Christian film director speaks about his latest production at Valencia Community College

by Giancarlo Galarreta

ORLANDO, Fla. – Director and producer David Nixon shot the Christian-based movie, Letters to God, locally and spoke to a news reporting class at Valencia Community College’s west campus on Dec. 3, about the production and its upcoming release.

The movie tells the story about Tyler, a young boy who is diagnosed with cancer and begins writing letters to God. The letters touch the lives of everyone around him, especially a troubled postman who becomes involved by reading Tyler’s letters.

The production was shot in a neighborhood of Winter Gardens, Florida, and is inspired by the true story of Tyler, who was affected by cancer at age 9.

His own father, whom Nixon came into contact with, wrote Tyler’s story.

“It’s heart warming rather than overwhelming,” said Nixon about turning Tyler’s story into a big screen production.

Several of Nixon’s previous productions are all Christian-based volunteer projects such as Facing the Giants (2006), and Fireproof (2008).

“I think that’s my goal in life,” said Nixon. “To make this kind of movies.”

Letters to God was shot in a traditional Hollywood movie style, with professionals on the set.

Nixon’s earlier productions only hired about four professional moviemakers, and built the rest of their crew and talent with church volunteers.

Letters to God is Nixon’s latest production and was completed in late November. It is scheduled for limited release on April 9, 2010, in about 800 theaters nationwide.

Phi Theta Kappa celebrates Founder’s Day

by Giancarlo Galarreta

ORLANDO, Fla. – Phi Theta Kappa’s Honor Society chapter at Valencia Community College’s East Campus goes green as it celebrates 91 years since the day it was founded.

Dolores Villar, 19, along with Xiomara McCandele, 20, was in charge of the chapter’s Founder’s Week for 2009. Going green has been an on-going effort for PTK and what better way to reach out to students than by talking about the environment on their anniversary week. Villar and McCandele were both inducted into PTK this past spring.

Jody Goostree, 28, program coordinator for Keep Orlando Beautiful, Inc. (KOB), was brought in by the chapter to speak at Valencia’s East Campus on Monday, November 16^th. Goostree has been part of this organization for almost five years now.

Many students are unfamiliar with the organization. Valencia student Ameia Yuse, 21, said, “I haven’t heard of KOB before but I do get involved in the community. I recycle, so I decided to come out and learn a bit more about what I can do for the environment.”

Keep Orlando Beautiful is a non-profit organization administered by the city of Orlando and affiliated to the environmental organization Keep American Beautiful, Inc. KOB has a partnership with PTK that started in 2007.

“Education is a big thing. It’s great to partner with a college, there’s always a good turnout and it’s a good experience,” said Goostree, “People are already in that learning mindset so when I talk about things like the environment I see it getting through students, and they try to get involved.”

KOB has been around for approximately 23 years and has helped the city with issues like recycling and conducts clean-ups in neighborhoods and lakes around the city. The organization has 15 board members, Villar being one of them, and holds a list of about 600 active volunteers.

With the visuals from a power point presentation, Goostree talked about KOB’s mission and what they do for our community and for the environment. The organization has created programs like the Cigarette Litter Prevention Program and the Stop Poo-llution! Campaign, in which they hand out waste bag dispensers for pet owners.

“We do things like set up tents in concerts and talk to people about littering fines,” said Goostree, “We usually hand out pocket ash trays at events like that since we’ve learned that the cigarette bud is the number one litter item in the city.”

Guest speakers like Goostree and organizations like KOB help raise awareness about having a personal effect on the environment.

“I think we need to get serious about the environment because it affects us all,” said Dolores Villar, “The environment isn’t going to get better if we don’t help out.”

No Story

by Giancarlo Galarreta

-_-

Author signs copies of new controversial novel at local bookstore

by Giancarlo Galarreta

ORLANDO, Florida – Award-winning author, Neal Shusterman, autographed several copies of his controversial book last Thursday at the Waterford Lakes Barnes and Noble Bookstore and brought in more than just teenager fiction fans.

Shusterman arrived at Barnes and Noble around 7 PM and promptly gathered his fans to speak about his inspirations and the birth of his ideas. He signed several copies of his latest novel, “Unwind” for teens and adults whom some even drove in from nearby cities.

His thrilling new novel talks about a nearby future where parents of teenagers under the age of 18 can choose to dismember their children and donate their organs to people with greater needs. The storyline drew controversial attention because it ties in with the issue of abortion and the opposing sides of Pro-Life and Pro-Choice.

“I’m not making a political statement, I’m making a statement about when things become political,” said Shusterman shortly after explaining the concept of his novel. “What’s important about the book is posing questions for the readers, not giving the answers.”

Shusterman’s target audiences are teenagers and young adults and some worry that the controversial subject might be hard to understand for some of the younger readers.

Kim Miller, an English teacher at Timber Creek High School, read the book along with her students. “I definitely enjoyed it. I like the angles he takes, he shows both sides to the argument,” said Miller. “A couple of my honor students brought up abortion and the whole controversy subject but most of my kids were attracted to the novel because it was different.”

“I got this book two days ago and I’m almost done. I’m buying four of his other books today, Unwind was just so creepy and awesome,” said 8^th grader Kasey Kallay, 13, who got all five of her novels signed.

“It’s important to stay neutral with this kind of story and captivate readers with a fresh view; I just have a weird way of looking at things,” said Shusterman.

The author talked very smoothly throughout his presentation and even squeezed in some time to promote his upcoming novel, “Everwild” by giving away an advanced reader’s copy. Fans proceeded to join the one-hour line for autographs.

“I’m really pleased to have seen the turnout,” said Shusterman after he signed the last copy for one of his fans. “I think I got the right point across with this novel and that makes me feel successful as a writer.”