Our people: Dreams come true – just like the movies

Born in upstate New York and raised outside of Philadelphia, Jon Barr never expected to wind up in Portales. But love has a way of finding a way -- and bringing people to unexpected places.

Nearly 20 years after breaking up, Barr reconnected with his once girlfriend, Mary Ayala, via Facebook. She, now the dean of the Liberal Arts and Sciences at Eastern New Mexico University, was a Portales resident. Barr at the time had just finished his bachelor's degree in film. He realized that the only position for him in this area was as a film professor. So, he did what he had to do, and went back to school to qualify himself for a teaching position at ENMU. He and Ayala were married while he completed his graduate program.

Now, Barr is in his 11th year of teaching and works as the chair of the Department of Theatre and Digital Filmmaking for the Greyhounds.

When he's not busy with his academic and family responsibilities, Barr enjoys cooking, performing as an amateur magician and mind reader, and playing Pokémon Go.

Q: What was your first job?

A: I used to mow lawns when I was a kid. I wanted to make a lot of money. I was kind of an entrepreneur I guess, in that way.

But my first official job would probably be as an usher at the movie theater in my hometown. I remember the manager there -- he was going to college for film -- and I just always thought, "Oh, that's so crazy. What does he think? That he can make movies? That's ridiculous."

And even actually when I went back to college, I thought, "I want to be a filmmaker just because I like movies and why not study film for fun?"

And then, when the professors were telling us about the cameras, and that we really actually were going to make movies as class assignments, I thought, "I can't believe you can go to college for this."

So now that I teach it, I can understand that film is a really, really valid degree. By studying it, you learn a lot of stuff that helps to prepare you for working in film or just in life in general.

But I remember at the time as a film student, just thinking, "I can't believe it. We're getting away with something here."

Q: When did you know you wanted to work in performing arts? How did you know?

A: It was April of 1982. My friends and I had a little business as magicians and puppeteers. We were doing a show at the local library. So I always knew that I loved that, but the idea of performing professionally just seemed so foreign to me. It just seemed like a fun hobby.

But then, when I was in college for film, I remember just like all the sudden, I had this feeling that I had something good to say and that I could do something that was worthwhile with film.

So my perspective kind of shifted when it felt like something I really could do professionally.

Then, when I reconnected with my now wife, I felt that in order to live in this area with her -- I'd have to become a professor to be a filmmaker still. And then being a professor, I've fallen in love with teaching too.

It's interesting how I've sort of fallen into these professions, but actually really fallen in love with them, too.

Q: What is your favorite thing about your job?

A: Probably helping young people that have the dream of becoming filmmakers to realize that their dream can come true. It's to kind of give them the same experience I had. I think we always think of filmmakers like, "If you want to be a director, then you have to be Steven Spielberg." But there's actually a lot of people who work in film that aren't trying to be Spielberg. And they make a living, and they do stuff they're proud of. They can support a family.

So why not let aspiring filmmakers do that? Why do people have to become accountants or computer programmers if that's not what they really want to do?

Q: Favorite thing about living in this area?

A: There's so many things I do love about living in this area. As I mentioned, I am an amateur magician and mind reader. When I got into it as a kid I thought, "I can't do that professionally." But then when I got older I realized I wanted to do that again. And I just said, "I want to put on a magic show." And everybody was like, "Yeah! Let's do it." So I feel like there's really a lot of support for experimentation in this area.

When people want to do something new here, people support it. People come. I feel like in a big city, you don't necessarily have that. There's a lot more support here for people who want to try new things in a small town.

Q: If you could play any role in any play or movie, what would it be? Why?

A: My favorite Marvel character has always been Doctor Strange. Although I don't think I look anything like Doctor Strange. I'd never be cast as Doctor Strange, but I just think he's a really cool character.

Q: What is the most daring thing you have ever done?

A: When I was in high school, the first class I really liked was Spanish. So in the late 1980s when our church sent a mission to El Salvador and Nicaragua, I went as the interpreter when I was in high school. I guess that was kind of daring, but it was really meaningful to go out of the country for the first time and to be helping people who were really struggling with poverty and injustice.

We weren't there to convert anybody. We were just there to comfort people who were suffering.

Q: What is your proudest accomplishment?

A: I'm really proud to be a part of a family. I'm really proud of my family, and their accomplishments.

I will say, I was 38 when I got my bachelor's degree. So I spent almost 15 years after dropping out of college initially, just working. And I never thought I could go back. But then I not only went back, but I ended up becoming a college professor, and now a department chair. I guess professionally that's been very satisfying.

And also, going from thinking that I didn't have what it takes and then realizing that yeah, I do. It's just hard work. And doing the hard work to actually accomplish my dreams.

Q: Do you prefer movies or plays? What is your all-time favorite of each?

A: The thing I love about movies is you can really use pictures to tell a story that gets people emotionally. With plays it's that live thing of realizing you're right there, and you're seeing something that will never be repeated exactly the way you're experiencing it. I love both of those things.

I'm friends with Leonard Madrid, who's from Portales and he's an alum of ENMU, and he's also a celebrated playwright. So a few years ago, I was able to direct the world premiere of one of his new plays. That's probably my favorite play because of that personal connection. It's called, "Las Arañas," which means, "The Spiders."

Probably up there in my top five movies is, "The Savages." It was written and directed by Tamara Jenkins and lot of people probably never saw it. But I think she's such an interesting director and writer. She writes about real-life experiences in funny but also a little bit dark ways. It's kind of a movie about growing up and problems that people face in middle age.

Q: What is your favorite childhood memory?

A: When I was really young, I had the chance to go to a big church conference in San Diego. So my Dad and I went in an RV from Philadelphia to San Diego. It was a big long family road trip. Even though I was only 6 years old, I still remember how much fun that was, laughing with my sisters. And I'm still a huge fan of long road trips.

Q: If you could meet any historical figure, who would you choose and why?

A: I'd be really interested in meeting Franklin Delano Roosevelt. He got re-elected so many times, he helped bring the country out of the Depression and then helped us to win World War II. All while he was struggling with disability. I would really love to chat with FDR, learn more about him more and his point of view.

Q: What is the best piece of advice you've ever received?

A: I had a teacher who once reminded me that we can afford to be generous. So that's kind of how I approach life. It's so easy to think about how somebody hurt you, or how you were slighted, or to think that people deserve less. But when we think about all gifts that we've been given, and how fortunate we are in any way – we can always be generous with other people.

Not just with money or with resources, but just by giving people the benefit of the doubt and being generous in our appraisal of other people -- because we can afford that.

We don't gain anything from being stingy with our treatment of our fellow humans