ARTS 5 Statistics on Banana Factory / Arts Quest

-Since the first Musikfest in 1984, over 18,000 individual volunteers have given their time to the organization!

-The organization’s programs and events, approximately 65 percent of which are free to attend, have a combined economic impact of more than $100 million annually in the region.

-In 2016, 21 % of revenue is contributed.( Donations, Arts Quest Memberships, sponsorship, grants.

 

-The Program’s revenue covers only 62 % of operating expenses.

-75 % of expenses are from Program services.

 

 

Abraham Bomba’s Interview From Shoah

After seeing the Shoah video on Monday, I was interested in viewing it again. Soon realized that Bomba’s interview was still not easy to watch. Having a calm composure at the beginning of the interview must have been difficult measure for him to achieve even years away from the event. To come to grasp that his job was the only thing standing between him and getting killed in the gas chamber is terrifying to think about. Not to mention that he had to cut the hair of people he knew in his village, having to lie to them that they were only being brought for a shower. Though Bomba’s composure crumbles once he starts talking about witnessing a friend cutting the hair of his wife and child, trying to embrace them for as long as he could. That part stung, I could feel some of his pain as he tried to hold back tears and refrain from telling the story.  But Lanzmann had to press on so that the story could be heard. A difficult but necessary choice. In a way, the Lanzmann’s decision to push Bomba to respond is similar to how Andrea, Shreya, and I have to push our interviewees to talk about their experiences with DACA. It is not easy to press on them, but a necessary thing to share their story.

Man vs. Wild Final Cut

After many long hours of figuring out aspect ratio/export issues (thanks Adam!) I finally got the Final Cut done. I know it’s a little bit over the 3 minute cut-off, but I think the dramatic footage at the end really is worth the extra time.

 

 

LV Doc Reflection- SOS

On Wednesday night, Devin, Emily and I went to the Delaware River Shad Fishermen’s Association monthly meeting in Bethlehem. We sat in for the board meeting, shot some b-roll, and subsequently interviewed interested members of the board and organization.Throughout the meeting, all of the fishermen were so excited to have young people there. We asked at the end of the meeting that anyone interested in an interview stay for a while afterwards, or let us know if they would prefer to meet at a different time; hands shot up. I was so excited that a lot of people wanted to talk to us. Throughout the interviews, I realized as these people were talking that they really had so much to say: they have a story to tell, they have things they want known. They wanted to speak up. As I had been worried about the specific direction of our film, I was happy at this time of realization: I thought they had a story to tell.

Individual Interview Reflection

We are all so lucky to have Ana around. She goes absolutely above and beyond in everything that she does. I hope that in discussing her job description and responsibilities during her interview, this shines through. Her devotion to the students in the department is obvious. Lafayette geology is a very unique department; I feel as though they are one of my families on campus, and this would not be true without Ana. I’m so lucky she agreed to be interviewed! Fortunately, all of my equipment was functional for the interview. I did find that I wanted to keep asking her questions, to delve deeper into everything she discussed.

Class Reflection 11/13

From our class this week, I was grappling with the question: how far do we go as documentarians to push our subjects into recalling a memory or an event, knowing that it might be a trigger for them? Shreya mentioned in class about the ethical dilemma of re-asking a subject difficult questions that might trigger them and how we as documentarians  should try our best not to push our subjects to revisit a memory or an event that we initially missed. However, the Lanzmann interview provided a different take on this question. Lanzmann’s interview of Bomba asks him to re-enact the way he cut the hairs of the people being sent into the death chambers. Later, Lanzmann didn’t want to continue with the interview, but Lanzmann pressures him to continue because of the importance Bomba’s testimony serves in providing evidence to an event that others refute existed. So then, the decision to push/pressure our subjects is up to the doucmentarian’s judgement in terms of the purpose it would serve furthering the themes of the documentary.

Lafarm stats

LaFarm harvested 5225 pounds of fruits and vegetables in 2016.

Lafarm donated 1300 Pounds of vegetables the equivalent to 1085 meals or $3277 of fresh food.

19 Lafarm worker put in a total of 941.50 hours of work.

The estimated pounds of compost applied annually since 2014 is 15,000 pounds or about 15 cubic yards. This is roughly 150 wheelbarrows worth yearly.

Lafarm spent $18382 dollars in 2016 on expenses ranging from greenhouse and soil to equipment and hardware to seeds and plants

Class reflection

This past Monday was a nice change of pass. For a while now we have gotten into the groove of watching a film having a Q&A with the director and then finishing the class with a short activity. This week we really delved in on analyzing various forms of documentaries. I really enjoyed having the Lehigh student come and show her short documentary. I thought it was a good way to see kind of what our short documentary would model. Even her, someone who has done documentary work, still had room to grow. I also thought it was interesting how even though she was the editor and got a lot of creative freedom there were aspects of the film she didn’t like. Finally, I really enjoyed watching other people individual interviews. Even though there was not enough time to see mine I felt like I was still able to gain a lot of insight into what I can change and improve on.

Opioid Statistics

  • Average age of a person who overdosed in the Lehigh Valley was 38 years old
  • In 2016, Lehigh Valley police received 466 overdose calls
  • In 2016, 169 people died from overdosing in the Lehigh Valley
  • The number of hospital stays for heroin overdoses increased 66% from 2014-2016 in Pennsylvania
  • 13 people die every day from drug overdoses in Pennsylvania

Scary stuff!!

 

 

Sources: http://www.mcall.com/news/local/mc-lehigh-valley-heroin-overdose-deaths-continue-to-rise-20170429-story.html

http://www.mcall.com/business/healthcare/mc-biz-health-overdose-hospital-costs-20170626-story.html

http://www.lehighvalleylive.com/news/index.ssf/2017/06/dea_discloses_disturbing_numbe.html