Cultural Event #5: "Lessons I Learned in the Peace Corps" by Dr. Carrie Messenger

For my final Cultural Event, I attended a Leadership Lounge Workshop titled "Lessons I Learned in the Peace Corps," a lecture by Shepherd English professor, Dr. Carrie Messenger. The lecture started off with Carrie describing how her family had always been into the Peace Corps, what it is all about, and how she got involved. I learned that it is a two year commitment. The Peace Corps works in countries from Central America to Asia and Europe to Africa. In each set countries, volunteers work with schools, entrepreneurs, governments, health, business, information technology, and environment. When Dr. Messenger joined, she committed to teaching and wasn't sure which country she would be placed in. She described how at 22, she hadn't had any previous experience speaking any other language than German and got placed in a village in Moldova, a republic located in between Romania and the Ukraine. She mentioned how the language was the most difficult part about the experience, but that there were not many other ways to experience travel with someone else paying the way Peace Corps does. In the village, Dr. Messenger taught students who took onto her quite well. She mentioned funny stories of how she was kind of like a celebrity of the village she was placed in as her students were interested in her as an American willing to help. 

Flyer in front of the Rumsey Room

Dr. Messenger explained how she received a living stipend for her village and how she got by on a little over $300 each month. She explained how it was exciting to do simple things like purchase stamps, take villagers out to have a Coke, and find oranges because they were rare and expensive in the market. She explained how she used to save up to buy oranges because she disliked potatoes which are richly loved in Moldova. When asked how much of an impact she thought she had on her village, she mentioned how Peace Corps actually made more of an impact on her than it did the village she served in. She mentioned how she is also still in touch with her host family and students in Moldova even though she served over 12 years ago. Carrie even explained how most teachers only got paid in sugar, so they would stop teaching because they couldn't pay for anything.

I was handed a note card in the beginning so that I could ask her the following question: Were there any things that you found to be universal or true for all people based on your experiences? Dr. Messenger kindly answered my question by telling me how she would attempt telling jokes in the Romanian language and how humor can connect the humankind. As many life lessons were learned, Peace Corps is commonly known as "the toughest job that you'll love to do." Dr. Messenger's lecture changed me in a sense that I have considered joining Peace Corps in a means to give back to the world. She mentioned how much of a privilege it was to have become so fluent in the Romanian language simply by experiencing it for a full two years. Dr. Messenger also translates Romanian literature now. She mentioned how she wouldn't have been able to do that without the experience.

Cultural Event #4: Music of the Jazz Age-Midnight in Paris with Zelda, Scott, and Ernest

As my fourth Cultural Event for Capstone, I attended a Jazz concert titled Music of the Jazz Age-Midnight in Paris with Zelda, Scott, and Ernest. The music was set to allow the audience to explore the two most significant writers in the Age of Jazz, both American expatriates of the early Modernist period: Scott Fitzgerald and Ernest Hemingway.The audience was also asked to consider Fitzgerald's wife, Zelda Fitzgerald as prototype for the Flapper and inspiration for Scott's best written fiction. As many do not know, the legacy and origin of the Jazz Age is defined by the sound of its music of the 1920's. In that time, there was an idea of letting go of the old ora and rising to a newer, different style of music. Jazz played a significant part in wider cultural changes during the period, and its influence on pop culture continued after.

With the women's suffrage at its peak in the 1920s and the entrance of the flapper women, it began to make a statement within society and the Jazz Age-also known as The Roaring Twenties was not blind to these new ideals. With women now taking part of the work force after the end of the First World War, there were many more possibilities for women in the terms of entertainment and social way of living. The ideas of Free sexuality and equality were thriving and women capitalized in this time. Fitzgerald's writings often portrayed people who became successful in the social and financial worlds, but did not share the same prosperity in their morals. 

My view of the quartet performing

In listening to this fine quartet, I noticed how the idea of syncopation defines the personality of jazz. Syncopation is, of course known as the displacement of the usual rhythmic accent away from a strong beat onto a weak beat. The presence of improvisation in jazz affects the entire performance. The subtle wilt of it makes jazz what it is. In between songs, the pianist explained the roots of jazz and how the blues notes are related to many used within the genre.

In this time, music was a big part of the film industry. The Importance of The Jazz Singer film marks the affects of just how significant the music was to the video. The Harlem Rennaissance affected the music as well as other art forms of poetry, literature, and art. I recall the quartet playing a tune from the Harlem Renaissance titled "Caravan"by Duke Ellington. The song is meant to sound like you are on a camel in the desert and defines the ragtime feel of the jazz age.




