Final Artist Statement

“Now, I say to you today my friends, even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: / we hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.” This is a quote from Martin Luther King Jr. that in my own personal opinion sums up the journey that Johnsons Park Neighborhood has embarked upon, from the past to the present and into the future.

This blog is about my adventures and interactions within the Johnsons Park Neighborhood and the inhabitants who live there and documented video and photography of the area. This blog also presents the changes that have taken place within Johnsons Park Neighborhood, the rich history that it has, and also the American dream that has made all of these great changes thus far, possible. Without the “dream” of a few hard working, unrelenting individuals who wanted nothing more then to see their neighborhood be a great, safe place to live, the transformation of the Johnsons Park Neighborhood might have never taken place. This in and of its self is a true testament of how anyone in this country can achieve anything as long as you are willing to work for it.

The photographs as well as the videos on this blog are how I have viewed this neighborhood as well as Service Learning project though my own eyes and my own experiences. From an artistic standpoint I wanted this blog to be about the changes in Johnsons Park Neighborhood that were made possible through hardworking individuals mainly the people that I was able to interview. I also wanted this blog to be about my adventures that I have gone through within this class and service learning. I took my self out of the interviews and used text because of time constrictions. We had to edit about 160 minutes of video down to a 5-7 minute video. We were very much there involved and engaged the people we interviewed. It was as much of us getting to know the people of the neighborhood as it was also about getting to hear their story. I personally decided not to edit any of my photographs. One, because I really don’t know Photoshop all that well but also because I wanted to capture how the neighborhood really is as if you were right there some of the worlds most profound pictures are true to life and that’s why I decided not to edit my photographs.

During my work on this project I got to meet a lot of great people, people who care about their neighborhood and people who have worked all their lives to make a difference in Johnsons Park Neighborhood for the next generation. This blog is my adventures and the times I spent in Johnsons Park Neighborhood.

Visits to Johnsons Park Neighborhood

Throughout the semester I had the chance to visit Johnsons Park Neighborhood on several different occasions. Each time I visited Johnsons Park Neighborhood I found, learned or met someone new that added something valuable to my overall experience I had down in the Johnsons Park Neighborhood that aloud me to add something to this blog.

The first time I had the chance to visit Johnsons Park Neighborhood was on March 15^th, 2009 around 4:00pm after our initial group meeting with Mr. George Lewis who would be coordinating our interviews with the life long residents of the neighborhood. I decided that day that I wanted to visit the neighborhood so I could get a start on my JPNA photo essay. At first I was going to visit the neighborhood by myself and I really didn’t plan to stay all that long, but my group mate Quyen decided she was going to come with me. We got to the neighborhood around 4:10pm and parked across the street from Johnsons Park it was a cool day dusk and not too many people were out, but there were a few. We started to walk around and take pictures of the neighborhood and got a few looks from people and were asked by one fellow if we were working on a school project. We walked around for a bit longer and took some more pictures when we came across a lady who asked if we were new to the neighborhood we told her that we were not but instead working on a school project. The lady seemed very friendly and interested to talk to us but I don’t think she lived in the neighborhood. In fact I think she may have been homeless or perhaps very poor since she asked us for money. Neither I nor Quyen had any money to give her but she seemed happy to talk to us none the less. We left soon after that since it was getting dark. At the time I personally didn’t feel comfortable taking pictures of the people we talked too since I don’t like to take pictures of people I don’t know.

The second time I visited Johnsons Park Neighborhood was several days later I again met up with Quyen and we headed to Johnsons Park in the afternoon that day was a bit nicer then the earlier time we visited the neighborhood. But again there were not many people about the neighborhood. We walked around again for about another hour and a half up and down the streets taking pictures. We stopped to take a picture of the fish market when a lady asked if we were taking pictures of her fish market. We explained that we were documenting the neighborhood for our project. We got to talking to her and she had plenty of stories to tell us. Her name was Willie Mays and talking with her, well, lets just say was one of the more memorable moments of this project.

The times I visited the neighborhood was a good experience in my opinion even though when I did go I did not see to many people out and about maybe that was because of the weather maybe not either way it was none the less exciting

My Interview with Mrs. Craft

My interview with Mrs. Craft was one of the more memorable experiences that I have the privilege to take part in during my time working on this project. Mrs. Craft was a great interviewee and was very knowledgeable about the things she talked about. She was also a wonderful host and offered me and Naraij coffee and cake when we arrived at her residents. Before as well as after the interview she had plenty of stories and things to talk about with me and Naraji which made it a surprisingly comfortable situation.

