Week 3 in Polaris and the BYU hair times

           This past week, in my Media Literacy Education class, we once again went into Polaris High School to help out students in making an audio documentary. The week previous the students were supposed to have recorded all their interviews for their documentaries. In short, they didn’t but after this week they have their interviews and they began editing them in earnest.

            But an interesting profundity that I considered after this week was how I approached subjects which I cared greatly about. While these students needed to have some incentive and energy to get them started I was gratified to see that some of them remained behind to work on the project, even though their class, and day, was over. It was gratifying because it reminded me of the zeal about some of the projects that I was passionate about. Although the passion and determination will make compelling documentaries, more importantly, I think, that this documentary project helped some of the students feel like they were actually engaged with their community and society. This might be projection or a foolhardy hope to hold, but I felt that making this documentary has taken a tentative step towards the goal of critical media education. These students are aware, even if only partially, about the way media interacts with their lives and how they can interact with various forms and narratives.

            The minute ups and downs of last week helped to energize my own projects, both scholastic and extra-curricular. For instance, I am working on a project for my media literacy class that deals with community. The documentary is meant more as a current grade/academic pursuit and an example for the next semester when BYU students go into the classroom to teach about video documentary. The issue in this case is about the BYU Grooming Standard and my relationship to that. Now, the relationship isn’t antagonistic, and I am a proponent of many of its statutes. However, I am attempting to grow out my hair for a Navajo bun. The hair is symbolic of obedience, harmony, and good works. And while the Navajo culture might be accepting of hair length, BYU is decidedly not. What I hope to achieve through this documentary is a critical look at my engagement within a particular community and how that shapes my decisions and those around me.