Portland Magazine
October 24, 2022
IN EARLY SEPTEMBER, Walter Thompson-Hernández ’09 returned to The Bluff for the first time in more than 10 years to share his short film—If I Go Will They Miss Me—for which he won a 2022 Sundance award. It is currently being adapted into a feature. A former New York Times journalist, Walter is the host of the podcast California Love, and the author of The Compton Cowboys: The New Generation of Cowboys in America’s Urban Heartland.
The 12-minute film, written and directed by Thompson-Hernández, was inspired by a recent event. On January 14, 2020, Delta airlines dumped roughly 15,000 gallons of jet fuel on an area of Los Angeles that included residential neighborhoods and six schools. The New York Times reported that children were playing outside at one of the schools and that 60 adults and children reported minor injuries. The film was also inspired by Walter’s childhood. He grew up in a community under that same flight path and, like the film’s young protagonist, often dreamed about flight.
About 75 people—students, faculty, staff, and alums—came to the Brian Doyle Auditorium for a screening and conversation with Walter about his career, his education, his experiences at UP, how he navigates his career, where he finds belonging, how he sees “beauty in the hood,” and the choices he made for the film (the actors are all family and friends).
Toward the end of the session, a first-year student asked a question about home and wrestling with the thoughts, perhaps even guilt, one might feel about those left behind.
“This film is also about that,” Walter said. “It’s also about the airplanes that take us places, places my family has never been or never will go. Something profound happens the first time you leave home. For me everything changed. And I had the realization that nothing will ever be the same. We are different. When we try to come back and pick up with the people we left, people look at us differently, speak to us differently. When you go to university or graduate school, that means something to some people and you are no longer who you were. That’s something I think about every day.
“I spend more time outside of home than in my home at this point. What is home? How do I define home? Is home a physical place? Is it an emotional place? Is it spiritual? I think for me, the past twelve years, home has been more emotional and spiritual than it has been physical. I think that helps me make sense of all the opportunities. It’s what I’m doing. I’m making and creating home wherever I go.”
This event was co-hosted by Portland Magazine and the Office of International Education, Diversity, and Inclusion.
University of Portland
5000 N. Willamette Blvd.,
Portland, Oregon 97203-5798
503.943.8000
This website uses cookies to track information for analytics purposes. You can view the full University of Portland privacy policy for more information.
