message in a bottle
I bought my first TV when I started grad school in 1995 and it still works. I’ve thought about getting a flat screen TV but why waste money when my current model still works? Sure, it can’t support widescreen footage so the captions sometimes get cut off, but that’s a fun word game to play while watching the news! I’m certainly not a Luddite; I do write on a MacBook, but I also vowed years ago that I would never get an iPhone. Too expensive, ethically iffy, and far too fancy for a person like me who rarely uses actively avoids talking on the phone. But then I made my 5-year plan and decided I needed to make my first short film by the end of the year…and Virgin Mobile had a $25/month plan to go with their $200 iPhone 5s, so…I now own an iPhone. And for the past 3 days I’ve been at the Apple store taking advantage of their free workshops. I may go back again tomorrow if I think I’m ready to brush up on editing with iMovie. For now, I’m working on my script and I’m thinking about an important conversation I had yesterday with my radical friends on the west coast. We’re not crazy about social media and the pressure for creatives to “maintain a presence” on platforms like Twitter, but we also recognize the need to get OUR message out into the world. So what’s an introvert to do? I’ve got a few videos that don’t circulate all that much, but they exist and so give other folks a chance to hear my voice. It’s a bit like putting a message in a bottle and tossing it into the sea—my little film won’t compete with flashier productions on trendier topics, but maybe my thoughts on “Black magic” will find that one person who feels stranded, hopeless, or adrift. My BlackademicsTV talk is on the long side at 15 minutes, so I’m aiming for under 3 minutes this time around. Not going to worry about what I’ll look like—this is about VOICE and believing we all have something valuable to say. Will anyone hear me? I figure if people find my books, someone somewhere will find this little film. And maybe they’ll be inspired to make their own film. At the iPhone Basics workshop on Friday, my friend Rosa and I were the youngst people at the table—everyone else was elderly and an immigrant! They’ve embraced smartphone technology so it’s about time I did the same. Look for Film #1 next month!
