Daniel Polster and Priscilla Polster

00:05 Hi, my name is Priscilla Rodriguez poster. I'm 42 years old. Today is Friday, February 28th, 2020 and we're in Fresno, California.

00:19 And I'm interviewing Daniel Michael Polster. Who's my husband?

00:29 My name is Daniel Michael Polster. H44 today's date is Friday, February 28th, 2020 in Fresno, California. My interview partner's name is Priscilla Rodriguez poster and that she's my wife.

00:54 What did you enjoy when you were in school?

00:59 Well when I was young I always enjoy the art classes when I was young even given before kindergarten my mom knew I had like a natural talent for art. And so she enrolled me an art classes. So I love taking art classes. I even in high school. I took some at the Cleveland State Cleveland Institute of Arts.

01:26 Art institute and I love taking art. Yeah, I met when I moved on to college I majored in film and I enjoy the expressing my art through to filmmaking. So yeah.

01:43 What kind of student were you when I was younger? I was I had a lot of energy and I actually got in a little bit of trouble in the first grade and second grades and stuff like that. And then I got a little bit more quiet and reserved and I was the one who didn't like to answer questions are raised my hand by I like creative writing and I loved writing short fiction and reading and expressing myself that way and putting my work through through what's like sketches her watercolors and stuff like that. And I think I really shown when I went to I was fortunate to go to NYU and and the Really blossomed there and just really reached out to all my friends and professors and and things like that and

02:39 I think I really blossomed when I was in NYU. There was something called a general I GSP program General Studies program and it was two years in Liberal Arts and you just get to absorb all the great all the great books of throughout history and I met some really great professors there that really shaped my life. What year did you go to NYU?

03:06 I went there from I-90 about 1994 to 97 and I got there in for a three and a half years. I was able to I was able to leave a little early cuz I had the credits from USC and I took in between my Junior and senior year in high school. Is that that the class you took at UCLA when you're in high school and was going to Super 8 so that I don't even know if they make that anymore, but it's was just a little very thin like an inch wide and a film and I you make a too-small films there because of one of those I was able to submit that for my undergraduate degree and they accepted me into the film program my pink as a result of that fell know why now that's short film at

04:06 Local media, radio and film competition at in Cleveland. What was the name of that?

04:17 Oh my God. Yeah, I was I was at I was very I wanted to show that we are not so different with all these different races and Creeds. So it starts off with some this person the person who killed somebody just because of their skin color and then and then they die and then in heaven everyone wakes up, so it starts off in black and white in the real world and then when everybody wakes up, they realize they end up holding hands and they realize they're not so different from one another so I miss that was my little statement as a teenager about the Race For That We're Not So Different,

05:00 Even have a young age making a difference in the world and try to I know you told me a little bit about what was going on during that time when you went to that program. Do you want to talk about that what was going on in LA and

05:18 Oh, I'm finding out. Oh, well, it was just it was just a few months after the Rodney King riots and the campus and USC was pretty much still scorched. You know, the Earth was still scorched after the riots. So was it was just just looking out onto the streets you could that was just palpable. You know that something pretty big at just happened there. So I was just I loved film so much. I wanted to be my wedded to be at one of the great film schools in the country by Dom.

05:59 Buy Dom, but yeah, it was interesting to buy. Yeah, but I also realize was that when you walk outside the campus you get to see the people and the communities in the people around and I think you're always there for me. I was there for my degree or Dare for my passion for film but you really but it's also interesting to take in the culture in the people around and what's going on just beyond the walls of the University.

06:28 And

06:31 Yeah, and then and then I went to NYU there is a professor there for English composition is name was Mark Crawford. He became a mentor of mine. I didn't even think much of riding a time. I would just wanted to be holding a camera or something like that. And on the first day of first day of class see how he says that the work clothes you going to get in. This class is three times the amount of work you're going to get any other class and that was the first day of class and then the second day of class barely no one showed up. There is it was maybe a handful of people left the classroom had like 20 students at the end of second class. There were maybe eight students laugh because people were intimidated he was he was scary initially and he just said he wanted us to become critical thinkers, which was a skilled. I don't know if they know it's a different world now.

07:31 Was back then but he really wanted to teach us to look at the media. Look at the news with a critical eye then just dumb.

