This year for Giving Tuesday, help 1500 Stories give voice to economic inequality

If you believe in the power of stories to build empathy across our differences, consider making a donation to the 1500 Stories project. 1500 Stories is a collaborative art and digital storytelling project about economic inequality in the U.S. So, far we have collected nearly 500 stories from people living at different economic positions in the Silicon Valley, New Jersey and Wisconsin. Your donation can help us share those stories with the world! If you aren’t ready to donate, you can still become advocate for the project by sharing the Giving Tuesday campaign within your social networks. Go to:

https://www.givecampus.com/schools/FoothillDeAnzaFoundation/1500-stories

Watch Berning Love and Go Vote!

In honor of the upcoming election, the collaborative team behind Berning Love, a romantic tragicomedy about the search for love during the waning days of the Bernie Sanders 2016 primary campaign, decided to release the film publicly one year after its television debut on PBS in Vermont. We the makers hope that it inspires you to increase your civic engagement, get involved in your community and also, next week—GO VOTE! For information about what’s on your ballot, check out Ballotpedia.

From Strangers to Neighbors: Community Forums on Economic Inequality

How can we thrive, and not just survive, in the Silicon Valley?  Join the 1500 Stories Project and Sacred Heart Community Service for two evenings of community building around economic inequality in the Silicon Valley.  Come share your story, meet others in your community and discover ways to make a difference.  On Thursday October 11, 2018 from 7-9pm in the Learning Center at Sacred Heart Community Service, we will share our experiences with economic vulnerability.  We will deepen the discussion on Thursday October 25 from 6:30-8:30pm in the Visual and Performing Arts Center at De Anza College, exploring our Silicon Valley dreams and doubts.  1500 Stories is a collaborative art and digital storytelling project about economic inequality in the U.S. and is honored to partner for these public forums with Sacred Heart Community Service, a leader in addressing the root causes and consequences of poverty.  Visit 1500stories.org and www.sacredheartcs.org to learn more.  These forums are made possible by support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities (www.calhum.org); views expressed at the forums do not necessarily represent those of Cal Humanities or the NEH.  Contact jennifermyhre@1500stories.org with questions.

Come on out on May 24 to learn about the historical documentary I'm working on

I'll be showing some very preliminary footage and sharing lots of archival materials from my historical documentary about Jane Addams and the U.S. government's propaganda and surveillance campaign against feminist peace activists in the wake of the First Red Scare.  The talk is on the De Anza College campus--the talk is free but daily parking at De Anza is $3.  Also my colleague David Howard-Pitney is bringing his guitar to play a piece of music from the time period, so it should be good times all around as we learn about a period in U.S. history marked by xenophobia, anti-feminism, and violations of civil liberties by the surveillance state. ;) This talk is sponsored by the California History Center.

Join us at the Showing Up with Care reception--Wednesday February 21 5:30-7:30pm

Aida's Story (video narrative), Carmen's Story (audio narrative) and All Work Has Dignity (socially engaged art piece), 2018

Come on out to the Euphrat Museum of Art for entertainment and refreshments.  Three of my own works are in the current exhibition about caregiving, as well as a whole bunch of totally fantastic works across a range of artistic media.  The show is up until March 22 and if you can't make the reception, museum admission is free and it is open from 10am-3pm Monday through Thursday.  Learn more here.

A couple of my works are up at the Euphrat Museum of Art

Two narratives, one video and one audio, from the 1500 Stories project, are in the show entitled Showing Up with Care alongside a related socially engaged art piece entitled All Work Has Dignity.  All three pieces ask views to engage with the labor of carework and to think about the ways in which we value and compensate different types of work.  You can view the works between now and March 22, 2018 at the Euphrat Museum of Art.  Join us for the reception on Wednesday, February 21 from 5:30pm-7:30.  1500 Stories is a collaborative art and digital storytelling project about economic inequality in the U.S.

