Monday, April 20, 2009

JRN 423 Video Story 2 (In Love With Freedom)


Untitled from Rebecca Crawford on Vimeo.


For Journalism 423, this is my second video, focusing on the subculture and obsession of motorcycle riding.


"In Love With Freedom"

For Bryan Sanders, 24, riding motorcycles has been a family tradition, beginning with his uncle, moving on to his father and mother, and is now something not only he but his wife enjoy. After looking for a motorcycle for a few years, Sander’s mother sold him her month old Yamaha vStar 650, the very day he and his wife had been out looking for a bike. “I’ve always wanted one. The thing I like about being on a motorcycle in one word is just freedom,” Sanders says. He tries to go out for a ride whenever the weather is nice, and often rides his Yamaha to work. Although he enjoys riding, he admits that long rides, such as a 6-hour trip he and his wife went on to attend his cousin’s wedding, are not something he’d like to do all the time. This is especially true now that his wife is near the end of her pregnancy. Sanders fears her going into labor while he is out riding and can not hear his cell phone. “I just enjoy riding. I could care less about what people think,” Sanders says of the stereotypes that people have about bikers. Biking is just something he loves doing, not something he does to gain attention. He looks forward to when his wife can be on the bike with him again, and taking his son riding when he is old enough to go.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009

JRN 423 Video Story 1 (Battling Bulimia)


Untitled from rebecca crawford on Vimeo.


For the first video for Journalism 423 I wanted to focus on an illness or struggle. I wanted to show how it affected someone's life, and how they confronted and stood up to the issue.



Battling Bulimia

Brigid, 31, of Ludington has been struggling with Bulimia for the past 14 years, and admits that she has overcome many obstacles but is yet to wins some battles. Having grown up with overly busy parents, a shy personality, and Bipolar Depression, Brigid started to develop an eating disorder in junior high. “It was never a physical thing, it was much deeper than that,” Brigid says, combating the stereotype that people with Bulimia binge and purge solely because of appearance issues. While in treatment for Bipolar Depression, Brigid’s nurses suspected that she had problems with Bulimia, but Brigid denied it and was released. Two years later, during a time in her life where she consumed less than 600 calories per day, she passed out hitting her head on the bathroom tub. It was then it became clear to her that she needed help. “No one knew. My family didn’t and I just kept it secret. It allowed me to keep going,” Brigid says. After finding out that Brigid was fighting with Bulimia, many people in her family blamed themselves, especially her mother. She found it difficult to tell friends and roommates, but became friends with many of those in treatment with her, with whom she could confide in. Now, lucky to have narrowly avoided the worst of health complications from Bulimia, Brigid speaks to a counselor, make meals plans, tries to avoid the scale, and is excited to attend graduate school in Pennsylvania in the fall. Although she realizes that she is a long way from her view of being “cured,” she is just trying to take things slow. “You have some good days and you have some bad days. It’s just better to focus on one at a time,” Brigid says.