07:40 I just take it at face value. So is his rules were simple you would get you wanted us to get subscription to a New York Times every day, which he considered the best newspaper and and and you want to guess in a dictionary and what we would do with you tell us how to read the New York Times. He would say that you know, the most prominent to the most important story is on one margin is on the right hand side and in the second most important stories on the left hand side. So every day in class we would sit together just like eight or seven of us and we would read the story Whenever there was a word we didn't know we would open up our dictionaries and read it out loud and it write it down together vocabulary. He said that if the New York Times was

08:33 But the only newspaper that was written at a first-year college level. And so if we were all first-year college students, so we've therefore we should know all the words so

08:46 It sounds like he had a strong influence on you at that time. He did he did it was to scare. Ya ya. Some people would come in with a dictionary. That was like a man Abridged or paperback and he waved to them out in front of everybody saying will you know your nickel and Diamond? That's why are you getting an NYU education and then trying to save a penny or two on the books? You know, how you want to know the the book South? I did so many papers there. I I misinterpreted. I thought that he wanted us to do a paper about the history of China Japan and Korea all in a weekend but I misinterpreted I was the only one that did that paper. So I've done I did but you don't you don't even want to cross-examine him you don't even win at raise your hand and ask him. Do you have this right? So why I even did a couple of papers that maybe I wasn't even supposed to do that.

09:43 He he pushed me aside one day and he asked me if I do the editor of the school newspaper. He wanted to me to be the newspaper and turn them down because I wanted to be in Film Production and there was also a class or a little Club where we were making films. And so I I had to kind of decide am I going to be in Fillmore my going to be a ride or so I figured I came from Cleveland to New York to buy way of UFC 2 to be in film. So I chose the film program in there. I met other people who are in The General Studies program. We didn't quite make it to the film program yet, but we all binds it and it was a very powerful bonding experience. The the people I met there ended up becoming friends.

10:32 Who I took with me many years after after and why you so that was great and then and then towards the end when I was done, I asked him for that recommendation and he said something, you know, which was really touching you said in all my years of being a teacher to major universities that you know, he's hard put to remember a student like me. So I was touched by his words. It was a very simple letter of recommendation that something I hold the close to my heart cuz later I took a class by another one of his who is a philosophy class who is also someone who took a class under it that Professor Mark Crawford and we became friends and when I went to film school, I wanted to make a movie about Mark Crawford the professor. I he he turned me down. I didn't know it at the time but he was very sick. So I did it on this other professor.

11:32 Who I love very much and who share the same things about them critical thinking and philosophy and he became he was after I made that film I asked him to have like a sure can be on one of my movies and died in between takes he he said that Mark Crawford I passed away and

11:55 And it was and it was and I didn't know and it was It was kind of earth-shattering. I went to the the GSP program had like a little memorial for him where a few students were they are in he was a big Jazz Aficionado and he loved this us on Cherokee.

12:14 And so they played that and had a few words and and then and then and then just moved on and then we'd like to just move down but I think I'll always take a certain part of Mark Crawford with me throughout life. I think to this day, you know, especially with the climates. We are all in as a nation Imports of words and what you say and how you say it and where your sources come from and analyzing just to something I took with me and I feel like I took it for granted. I think it's the that's the that's the crazy thing. I thought everybody had kind of taken a class with Mark Crawford along with me by realized I was the only guy I was a very few and I was

13:00 Is something I keep close to my heart that I realized and so I guess moving on is something I need to I want to.

13:08 Kind of do with my own writing to whether it's creative or nonfiction carry that same kind of message and also in my work is a medical professional to

13:21 I found it interesting how things changed and transition during that. Can you talk a little bit about that? Like film how it transition how digital game from the way you learned?

13:39 Oh, yeah. Well that is considering that's funny. I graduated in 97. That's a great question. Yeah, I graduated 97 and they have these computers called avid's which were always were Mac computers Apple Computers, but the Avid was the program at the time and that was the gold standard for editing by so you you in order to take the average class to know how to do what you had to take a prerequisite for editing number one. And so I took that and I was all prepared to take everything number to forever, but then I realized I had enough credits to graduate so I was unable to take that class.

14:22 Bye.

14:24 By the way, I ended up happening was that was the last year once I graduate does the last year they had prerequisites like that because computers were slowly becoming the standard moving forward everybody. All the other additional classes just took are the Avid class as if it was a requirement. So it was kind of the end of a kind of where it's at feel like I feel now I talked about like the end of an era cuz it was the end of touching film. It was the end of holding something in your hands making a kite and moving something tactile a you know, what the click of a mouse and if you don't like it you can click on do when I redo and undo and it became iOS they became more sterile sterile. I mean, I just worked it's a lot easier cuz if you lose a few frames it's a lot easier to click on do but there was something romantic. I guess they're old-fashioned about it cuz I knew I was cutting the same way all night.