The quartet ended with a piece titled "Don't get around much anymore" which is easily recognized not only by fans of the jazz age, but also those today. The piece is originally performed by Duke Ellington as well, but commonly known as being performed by Nat King Cole. The quartet did not perform it with lyrics, but the instrumental was easily recognizable with its smooth yet creative feel. I found myself very relaxed after listening to a few pieces such as this.



I am very glad that I attended this event as I learned a decent amount about The Jazz Age and how it influenced American culture and society. The legacy of women during that time was very interesting to discover as I listened to great music that reminded me of that time. It was great to be able to experience something like this completely free of charge and gain so much knowledge and insight.

Cultural Event #3: Celebration of Storer College

On Monday, February 25th; I attended A Celebration of Storer College. It featured a documentary film by Midge Flinn Yost titled Storer College: A Legacy of Light and Learning. A discussion was also led by Dr. Dawne Raines Burke. I learned a lot about Storer College which was set i Harpers Ferry, WV from 1867 until it closed in 1955. The college's legacy remains and represents a movement as it educated newly freed slaves.

The film featured lessons about how education was important to the blacks as this school was the only one around that they could attend back then. In 1867, John Storer offered $10,000 to fund the school. Education proved intelligence for blacks and that blacks could learn and truly wanted to. Storer was an important place to the race as if it hadn't existed; segregation might still exist today. The film featured lessons of self determination and how it helps us realize our greatest humanity as existing beings. One of Anne Dudley's students wrote a poem that glorified the free black legacy. A memorable quote from the film was her quote itself. As the student noted "Before I'll be a slave, I'll be carried off to my grave."

Me and Midge Flinn Yost, the filmmaker.

Many of the teachers experienced cruelty as well as they were referred to as "negro teachers." The local newspapers even included derogatory articles about the teachers of Storer College. Storer started with two locations: one in Bluefield, WV and the other in Charlestown, WV. In 1921, the college was granted Junior College status and was granted another two years in 1934. Many blacks aspired for positive goals for a career that would be productive. Families gave up much more to go to Storer as they struggled immensely. Retired teachers from Ivy League schools helped out at Storer. The diverse, intense spiritual training  took place as Chapel services were held every Sunday morning for blacks to engage. Their gymnasium was even a barn, but they enjoyed it very much.

At the time, blacks couldn't protest because they had no support. One interviewee mentioned that it would've been like committing suicide because they were not welcome. Storer alumni continue to have reunions every August as it is meaningful not only to their heritage, but to themselves as graduates. It gives them a sense of personal empowerment as the campus is still open to visitors year round in Harper's Ferry.

Following the film I was privileged enough to meet the film maker, Midge Flinn Yost as well as many spunky and fun loving alumni that actually went to Storer. I recall one of the spunky women who went there stood up and mentioned how depressing the video made it look compared to how much fun she used to have. I didn't get her name, but I'll always remember her sweet smile and her funny sayings. She mentioned how they used to go up on hills and drink wine on weeknights. Overall, the event was a great way to engage with the community as well as fellow Shepherd students.

Finalizing Capstone

After several laborious weeks of bringing this documentary film together, I have finally come to a point where the project has finally come to a stopping point. I will definitely need to spend some more time working with the audio levels as there are several issues that have arised. I will therefore spend the remainder pof this semester working it to a point where it can be the best cut possible. This past week, I had a lot of trouble editing as I had lost many transitions and edits due to a computer crashing in the lab.  Over 12 hours of my footage were lost which demanded me to go through and piece together every clip all over again.



This week, I will be presenting what I have to the faculty of the Communication Department. I feel that I know what I will be critiqued on as I have mentioned the audio does have some issues. I may also need to add a bit more voice over to keep the piece more interesting and understandable. I have started brainstorming ideas for my poster board, but I am not quite sure exactly which design I am going to go with. Overall, I feel very proud of what I have accomplished so far with this project. I feel like I have it to a point where I can say I have the shots I like. My biggest fear for this project is that it might be considered too boring or maybe uninteresting for some people as it is a very specific subject matter. I still hope to bring out various audiences other than just history buffs because I feel that what I have to say in this film is important when it comes to cultural communication theory.

I'm looking forward to hearing a variety of critiques on the cut that I have produced. This week will be a lot of tweaking edits and finishing up finalized copies of my script, outline, etc. I hope that this project is something that the faculty will find interesting and that they are proud that I went out and took a risk on something I haven't really seen done.

Capstone progress

Working through Capstone this past week has been quite a heavy load as I continue to produce this documentary. I have basically been searching through font types and music in order to see what works best in the final product. I continue to look through the theories brought about in Alexander Cook's The Use and Abuse of Reenactment as it focuses on critiquing how reenactments romanticize nostalgia and help us to understand a different kind of culture. I've been able to work through the footage better with an outline in hand as my director suggested it to me. I've learned how to merge several sequences into a master sequence as many tapes had been logged in separate areas. I am not a master of Final Cut Pro, but I will say that working on this has helped me in becoming better at three point editing software.

