>> From WXXI News.

This is Connections.

I'm Evan Dawson.

Our connection this hour was made in an elementary school classroom where a man is giving a presentation.

Corey R Taylor attended the elementary school in downstate New York when he was a young boy.

Today he's taking questions from students, questions like, were you scared to go to school?

And was it hard to get friends?

And how does it feel to always be walking around and having people look at you?

Corey answers the questions with patience and honesty.

The students listen with rapt attention and respect.

They seem to quietly absorb his answers, especially when he says in answering the question about people staring at him, that he feels different.

Corey was born with craniofacial deformity.

He underwent 50 surgeries before the age of 19.

An award winning documentary called Don't Look Away tells his remarkable story and explores how his facial difference has affected his daily life.

Corey is open about how these experiences have shaped his personality.

You can see the film during an online screening event next week, and we really can't recommend it enough.

But first, we talk with Corey Taylor and filmmaker Joseph Lingad as part of Wxxi.org Dialogue on Disability week, and I'd like to welcome our guests.

Corey is with us and it's nice to have you, Corey.

How are you?

>> It's a pleasure to be here.

Thank you so much for having me.

>> And welcome to Joseph Lingad, the filmmaker of Don't Look Away.

Hello, Joseph.

Thanks for being with us, >> I, Evan, thanks for having having us.

Certainly honored.

>> So the event is going to be hosted by WXXI move to include initiative.

It's next Thursday, January 22nd, 6 to 8 p.m.

it's a free virtual screening of the documentary and a workshop by the filmmakers.

It's going to be an interactive workshop on the impact of the film.

There will be discussion, resource sharing, and this film was named Best Short Film from 2024 at the Toronto Documentary and Short Film Festival.

It placed second in the Best Short Film 2024 at the New Jersey Documentary Film Festival.

And I have to say, Joseph, last last evening we were kind of getting ready for this program at the last minute here, and producer Megan Mack sent me a note saying, I just watched the film.

And I mean, it is awesome.

It is great.

It is powerful.

And I know it's affected a lot of people.

How do you feel about it?

>> I feel good, I mean, you know, I wanted to make this film just obviously to raise awareness about this, this community that's often overlooked or rejected or represented.

And that's one reason why I wanted to make this film.

Another reason was my own personal struggles of of having a facial difference.

Having was being I was born with a cleft lip and cleft palate and through, through through Corey.

I was able to tell in some ways my story through him.

>> So let's talk about Corey's story here.

And, Corey, I want to give you plenty of space to talk about it.

But my first question is why did you agree to do this in a film?

Why did you want this story out there for the public?

>> It's actually funny.

The timing could not have been better because I had just at the time, started to.

I wrote a like a basically like a personal essay, and I wanted to see if I could get it published because I wanted to share my story.

I wanted I felt like one.

I felt like people needed to stop judging books by its cover, and I felt like my story could help do that.

And honestly, I felt like the experiences that I have had in my life were almost two much to keep to myself, because it's like there's so much to it that I just wanted to just share my share myself.

Some share my journey with the world.

So when I found Joseph, who he understood where I was coming from as a person, he understood my facial difference.

And when he came to me with this, when I found him through I oh, my God, I forget the name.

he'll he'll tell you the name.

but I had emailed this a group, and I messaged this woman and I said, here's my story.

Can you, you know, if you know anybody that would want to do something with this, let me know.

And I she sent I, she shared it like published it on their their website and everything.

And she's like, I don't really hear, you know, much about stuff like that.

But if I do, I'll let you know.

Next thing you know, Joseph contacts her like a I think a few weeks later and she's like, Corey, you're not going to believe this.

And the rest is history.

>> Wow.

so let's talk about your story.

You're from Middletown, New York.

Middle of what?

In the film, you describe it as the middle of nowhere.

And you were born with craniofacial deformity.

Your skull and face didn't develop typically.

So what did doctors tell your parents about your outlook and your condition?

>> When I was born, they literally told my parents that I was going to be deaf, blind and mentally handicapped if I lived at all.

They basically said that there was I was going to.

If I lived, I was going to die.

By the age of 13, 16, 18.

