One year later!

02.07.06 (4:33 pm)   [edit]

OK, so its been almost a year! Yikes! Well, I filmed my documentary about softball and it was a blast. I cut a version of it for my friend who was moving out of the country, but never actually ended up editing a final version... Still working on that.

Since then, I have begun a story about a woman who survives Hurricane Katrina and have been getting my writings in better order. In other words, my focus has shifted to more of the written word. I have felt a bit whiny about leaving the video behind since I lost my window of "freshness" since the footage is like a year old.

So, I am trying to finish this story that is just pushing its way out of me. I can't seem to stop the momentum of writing it, and I don't want to. I have had dry spells before, so I love the way this story is just bubbling up out of the rubble of my personal distress about this disaster.

I worked with evacuees and have family in Louisiana (one who went through the hurricane); so I feel this strong drive to get this story out there. I was really knocked off balance by the disaster and the enormity of it, and this story is a sign of my issues about it-- I helped the evacuees off of the bus as they entered Austin's convention center, and talking to them in that moment was just the most poignant moments of my life. The smells and the feel of those moments will reside in a little room in my mind for as long as I live.

I felt so close to their devastation because you could still see the scenes in their eyes. And it was everywhere around you. The people were in shock and telling all, even the things that people "just don't talk about." Some things they have said I will never repeat because they are just things people shouldn't have to imagine or read or even talk about. But I am trying so hard to talk about the other parts of it, and convey one story in a enormous event full of stories.

It was so raw and painful, I feel like the only way to get some understanding of it is to write about it, using some of their words, along with some of these stories that I have within me.

So, thats what I am up to. At the same time that my city and my work is working to serve the thousands of Katrina evacuees, and keep them from falling through the enormous cracks in this system of holes.

Starting my documentary!

03.28.05 (8:45 am)   [edit]

Inspired by SXSW Film, I have decided to try my hand at my own documentary.  Although I won't be doing any hard-hitting dramas about world issues, I am just going to document our little gay softball league. I met so many of my friends through softball, and its a hotbed of lesbian drama, so I thought it would be a perfect way to get back involved in film-making. I plan to make it an amusing short documentary looking at one part of the lesbian social network in Austin. We have made a nice little sub-community with it, and now every group of friends I know are involved, so I should be able to get a nice cross-section of ideas and perspectives.  Everyone is really excited about it, so it shouldn't be hard to get people to participate. 


I am going to get my membership updated at the community access TV station, so I can check out audio and lighting equipment, and if I need it, their editing systems. I just got a new computer that I added my editing software, Adobe Premiere, so I think I am good to go! I am kind of scared, because this is my first foray back into filmmaking since 1999!  Now, I just gotta come up with a good title!

SXSW Film

03.23.05 (10:05 am)   [edit]
I am movied out! We went to so many movies for SXSW during the Film Festival! I saw Occupation Dreamland, Dreams of Sparrows, Boys of Baraka, The Aggressives, Seoul Train, All We Are Saying, Troop 1500 and Education of Shelby Knox, along with some shorts. I wanted to include a summary of the ones I really liked and how much they affected me.

 

First of all, the juxtaposition of two films Occupation and Dreamland and Dreams of Sparrows was an incredible way to learn about the reality of the current Iraq ituation.  Plus, you have the opportunity to talk to the filmmakers, which was such a moving experience.

The first we saw was Occupation Dreamland. It was a true documentary, meaning it was not just an opportunity for political propaganda.  It was from the perspective of the troops in Fallujah, before the Marines came in in 2003. So, there was a shaky peace there, with sporadic outbursts.  It was very interesting seeing the conditions the troops live in and hear their every day comments about their lives, the reasons they went into the military and what the feel about their current position in world politics. It was strange to hear soldiers talk about their hierarchy and how annoying it was that the higher ups were making decisions without having to actually by on the front lines in the same way I gripe about my job at the City. And then, realizing that the decisions their "managers" make are life-altering, and their ignorance of the every day reality translates into loss of lives.  Makes me shudder thinking of how "politics" gets into these kind of situations, and can result in thousands dead. It was also very interesting to see alongside the republicans/Bush supporters I would expect to see in the military, quite a few democrats, and/or people who questioned Bush's policies. They weren't just following orders, they were critically thinking about how what they did on a day to day basis was a part of the world theater, and impacted so many others. http://www.greenhousepictures.com/newfilms100.html" title="http://www.greenhousepictures.com/newfilms100.html" target="_blank"http://www.greenhousepictures...

 

The second film we saw was Dreams of Sparrows, which was from the perspective of a group of Iraqi filmmakers in Baghdad, who also went to Fallujah during the siege (after Occupation Dreamland was filmed there).  It is a disturbing sampling of the many different bits of the new Iraqi culture in wartime. It interviews people at the mental institution, taxi drivers, sculptors, painters, social workers, poets, academics and just folks on the street. It is very stark, and is a reality check on the effects of war on the humans caught in the crossfire. There was a scene in Fallujah of them burying many people. They had to dig a trench and then, they placed the bodies, many times without caskets, directly into the earth, while the loved ones gathered around wailing. That image haunted me. I must admit I had a night mare after watching this movie and the next movie, Seoul Train. I dreamt of a huge bunker with hundreds of bodies on tables with white shrouds.  Young boys - American and Iraqi and Korean, were lying there, whispering through their shrouds about how they were killed. It was an awful dream.

