So one day in May, I got a call from MTV News, asking me if I'd like to join their Street Team as the Vermont reporter. I believe my response was a resounding "Hell yeah!" Less than two weeks later, I was on a plane to New York City for a 48-hour crash course in citizen journalism.
Now, I'm no stranger to journalism, but I work in a news room, where there's a team of people working on the same product. Not so with Street Team. They sent us back to our states with about 10,000 pounds of equipment and just said, 'Go.' It was then up to us to find stories, shoot them, conduct interviews, edit the footage, and try to keep our sanity at the same time. I found that last task a bit elusive at times.
Through the lens of my camera, I was really able to see Vermont for the first time. Early on, I decided it was my job to shut up and listen to what people had to say...and I was captivated. To say Vermont is an unusual place is an understatement; the weather forces people into solitary confinement many months out of the year, and yet the population is so tightly knit that the phrase may as well be "two degrees of separation." We share food from our gardens, support local business, eschew big box stores, feel more comfortable on dirt roads than on pavement, and we're damn proud of it.
I owe so many people my undying gratitude.
Thank you to the Vermonters who opened their hearts and their lives and welcomed me in. Thank you to Liz, Kristin, Vanessa, Rya, and the rest of the MTV News team for giving us the chance to tell young voters what they need to know. And mostly, thank you to my fellow Street Teamers. Here's to 3 a.m. phone calls stressing about Premiere / Photoshop / releases / passwords / life in general, calling each other by our state names because 50 names is 49 too many, non-directional mics, saying you work for MTV yet having to AVOID any music (unless you're David Whiteside), and mostly, to creating a time capsule of our generation and this historic election that will stand for years to come. I will miss you all.
As hard as this is to say...this is Rachel Feldman, reporting from Vermont for the last time for MTV's Choose Or Lose Street Team '08.