The Pen and the Shield

“There’s this theory that when you’re a young kid there is this window in your heart that opens to receive media. You might watch a movie or T.V show or listen to a song that resonates with you and make you go ‘That’s me, I can relate to that’ and when that happens it’s a magic time…it sets the tone of what you’ll be drawn to for the rest of your life” said Shields when asked about what had reeled him into film and theater industry. Perry Shield is a teacher here at ODLH but never planned to be one. Originally, he wanted to be a musician in high school being a musical theater drummer but had slowly found his place with the actors on stage. For a while after high school he had worked for Direct T.V. but had left seeing that his part as a employee trainer might not be need later looking for work that was like his previous occupation and found that in teaching. He went back to school in 2003 for a English degree and succeeded in doing so at Cal State Dominguez Hills in 2007 with a minor in theater.

As he went into this field of work he used his knowledge for theater in his teaching to show students the ups and downs of theatrical arts. Through out his yeas of teaching he still has a place in the theater community having done over 13 plays for community theater and is currently co-writing a play with some new playwrights called “The Cordray Christmas Variety Hour” stating that, “it’s about a small T.V. station in southern Indonesia in 1958 who are about to go out of business but are putting on this big show to show that they still are viable but when their star cancels at the last minute they have to improvise and put on a very amateur show.”

Recently he has noticed in the past two year social media has made people’s attention spans shorter. “It’s been hard to keep people’s attention in class when they’re is something that they can just see on their phones.” He has also found it hard to stay focused while in meetings when he can just do something on his phone or have a conversation with someone near him. He says that he sees how it might be tough to stay focused and understands only hoping things go back to how they were. His final message to readers was to know that “teachers care about all of you and wish to see you succeed in every way possible and the best way to repay their kindness is to simply give them your attention”.