Look at me, now, 38 years old, still here, they said, because they literally my dad always tells the story of doctor who was one of my first surgeons, and he's one who my like, my family like, owes him, like their life.

He always says he held your brain in the palm of his hand.

Now, probably a bit over, you know, over dramatic, but not by much.

But that kind of tells you where the surgeries were as far as the severity.

So to go from that and doctors saying, yeah, he's going to, you know, basically die or he's going to have a lot of issues.

And next thing you know, my mom starts seeing that they're saying I'm legally I'm completely blind.

My mom's telling them, I don't think that's true.

This the doctors tell my mother, you're seeing what you want to see.

They she takes a penny, says Corey, throws the penny on the floor and says, pick that up.

I got off her lap, bent down, picked it up and handed it to the doctor, and he says, oh, I guess he can see.

Which told me at a very young age, doctors don't know everything.

>> Wow.

and so how is your vision today?

and, and how did your vision develop over the years?

>> My vision today is I have limited vision in my right eye.

through the years.

Because as I'm getting older, you know, like, different stuff happens, like, I have cataracts that unfortunately can't be treated because I have something it's called.

It's a slit, like cut in my eye, basically, from just the way I was born.

And if they do anything like laser eye surgery, it could literally, like, basically zap the eye.

So stuff like that isn't doable.

So I have issues with glare now that I really didn't have as bad before.

So.

But it's I've been managing like I just had surgery where they were able to lift the eye a little bit, and just doing that has helped a lot.

So like just stuff like that and like protecting as much as I can with glasses and things like that as much as possible to basically keep the eye physically safe as well as safe from strain.

>> When were you old enough?

When were you old enough to understand if kids at school were looking at you differently or making comments, or even whether it was affecting your ability to make friends.

>> As a very at a very young age, I barely even knew anything was wrong with me.

And I knew if anybody said anything.

My cousin Justin, who like we were like the same age, but he was like my hero as a kid, like he was the one who anyone messed with me.

I just stuck with him.

So if anyone even said hi to me the wrong way, he would be like, what did you just say to him?

So I had like a lot of like support and protectors that like for a very, you know, at a very young age never even bothered me.

It wasn't until I was around like ten, I want to say between 8 and 10 that I really started to understand it.

And it actually took me until like, like a few years earlier, I was like 4 or 5 years old.

I got into a fight with my cousin and he pushed me.

So I get up and I rub my nose and I'm like, oh, he flattened my nose.

>> Oh.

>> Now again, that tells you right there.

Like at a very young age, I had no idea anything was even wrong.

It wasn't really until like, the later years in school that I was like, oh God, all right, people are looking, I'm not going to be getting a girl because of how I look and this and that.

It wasn't like I said, like the ten and above that it really like started to get into my head.

And I hope that helps.

>> Yeah.

And there are clips in the film where we see people staring at you in different public places, and when you explain that to the elementary school students, you know, you handled it very graciously.

You said that these people are not used to seeing someone with your face.

How do you handle those moments?

Those people?

>> It depends on the day, to be honest, because some days I'll notice I'm like looking and I'll look back and I'll, I'll like smile or smirk to kind of be like, I see you.

It's okay.

But also to be like, hey, I see you.

So watch it.

But on other days it's more like I look and be like, here we go.

Oh brother.

And like, it's just kind of like, like those days.

It's just like, give me a break, you know?

But to be fair, those days again, even on those days, I say it's not their fault.

This isn't them being hateful, isn't them.

You know, it's not like they're coming up to me being like, what the hell happened to you?

These are people that are looking because they don't know, so they're watching to kind of watch how I am, see how I act.

And honestly, if watching me makes it so they don't judge me or think they know, look.

>> Well and what they couldn't know is that you had 50 surgeries before the age of 19 on your face, and in the film we learned that, you know, through your, your sister who, you know, you have this interesting relationship with your sister said that you had a lot of hopes before, a lot of the surgeries, a lot of hopes that you would come out feeling different or feeling like you look different.

And there was often disappointment.

Can you describe what that was like?

>> Yeah.

So as a, you know, having all these surgeries and, you know, going into this room with a team of doctors and they're like, the main doctor is looking at you almost like you're a piece of art.

