i am having a philosophical dilemma
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Yeah, I'm back. Danielle just reverse psychologized me into posting a new blog. She's good.
Anyway, everything is going fine here, technically. I mean, I'm surviving. I'm eating pretty well. I have a good number of friends here in Portland. And PCM just hired some new part-time staff, all of whom are exceptionally cute. I even have a really great boss. What is there to complain about?
Well...I guess I'm just not sure what I'm doing. Or why I'm doing it. I became a CTC VISTA, because I wanted to feel like I was doing something good for the country. Giving something back. And I'm not going to join the military, so this seemed like the way to go. So here I am, using my skizzills to help young people learn how to use video equipment. Which is fun and all...but I can't really see that I am doing any good whatsoever.
Aren't there already more than enough wannabe directors and producers and movie stars already? Don't kids already get more than enough media in their lives, without me pushing even more on them? Why am I building an OLLIE website (and myspace page) when kids already spend too much time online as it is? I honestly feel like all I am doing is helping to provide kids with another cool way to get out of doing actual work. So what is the benefit?
There are some (non-CTC) VISTAs just down the street at the African American Health Coalition, and I can't be sure (because for some reason they don't have any interest in talking to me), but it feels to me like they are doing a good service for the community. I mean "Health"! And "African American"! And "Coalition"! And what am I doing? I'm helping kids watch tv.
I'm not trying to badmouth the program. I guess I just need reassurance that I'm actually helping somehow. Because really, if I'm not somehow benefiting the community, then why am I doing this?
Comment from Jessica McCoy on December 3, 2006 - 2:07pm
Hey Gariet,
So your post prodded me into doing a little responding/bloggity blogging myself. It just hit a nerve for me.
I mean, I can sympathize with you feeling like it's hard to see how what you are doing is making a difference. But I would also argue that teaching kids media production can be valuable. Key words: can be. I think it all depends on what they are doing with their skills.
You're right that the world doesn't really need more kids sitting around watching TV or spending hours on MySpace. It's also probably true that we don't need more wannabe directors and movie stars....unless those kids have a vision for how to use the skills they are learning.
For me, the power in teaching media skills to young people is not that they learn how to operate a camera and use video editing software, but that they learn alternate ways of expressing themselves, understanding the world around them, and communicating with others. Maybe there's a way to gently shift the focus of what your kids are doing so that their work has more of a socially concious edge. I'm not sure what kind of stuff they are shooting now, but why not talk about something they see in their neighborhood/school/wherever that they want to change. They can research the problem, interview people, write about how they feel, and show the finished product to people who have the power to make a change. Who knows where it might go?
One of the things I like best about where I work is that our emphasis isn't on teaching technology skills. It's about storytelling. Our goal is to teach people how to tell a compelling story: how to write a script in a personal voice that actually speaks to their desired audience, how to use visuals not just as a literal representation of their spoken words but also as a metaphor that can add a second layer of meaning, how to bring sound and special effects into their story in a way that contributes to the message. The technology just serves as a vehicle for self-expression.
A great thing about our approach is that it gives people the chance to sort of step outside their experience and view it in a different way. And of course there's potential for bringing people together once the stories start to flow. Also, the approach of helping people tell real stories from their own lives fights against the tide of "reality" TV and the other meaningless drivel that mainstream media focuses on too often. It helps people see that their stories/lives have value and gives an outlet for the voice everyone has somewhere inside.
This may seem like a lot to take on with kids, but I think it's possible. (but that's also what makes it so important!) I think it's vital that young people today learn how to communicate using multimedia tools, since media/computer literacy is now just as important as reading and writing.
So don't feel all down about not making a difference. I think it can be done. I just try to remember that it's not the media tools themselves that are revolutionary: it's what people can do with them.
--Jess