Most of the students within our Study Abroad program are in Paris right now. Two students, my mother being one of them, chose not to go to Paris, and it was my duty to stay behind and lead them on an excursion somewhere in the UK instead. So today the three of us went to York. We had a blast, and some of the sillier travel flubs that my mother and I made will likely wind up as funny stories for #ds106radio in a while.

We spent most of the day wandering around York’s city center and enjoying ourselves. When we got back to Nottingham my mom made up this dessert, pictured above, from ingredients obtained while exploring York, and she decided to call it a York Biscuit. Here is how to make one:

Go to York. Walk up the Shambles to the Little Shambles Tea Room, have an English breakfast for lunch, and then go out into the open air market near the butcher shop and buy some locally grown fresh strawberries and some clotted cream. Tip the purple man so he will move. Have Constantine direct you to York Minster and have a look around inside. Note the health benefits of bile beans. Take a walk on a fortress wall. Enjoy afternoon tea at Betty’s, and buy Chocolate Orange Crisps on your way out. Take all purchased food home with you.

Once home, top a Chocolate Orange Crisp with a generous portion of clotted cream, then top with strawberries, and you have a York Biscuit.

@DailyShoot – #ds586 – “Make a photograph of two complementary objects arranged to show their relationship to each other.”

My daily shoot today isn’t all that visually. I admit to being tired, cranky and possessed of a terrible headache. But I’m really excited about the two objects!

I made my study abroad students this little pocket sized field notebook to use for brainstorming and sketching during our trip to the UK. It contains digital camera tips, digital photography tips, and a bunch of writing prompts, drawing prompts, photo assignments and even a few audio assignments. I also had these “Trust Your Story” silicone wrist bands made. They can be used to keep the notebook closed or worn as a reminder to create every day.

You may be wondering why I made a physical paper notebook for a digital storytelling course. I could give several but I think it comes down to the fact that our brain is hardware in our physical body that is out there experiencing the world. Sometimes writing or drawing is a great way to get past creative block, and it will work even if there is no power outlet nearby. Any drawings or collage work done in the book can be photographed or scanned later and become digital.

This is a video response to Dr. Brian O’Blivion’s video intro to #ds106. It’s also the story of how I got my new social media avatar, which you’ll see popping up everywhere shortly. And don’t go thinking this means I’m not enthusiastic about the #ds106 class. That was just a really long lecture. Really, really, really long.

To contextualize, I recorded video of myself while I watched Dr. O’Blivion’s lecture. Then because it was an ungodly long lecture I chopped up bits of my video and sped it up. So before, where you could distinguish his words, I have now turned Dr. O into Oblivion the Chipmunk. You can argue that lecturers who can see their audiences are more in touch with audience response. That’s one thing Dr. O is missing by only existing on TV, audience reaction, so I’m trying to help him out.

Of course, my response was not the first and most awesome, but it’ll have to do.

Cheryl Colan
District 6 Resident

On Wed, Mar 16, 2011 at 1:23 PM, Councilman Sal DiCiccio <council.district.6@phoenix.gov> wrote:

What do you get?

Ask yourself this question as you read this: “What do I get?”

A first-year city of Phoenix clerk gets 40 and a half days off, including vacation, holidays and sick time. That’s two months off — and an afternoon — in the first year of employment. And the days off keep going up as the years go by.  (Read an Ahwatukee Foothills News article regarding compensation HERE.)

If employees don’t use all their time off, they get to cash in the remaining days like casino chips, and guess who the bank is? You and your family.

You have heard me talk about Phoenix’s high cost of labor at $100,000 a year per employee. That’s just a part of the picture. It doesn’t account for back-filling all that time off.

To compensate for days when employees are out, you must either hire more people, pay more in overtime or reduce services to the public. You now can see why your taxes have gone up, services for seniors and children get cut and why you are getting less and paying more for the same service.

This can all change. There is hope on the horizon.

As you may know, I have been working with state leaders on Senate Bill 1322, which will change the culture here at City Hall. The bill will require Phoenix (and Tucson) to be more efficient, look for more strategic ways to deliver service and be more competitive. It pulls private sector knowlege and practices into city government. SB1322 passed the Senate on Monday and is headed for the House.  For an updated copy of the bill, click HERE.

I cannot get the city hall reforms needed without your help. I need you to write, email, call or fax the Representatives below and ask for their support on SB1322.