Battle of Sunken Road (Bloody Lane) Reenacted

As I have mentioned before, video editing is a very time consuming task. I've spent hours simply trying to pick out certain shots over others. The trick is finding what is relevant to the research I have in hand. I'm learning a great deal about which kind of dissolves might work over others for particular kinds of films. A consistent use of dissolves can be what makes or breaks video through edits. I have a lot of battle footage that I'll be using. Underneath the footage will be Civil War music that I've recently discovered for free. Some of the raw sound bytes that I have from the event itself will also be used as some is in fact music while other is ambient. I cannot stress how important ambient noise does for a project such as this. It's elements such as raw sound bytes that make can bring a documentary film to life.

I'm really focused on what the viewer will think as this project is intended to be for every audience.  This upcoming week is going to be very strenuous as my presentation to the faculty is coming up very soon. I really need to have some kind of copy of this completed for them by next Monday, March 4th. I'm curious to see what they will think of it as I am expected to represent the Communication Department professionally.

Advancing forward in Capstone

As my Capstone project progresses, I find myself learning more and more each time I look at the content. Discovering how the art of reenactments romanticize nostalgia, glorify wartime, and  improve our understanding of their world has been a very interesting task in itself. So far I have some clips that I really believe fit the theme. This past week, my director Jason and I discussed creating an outline as opposed to only an AV script to aid me in my research. We also discussed what Motion Graphics could do for me in using a specific civil war themed font in order to fit the atmosphere of the film.

My director encouraged me to keep with the documentary idea instead of switching to a trailer. The film may not be as long as I originally intended it to, but I believe that I will still be able to produce something great (even if it is only 5 or 10 minutes long). Creating an outline makes the process a lot more manageable and understandable as I will have a beginning, middle, and end theme to work around. Among the raw sound bytes that I have from recording the event, I have also discovered some free Civil War music to use as background. Having an outline in mind really helps my artistic vision of where this film will go and the journey it may take the viewer on. I'm really excited about putting everything together and running through a few decent cuts of the film once I finish my editing process.

Though it has been a challenging journey so far, I am very proud of what this project is becoming. I never thought I'd be able to bring across communication theory as effective as I plan to. Even through just scrubbing through the footage that I have, I found so many ideas that I can stream off of and use in the actual video. I've been learning a lot just by fooling around with Final Cut Pro a little bit more. I feel that a consistent use of cross dissolves in between sequences will make a difference. Although it may not be a 20 minute film, I believe that this project will be very informative as well as unique in context.

Capstone progress

The whole reason why reenactment is an interesting representational form is because it is a performance that is conceived by invoking a supposedly closer simulation of past realities than other forms can offer. It ambiguously appears to be closing off the past which suggests that the representation is how it was in real life. In attending this reenactment, I found myself questioning whether the exercise of attending one can help to improve our understanding of a different world and the behavior of its inhabitants. As Alexander cook suggests, there are ways of exploiting the genre to provide something of value for both participants and audience. For the fore-seeable future, reenactment is here to stay as a form of public history.

As I have learned within my college career, time is a crucial factor in being able to produce a clearly convincing video project. I've continued researching and working on my AV script. I've broken it down to a few approaches to this documentary. I know that if I cant produce it on time, I may have to make a really good trailer for it. That being said, I'm not sure that there will be enough time to produce a full on documentary film without the appropriate amount of time to edit through a couple of cuts. As this is a learning experience, I've still been messing around with Final Cut Pro to edit through the footage that I do have. I've found that I might be better off by simply making a 5 minute trailer that will bring together all of the components that I've mentioned above. I still believe that I will be able to bring across my ideas effectively, it will just be a shorter video.

Although the video may not be as long as I intended, I still believe it will make a really nice Capstone project as good trailers still represent good student work. I plan on discussing this with my advisor during this week so that I can keep on track. I feel that I can make a trailer project work a lot more effectively as I am still brushing up on some of my editing skills. The most difficult part has been the fact that I have so much footage to go through and track which shots will work best in one sequence to the next. I'm trying to keep myself up to date on the progress schedule that I made earlier. If time allows, I'd love to incorporate some graphics from Adobe After Effects into the titles. It's surprising how quickly an idea can change from one thing to the next. Again, I believe it is more reasonable to create a really good project instead of either something that looks mediocre. This week I will be finishing up the VA script and continuing to edit through the footage.