Man on the Street

When Alan mentioned how his students have their 'Man on the Street' sort of participation grade, I was promptly reminded of the amazing experience my group had while we were practicing video camera use. Instead of simply finding some good, tight, medium, or wide shots, we focused in on the Westward Ho Hotel and began by trying to capture the entire height of the hotel, including the massive radio tower on top.

Photo courtesy of Sharon Fonzo

By the time we got towards the front of the hotel, we had many ideas spinning mainly because my colleague Al Schleicher had been around exploring and had cracked into the issue of gentrification. We immediately ran into a number of current residents who live in the hotel, which has turned into low-income housing apartments. Of the number of people that sat outside the building smoking, a few things were common: they seemed to enjoy each other's company but didn't appear overly happy with life; most of them appeared to either have some kind of a debilitating injury or a form of mental illness.

We received permissions to interview some colorful characters and began getting some emotional and some humorous responses. About halfway through a great interview with a gentlemen named Byron, we were rocked and startled by the horn of a fire truck as it suddenly pulled into the driveway behind us. We proceeded to get some real-time action shots of local firemen investigating a 911 call. We learned some more info about the living conditions in the building including over populations, raised costs of living and the lack of air conditioning.

During our filming of the recap, a kind woman approached us on the street and asked us what we were doing. At first she seemed like an interested ASU student but it turned out that she was employed by The Ho and she was actually trying to figure out exactly what information we had encountered. It became somewhat clear that her employer was trying to figure out what we knew. It became clear that her employer was up to no good in the hood and didn't want anyone to know about it. The kind young woman refused to comment on anything. Go figure.

This experience to me was a testimony that my students really have the ability to create amazing stories out of nothing. They just have to get out there and try. Everything that Dave Seibert said about being a part of the moment, not having appointments, and finding emotion really rang true for me just from being a man on the street.

Steve Haslam
Copper Hills High School
West Jordan, UT