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Morra Aarons asked me if I would contribute to the 10 Questions project, by making a video question about the issue of healthcare.
The questions are taken from the BlogHer Voter Manifesto.
Because now, in order to flex maximum muscle as a member of the American voting majority -- WOMEN, people, that's us -- I must loovvvvvvve the lens. And I think you should too: I am happy to announce BlogHer's co-sponsorship of 10Questions, a new, non-partisan “People powered presidential forum” hosted by TechPresident.com, in cooperation with the New York Times and MSNBC.com and many of your favorite websites and blogs.
As Morra Aarons wrote earlier this week, 10Questions is "a giant, web-wide contest where anyone can submit an online video question, view others’ questions, and vote for their favorite. At the end of the voting period, the top ten questions will be submitted to presidential candidates for answering. It’s like the CNN/YouTube Debate on steroids."
I was very flattered to be asked, and excited to participate. There was only one problem...I didn't have a web-cam, and I had no idea how to make a video for YouTube...I guess that's two problems, huh?
Well, there's a first time for everything. So...I went out and got myself a web-cam. I brought it home, set it up, and figured out how to use it. And then I realized that I was actually going to have to record myself, and make that video visible for all to see on YouTube...(o.k...liiiittle freek-out). So, how best to overcome my fear of making a YouTube video? How about getting my daughter to make one first? Yup, that's what I did. I didn't force her or anything...she really wanted to make one.
Now it was time for me to make mine. That meant overcoming my fear, and just doing it. So, that's what I did. If my 13 year old daughter could do it, than so could I.
I began to do some practice takes, this way I could make sure I was talking loud enough, and that I was saying exactly what I wanted to say. Then something happened that I hadn't expected. I finally figured out what I wanted to say and how to say it...But when I replayed the video, it wasn't a clear picture. It seems that when the natural light coming through my window went away, and I just turned on some lights in the room...the camera didn't like that much. I tried to change the lighting and record again, but no matter what I did, the picture was all grainy and blurry looking (I guess that's what happens when you get a cheap web-cam).
On Sunday afternoon, the sun was coming through the window just right, and the picture wasn't a big blurry mess. And finally (after a bunch of takes), I was able to get my very first YouTube video made. It still took a few hours to figure out how to get the videos onto YouTube...but, "I DID IT". I'm pretty proud of myself, although I still don't really like seeing myself on video...But who does?
After all of that, my video is on the 10 Questions site. And now I really need to get people to vote for it, because there are only two days left to vote... and at this point 99.9% of the videos have more votes than mine. I wouldn't be making a big deal about getting votes, if it wasn't for the fact that none of the top ten questions are on the healthcare issue...I was actually pretty shocked when I noticed that last night. And I do think this is an important issue that should be addressed by the candidates.
Contributing editor Virginia Debolt also made a video question...
If you're a BlogHer, and you've made a video for 10questions...leave the link in comments so we can all vote for you too. If you just want to tell me what you think about the video I made (ie: tips on how to do it better next time)...or tell me how cute my daughter is, that would be great too.
Contributing Editor Catherine Morgan
also at CatherineBlogs.com and The Political Voices of Women
