A Concerned Democrat

http://youtu.be/rmRzuIG5MLA

In the words of Abraham Lincoln, “I don't like that man. I must get to know him better.”

For our subject we chose an acquaintance with whom we disagree politically. Melissa Kaufler is a young adult that has spent many years being actively involved with the democratic political party, and plans to continue doing so for many more.

Since Melissa lives in Santa Clarita, California, an in person look into her life was out of the question. We were able to connect with her over memories of campaigns and through sites like facebook, the Signal (our hometown newspaper), and good ole’ google we were able to pull together a reflectional documentary on different backgrounds of people that grew up in a similar environment. We also reconstructed some events through filming desk work here in Utah.

While there were so many things that we could have focused on to illustrate that Melissa was a concerned citizen, her desire to encourage others to register to vote was her way of bettering her community. Just because she works for an opposing political party does not discredit her service to her community in promoting the need to vote and have empathy for others.

When editing together this short documentary, we quickly realized that we had much more footage than was needed. We decided to focus our attention on actions she took towards a specific goal, and not so much on her political philosophies.

We also capitalized on Bryce’s personal knowledge of her personality. While conveying her pleasant message that promotes democracy and empathy (which our particular audience would likely see as admirable traits) we complicated her character by showing pictures of her “bleeding liberal heart”. In short, we used the audio from the interview to shine a bright light on her, and used the images to give her a gradient.

In the article that we read for this project, entitled “Human Rights and Culture: From Datastan to Storyland”, it argues that paying attention to the art pieces in certain communities is a way to become aware of societal issues that aren’t necessarily showing up in the stats. Art is a beneficiary to society, for the world cannot be run by those who only know math and science. We should pay attention to the artists we have now, for they are more attune to the social issues around them due to their seeking for inspiration in all corners of the world, and we should not limit the creativity of our young people. For someone to become a well-rounded citizen it takes exposure to multiple aspects of our complicated world: science, math, art, issues, etc.

Many create documentaries, such as the one we created, about someone who shows their desire to change something in their community that they see as an issue, or someone who simply participates in something they see as beneficial. In this way does art raise awareness to a particular aspect of society that many should be aware about. Even though we, the filmmakers, vary in political views from Melissa, she did share some powerful statements about the importance of voting. It was a healthy experience for us. Hopefully others, will get to know their political opponents a little better, and exercise their right to vote as a result of watching this film.

Recovery Game

Recovery Game download

In the words of Elder Russell M. Nelson:

“Addiction surrenders later freedom to choose. Through chemical means, one can literally become disconnected from his or her own will" (in Conference Report, Oct. 1988, 7; or Ensign, Nov. 1988,7)

All too often there is just “one story” that is told about people in the Church who are trying to recover from addiction. That story goes something like: “So-and-so was addicted to such-and-such and did it nineteen times a day for seventeen years straight. Then they saw the light and stopped cold turkey and never looked back!”

As awesome and true some of those stories are, as someone who taught people who were chain smokers and porn addicts the gospel, I found that “one story” to not be helpful to many people in giving up addictive patterns. As someone who has struggled with addiction for many years, I have found that “one story” has caused a lot of misunderstanding towards my situation.

The point of the game is to help cultivate understanding for how the battle with addiction is fought--not necessarily how it’s won. In doing so I wanted to emphasize couple of things: 

Although one is not clinically insane, addiction is madness. Logic is sometimes abandoned to satisfy the cravings you feel. What seems like a great idea, not bad idea, or a flat out awful idea will fluctuate  and change from one moment to another.

I reflected this in deceptively named options. One may have thought that their choice would lead to not relapsing, but indeed they were unaware of what that particular choice would result in, and would have to try to remember where they went wrong, and make corrections in the future. As they progressed further and further into recovery, there would be fewer deceptive choices, reflecting that the addict was learning his or her addictive patterns better.

 

No matter how overpowering the feelings may be, relapsing is always a choice. Gordon S. Bruin M.A., L.P.C. explains this in his book, The Language of Recovery by describing the functions of the prefrontal (the portion which houses the moral center of the brain) and limbic system (which houses the survival and sex drive of the organism). While the limbic system takes up a far more massive portion of the brain than the prefrontal cortex, the motor commands of the limbs reside in the prefrontal cortex. No matter how strong the urge is the limbic system can never control the body without first getting permission from the moral center of the brain.  

I reflected this in my game by making the player choose options. The choice to avoid a relapse may not have been on the page where the only relapse choices were available, but somewhere in the line of choices you made a choice that cornered yourself into a relapse. 

Addiction sucks. Recovery from addictions is possible, but it requires a lot of consistency, perseverance, and self examination.

World Building Project

Our world: a world where batteries were invented but technology inhibited their ability to become pocket sized.

In other words, all batteries are car battery sized.

Technological advancement still occurs, due to the electrical grid. Devices such as laptops and smart phones still exist, but portable capability, due to battery size, have not been achieved.

This is manifest in many ways:

Personal Devices

Few people in this world carry around electronic devices without some sort of plug to “hook in” cable to the power grid. People usually carry one or two of these “hook in” cables along with their personal device. Additionally, there’s a plethora of electrical sockets in most fixed structures.

The average amount of sockets in most homes.

Most schools discourage laptops due to the massive quantities of outlets needed to support thousands of students.

Portable photography and videography is entirely analog. Even many film cameras are not used due to the need for a large, cumbersome battery. Analog cameras are relatively large and expensive.

Advances Towards Greater Electronic Portability

Stylish backpacks, briefcases, and handbags to lug around batteries have hit the market, but aren’t widely popular. Many luxury cars have a “hook in” slot so that laptops are able to charge.

    An ad for a sleeker looking computer.

Consumer Market Changes

Since batteries are large and expensive, almost all the batteries that are sold are rechargeable ones. Batteries’ infrequent use led to the emergence of battery recharging businesses that perform the task at a decent price. Most customers don’t know much about recharging batteries, and view the task as getting an oil-change.

An ad for a recharge business.

It’s common practice for restaurants or coffee shops that expose their outlets to only allow paying customers to access them. Some will competitively offer free “hook ins” to anyone.

A sticker in a competitive restaurant's window.

Social Impact

When compared to a world where people whimsically communicate over 4 or 5 time zones, the methods of electronic communication are far less frequent, and much more deliberate. It’s rude to not check one’s answering machine.

The grid and “hook ins” allow for text messaging, use forms of social media, and play video games, but the limited portability cuts these communications down severely.

As alluded to earlier, social photography (such as texting images to friends, or using snapchat) is very different than it is in our world. Many people do not have the physical strength to take selfie after selfie when their camera is tethered to a 25lb weight.

As a result of not being able to capture a moment, send it electronically to someone else, and then forget about it, people have better memories in social arena. On average, they remember names better, phone numbers, birthdays, and events. It’s easier for them ignore other perspectives, feel left out in their society, or become hermits in front of their fixed electronics.

Ideology

These people live where they are through their own lens, not through an artificial lens, making images with others in mind. Many connect with Sean O’Connell from The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’s quote: “If I like a moment...I don’t like to have the distraction of the camera. I just stay in it.”

Objects have meaning because personal interaction is crucial.

A third party experience (an individual, a camera, then a viewer) becomes obsolete and the world is viewed through the first person. The world is not a construct of pixels and code, but a physical, tangible, powerfully meaningful experience.

In Design Fiction, Julian Bleeker states, “Objects are totems through which a larger story can be told, or imagined or expressed. They are like artifacts from someplace else, telling stories about other worlds.”

But in the end, as is often times concluded, human ingenuity is the motivating factor in all things. Systems are human, and humans are systems.