Just in case anyone is still visiting this site, click on the following to see the film:

Esperanza 

Group photo from Cien Fuegos, complete with Pedro (holding a notebook), Luis, Roberto, and Kyle. This is the photo Amy printed and gave to each of us the last day of class.

It is Sunday and thinking over the past week of adjusting back to life in the US, and ingesting and editing material for the documentary I am reminded of the principle of teamwork. 

Our class is made up of nine students and three professors here in the States, Kyle Woolley as our translator in the Dominican Republic, and Rachel Bloom as a recent and appreciated addition as we continue working on translation for the documentary.

As the days were long, and the task ambitious, I've appreciated everything that each individual brought to the table. We work as an incredible team and the end result, will be nothing shy of a job well done. 

A few added thanks go to the professors for making this experience a reality! Thank you also to the students who were extra helpful, and stepped in to help when I was not feeling my best towards the end of the week especially. 

The documentary is looking great, I can't wait to see the finished product, and be reunited as we get together in the fall!  Best of luck to Gaby as she travels back to the Dominican Republic to spend a semester in the Encuentro Dominicano Program this coming fall. 

Amy-the group photo is sitting by my bed, reminding me of our wonderful experiences inside and outside of class. Thank you so much! 

I will continue to stay in touch, and look forward to seeing how we all go forth and use what we have learned, to bring about change. 

Take care, 

Raquel  

So, I am currently sitting in the Computer Lab trying to finish up the final touches on our rough draft of the film. Instead of doing that, I am writing this blog while Morgan and Jen are eating fruits and veggies, Rachel J is on youtube, and Amy is asking lots of questions. Must be lunch break! Good thing we took a break because all of us are getting a little restless.

Yesterday we were so tired that Rachel, Morgan, and I had a race to see who could swivel around on a chair the fastest. Needless to say, WE were being productive.

The group is so great. Now that we have been back for a week, we are all blending back into our normal life styles. It was difficult at first, but with all the support of fellow classmates and teachers the transition went smoothly.

I love our group. Like A LOT. We are all completely different people, but I think there is a saying, something like... Opposites attract? :) I'm not saying, I'm just saying. Which seemed to be my go to line during the trip, well that and Go Big or Go Home. Turns out I did "Go Big". I have been sick since we got home and refuse to go to the doctor because that shows a sign of weakness!!! Yes, Mama Zoogs, I am going to the doctor when I get home... No worries.

The video actually looks more like a video today. We started adding B-Roll and editing out the translations. Rachel Belsha and I worked on a 4 minute section of the video for about 3 hours. That's a lot of time spent of 4 measly minutes... Not to toot my own horn, but those 4 minutes are amazingly good! Beep Beep.

I'm not saying, I'm just saying...

E 

I have just been reading the post-trip profiles the students have written about each other for a different section of this website. (Do check them out in the section marked Features.)

As usual, the students are blowing me away with their writing and with their honesty and candor. But I'm most impressed by how they have been transformed, in small and big ways, by the experience. Like me, I think they are unsettled now, navigating between the cultures and the experience. I am confident, though, that they will continue their own personal journeys even though our trip has ended. 

I am blessed to have been a part of this experience. 

Hel²o parents of bright & talented students 〠:

Your daughter (or son, if you are in the < although I will stick with ❝she❞ for the rest of this post) is working ver⁵y (x2) hard this we²k.   She excel²ed in every way before we ⬅ for the DR, and she also busted her but² 4 the 10+ days were were down in the DR, especially in recognizing the ≠ she witnessed.  Did you expect any less‽

Now, as we near the end of a very dif²icult we²k, she is continuing to work tenaciously on the part of the project that is the slowest & least exciting, though ultimately very rewarding: Editing.  ?, ∵ it has to be done.

You raised a mighty fine child, each a ⩡ of U.  

∴  you should be ver⁷y proud.

∎ ✌

And the Academy Award for Best Documentary Goes To... Creighton University's Journalism and Mass Communication Department for their Documentary titled, More than Beaches and Baseball.

Wednesday was a long workday, but it was also quite productive.  We used the script that had been put together that is full of quotes.  We found all the quotes and trimmed them out and placed those into a master story document... that ended up being just over 2 hours long.  So now we need to trim out any English that was in those clips and pray that it is under 30 minutes long after that.  With a 2-hour film we could be in the running with far larger budgeted projects for some really neat awards... if i keep dreaming that is.

Although it was a long day we did a lot of the work that needed to be done, and now that all those clips have been located we can easily go find them and edit them down to exactly what we need.  The project looks great, and it is coming together, we should be completing a rough cut of the film by Friday.  Which would include the footage we want, just not perfectly edited, and we still would need to do the voice-overs.

With just two more class days left we will be putting in more long hours so we have something to show by the time we have to call it a week.  But everyone is more than willing to work long and put their efforts into it so we all know it will come together, because we are not leaving until it does.  Keep checking for more updates about where you might be able to get sneak peek. 