And he's like talking about, oh, he like, this is going to be great.

We're going to do this.

We're going to do that.

It puts ideas in your head and you start to figure you're going to go in looking like this and come out looking like Brad Pitt or Matthew McConaughey, and then what ends up happening is a lot of these surgeries are not a one and done.

A lot of these surgeries are a process.

And they didn't exactly explain that enough to me as a child.

And next thing you know, I'm having a surgery where I have a blue wax brace on my nose, and I'm thinking when it gets taken off, I'm going to look amazing.

The doctor at the time, who was a fellow, he like a student doctor who to this day, I hope I get to be in a room with to handle issues.

he literally walked in and again, this is a wax brace nose that has like stitches attached to it.

He goes snip, snip and rips it off to the point that I went, oh, like it hurt.

He then completely, my mom's trying to warn me, Corey, it's not going to look like this before he she can even get the rest out.

He grabs a mirror and shoves it in my face.

It was a moment that to this day, like I will never forget, because it was like I was looking into a horror movie.

And the way that I looked at that moment was not how I was ever expecting to look.

After recovering from surgery.

And it just, it, it broke me because I again, I went in there thinking, this is going to be the big one because they were saying how big the surgery was going to be.

And I thought that meant it was going to be done, or at least again, like, I would have loved some, you know, some preparation.

But they no warning or anything.

And that just looking at in the mirror and seeing that and then needing to go out into the public with basically I had no skin on my nose at all.

It was literally like, this was here, but this was not here.

They wanted me to go out and they were like, yeah, now we're going to take some pictures.

So we want you to go back into the waiting room and wait.

My mom says to them, there's other children out there.

Yeah.

So one, you're not going to make them, you know, have them see this and think, oh, my God, what's happening to me when I go in there?

And two, you're not going to have them staring at him.

So he rolls his eyes and gives me like a, like a little bandage and puts it on my nose.

And he had no, no remorse, no issue with it at all.

So that made it a whole situation a lot worse, where not only did I look the way that I did after surgery thinking I was going to look great, but this guy completely just he did not care.

And he was a medical professional.

>> I'm sorry man.

And but I also know Corey, you know, you you've had other procedures since and there's this moment.

And I want to ask the filmmaker Joseph Lingad where you ask Corey if he feels handsome and then you ask him if he likes his face.

And, you know, you get some interesting responses.

But having been through what you've been through, I mean, it's different, Joseph.

But you've had, you know, sort of your own journey in kind of accepting your face.

Tell me about that question, those questions and why you wanted to to pose that to Corey Joseph.

>> I asked him, I as I told Corey, all the questions I've, I've asked him are the questions I asked myself, you know and and similar to what Corey said in the film I kind of feel the same way, you know, it's it's it's it's one day I feel decent and the next day I feel like Freddy Krueger, so to speak.

but I, you know, I there wasn't all the questions that I asked either.

Corey or to the other was the films actually a part of a larger film?

it's all the questions I've experienced, and I didn't want to pull any, you know any sucker punches, so to speak, or, you know, TMZ questions.

and so there were just genuine questions that I, I myself had thought about and, and experience.

>> Yeah.

I mean, Joseph, I want to I want to say this in, I think as delicate a way as I can here because most of the audience today has not gone through what you've gone through and or gone through what Corey's gone through.

But we're trying to, I think, really open our minds and learn about different experiences.

But at the same time, anybody listening right now probably has something that you don't like about yourself.

I mean, like that's a very human thing.

That's a very common thing.

And accepting those things and not beating yourself up for those things is a process.

And so what works for you, Joseph?

You said there are some days you feel good and some days you feel like Freddy Krueger.

What works for you to kind of get in a better mental space?

>> I think.

>> Age age.

>> The wisdom of.

>> Age.

>> I mean, wisdom of age, of not caring.

I think going being filming eight years, I've filmed this.

So this project is like, as I mentioned earlier, is part of a larger story.

I started back in 2017, and Corey is one of four characters I've been following and listening to their stories and their experiences have actually helped me grow and and kind of like just deal with my facial differences or with my own facial difference.

and that has helped me quite a bit grow.

