Friday trip to CIW

Friday was an early morning. we had to be at the prison in Chino at 8:30 for an interview with the warden, which took longer than we thought because Lieutenant Aaron was dealing with like three other camera crews...they were interesting individuals. the one guy was nice, i think he was from the prison up north. There was one crew though, that, i swear, I've seen some side burns in my day...but these had a mind of their own...they were absolutely baffling, and on top of which were accompanied by a ponytail. the only way this situation could have been any worse was if they had been on a woman. And the guy, who I'm assuming was their leader, was carrying this huge betacam (compensating...?), and tried to start up conversation with us by asking if we were in 24p...yada yada (it was just me and Olivia at this point). I think he had camera envy, and didn't know what to do with himself and was hurt that 2 girls had a better(but smaller) camera than he did. at this point, we had interviewed the warden, left for lunch, and come back, and we got into the auditorium about 20 minutes before everything started, only to find that the guy from up north stole the spot we scouted for my camera, so we just set it up next to him, and we still got the good audio hook-up, so that was cool. Everything was cool with running the camera and everything,(except that the tripod hated me), until my card ran out of time right in the middle of a choir song, and Olivia had the other two, so I had to dig for a tape, switch the camera to tape really fast, and then the computer drive filled up as I was downloading the last card, so I couldn't put it back in...it was a little stressful...I started sweating. I totally thought i was in trouble, and I'm not sure if the tape idea even worked, but hoepfully it's ok. I got to meet BOTH of the Manson girls...which was a trip and a half, and Betty (I guess we're friends now) came up and told me I was so cute AGAIN and wanted to ADOPT me...I didn't really know how to respond to that, i guess if my own parents ever get sick of me...?

Oh, and I got to meet Lindsey Wagner too...and to be honest I'm more of a Chevy girl, but it was still exciting.

all together it was a very cool day. long, but worth getting up at 7 for! It's like an adventure every time...very cool.

Im a bad transcriber.

I feel terrible because I have been working on the same guy for like, a month, and i tried to get at least 1 done a week or so, but I have fallen down on the job. I am almost done. I only have about 10 mins left out of 2 CD's, so they will be done tonight...YAY! I really don't mind doing it, Michele and glenda were both really easy to do, but this guy stutters, and then talks really really fast, and then breaks off right in the middle of one sentance to start a completely different and abstract thought. It's been challenging, but it's all part of the experience! look at me go. 2 blogs in one day. go me!

my second prison visit!

ok, so i admit i am a few days behind on my blogging, so I apologize to the whopping handful (ok, 2 or 3) of you that have to read this. I got to go to the prison last monday again, which was cool- is it bad that it really does remind me of "cell block tango" from "Chicago"? without the black pleather and fishnets, of course... that song was in my head the entire time we were there. I don't know why I find it so fascinating to be there but i do, however, no plans to ever stay indefinitely. Anyway, we got there and basically set up the hallway for the "confessional", Im not sure what else to call it, and then strapped Clark into his robo-cam gear, which, Im actually surprised he was still able to breathe, i had him in there pretty tight...kinda funny...anyway, then we sat and waited for all the women to get through the dinner line and come to the meeting. During the meeting Clark got footage of all the women standing up and giving small testimonies (and about knocked one woman out with the camera...TOO funny!), and I was the Boom-Girl. I am actually sad we didn't get some of that one blonde woman from, i think it was a therapy group for released women, i forget her name... she reminded me a little of a Sheri Oteri skit on SNL. spastic woman. The only part I was bummed about was that I wasn't out in the hallway to hear Patricia's testimony...I can't wait to see that footage! anyway, that was about it, and as we were taking down and packing up Betty Broderick came up and started talking to Clark and I, and told me I was cute (a little unsettling, but I'll take it as a compliment), and then told us a little about what happened to her in regards to her husband's alcohol problem, and how it pertained to her boundaries (which is the focus study of the group right now), or rather lack there-of. It brought me back to reality that I actually was in a prison, with convicted women, which is a fact which i forget so easily, bacause they seem so unthreatening and, for lack of a better word, "normal". so that was pretty much it...it was a good day. afterwards I went home and watched Chicago...

I went to prison today

Today I met Olivia and Clark at the women's prison in Chino for the CWAA meeting. I was a little freaked out because let's face it, I'm a sheltered kid, and I had no idea what to expect...what I had in my head was a cross between "The Green Mile" and "Shawshank Redemption", so I was pleasantly surprised when there were no bars, no water dripping from the cieling, and no inmates yelling profanities out with a half-crazed look in their eye... Security was pretty tight, obviously, and I got in trouble for my shoes, because apparenty if there was something you may need to run away from, you can't run in flip-flops...I did not realize this, but next time I'll know. As we walked through the yard it didn't even feel like prison... it looked to me like I had pictured summer camp as a kid. people telling you where to go and what to do, when to eat, when to sleep, and they all have to wear basically the same thing, and you couldn't go home. I couldn't even take it for a week, let alone YEARS AND YEARS...It's like a society within walls. i do have to say it was cool (in a strange way) to see 2 of the Manson girls, i don't know why...I think that sort of thing just intrigues me. Anyways, seeing all of those women was extremely surreal. You know they're in there for a reason, yet, they look so much like "normal" people, who you see walking down the street every day. They are someone's mom, or sister, or daughter. I think when I realized this as we walked toward the portable where the meeting was held, all the apprehension went away. I couldn't look at these women like they belonged there...They didn't fit the description of "scary criminal" that most of us have been raised or socialized to see them. And while they all have commited some crime in the eyes of the law, I couldn't see that, especially when we got into the room when the CWAA members started coming in. They all seemed so normal, so much like people I know, people in my family, even, and almost right away I forgot I was even in a prison. It was really cool for me to meet Michele, because I think I know the most about her story, and I was really glad to be able to talk to her for even a few minutes, and for all she's been through, and all the crap life has thrown her way, she still has a drive, and there's so much life, and you can see it just by looking at her that she's not bitter, she's taken the worst situation and used it to better herself and others. This experience just goes to show that people are more than what they do, or the crimes they commit, we are more than a sum of our actions and choices.

As far as filming goes, we got the beginning of the meeting, and then the women watched a video, and then discussed it a little bit at the end, and I tried not to get the boom mic in the way of either camera. I do have to say that the german shepard-sized raccoons running across the yard as we were leaving TOTALLY freaked me out...I almost jumped onto the equipment cart...