CIIP: Week 3 🍟
Originally posted June 25, 2017
“Be the change in the world, but baby please do not change.”
A sister at Northside Baptist Church’s garden launch said this to me and my new friend, Q as we told her about our aspirations for this summer and ultimately for our lives. It’s one of those things you simply have to write down the moment you hear it or else risk losing the moment itself. Speaking from experience, this sister told us being in a position of power can truly change a person. When we’re down at our level, it is so easy to recognize the injustice in the world and for us to have the fiery desire to do our part to fix it. However, too many times, do people lose their fire. While I think this varies from person to person, I think her point was: don’t forget why you’re doing this.
This week, YouTube has been my best friend. With Rev. Brown out of the country this week, I was left with a few responsibilities primarily to keep the BCFSN’s social presence up. In order to do this successfully, I turned to YouTube for everything.
On Saturday, I took photos for the garden launch and that came with its own challenges- I had never used a fancy camera like the Canon t5i before and with the pressure of documenting this moment for Northside and the network, I had to be on my game to give them my best. I spent hours the day before watching YouTube videos trying to understand all the photography jargon and then practicing; understanding when it might be necessary to change the exposure and understanding how the lens focuses at different distances.
On Monday, I utilized our Digital Media Center in order to edit and compile the videos I had been taking for the network’s map. For this, I used a program called Final Cut Pro X. However, I was again unfamiliar with the technology, so I turned to my trusted friend YouTube. Spending my time watching and learning how to use the software, doing mini fist pumps when I got a smooth transition between takes or cursing under my breath when the audio overlay wouldn’t take effect after several attempts.
On Wednesday and Thursday, I faced a different obstacle: I was to write an article about the launch earlier in the week and the purpose of the BCFSN. Me. Write an article. It was one thing to talk about it, but to write about it for a broad audience, I doubted my abilities. After hours (yes, hours) of research and typing paragraphs and backspacing everything, I had my first draft. I sent it to a coordinator for the BCFSN (EJ) and despite a few mistakes, EJ said “man, you’ve got a gift (for writing).” I sat there and I laughed because I struggled so hard with this. It further pushed my understanding of how much work has to go into excellent work. It’s one thing to work hard in school for a grade, but it is something else to do so for others.
I thought I was done with YouTube for the week. But I crawled right back to it on Friday when I had to create a database for the Network. Did a little research and concluded Microsoft Access was the way to go. Easy.
Wrong.
Long story short, Microsoft Access is not as “easy” to pick up as powerpoint. I am slowly getting the hang of it though.
While on the surface, it may not seem like much, I appreciated spending this week building some skills that I think will be useful at another time. It’s better to struggle now than later.
Going back to the quote above, I am working hard on my part to become a part of the upcoming change in the world. Change in the world is a topic all on its own and I will try to explore what that means in the upcoming weeks this summer.