Anyone that’s ever traveled to a foreign country experiences the same powerful moment sometime in his or her journey. There is no amount of preparation or training that can prepare you for it. Pictures don’t do it justice – and videos only come close. I’m talking about what happens when you are walking down the street or driving down the road and you see something you’ve seen before – but seeing it here somehow feels out of place, almost feels wrong. So what exactly is this familiar yet foreign experience? It’s the smile and laughter of children.

I don’t know that I’ve ever heard a song as beautiful as the laughter of children on the streets of Mexico, Nicaragua, Kenya or Haiti. I’ve not seen a painting or a picture as breathtaking as looking directly into their eyes when they smile at you. The hope, the joy, the innocence and ignorance that pours out of those eyes and screams at you in their laughter can bring you to your knees and make you forget about any possible trouble or hardship that exists in your surroundings. The trash that covers the landscape, the smell of open sewage, the heat and humidity and all the chaos disappear in those moments and everything seems like it could be right in the world. I think this happens because in the eyes and mind of the child – in that moment, everything is right in their world. There is peace, joy and happiness.

My words don’t do these experiences justice. Just like most things in life they have to be experienced to be fully understood. Although, I would argue that I do not have a full understanding of it myself. I have certainly experienced it, but to understand it is something I don’t think I will ever be able to do. I know the difference. I’m ruined from the knowledge that life can be different. There is this whole other world that this child in front of me couldn’t possibly understand. In a way we are equally ignorant of each other’s reality, yet both trying so hard to understand the other.

I was at a community-training seminar in October just outside of Cap Haitian, Haiti. They were teaching how to melt beeswax into liquid, pour it into molds, and create candles. Nothing I haven’t seen before at local art-walks or art festivals. However, it was 2:00pm, 100° F, and 98% humidity. We hadn’t had lunch and I was at the end of my rope. Then all of a sudden, everything went away.

This little girl appeared from nowhere, found her mother who was sitting across from me and I felt the heat move from my face to my heart as it melted. She wouldn’t stop looking at me or making these cute faces at my camera. It took me a few seconds to remember that I was holding a camera and that if I didn’t act fast – I would miss these moments. Good thing I recovered quickly.

Two weeks ago I received a call from my mother stating that the organization that she was working for was putting on this event I AM JOPLIN – and they needed a memorial video for the service.  Naturally I was willing to help and do what I could for the people there.

The initial concept was to create a video that wasn’t super sad – but one that honored the students whose lives were lost. This was going to be tricky, and neither the organization nor myself had any idea how to do that – but we figured there was a way.

The first thing I did was re-read Denise Beck’s I AM JOPLIN blog and remind myself of what was written in there. Instantly I knew three things that I needed to do.

1. I needed to adapt the words spoken by Denise, squished into two min.

2. I needed my nephew to do a voice over.

3. I needed Greg Fish to send me his edited footage that he and I shot in June – I knew I wouldn’t have time to go through it all.

Adapting the words came quickly – and I immediately sent them to Denise and to those in charge of the event. To my surprise – when the event coordinators got back with me – they loved the idea – but wondered if that couldn’t be the ending video – and make a separate memorial video – just for the students. So, now my one video had become two.

I received a package exactly a week before the event – and it was package I hope I never have to receive again. The package contained pictures of all the students lost and their information. It was haunting to open. I was glad that I didn’t know any of them – it made it easier to focus on honoring everyone equally.

So now I was back to the original problem – a memorial video that honored students who lost their lives – without being sad, but honoring – and no one knew how to do that.

I dove into my music library – and researched song possibilities and listened to them all on Spotify…and just came up empty, almost. I remembered the crux song for NYC in the 9/11 memorial service – Walk On by U2. And since neither the event coordinators nor I had any idea – I went with it.

Because we only had one picture of some of the kids – and 100’s of pictures of the others I had to edit the song down to keep from dragging the video on and on. I wanted to keep it simple – straightforward, so I decided to only use one picture per kid. I had written and recorded a voice over at the beginning with my nephew – tying the two videos together.

I sent the video out to several friends – video people, and to some friends in Joplin, and received 100% positive feedback. However – when the event coordinators reviewed the video – it just didn’t work for them.

After watching it – the gears in their heads started turning a little faster and they realized that what they really wanted was a video that allowed people to take time to mourn.  Everyone in Joplin has been so busy rebuilding their lives – and homes – that taking time out to just cry and feel – hasn’t happened a lot.

So – while the event coordinators figured out the memorial video I spent all day Tuesday hammering out the I AM JOPLIN video . Thankfully – that video was approved instantly. (For those of you extra interested in the little details – the microphone in this video is the mic that my nephew used for the voice over)

At midnight Joplin time…18 hours prior to the event starting – they found a song. I Will Carry You by Selah. I knew it was going to be a late night.

