Flying Focus Video Bus - 11-13-23 (11-08-33)

Every year, Flying Focus Video Collective takes a retrospective look at the programs produced in the previous 12 months. Sharing short clips to give people a sense of what happened in the 13 new shows (made up of 24 episodes) in 2022-2023, the "Thirty-Second Busiversary" is informative and wide-ranging. The Flying Focus Video Bus premiered in November, 1991. ------------------ In part 1, a show reflecting on the life of FFVC producer Yvonne Simmons includes music, photos, and speakers at her memorial from September 2022. One show features another fierce woman organizing for peace, Judy Gumbo, in a Portland talk. Three shows highighting indigenous people include a local history lesson from Associate Professor David Lewis, a protest on Indigenous Day of Mourning (aka "Thanksgiving"), and offering many ways to get involved in the struggle for BIPOC and other rights. The last show in part 1 features a free lunch program that helps houseless people with basic needs and helps build community. -------------- Part 2 begins with two shows about the environment: one with Black Environmentalists telling of Portland's historical efforts, the other featuring clips from several actions focusing on the climate emergency. Two shows recorded at the First Unitarian Church follow: one with a panel of labor and veterans representatives talking about the privatization of the VA (and the Post office), and the other with Code Pink founder Medea Benjamin calling for peace in Ukraine despite our country's leaders insisting on more war. On that theme, the next show is from author/activist Norman Solomon's June 2023 livestream for Portland talking about his book "War Made Invisible." Then an update on the Portland Police Bureau's Training Advisory Council takes the viewer inside the community members' efforts to have the cops explain why so many Black people are subjected to force in the mostly-white Portland. Finally, a protest outside a local Post Office on Presidents' Day 2023 calls for workers' rights and to preserve the institution for the public. --------------- While there's less focus these days on the COVID pandemic, three of the shows were partially or fully recorded using computer connections, and ten of them include footage recorded by Field Coordinator PC Peri. The shows are introduced by producers Barb Greene and Dan Handelman, with PC also hosting. This was the fourth time the Busiversary was produced using internet technology, and the first of these four shows done using Open Signal/Portland Community Media equipment but not recorded in their facilities. Three locations around Portland provide backdrops for the intros. ---------- We hope people will enjoy the breadth and depth of these shows which encourage postitve social change.