Berning Love currently streaming on PBS Vermont

Check out the award winning doc short I collaborated on in its entirety at the Made Here website.  Watch it in 540p for the best viewing experience from your computer. :)

Berning Love airs on PBS on December 12, 2017

The film I collaborated on in 2016 airs next week on PBS, which is pretty much the most amazing outcome I could have hoped for.  You can catch the trailers for Vermont PBS's Made Here on Facebook. 

Consider the 1500 Stories project for Giving Tuesday

In October, I did a series of workshops for folks in San Marcos CA about economic inequality, on behalf of the 1500 Stories project.  1500 Stories is a collaborative art, digital storytelling and civic engagement project about rising economic inequality in the U.S.  Storygatherers in California have already conducted over 150 in-depth interviews with people from all walks of life, about their struggles and their work and their hopes at different economic positions.  Storygathering has also begun in Wisconsin and Ohio.  Here, you see a socially engaged art piece called the Stacked Deck, which asks participants to think about and reflect on economic inequality as it is expressed through a deck of thirteen cards featuring documentary photography.  The project now has piles of unedited audio and video and is raising funds to edit those stories and make them publicly available on the website and for use at public discussions and forums about economic inequality.  Consider making a donation to the project here, and be sure to choose "Other" in the program box and type in 1500 Stories.  Everyone has a story to share.  Help the project get these stories out.

I've just begun post-production on my next documentary short

This spring I wrapped up most of the research and development on my next documentary short, called The Spider Web, about the U.S. War Department's surveillance and propaganda campaign against feminist pacifists in the early 1920s.  I visited archives in Chicago IL, Swarthmore PA, Ramapo NJ, and Washington DC.  I also filmed interviews with Louise Knight, Jane Addams' biographer, and Dr. Kim Nielsen, who wrote an excellent book about anti-feminism during the First Red Scare.  In the process of working on what will be my first historical documentary, I have discovered that I am a secret historian and archive nerd.  Who knew?!

Fresh off its Overall Best Documentary Short Award at Rincon, Berning Love screens in San Francisco on April 13

Audiences and directors at the Rincon Film Festival in Puerto Rico chose Berning Love as Overall Best Documentary Short.  I had the great fortune of wearing many hats on the film--working as a co-editor, associate producer, occasional camera operator, and director of research for the film.  Now, Berning Love is on to its next screening--at the Bay Area Women in Film and Media International Shorts Showcase in San Francisco CA, from 6-9pm on Thursday April 13th.  You can get tickets to that event here: http://bawifm.org/event-2485003.  You can see a trailer for the film here: http://www.berninglovethefilm.com/

Caribbean Premiere of Berning Love on March 30!

Berning Love's festival run continues! Visit http://www.rinconfilm.com to get tickets or more information.  Visit http://www.berninglovethefilm.com to see the trailer for Berning Love.

In the Vermont area? Check out the U.S. premiere of Berning Love on March 19!

Berning Love will be screening at the Green Mountain Film Festival as part of their Vermont Shorts slate.  Join some of the crew for a Q&A after the screening.  You can buy tickets at https://gmffestival.showare.com/eventperformances.asp?evt=259

Talk and slide show on Thursday, March 2

I will be sharing archival materials I gathered for a historical documentary I am in development on about the feminist pacifist movement from 1915-1925 and the ways in which the federal government engaged in a direct campaign to splinter the women's movement in the wake of the first Red Scare in the U.S.  Visit the California History Center website for more information about the CHC and about the exhibit currently on display through March 23 about the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom.

Berning Love European premiere at the Berlin Independent Film Festival on February 9

A few members of the Berning Love crew (myself included) will be visiting Berlin this week for our screening as part of Shorts Block 2 on Thursday February 9.  We are insanely excited about this! Learn more about the festival here.  Berning Love is a sweet and funny documentary short about love and politics during the waning days in Washington DC of the Bernie Sanders primary presidential campaign.  You can learn more about the film, for which I was co-editor, associate producer and director of research, here.

