On Island Living

I've been really intrigued with island life since my second week at SALT. I came to Peaks for my neighborhood assignment. I had felt isolated, lost, and alone then. I've been back many times since. Exploring the island one little piece at a time...of course, it doesn't really take all that long to explore a small island, but there is just something about it. It's just so methodical here. You have to plan out grocery trips (if you don't want to shop at the only grocery store in town), and social trips since the ferry can be limited (although there are more ferries coming and going from Peaks than the others).

I've been daydreaming about what it would be like to live on an island...so you can imagine my excitement when Mira, SALT's writing instructor, posted that she may need a dog sitter for the week. I volunteered as fast as I could. First and foremost, Mira and her family were gracious enough to bring me into their home on my first exploratory mission to Peaks. She noticed that I didn't have the proper footwear for all of the slow I was about to trek on...so she offered here's to me. Her and her husband also offered me a map of the island and pointed me towards the right direction. Of course, I volunteered largely because I wanted to pretend to be an islander for a few days, but I also wanted to thank Mira for her kindness.

I decided, with Nelson's blessing, not to go to Worcester this weekend. To be frank, my pockets cannot afford the short trip every week...but I have been stretching it and "making it work." So I've been on the island on and off since Wednesday. My head feels clearer here. It's quiet and the dogs have been keeping me company. We explored the dirt roads together and took a nice hike on the beach during sunset. I've been getting a lot of reading done. It has always been a bad habit of mine to pick up a book, read a couple of chapters, and never finishing it. So my mission was to have a bit of a 'staycation' and try to chip away at this book I brought from home ("Her" by Christa Paravanni - a photographer who lost her twin). It's been quite therapeutic...all of it.

I'm also re-cutting my multimedia piece. The audio and B-roll rough cut is due today. I've learned that the difficulty with telling someone else's story is some how, you almost always suck at it. So basically, I'm trying not to suck. I've literally been cutting on and off since Wednesday.

I'm also working on re-sequencing my photo story, since I will not have any photos to critique on Monday (my very first time since the beginning of the semester and I feel weird about that). My goal today is to write a focus statement for the photo story and see if things become more apparent...fingers crossed...don't worry, I just learned what a 'focus statement' was yesterday...

Last night I hemmed and hawed over which photograph from my project I was going to submit for a show postcard. Everyone gets to submit just one photo, and I almost didn't, because I know my classmate's photo would win. Everyone, including myself, has been swooning over it and as of last night, there was only five submissions out of seventeen. I guess we will find out.

It's been raining all morning and I'm feeling sad about leaving Peaks.

Following Strangers

Sorry I've been MIA for the past couple of weeks. School has been very busy and stimulating. So much so that sometimes I come home and end up doing absolutely nothing so my brain can be quiet. But this isn't a bad thing. I knew this coming to SALT that it wasn't going to be easy. I guess it's just very real now...duh, I'm five weeks in. So that's catch up.

I followed a stranger home. I did it. It was rewarding and exhilarating to know that out of the two most feared assignments, I had accomplished one and got to cross it off the ol' bucket list. I met a man named Steven on the street a couple of days before I followed him home and I was surprised that I even mustered up the nerve to ask him right away. I really didn't know what his story was excepted that he collects cans as a form of exercise to make a little side money. I guess I felt rather comfortable with him on first impression. Steven was great. I followed him around while he collected cans around Portland for at least three hours. It was 27 degrees and he didn't wear gloves where I was a vision of Ralphie's little brother from a Christmas Story. He had an exact route through the city (which varied between winter and summer) and knew every single trash can. I think the thing that was the most incredible was the fact that Steven has been legally blind since the age of 35. He has trouble seeing during the day but navigates the night extremely well. 

I felt a great connection with Steven and was really grateful for my experience with him. I'm grateful for this assignment too. I honestly would not have done this on a day to day life scenario. I think that's what its really all about her. Pushing myself out of my comfort zone. It's been challenging but nothing is ever rewarding without a challenge.