 

Also, I learned about the situation in North Korea, after knowing nothing about it at all.  Seoul Train, showed the North Korean "underground railroad" of refugees to China, Mongolia, South Korean and Japan.  Apparently, China is in violation of internation treaties by denying the refugees from North Korea, "refugee status" and sends them back when they are captured because they call them economic immigrants. Once back in N Korea, they are executed, and this documentary shows the efforts of the activists to work with Chinese government to get them to change their policy, which meets with violent opposition from the Chinese guards. One of the filmmakers was there and spoke about being a part of this film that she hoped would spread awareness, and through awareness, change. I really was inspired to produce documentaries after seeing her!  http://www.seoultrain.com/" title="http://www.seoultrain.com/" target="_blank"http://www.seoultrain.com/

 

We also saw Boys of Baraka, which was a really entertaining, heartwarming film about boys from the projects in Baltimore who go to Kenya for a special school to get them focused on academics so that they will be one of only 30% of boys in Baltimore who graduate high school. (70% don't make it) Its a nice contrast for the darkness of the other movies.  One thing that struck me after watching the change in the boys from when they were living at home, to their lives in Baraka, was that they were truly depressed kids in Baltimore.  That their acting out in the schools was a symptom of their depression at their life.  It seems apparent that the reason this program helped them was because it got them to look at their lives with another perspective, seeing some hope for themselves. Unfortunatley the program ended when civil unrest in Kenya broke out.  http://lokifilms.com/site/index_synopsis.html" title="http://lokifilms.com/site/index_synopsis.html" target="_blank"http://lokifilms.com/site/ind...

 

Also, FYI, the movie, Strange Fruit was not good. The storyline is very hard to follow and after about 40 minutes we left the theater.

 

Education of Shelby Knox was a wonderful film about the life of Shelby Knox, a highschooler in Lubbock Texas who fights to get more comprehensive sex education in the schools. She, herself, has taken the sexual purity pledge with her Baptist church, but she reasons that others don't have the support of church and family like she does, and won't make the same choices.  One of my favorite parts of the movie shows how she uses her logic, and compassion for the underdog to support the Gay and Lesbian Straight Alliance group in their fight to get their own group at the high school. Lubbock ISD actually successfully won its case to block their group.  I couldn't believe it. Shelby was at the screening and I asked her if she was politically active. I was happy to hear she is at my alma mater, UT - Austin, and is in the University Democrats, like I used to be. :) In general, she reminded me alot of myself back then.  http://www.incite-pictures.com/Shelby_Knox.html" title="http://www.incite-pictures.com/Shelby_Knox.html" target="_blank"http://www.incite-pictures.co...

 

Troop 1500 was about a girl scout troop in Texas that focused on the daughters of female inmates in the state prison. It was an intervention program for them, to try to get them counseling with their mothers and to redirect them into better choices so they didn't end up in prison too.  It really showed how hard it was for these kids, but it truly captured in them, their innocence too.  It gave an interesting view of the penal system, showing a lot of the warden of the prison, who was convinced that this program was giving too much to these mothers, that they were going to abuse the privelege. Apparently, she kind of changed her view on the program after she saw the results of it on the mothers and daughters who went through the program.  http://www.mobilusmedia.com/" title="http://www.mobilusmedia.com/" target="_blank"http://www.mobilusmedia.com/

 

 

Hippie Dippie Festival

12.09.04 (1:23 pm)   [edit]

Last night I saw first hand that Austin's hippie heritage is alive and well, living quietly among all of the yuppies and techies and Republicans. Wow! It was the greatest Austin event I've been to in a while! There is this caterer, Jim, who opens up his house once a month for everyone to come and have a huge potluck.  There is an artist bazarre in his garage, and everyone sits around the fire in the backyard singing songs.  He even has a dry sauna back there.  He was featured in the local paper, the XLent, too.


His back yard is deceptively huge. It feels like it keeps getting larger the further you walk, with bamboo sprouting up everywhere.  At about ten, he rings a bell and everyone gathers around the fire and makes announcements about the local events and causes.  The first one was about the winter solstice coming up Tuesday, the last was a woman instructing us all to sing to the creeks and rivers because they need our help. 


Austin has been home to hippies for a long time, and it was so refreshing to commune with them all, particularly since there has been such an influx of yuppies and Dell-ies (techies who work at Dell) that the city feels like it is losing its hippie heritage.  It broke me out of my bureaucratic slumber, too.  Its easy, working in government, to turn off and get caught up in procedures and hierarchy. But there is so much more to life, and its just so oppressive to corner yourself, not letting yourself meet new people and have new experiences.


