Fireside Chat

I was very surprised and pleased at how my Fireside Chat all came together. I was really struggling for a while about what I would talk about and how I would talk about it. The first thing I thought about doing was rapping, but I wasn’t quite sure on how to make it special. I wanted to do something original. However, I then remembered our discussion on how everything we create is informed by something else. I remembered that I had discovered that we’re never going to be original so we should just stop trying. At the moment I realized this, I was driving my car and listening to Careless Whisper and the wheels started turning in my mind. I started to combine several types of media I had been consuming. I combined my desire to rap with the fact that I had been jamming to Careless Whisper with my roommates and also added elements of beat poetry, which were heavily inspired by the film, So I Married an Axe Murderer. It all came together in a strange hybrid that I feel presented elements of my personality to the audience. The next thing to determine was the subject matter of my chat. This was another thing that I had been thinking about that just kind of worked out perfectly for my chat. I have been frustrated and saddened at the discourse that I have seen on Facebook and in the media in general regarding controversial topics. I feel that people are more concerned about speaking loudly than actually understanding the issues. As someone who tries to seek the middle ground and understand both sides, sometimes I feel like I am weaker and that the opinions I do have are not as important as those who speak loudly. However, deep down I have a sincere hope that we can improve and speak appropriately. I also feel that we need to not get so caught up in what’s happening around the world that we neglect to address the issues around us and participate in our own community. As I put together my fireside chat, I thought it was extremely appropriate that this was my last assignment in this class. I feel that my experience creating this was truly the culmination of everything I have learned. The things I learned from remixing existing art, the importance of contextualization, and who I am individually as an artist were all important elements in the creation of this performance. I feel that this was one of the most meaningful things I have created in a while, and I truly felt that this performance was “me”. The creation and performance of my fireside chat have inspired me with lots of other ideas to create and continue to develop my identity as an artist, and for that I am very grateful.

Concerned Citizen

For our Concerned Citizen project, Keala and I spotlighted Ben Hess, Wyview’s assistant manager. Keala knows Ben through work and usually see him as the puppeteer of Residence Life. As the footage will show, he has been involved in Residence Life for many years and, for as long as Keala has known him, he has always operated from behind-the-scenes, but acts as the coordinator for many of the area’s events and has been an advisor to many students.

Keala wanted Ben to be our concerned citizen because, as Arlene Goldberg’s article articulated, change for both the individual and the community comes from within, and the motivation for change is powered by passion. Ben is always so passionate about Residence Life and the students that live in his area. Servicing the residents and the Residence Life program—BYU, in general—strips him of family time. As we gathered footage of Ben we wanted to highlight his family because, whenever he can, he loves to involve them in his work. We wanted footage of them attending one of the many Wyview's programs because he loves involving his family in his work.

The changes that Ben brings to his community are pivotal as he guarantees that the resident assistants and hall advisors (those who work with the students) remember the student’s experience first and foremost. He represents the student in the process as he must approve all the activities and resources we use. His social work guarantees the representation of BYU students and that the student comes first. Even if he is unable to know each and every one of them, Ben works hard to help them whatever way he can. We found it fascinating that he chose to make a career out of Residence Life and am so happy we chose to “spotlight” him. When Keala gathered the footage, she wanted to highlight his family and the emphasis that Ben puts on building interactions and communities and how he knew he did well that day—did his job. He said (when the camera was off, unfortunately): “My days are never really over. There is always more to do.”

Game for Change

http://www.philome.la/AmmonMiller/night-life

Creating this game was probably the most eye-opening experience I’ve had all semester. It was extremely sobering. The subject that I chose for my Game for Change was human trafficking. The reason why I chose this subject was because I have heard about increased prostitution in my home state of North Dakota due to an unprecedented oil boom and subsequent population growth. As I researched the facts, I was shocked at how much of an issue it really is. One article states that we went from having little to no reported cases of prostitution in the last decade to 12 cases in 2011 alone.

As I read about the cases in North Dakota, I began to research human trafficking in general. I saw how much of a problem it is, and several articles stated that the average age that girls are sucked into this live is twelve. It was really sickening to read about all of this. Fortunately, I found some websites that offer education and resources to the victims of human trafficking. I learned about how to recognize it, and how shelters are offered to help men and women gain self-confidence and bravery to escape from that terrible life.

As I created the story of the game, I wanted to tell something that was true, and not my own distorted version, like we saw in the video by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. I read about several experiences, and then I formed a composite story. However, it is mainly based on a human trafficker who was caught in North Dakota and how he treated his victims.