Mrs. Craft was born and moved to Johnsons Park Neighborhood in 1941 when she was only 18 months old. Her and her family was the first black family to move into Johnsons Park Neighborhood. At the time they moved into the neighborhood she said they were the only black family there. She said at first the people there did not like that there was a black family living there but after a while people became accustomed to the fact that there was a black family there since her family were respectful and hard working and just wanted to fit into the neighborhood. She explained that her family worked very hard for her house, and that her father would walk everyday to work to the south side of Milwaukee and back in order to save enough to by a bike. That story was really amazing because in this day and age you almost never see or hear of people walking to work in order to get enough money to pay for a bike and then a car and their house. I personally think in this day and age most people take their homes for granted and don’t work as hard as the Craft Family did for their home. And I would guess that’s why Mrs. Craft home means so much to her.

The entire interview was great and I’m glad I had the chance to interview Mrs. Craft because I learned so much about the history of the neighborhood that I never knew about before I started this project. It was also great to have the chance to interview someone who has lived in the neighborhood all her life and has been able to experience all the different changes that have gone on throughout her life and to convey that to us.

My Interview with Mrs. Evens & Family

My interview with Mrs. Evens and her family was the first of two interviews that I had a chance to partake for my service learning project. Since this was my first ever interview of anyone in my entire life let alone video taping them, so I was a bit nerves. But there was no need to be nerves since Mrs. Evens and her family was just great. They were very inviting and wonderful people and Joe and I had a great time talking basically about anything with them.

On our way to Mrs. Evens interview Joe and I kind of got lost and could not find Mrs. Evens house for the life of us. We drove up and down 20th street about three times. Turns out that the street sign for Garfield Ave. was taken down and that’s why we could not find the street. Eventually we arrived at Mrs. Evens home and we were greeted by her granddaughter. We set up shop in Mrs. Evens living room and started the interview. Mrs. Evens her son, granddaughter, and great granddaughter were all in the room. You could tell that they were very close family that family meant a lot to them.

Mrs. Evens moved to the Johnson Park Neighborhood in the 1960s and has lived there ever since. She was originally born down south and moved to Milwaukee after her a divorce from her first husband. She said at that time the neighborhood was a very close community and everyone knew everyone back then and they would often hold neighborhood parties. Mrs. Evens also explained that back then the police knew everyone very well in the area and if there was a problem they would come out right away so crime was not a frequent experience back then.

Mrs. Evens as well as her family had kind of a different take on the changes going on in the neighborhood. Though they like all the new houses going up in the neighborhood and the positive changes that are occurring they still see need for improvement. Even though Mrs. Evens and her granddaughter have lived in the neighborhood all of their life’s they have only recently heard of JPNA but only after Mrs. Evens granddaughter found out about it while attending UWM.

My Experience with Film Department Equipment Room

Our (Joe and I) adventure with the Film Department Equipment Room began on a Friday after class. Joe and I first headed to the AV check out room to rent out a camera, lights and a tripod. After waiting around for about ten minutes (other people were been taken care of) we asked the worker if we could check out a camera, lights and a tripod for our interview later that day. To which he replied “do you have a reservation?” We explained to him that we didn’t have one and that we didn’t know we needed one since this was our first Film class. He then ‘hummed and hawed’ and rolled his eyes and said “I’ll go look but next time you need a reservation” He then sat at his computer for about five minutes, I guess looking for a camera? Apparently he eventually found one. He then explained that he was unsure if they had any tripods or lights for us to use even though he had a huge stack of lights and tripods behind him. He then “found” a tripod but said they were out of lights; we decided to just leave at that point. My Film Department Equipment Room experience was maybe not the best experience I had while working on my Service Learning Project but it was definitely a memorable experience none the less. I’m not really sure what was up with the Film Department Equipment Room worker maybe he was just having a bad day that day. Whatever the case maybe next time I will remember to have a reservation.