15:19 Idols were cutting and I knew that this Cutting Room or the same place at some of my Idols had come from some great directors to to to be there to do it the same way that they did was great too and we were using cameras at the time with film but this was the way that lack of a few changes here and there they've been doing it from the get-go from the beginning of the century and and I guess it was time for change, you know, it was the Advent of the digital Revolution and we were kind of on the cusp of that.

15:51 It's all but that's a good question.

15:54 Thank you for sharing.

16:01 So yeah.

16:04 Were there any other teachers that had a strong influence in your life?

16:10 From either a high schooler or college during that time.

16:18 How many others yeah, yeah. Yeah, well.

16:25 Yeah, like I said those two professors, I had an Arts professor in high school as name was mr. Florentine and T. He he was a great professor cuz he kind of showed the building blocks of what I took to be an art and I was thinking about being an making art by profession to going in but it was good because he kind of show that it's not just it's a craft the craft just like everything else and it takes discipline that takes practice and he showed that I was a great gift that a teacher gave me cuz he kind of took some of the Romanticism away from any kind of shit. You know what it's going to take to be make this your profession and it would take a lot of work and I and maybe I was just lazy but I just decide to go another route but they'll film was grabbing me. I was influenced by so many movies that that's that's the way it went to.

17:26 So yeah, I'd like to ask you a few questions.

17:32 So, can you tell me a little bit about where were you born in Hollywood California from Hollywood to hear? My dad was from LA Los Angeles and my mom was from Madera. So he met my mom while he was in the military stationed out here in Lemoore, California, and they have moved to LA and then she wanted to raise this here in the valley San Joaquin Valley. So we moved back to Madera California, and that's where I grew up.

18:10 And so how long did you spend in Hollywood?

18:14 How about about 4 years or so and then we lived in Azusa till I was like six and we moved to Madera the time remember anything in Hollywood. You have any memories? No, not at all worried about Azusa Azusa China. Yeah, we lived in I remember we lived on Arthur Street and we lived in a two-bedroom house Pines like a

18:49 It's called Rite Aid now they can't think of the name what it used to be called. Thrifty's used to be called Thrifty's and

18:57 I remember just participating in the lake little Community chair and being in a parade there and with my sister miles her sister and

19:11 Just remember my parents Garden in the backyard and then we had a dog named Rainbow and I can't think of much more than that. Just I know my cousins were closed. So those were good times when I was little

19:26 Yeah. Yeah, and I know what was that like and then you moved to Madera from their yeah that what was what was it like to move from Azusa to Madera? What was at change? It was just I think I have more memories of growing up in Madera cuz I was little bit older we had moved out to a little was considered a rural area at that time that my uncle owned my parents are renting from him while we're trying to fall they were establishing themselves, and I just remember playing a lot there. We me and my sisters and my sister. My oldest sister would climb tree is an playing in the back and Fields of dirt. There was just we had a pond that we'd wanted a pool that we would just fill up and just

20:26 Jump in there and it was an apologist the pond and we would we would play with polliwogs.

20:37 And so we collect polliwogs and yeah, we had ducks that those are good times at that house. Yeah, very creative kind of boat. Did you where you imagine you were? I don't know. I don't know. It just seems always fun. Just being out in the yard. And like I said we to climb trees and I remember we used to climb up to the street. I had a Mourning Dove and we would go look at the morning dove and just yeah just kind of

21:10 Are kind of like our friend so you just listen to it kind of thing. And then that was kind of like our little Adventure there and I know who are your parents while my mom is she has the teachers paid for the high school and my dad was a mailman.

21:33 Mail carrier I got you.

21:37 High chair

21:38 What were what were they like growing up there pretty supportive of me and my sister they always wanted us to do well in school. They're pretty active with us when we were younger. So yeah, they were there pretty I would say adventurous at the time. So we would do a lot of camping we would travel we go to the beach we would take drive back and forth to Los Angeles is a family drives to the coast camping. Like I said, I think we would go up to

22:26 Can you think of any way to go at 6 called dinkey Creek camping up there? We would do hiking up there. That's kind of like an Oakhurst area around here.

22:41 Yeah, nice. Yeah, we would have campfires and camp out in the tent go swimming in the lake. And how was your relationship with your parents at that time? Always right?

