Make Media Make a Difference.

Hey there, see that button over there? Yeah, that's the one, to your right on the blog . . .

It's a donation button for Wide Angle Youth Media. And, we need your help to keep doing what we're doing . . .

Wide Angle Youth Media is a 501c3 non-profit that provides Baltimore youth with opportunities to tell their own stories using video technology, public speaking, and critical thinking skills. Through after school programs, community events, our annual Who Are You? Youth Media Festival, and our youth-run television show, Wide Angle strives to make media make a difference.

The money we receive is used for equipment, snacks, transportation, and the rest of our necessities. We thank you for your generosity and hope that you will support this worthy cause.

Collaboration with Quindell.

My student Quindell and I are collaborating. And it's fantastic!

Creative conversation and call & response strategy led to an experiment . . .

I gave him three words to respond to with music: repetition, drum beats, and weird. He wrote the music and presented it to me. I had to make an artwork in response . . .

After listening to his music for 2 days in the studio, the visuals in my head resembled the following. Now, we are taking our creation a step further and collaborating on a stop-motion animation of the work.

Exciting? Absolutely!!! Can't wait to show it off!!

Sam Eats Chicken.

Wide Angle Needs Headphone Heroes!

In a dramatic turn of events, Wide Angle has found ourselves without a single working pair of
headphones for our studio! Without headphones, we can't record audio properly, and all our videos will be silent! While this could be interesting, we think you would prefer to hear our awesome soundtracks,
probing interviews, and new dramatic scenes as intended . . .

Please help us hear again by making a donation of a pair of external (not ear bud) headphones - contact us at info@wideanglemedia.org, or call 443-759-6700 to let us know you're coming by.

You can make a donation to our Headphone Heroes fund through our Paypal account: http://bit.ly/WAheadphone

All donations will be acknowledged and are much appreciated!

Can you say Gigipan?

On Monday of last week, I went with Natalie to shoot some images in East Baltimore. She was using a Gigipan. This is the most amazing little thing--robot, really. It captures giant panoramic images, vertical or horizontal. You aim the robot, and set the start place and finish place of your subject. Hit start and it does all the rest: capturing between 100 and however-many images that it later stitches together to create the panorama. Quite amazing to witness. Can't wait until she brings them to Wide Angle on November 18th and December 2nd for my students to play with!!

Time to carve the pumpkins!

I was invited up to my neighbors house to carve pumpkins last night! So much fun!

I carved an owl head wearing a crown into a classic, medium-sized white pumpkin. Roni carved two orange pumpkins. And, Nate roasted the pumpkin seeds--yum!

More pictures can be found here.

The Great Halloween Lantern Parade!

On Sunday, I took part in Baltimore's Great Halloween Lantern Parade. I attended a free, advanced lantern-making workshop at the Creative Alliance with my graduate school friends, Katti and Ashby. Artist Molly Ross facilitated our lantern-making, as junk-bands and costumers practiced and swirled around us. It was a beautiful and awe-inspiring experience . . .


I finished the lantern at home--adding pink, yellow, orange, blue, and white tissue paper--using a glue and water mixture. I attached two push lights to the interior with velcro, accessible where the lantern sits on my head. I tied a bright teal ribbon on as my chin strap.


It was hilariously awkward . . .


Look at these bird costumes!

Edgar Allan Poe was this year's theme. You know he died in Baltimore and comes out to haunt each October . . .


Such great fun! I felt like a 5 year old! Next year, I'm adding stilts!

Doug's visit . . .

Last Wednesday, Doug came to visit me from Austin!

We had a great time! It was so nice to see him!



On Wednesday night, we went to the Ottobar. We saw two bands and had several Natty Bohs . . .


On Thursday, we went to see Where the Wild Things Are. It was a beautiful movie. And, it affected me in a way that I never thought it would. I cried for a very long time after the movie . . . Powerful.


On Friday, we went to Harper's Ferry, West Virgina. It was rainy, but pretty. The leaves were gorgeous--these pictures don't do any justice . . .


On Saturday, we spent the afternoon at the Baltimore Museum of Art--a free museum. Doug really enjoyed the Hank Willis Thomas exhibit. And, the building is quite striking--it's located on the edge of Johns Hopkins University Campus and walking distance from my house. That evening, we ate dinner at Cafe Zen in Belvedere Square. Fabulous Chinese food!


On Sunday morning, Doug left at 6am. Can't wait to see him at Thanksgiving in Austin!

My studio space for Baltimore's Studio Tour 2009.

Wide Angle's Opening Night!

Wide Angle Youth Media just moved into a fabulous new green building on North Howard in Remington.

On Wednesday night we had a grand opening party!!

Originally planned to be outside in the courtyard with Bocce ball and the outdoor fireplace, we had to move everything indoors due to the first Nor'Easter of the season . . . No worries, we still had some killer cider and a great turn-out!

The students screened two of their productions for the attendees, who had great feedback and discussion.

It was a wonderful night!

The Birds . . .

In one of our much-too-short classes with Professor Sam Holmes, we watched the Alfred Hitchcock movie, The Birds. A classic, yes, but silly and ridiculous, too. This movie is interesting for several reasons, but primarily because the movie is not about the birds. The birds are secondary to the real focus, the relationships between the human characters.

Our assignment was to create a response piece to this movie. So, I teamed up with Ashby and Robert to do a performance piece. More images can be found here. What a fabulously good time . . .

Mom always said, "Don't jump rope in the school."

More Cookies!

My graduate program isn't particularly difficult, but it is taxing in a variety of ways. So, in an effort to keep my sanity, I have turned to baking once a week. I have purchased more butter in the past month than I have in the past five years.

The recipes I gravitate towards are not unusual or built for master chefs. They are, in part, traditional stand-bys, comforts of childhood. It's quite calming to focus on stirring, beating, cracking, or measuring. Really, I am just giving myself reason to cook through my favorite cookbook: I Like You.

What's funny is I don't even eat these creations, I just freeze them for a later date . . . What gives?!!

Today's feature is a generic standard in most households, but I hadn't made these yummies in a very long time. So, I present to you: Chocolate Chip Cookies, as written by Amy Sedaris.



2 sticks unsalted butter
3/4 cup of sugar
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 tesaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup chopped pecans (I used almonds.)
18 ounces semisweet chocolate chips (1.5 bags)

Beat butter and sugars together.
Add eggs and vanilla.
Gradually add flour, salt, soda.
Stir in the chocolate chips and nuts.

Chill.

Roll into small balls and flatten in palm of hand "so it looks like a flattened crab cake or medicated face pad". Place on greased cookie sheet.
Bake for about 9 - 11 minutes at 375 degrees.

Oh, one of the greatest weekends!

Worked all night on Friday to get things done for school . . . Worked in the ceramics lab all day on Saturday . . . Rewarded Saturday night with a party-invite by my landlord . . . Lantern-making on Sunday!

Isn't Fall the greatest time of the year??!!