Film Department Equipment Room website

Picture Taken From
http://www.armpullers.com/camp/images/sony_hdr_camera.jpg

Documentation of Work on the Group Project

Work on our group project was one of the more difficult tasks I think our group had to accomplish this semester. Mostly because every single one of us had very different schedules or we had to work. So through out the semester we were only able to meet a few times and the group as a whole was never able to conduct an interview. None the less we pressed on and were able to meet a few times to work on the group project. We each took home an interview that we attended and edited it and from the edited version we picked the best clips we thought would be appropriate and presented them to the group. From that we pieced together or final movie. So each one of us was given hands on experience with imovie or a form of video editing software. Also each one of us had the chance to work with the group blog on an individual basis separate from the times we met as a group and added things we though were good for the site.



This was not the first group project that I have worked on nor will it be the last group project I will work on but I have to say I really enjoyed working with the people in my group and I’m glad we had the chance to work together.

JPNA Media Project
JPNA Youtube Channel

A Few Thoughts on Service Learning

When I initially embarked upon my Service Learning journey I personally did not know what to expect out of service learning, what service learning was all about, or even how it contributed to furthering my education. As a transfer student from the University of Wisconsin- Whitewater we were never exposed, required or expected to do something similar to Service Learning, so this entire experience was a bit alien to me. Before taking this class I had never done any kind of Service Learning except for the other Service Learning project that I was participating in at the same time which was for my environmental science class. Both classes of which I wa required to do service learning for were essentially retake classes for me since my multicultural and environmental class did not transfer from Whitewater. This in and of its self did not hinder the valuable experiences and lessons that I took with me from both of my service learning experiences that I was able to participate in this semester.

My experiences with Service Learning for our class (Film 150) and my Service Learning from my environmental science class (CES 210) were very different experiences indeed. In my CES 210 class which is a lecture class with about 200 kids in it, we were given a choice of our Service Learning partners to work with of whom I chose to work with Alliance for The Great Lakes. What I did for my service learning hours for Alliance for The Great Lakes was to monitor beach conditions at different beach locations as well as clean various beaches in and around Milwaukee country. So my Service Learning for Alliance for The Great Lakes was a very hands on and direct approach to our Service Learning hours that had a direct impact on the environment.

My experiences with Service Learning for our Film 150 I think took a more indirect approach to our Service Learning hours. I think we as a class though were much more involved in our organization then I was with Alliance for The Great Lakes. I personally speaking, had many interactions with the people lived in the neighborhood and got to document that directly. Even though I was not building or cleaning up anything, hopefully documenting the progress and transition that this neighborhood has gone through can someday make in impact on Johnsons park neighborhood.
Pictures taken from:
http://www4.uwm.edu/isl/

My First Movie!

This is the first movie I have ever created in my entire life! It was quite an experience since it was the first time I had ever had worked with any video editing programs before. I have worked with a lot of music editing software before but never video. My experiences with working with a Mac and imovie definitely had its ups and downs. When I first started to try an edit video it was very frustrating since I have never worked with any of the programs before, but once I got the hang of it I had a lot of fun with it. After working on this project I would really enjoy to go out on my own time and make some more movies. So here is my first movie I hope you enjoy!

Photo Essay Slide Show

JPNA Artist Statement

As I began to put together my photograph essay in regards to the JPNA service area, I began to develop into being a more cultured citizen in general from my personal experiences while working on my JPNA service photo essay. I learned many unique and interesting things not only about the Johnsons’ Park Neighborhood but also inner city Milwaukee as well. I also got a general sense of the kind of people that live, work, and volunteer in and around Johnsons’ Park Neighborhood. Lastly I received a greater understanding of my own camera as instrument of investigation through the process of putting together this Photo Essay.

How I put together my Photo essay was by first doing a little research on the Johnson’s’ Park Neighborhood association website to get a feel and understanding for the neighborhood. Then I proceeded to take a trip down to Johnsons’ Park Neighborhood to observe and explore the area after or meeting with George Lewis. Our meeting with George Lewis also gave me some valuable information about the Neighborhood in that I didn’t have before I went. I then took the information I had gathered and digested it before I proceeded on my second trip to take pictures.