I made a commitment to you that I work for you and only you.  I don’t represent the civilian labor groups that walk our halls, and I don’t represent the management that wants more from your family. I represent you.

At times that puts me in a difficult situation because I enjoy and respect the people I work with.  But, you are not their first interest.  Staff’s first interest is to protect their way of life. Our goal is to build a city government that puts taxpayers first and protects your way of life.

Phoenix is a fantastic city and a place we all love. Help me help you stop this insanity, and let’s get this great city back on the right track and back to work again.

Respectfully,
Sal DiCiccio
Phoenix City Councilman – District 6
council.district.6@phoenix.gov
602-262-7491

 

	e-mail	phone number
Judy Burges	jburges@azleg.gov	602-926-5861
Tom Forese	tforese@azleg.gov	602-926-5168
David M. Gowan Sr.	dgowan@azleg.gov	602-926-3312
Steve Montenegro	smontenegro@azleg.gov	602-926-5955
Michelle Ugenti	mugenti@azleg.gov	602-926-4480
Steve Urie	surie@azleg.gov	602-926-4136

Our 1943 Christmas

The food was good but the chicken was tough
But we chewed and chewed ’til we had enough
For health and food we all were glad
But best of all we had our Dad

Some hunted, some talked, and some even walked
At doing things for us none even balked
As for the children, naught could be finer
Than to stand in the yard and see the Streamliner

At games, puzzles and cards, all of us played
And far in the night soft beds were made.
The children were tired and sleepy – not cross
And we soon showed them we knew how to boss.

So soon they were sleeping quietly away
And knew nothing more ’til early next day.
While we silly old folks sat till our games were all done
Then we too retired, long, long after one

Next morning was fine and all in a glow
The children went out for a romp in the snow
Then late in the day to their homes they went back
Leaving Grandpa and I alone in our shack

We felt very lonesome and each dropped a tear
Wanting all of our children at home with us here
We can yet hear them calling “Merry Christmas” so clear
“Merry Christmas to you and a Happy New Year.”

12-27-43
Grandma Warner (Anna Warner)

This video isn’t meant to defend my point of view or bash the other point of view so much as to present and question this general polarization as it’s playing out between friends and families all over the nation. I mean, we both think we’re right. We’re adamant. We won’t change each others’ minds. We’re just rubbing lime juice and salt in each others’ paper cuts at the moment, instead of more sensibly mixing margaritas and toasting each others’ health.

So I’m calling myself out on the insanity of the discussion. Repeating the same actions and expecting different results.

What can I learn here?

We’re doing this in the park in the center of Clarkdale, Arizona. The funny thing – after we finished a curious woman approached us. She turned out to be an anthropologist who specialized in human recreation. She really wanted to know what we were doing! After we told her, she explained that children in nearly every culture invent games to alter their state of consciousness. She just didn’t expect to find adults doing it in her local park.

My friend Linda is retiring from full-time teaching this year. To help celebrate, my friend Rachel and I made a digital story for Linda.

We were asked to create a video about Linda’s impact on the Australia/New Zealand Study Abroad program, which Linda and Rachel created as a result of their work with Digital Storytelling. Rachel and I realized the story could not just be about the international cultural exchange program, that it needed to encompass the power of storytelling as well. To get a look at the big picture, so we could distill it, we tried to map out, on a whiteboard, the entire series of events that culminated with an international exchange focused on indigenous culture. There were too many events, though, so we mapped what felt like the truly essential pieces.

We could easily have made an hour-long documentary film with all the material collected over the last ten years or so. Linda went on a sabbatical where she traveled the world interviewing storytellers. Linda and Rachel have taught Digital Storytelling classes for several years, impacting the lives of hundreds of students. They also teach the process to faculty, sometimes with my help. And the international exchange has been ongoing for the last four summers. We’ve also hosted at least four return visits. The metaphor of ripples helped us distill this material, and the impact of Linda in particular, to its utter essence, and into this 5-minute story.

We both felt it would be inappropriate to narrate, and instead we chose to let the stories do the talking. We excerpted them, but did not edit them, which means we left the voices and visuals intact. We added a bit of text, and some beautiful photos to accompany our words. We connected the dots of “aha” moments and experiences. We chose not to worry if anyone else “gets it.” This video is for Linda, and she gets it. If you feel it as a summation of years, instead of a linear narrative, you’ll get it.