23:00 When I was younger, I would say in elementary aged. It was pretty it was pretty good. I know I always had had a bad tempers what my mom would say that aren't already but they would try to get me to lighten up a little.

23:25 El debate Rie. How did they deal with that?

23:30 You know, that's a good question. Roku.

23:37 Aisha

23:39 And then and then moving on from being a child, but how did your relationship develop as you grew up when I was in junior high school. They had another child. So we're about 10 years apart. So is like a lot of adjusting cuz I was a baby of the family for 10 years and so my sister was born and there's just an adjustment. He needs from from going from teenager having a new sister and then a year later having another sister. So I have two little two younger sisters and so was just a transition during that time.

24:20 So just basically growing up fast it almost felt like we're raising the two little ones. So we were their babysitter. We had a change them how to dress them be them to change their diaper and my parents we lived out in the country and we're pretty conservative with aren't we lived off of a well? We lived off propane tank. We weren't connected to the city. My parents are very conservative recycled stuff, you know, so my sisters were cloth diapers. So when we are change them we would have got poked by these huge diaper pins and that was like 1989 and 91 still think that you take that kind of attitude towards resources in the environment with you today.

25:20 I would say so-so recycle. Try to yeah try to use what I have the best that I can.

25:31 Yeah, so what was some of the what was the worst thing you ever did since you had a little bit of a temper you remember what was one thing that really got to you? I don't think I mean I was looking back and I think because my parents were so occupied with my little sisters during that transition time when I was in high school that they didn't really pay attention to what I had done. So I was able to get away with a lot in high school. So I went and and so yeah, I would hang out with my friends on the weekends and that we would go

26:10 Are you go to parties lie to go cruising on Blackstone?

26:14 We would have yeah, we could go bowling. Luckily. My friends were when I look back of their we're all pretty innocent. We just were Risk Takers. So I would say the most craziest thing we did was we are you were staying over my friend Megan's house at the time and I should we must spend 15 or so cuz we don't have my license yet. And so in the middle of the night, we pushed her dad's car out to the side of the house and then she started it and then we just pushed it the rest of the way to the car and then we all got in and have they ever found out. I don't think your parents sent it. So that was fun. I was kind of innocent fun. Yeah.

27:02 Nice, and so it will I wait and you spent a lot of time with your older and what was your relationship like with your older sibling more? She was we're very close. I looked up to her. I followed mostly everything she until a certain age and I would always steal her clothes and she would get upset at me and just kind of emo kind of dark.

27:32 But we are we are pretty clothes are still pretty close. I would say.

27:40 What was the what was something that you what was something that you did that you would that you followed her around with what was something that you did?

27:50 Just how her style was like I would want to dress like her I would want what she wanted actually my mom when we are growing up. We are 3 years apart. My mom with dresses the same. So even from When We Were Young we dress with should put us in the same outfits that people thought we were twins to certain point and I think that kind of carried over to my teen years and her style her sense of style. Did you look like growing up look like

28:28 Everything else is when I was younger that is just that always a chunky kid and being Mexican American people and my parents look having brown skin and dark hair. I was the light one in the family. So it was people thought it belonged to my parents. So I had blond hair when I was little I mean, I was just lighter

28:55 Oh, but

28:57 So that's how I know which is interesting. Yeah, I didn't really really didn't pick up on that until later on in life. He answer. My mom was telling me that she would walk around with me and people look at her like what are you doing with that child like she doesn't belong to me. So that's how my Mom Mom's first option was where you were you happy.

29:26 I would say yes looking back.

29:34 Yeah, why would why do you think is your best memory from childhood?

29:40 There's not the main thing like looking back at my childhood. I think that just the plain outside living out in the country. Just enjoying my environment. I loved being outside. Like I said, I used to climb trees and we had sex and we had a whole bunch of dogs and two cats to Ducks. Yeah. I was just I'm just enjoying that time of my life just using my imagination playing with my sisters Asha. And did you have a did you have a worse memory?

30:28 I'm sure I do just there's a couple of them.

30:33 There is one incident which I have found or I was thinking back is walking because we didn't have access to a phone at some point walking barefoot about 2 miles to get to a lake a liquor store to use a pay phone. So that was like one of my worst memory holding my sister and just walking down there to try to get to a phone with my mom but it won't go too much into it. But that was the worst memory that I remember cuz I have blisters on my feet. Yeah, so we are out about 2 miles from not walking on gravel.

