thisisstuttering

thisisstuttering was included in Biola University’s Year In Review video for the 2012-2013 school year. What an honor to be recognized in the grand scheme of the year at Biola!

The National Stuttering Association ( http://www.westutter.org/ ) posted the thisisstuttering trailer on their facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/WeStutter/posts/10151469711405345) and linked to it on their website (http://www.westutter.org/what-is-stuttering/extra-extra-read-all-about-stuttering/). I am so excited to be working with the NSA, we have some fun stuff planned, and you’ll hear about it right here! Honored and humbled to be in connected with them.

Following the premiere, the Biola newspaper, The Chimes, reported on the film and it’s effects on the viewers. I am so glad the school was able to cover the premiere! http://chimes.biola.edu/story/2013/may/07/thisisstuttering-awareness-speech/

I honestly did not know what to expect. Sure, thisisstuttering is extremely personal to me, and even personal to those who worked on it, but was it going to speak to the audience? I didn’t know. Over 300 people came to watch the film and the response was overwhelming. During the Q&A, I realized that thisisstuttering transcends the problem of speech impediments, but serves as encouragement and a personal account of overcoming PROBLEMS. We all have problems and a stutter is one of mine. Many people at the premiere spoke about how they were challenged and called to reevaluate their own struggles, proving that thisisstuttering is a film about living life. I was immensely humbled and overwhelmed with the comments and conversations that followed the premiere; God’s using this film and I am buckling up because it’s going to be a wild ride.

The premiere date, time, and location have been set in stone! If you have any questions, please email thisisstuttering@gmail.com!

Facebook event link: https://www.facebook.com/events/408322535931743

Date: May 2, 2013
Place: Biola Production Center – Studio A (google maps: http://goo.gl/maps/HA12l)
Time: 7:30pm
Price: FREE

Q&A and reception to follow.

Like the facebook page for updates on the film: http://facebook.com/thisisstuttering

The second, a likely final, trailer for thisisstuttering has dropped. This is a monumental milestone for this film and it is so exciting to see it come to fruition. Enjoy and share!

The first teaser trailer for thisisstuttering is here! Take a look below:

This is a project that has been in the works for months (or if you want to get specific, 22 years). thisisstuttering deals directly with my own speech impediment, a stutter that has plagued me for years. The film documents that progress made during the summer of 2012 as I went through another round of speech therapy.

We’ve been working on it a while, the content is not new. I’ve seen it all, been editing it, talking about it, working through it. We produced this teaser and it turned out great. I was excited to release it. And then the moment came to make it public. I released the teaser and shared it on facebook, and then IT HAPPENED. At the moment, I became mentally disheveled. I could never have expected what happened and I will attempt to explain it through words. When a person “suffers” from a speech impediment, the automatic instinct is to hide it, to mask it, to deal with it any way possible to prevent people from noticing. We stutterers develop habits to get around certain words, to push through blocks, to avoid potentially dangerous situations. Since I was a kid, I decided I would not let my stutter control me, I would not let it stop me from doing what I wanted to do. Obviously, having a stutter made things difficult, but I tried to push through as best I could. Nevertheless, I never introduced myself as a stutterer, I never associated myself with the problem. People would notice when they noticed and I didn’t point it out.

When I released this teaser, a made a MASSIVE realization: I am letting the entire world know I have a stutter, a quality of myself I have been trying to hide with all my might for 18+ years. Unreal. I flipped out, I had to play drums real real loud for a long long time. I laid on the ground. I sighed a whole bunch. My heart was beating nonstop for 3+ hours. And the weirdest part about it was it was COMPLETELY unexpected. Even in the moment of realization, I feel like it was my subconscious freaking out. There are so many complex intricacies to this speech impediment that have formed my character and who I am today, many of which I have never processed. The release of this teaser is the beginning of the process of process.

I don’t know if my words do the feeling justice. No idea.

When the teaser was made public, I immediately headed to facebook to tell the world. The responses shocked me:

I can’t explain the significance of these comments. The response to this project has been simply unbelievable, I’m overwhelmed. The fact so many people are intrigued/interested/curious/loving a topic that is socially so frustrating/confusing/embarrassing/mocked is INCREDIBLE.

I only have one thing to say: I can honestly say I do not have a clue what is going to happen with thisisstuttering. It feels like a volcano getting ready to erupt, it’s impossible to know how wide an impact this is going to make. I’m immensely excited and dangerously frightened to see this film take shape.

A short segment on the beginnings. Take a look! http://chimes.biola.edu/story/2012/nov/07/crunch-time-senior-film-majors/