My favorite thing about buying locally grown produce is that it forces me to be creative in order to use whatever happens to be fresh. I go shopping with a general plan, but instead of knowing I need potatoes, I might know I need “some starchy vegetable” and I get my choice of all kinds of great stuff, but I could end up with jicama or turnips instead of potatoes. That means I have to be flexible and let the food inspire me. In turn that makes me feel very alive, instead of like a cooking robot sticking grimly to the shopping list and the menu plan.

So, the other night at the market there was this cutie little mix of Heirloom tomatoes, cherry size, that came in four colors. When I was washing them at home, I noticed I’d squashed one in my grocery bag, so of course I ate it on the spot. Oh! My! Goodness! It was super delicious, almost like a summer tomato, only less acidic, with a mellow sweet tang. I knew some of these babies would have to be lunch the next day.

In the cabinet I had half a pound of orzo pasta and in the fridge some leftover feta cheese. I remembered a Food Network recipe for Orzo with Feta and Tomatoes and decided to make it. It called for pasta, feta cheese, grape tomatoes and fresh parsley. Had all that stuff. But I also had a couple roasted red peppers left over from when I wrapped them around goat cheese last week, and half a handful of leftover chopped scallions I’d used for a garnish on some Thai noodles. Meanwhile, I had bought fresh dill at the market, and I love, love, love tomatoes with dill. While the pasta boiled, I did the minimal prep work of halving the tomatoes, chopping fresh parsley and dill, and cutting the peppers into bite-sized pieces.

So the improvised recipe turned out to be:

• half a pound of orzo pasta
• a handful of feta cheese crumbles
• fresh parsley
• fresh dill
• half a pint of mixed cherry tomatoes, halved
• two roasted red peppers, chopped
• half a handful of chopped chives
• 1 tbsp. butter
• 1 tbsp. olive oil

After draining the pasta, I mixed in the butter and oil and feta, then dropped in everything else and tossed it a bit. It was so good I completely forgot about fresh ground pepper or salt.

This will serve 2-3 people as a meal, or four people as a side dish.

All this local, organically grown produce was $24 at Downtown Phoenix Public Market. I joined Maya’s Farm CSA tonight, too. That means next week I’ll get a dozen fresh eggs and a share of whatever vegetables have just been picked. So I better get cooking! Usually this many veggies last Gary and I a couple of weeks.

I chose Maya’s Farm because Maya herself was selling me the vegetables, and her farm is just ten miles from my house. My CSA membership is for three months – actually a little less, just whatever is left in the season. Maya offered to prorate the amount or just let me beef up my share with some additional selections from her market tables. I took the beef-up option. I also gave her all my saved up egg cartons to fill up with more eggs! Reuse, better than recycling.

Maya’s stand looked so beautiful – everything there was top notch. I’m pretty excited! I think her produce will keep me motivated until I get my own garden in the ground.

When I was a kid, I sang this just the way they did on Hee Haw or whatever show it’s from. Horrible country twang and all. And since singing the tune stuck in my head is the only way to get it out, well, I sang it just like I did when I was a kid. I haven’t thought of this song in years and years. This is all Heath’s fault.

Of course I shot some video of the light rail opening myself. But I have deliberately been un-teching during the holidays. My mom stayed with us for nine or ten days, and I wanted to be with her, not pasted in front of the computer. We hung out and made a lot of stuff. Custom covers for my husband’s mill & lathe so they won’t get covered with shop dust. Bags to hold protective eyewear in the shop. A couple crocheted hats and scarves, too. … So, when I get to it, I’ll post it. Honestly I haven’t even looked at it yet! Some vlogger.

I consider the day I changed my major from Engineering to Fine Art to be the day I became an artist. Because I made a conscious decision that I would pursue questions over answers.

Tyson Crosbie

I just realized that Phoenix artist and photographer Tyson Crosbie started a new videoblog about art and being an artist: Lying to Tell the Truth (current popular abbreviation L4T … hmmm, I like L=t⁴).

I met Tyson at the first PHXedit. He showed me a book he was about to publish of his photos of Phoenix, and I was, well, utterly lost in them. I was torn and conflicted, because I wanted to get lost and mesmerized in the images, but I was hosting the event and so I felt like I had to talk to people. Meh. I hate that. I mean, I love talking to people, and I love looking at art. What I hate is when life hits me with a wrenching choice between the two. And Tyson’s work does make it a wrenching choice, rather than a trivial choice.