31:14 And I who who are your best friends growing up? And I had three best friends have one. She her name was the Monica. The other one was Anna. I knew them since fourth grade and we met in elementary school actually met Monica in Elementary School 4th grade and then and in sixth grade and my best friend Megan and Junior High.

31:41 I asked him. What were they like and there are like I said before they're really

31:48 Kind of like innocent kids... Him. I felt like I ain't looking back. We're just all well-rounded. I fell and innocent just kind of Risk Takers but also staying out of trouble keeping, you know, having goals. We kind of all had goals to do something better with our lives and kind of fed off each other through high school, which I think helps direct me to going to college. What kind of goals did you have growing up?

32:19 Well in high school, I worked her pediatrician. So I wanted to be a pediatrician doctor at that point. So so that kind of helped and then my friends kind of that big, you know, Big Dreams to go away to college together Valley and my goal is to get out of the valley to but I stayed here and went to Fresno State and it was the best time of my life.

32:49 What made it the best time of your life just College Life College life being in a sorority having different friends. And yeah, just

33:01 Sister having a different support system at the time being being independent living on my own.

33:11 What do Vasquez that feel like freedom freedom? Yeah just felt just independent.

33:23 Yeah.

33:26 And I how would you describe the perfect day when you were young?

33:35 The perfect day

33:38 I was I don't let me see. I always say the perfect day. Just hanging out with my sisters maybe camping or traveling somewhere. Just being in the car together singing Talking. Just enjoying each other.

34:01 And why did you think you would be like when you Grew Older? What were your plans? What were you thinking about? I remember thinking that I would be married by 24. I would have four kids and our view Dr. All before the age of 30.

34:22 Add Siri ambitious.

34:30 Did you have any role models?

34:36 Not in the family. Like I said just working for the pediatrician. He was my role model. He encouraged me to go further. He just said that in medicine. You never going to be out of a job. You're always going to have a secure position and I think yeah just my family just was going and I had my cousin that was a nurse and just kind of just going into the medical field.

35:03 Was that a big influence on me? I was the only the first one of the family to go into the medical field in my immediate family field.

35:17 I wanted to give back to my community. I know the main thing that why I went into medical field was cuz my grandmother died of lung cancer and she had as simple life. She never smoked or anything and she lives in Los Angeles grew up in Texas and they raised their family in Los Angeles and that was a big influence on me or impact during that time. Just how quickly she passed away within 3 months and I just remember visiting her for Christmas and her having this cough and in before we not knowing it 3 months later diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and just passing away away pretty quickly and just seeing what she went through in that short amount of time. Just wanted to help people I wanted to

36:08 Prevent that from happening to other people so

36:14 How do I write how do you think that she got that cancer? If she didn't smoke that's the way I mean now that I know more about is probably in Heritage probably just had a gene Gene and probably could be were what she died from or it could have started somewhere else, but we really don't know but that's what I couldn't figure out. What was your relation are what was your relationship like with your grandmother?

36:44 She was a strong woman. She raised six kids. She took care of us when we did live in LA on my friends work. So she was a big influence on us. She would help us with like she was the main person, you know to help us with reading, you know, with the we would tell her she would read with us. We'd watch like Sesame Street. She would talk to us about different things and shows how to make little little thing she would so she did a lot of sewing should make our clothes for us shows how to make Barbie clothes that type of thing so special

37:32 Do you have any favorite stories growing up anything favorite that you share around the house holds or around Thanksgiving time that you guys like to bring up first or you're known for?

37:46 I can't think of anything right now.

37:53 So what was it like transitioning from from middle school or Elementary School the high school in in Madera? What was that like

38:06 It was interesting you said transition from elementary to Middle School in the middle school high school yet was little bit. It was a big transition actually because it's kind of my friends went their own way, and then you have to find yourself during that time, and so it was quite a bit of transition, but I had my one of my good friends Meghan. She was in the band The Color Guard she participate in band and colorguard and I was in a band in junior high is so that kind of brought us together again in high school because she helped me try out for color guard and so and Co in high school, I was in Color Guard till my junior or tell my senior year.

38:56 And so it's kind of like a family and itself at that time. He was a good outlet for me during that. Of my life. So that was fine. We would go and competitions. I got to see different parts of the Valley in California because I got to compete with other high schools around the valley.

39:17 In competition

39:19 So that was the fun time. Yeah.

39:24 Sounds like it anything else you want to share now. I think that's it. Thank you. Thank you.