For my group’s project, we decided to create a documentary pertaining to campus safety — specifically as it pertains to women. We wanted to find a topic that was relevant to all group members and, as we were all female students living on campus at PSU, this topic fit. The idea initially came up due to of the girl’s disgruntlement with the stun-gun ban on university grounds. She felt that, because PSU has an open campus located in a rather large metropolitan city, students should be allowed to carry non-lethal weapons for protection. This did not end up being a segment in our final video presentation, but the sentiment served as a good starting point. Each one of the members of our group had individual experiences ranging in severity that made us question our overall safety on campus. We also realized that many of us didn’t know what to do or where to go in those situations. My experience was rather minor: I was walking through the park blocks one day and this guy pulled out his dick and started masturbating. He said something to me, but I had my headphones in and just kept walking. This was shortly after coming to Portland and, though it didn’t make me feel particularly unsafe, I felt like I had to do something like report it. I texted my RA, the only authority I knew how to reach at the time, and he just kinda laughed it off. I forgot about it after that–as I said before, it didn’t actually make me feel unsafe or scared–but when I told this story to my group, they all seemed very disturbed. It made me realize that even though things like that may not be a big deal to me, they can effect others much more deeply. It also made me think about the fact that, had I been more upset by the incident or had things escalated, I still wouldn’t have known what to do or who to contact. Experiences like these are what ultimately led to my group deciding on our topic. For my part of the project, I chose to focus on the one area of this topic I feel strongly about: self-defense (specifically the school’s physical education department’s self-defense course. Though I have never taken it myself, my friends Lauren and Molly – a fellow group member – graciously volunteered to be interviewed about their experiences. It seemed that the general consensus between the two was that they would have gotten more out of a longer class. However, both of them expressed that the class improved their overall confidence level and felt better equipped to deescalate or prevent future potential assaults. The increased confidence level is arguably the most beneficial aspect of the course. In the event of an assault, it is important to not stop fighting which many people will do if they feel scared or helpless. Believing that you can, in fact, help yourself can help keep you calm and resourceful which can ultimately help you escape or find a way to get help. I had a lot of fun conducting the interviews, and am grateful that they were willing to be on camera.  Unfortunately, my group was unable to get footage for the other segments due to a variety of factors.

Group One

The first group to present on Tuesday also focused on campus safety, must create a pamphlet instead of a documentary. I really enjoyed what they did as it gave actual information on how to protect yourself. They included some really helpful apps, such as Noonlight, that I have never actually heard of — I usually just have 911 pulled up on my phone when I am walking in sketchy areas. I actually went and downloaded it after the presentation. The little booklet would actually be a great thing to just carry in your bag and has a lot of useful information. I also appreciated that they pointed out that, if you are a bystander, you should definitely call the police, but not necessarily get physically involved. If the assailant is physically armed or dangerous, getting involved may just end with a higher victim count. The only critique I would give is with presentation order. It might have been better to start with the statistics, and then get into prevention.

Group Two

The second Tuesday group did a podcast about the presence of mental disorders in the Portland homeless communities. This was definitely one of my favorite presentations. It was great that they actually went out and interviewed members of this population, it gave a sincerity to their overall message that you don’t necessarily get from someone just reading off facts from the internet. I found the bit about animals helping particularly interesting. I have often wondered, albeit in a judgmental fashion, why so many homeless people have pets. After all, if you can’t take care of yourself, how can you take care of another living being? But there’s actually a reason for it: animals help keep them safe. Formatting wise, I really enjoyed all the transitions, even the little “advertisement” in the middle. As someone who listens to podcasts quite often, I found it rather endearing. The one issue I had, as pointed out in class, was with the sound quality during the interviews. This is hard to avoid without professional equipment, but, maybe for presentation purposes, subtitles or a transcript would be beneficial.

