Take 1

My Dearest Class,

After about a month of being here, my project is finally in the thick of it. Two big issues have come up. The first issue is that there is absolutely no place for me to meet with Claudene and Sclovia without having loads of people peering over our shoulders. I've tried the stadium, the road, a restaurant...and those are pretty much the only places to go. My shots thus far include lots of others and I'm wondering if instead of resisting this, if I should just embrace the fact that my project will also involve many others. At the same time, Claudene is pretty shy and doesn't have much confidence, I don't know if she would feel as comfortable talking to me in front of others as when it is just the three of us. Any thoughts??

Second, I'm having such a difficult time simultaneously shooting, talking to the girls, and drawing/talking to them. I'm wondering if I should set the camera up on an tripod to manage it but am also worried about removing the feeling of interacting. My camera work is really suffering because I can't pay attention to composition or audio quality.

The stuff the girls have been filming is great- really performative and playful. And its really interesting seeing what each girl has decided to film. For example, Sclovia is always with many friends and has shots of her family. Claudene hasn't shot anything with her family and usually is by herself or with one other person. Both tend to shoot clips that are between 20-60 seconds and I'm wondering if I should tell them to take longer shots, or if I should allow those short clips to represent how they explore their worlds. I wanted to upload some clips but its impossible from here.

Going to the Rwanda Film Festival tonight! They are showing films on blow up screens in the most remote parts of Rwanda, and lucky for me, tonight's film is just 30 minutes away!

xxx

Sicilian hospitality

Every day I come to the Bar Turrisi first thing in the morning (ok, well this has been more like 10 or 10:30 since they have been keeping me up late at night) and have a brioche with a granita siciliana. This is something like a sorbet crossed with ice cream. I'm not entirely sure how to explain it, except to say that it is the most delicious thing this side of Sicily (and that is saying a lot!). Also, it's a pretty typical Sicilian breakfast. My favorite flavor is almond, which they top off with a bit of coffee-flavored granita.

And every day, I try to pay for my breakfast, and am flat out refused. The Turrisis have been incredibly good to me. Yesterday I asked to buy a "subscription" to granitas with brioche, and Rosetta, the mom of the family, agreed. Whether she lets me pay for this at the end of the month is another question!

Last night I had a glass of the wonderful almond wine here at the bar, and at the end of the evening found myself haggling with Salvo Turrisi (one of the sons) over the price. In other words, I offered two euros, he countered with one. I gave him one, and he decided it was too much, so he asked for 30 cents. I took out all my change and put it on the counter, and slid him a twenty-cent pieces, a two-cent piece and a couple of pennies (I didn't have a ten). He gave me back the pennies, suggesting I might need them for the market, and finally accepted the 20-cents.

I'm not used to this sort of bargaining! But I am extremely grateful. And don't worry, I will be doing my utmost to smuggle a bottle of almond wine back to the class for everyone to try! :-)

I almost forgot—today begins the week-long Taormina (Taormina is just down the mountainfilm festival. I will definitely be checking it out. It's a big one.

This afternoon I am taking to the hills to film some friends do controlled burnings of their fields—this is how they prevent the brush fires that are sure to begin soon from reaching their crops and houses. In my treatment, some of you may remember I spoke of a woman farming and explaining her crops. This is the same woman I had in mind. It should be exciting!

**SINGAPORE LIVE**

14:35 Singapore Time, 11th June 2009
AT: Saaaarraaaaah!
SJ: Anh-tooooot!!
AT: Whoa. What are you doing here at Sleepy Sam's Hostel in Singapore!?! Aren't you supposed to be in S. Africa?
SJ: What am I doing here? Thought you were supposed to be in Vietnam? I just got in from Jakarta, chasing my childhood...visiting family in Singapore...you?
AT: Came to visit a certain loveable gal whom I won't see for a while... It's just a short hop skip and jump away fr VN. Plus gotta dig the shopping malls and their AIRCON. This heat is killing me...
SJ: Indeed. Why don't we go find some now actually? Find an antiseptic foodcourt to munch some yummy food in? octupus balls?
AT: MmmmMmm. And I'd loves me some durian ice cream too. Then we can head to Ann Siang Hill in Chinatown to check out one my fave bookstores in the world, Books Actually!
SJ: Then maybe a boatride along the Singapore River, watching the many malls & restaurants fly by without actually having to trudge through them...
AT: Yippeee. Then dinner at an overpriced Thai joint right on the water? I need a pint of ice cold beer right about now.
SJ: burp! uh oh. feeilng kind of funny. oh no....
AT: Aww. Better hold it in. Let's chill by the river munching on our rambutan and lonbon until you feel more steady. Maybe we can just call it a night til tomorrow.
SJ: uuuhhhh...zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.......

