influx of young people
Dodging rain throughout the week of the FFA convention was almost as difficult as dodging kids on scooters. Getting lunch at noon proved to be even harder. Getting a coffee without waiting in a long line was next to impossible. As much as it may have brought some difficulty to my daily routine, the influx of tens of thousands of visitors and a refugee to downtown was just what the city needed.
While riding around capturing footage of the FFA happenings, I came across Zach. With a golden shimmering skateboard strapped to his back. He told me a story about a guy who got stabbed in the eye outside Circle Center Mall while getting robbed. Apparently, the victim put up a fight, but the only thing I could find in the news or on the internet was about an incident of a man stabbed back in May for reasons unknown.
Zach was on his way to his job working security around the corner. He told me about enlisting in the army, but the file for this part of our discussion is corrupted and can’t be shared. That’s how it goes sometimes. The best footage gets lost or never captured due to technical and/or human error.
a force of one
During the week of the convention, my bicycle delivery friends were more visible on the Circle than they had been in some time. I spent one afternoon eating lunch on the steps with some of them which led to me meeting Hagir Dosa.
Hagir was the second one woman protest on Monument Circle I’ve seen in about a year’s time. She was protesting the recent military coup in the Sudan. Although she was hoping for a few more protestors, she was doing a fine job all by herself and shared with me some of her thoughts about the situation and her feelings on being here in the states.
We have been in communication with one another since we spoke, and I am hoping to interview her more in-depth. I think she has an amazing story worth sharing, and I am encouraging her to tell it to the world. Not just through my lens, but well beyond.
growing pains
After all, to date, I only have 430 subscribers. Although my numbers continue to rise slowly, I am still well below 1/2 of my target number for last year. As of now, there’s only so much traction anyone is going to gain from being in a video on my site.
Despite the slow growth, I have faith that I am doing what I am supposed to be doing. I keep focused on videoing and production. It’s a mad mission to some, but for me, it’s a calling that is leading to a point.
To all the visitors and refugees downtown Indy, I’m always nearby to capture whatever is on your mind. I will never spin you wrong and will always listen to your stories. Just yell out “Indianapolis Skateboard Journalist” as I’m rolling by, or better yet, just say, “hey Tom!”