“Listening to that music, I have a scene playing out in my head.” Lobsang Tenzin regards the pianist who has been playing at Iconic Coffee brewery. We sit down to speak about Tenzin’s life and I learn about Tenzin, passionate storyteller. “I am always listening and imagining the stories with music in my life,” he says. “Even the birds or the leaves blowing make up scenes.” Tenzin was born in Lhasa, the capital city of Tibet. He fled from his country in order to escape the tyrannical government that offered very little freedoms for its people. “Both my parents were activists and I was too. I got in a lot of trouble,” Tenzin says with a smile. “People always say that Tibet is so beautiful as a landscape, as a people and as a culture. But the inside is so sad. There is no human right, no religious right, no educational rights and it’s so hard. I had to escape from Tibet. It is impossible to go back.” He ended up fleeing the country, and is now studying film at SFUAD after transferring from the Portland Community College with a bachelor’s degree in Integrated Media. Tenzin received SFUAD’s 2014 Unique Voice Scholarship through the Robert Redford/Milagro Initiative scholarship program. Jackalope Magazine: What does film mean to you? Lobsang Tenzin: For me, it’s more like a tool or a weapon in order to tell my people’s culture and stories. Now these days, all the older people from the older generations, they are wrinkled and dying, I want to keep all the wrinkles and grab all the stories that they have as much as possible. I can make short films and documentaries for the next generations; even if they don’t see these people, they will know their stories. It just keeps on passing; it must never vanish.   JM: How would you define your style? LT: I’m like a Marine, and I think of myself like a sniper. My job is to shoot. I always shoot, even when I’m not working. I’ll shoot the leaves moving in the grass. I build up all the different shots and store them so I don’t have to go looking every time. If I want to make a small story I can just use the shots I already have. I can pick anything when I work.   JM: Have you considered what exactly you want to focus on in the film school? LT: For me, it’s about the images. I want to be a cinematographer. But the way I see it, if I want to be a chef, I start from the dish washer. I need to understand how everything works. This semester I’m not taking any big production classes. I’m just taking some normal classes in order to understand this university. I don’t want to get too stressed out this semester. I am taking Native American Arts and History of Contemporary Art.   JM: Can you tell us a little bit about how you came to this university in particular? LT: I was still studying at my other college in Portland. One of my professors asked me if I wanted to act. She introduced me to the director and he said I was perfect for the cast. They offered to give me acting classes for one year, Meisner acting classes to learn to work in front of the camera. I learned so many things. So basically I was always behind the camera and now I’m facing the camera. You have to give the perfect shot. So I was doing that while in school and the director of the film asked what I had planned once I graduated with an Integrated Media degree. He told me to look at Santa Fe University of Art and Design. He gave me the information and he even contacted the school for the Robert Redford scholarship. I then got my portfolio together, all...

Twilight Sparkle and the gang have come to SFUAD! In addition to its myriad other clubs and activities, SFUAD is now playing host to its first ever Brony Club. A bizarre cultural phenomenon that has spawned its own documentary, a Brony is the given name to an adult/young adult male fan of the popular children’s show “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.” According to posters around campus, the SFUAD Brony Club’s aim is to “give students a chance to express themselves in a non-judging environment,” as well as enjoy activities such as “creating art, showing off fan works and of course watching new episodes of the show.” The SFUAD Brony Club is the brainchild of Jack Getschman, an 18-year-old freshman film major. “I wanted to start the club because I’m a big fan myself, and I felt it was kind of hard to express myself because I do make some fan works and I can’t really express them to people. So I thought, well, other people probably have this problem too, and it’s hard to express your creative works with people who aren’t fans. So I thought, make the club, get to meet Bronies and I get to make some friends and I can really allow them to express themselves in a non-judging environment.” Getschman says he first saw the show back in 2012, but didn’t consider himself a Brony until a friend recently showed him the documentary “Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony.” “I was nervous the first time (I saw MLP) because if someone sees a boy or a grown man watching the show, they’re gonna judge or think the worst.” So far, three people have signed up for the club and the on-campus reaction has been relatively positive, although Getschman says he has heard some people “talk about Bronies in not a good light” and that several of his posters have been torn down. One of the new members, Owen Peterson, a 29-year-old SFCC film student who lives in the SFUAD dorms, was excited by the club’s potential to enhance SFUAD’s “inclusive environment” status. “I like the Brony fandom because they are very progressive in moving society forward by eliminating stereotypes for grown men who like children’s entertainment. I myself like Pokemon, Power Rangers and Batman, among other kids shows. We live in an ever-changing world and Bronies are bringing the world closer to being a better place.” Both Getschman and Peterson acknowledge that their status as Bronies may be negatively perceived, but neither feels judged or ridiculed on campus. “I don’t mind (people judging,) but I’d prefer not to go all out and like, shout out on campus ‘Hey, I’m a Brony!’ or anything. I guess I would prefer not to, but I can take it,” says Getschman. Peterson agrees that he doesn’t feel judged “by anyone here on campus. I’m a little nervous about one or two people, but as long as I’ve got my friends here at SFUAD who like MLP, I shouldn’t be afraid of anything anyone says or does.” Administration approval for the club went through Director of Campus and Residential Life John Rodriguez. “I was kind of surprised, but I had seen an episode of “Bob’s Burgers,” which had a Brony Club and I thought it was hilarious. However, I think Jack’s reasons for starting the club were legitimate enough to approve the creation and it also brings much needed diversity to the SFUAD clubs and organizations.” Rodriguez also expressed the hope that “this club will resonate with our SFUAD student body. Again, it’s something fresh and new and is something that our students grew up with, watching “My Little Pony”, so it’s kind of fun to relive those childhood memories as a young adult as a creative outlet.” As with many fandoms, Getschman and Peterson both had characters from the show with whom they most...