Obama in Oregon, Part 2

written by Nezua of The Unapologetic Mexican

OBAMA IN OREGON (PT. 2) continues our trilogy of Obama-in-Oregonity as promised last week! Peep through the Lens O' Nez and once again, enter "The Pit" in Eugene, Oregon—which is really not as gruesome as the name might sound, but instead a rather invigorating and some might even venture, rousing venue.

Part One here. Part 3 soon to come. Watch this page or subscribe to this feed for announcements.

The latest video by Oregon's Official MTV Choose or Lose Street Team 08 Citizen Journalist, Nezua.

Clicking the picture above will take you to the video page.

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican, Culture Kitchen, and OpEdNews.

Hillary Clinton in Eugene, Oregon

Guest Post by Nezua from The Unapologetic Mexican.

COVERED THE HILLARY CLINTON campaign stop in Eugene yesterday, at the South Eugene High School. While there was a smattering across a few demographics (there were young people, too), it seemed to my eye to be mostly white women, and older people. (You can't judge by who is behind HRC in the monitor; these people are picked purposely, and often for the very traits I discuss now: sex, age, skin color, and "ethnic" appearance.) However, I did no formal tally, and when the video is made, you can make a judgment for yourself on that aspect.

The truth is, Clinton did her best (even pushing through a tired and "froggy" sounding voice), and her supporters cheered their loudest, and I appreciate her (and their) spirit and ambition and Clinton's manner of laying out her platform. But it was inarguably not a good day for Clinton. She was late, she made everyone wait in the rain longer than we were supposed to, and then inside we waited longer than scheduled. She was heckled about her vote authorizing the Iraq invasion and No Child Left Behind, and about two out of five (I have to check my tape to be sure) questions came to her from Obama supporters. Not to mention the press pass was a cheap xerox instead of a printed and designed document (campaign budget), the gymnasium could have fit, along with nine others the same size (rough guess, probably on the low side, actually) in the venue Obama spoke in when he was here March 21 of this year. I can't help but compare, and I guess in a race like this, that's the point.

It felt a bit sad to me. I can't even count how many times speakers tried to get everyone to cheer louder or longer. At one point, this anchorwoman (in the foto to the right) was telling her cameraman about speaking purposely fast and breathless to give the feeling that the energy in the room was very high. I overheard it, and tried to catch some with the shotgun mic attached to my sound recorder, but pointing one of those at someone (especially a media person) has the result of them quieting down a lot. By the time I had it on and pointed, she was whispering. But truthfully, there was this sort of effort in a few places. Ted Kulongowski, Oregon's governor (who introduced Clinton) seemed absolutely possessed, bobbing and stooping and dancing around trying to rouse the crowd, trying to pass on his frenzy. It was almost as if the campaign/event was competing with the ghost of Obama's recent appearance, which had raised the rafters and blew out the town with buzz.

You will see very plainly from the videotape that many of the people behind Clinton (even though handpicked by the campaign) were definitely not excited, and in fact often looked very bored, didn't clap when they were supposed to, or made tired, perfunctory "golf claps" on the applause lines. I honestly felt embarrassed for the Senator more than once.

I now respect Clinton's 3D supporters much more than her online supporters. Probably because these ones often seemed happy, as well as happy to see me, instead of sneering at me or calling me names. (Then again, I don't wear any MTV gear online and at the HRC rally, I wasn't talking to people about Obama. So who knows!)

As I was walking along the line outside catching audio, one woman stopped me and asked if she could take a picture of me. I laughed and felt a bit strange, as I was not in my "all about me" mental state (I actually leave this behind when I cover events like this). She wanted the pic of the MTV-affiliated news-making cat for her son. "It will be the only part of this he enjoys" she said.

I have to add a correction. This fellow (Fernando Suarez from CBS) was sitting in front of my camera spot, and misquoted the Senator, who actually said (in defense of her campaign hurting the democratic party with attacks that praise McCain, etc) “I don’t take any of it personally and I don't take most if it seriously." (As you see, she turned the question around to include herself being attacked, and then said she doesn't take those attacks personally.) It is a small error (he wrote "don't take any of it" in both instances), and the rest of his article jibes, for the most part, with my recollection and camera tape. (Just a note to let you know that on this page, you can sometimes get news even more accurate than CBS. :) Suarez calls her "fiery," and gives the impression that Clinton battered that questioner with righteous truth. This is one of those parts you have to understand is the subjective declaration of the reporter. Just as is the case with some of my post, as well. Such as where I might call her "misleading, though brightly" rather than "fiery." You could see it either way. You can actually see it both ways. I think that would still be accurate.

