, after listening to Anthony talk about this film and seeing his past work, one can definitely expect to him do both. His knowledge of medicine not only helped him with the medical-aspect of Time, his writing skills also helped him create an outstanding script quite easier than one would expect.

The estimated time of release for this film is currently set at the end of October, and one can only hope for it to make its deadline as most are already on the edge of their seats wanting to know what is going to happen during the trailer. He has also already come up with a brand new concept for a film that will be much more difficult to create than Time, and he hopes to move into the film industry in upcoming years. To find out more information about Anthony Perfetto and Time, make sure to check out the exclusive interview eSportsTV conducted, which you can find below. I would like to thank Anthony Perfetto for taking his time to talk to us and recommend you to visit Style Productions and the official Time website for more updates on his movie as time goes by.

Until next time, this is Brent Burk with eSportsTV, signing off.

Mission Statement

Life

Media Samples

My First Semester as a Deltasig from Brent Burk on Vimeo.

Professor Daryle Nagano-Krier
Mihaylo College of Business and Economics at California State University, Fullerton

“I have known Brent Burk for 4 years. I met Mr. Burk during the Spring 2008 semester at Los Angeles Harbor College when he was in my Public Speaking course. Mr. Burk did well and earned an A in the course. I then had the pleasure of having Mr. Burk in my upper division Business 301 Writing Course at California State University where he excelled as well. In addition, Mr. Burk is also a member of Delta Sigma Pi in which I am the Faculty Advisor. As his professor for two important communication classes and as the Faculty Advisor for Delta Sigma Pi at California State University Fullerton, I am fairly knowledgeable about his character and relevant abilities. Mr. Burk frequently met with me to fill me in and ask for my advice regarding school and Delta Sigma Pi activities. This semester he served as Director of Faculty Relations and did a tremendous job. He organized a Faculty Appreciation Dinner that gave members a chance to express gratitude toward faculty members. I really appreciate his updates and professional demeanor.

From other relevant sources you will be made aware of his excellent academic record, his achievements, participation and personal character. First, I would like to mention Mr. Burk’s excellent interpersonal skills. What I can clarify to is that Mr. Burk is a man of outstanding character: disciplined, hardworking, trustworthy, loyal and responsible. He has very high standards for himself and worthy long term goals that he works steadily to maintain and meet. I not only consider Mr. Burk a student, but, also a good friend.

Interpersonally, it did not take me long to see that Mr. Burk is very poised, personable, well mannered and surprisingly easygoing given his busy schedule. When meeting with him regarding DSP events and meetings, I found that he surrounds himself around family and friends that are warm, close and supportive of his academic and professional goals. He is very confident and successful in following through.

Mr. Burk is ambitious and determined to be the best at whatever he does. When he sets out to plan an event, it gets done. The importance of meeting deadlines in the “real world” is something that quite a few students are not aware of, and therefore, do not last in their career very long. Mr. Burk has always done what I have asked him to do prior to the deadlines set forth. His writing skills and communication skills are evident in the e-mails that he sends to me. He is capable of researching, organizing, writing and orally defending his positions.

As a Faculty Advisor, the three things that I really appreciate about Mr. Burk is that he is a leader, he follows directions well and has excellent oral and written communication skills. A few words other Brothers have used to describe him are: assertive, positive, pleasant and determined. It is a very real pleasure knowing Mr. Burk. He is the perfect candidate and much deserving of a position within your organization.”

 

Zahraa Gul
Executive Team Leader, Target

“I have had the pleasure of knowing Brent Burk for almost two years. While Brent was pledging for Delta Sigma Pi, I was his Pledge Educator. Over the eight week period, Brent participated and helped organize pledge class fundraisers, community service and professional events. The quality that sent him apart from his other nineteen pledge brothers was his curiosity. Brent continuously wanted to know more; he wanted to learn and be truly educated throughout the process. During my term of Presidency, Brent was Vice President of Scholarship and Awards. While holding this position, he hosted an awards ceremony during our 25th anniversary banquet (hosting +150 guests) and followed through with all responsibilities. Today, Brent continues to be a great brother and contributor to Delta Sigma Pi. His most admirable qualities are his dedication and desire to grow.”