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New York City, 1988 It is 1988 and I am pedaling over the 59th Street Bridge from Queens to New York City. I stop in the middle of the bridge to take a shot of the City with my videocamera. At noon while eating my hot dog bought from a street vendor, I focus my camera on the others as they eat their lunches near me. Two hours later riding on the subway I interview a young woman on her way to protest against tuition increases at Hunter College. At 4:30pm in the Vista Hotel locker room as I prepare for work I tape my fellow waiters as they put on their aprons and black bowties. In between taking orders from my customers I videotape the cooks and waiters as they prepare and serve the food. At closing time I train my camera on the waiters as they count their earnings for the night. At midnight on the E train at the World Trade Center I zoom into a homeless man sleeping on the seats of the train. A 1/2 hour later I videotape the stairs as I walk up to my apartment. And then by 1 am I finally turn off the lights and the camera and fall asleep. Colombia, 1990 In a plane returning to Colombia to visit my mother and sisters, I put my camera up against the window and videotape as the plane lands. While there, one afternoon I gave a quick workshop to my 9 nephews and nieces and then sent them away for 2 hours to videotape on their own. When they returned, the whole family sat down in front of the TV to watch. They had videotaped themselves playing and interviewing each other. One had cried because she wanted the microphone. They told jokes and danced and we were all amazed and engrossed by it. I was so proud of them and realized immediately that this was a meaningful way to use video. It could be used to capture and reflect upon our own lives. We could analyze, laugh and point out what needed to be improved. It was a fun way to learn, explore and contribute to other's lives. This was the experience that made me understand the importance of what I had previously done instinctively and inspired me to teach others what I had learned. Boston, 1992 After multiple interviews and weeks of waiting I was hired as the part-time Youth Coordinator for the local cable access television station. The job description called for videos to be created about substance abuse prevention and youth videotaping of local government meetings. I took the job with the hope that my interviewers would understand that allowing kids to express their own creativity through the videos would be a more valuable experience for them than pushing them to talk about not smoking or using drugs. With my own camera I went to neighborhoods and parks to recruit my first group of participants. I would approach a group of boys playing basketball and challenge them to a game or let them look through the viewfinder. As I was explaining the program to one of the kids I noticed out of the corner of my eye another boy paying close attention to what I was saying. I asked him if he wanted to be a part and he said "yeah". We got along really well and I felt so close to him because he looked like he was on his own. I took him to the television station and gave him a tour and introduced him to the people who worked there. I then visited his family and told his mother about the project. The following week I had a group of 8 kids between the ages of 12 and 14. I had visited all of the families and began teaching the kids about video. In the first class I connected the camera to the TV monitor. They all saw themselves as I pointed the camera at each face. It was during the interview for the first article written about the youth program that I hit upon its current name. As I was describing my goals for the project, about how it would be reflection of the kids, their lives and our society and how it would show the successes of the kids without hiding their harsh realities, I said the name of this project will be The Mirror Project. |