And just to, like, accept, like, yes, I have scars.

My face is a little crooked or my nose is crooked.

and also what has helped me is I've been lucky enough to be a father to a 5-year-old son.

even though he would tell you he's almost six.

that, you know, , it's it's just perspective.

And what I mean by that is like, I, I, I now.

>> Why did that person scare you?

Why is that missing arm scare you?

And he didn't really.

And then he didn't really answer.

I didn't, I guess I didn't expect him to answer that.

But like I told him, you know, sometimes people are are afraid of scars.

And I have scars.

And my son said, well, I'm not you're not scary.

You know I guess it kind of goes back to like don't judge a. In like a much better relationship now as adults than we were as kids.

>> Well, I'm I am glad to hear that.

I, I'm going to get to some of the challenges you faced with employment and housing, but I, I want to tell people you're an actor, you found some success working in films.

You were cast in the film A Different Man, for example.

And can you tell us a little bit about that experience?

And we'll talk about what you want to do with your acting career?

>> Yeah, definitely.

So when acting was something that literally happened when we started this and it was just a it was random because I was doing stuff on Tick Tock where I was doing videos and about my life, about living with a facial difference, stuff like that.

And oh, sorry.

Ignore that.

>> It's okay man.

>> And it's yes, it's my mail.

Just ignore it.

so when I but when I was doing Tick Tock, I actually had someone reach out because I was being very smart with my tags.

I was putting facial difference, acting actor because I started seeing, like, acting challenges and stuff.

I was like, I want to try that.

So I started doing it and someone reached out and next thing you know, I was in, I was an extra with a different man.

They then called me back because they wanted me to have another role where they wanted me to.

They wanted to put me in another scene.

When that happened, I was like, okay, I want to do this.

I want to do more of this.

This isn't it.

Because it just felt like it.

I felt at home on the set, and I always knew I wanted to do something.

I wanted to write because I thought, with this, someone like me was never going to be able to do anything respectful in Hollywood because growing up, you know, ten years old, in 1998, the South Park era.

Let's be honest, if they had someone like me not, you know, necessarily South Park, but the movies and stuff that was out that back then they wouldn't have used me appropriately.

They would have used me as the butt of jokes.

They would have used me in like, horrific ways.

So as a kid, I was like, it never was even a thought.

So then when a different man happened, I literally said, like, I want to do this.

And I have now had 4 to 5 roles since then, and I'm hoping that I had to take a year off because I've been trying to get dental work done that went completely haywire because of dental people.

I had to take an entire year off, but now this year, I'm actually about to get a bridge and about to be able to resume acting.

And I am so excited to get back into it, because I did.

I was able to do one job last year at the end of the year, and it just left me wanting more.

So hopefully it's the start of the start of something very special because I really, I think Hollywood could use someone that looks like me.

>> Well.

>> And not just in roles that are different, but roles that are everyday roles.

Because this could give a lot of layers to any role.

>> Well, so let's talk about that.

There's a couple, I think, interesting points from the film about that.

There's there's the idea that, you know, there's a chance that someone with your facial condition could get typecast.

And while while you say that, you know, Hollywood could really use the look of your face in very interesting ways to tell stories, you also, if it ends up that you're typecast, you know, you're sort of good with it because you want to work, right?

Like, like you'll you'll take it.

So ultimately, what do you want most?

And what do you think is possible for your acting career now?

>> right now the, the the thing I want most and like, it's like a bucket list goal, but I, I, I want to work with Bill Lawrence, who wrote, who created Scrubs and Shrinking.

And so that is the like.

>> Put it out in the.

>> Universe, man.

I mean like, you gotta you gotta put out in the universe if you're going to go get it.

Right.

>> But like other thing, like I've been like I've thought about like I like I would love to get into, like, even soap operas and stuff like that because soap operas needs a character with an actual facial difference.

They need to dive into those kinds of stories, because the things that they've done in the past with, like, stuff like soap operas has been like, someone gets burned and it's, oh God, I'm a monster.

And it just makes me want to rip their heads off.

So I feel like if they set a precedence of having someone with a facial difference on a soap opera, it would actually get rid of some of those tropes, while at the same time give even more.