At 3am – after editing the song shorter, re-writing and rearranging the text, I finished the memorial video for the students. I had been up since 5:30am – I was nodding off and could not think straight. My worse fear was misspelling one of the kids names. Even worse was getting a call at 5am asking for more changes.

I woke up at 9am to praises from the event coordinators.

Later that afternoon – my mom called me. She hadn’t seen the video yet – but the lady from FEMA who has been in Joplin since the tornado found my mom – and told her that the whole time she’s been in Joplin, she hasn’t cried, until she watched the I AM JOPLIN video.

That night – long after the event was over – I posted the videos to Facebook – Twitter…and 3,200 people watched them yesterday alone. It’s 7 am mountain time – and already 600 views today. I don’t think that many people watched my documentary that I spent a year on – but this video has been watched 4,000 in two days – that’s incredible.

I am just honored to be a part of something bigger – something better. So – thanks for reading, and thanks for watching. I’ll keep telling stories that matter – one frame at a time.

From Postmay Films founder Sid McGregor.

I grew up in a mostly rural, mostly christian, mostly conservative part of Missouri. You may have heard of it – Joplin. It was recently devastated by a crazy F5 tornado. All this to say that there was always some part of me that felt like I didn’t belong there – like I was alone in my spiritual and political thinking – I was different and profoundly alone. I’ll never forget reading Blue Like Jazz. I had finally found someone else who thought like I did. Turns out I wasn’t alone.

As chance would have it – I am in Dallas, TX with Greg Fish – a good friend of mine from Joplin. While he and I do not share a good number of ‘political’ stances – what we share is stronger than most bonds that I see in society today. We are both part Geek, Storyteller and Artists. Creatives if you will. So – it’s no wonder that when Greg found a conference called ECHO – that was specifically for Geeks, StoryTellers and Artists – we went to it. It’s the first time really since early college that we’ve been able to hang out without the responsibility of family – just chilling with each other. That alone was worth the trip.

Also as chance would have it – we were fortunate enough to attend a screening of Blue Like Jazz. It’s director and co-writer Steve Taylor was on hand (which was a bonus that I did not expect). So – being the fan of both the artist and the book – I did the only logical thing that a creative with a camera would do – I talked to Steve after the show.

You’ll see that it’s a bit raw and totally unrehearsed – I just roll that way. I didn’t exactly have time to prepare – this was filmed 10 min. after I watched the movie – and my heart and mind were still racing from the emotions.

In short – when this movie comes out – it’s really going to change some things in the so-called ‘faith-based’ film world which so far has been either so layered with cheese – or so God heavy – that I’d never show it to a non-christian…ever. I’d show Blue Like Jazz to anyone. It’s what I call a real film.

Enough said – here’s the video – can’t wait for final product.

For a limited time I am posting my documentary about micro-finance in it’s entirety. Enjoy.

I’ve know Katrina since she was in grade school. She has overcome so many obstacles to get to the place that she is today. We’ve reconnected over the last few months and as I’ve learned more about her story and about her heart – I couldn’t help but want to find a way to help her reach her dreams and tell her story. She’s moving to Uganda in May of this year to study counseling with an emphasis on helping those trapped by addiction and is needing some financial help. So last Tuesday I got together with her and filmed this video for her.

If you’ve got 5 minutes and 5 bucks – she’s got a story for you. If you have more than 5 minutes and 5 bucks – she’d love for you to join her in her story as she embarks on an epic journey to Africa. She has no plans to return as she has a life-long appointment with widows and orphans.

www.facebook.com/KatrinaAnnLouise

www.katrinalouisequade.wordpress.com

Last week I had the privilege of working with a friend. Jared has been a professional photographer here in the Boulder/Denver area for several years now and his work is superb! It’s always a joy to work with other artists in the visual medium and collaborate on a project that really speaks for itself. If you are looking for a photographer to capture those precious moments in life, be it a wedding or just because – not only is Jared one of the best, but he’s a really good guy that I’m proud to call a friend.

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A few weeks ago I had the privilege of joining Justin and Samantha on their special day. We met up at 7am at Starbucks in Springfield, Missouri and headed over to Nathaniel Green park where they have spent a good deal of time getting to know each other. Justin even proposed to Samantha at the park bench that is featured in the video. Later that evening – we all gathered in her uncle’s backyard for a truly authentic Kenyan celebration.

I certainly enjoyed getting to know them better and participating in a very private – very unique experience – as two individuals united together and became one. It is my hope that this video will always bring them back to the start – that it will act as a moving time capsule of where they were and who they were on this, their wedding day.