There are two possible endings to the game. One is more tragic, and results in the victim continuing in the lifestyle and being convinced by her kidnapper that she will not amount to anything. I made this ending because it is an unfortunate and terrible reality for many of the slaves involved in human trafficking. This sad ending hopefully invites the player to want to reach out and help somebody. The other ending is more hopeful. It shows the positive potential of human beings and also shows a particular way that we might reach out to these victims by creating and funding support centers for them. My goal in creating this game was especially to create empathy for the victims of human trafficking. Many times we hear about prostitutes and cast judgment and think that they all enjoy what they’re doing. However, the sad reality is that many of them want to escape and don’t know how. It’s up to us to help them.

http://bakken.com/news/id/220460/sex-trade-follows-oil-boom-north-dakota/

http://www.mintpressnews.com/north-dakota-asks-nation-for-help-in-human-trafficking-epidemic-2/190269/

http://bismarcktribune.com/news/local/crime-and-courts/wisconsin-man-held-in-north-dakota-human-trafficking-case/article_8c66e9e4-fb1c-11e3-a71f-001a4bcf887a.html

http://www.polarisproject.org/what-we-do/client-services/how-we-help

http://4hernd.org/

World Building

Artist's Statement:

For our World Building assignment, we created a world in which elected leaders, such as presidents, were chosen through game show competitions. This idea stemmed from our media’s oversimplification of political issues and the way that democratic elections often seem to boil down to glorified popularity contests. As we fleshed out our concept, we came to consider how the world we constructed and the world we live in reflects and influences our media aesthetics. Ever since the legendary Nixon-Kennedy debate in 1960, the exterior appearance of a politician and their skill in front of a camera has seemingly become more important than their stance on the pressing issues of the day. Keeping these trends in mind, we went about creating fabricated media that would exist in this world—magazine covers, a middle school history report, and the games that might be used to select a president. Through this variety of mediums, we were able to present several different ideas and how this world would potentially function.

The catalyst for this idea was Mike Judge’s 2006 film Idiocracy, which paints a bleak future in which a consumer society obsessed with reality TV and energy drinks becomes astronomically dumber as generations go on. We at first considered a dark future like this, and there are certainly terrifying elements that a world such as this would present. We already seem to be moving towards a future in which a politician’s political experience and ability to “get things done” seems to be nonessential, and our world boils that down to its basest essence. In a game show, real-world skills aren’t important, but rather oddball talents, physical prowess, or a memorized array of useless factoids will win you the top prize.

As we discussed these parallels, we found ourselves drawn to the world—we could see the situation working, as silly as that sounds, but choosing a president based off of trivia pertinent to real world events could benefit the world. With this in mind, we knew that the “important” people of this world would be the familiar faces of TV game shows such as Bob Barker from The Price is Right and the people sought out, as political candidate advisors, would be the gaming gurus like Ken Jennings.

We aimed to represent this objectively by highlighting the draw and potential benefits that this change could have.  On our Cosmo cover, we see potential progress via a female president.  In Parenting Magazine, we see parents placing more emphasis on their children’s education from a younger age. The president is popular in a way he/she isn’t now—namely people want to be him/her.  As a result our society is making progress by being less fat and ironically smarter.  Our alternate future presents real potential benefits for society. But there is also a dark undertone to all this in that the progress probably isn’t real.  The “progress” of having our female president on a magazine cover that is pretty basely degrading to women quite possibly represents a well masked digression.  Either way that is up to the viewer but in the end the point is to explore this real social issue of appearances over issues and again as Bleeker says help us “think through matters-of-concern.”

In Bleeker’s essay he wrote that fiction follows fact. He explored how “design fictions” can provoke questions concerning the world. As Bleeker wrote; “Design fictions help tell stories that provoke and raise questions. Like props that help focus the imagination and speculate about possible near future worlds – whether profound change or simple, even mundane social practices.”

In our case, the design of our world followed fact in that it was based on the complexity America regards the election process and how presidential campaigns are invading late night television and common media. Our premise merely accentuated these problems and perceived interpretations of the progression of presidential campaigns.

Presidential Games

Penny Shots

• Each candidate has an supply of pennies in a giant bowl
• Each candidate has an identical shot glass 5 feet in front of them (contestants must stay behind the line)
• Candidates have 1 minute to toss pennies at the shot glass
• Whoever gets the most pennies in the shot glass by the end of the minute wins!

Capture the Flag

• A classic playground game
• Candidates are presented with a row of potential team-mates
• Candidates take turns picking members for their team (coin is tossed to see who picks first)
• Once teams are picked and clearly marked as red and blue, they are lead to the arena
• The arena is clearly divided into red and blue halves
• Each team is given a flag that the candidates choose to hide
• Each team’s objective is to get the other team’s flag while protecting their own
• Candidates are in charge of team strategy
• When a team member crosses over into enemy territory, they may be “tagged” by members of that territory
• Tagged players must go to the clearly marked “jail” poles
• Players in jail may be freed if touched by a member of their own team that is not currently in jail
• Recently freed players may return unharmed back to their side before resuming game play, they may not try to capture the flag, however, on their way back
• Whichever team captures the flag ⅗ times wins!

Plunko!

• As seen on “The Price is Right!”
• Candidates are given 3 chips each
• Candidates must ascend the stairs to the top of the Plunko! board
• Candidates must take each chip, one at a time, and place them flat against the Plunko! board and drop the chips
• The chips will then fall down the Plunko! board until they reach a slot at the bottom
• Each slot is labeled with a different number of points
• The candidate with the most total points wins!