You know, there's a lot more meat to that.

You know, there's a lot more layers to that that they could do stuff with.

So I think it would set up cool precedence.

But really I just want like my thing is if I can like sink my teeth into it, if it's something respectful and not something that punches down, I'm happy to do it because I just, I love, like I said, I love being on the sets.

I love being there and being able to contribute, and I just love acting well.

>> And so it sounds like the kind of the line for you is the stereotype that someone with your facial condition is always miserable, is always sort of, you know, the monster as opposed to an interesting person who, you know, may have an interesting backstory, but also just has something to contribute beyond just what people would see right away.

>> Oh, without a doubt.

And even like being like and like being like a horror, a horror character even that if it's something that isn't disrespectful, I'm okay with because like, in a sense, I kind of understand, you know, if you have like an interesting, like, shape to your face or something like that, even something as simple as just a different, you know, shape, if it's something that they think, oh, man, this would be very, you know, you know, this would be very useful.

It's not like, oh, my God.

Hey, because you look horrible.

So we want, you know, it's just there's happens to be some, you know, things that, you know, with makeup and stuff would work a little better, and I, I, I can understand that because it's not coming in.

It's not coming from a bad place.

So like stuff like that, like I'm even okay with if it's not something where it's like, like I actually just did something where I asked them outright at the very beginning.

I said, I don't know the story, so I just need to make sure this character isn't like a child predator or anything like that, because I'm not starting that.

That is one area where I'm not going to set the idea.

Facial difference.

Child predator, stuff like that.

>> Right?

>> I'm not playing.

>> What was your favorite experience so far with acting?

>> Oh, I can't even give one because I have worked on.

I've been working with someone on his YouTube show, and we've been basically he'll tell me, like, okay, I want you to do something kind of like this.

I'll give him, you know, a few different takes where I'm able to really, like, play with my creativity.

And it has been amazing.

Every time we've done it.

We've done it twice so far.

but then I've worked on stuff like a different man.

I just got done with doing a horror movie, Pitchfork Retreat.

Both of those were amazing because they were like in one.

It was like seeing the production and all that because it was a a S.A.G.

film.

And then doing Pitchfork Retreat, where they actually like, had like they were doing something where I had to be, like sucked basically into hell.

And they used like a harness and I was actually able to like, be like, do a little stunt.

And that for me was like, that was cool.

So everything I've done, I've worked with an art, an art, an artist who is basically working on his first films, and I got to work with him and like, watch him and like, work with him and everybody I've worked with so far has just all it's done is make me want to do it more, because they've all been amazing.

I can't, I can't.

>> I'm reading the Pitchfork retreat summary.

Man, that is not a retreat.

You want to go on.

Matt, Mandy and Nikolai journey to a secluded island for a life changing competition at a high stakes horror retreat.

yeah.

But the prize comes with a price, I guess.

So why do you like horror, Corey?

>> I expect, like, I love psychological horror.

Like, for me.

>> Like, I'm not really into gore, like movies like saw are.

>> Yeah.

yeah yeah yeah yeah.

>> Psychological.

I.

>> Love it.

And I will say this movie I went to the premiere and I'm like, I can't use the word.

But it was a mind bleep where I'm watching this and it was like, oh, oh, okay.

I wasn't expecting that.

Like it's, it's a it's a great horror movie.

>> You're you're.

>> Acting credit in that film is tortured soul number one.

That sounds very interesting.

>> It it's a really interesting movie.

Dark but very interesting.

And I, I, I love being a part of it.

>> All right.

So the man loves to work.

Corey R Taylor loves to work.

Put it out there in the universe to Bill Lawrence or anybody else who's listening.

And you never know.

that's I mean, I love the ambition there and Joseph Lingad, you know, as you listen to Corey talk about the way that Hollywood would view someone with a facial difference, I'm curious to know what your thoughts are about.

Maybe the narrow casting that society or even Hollywood would give someone versus the the broader opportunities that someone like Corey hopes are out there for him?

>> yeah.

