Thinking about Antennahead

I have mixed feelings today. I wandered into Jonestown, MS. I had heard that it was a pretty impoverished area and it turned out to be so. Some of these places are true blasts from the past (often times not in the most positive sense). I went into a little burger place and beyond being wholly old school from the floor to the wooden grill vent the woman cook had a 1950s movie on the TV. Nice lady though.

There were three bars serving at 1:30pm and plenty of patrons wandering the streets. I stuck out like a sore thumb. I felt like it would be totally inappropriate to grab my camera, grab an interview and leave. Unless I have something to immediately give in return I feel like a video would be exploitative, and that’s to assume that anyone would actually give me an interview (someone always will…). It brought to the forefront of my thoughts a question about this project that’s been lingering with me for a while now: how am I benefiting the people I’m videotaping?

I feel that it is positive to engage media with people who may not otherwise engage. I also feel like my intentions are of the best… whatever that means. But as this preliminary run of Antennahead runs out of time and I think of improvements for the future I am called to look for an interesting way to bring direct benefits to participants.

On that note, I’m glad I stopped by Jonestown, and the people I chatted with there were quite nice. I am constantly thinking now about the future of the project and the increasingly clear fact that I would like to get back on the road for a longer period of time in the new year. I’ve got some ideas, so I’m not worried as much as excited.

I think more people should think about hitting up the country… it’s a hell of a place. There’s always time to settle down. What’s tying you down is probably less permanent than it seems. And the seams are looser than they feel.

Some tips: if you’re going by car, park in lots where people are coming and going, or street sides where other cars are parked, or at least some place where there are a few other vehicles – generally there is always an alright place to park, it may be shady in some places to take a piss in the middle of the night, but the middle of the night is the middle of the night, so go ahead (if you have decent looking curtains your home is just a parked car, which is pretty inconspicuous). There’s free Wifi at many hotels these days. Many won’t list that fact on their sign, but if you can park close enough you can get online all around the country – I’m mooching off of a Comfort Inn right now. I find, when rolling into a small place, if you just kind of chill around town for a few hours you’ll see a couple people more than once, and a conversation will usually ensue.