Who Wants to be the President?

• Candidates must compete in trivia questions in order to accumulate points
• Questions are multiple choice
• Questions get harder as the points get higher
• Candidates are given 3 life-lines: 50/50, ask the audience, and phone a friend
• The Candidate who is able to reach 1,000,000 points first wins!

Bouncy Slime Soccer

• Candidates are given sock’em boppers, and must wear them on each hand for the duration of the competition
• Candidates are given kickboxing helmets
• Candidates are escorted into an inflatable arena covered in green-slime, similar to as seen on Nickelodeon of old
• The candidates must remain in the area for the duration of the competition, exiting the arena will result in disqualification
• A beachball is thrown into the arena at the start of the game
• Candidates must get the beachball into their opponent's goal
• The ball may be kicked, carried, or put in the opponent’s goal by any means necessary (so long as the sock’em boppers are worn)
• Candidates can do whatever it takes to prevent their opponent from scoring a goal
• Whoever reaches 5 points first wins!

Textual Poaching

Artist's Statement: 

I was born in Fargo, North Dakota. When I found out about this assignment, I immediately wanted to explore the Cohen Brothers film, Fargo. Besides being a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, this is the aspect about myself that I find the most unique. Often when people first meet me, they tell me that they’ve never met anybody from North Dakota. This makes sense, considering that there are fewer than 700,000 of us.

The problem with this is that because people do not know anybody from North Dakota, they turn to the only media which has exposed them to this great state. Most often it is the infamous film from 1996. However, Fargo makes people think that everybody talks in a ridiculous accent, which is only partly true. In my project, I wanted to show that having been born and raised in North Dakota, I do not speak in the dialect influenced by the Scandinavian forefathers of the Northern Plains. I used the kidnapping from Fargo to create a new scenario where I corrected the ridiculous accents of the kidnappers. However ridiculous the accents are, however, there is an element of truth. Most of the dialogue in this video is word-for-word the exact conversation I have had with my friends back in Bismarck.

The creators of Fargo have said that the accent was a character in and of itself in their film. This certainly has been true of the accents role in my life. It truly has become its own entity, a friend with which I have a love/hate relationship. In this way, I can totally relate to the story of the Velveteen Rabbit, which was discussed in our reading for this week. It has taken on its own significance throughout my life, and I'm not sure if home would be home without that silly way that the natives talk.  

I remember growing up and trying to emulate the accent as a small child, because I thought that was the proper way to speak. However, I grew up and observed the language of movies and TV. I listened to the inflection of my parents, who are non-native North Dakotans. I realized that people had their own dialogue and intonation which was unique to the location.

I began to loathe it and resist it, but after spending so much time away from home, the accent almost seems endearing. And I have to admit that on an extremely rare occasion, the accent slips back. I tried to show that in the very end of the video. In that closing scene, I also gratefully accept some kuchen, which is a popular German dessert, only found in North Dakota. As much as I don’t like to admit it sometimes, there is a part of the folksy North Dakotan culture that will always be a part of me. It is just one part of who I am, but I have finally learned to embrace and celebrate the fact that I come from the Peace Garden State. 

Webspinna Battle Artist's Statement

This Webspinna Battle was a really cool experiment and I am grateful for how well it all turned out. To be honest, I was very nervous about how the final product would look, but I’m so glad that it all turned out well. When we picked the theme “Heroes vs. Villains”, I knew that there could be several different directions we might take. I wanted to go with this theme because of my familiarity with the superhero genre, but I also wanted to branch out into other heroes and villains with whom we might be familiar. Keala had the really great idea of making the story a little more dark than we had originally conceived it to be. This included having the hero turn into a villain by the end of the battle. I was really surprised and grateful for how much depth this added.

I love to read comic books, particularly Marvel comics, and those certainly played a role in the clips that we chose. One particular story arc that I enjoy is the Civil War story arc, which also plays around with the idea that heroes can become villains by pitting the heroes against one another, particularly Iron Man and Captain America. When these two former teammates become foes and Captain America dies standing up for what he believes in, it makes Tony Stark appear to be a villain. Our battle had a similar structure. Things started off more funny and cartoony before transitioning into something much more dark and sinister. Even the sadistic Joker was defeated by something dark that came over the Black Widow.

As I read through the article by Lethem, I realized that this assignment was similar to our Round Robin assignment earlier this semester. He talked in the beginning about how the writer of Lolita took his story from another writer. Bob Dylan borrowed his themes heavily from others. We took something that already existed and used it as a springboard to make something new. However, in this case we were more aware of the art we were using for our purpose. It was really cool to see it become something new. I used some really obscure clips and it was fun to see them developed to create a character with new personality.

I also thought that it was really cool how the performance itself made the story unique. Because we had to struggle and improvise when something didn’t work exactly as we wanted it to, the story and characters changed into something that they wouldn’t have been otherwise.