BECATravels: Equipment Check

Friday, June 3, 2016

Equipment Check

Bottom row: Brian Favorite, Jumana Zahid, Samantha Powell, Betsy Blosser, Abene Clayton, Kamran Rathod; Top row: Ivan Ho, Ashley Habr

The last thing we do at SFSU before leaving on a trip is an equipment check. We gather as close to the time of departure as is possible to pick up the equipment we're taking, check it all both to make sure everything's there and that it works properly, and then allocate it for carrying on the plane. Sometimes, we change our minds about what we want to take. Sometimes we need to consult on a particular piece of equipment and where or how it should be carried. And sometimes, TSA regulations dictate how we carry things. For example, they tell us to carry AC cables in checked baggage rather than in carry on. (You wouldn't want us to strangle someone with a cable!) The equipment check is a necessary interlude in the process of preparing to leave the country.

Usually, we have our equipment check in Studio Two, but the good news is the lights in the studios are being replaced! (For those who know the BECA studios, this is PHENOMENAL news!) So . . . rather than interrupt that process, we worked on the loading dock, just outside Studio One.

As the last thing before leaving, we ask Jeff Rosenstock, who has been a consistent supporter of this project and who is in charge of the BECA Cage, to take the final photo. And here we all are (minus Nick Chiang). Many thanks to Jeff - for the photo and for ALL the help!

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BECA International Video Project

The BECA International Video Project began in 2001 when Dr. Betsy Blosser and then BECA graduate student Gabriela Martínez applied for a grant jointly offered by the San Francisco State Offices of International Programs and Community Service Learning. The purpose of the grant was to design and offer a service learning course that was international in nature. Blosser and Martínez proposed a class in which students would travel to Cusco, Peru, to produce PSAs for Huchuy Runa, an organization that works with street children in Cusco. Winning that grant led the two to offer a two-course sequence entitled, "Media and Community Service" in which students prepared for the trip during a class in the spring semester and traveled to Peru in June to produce the PSAs.

Since that time, the course has been offered 12 times, and students have traveled to Brazil, El Salvador, Ghana, Guatemala, India, Indonesia, Tanzania and Thailand, in addition to Peru. The title of the course has changed; it is now, "Electronic Media and Social Justice I & II." And students do two sets of productions: one, for a local, not-for-profit organization in the spring semester, and one for an NGO in the country they have studied in the summer.

In each case, it is important that students remember that they are "in service" to the respective organization. In part, this means that students produce the video(s) the organization wants or needs for its purposes. Students offer their media skills and, if requested, their advice, but the nature of the production is up to the organization. The organizations receive the videos free of charge, with the knowledge that they are receiving student-produced videos.

It is the intent of this project that students become exposed to social justice issues in the local Bay Area, where San Francisco State is located, and to social justice issues in the country to which they travel. In addition, they have the experience of practicing their craft in a low-resourced environment in the Global South. Usually, this is a transformational experience for the BECA students.