So I’m now what you might call a raging stalker crazy insta-fan of Tyson’s vlog, because it looks Real (as discussed recently by my friend Heath), and because Tyson’s talking about art, the value of art, what it means to be an artist, and he’s willing to struggle with those questions in front of us all. With his dogs, too.

Check out Tyson’s vlog and his other work. If you’re the kind of person that would read one of my posts to the end, I can pretty much guarantee that you won’t be sorry.

Here in Phoenix, back in 1954, a man who loved making people laugh created a TV show for kids. The show ran in one form or another for 35 years. It’s most commonly known as the Wallace & Ladmo Show.

The man’s name is Bill Thompson, and he created all kinds of entertaining characters for his show, but he mostly played the straight man. For most of his show’s life he worked with two core partners as well as other cast members. He appears here as Mr. Grudgemeyer.

The man in the top hat is Ladmo. That’s the name of his character, and he eventually legally changed his own name to Ladmo. Ladmo is the everykid, who just wants to have a good time.

Ladmo and Mr. Grudgemeyer are constantly at war over their favorite park bench. Slapstick always ensues. This is one of many “Mr. Grudgemeyer” episodes I’ve saved. Yes I accidentally left ten seconds or so of black at the front. Oops.

When I was a kid I watched this show every weekday. Even into high school. Almost everyone who grew up in Arizona did. If you meet people from Arizona, and find they have a similar, rather bent sense of humor, blame Bill Thompson.

Do you remember when commercials were a minute long? And when they gave kids prompts for how to sell the item to their parents? (It won’t make a sticky mess in the kitchen.) Do you remember Funny Face Drinks? My favorite: Rootin’ Tootin’ Raspberry. What was yours?

About the actual story

Many people are familiar with the story of Cesar Chavez and the United Farmworker’s Movement in California and around the nation. But because the movement was ultimately not very successful in Arizona, you rarely hear that part of the story. So we wanted to document the local farm labor law dispute, which culminated in an effort to recall then Arizona Governor Jack Williams. As part of this effort, Cesar Chavez conducted a 21-day fast here in Phoenix, and helped inspire the local community to take action to bring about social justice.

This should really be a half hour film. The events documented took place over a ten year period, and the political issues are somewhat complex. But those planning the exhibition relegated it to eight minutes, choosing to feature a film documenting the women’s movement in Arizona more prominently, so we did what we could with the time constraints. Which means there is an awful lot going on in the footage. And unfortunately, the local news reels contained more footage airing the point of view of those in power. Watch for contrasts between the voice you’re hearing and the footage you’re seeing – I had to resort to that kind of storytelling quite a bit. I even ended up narrating the piece, while the other project got professional voiceover talent, though this was partly because I could pronounce the surnames and Spanish words correctly, while the hired talent could not.

How we made this

With the exception of recording some voice over and scanning some old news articles, this piece is created entirely from 16mm film news reels from former Phoenix news station KOOL, which used to broadcast on local channel 10. KOOL donated all their film cans and log sheets to the Arizona Historical Society Museum at Papago Park. The museum has a big climate controlled room to store this stuff, and a makeshift film chain that channels the projected footage through an ancient but serviceable video camera and out to … any deck you can connect to the camera output.

Jean’s job directing this project was to do all the research, write the narrative and provide me with important dates on which newsworthy things probably happened. And just because I summarized her job in one sentence, don’t think it was light work.

My job was to check the news logs around the relevant dates in hopes of finding related news footage. Then, as part of the Exhibits Dept. agreement with the Archives Dept., I had to clean any reels I wanted to view. After cleaning, I would watch the entire reel and log it as best I could. If I saw anything related to our story, I’d record it to Beta-SP (best quality deck we had) and later transfer that to Mini-DV as well for a digital back-up.

Jean would review the collected footage, make notes, and often revise the script in order to work some of the best footage into the project. She would also do her best to identify people appearing on the reel, especially those on the MOS B-roll shots, sometimes bringing in people she’d interviewed for oral history to see if they recognized anyone.

The script was rewritten several times, and then I’d re-edit the project. We’d still be over budget on time, so we’d tighten it up some more, reorganize, figure out what to leave out – you editors out there know the drill. The look of the subtitles is inspired by Barbara Kopple’s Harlan County USA.

We were on a treasure hunt together. We were armed with facts. The actual events occurred before we were born to when we were kids (1968 – 1978). Some of the original footage noted in the logs had gone missing. Sometimes we found unlogged material. It was a trip seeing how Phoenix looked back then compared to now.