I mean, part of the film was to to the reason why I wanted to make this film to to kind of dispel this misconception about about people with facial differences, like, you know, as, as, like the character Scar in Lion King or, or you know, the character, the bad guys and Star Wars or, they all had a facial difference.

and I kind of want to, like, demystify that.

Or, and, and kind of like, make films more accessible.

especially for the people.

Of people with visual differences.

and so that's part of the reason why I wanted to make this film.

It's kind of like kind of dispel that myth.

And, and provide more nuance, of who we are.

And you know, actually and, and and also just representation, I mean, a different man, the director Aaron Schoenberg, I always mispronounce his name.

you know, he had he has a cleft lip and cleft palate and all his films are about people with facial differences.

I think, you know, his latest films with Adam Pearson.

I think you might know him.

you know, he's the British actor, you know and people like that, people films like his and mine, hopefully.

And others so forth.

Hopefully that kind of brings more awareness and more representation in media and not just Hollywood, but just in general.

>> Well, here's a question from a listener for Corey says, you got a role as a background extra that then progressed to now it's what you want to do, he says.

I got a role as a background extra once, and I expected a little bit more from it.

I found the experience to be challenging because it's easy to feel not as wanted if one is not selected on the ideas in their own head.

So how do you get around that?

That feeling pushing forward of wanting to do more when you're an extra?

There's probably some people out there that are wondering how you pushed through that.

Corey.

>> Honestly like the way that that day played out.

Like I just went in there saying, like when they like I knew like what the what they wanted me to do, which is basically a guy in a waiting room.

So I knew that one of the things, you know, they got me because of my facial difference.

So when I went in there, I was like, okay, I'm going to go in, I'm going to have this idea.

I'm just going to be like, I'm going to sit this way.

I'm going to look up.

Then I'm going to look down.

That way.

They see the whole thing.

And just when you go and you're doing like you're doing like extra work or whatever, just be a fly on the wall.

Because being an extra or a background actor, you're not necessarily there to be the, the main thing.

You're not there to be like the person that they even like.

They really pay attention to you and I. This is something I actually just read, and I actually I liked it, it said, you're the background actor.

You're essentially the the accessories there.

And if you are a background actor and you're thinking to yourself, like, not enough, you know, then keep doing more, because the more you do, the more actors, the more cast and the more crew are seeing you, and the more they see you, the more they think, okay, this guy's reliable, he's dependable, he's this, he's that, and that will go a long way.

So as long, like, just keep doing it because the more you do it, the more eyes will eventually be on you.

>> All right, Corey, let's talk a little bit about working outside of acting.

In the film.

We hear you say that you were applying for 30 to 40 jobs a week.

What has it been like in your life trying to get jobs, and what do you want the audience to understand about that experience?

>> For me, like getting the like work like.

The jobs that I have wanted to get, like newspaper stuff like that.

Like the stuff that I've gotten, it's basically like I fell into when I started trying to, like, apply like to, like, get, you know, job, do job interviews, everything like that.

Nobody would even basically look at me and it wasn't.

And I'm not going to say it's because of my face, because it really wasn't.

It was just that the job market was what it was and is what it is.

And at the time, like, I had no experience.

I did not really even know how to, you know, do a resume.

I had jobs that I've done, but it was like, it it was just it wasn't enough.

So every time I would find something, then I would think, okay, this is this might amount to something, but it it never did.

Then I actually started working with the Commission for the Visually Impaired, who I've been working with my whole life, and they basically helped me get in to an internship more or less.

And it was a job where it was a it was more or less like an office type job.

And like I enjoyed it.

It was easy to do because I'm like, you know, I was on the computer all the time anyway.

So I was doing okay.

And but then the it was ending and the person was like, all right, so I know you, you, you have to leave here, but you're allowed to go to another place.

They said, and I know somebody.

And she's like, it's, it's not going to be like this job, but it's going to be a separate job.

And I go to this other job and that job, like I said, I was doing the computer work and all this, and I was working with someone who was very, very supportive.

And then I go working in a job where basically they didn't even tell me what on the computer I was supposed to do.

It was for like a marketing company.

And I told them like, well, what exactly do you want me to do?

Oh, here, here's this magazine.

Go through and find the places that we might want to work with.

And at the time I'm like, okay, half I'm legally blind, which they knew.

