Lights....camera...action (?)

Today my entire second period was filmed by the Discovery Channel.

Lights...booms...cameras....34 students.....35 desks....36 chairs....5 crew members....me, all crammed together in a not-so-large class room.

The director had told me that morning just 10 minutes before class began, that they'd like to film. What could I say?
I was told it would only be for a few minutes, but they ended up filming for an hour.

Several weeks ago my class was interupted by a crew of Japanese filmakers. They've been staying with us for the past few months, filming a documentary for Japanese television.

(Apparently the Japanese are fascinated by black youth in New Orleans. Or maybe they're just crazy over Beowulf, who knows.)

The Japanese were the test run for the subsequent camera crews who have filmed the class. By this point, the students are pretty nonchalant about it.

I remember during the first filming thinking, "Thank God, I don't live in Japan, and hopefully will never have to see myself on camera. I guess it won't be so bad."

I had been filmed briefly a few weeks before by the local news, and that was bad enough. My mother rushed to tell me that she'd seen me on the news. Thankfully, she doesn't know how to operate the VCR. I thought the worst was over. Little did I know.

CNN was here a few days ago as well. (I didn't see them, however)

MTV comes soon, I'm not sure why.

Some sort of "Extreme" Home Makeover show is supposed to come as well...the one with the carpenter from the former "Trading Spaces". I have no idea what they're planning to do. Lets hope it's something about the moldy smell throughout the school.

A few days ago, badly needing to use the restroom, I opened my door, only to find myself blinded by floodlights of the Washington Post cameraman, setting up a photo op in the hall way.

All in all, it's rather disconcerting to teach with cameras and lights on you. I just have to make sure my mother cancels her cable sometime before any of this gets aired.