This project was very edifying for me, and only is the tip of the iceberg in terms of the footage we got and the ideas it opened up.  I hope to make this into an ongoing project and to dig deeper into this aspect of our city and how to constructively help homeless/street people.

The audio is hard to hear, I turned it up as high as possible, but a lot got lost because we did not have audio equipment to make it better, but we definitely did the best we could and got the message across.  There is a little language profanity, but I feel it is relevant to the subject we were filming and adds a raw depiction of life.

I’m very proud of my courage and creativity to use this project as a way to reach out, and give a voice to a community that has more opportunity to feel powerless than empowered.  What these people need more of is resources to take their life back, and more support to stay off drugs like meth and heroin, and to be given a chance as convicted felons to find a healthy place to live and change their lives for the better.  Not all homeless and street people are in extreme addictions or past legal issues, but to find a way to provide healing and resources including a place to store belongings or take a shower and go to the bathroom could dramatically change the homeless situation in Eugene.  I believe if given the support and care that is needed, most people want to get clean, rehabilitate their mental health, and participate in the world in a way they feel proud of.  But until then, what they are most grateful for is the help they do receive, and the community they have within each other to buffer the support they may have never gotten from family or society.

Thank you for the opportunity to reach out to my home town and listen to the ones who need it the most.  Stay tuned for an extended version!

For my final project I had a few different ideas, the first one being something along the lines of Drunk History (if you haven’t seen that, youtube it. So funny.) Mostly because I’ve been binge watching it before bed every night, and I thought that would be pretty entertaining. However, apparently having a drunk person in your school video project is “not a good idea”…which…okay fine haha. My next idea fell pretty flat and I couldn’t think of a single direction to go in and I was running out of time. So that was cool.
*panic setting in*
Which made me realize: I find myself struggling sometimes, to do the most rudimental of tasks that I’m expected to excel in just because I’m no longer a 12 year old. Like paying bills on time, getting my oil changed, and wearing something other than sweatpants because “looking nice” is a thing too…oops. Whatever.
My family is always like “You’re an adult now blah blah blah” and I’m like “how many marshmallows do you think I can fit in my mouth?”

Thus, my video idea was born: life as a twenty-something year old. I wanted to really get the point across that having everything together, although is expected of you after a certain age, isn’t always the case. In fact it’s almost never the case. I still think I deserve a gold star whenever I can successfully cook dinner without setting the fire alarm off…seriously, I have to take it off the wall and hide it under my comforter before I cook anything. I can French Press coffee like a boss though! *gold star*

So you’re an “adult” now…what does that even mean?