Day 3: Getting Down to Business
Gossip girl here, your one and only source to the scandalous lives of Northeastern’s Elite~ Quito Edition
It may seem like it’s all fun and games here in Quito, but El Colectivo found themselves in class for 6 hours this Sunday. Despite the intensive sessions on touristification and technical camera skills, there was still plenty of good Ecuadorian spontaneity.
The early bird catches the worm and that’s just what some of our students got on their way to ILADES this morning, but they didn’t know they would be learning about something more foul in class. As we all saw, Framing the Other told the story of the Mursi people of South Ethiopia and the influence tourism has had on them in recent years. It followed a Mursi woman named Nadonge- whose village is caught in an exploitative situation- and a tourist named Nell- who students described as tacky for her fanny pack and ignorant world view. Students passionately discussed the differences between the pure tourist and the film documentarians and their relationship to Nadonge and the Mursi people- and along the way picked up tips on how to be respectful with their cameras. We heed this as a cautionary tale: don’t be like Nell.
Kudos to Juan for always recommending great food. I’ll never forget the sound of our mallets smashing these beautiful crabs.
At lunch El Colectivo split in two to enjoy either a multi-course extravaganza or to return to Frida for more of the best tacos anyone has ever had. However my sources tell me the Frida group was feeling crabby and got out their frustrations crushing crustaceans instead. Morale was high when class commenced again- even if the splash-back from the mallets made a certain group of people smell fishy for the rest of the day.
SPOTTED: Looks like S and N are using their new camera knowledge. What is O thinking about?
The rest of class was a technical lecture on cameras and our video editing software. All left truly enlightened by the triangle of exposure. Many benefitted from the lecture and took the time to test out these skills with each other during the breaks and after class. It seemed like everyone took the time to work together. I wonder how much we’ll all improve over the next ~month.
We’re not in Boston anymore chicas y chicos. Besos.