Then after that, came the week of editing the trailer–a different kind of blur. The kind where we didn’t collect our mail and ate off the same pizza for breakfast and dinner. After three long days including two very late nights, we finished it and are continuing to finish it. It is difficult not to pick at–like a scab or zit–no, it is more like a painting on the wall that never looks straight, so you keep gently adjusting its placing and then move back to take a look at it again. 

However, it is time for the trailer to stop being babied by us and for it to leave the nest for the real world. We would like to invite all of you to give us feedback. We would like this trailer to continue to change and get better and better. We need ya’lls comments to do that.

We need to look at it with some new eyeballs. YOUR EYEBALLS. What do you see? Hear? Feel? When you watch this thing? Let us know. 

Three: Stories From The Struggle For Girls’ Education from NonFiction Media on Vimeo. 

A note on Vimeo viewing: If you have a fast computer, you can expand the screen by clicking on the little four-outward-pointing-arrows glyph on the lower right of the viewer window. Make sure HD is on and scaling is off. Also, probably best to let the whole thing load in first (hit ‘pause’ if needed). This will give you the best viewing experience (we’re still experimenting with the best way to output stuff for internet viewing).

Shanta is clearly the head of her class.

We have been spending a lot of time with Shanta, her brother, sister-in-law and niece. Yesterday we visited Shanta at school, walked home with her and then I watched / filmed her doing her homework for three straight hours. She would have done more, but the power went out and there was just not enough light. This girl is determined. This girl is smart. This girl is as kind as she is hard-working and intelligent. Her English is precise. I don’t think she speaks unless she knows she can say it grammatically correctly.

Shanta has only been studying English for two years (since she was granted a scholarship by the Little Sisters Fund) in a school where the English teacher speaks that language only as well I do Spanish (not so hot-pretty rough around the edges). I think she must be getting it mostly from books. Maybe television. I was surprised to see one in her tiny apartment today. I hadn’t noticed it before. The English news was on. I will ask her if this helps her with her pronunciation. It is really good.

So, basically. I am in love with this girl. Scott is too. She totally gets what we are doing. I mean, she really gets it. She ignores the camera and goes about her daily routine. I think she enjoys the attention, but doesn’t appear to play to it. It is almost as if she has been in a documentary before. Her neighbors on the other hand… (see previous blog entry).

Shanta seems to have few friends. It is still unclear to us if this is because she is in the Dalit (untouchable) caste, or if this is because all her time is either filled with studying or chores.  In a world full of obstacles, this girl is doing everything she can to make a future for herself. Man, do I pray she gets it.