I am in some ways, more grown up after spending five days immersed as Press at the Republican National Convention. I watched celebrities, politicians, protesters, and people — like my right-wing roommates, Melissa and Gabby, come hundreds of miles away to take part in politics. I was impressed by the power of a political party — but not deterred from what I was there to do: test out cutting edge technology and cover this controversial Convention in the most unconventional way.
Here are a few of my favorite clips from the week. In no particular order, I give you, dispatches from the ground.
While I was at the RNC, my New York Street Team partner, Sara Benincasa did something wildly creative and amazing. She made YouTube series of her dressed as Sarah Palin – and begged the question — if Governor Sarah Palin had a vlog - would it sound like this?
Within days, the blog attracted hundreds of thousands of views — and an on air compliment from CNN’s Wolf Blitzer that, “this stuff is pretty funny.”
Hey Everyone! Exciting updates to share! This week I will be traveling to Minneapolis chasing elephants, donkeys, and issues at the Republican National Convention!
The best part is - I will be streaming live mobile-to-web reports all day long, Monday through Thursday. There will be a Flixwagon embedded player in my THINK MTV Profile by Monday morning — so keep an eye out for that. Then let the fun begin.
I am not sure how often I will be updating Erica-America, so for immediate coverage of what I’m up to in the Twin Cities, visit ChooseorLose.com and click on me!
From today’s THINK Blog post…
“In the past four days, I booked a ticket to Minneapolis-St. Paul (MSP), pleaded with my Dad to forgive me for missing a family vacation — and prayed to the Gods that everything would work out. So far so good…”
On any given day at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, a face-off will happen. Whether it’s from within the house walls or on the blacktop where tourists and activists gather, belief systems are tested, tourists sometimes troubled and locals carry out many missions.
In a New Yorker article by investigative reporter, Seymour M. Hersh, “Preparing the Battlefield,” sources confirmed the White House asked for, and received, $400 million for a major escalation of covert operations against Iran.
Here is a short video I created from that White House picket. It was great interviewing the activists - and then in pure contrast asking for the reactions of tourists. I even found an Iraq Vet along for the show.
I love the twirl of the mouse after I hit “upload” on a Street Team story. It means, for just one second, I can relax and appreciate that I finished an assignment. Those seconds feel good!
Here is a quick update of what I have been working on the last few weeks.
Coming off of two blog posts on Public Housing and Gentrification in DC, I decided to take my camera down to Southeast. It was at Thurgood Marshall Academy, a public charter school that serves a 99 percent African American students and 70 percent free or reduced lunch - where I would ask what it is like to use your education to stay off the streets.
Next, check out this blog post I wrote for Media Future Now, a group that meets monthly in DC to talk about evolving communication tools with 21st century techniques like mobile technology and constant connectivity.
I wrote about the Street Team Super Tuesday project where MTV had 23 of my colleagues report live from polling places, caucuses and rallies using mobile phones. “Mobile Tech Connects Young People to Politics.”
Finally, check out this awesome article about the Street Team put out by the Nieman Foundation for Journalism at Harvard. The front cover read, “Cameras, Action and Accountability: Politics and the New Media.” Every time I see the photo of me looking paralyzed with confusion - and a wee frustrated, I am reminded it is the Nieman Reports and console myself that content speaks louder than vanity.
I came across a few videos from MTV News and Gideon Yago tonight. All of the ones I found were from 2006 and reminded me of the old school news breaks MTV News used to run. Except they weren’t 10 to the Hour — they were in depth and serious. And it seems like Yago got some traction within MTV News with a project called Iraq Uploaded.
The angle of how technology, pop culture and soldier stories merge — is a way I haven’t seen the war covered. With the video I considered how unprecedented and unknown territory it is for soldiers to bring digital cameras for their Iraq tours. Apparently some guys even strapped handheld digitals to their helmets. Don’t be surprised to see graphic stuff. This wasn’t made for Nightly News.
I heard a few months ago from the Department of Defense that the military evaluates videos recorded and uploaded in real time as a possible threat to OpSec, or, Operational Security. Same goes for blogs. This Lieutenant just had to take down his blog, while others, some active duty and some Veterans, continue to share their stories. It’s an all together an unprecedented issue for the Military.
“This doesn’t just close out a month when I (determinedly) worked through each weekend, it signifies a milestone in my Street Team tenure. I am half way through this journey. My production skills have greatly improved, but more than that, I think I found what a friend and mentor advised I do back in January.
“Erica, Humanize this War.”
With that advice, I thought – and continue to think, about the way to do it. For this video, and over time, I talked to dozens of Veterans. Read every article I could. And through conversation, absorbed anecdotes — about a confusing and unorganized war – from intelligence officers, artillery soldiers, explosive specialists and more.
I think around 3:30 of this video I discover in the most fundamental way why I question and care about the implications of the Iraq war on our generation. Here’s a rare look at the unraveling mind of a starving citizen journalist. :) Ok, you can cut the starving part.
4:13 A young deserter becomes a lobbyist
4:40 A civil affairs officer returns with his truth
5:26 What do the people on the ground, our front lines, really want and need?
Hey Everyone. Let me catch you all up. It’s been a busy three weeks and because of it I have a very cool development to share with you.
Though I”ll do a specific post for Erica-America a little later, here is what I did for MTV this week. It was origianlly posted on THINK, along with a short video — and serves as a brief introduction to the time I’ve been spending with a young group of DC based Veterans.