1500 Stories makes an appearance at the Euphrat Museum of Art

Come see the first artwork to result from the 1500 Stories project on exhibit in the Justice for All? show this winter at the Euphrat Museum of Art from February 1-March 23rd.   For more information about the show, visit http://www.deanza.edu/euphrat/inthemuseum.html. This piece is a collaborative work designed by me using photographs contributed to 1500 Stories by De Anza students as part of a documentary photography project called Visualizing Economic Inequality.  Each pair of images documents an aspect of contemporary economic inequality while the overall design mimics the distribution of population and wealth in the U.S.  Feel free to join us at the reception on February 16 from 5:30-7:30pm.  Learn more about 1500 Stories, or make a donation, at https://1500stories.org/

Berning Love, the Film, Is On a Roll

Berning Love, a documentary short about the search for love during the waning days of the Bernie Sanders primary campaign, was accepted into the Berlin Independent Film Festival. I filled many roles on this film, including director of research, co-writer, assistant producer, co-editor and occasionally second camera. :) If you happen to be in Berlin from February 9-15, 2017, check it out! :)

A film I helped make will be screening at the Bay Area Women in Film and Media Shorts Showcase on December 8

Berning Love, a documentary short about the search for love during the waning days of the Bernie Sanders primary campaign, was accepted into the Bay Area Women in Film and Media Shorts Showcase.  I filled many roles on this film, including director of research, co-writer, assistant producer, co-editor and occasionally second camera. :) The showcase promises to be a wonderful evening of film shorts that had women in leadership roles behind the camera.  The showcase is on December 8 starting at 6pm at Second Act, 1727 Haight St, San Francisco, CA 94117.  You can get tickets to the event here.  Below are some outtakes from the film--Dr. Doug Pierce, political scientist, discussing the role of emotion in politics. 

These particular clips were shot by Sujatha Bagal, produced by Katherine Chivers and edited by me.

For #GivingTuesday, donate to the 1500 Stories project

With #GivingTuesday approaching I am asking for your help with a project I work on called 1500 Stories.  This project collects and shares stories about people’s lives at different economic positions in the U.S. to raise awareness about the human costs of our unprecedented levels of economic inequality.  In the U.S. right now, the 20 richest people own more wealth than the bottom 50% of Americans combined.  The need for empathy and action has never been more urgent.  The audio you listened to here is one short snippet of the dozens of stories that have been collected so far by volunteers.  Storygathering creates a powerful person-to-person connection between the listener and the one sharing his/her stories. 

However, in order to broaden the reach of these experiences beyond the two people involved, the project needs professional help.  1500 Stories is trying to raise $10,000 for #GivingTuesday to turn the unedited audio gathered by these volunteers into powerful stories that can be shared online.  We need your help.  Every dollar counts.  You can learn more about the project at our website 1500stories.org.  You can make a tax-deductible donation to the project through our fiscal sponsor, the Foothill-De Anza Foundation, here: https://secure.donationpay.org/fhda/.  BE SURE TO WRITE 1500 STORIES IN THE “OTHER” BOX!  Or if you can't donate, consider sharing the Facebook post about the project. 

I pitched in on a profile of this amazing agricultural scientist:

During my time as an intern at Stone Soup Films, I got to do second camera work and some of the editing for this short profile of University of DC professor Mchezaje "Che" Axum, an agronomist who is working on building people's capacity to grow high-nutrient density foods in urban areas, as part of Stone Soup's DC Heroes series.  One of the things I loved about him and his work was the fact that he is also raising awareness about the early Egyptian roots of sustainable agriculture, as well as the complicated history in the U.S. of black people's relationship to farming.  And as an academic myself, I am well aware that there is often not only no reward for university professors to engage in public, civically engaged scholarship, but often such activities are frowned upon.  Dr. Axum is doing amazing work.