 

Cowboy Character on South First

12.06.04 (12:07 pm)   [edit]

An old man stood on the corner in an outfit looking like he had been on a cowboy campout gone awry with soiled jeans, beat up boots, a loose belt with huge betl buckle. He wore a stained Marlboro t shirt with the pocket torn off halfway, and a cowboy hat hanging off his back.  He was very drunk, singing at the top of his voice, which was surprisingly youthful given his elderly exterior.  “I’m a cowboy.” He made a dramatic pause, “On a steel horse I ride!”


He caught the eye of a young woman in a minivan stopped to turn at the light, and he leered at her, leaning from the corner towards her, “Hey little lady,” he slurred. When she smiled, he threw open his arms and yelled “I’m single!” with a joyfulness that made her and his companion laugh out loud.  He gestured loosely as if to say, “C’mon and get me!” and the young man holding a skateboard who was accompanying him, covered his face in his hands embarrassed but delighted by his antics.  The old man teetered, and he pulled him out of the street and hit him on the arm saying, “You just shut up!”


The light changed and the two lurched across the street.  At one point, the older man leaned towards the younger man and said something low, and the young one hit him on the arm again harder and veered away from him, smiling and shaking his head.  The two moved to the bus stop where the older man sat heavily down next to a young black man, well dressed and as skinny as a normal person’s arm.  He was bouncing his foot nervously as he saw the two approach, and quickly shifted away from the older man who still hadn’t noticed him, by crossing his legs, turning his head and looking intently at the newspaper stand next to him, as if very interested all of a sudden in the headlines screaming about the war in Iraq. 
The old man let out another burst of his song louder, but this time, he drew out “cowboy”.  His voice was amplified by the small roof covering the bus stop.  The black man’s legs started to bounce again and his eyes darted back and forth, looking for a quick escape.  The old man continued to ignore him.

First Thursday and Luke Wilson

12.03.04 (6:05 pm)   [edit]

last night, I went with friends to First Thursday, a very Austin thing to do! First Thursday was thought up by a bunch of South Austin business owners along Congress Avenue.  They all stay open late the first Thursday of each month and have musicians on the sidewalk and all sorts of cool vendors in little art markets along the street. They used to serve alcohol that you could just carry from one business to another, but they stopped that after too many of the neighbors complained about the drunkeness.  Its a damn shame!


I am a big biker, not motorcycles, but bicycles, so I met my friends on our bikes.  We were all late though, so I ended up biking around a lot more than I thought I would have to! It was cold, but I had overdone the whole wool sweater over a t-shirt and jacket with a scarf!


We wandered around, trying to keep each other in sight in the crowds and I met up with some of my other friends there briefly before they wandered off in another direction. We all stood in the street and watched a cajun band perform in front of Rue's Antiques and then went to eat El Sol y La Luna. It was on our way there that I literally bumped into the actor Luke Wilson. Boy! Is he a cutie! He fits into the whole Austin scene well. If I hadn't stared at his face over and over in Legally Blonde, I wouldn't have even recognized him! I just made some sort of weird noise of apology for bumping into him, and kept going. He probably thought it was on purpose! But it wasn't damnit!



I bought Toni Price's CD down there and so I added her link. Shes a rocking star on South Congress, particularly on Tuesday nights when she has hippie hour, which she's had for about 13 years. It used to be free, but last night we heard they started charging, but hey! Things get more expensive every year, so I'm not too pissed.


I managed to bike home in the cold.  Tonight hope to go see a friend of mine who is in a band, Im taking the car, though. I'm not sure what her band is called, but she used to be the drummer in the Finger Pistols.


So, take care ya'll! Have a good Friday night!

Welcome to my Blog!

12.03.04 (5:43 pm)   [edit]

This is the first, probably never to be read, entry in the terrific Tbone's Austin blog.  I was making small talk a few weeks ago, and said I like to write little stories and such, and my friend got all excited and said, "You should start a blog!!!" So, I am!


Since this is named Tbone's Austin blog, I will begin with the name.  Tbone is my nickname from childhood and sometimes it fits me, since I'm from Chicago, and I greatly appreciate blues music, such as Tbone Walker's music.  Its the first letter of my name, too. 


I wanted this to be a blog about Austin, Texas, too.  I'm not from Austin, but I got here as fast as I could, and have been here about 11 years.  Theres a weird thing that happens in Austin.  It may be one of the few places on this Earth that perfect strangers can start up a conversation just talking about how great Austin is.  And then, those new friends can spend hours talking about it, their favorite places to go, where they were from, how we "just don't understand" the rest of Texas.  Texans have a lot of pride in their state, but Austinites, we love our town. We are a little island of liberalism in a sea of Republicans and radical Christians. 


I don't want to waste my time debating about if Austin is the best place to live, I just want to talk about my little corner. I have lived in the suburbs of Chicago, in DC for a summer, and even in rural East Texas.  This is the best place I have ever lived, and while I have spent a lot of time debating if I should move back to DC or Chicago, or branch out to San Francisco or Seattle, I realize that Austin is my home.  Austin is a small town, and I run into people all the time that I knew from years ago when I was living an entirely different life. Maybe you know me, even! I am going to spend my blog talking about my little life here as a government worker, bisexual lesbian, political activist, and friend.  So, welcome friend!