....

AT: Rise and shine!
SJ: FOOD!
AT: Where?
SJ: Marine Parade hawker centre?
AT: Sounds good to me. But now my stomach is feeling a bit off so for lunch I'll just have some Hainanese chicken with noodles. Keeping it safe.
SJ: munch munch. gees, it's sooooo hot. i'm dying over here.
AT: How 'bout some SUGAR CANE JUICE for refreshment?
SJ: AAAAAAHHHHH! hit the spot. ready to hit East Coast Park? sand, sea, ships and a lovely long promenade under coconut trees...
AT: Yea, I didn't get to see it on my last trip here. Twould be nice.
SJ: I've been coming here for 20 years, but usually on my own so it'll be lovely to go with you and jean.
AT: Jean? Who's Jean? Is that the guy who's been trailing you this whole time looking shady in his short jean shorts?
SJ: that's him! maybe his hot legs can take the pressure off us on a three-person tandem bike? I swear I've seen them around...
AT: Oh! Bike ride under the shade of palm trees. Precious. Let's!
SJ: darn. they don't have the three person ones. 2 and 1?
AT: Sure. Then we can do a switcheroo half-way through so you get a lil QT with your boycrush.
SJ: awesome. sh*t but my bum's really hurting here. what to do?
AT: Well, we'll get thru the ride, then relax on an AC double-decker bus with a view of the city on the way back. That way you can de-stress your bum on the plush leather seats.
SJ: why thank you. then i think we should have cold cold showers and lie comatose on the beds under the fans for a while til the heat of the day dies down a bit.
AT: Yep yep. But don't get too comfy cuz we have a dinner date for Egyptian food with a college acquaintance o' mine, Kiran. She's doing the NYU-sponsored film program here. Would be good to chat w/ her to hear her thoughts on the scene.
SJ: sounds good. hey - have you noticed there's a lot of arabs around here? hookah everywhere...and a giant mosque at the end of the street.
AT: Well, we ARE right off of Arab Street. S'pore amazes me. Once you dig a bit deeper past the veneer of well-oiled, clean and modern shopping centers and high rises, there's such a fascinating assemblage of people here: Chinese, Indian, Arabic, Malay. And with all their different religious practices, all co-existing in peaceful, functional manner.
SJ: all in their neat little segregated categories- did you notice at the (WONDERFUL) bar we went to later that each group was totally homogeneous? apart from the sleazy white men hitting on the locals?
AT: Hmm yea, interesting. I didn't realize there was such segregation even though everyone occupies the same spaces. Well we can have an endless convo abt the racial politics and power dynamics here... But let's take in the scene at this hotspot: BluJaz Cafe.
SJ: too right!! it's amazing in here... totally un-singapore (to me!).. incredible brightly coloured children-story-book aztec...uhhh....
AT: You mean that big yellow painting over there? With the fantastic comic cat drawings? That's pretty cool. But I dig these crazy lamps with mannequin legs and sprawling wrought-iron chandeliers with trinkets dangling from them. What a scene.
SJ: shame we can't afford any of the drinks : (
AT: And the music's getting lame. C'mon. YMCA and the Macarena? What say you we get out while we're still feeling good?
SJ: yeah.... I'm beat. What a trip.
AT: Yea, gotta get up for my flight out tomorrow. Will miss you toooooons. Safe travels with Jean the rest of the time you're here!
SJ: Thanks luv, you too... I hope you withstand the weight of the camera ok in VN. red bull?
AT: I don't know if it's entered the market yet. But I've got yummy VN coffee with condensed milk to keep me going. Uh oh... time's up. Huuuuuuuuuuuugggs.
SJ: sniff sniff... have a wonderful time with tom... byyeeeeee!!!!

monitoring tip

Instead of the over-ear headphones in your kit, another way to monitor audio is by using in-ear isolation headphones, the ones that mold to the shape of your ear canal like earplugs. These are preferable to regular (non-isolation) earbud headphones because it's easier to differentiate between what the mics are picking up and what you're hearing through the air.

Setting up tentpoles

I arrived in Castelmola a couple days ago. My journey wasn't nearly as impressive as Ty's (I had three flights—Boston-Paris, Paris-Rome, Rome-Catania—and from there took a 90 minute bus from Catania-Taormina and then a 30 minute bus from Taormina to Castelmola). Naturally, the airline lost my luggage. No surprise there! Alitalia isn't exactly famous for it's first-class service. Fortunately they did get my suitcase to me 24 hours later, and everything—well, almost everything—appears to be intact. My tripod suffered a small casualty: the knob that tightens the plate against the tripod head snapped off. How this managed to happen while it was in my (fairly rigid) suitcase, I can't guess. I've informed the appropriate authorities (Ernst) and await his response.

