Tuesday, May 2, 2017

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It's Off to Work I Go....

I started back at work on Friday.  It was a process of trying to get set up before I hit the ground running on Monday.  The best way of describing the experience is the Twilight Zone.  It was if I never left.  The commute was the same, even driving up to my usual spot in the parking structure. The office was the same as I left it with an additional layer of dust.  The adjustment was catching up with personnel changes and what has occurred in peoples' lives these past months.

The biggest adjustment was waking up at six in the morning.  I did come home and take a long nap at the end of the day.  Oh well.

Today was the showing of my video I had created on basketball referees.  A friend had convinced me to join a Seniors Video Class sponsored by Visual Communications called Digital Histories.  It was established about 13 years ago with the intent of documenting peoples lives through the use of video.

The projects are then showed at the Asian Arts Festival at the Aratani Theater in Little Tokyo.  It is a little intimidating to see your project on a full movie screen in a mid size theater.

They keep emphasizing that as seniors, we bring a different perspective and therefore are in tune to document those stories.  Two questions come up.  One, when did I become a senior? and two, when did the senior perspective become so significant?  The answer, both are inevitable.

It has become clear that stories need to be documented and available, and time is short.  In conversation with a friend, it was stated that it was too bad we didn't do this 20 years ago when her dad was still alive.  But the program is a product of timing, where technology has enabled us to easily record and edit.  Any digital camera and a computer with iMovie will enable anyone to create a video.  The issue then becomes one of availability.  The internet and You Tube has resolved that issue.  More to come.

http://festival.vconline.org/2017/shorts-programs/digital-histories/

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