Even though the end result is imperfect (you’re never finished editing, right? you just stop at some point), I’m proud that this piece is on permanent exhibition as part of Arizona’s history.

If you have any questions I’ll happily answer in the comments.

Now, here’s what this is:

In 2002 and 2003 I worked with local historian Jean Reynolds on this project for the Arizona Historical Society Museum at Papago Park. It’s part of a permanent exhibition called Desert Cities, which chronicles the development of the Phoenix metro area from the end of World War II to the present.

In its final form, the project exists as two separate videos stored on a media server at the museum, and presented on a flat screen built into a section of the museum exhibition. This piece, the intro piece, repeats on a loop to attract museum visitors over, let them know there is a video available, and give them a reason to watch it. If interested, visitors can press a button to make the main video play.

I’ll tell you more about the project in tomorrow’s post, but in case you’re curious about the appearance of the introduction:

• it’s a way to present some facts that had to be left out of the video to bring the running time down
• the colors and fonts match surrounding exhibition graphics
• there is no “old film” effect in use – all the footage is from 16mm news reels

Since that time I’ve notice more and more vehicles come with fog lamps. I have to believe the auto dealerships are ordering them that way because the cars are a few hundred dollars more expensive with them installed. I mean, this is Phoenix we’re talking about. I’ve lived here my whole life, nearly forty years, and I can count the number of times I’ve seen fog in Phoenix on one hand. In fact, I can count the number of times I’ve seen fog here on one finger. That’s right. In forty years, there has been fog in Phoenix ONCE. For about two hours.

Yet just about every idiot on the road whose car is equipped with fog lamps turns them on every day. Apparently because they can. Either that or they’re all suffering from some kind of fantasy delusional fog inside their cotton-brained heads. It bothers me on a lot of levels, but mostly because they hurt my eyes. It’s not as bad as having your brights on, but it’s close.

Who’s more mental, them? Or me? Either way, it’s really satisfying to finally get that off my chest.

Well guess what?! They’re here! Right here in Phoenix, Arizona, USA. They arrived Friday April 18, and have already kicked things off to a great start. On Sunday there was a pow wow at ASU. Two Navajo students from our travel group made sure our Maori friends could attend the pow wow. I didn’t get to go, but our friends were given the opportunity to perform at the pow wow after the opening ceremony. From what I hear, the pow wow community opened their hearts to our Maori friends, bestowed gifts during and after their performance, and really felt an instant connection. I wish I could have been there.

This video is from dinner after the pow wow, at the home of fellow traveler Nizhoni and her amazing chef husband Joseph. He fed us a four or five course meal that included a prickly pear cactus salad, his own version of surf and turf which included swordfish steak and buffalo burgers, and a custom dessert creation called “Chocolate Taranaki” in honor of the volcanic mountain dominating the landscape where our friends live. The meal was seriously amazing.

Between courses, our friends taught us a song. You can learn it too, here are the words:

He honore, he kororia
Maungarongo ki te whenua
Whakaro pai e
Ki nga tangata katoa
Ake ake, ake ake, amine
Te atua, te piringa, toku oranga (x2)
Toku oranga

Wendy Lewis is the woman teaching us the words to the song and what they mean. This song is an acknowledgment of ties to Parihaka, a Taranaki settlement whose two leaders drew on ancestral and Christian teachings to organize passive resistance to the colonizing army, and that is now is a manifestation of peace here on Earth.

Sorry for my crappy video & audio recording. I’m not good at both recording and experiencing moments at the same time, and I didn’t have my good mic with me either … so this is the best I and my poor little Xacti could do under the circumstances.

Comments and video responses welcome. Talk to me.

Keep it in context, too. Check out the sites I mentioned:

• 12/11/07 EpicFU: rockband tips and tricks, santacon, seesmic
• VuGoesVegan: Promo Video and Vegan “TV Dinner”, Kinda
• Mahalo Daily: Watching Footbal as a Couple

Finally, 12 posts later, we have reached the end of the videos depicting how I spent a few hours on June 28, 2006 at Puniho Pa Marae in the Taranaki region of Aotearoa (New Zealand). Understand that I left for this journey about three days after Vloggercon, and was all fired up to document my trip. To force myself to remain in the moment, I took only three miniDV tapes with me. I had to capture video every night, or lose the ability to record more. But after this particular night, I couldn’t keep up, so this has been sitting on a hard drive since 2006.

I’m so glad I could finally share it. You have no idea.