Ultimately, while I gained some respect for Clinton and her supporters that I did not previously have, what I have confirmed for myself that remains true of Clinton is this type of behavior that anything goes, that she can do or say anything to opponents, that she can tell whatever stories she wants because it is all excused by the chase for power, that its part of the game, and that if you can't take that, you oughtta not be in politics. That is, she defends old schools biznass as-is. In fact, she excuses too much with the same line (almost verbatim) we've been hearing from the current resident of the White House who also subscribes to "Ends justify the means" philosophy. Clinton tells us to "leave it to the history books" to decide right and wrong. But we don't live in history books. We live here, now. I have to say when I hear Bush and Clinton say "leave it to the history books" it sounds to me a lot like "I can do what I want and maybe one day it will seem honorable, because now it sure doesn't." And I'm hard-pressed to think of how this thought ever came to be an acceptable defense for anything.

A sign in the auditorium spelled out "Oregon is Clinton Country" and Hillary looked at it and said "I hope that's true." Maybe so, maybe not. Judging by what I've personally witnessed at Senators Obama's and Clinton's stops in Eugene, I'd say probably not.

But we'll know for sure in May.

As most of you know, the finished video will show up on this page, when it is done. I'm pretty sure that Part 2 of Obama in Eugene will be up first, though, on Monday evening. Check Wednesday, April 13 for the HRC video. All fotos on this page taken with my iPhone.

UPDATE 10:18 PST, Apr 7: This article has been updated to correct Senator Clinton's words from "I don’t take any of it personally; I take very little of it seriously." to "I don’t take any of it personally and I don't take most of it seriously."

UPDATE, 4:05 PST, Apr 8: In light of conflicting reports about Clinton's Insurance Story, reference to that story, and to Clinton's "not telling the truth" about it has been removed from this article. Original (struck) text can be found here.
Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican, Culture Kitchen and OpEdNews.

Vigil (to End the War) - [MTV Vid 3-25-08] and Obama in Eugene Pt. 1 [MTV vlog 3-28-08]

ON THE FIFTH ANNIVERSARY of the Iraq Invasion, MoveOn held vigils all over the country at the same time. This video commemorates and captures the public vigil held in Eugene, Oregon to call for an end to the Iraq Occupation.

OBAMA IN OREGON (PT. 1) is the name of the new video shot and edited by yours truly, Oregon's Official MTV Choose or Lose Street Team 08 Citizen Journalist, and just as the title foreshadows, there will be two more parts to this tryptych of political goodness. Clicking the picture above will take you to the video page. Playing the video will bring you a little closer to the excitement that hit the city of Eugene when Obama came to town.

The latest videos for my MTV Citizen Journalist gig.

Crossposted at The Unapologetic Mexican (1 & 2), Culture Kitchen (1 & 2), and OpEdNews (1 & 2).

Tazing Eugene [MTV vlog 3-19-08]

MY LATEST vid for MTV Citizen Journalist Land is introduced here, and viewable here.

Crossposted at The Unapologetic Mexican, Culture Kitchen, and OpEdNews.

News from Nezua #1 [MTV Vlog]

COME WATCH ME change my clothes. On MTV's dime. The newest vlog titled News From Nezua [1] is freshly-shorn and waiting to entertain you with nifty editing and news of Oregon. True, a volatile mix, but Creosote is my middle name, chula. Either that or Pine Cone...it's hard to make out the writing sometimes.

This piece was originally covering about six stories, but I ditched the rest of the footage in the editing process as I suddenly realized it would be a fifteen minute spot, if not.

Program provided here. See you at the proscenium arch, baby.

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican, Culture Kitchen, and OpEdNews.

Symbol and Essence, Part 3 [MTV Mix]

A BLOG POST exclusive to MTV (as it must be, contractually) can be read by clicking the image above. No video this week. But a specially-crafted Non-Super Wednesday message instead.

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican, Culture Kitchen, and OpEdNews.

MTV Street Team '08 Reports on Super Tuesday

YOUR FAITHFUL OREGON representative for the MTV Street Team '08 (ahem, yours truly) is invisible on this day, because Oregon doesn't exist when it comes to Super Tuesday. But my Street Team peeps are LIVE on the scene in each Super Tuesday state.

It's a pretty cool idea, they'll be broadcasting live using cell phones, MTV News will be editing and playing pieces all day, and I believe so will MTV. As a point of interest in the current political climate, Califas is covered by Carl, a fantastic filmmaker and a real good guy, we chilled a bit during the MTV bootcamp training sesh I went to. Georgia is covered by the Shelbinator, a regular at Huffpost. NJ (Sia), NM (Christine), and NY (Sara) have some very talented (and hot) mamas reporting. Kyle, blogmigo from Citizen Orange is covering Massachusetts! I could go on. In fact, many of these people are very talented and doing deeds in many areas and states aside from the Street Team. After all, they won the chance to rep their state, and the whole process was grueling, as I can tell you. None have blogged on The Unapologetic Mexican, but hey, there's talent, and then there's plain ole fantasticality.

Click here or here to keep up with their feeds. Or turn on MTV on ya set and watch for spots occurring all day.

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican, Corrente, Culture Kitchen, and OpEdNews.