Group Four

The final group to present on Tuesday created an informational video covering three different topics–traffic, homelessness, and global warming–paired with a kahoot quiz for the class. I thought the idea of a quiz at the end was great, as it kind of forced you to pay attention to the video and all the facts being presented. The video itself was really well done and well edited. It was visually appealing, without distracted from the information and overall message. Unfortunately, the different subjects all crammed into a small amount of time made it kind of hard to follow. I couldn’t really grasp the importance of each topic as it moved on to the next a little to fast. While I think it’s perfectly acceptable to have different focuses, it may be more beneficial to choose ones that interconnect a little better. For example, instead of doing traffic, homelessness, then global warming, you could do traffic, global warming, and something like wildlife preservation (in that order, as a connected progression).

Group Five

The first group of the day Thursday did a documentary style presentation entitled Socially Addicted about the effect of social media on teenagers–specifically one member of the group’s little sister Katie. I thought the idea was great as this is a subject I personally am debating right now. I have always hated social media and while I have accounts, never use them. Like expressed in the video by the cousin and mom, I have always felt that they are just ingenuine, inacurrate representations of people’s lives that serve to increase insecurity, loneliness, and overall discontentment with life. But I have a young cousin who has always been shy and insecure who has really found herself and her people through social media. The conflicting feelings and views expressed in this video were very relevant. I really liked the way that the members used their personal resources to their advantage: making a sister the subject, finding a teacher to interview, even the use of social media based Facetime to create the whole thing (this created an interesting dynamic that, even if it was done out of necessity, was absolutely brilliant).

Group Six

The second group to present on Thursday did a DIY style instruction video for recycle and reusing. Each group member filmed a segment of themselves using a piece of “trash” to create something new such as a glass bottle turned into a decorative plant holder, a water bottle into a vase, and old denim turned into a phone case. The thing I found great about this, was how inspiring it was. Not in the usual “it touched me deeply” sense, but in a more practical “hey, I can do that!” way. Immediately, there was discussion at my table of the different things people have done/can do with stuff around their house. In this school full of artsy people, we still seem to forget the age old phrase “one man’s trash is another man’s treasure”. The critique I have for this one is very minor: the first segment of their video, he was trying to talk, but the music was too loud to hear it. I would say either make sure the audio with him talking is louder that the music, or take it out all together. It was kind of distracting.

Group Seven

The next group did an animation of audio taken from a DnD campaign focusing on food security. This one was by far my favorite. They were able to fully capture the spirit of Dungeons and Dragons, while still emphasizing the social grievance of food security. It was also beautifully animated and humorous. Most importantly, it seemed like the group had a blast making it. There were some audio issues and while the DM was clear, the rest of the voices were a little to quiet at times. Going forward, it may be beneficial to add subtitles or perhaps move whatever mic source was used to a more central place to even out the audio.

Group Eight

This group was the first of two to use jeopardy as their pop culture medium. The topic they decided to focus on was global warming with categories such as causes and effects. While this was a great idea, the way it was presented was not exactly successful in a classroom. While this is definitely in part due to the group I was sitting with, I absorbed none of the information presented after the questions. The questions themselves were a good mix of hard and easy, which showed excellent research on the group member’s behalf, and I truly wish I could have heard all the facts backing up each answer. I wish I knew a method through which to combat this issue, but I don’t. The only thing I can say that might be improved on the group’s part, it a clearer time frame in which the questions must be answered. It seemed to drag on at times, which may have contributed to audience lack of interest.

Group Nine

The final group to present was another jeopardy group. This group, however, focused on homelessness in America. I really appreciated the reduced number of questions and how everyone got to answer them. This helped prevent all the other tables from checking out when it wasn’t their turn. I found the information presented to be rather shocking, especially the fact that 25% of the homeless population are children. Even with institutions like the foster program (which already has so many issues, I could go on for days) we are, apparently, failing so many children in need. The one thing I wish, is that they gave some way to help, as opposed to just presently facts. It felt a little incomplete without any sort of call to action.