Baltimore MD - Two Good Hellos

Hello number one:

I road my bike a mile and a half to the Mondawmin Mall Radio Shack to pick up battery/adapter/cord. This was a cool ride of economic diversity - from the well-maintained downtown, through a sort of run-down neighborhood with many boarded windows, then up past Druid Hill Park where a development company has renovated some old walk-ups.
On the way back, I saw a tiny little girl walking... well, it was more a skip-tottering home from school, her mother following her, chatting on the phone. She was a preschool aged, 3-foot tall tiny dancer. As I passed her on my bike she yelled out with a face you'd make if you were playing peek-a-boo.

Hello number two:

Later in the night, Levi and I wandered around looking for dinner and passed a bus stop where a teenager jumped at me haunted house style, purely to shock and surprise. It worked! I was totes surprised. His two friends laughed and he laughed and I laughed. It was great! What a ballsy kid to just lurch out a stranger – a first-rate prank. The gift of surprise.

I should mention I had a small, personal meltdown as Lisa and I rode bikes to the grocery store.

Getting groceries had been overlooked as a priority for two days. So when everyone is hungry for lunch, there is nothing for them to eat, and they end up spending their own money on food, which is fine for some people in the crew, but not for everyone. Some of us really have taken a financial hit to be on this trip and the very least is to make sure people eat.

Before I got to the grocery store, I had one of those unpleasant moments of self-righteous anger that I kind of hate but can't control sometimes. Ug. How unattractive. It made me sad and homesick.

I was also disillusioned by the low turnout for this presentation.

But I recovered!

For one thing, our host - Linda Evans - managed to get us two rooms in a hotel downtown. Luxury, I tell you. As per usual, the people who respond to this film and its ideas are enthusiastic, organized people with hella heart. None of this would happen without the gigantic contributions of people like Linda.

The other realization is that even if crowds are smaller than we want, we simply have to move forward! We make what connections we can, keep playing, keep telling people about the project, keep deciding why we support this idea.

I find myself even more enamored with The 1 Second Film now than when I agreed to go on this road trip. 

Example: I went to dinner with Levi, where I griped and went on about my disappointments and fears, cried a little (of course). My spirits were bouyed a little by the fact that I saw one rat, one cockroach and one mouse. And THEN we got back to the hotel, where we ran into the doorman who had become our prouducer a couple hours earlier. He was so happy we were going on this trip, he really believes in us, and the power of bringing the world together, and having a dream and doing something kind of crazy.

Whether we get to Oprah or not, we are succeeding at sharing small bits of joy with the people we meet.