Strange Winters [mtv vlog 1-30-08]

THIS WEEK in Eugene, Oregon and the surrounding areas, there has been a lot of talk about the weather. But not in a mundane fashion, such as when you are having your gas pumped (remember that 'round here, you cannot pump your own gas, it is all full serve!) and offhandedly offer the station worker an observation about the local and eternal wintry curtain of rain.

No, the talk has been more along the lines of "what is going on with this weather?" Because the past couple of winters have brought an atypical amount of snow to this city west of the Cascade Mountains. In fact, 2008 has seen the most snowfall to hit Eugene, Oregon, since 1996.

Here's your faithful Street Team 08 Oregon rep with a short visual presentation of the latest strange winter to visit us.

embed code here

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican, Corrente, Culture Kitchen, and OpEdNews.

Because Dreaming is Not Enough (Vlog 1-23-08)

CLICK the pic to the left to find yourself magically transported to a page hosting my latest MTV Street Team '08 video, which was shot in Eugene, Oregon at a Martin Luther King Jr. rally and march on January 21, 2008.

All shooting, editing, and sleeplessness by Nezua.

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican, Corrente, and Culture Kitchen.

An Intro by Citizen N.

NOT BAD for a sick man working all gear and angles himself! Just a little intro vlog for my MTV gig. And hey, I only look a little bleary. Which is actually what impressed me. Aside from the fact that gettting through the entire approval process (for Street Team members, not just any member) felt like a patdown in an Israeli airport.

Not that I've ever been through an Israeli airport. I just like slinging metaphors around that deal with experiences I've never had. I mean...isn't that the core of Citizen Journalism? So say some.

You can find the embed code here if you need it for any reason, like say, for example, you hear a knock on the door in a minute and an agonized voice pleading "Help! Help! Can you spare an embed code for a Nezua vlog or somethin'?" (Don't laugh, it happens to me all the time.)

(Origin of this gig here)

Crossposted to The Unapologetic Mexican, Corrente, and Culture Kitchen.

Nezua Named MTV's Street Team '08 Rep for Oregon!

SOME OF MY regular readers (I do not, at this point, necessarily refer to the bran-eating amongst us, though they are a well-stirred crew, I'm sure) remember the day back in August I casually (you should have seen me, I was sipping a mint julep as I typed) posted on the MTV Choose or Lose '08 Vlogger competition. Others came to this ongoing Chronicle of Nezua when I created a short video auditioning to represent Oregon for the 2008 Presidential Media Hellfest Cycle (that is the proper name, qué no?). And still others joined our Videolicious adventure when I was named one of the three finalists for my state.

Well, I'm sure you can tell I am not winding up this big delivery to announce that I lost! So here is the day I say ¡Órale vatos! for I am now officially operating as the Oregon Street Team Vlogging Citizen Journalist Beauty Queen. Or will be from January 7 to mid-November of '08, at which point I will accept the inevitable invitation to model the next iteration of the iPhone. Anyway, all blushing and preening aside, I am very excited about the larger platform and greater exposure, and I plan to use it to bring as many gorgeous pixels to as many computer and television screens as I can, perhaps sandwiching a few factoids in there as well. Please see me as your personal man on the inside. Of Oregon, too. And who will be sending moss-scented missives out through the mighty mouth of MTV Vloggerland. In fact, if you live in Oregon and have local news, please get in touch. (And Nike, can't you see my face on a sneaker, come on! WRITE MUH PEEPLES! We'll call it the "Sweatshop Stomper," no? We can make it out of hemp. COME BACK!!!)

The presidential candidates can run, but it will be hard for them to hide from the horde of citizen journalists tapped by MTV's Choose or Lose '08 to cover the race for the White House.

A group of 51 youth reporters — one from each state and Washington, D.C. — will follow the 2008 elections and deliver weekly multimedia reports tailored for mobile devices.

Using short-form videos, blogs, animation, photos and podcasts, the reports will be distributed through MTV Mobile, Think.MTV.com, more than 1,800 sites in The Associated Press' Online Video Network and a soon-to-launch Wireless Application Protocol site. The Street Team '08 reporters were carefully selected after an extensive nationwide search, and they represent every aspect of today's youth audience — from seasoned student-newspaper journalists to documentary filmmakers, the children of once-illegal immigrants and community organizers.

They are conservative and liberal, from big cities and small towns, but all are tied together through a passion for politics and a yearning to make the youth voice heard during this pivotal election. The correspondents will begin reporting early next month after an intensive MTV News orientation in New York, during which they'll be armed with laptops, video cameras and cell phones and challenged to uncover the untold political stories that matter most to young people in their respective states.

—MTV's Choose Or Lose Taps Young Reporters To Cover Presidential Election

And I get to be "young" again, too! Damn. Free software, camera, laptop, gear and youth, too! Just for being a bigmouth. Oh, if only certain high school administrators could see me now.

(read more)

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Crossposted at The Unapologetic Mexican, Culture Kitchen, and Corrente.