Banned Bliss

Part of my summer adventures has included being the Multimedia Editor for the Daily Tar Heel. I took it out of the need to make some money this summer and not kill all the time needed for my internship. Before this, I had very, very little experience with video. I only used it for transitions in for my documentary project. But with that experience and my knowledge of visual storytelling, I knew I could handle it.

The first week of being editor went by so quickly after the semester ended, I could not manage a story. Then, I just had to do one for the second, and the above video was the result. I'm quite proud of it, especially for my first full video. Everyone had nothing but great things to say, which felt awesome.

The experience, while educational, was not completely enjoyable. I simply walked into the Hookah Bliss and asked the owner if I could do a story on his store as a visual explanation of the legislation that passed and what it meant for the establishments involved. He agreed without hesitation, and I showed up the next day ready to document.

Only the owner and various operators occupied the store most of the time I filmed. They filled their conversations with quite a deal of stereotypical hetero man talk, which included some queer slurs. I was getting pissed at those, but, surprisingly, the owner would shush them each time they uttered the insults (I think he knew my identity. The rainbow-strapped camera bag could have given it away).

His persistence of ending ignorance failed, however, when sexism arose in the conversations. One customer finally drifted in and bringing irritating baggage with him. He discussed sex, specifically about contraception and his wholehearted belief that women should have to take birth control. "Fuck their hormones, I don't care if they have to take a pill. I don't want to have to take it out on my 'guy'," were his exact words.

The patriarchal views made me pack up within minutes--even when I was worried about not having enough, non-visually redundant footage. I may not have been able to step in and berate him due to the photojournalist-subject relationship in place, but I didn't have to be there and further the owner's cause against this legislation if he promoted such hate speech.

So, I left to spend a night of American Idol and editing in the Daily Tar Heel office. Seeing the first out queer come so close to winning it all was much more rewarding along with the realization that I had plenty of footage to create a tightly edited, nicely shot video.