By Destiny Modeste
Paul Quinn College Student Researcher
Bass Connections in Global Health project
This last week has been quite hectic; from transcribing two hours worth of captioning to hastily running around to get things done for our overall PhotoVoice show case but we got it done! Lets take a look at all the components of our last weeks of working with the Highland Hills community:
- Captioning (The good): Sitting with every participant and reviewing their photos was such an enlightening experience because we got to see all the various perspectives people living in one community have. The generation gap was definitely apparent and this was perfect for the particular research we are doing. Although some people said more than others, everyone got their point across.
- Interviews (The great): Interviewing participants for our documentary was also an awesome part of our research project. The Highland Hills community members have so much to say about their community and they gave off a sense of relief when they got the chance to express it to someone who was actually listening. One thing I learned, particularly from this part of the project, was that listening is such a strange but interesting thing, it’s a creative force. Giving people the chance to express their thoughts creates a comfortable, friendly environment and people often move towards that. When we are listened to, it creates us, and helps us unfold and expand. That is what we wanted to capture in our documentary . . . the real people living in Highland Hills.
- Transcribing (The ugly): After sitting and bonding with the community members you are faced with such a tedious task — TRANSCRIBING the captioning sessions. Some people may like it but there are others like me who absolutely dread this task. Pause, rewind, pause, rewind, fast-forward, break, and repeat. The cruel, agonizing ritual continues unabated until the victim is left at the end of the day mentally and physically drained but at the end of the day, you are reminded it is all for a good cause.
Other than the good, the great, and the ugly, we also grew together and developed a bond as not only a research team but as a family . . . a Moodra family (insider). We have created so many memories to look back on and learned from this entire experience. If you have been reading the previous blogs, you will notice a pattern that we are often invited to extravagant fundraising events in Dallas. This weekend we partook in a Mardi Gras themed event at 3015 in Trinity Groves. There was great food, drinks (non-alcoholic of course), and musicians who succeeded in entertaining the crowd. An original Tuskegee airman also graced us with his presence! You don’t see that everyday, so that event was definitely worth attending. I can’t wait to see what the last days of our adventure have in store.
Until next time.
