Called to Serve (ERM's)

When we began talking David and I wanted to find a subject that we are both passionate about, without looking to far we realized we both had a connection the unrighteous stigma that is often associated with early release or non-missionaries.  As we approached this subject we knew maybe all to personally that this is a delicate subject, and one that often goes overlooked so it was important that the video was informative yet honest to the emotions. One of the videos that impacted our approach to this assignment was “Stoop Sitting” it was focused on normal people in a normal environment. We have all sat on a front porch before, and that is why we can all relate so well to it. We also wanted to semi satire the “I’m a Mormon” ad’s by adopting their style and approach to professing their faith.

Originally we wanted to interview UVU professor Kris Doty who has pioneered new research to the adverse effects of being an “Early Release Missionary” (heretofore referred to as ERM(‘s)) on young men. She clearly had a deeply personal connection and a scientifically rounded approach to the subject. Initially after reaching out to her she was eager to participate and we were very excited, however last minute obligations got in the way and she would not be able to participate before the deadline so we decided to take a new approach to the project.

David had been an early release missionary, before his mission he looked down on missionaries that returned early. Marshal finished his mission and often considered the missionaries that returned home early wimps with “not enough faith”. When his younger brother returned home early from his mission for mental health issues, he was stunned and his outlook changed overnight. Over time what David and Marshal had to come understand and what we wanted to members of the LDS church to understand is that the Lord issues the calling, whether it is two years, two months or a lifetime, as long as you serve to the best of your ability that is a “full time mission” and a worthy one.

We approached this film with a more personal tone and asked Marshal’s brother to be interviewed for the piece, he agreed. So we filmed him while he went for a hike to see the sunset (one of his favorite past times), and delved deeper into his emotions, his concerns and what he is doing to reform this unrighteous stigma and help future ERM’s. We initially had shot B-Roll of missionaries, the temple etc. but ultimately felt that the images distracted from the real message, which is the “worth of souls” in particular, Parkers. Arlene Goldbard said in our reading “If our higher purpose is to develop societies securely grounded in possibility, compassion and connection, our task is to collectively imagine these things. There is no more powerful way to do that than by making art that rehearses the future we wish to help into being”. We feel that we accomplished this by (1) letting Parker rehearse his mission, emotions and experiences (2) paint his image of a better society (3) testify to his belief in said future.

1. http://www.chron.com/news/article/Study-probes-impact-of-early-returned-missionaries-4983273.php

2. http://blogs.uvu.edu/newsroom/2013/10/30/uvu-study-reports-on-the-reasons-for-and-reactions-to-early-returned-missionaries/

Imagine There's No Countries

            I knew at the beginning of this project that I wanted to make a poster about immigration reform, however due to the fact that immigration is a topic that is currently in the limelight finding an issue within the subject was not easy. Especially since my ‘Textual Poaching’ assignment was involved in the subject of immigration reform, I knew that touching the same subject again was a hard sell. But I felt that I shouldn’t shy away from the challenge, or something in which I believe so profoundly.

            I explored a variety of issues within the immigration subject but most issues I felt did not meet the requirement of being ‘inadequately represented’. After reading a few articles (see links below) I found a thought that I struggled to remove from my head. This thought was the contradictory nature of walls and freedom, the fact that we are building and want to continue building bigger and “better” walls to keep people out. I thought about other famous walls, the first two walls I thought of was ‘The Great Wall of China’ and ‘The Berlin Wall’. Both actually were good options considering the violent history of the construction of China’s wall, and the liberty limiting history of Berlin’s. I decided that Berlin’s wall to be more poignant due to it’s youth in history, and it's relation to liberty. When I searched ‘berlin wall’ I discovered this comic that in turn became the inspiration and thesis for my poster.

The historic words of President Reagan when he cried out “Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall!” rang in my ears as I conceptualized and designed my poster, I wanted to combine two images that would represent the similarities of the Berlin Wall and the U.S. Mexican Border Fence, that would bring together these two moments in history. This was the resulting piece.

After I showed it to my wife and uploaded it awaiting responses my wife mentioned that I was being singularly minded to the U.S. public by posting it solely in English. This reminded me of what Chimamanda Adiche spoke about in her presentation at TED, when she detailed how when she was growing up the only stories available to her where British stories or American stories. I realized the border wall isn’t a decision and an issue solely for Americans, but for Mexicans as well. There voice has been completely ignored on the issue, while the U.S. congress debates how much funding the project deserves. By only releasing my poster in English I too was playing to that tune. So I sat down for another short while and reproduced my poster in Spanish so that all Mexicans could contemplate it's message as well.

So with both of these posters released on my Facebook I bunkered down and waited for the debates to ensue… two days later, nada! I was disappointed and began to re-share the posters hoping to engage some kind of conversation. I didn’t achieve this until the very night that I sat down to write this blog. My friend wasn’t very aggressive but inquisitive about my perspective, by the end of the conversation it resulted in me saying “Freedom is a world without walls, it’s countries with no borders” to which he responded “So it’s a world without countries?” Bingo! This conversation was productive, and even though I wasn't successful in initiating a heated debate about how silly a border wall is, it was great to evolve my point of view by having a sincere conversation with another person. John Lennon said it best, "Imagine there's no countries, It isn't hard to do... Imagine all the people, Living life in peace... You may say that I'm a dreamer, But I'm not the only one, I hope someday you'll join us, And the world will be as one."

1.http://www.whitehouse.gov/issues/immigration

2.http://www.fairus.org/issues

3.http://www.no-border-wall.com/

4.http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/21/washington/21fence.html?ref=borderfenceusmexico&_r=0

5.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Berlin_Wall

6.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexico%E2%80%93United_States_barrier

7.Imagine- John Lennon