'The Last Lecture' is an academic practice that has been around for a long time. It centers on a powerful and reflective set of questions: "What would you teach if it was your last chance to give a lecture? If you died tomorrow, what do you hope your students had learned from you?" I heard about the idea when I watched Carnegie Mellon Professor Randy Pausch's talk. He had recently been diagnosed with terminal cancer, so his was even more poignant and reflective. After reading about his talk, I knew I would make it a regular practice in courses I teach. The video below is my Last Lecture, delivered to AGCJ 314: Media Writing in Agriculture II at the end of the Fall 2017 semester.
In May, 2013, I co-led a group of students to climb Guadalupe Peak as part of a study-away photojournalism course. You can read about one specific student who had a significant impact on our group here. A few years after that experience, I was using that story as a teaching tool to talk about characteristics that make a story identify with people, and how they inspire action (Mrs. Hosler talked me up a mountain with a story about her life). To punctuate the idea, I wrote this song and shared it with the class. What's life but just one more mountain?
The fires in Kansas, Oklahoma, Colorado, and Texas in the Spring of 2017 were devastating, but the agriculture community is strong. Arable Media partnered with Agri-Pulse Communications, Inc. to tell the story of that community. Executive Producer: Brian Hogue, Arable Media. Story Consultant, Copywriter: Tobin Redwine, Texas A&M University.
In Fall 2016, I was part of a three-man creative team that helped produce a short film to document the work of Field of Hope volunteers in Uganda. Our end product captures the hope and magnitude of FOH's stakeholders and service. Director: Bud Force, UltraLite Films. Executive Producer: Brian Hogue, Arable Media. Director of Photography, story consulting: Tobin Redwine, Texas A&M University.
I wrote "Just a Couple" for Mother's Day, 2017 and debuted it through a gariny facebook post.
Each May intercession, I co-lead a high-impact course around Texas to teach digital storytelling. In May 2015, our students focused on video production. This was their final product, created for Texas Parks and Wildlife.