Angel Luis Matias is a third-year senior currently living in Mahopac, New York (technically Yonkers), who is double-majoring in screen studies and creative writing. He is the President of the Creative Writing Club and the Co-President of the Beekeeping Society. “I encourage a lot of people to join the Beekeeping Society, because Paige (Co-President) is going to do some big bee things.”
Through Angel’s years spent in Buffalo, New York (birth and early formative years), and hours on the interstate in Pennsylvania, he has ample experience with the wintry weather that hit us this past weekend. He has some fun stories about times when snowstorms have made his trip home more of a journey, like one time when an eight-hour drive turned into a thirteen-hour ordeal.
As for what aspects of campus life he misses most when he gets to New York for breaks, Angel named privacy, the beauty of campus, and his friends. “I prefer New York, but there is something that calls to you here, and it feels like it always will. To some extent, this is some percentage of home. I’ve moved like five different times between two parents, so I’ve lived in close to 10 houses, and this is technically one of them now. This will always have a portion of home for me, and for that reason, it’ll always have a portion of my heart.”
“This will be my third year participating in the Tarantino Film Festival, because I’ve done it every year since I’ve been here. I find it one of the best parts of the semester, because you get to be with people who are like-minded in terms of creativity, and that spans such a wide range in terms of film. A lot of people say film is one of the best art forms, because it combines all those different things, sound, visuals, and then the way that people act throughout there’s a lot of things that need to be done between stage direction and make-up to lighting and acting. Coming together with all these different people who have all these different talents to make something for fun and maybe to win some awards is always really cool. I’ve yet to win an award, but I plan to do so this year, so I am giving it a lot of effort, and I’m also participating in other films. If you have an interest in anything vaguely related to film, it’s a great place to go and see if maybe you want to be more interested in it, or if you just want to do it this one time, have this experience, because you’ll always find people who need help and have an interesting vision to carry out.”
Angel is also using his impressive film knowledge in his internship with Red Velocity, a film studio in downtown Roanoke. “They do a lot of things just within media in general, and sometimes that means corporate work. It’s a very talented team run by a man named Steve Mason, and they’re very dedicated to the craft, especially the technical and visual. I’ve only just started, and so far I’ve helped with moving on one day, and I’ve helped with the shooting on a twelve-hour shift one day. I was told before I joined that sometimes they’ll go somewhere that’s not within Roanoke, they’ll all get an Airbnb together, and they’ll get food together. It’s definitely this sense of community that I’m really happy is there, because that’s what I look for in the industry. You know, after college, you leave the community that you get accustomed to here, so you want to find it after college. So I’m excited for that [part of the internship], at least, and then I’ll keep on searching for that.”
Angel’s favorite scents are fried dough, mango in any form, campfire smoke, and evergreen.
“I want to thank all of my professors, specifically Joe Boucher, for insurmountably helping me with telling a story, and Dr Melanie Almeder, for helping me with writing in general. I think every teacher here, though, has helped me learn to tell my story and shape my story in a positive way. I’d really like to thank all my friends from every aspect of the school. There were things that I used to be a part of, like track or clubs, but I still see my former coaches and teammates. Also, the people who are part of clubs that I’m currently a part of, like the Creative Writing Club, always bring a smile to my face, which we are hoping to bring back next Tuesday. Finally, I’d like to thank my roommate Zack and my girlfriend, Em.”
Juniper Rogers
Folks at ‘Noke Editor
