10 years ago today, I posted this video on YouTube

(Sometimes I think I want to write about something, and I get halfway in, and realize it’s ok to not try and say everything, but that saying one or two things can be just about right.)

10 years ago tonight, I posted this video on YouTube, and it was a different age. June of 2007. A new century, but not yet fully-formed — quaint somehow in retrospect. You can tell by my inexpert video-making skills; some images, a voice, some sound.

As much as I thought I’d want to re-tell the story about how and why I went to Louisiana to learn more about an underreported story the New York Times and CNN had failed to cover, maybe I’ll just say this:

Acting on small decisions can change your life, and deciding to go to Jena and come back and make this video changed mine significantly.

I can’t believe it’s been ten years since I drove to Jena to see what the heck was going on.

So much has changed.

So much has stayed the same.

— MDM 20170627