Hel²o parents of bright & talented students 〠:

Your daughter (or son, if you are in the < although I will stick with ❝she❞ for the rest of this post) is working ver⁵y (x2) hard this we²k.   She excel²ed in every way before we ⬅ for the DR, and she also busted her but² 4 the 10+ days were were down in the DR, especially in recognizing the ≠ she witnessed.  Did you expect any less‽

Now, as we near the end of a very dif²icult we²k, she is continuing to work tenaciously on the part of the project that is the slowest & least exciting, though ultimately very rewarding: Editing.  ?, ∵ it has to be done.

You raised a mighty fine child, each a ⩡ of U.  

∴  you should be ver⁷y proud.

∎ ✌

Yes, we are working really hard.

Celebrating Dr. O'Keefe and Jen's birthdays!

Yes, she is working too.

Working, working, working!

This is how we get 'er all done.

For the past four days we have been cooped up in a computer lab working tirelessly to compile ALL of the raw footage we have from our trip into some sort of rough cut.  Obviously, our final goal is to whip up a documentary on the story of Pedro and his work in the city of Cien Fuegos, and obviously this will not be done by tomorrow afternoon.  

We are quickly learning that this process is anything but quick.

It's a good thing we are in good company (with plenty of new music and scrumptious treats to keep us going) though, because otherwise this process would probably feel as daunting as it actually is.

Although it has been jam packed, I have really enjoyed this week and being with the people I just shared a life-changing experience with.  Yes, we have a lot to do to get this film edited.  And yes, we have to be inside on these beautiful sunny days in order to get it done.  But we have all been moved by what we saw down in the DR, and we genuinely want to tell the stories of the incredible people we interviewed. Keeping this in mind, I know there isn't anything we can't do.

Earlier this week Gaby and I went through ALL of the notes we took on every person we interviewed.  We have done this in order to come up with some sort of script for the others who are brilliantly piecing together the footage.  One phrase that we consistently came across while writing the script was that of "little by little".  This phrase was used by more than one community member in reference to the fact that working for change in the city will take time, but it will happen.  Little by little, the people of Cien Fuegos are recognizing not only their struggles, but also their opportunities in hopes of creating a future that is bright.

I feel like I can sum up this Backpack Journalism program by referencing this three-word phrase:

Little by little, we have gotten to know each other and learned how to work together.  

Little by little, we figured out what it was we wanted to capture on film while in the DR and now how we want to tell this incredible story to others.  

And little by little, we have opened ourselves up to this new experience and let it move us in ways we may have never imagined.

In accomplishing LOTS of things little by little, 

Ray J 

            Back in the U.S. of A for almost a week now and I'm still not finding myself any closer to closing the distance I feel between myself and the world. I told myself when I left for this trip that I would do everything I could to be fully present in the experience, appreciating every minute of Santiago, Cien Fuegos, Dajabon and Majagual. And yet I struggled nearly every day, feeling as if I was not actually in any of those places but watching a documentary about it, making it less real and frankly easier to deal with emotionally. 

After getting back from a ridiculous day of travel filled with a comedy of errors last Friday, I felt like a walking zombie of sorts, meandering around campus consumed by my thoughts. I walked up and down the mall, tired yet extremely antsy from sitting all day after being in constant motion for almost two weeks. More than anything however, I wanted to run, because even if it's on a treadmill, when I run I feel like I'm getting somewhere, my body coming alive as I push it beyond the threshold of comfort. 

  I've found running to be my outlet for almost anything thats troubling me, and I happened to see a New Balance Ad the other day that stated it perfectly. "Sometimes we run not to get away from the world, but to clear our heads of it." Ever since getting back last Friday I've been struggling to process all the things we saw on our trip. I am constantly reminded of the people, their live, and the things they can't run from like I so wanted to do. 

  I've realized now however that it wasn't that I wanted to run FROM the Dominican Republic, no, if they had this much impact on me in just a few days I can't imagine the incredible lessons I could learn in spending even more time with them. Instead, I run because i want to clear my head and go beyond the initial emotions I'm feeling. I want to move beyond how uncomfortable I am with the realities of what I saw and start problem solving, finding ways to act. 

  So yes, I'll admit that my running may be an obsession. But even though I'm not going anywhere on the treadmill, I can promise you that my mind is anything but stagnant. 

-a.e  

Each of us has something to do, whether pushing through hours of footage or creating a story out of different quotes or paring down interviews or b-roll. But we are all in this together. And if I may say it, we are getting pretty good as a team doing all of these things.

We are taking apart this video for a good cause. Our mission at the beginning of this trip was to interview this guy named Pedro who lived in a trash dump. Our mission now is to accurately tell the story of a deacon who has spent his life trying to transform the trash dump and surrounding area into a live-able and safe environment. This is a big task for 9 students under the age of 22. How are we going to accomplish this task set in front of us?

We are going to work together. And push each other a little bit. I can sense that we are starting to feel the tension of having a lot to do and only a little time to do it in. This is where our teamwork comes in. I learned that we work well as a group while we were in the Dominican Republic. We can do this.

To those who are waiting on this video, it should be a moving story. Cannot tell you the length or the exact content at this juncture but I can tell you that I trust the people editing this story. We are going to tell the right story about Pedro and we are going to do our best to accurately represent Cien Fuegos. Their story became our story and we are going to tell it right. As Morgan has said, "Game on!"