Naturally, my first stop after arriving was the Bar Turrisi (where I now sit writing this—see the picture I just took and behind me, the typical decorations). The Turrisi's have been incredibly welcoming! At the bar I learned of another setback: the two-bedroom apartment I had planned to rent isn't ready yet. For some reason, as yet TBD, the woman who owns the apartment thought I was arriving in July and so took this opportunity to renovate the kitchen. Luckily, my friends here are putting me up in a little room in the center of town. It isn't much—basically there is a bed and a bathroom—fortunately my needs are simple! Hopefully I can move to the other place soon, where there is (or will be) a kitchen.

Everyone here has been extraordinarily kind and welcoming. My close friend Francesco, who introduced me to this wondrous place, is not here (he'll visit in July), but I ran into his parents within five minutes of arriving and they took me back to their place for a lovely pasta dinner. It was really great to see them. They have always been extremely kind to me. I also got a chance to chat with Cristina, Francesco's younger sister (I met her when she was 11, and now she is 21!), and Roberto, his brother.

Last night I ate pizza at Ciccino's Pizzeria while Mimì's father sang traditional Sicilian folk songs. Later in the night I returned and there was a whole group singing together—a common end to the evening.

At any rate, I have mostly been relaxing up to this point, trying to set up my "tentpoles": both in the sense of getting situated here (though not knowing where I will be living permanently, this has proven a bit tough), and also in the sense of trying to determine what my film tentpoles (to paraphrase Alfred) will be. I'm still working this out, but I have been exploring, introducing myself to people and brainstorming ideas. More on this later. Has anyone else been thinking about this? I really like the metaphor of tentpoles—I think the hard part is figuring out what, concretely, these might be.

Leaving on a Jet Plane...

...don't know when I'll be back again! In a few short, short hours, I'll be off on the longest possible (and therefore cheapest possible) trip around the world: from Boston to New York (check!), New York to Newark, Newark to Frankfurt, Frankfurt to Delhi, Delhi to Kathmandu, and Kathmandu to my summer destination: the Banepa Deaf School in Kavre, Nepal. PHEW!

I'm due to arrive in Kathmandu two days from now, and I'll hopefully send another quick message once I've landed unscathed in Nepal. Has everyone made it safely to their respective countries yet? And are you getting stoked? :)

I'm sure I'll be grateful for them if I go trekking in the Himalayas or backpacking around Nepal, but for now, I'm going to look a lot like a pack mule schlepping these packs around New York City!

Catholic, Charismatic and Communist

June 10th:
This is my first act of blogging ever. I'm sitting at the airport in Bangalore, about to descend the Deccan plateau into Kerala. Ben and I spent the last week tromping around Bombay with our friend Namita (anth G1), going to Pune, and then down to Bangalore to talk to some profs and see our friend Anand (anth G2). Bombay was a amazing but so hot I thought my cigarette might light itself through spontaneous combustion. (I tried, it didn't work).

I haven't started shooting yet, but I must say that thus far my biggest regret is turning down an offer to be an extra in a Bollywood film. If that remains my biggest regret, I think I'll be OK.

***later that day, in Kochi, Kerala***
Upon arriving at the homestay where we'll be staying, I began chatting with the owner, and come to find out that he is, and I quote: "Catholic, charismatic, and Communist." Looks like I have my work cut out for me!

June 13th:
We've been making some real progress. And we have to because I only have two more weeks to shoot! Ben and I have been shooting with some fishermen who operate these amazing Chinese fishing nets! They are great, super interesting and speak (a little) english, and they're Catholic. I'm now searching for the golden thread to tie everything together. We're leaving in a fwe minutes to go on a bus to a Charismatic night vigil service somewhere north of here. The Catholics and Charismatics are in abundance, but I'm not sure how they'll take to being filmed... it is a bit of a sensitive issue. I've been making LOADS of contacts for my future research here. I met the mayor and the former mayor (both who happen to be social scientists) and they're very supportive of my plans (as ill defined as they are at the moment).
As far as the structure of the film, I am thinking about following the fish: from the catch (all the fishermen are apparently christian) to the fish market (apparently operated by only Muslims) to the table and (possibly) using this as metaphor for the spread of religion here. not sure, just an infantile idea.
well, I've got to go, I've been enjoying hearing from everyone, and wish you all the best!
Julia and Ben