And they're giving me a random catalog that they want me to, like, go through.

And they weren't communicating.

And it became very clear I was basically just there to be there.

And it was basically a favor to the person that I had been working with before.

And it was a situation where I was not treated very respectfully, but I was I was treated like someone who wasn't even there more or less.

And anytime I would try and help, they would act like, oh, oh, he doesn't know what he's doing.

Just let us do it.

>> What is?

So it was.

go ahead.

That's it.

>> Okay.

Well.

Well, then let's talk a little bit about what your experience has been like moving into your own apartment.

and in the film, we see you move into your own apartment.

But why has it been difficult to find housing for you?

>> So with the apartment that actually it wasn't hard, like finding that housing?

I basically was living having to take care of my mother, and I was at a point where she was doing well enough where I need.

I wanted to get out on my own because we lived in the middle of nowhere and not driving.

I could not do anything.

There was very little like Uber at the time, stuff like that.

So I ended up in getting into a housing program that initially it was a situation where with this housing program, they had a set of like apartments that they had like basically already rented for their for their program.

You had to go to one of them first so that they could see that you could do it and that everything's okay.

And then they basically say you can move wherever, and we will help you pay rent.

So when I found that I was I was ecstatic.

They had me go basically the only apartment they had available was far like about almost an hour, almost an hour from my home.

The people I knew, and that made it very difficult because to go from being a kid who was essentially, you know, sheltered because of how much I went through and who had family all around me.

All of a sudden now basically going from a tiny town into a city where I don't know anybody, I don't know anyone, I don't know anything about that area.

That was like that was completely like out of my element.

So that landed me, there for a few months, which then led me to another apartment closer to home.

But then I finally ended up five years ago, where I'm at now, where I'm never leaving here unless they throw me out.

Because it is.

It's in a great spot where I can literally.

And I'm in a little city, but I can go down the street and get food and get, you know, take an Uber and no problem.

Like I can, I actually can live.

And that feels really good.

Considering for the longest time I had to rely on other people.

Now.

I mean, I still do Uber, but it's a lot less it's a lot less.

demeaning when it's stuff like Uber than, hey, can you pick me up on your way to work?

Like it's a lot?

>> Sure.

More free.

>> Well, I'm.

I'm really glad to get to know you here.

And I want to remind listeners and viewers here that the event Don''t Look Away virtual screening and workshop is happening a week from tomorrow.

It's next Thursday, January 22nd, from 6 to 8 p.m.

it's hosted by WXXI app Move to Include initiative.

It's a free virtual screening of the documentary we've been talking about, and then a workshop by the filmmakers on the impact of the film.

There's going to be discussion and more, and we'll have links so you can get it all lined up if you want to check it out.

The film's like 35 minutes.

And again, it's winning awards for a reason.

It's really outstanding.

I want to congratulate Joseph Lingad.

Congrats on this film.

briefly, Joseph, what's next for you?

>> Trying to make a feature film.

as I mentioned earlier, that that this is part of a larger story that includes three other adults, including myself.

And I mentioned how I mentioned earlier that that, you know, actually, the, you know, eight years of I've been filming this, they've at first I didn't want to put my self in the film.

but over time and actually and becoming a father, they've gave me the courage and, and telling my story because I initially thought, initially thought, oh, I could tell my story through Cory and the three adults.

but, you know, I, I realized I would I, I'd be selling the story short and the community if I didn't tell my story as well.

So that's what I'm doing now.

that's what I'm doing next.

Yeah.

Which I'm continuing to film and edit and and seek funding and so forth.

>> Well, good.

>> Luck to you, Joseph.

Thank you for making time for the program today.

>> Yeah.

Thanks for having us.

>> Joseph Lingad filmmaker of Don''t Look Away, Cory.

Hey, we'll see you on screen somewhere in some.

Someone's going to go.

I know where I knew that guy.

Connections.

Thank you Corey, thanks for telling your story.

Good luck.

>> To you.

>> Awesome conversation here from all of us at Connections.

Thanks for being with us on our different platforms.

Thanks for joining us.

However you are joining us.

We're back with you tomorrow on member supported public Media.

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