"The Disappearing Party"

So, I kinda finished editing the video for the free class I taught up at the rec center. I probably could have spent another four or five hours on it, but things are coming at me so fast with this TCC teaching gig, that I could not afford the extra time. The short has too many gigs to post here, but I present the link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gE-_N4_DMVc

Man, these kids are great. Considering that they were non professionals and that we only had 5 hours to shoot the whole thing, the shoot went well. Of course, we got side tracked here and there by the normal stuff - someone giggling uncontrollably, or having to shoot a scene 10 times - but I really think that everyone learned how time consuming and how much hard work film acting is. I'm also pleasantly surprised by generally how well a lot of scenes cut together. I'm no editor, or film director, but considering both my lack of skills and the cheapie FLIP camera we were working on, and no external microphones, things turned out decently enough.

Lastly, I just hope through stuff like this and the other classes I'm thinking about, plus the efforts of the community at large, we can inspire our kids to reach for great heights. Right now, we're failing them. And we're not just failing the kids on the northside. Perhaps about 15% of those kids will go to college. About the same amount will probably join the Armed Forces and less than that will enter a vocational/technical trade school. I just don't feel that I was fully aware of the depth and breadth of options available to me. While I certainly am blessed for the education I have, things could have been a lot simpler...and MUCH LESS EXPENSIVE. The problem which makes the situation worse for northside kids is that none of them have really been told that there's a HUGE life waiting to be lived on the other side of high school. Some do sports for extra curriculars, and others do church...THAT'S IT. Life exists outside the black community, outside of Sapulpa/Tulsa, outside of Oklahoma and they would be so much better of getting out and, if they wanted, coming back on their own terms. It's an uphill battle and I pray that I have the strength to endure naysayers, energy suckers, bad behavior, lack of money/motivation, and bureaucracy.