Films aren’t real; they’re completely constructed. All forms of film language are a choice, and none of it is the truth. With this film, we point out at the start that we’re aware of all this. We’re not using today’s conventions to portray what’s ‘real.’ What’s real is our emotions when we’re in the theater. If we don’t have feeling for the movie, then the movie isn’t good for us. If we do, then it’s real and moving and alive.

—Todd Haynes

I am the author of User's Guide to Pornography (forthcoming, Zer0 Books). I live in San Francisco, CA where I have taught at San Francisco State University and other schools since 1998.

My courses are broadly concerned with the relationship between contemporary culture and the history of Western philosophy, with particular emphasis on modernism/modernity, theories of the image, pornography, affect, cinema, San Francisco, and political economy.

I hold a Ph.D. in Comparative Literature from the Program in Philosophy, Literature, and the Theory of Criticism at the State University of New York (SUNY), Binghamton (2005), M.A. in Philosophy from SUNY, Binghamton (2004), M.A. in Humanities from San Francisco State University (2000), B.A. in Liberal Arts from Evergreen State College (Olympia, WA) (1997).