Hella Solutions blog: "Document. Share. Inspire."

Yes, the rumors are true! I finally was able to get passed my fear of soul crushing criticism and release module one of my fist audio documentary. Okay it wasn’t so much the fear but the fact that since graduating from the Social Documentation program and all the traveling and visiting included with that, my partner and I are moving back up to the San Francisco Bay Area were we’re from (where I’m from at least…she’s from Ohio). Anyway, what you came here for is to get the link to the project and so here it is:

http://www.prx.org/pieces/19856

Here’s the description of my project:

SisterLove: Keeping it Real, Globally! is a creative, non-traditional audio documentary that looks at the local and global activism of a small group of dedicated Atlanta based women and their life’s work – “to eradicate the impacts of HIV and AIDS and other sexual, reproductive health challenges on women and their families.”

The voices of women and people of color are often placed second in “globalization” debates — especially when it comes to finding alternative realities (read: solutions). By documenting the work of the Atlanta-based organization SisterLove, this project seeks to document and give an example of progressive social organizing and more importantly to challenge who it is we look to for answers.

“SisterLove: Keeping It Real, Globally!” puts forward the voices of small group African-American women in seeking to answer the question: How do localized organizations, in the face of globalization and neo-liberalism, move beyond insular and service model structures to effectively integrate regional and global organizing?

This is the first module of a proposed 3-part project that is being wholly produced and edited by first time audio producer Noah Chandler. Module 1 covers the local Atlanta efforts of SisterLove; Module 2 covers SisterLove’s global efforts and follows them to South African where they have purchased a working farm as part of their crusade for reproductive justice; Module 3 will travel back to Atlanta and offer analysis of global organizing and summarizing this issue using SisterLove’s efforts as a focal point.

Stylistically, “SisterLove: Keeping It Real, Globally” seeks to break free of the dominant style of approach found in the majority of work that is out today. Music plays a dominant role and lends a more cinematic feel to the project. A hope with this project is that it may appeal to an audience that “just doesn’t get” other more formally produced pieces.

http://www.prx.org/pieces/19856

Cool little thing happened to me today. I was surfing around, looking for gawd knows what, and found a little audio clip I made while living in Seattle in the late 90s – it was posted on a German “X-Files” music site. You see, I was what you call an “X-Phile” (a person who religiously watched, recorded, collected and otherwise talked about the television show “The X-Files”). For those that don’t know, the show started in the early 1990s, here in the States, and ran for…well, too long – but I digress. Anyway, it was now the late 1990s and I had just moved to Seattle, WA and was living on the floor of a friend’s living room. With me I had my ever-growing collection of X-Files on tape and my computer. Unemployed and with nothing better to do I decided to begin a little audio tribute to one of my favorite characters from the show “Mr. X” (played by Steven Williams). I began going through every episode of The X-Files that included his character and recorded audio excerpts and ended up laying them over a dub track by the amazing British dub musician, the Mad Professor. And while the technical quality isn’t all that great I still find it a fun clip to listen to…I mean all I used was the Windows audio recorder which had no fade ins/outs or nuthin! Anyway, if you’re interested you can download it here.

So, I’ve been busy doing family things and trying to move and haven’t posted here in quite awhile. My apologizes to anyone who reads this thing. I owe a bunch of you copies of my SisterLove project and those WILL be sent off ASAP…thanks for your patience. I’m planning on entering it in the Third Coast audio competition (no expectations to win but it’ll be fun just to send it out there). In the mean time, here’s an interesting article on Ken Burns and his most recent documentary project. Seems he, again, left out some crucial perspectives from his work. Check out the story here.