Animation Guild | We are 839 Digital Magazine
Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/1399900
FALL 2021 7 Storytelling is a powerful balm whether through pictures or words. Background Painter Chi Ngô channeled her homesickness for her native Vietnam into artwork, inspired by the traditional áo dài garment, and she hopes to one day depict Southeast Asian culture in animation through her lens. You can read more about her in the Art & Craft column (p.9). Art Director Nadia Vurbenova-Mouri shares her journey from Bulgaria to the U.S. in The Climb (p.12) chronicling how she worked as a housekeeper when she first arrived to this country, learning English, and pursuing her dreams to work in animation. Her persistence paid off, and today she is also compelled to share her own immigration experiences through a personal writing project. Jorge R. Gutiérrez has long been a champion of LatinX culture and incorporating stories from his homeland into animation. Long before Coco, he celebrated the tradition of the Day of the Dead in The Book of Life. In his new project, Maya and the Three (p.28), he weaves his passion for Mexican, Latin American, South American, and Caribbean culture with ancient Mesoamerican folklore. Maya and the Three's titular character believes adventure is life and vice versa, and by that standard we all are living our own quest and each one of us has a worthwhile tale to tell. How will the experiences from the last year manifest into stories? We don't know yet. But perhaps there will be some healing from our collective voices as we process the pandemic in the future. Alexandra Drosu editor@tag839.org EVAN HENERSON'S ("Hero Worship") career spans journalism and nonprofit communication. His work has appeared in Orange Coast Magazine, TV Guide, and Los Angeles Daily News where he was a staff writer and critic. While earning his Master's Degree from USC, Evan walked the entire length of Ventura Boulevard. Freelance writer and author KAREN BRINER ("Onward & Upward") grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, where her garden was home to wild chameleons. Her most recent novel is Snowize & Snitch: Highly Effective Defective Detectives. SONAIYA KELLEY ("Creative Solution") is a film reporter at the Los Angeles Times. The Bronx, N.Y., native previously served as a digital producer at Essence and Allure magazines and has contributed bylines to Complex, Mashable and Patch.com. An alumna of Stony Brook University's School of Journalism and the Bronx High School of Science, you can find her on Twitter @sonaiyak and on Instagram @sonaiya_k. WHITNEY FRIEDLANDER ("Concrete Ambitions") is an entertainment journalist who lives in Los Angeles with her husband, son, and infamously ornery cat. A former staff writer at Los Angeles Times and Variety, she has also written for Esquire, Marie Claire, and The Washington Post, and currently contributes to CNN. A writer and editor for 20-plus years, JAY A. FERNANDEZ ("Intellectual Property") has been on staff at The Hollywood Reporter, The Washington Post, and Indiewire. He wrote the weekly column "Scriptland" for the Los Angeles Times for several years, and his work has appeared in Los Angeles, Lithub, Pacific Standard, ACLU Magazine, USA Today, and many others. HOW OFTEN HAS THE WORLD SHARED IN A SIMULTANEOUS AND UNIVERSAL EXPERIENCE? I CAN'T THINK OF MANY INSTANCES, BUT THE PANDEMIC CERTAINLY QUALIFIES AS ONE THAT HAS IMPACTED THE ENTIRE GLOBE. THE EFFECT IS UNDOUBTEDLY TRAUMATIC WITH TOO MANY LOST LIVES. YET, IT'S HUMAN NATURE TO TRY AND MAKE SOME SENSE OF THE SITUATION, AND OFTEN THIS NEED TO PROCESS LIFE MANIFESTS ITSELF THROUGH STORYTELLING. E D I T O R ' S N O T E PROCESSING THROUGH STORIES CONTRIBUTORS