You Gotta Be Kidding

What’s something you’ve done that you never thought you could?

The other day I was trying to figure out how many years I’ve spent lugging cameras around, editing video, adjusting mic levels, and setting up lights. It’s over thirty by now. And I expect I’ll be doing it for another two or so before I chuck it all and finally retire around age 82. It was not supposed to be that way. I was an anthropologist first.

I was running a Folklife Center. The sort of place that researches and presents people’s culture. We focused on the sort of cultural aspects that, when put all together, represent the day-to-day culture of a group. I had investigated and then presented programs on the gardening styles of different ethnic groups in a multiethnic community, Saints’ festivals, cooking traditions, and folk medicine. All with community programs and exhibits. The target audience was the community members themselves. The larger, elite community that surrounded us in that university-heavy city pretty much ignored our existence. What went on East of the railroad tracks didn’t really interest them. My little center existed by the grace of a federal grant the city had received for programming in “underserved communities” -if you lived in the tonier parts of town, we were out of sight and mind.

And one day, a lady named Rika Welsh walked in. The company she was working for was attempting to get the contract to run television cable in the city. She was exploring and looking for people who might raise the interest level in doing this. Remember, Netflix was not even a dream back in those days. She visited my center and talked to me about all the exhibits on the Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Lithuanian, and Irish communities within it. She asked me if I had ever thought about doing videos on some of the things I had done exhibits and programs on. I hadn’t, but I was fascinated. Shortly afterward, her company offered to train me and lend me equipment to do video in my area. I jumped at it.

Over the following years, my videography skills developed and became a part of my toolkit as an applied anthropologist. I left that first job and went on to others; frequently, the videography proved to be a useful adjunct to my other skills.

Then came the Reinvention of Government. I found myself out of work and with no prospects for professional employment despite a distinguished track record. At age fifty, I wound up loading packages at United Parcel Service to maintain health insurance for my family. The crew I worked with found some of my stories amusing. In the middle of a relentless barrage of packages slam dunking us, one of my workmates would ask how I’d make all the joy and pleasure of a peaceful workday at package heaven into a dramatic video. Then, from the surrounding trucks and trailers, would come the sarcastic and sometimes obscene suggestions. People not in on the joke wondered what the hell was going on in our area of the facility.

Employment at UPS left plenty of time for me to start a small business as a marine trade carver creating custom quarterboards, banners, eagles, and other goodies for boat owners. Actually, creatively, I was having a great time. I just needed some more money.

The money situation eased when someone at a local community access station saw some of my work and recommended me to the managers of the station to do freelance videography for them. I now had three income streams and plenty of work.

The freelance videography eventually led to full-time employment and then to management of the station.

Did I ever suspect I’d wind up with cameras and editing equipment over applied anthropology? If you’d asked me, I’d have told you it was impossible. What do I miss about my former life? Well, I miss the work with communities, documenting lifestyles and culture as an anthropologist. The complexity of culture, community, and how cultures and communities mix and interface can be endlessly fascinating. Things are not as simple as single ethnic groups. The Polish family’s daughter marries a Portuguese man. The grandson loves Portuguese Fado music and making Polish Easter eggs (Pisanki) at Easter. Culture grows, changes, and evolves. It’s complex and fascinating.