To be completely honest I was unsure of what to expect out of Johnsons’ Park before I took my trip down there as I had never been there before and also because I heard it was not one of the best neighborhoods in Milwaukee. But I have to say that it was one of the most unique and interesting neighborhoods I have ever been to. I had never seen brand new housing that was built in the inner city before let alone such nice housing. The neighborhood also seemed like a relatively peaceful as well where as a couple blocks away did not seem like the best place to be, this in and of its self speaks to Milwaukee’s unique nature.

Even though I did not see to many people walking around Johnson’s’ Park Neighborhood I sill got a sense of the kind of people who lived in and around this neighborhood. I could tell that these people took great pride in their neighborhood and that they were general close to one another. They also seemed like very clean people because ever single home was well groomed and well kept. They also seem to like small business owners as well since I didn’t see one single large chain store in the area; they like to keep their money in their community.

All in all this entire photo essay project helped me have a greater understanding about Johnson’s’ Park Neighborhood and the people who live there and should be a good base for me to start my final media literacy project.

Final Media Project Proposal

For my final media project I plan on working with Mr. George Lewis on interviewing number long-term residents of JPNA's service area and create an archive of different residents on how the dynamic of their neighborhood has changed over time. Through researching the history of the neighborhood I can then develop questions to ask them. What they think about the new changes in the neighborhood? What they thought about the Neighborhood in the past. Hopefully though the interview process we can develop a good archive that Mr. George Lewis can use to show others the great progress JPNA has made in the community.

Picture taken from JSonline.com article
http://www.jsonline.com/news/milwaukee/33703424.html

What is American Identity?

Since our nations founding in 1776 immigrants who moved to the United States have always sought to fit in and become “Americanized”. What exactly is the American identity and who exactly gets to decide what really is American or not? Even though many Americans probably think they have a good understanding of race, many of their ideas are vastly different from one another and many confuse it with ethnicity or nationality as well as cultural differences (Bensheoff & Griffin 47)(1). I would argue that there has been a long standing view that “American” is white and middle class but this view has been mostly made up by the white middle class. A great example of this is from photographs of non-whites who are trying to fit in to the white American culture because they believe that is what is truly American.

A photograph that is really evident of this kind of thinking is History and Memory (Rea Tajiri 1991). The photograph shows a man and women of Asian decent (most likely Japanese) standing in front of the American Flag. The Photograph appears to be from the 1940s-1950s given clothing as well as being in black and white. We know at this time in American history Asian-American were viewed as enemies to America given the fact that World War II was occurring or had taken place as well as the Korean War that took place in the 1950s. It’s clearly evident that the individuals in this photograph are trying to look like they are part of the white suburban middle class (even though they most likely aren’t) due to the their average American attire rather than Asian inspired garb. This along with the American Flag proudly standing erect in the background reinforces this. Many Americans themselves were trying achieve the American dream during the period of the 1940s-1950s because that’s what many people thought was the ideal reality during this period.

The second photograph The Ohio Project (Nikki S. Lee 1999) depicts another side of the American culture then the one depicted in History and Memory. The woman still appears to be trying to live the American dream with her bleach blond hair and her white husband. The comfortably dressed couple in the photograph proudly sit in their home next to what they feel is the American flag. Instead of being properly and strictly placed in front the flag they slouch next to it and are flanked with their mountain dew, potato chips and embracing a shot gun. Honestly, what is more modern American than this picture? This is the America of today, this what many see as living the American dream. Even though this picture may be a staged photograph when it’s introduced to us we most often preserve it as “incontrovertible proof that this event took place in a particular way and in a particular place” there for speaking the truth in a direct way to us (Sturken & Cartwright 17)(2). Just to be in America is enough for many immigrants (as well as many natural born Americans for that matter); they feel it is more than their mother country can give them. This is in stark comparison to what was the American dream was of the past.

The American dream of the past was a cookie cutter home on a suburban street with a dog in the backyard and two children in the home with an apron-clad wife cooking dinner in the kitchen. Today’s American dream is to live comfortably, eat well, and to have a roof over your head and for many just get by. But who really decides what image of America is more American?

Works Cited
1) Benshoff, Harry M. and Sean Griffin. America on Film: Representing Race, Class, Gender and Sexuality at the Movies. West Sussex: Wiley-Blackwell, 2009

2) Sturken, Marita and Lisa Cartwright. Practices of Looking: An introduction to Visual Culture. New York: Oxford University Press, 2009