joshtaber : RT @yrtv: Helpful Tip for Obamaniacs: Turn Off Google’s ‘Auto Complete’ Feature Before Searching For Info About Your Hero: *... http://b ... 22 days agoAugust 14, 2010
deppisch : Essential life experience #642: Pooping in the woods. Complete. Now to sleep in a tent for the first time ever. Wish me luck. 10 hours agoSeptember 4, 2010
So trip one is done and we’ve landed back in Colorado. No, we’re not dead. Yes, we’re working on things. After three months of planning, 40 days on the road and over 5,500 miles behind us, we’re home, regrouping and rethinking how to best present the 40+ interviews, music sessions and 30,000+ photos we were able to capture.
For now, though, it’d be downright prudent to thank all the awesome people who lent us their time, voices, faces and houses. We were truly blessed on our trip to have so many ridiculously amazing people placed into our path.
Be sure to check back soon! Interesting things beyond measure are on the way.
After our stay in Grand Rapids, we headed southeast towards Cleveland, OH to catch up with our old friends Lauren and Andrew Stonestreet. The Stonestreets are originally from Charleston, WV, but have crossed paths with both Parker and myself in different places throughout the years. The siblings are truly multi-talented. Both are photographers and songwriters, and although I think it would be humorous to watch Andrew try his hand at modern dance, Lauren is quite a gifted dancer.
One of the primary reasons we decided to add Grand Rapids to our list of stops is the fact that my whole mother’s side of the family is from the area. My great grandparents lived in Holland, MI until they passed. My grandma moved to Colorado from there about a decade ago, and my great uncle and his family still call GR their native stomping grounds.
As we were on our way to Grand Rapids for a short series of interviews, we got word that the city was currently engulfed in a huge art contest named ArtPrize, which is reputedly the largest cash-prize art competition in the world.
Besides the large payouts ($250,000 for first place, another $250,000 in other prizes for the rest of the top ten), the whole operation is fairly revolutionary. The mission of ArtPrize is to create conversation about art between groups of people who might otherwise not feel inclined or even qualified to voice an opinion. They’ve accomplished this feat in a few distinct ways.
First, there were almost no entry conditions: entering artists needed only secure a venue within a 3-mile radius of downtown Grand Rapids before the entry deadline, and most of the process was done online. Artists and Venues were matched together much like a dating website, where both parties were are able to view the other via ArtPrize’s website, where each worked out who wanted to show what art at which location. Since this was the inaugural year for the event, ArtPrize officials were expecting only perhaps a few hundred entries, but were blown away when the contest attracted an astounding 1,262 artists from all over the world, scattered throughout 159 venues.
Our last day in Chicago was spent taking in a bit of the city. We did touristy things like ride the L, walk through Millennium Park and visit with crazy people (especially exciting). We’d spent most of our time up to this point in Logan Square, which is about 15 minutes outside the heart of the city, so it was nice to have a chance to get even just a small feel for the downtown district.
After a few hours of wandering, though, we decided to head over to where we were supposed to meet back up with Milano for another shoot and interview. It’s always a great thing to spend time with talented people who are seriously striving to develop and live out a rational worldview — and are actually able to articulate what they mean by that endeavor. Milano’s front man, Jonathan Guerra, has spent a lot of time pondering Aristotelian Trancendentals (Truth, Beauty, and Goodness), so we sat down with him and his girlfriend-slash-bandmate Valerie Strattan for a few minutes in order to get a little bit of the philosophy (and theology) behind the band’s work.
Just a quick travel update, here. As we spent a day editing files and getting caught up, we were able to boil down a short clip from our time with Mr. Ryan. He explains his life, his work, his gear and gives a little friendly advice to new and aspiring photographers. Be sure give the clip a once-over and check out Mr. Ryan’s profile for pictures, updates and more biographical information. He’s impressive!
Since we had a little free time, I decided to try and meet up with my friend Corinne Chase for a little talkie-talk. I first met her the last time I was in Chi-town back in January, and we’ve been able to keep tabs via Twitter and Facebook. Ms. Chase is an aspiring film student, works at Apple and a fantastic dresser. Also, she’s rad.
A few days ago, we had the distinct pleasure of meeting and speaking with director Aron Gaudet and producer Gita Pullapilly about their amazing documentary entitled The Way We Get By (which is like the Spoon song, but different). The film project itself spans three years and narrates the lives of three senior citizens (Bill Knight, Joan Gaudet, and Jerry Mundy) living in Bangor, ME as they seek to give their lives meaning by serving others. The story begins as a seemingly straight-forward documentary about a small group of seniors who gather daily at the small local airport to make sure there are people to greet and thank soldiers coming and going from Iraq. The film quickly deepens though, and evolves into a very moving tale about aging, loneliness, war and mortality.
The compassion that the troop-greeters lavish on the soldiers is terribly heartening to behold, and the stalwart nature with which these people live their lives is inspiring. The film itself has a very interesting gritty quality to it. The shots really make you feel as if you’re involved in the lives of these people as they go about their day-to-day — often incorporating dramatic angles and striking closeups.
For more information about The Way We Get By, be sure to check out their website, or you can follow them on Twitter! For a listing of where the documentary is showing around you, you can look it up on their handy-dandy list.
If you feel moved by their film, make sure to help them out! They are always looking for new, interesting venues to show the movie. Drop Aron or Gita a line if you know anyone. They’re good people. We look forward to spending time with them again soon!
Mission is a broad term. Those who are called are often called individually, though some are called to be part of a collective. Restoration Ministries showed us how a group of individuals can be effectively focused towards good and just purposes, and can actually create significant change in a community. Starting in 1988 with the Harvey House School of Ministry, Restoration Ministries began their journey of offering redemption and restoration to the community. Today they operate over 25 different ministries in the Harvey, IL area.
Fun Fact: The name ‘Chicago’ is the French interpretation of the Miami-Illinois name ‘Shikaakwa’, which means ‘wild leek’. Really, French guys? ‘Shikaakwa’ is about as close to ‘Chicago’ as this sentence is close to ending in a meaningful and coherent manner. Failed attempts at obscure Chicago trivia aside, the city has treated us well thus far. Today brought us to two distinct events.
Today we had the chance to do our first interview! It was exciting. We talked with a photographer named William Ryan. We are still going over the video clips, but figured we’d share some of the stills we got from during our time with Mr. Ryan. Hope you enjoy them!
Seek Truth, Beauty, and Goodness