Final Project

Final Project Artist Statement

When I first began thinking about my final project I felt overwhelmed and couldn't think of a direction to take it in. My professor suggested I look into the new law in Arizona involving immigration. This fit my major of political science well. This subject ended up being of great interest to me and the timing was excellent. The day after I had chosen the primary topic of my final project a protest was to be held in Milwaukee by the Hispanic community. I borrowed my friend's camera and went to check it out. It was an impressive show by Milwaukee's Hispanic community and I thought I got some good footage and interviews. Unfortunately I wasn't familiar enough with my friend's camera and my video was saved to the memory card but there was no memory card in the camera at the time. My interviews happened to be saved to the tape and while I overwrote some of my friend's old video, he didn't seem to mind. With the project deadline in five days I had no choice but to scrap any thoughts of original video and instead looked online for round images and an Obama speech concerning the new law.
The chant of the protesters was "si se puede" and I used that to introduce and set the tone for the comments I recorded at the march. Even with the project deadline looming i decided to try a new software, Moviemaker, because I hoped it would be easier to add sound too. My little Gamble paid off well as I was able to figure out how to manage my presentation easily in Moviemaker and the end result looked much nicer than my previous project.
Because of this project I learned firsthand the unity and strength of Mexican immigrants. The protest was very impressive and if I were any sort of politician I would definitely pay attention to their concerns. My personal views on immigration have become more liberal because all the people I met and talked to at Escuela Vieau and the protest seemed like hardworking, morally upright people. To me these are the kinds of people that should be American citizens so while illegally crossing the border is not the solution there needs to be some reform to allow for easier immigration to America. It has also dawned on me that I may not be as culturally aware as I should be and will be looking into studying abroad.

Journal 3

Yesterday I went to the protest. It was quite the experience. Many people were there and it was very colorful. I used a friends camera to film a few shots of the main group and then used it to try to get brief interviews. The first 5 people I approached declined. Ususally it was because they didn't speak english very well. I started getting discouraged but when I started targeting younger men and women there was no language barrier and I ended up getting what I needed.

The protest was very close to Escuela Vieau where I have now completed my service learning hours. It was fun and I have a newfound respect for bilingual elementary schools and Milwaukee's latino community as a whole. I will not miss the 40 minute bus rides to and from however. I have alot of media and later this week I'm going to sit down and sort through all of it to begin my final project.

Final Project Ideas

My major here at UWM is political science and there are two political issues in particular that face the Milwaukee's hispanic community. Recently Arizona passed the toughest law to date on illegal immigration. Tomorrow on 5th street a protest is to be held and if I get a chance I'd benefit greatly from going and interviewing a few people about the issue. A second, less serious, political issue is that of the recent census. I found audio of the kid's show Dora the Explorer telling the hispanic community to fill it out. I'm looking for more media that explained the importance of the 2010 U.S. census.

Journal 2

I'm very comfortable in Vieau already. I know several students by name since I've tutored them more than once at this point and I know nearly the entire staff. I never thought I would be so pleased that a student like Maria remembered my name after only one tutoring session. Now she always calls my name when she sees me and when we work together I can ask her more accurate questions about developments in her life because I'm getting to know her very well.

In the second half of the after school program I usually work with the science club but recently the science teacher served as a substitute for the gym teacher. Myself as well as other service learning volunteers were given the opportunity to join a soccer game and we did. I started off playing goalie and eventually I was moved out to forward to give others a rest. I played soccer until I was a sophomore in high school and I felt like soccer was a big part of these kid's life like it was a part of mine for so long.

Next time I'll be back at work with the science club and we can make more crazy contraptions.

Artist's Statement

Through my essay I wanted to properly and fairly document the essence of life in Vieau and the neighborhood around it. I’ll admit, when I first arrived I was very unsure of what was expected of me or what I was even going to find but I easily settled in and made some young friends in the process. I’ve gone to Vieau 3 times since I joined the program and each time I start off tutoring any students that haven’t completed their homework yet. Aside from quickly relearning long division, I learned how welcoming even the very youngest students were. I met students of ages that spanned six years and all of them seemed genuinely eager to be there and to learn from me. I haven’t seen work ethic like they exhibited in any other elementary schools I’ve been to and certainly not in my own school. I’ve heard the lazy Mexican stereotype and as much as I would like to believe stereotypes don’t influence me it may be part of the reason I was so surprised at the hardworking nature of everyone, staff and parents included. If I ever come across it again I have learned that it is a generality that should be directly argued against and I now posses the life experience to do so. In retrospect I shouldn’t have been surprised at the work ethic of everyone I met and talked to. After all, many, if not all, are facing greater adversity in their life than I have ever faced and I think they realize that they must continue to work in order to live the lives they came here for. The people in the Vieau neighborhood have a sense of purpose that I find enviable and perhaps it is their strong desire to better themselves that also makes them so friendly.

While working on my project these are the thoughts that kept me occupied. Somehow I had to show all of this with a few pictures and words. This was also my first time using a camera as my means of communication. I learned how difficult it can be to capture grand and intricate ideas with a single visual but I also found the power it could hold if done right. I’m not sure I ever did it quite right but hopefully between 8 photos I can get my message across. With the camera I also learned how constraining framing could make everything. It was stressful to try to fit complex concepts within my tiny viewfinder. I always felt like I was leaving too much out with my pictures but perhaps its better I didn’t get the pictures I wanted where it could have been overwhelming and confusing.

Journal 1

As I walked up to Vieau school after a 30 minute bus ride I really wasn't sure what to expect. When I tried to open the door it was locked and a jovial man inside pushed a button to let me in. Already this was very different from the elementary school I attended. When I arrived at the meeting place we began filling out mounds of paper work while the staff talked to us. The thing I found most striking was how while the school simply didn't have as much as my elementary school had all the members of the staff I met seemed more dedicated, happier, and more optimistic. As we were told exactly what we would be doing I began to become more and more excited to volunteer. It sounded like alot of fun. This feeling only increased when we walked into an after school English class for adults and they greeted us warmly and with good natured jokes. I realized just how hard these people were working to make it in Milwaukee and still they were happy and kind. I hope to actually go get some hours in next week since my first scheduled time I was still waiting on my TB test and the second was cancelled.