Three Sundays in a row, at 4:00PM, I would pack all my gear, strap the tripod to the pack’s side and summon my inner EricaAmerica to come out and play. Thank karma she did, which made those afternoons of metro rides and shooting the shit with young Iraq Vets not just educational, but also a lot of fun.
This group house, by some measure, is the Real Real World. A place stocked with fruit snacks and beer , testosterone and girls. But in an UnReal World sense, these co-existors were more than just age-similar. They had all served in Iraq or Afghanistan since 9/11 and upon return, joined a fast-expanding group called the Iraq Veterans Against the War (IVAW). The house, on the Northeast side of DC, is not only their bunker, but the central headquarter for the business of IVAW’s grassroots operations.
I had my first dose of IVAW in action back in March, when I attended the Winter Soldier event. [see my video here] I was taken back by the candid, powerful, testimonies about the U.S.’s occupation in Iraq. I realized as I walked around the confernece exactly what IVAW was doing — reporting the war from the eyes and ears of a very young, elite graduation class. A class that received educations at the University of US Occupies Iraq and are now taking their diplomas to bring attention to what they call a criminal occupation and use of force.
There is a 22-year-old freckled Embassay Guard. A 19-year old college junior. A southern farmer with flow hair and a jewish political theory student. They are unlikely messengers. But they keep coming back with a message.
Over the three Sundays I went to the IVAW Group House, I listened for those messages. I captured three tapes, about five interviews and a whole lot of b-roll. While I kick off the process of importing, editing and producing it, I thought I’d share with you all this little sound bite from former Marine, Adam Kokesh. Kokesh has his own blog and attends Graduate School at George Washington University. In Iraq, Adam served on a Military Affairs team, which, he told me, “means we’re the guys shaking hands and kissing babies.” During the tour he also set up a store front to pay Iraq famliy grievance checks.
“Historically unprecedented,” he said. “We are actually paying people for losses.”
I’m a magnet to events with young demonstrators huddled by doors of buildings they aren’t allowed in. And over the last five months, some of the most fun I’ve had is when I couldn’t get in. Instead, I’ve needed to immerse myself in the crowd, buck up and start asking some questions.
Afforded no press badge, it’s all I can do - and perhaps, exactly what MTV’s wanted us to do. Reducing us amateur journalists to nothing more than one of the crowd, tests us to meet people we otherwise might not, and spotlight different takes on the issues and election. After all, each voice matters.
This Saturday, about 300 people gathered outside of a DC hotel to protest equal voting rights - most in regard to the MI and FL primaries. But after interviewing about eight people - I began to think about the bigger picture. What were they all saying? What did they have in common? And here’s what I came up with.
Each person, in some way shape or form, had an experience that left them, a relative or friend, feeling disenfranchised by our voting process. Whether they were turned away for not having the right ID or frustrated by the hanging Chad issue of 2000 - these people were pissed. Well, pissed - but also passionate. From a bright 17-year-old to a 35-year-old D.C. resident without a vote in Congress, each sent me the same message: this voting system is broken and we need to fix it.
Here is my video from the event that day. I hope I fairly represented the many voices I heard and in some way, inspire you to think that hey, this really does matter.
They aired of the first Safe Sex PSAs in ‘85, covered the Persian Gulf War in ‘91, registered 37,000 new voters in ‘96 and documented genocide in Sudan in ‘04.
But now all the focus is on The Hills and Real World, which is why it is hard to believe MTV is still at the forefront of what is relevant to us. With full disclosure, I didn’t realize (until I got this gig and had to become familiar with MTV again), that significant political and social trails are still being blazed. Big ones. Right before your eyes.
Let me back up to share with you how I came to this post by admitting how sheltered my childhood was - (I did grow up in Indiana).
The year was 1996. Sixth grade. I saw the orthodontists more than my homeroom and was at the primo-awkward stage in life. Yes, it was *awesome. Note that sarcasm.
I was home on a summer day flipping through the channels and my eye caught Fiona Apple’s Criminal music video. I couldn’t help it, I was mesmerized for too many reasons to mention. Fifteen seconds later, my Mom walked into the room. I flipped the channel. She turned it back on — and what followed was total awkwardness. The next thing I knew, my Mom was on the phone with the cable company, and the channel was blocked. My life would forever be changed.
As I would learn a decade later, the video, Fiona said, was about ”feeling bad for getting something so easily by using your sexuality.” Now that I think of it, it is ironic that this video was about guilt. Something my Catholic upbringing made me all too familiar with.
That was a tragic afternoon but one that has informed, perhaps in the most backwards way, my adolescence and now young adulthood. The irony is that ten years later, MTV has come back into my life. If my Mom were here to share this adventure with me, I’m sure she would be proud. And here’s why.
During Street Team orientation in January, my colleagues and I had full reign of Viacom’s downtown Manhattan building. On our way to seminars and meals, I’m sure we shared elevators with writers, producers and execs who all thought the same thing. “Who are these kids?” and “WTF are they doing here?”
This week The Daily Show correspondent, Demetri Martin, aired a segment called Trendspotting. In it, he talked about the young vote. Around the 3:30 mark, he busts into a music video with Las Vegas lights flashing “Street Team ‘08″ and breaks into new territory, spoofing MTV’s Street Team with his cast of colleagues.
One of my Street Team colleagues made an observation on a about the segment on our internal gchat group thread.”Dude, that writer probably rode with us in the elevator during our orientation.”Dude,” I thought, he’s totally right.
Obama’s recent ad release, which was a 60-second spot made for Iowa distribution, comes from a speech he gave in Illinois. On YouTube, it’s gained more than 14,300 views.”I don’t want to pit blue American against red America. I want to be President of the United States of America.”
