Document this...
Frankly, We had never heard of the large European television channel "Arte", but here was their documentary film crew taping in my home this week. I would like to think that Europeans come to Midland, Texas to view my photographic work, or because they value my opinion on world affairs, but actually the media's goal is to speak with a special person I know, Julie, who once worked for a small oil and gas company here in town. Not that Europeans care one whit for small ten person oil companies, unless of course, one of those persons later becomes President of the United States, which is the case here.
Andrea and cinematographer Peter flew in from Vienna on Sunday, awaiting our return from Fredericksburg and our Memorial Day weekend. They seemed to have done well with the culture shock of leaving the forested beauty of Austria and landing right in the middle of some...well, rather stark countryside which abounds in West Texas. They even paid some small compliment by saying that it was not the complete desert that they had imagined. They wanted to get a flavor of the place so they met with the Mayor, toured the Petroleum Museum and we took them to get some footage of an oil well pumping. They were interested in filming everyday events in the Presidents old home town, so yesterday we took them to a Little League baseball game that Julie's son Jack was participating in. It was interesting trying to explain the game to Andrea who had never in her life seen a baseball game and knew nothing of the rules.
Julie's interviews with the media consist of recounting her years with the future President, what he was like then and how his life, policies and actions have been molded by his years in Midland. At least I think this is the gist of her talks, as I am sent out of the room. I know she does well though, because she speaks from the heart. My taped interview revolved around the history of Midland, the oil business, the ethos of the people and how I, from my perspective inside the oil business, view world events and the Presidents actions. I hope that I'm not heavily edited as it was a brilliant dissertation, at least from my humble perspective.
In our interviews with the BBC and now the Arte Channel, we made a basic assumption that their reporting would have a rather liberal tinge to it, and we tried to keep that in mind. But being Texans, we have a hard time not being ourselves and showing people who we really are and what we think. I believe that these more reserved Europeans have a hard time at first grasping this and it takes them some little while to adjust to this openess. But I think that this has served us well. I know it did with the BBC, as I still get email from one of their correspondents and their article pulled no surprises on us. After the first day with these Austrian filmmakers, we could laugh at our differing philosophies on world events and Andrea and Peter seemed to be genuinely having a good time. At least I hope they did. And I hope that they better understand our President, a man who like us, says what he thinks and means what he says.
If you are vactioning in France or Germany at the end of June, I hope you can catch the program and if you do, drop me a note and let me know how my hair looked.
Frankly, We had never heard of the large European television channel "Arte", but here was their documentary film crew taping in my home this week. I would like to think that Europeans come to Midland, Texas to view my photographic work, or because they value my opinion on world affairs, but actually the media's goal is to speak with a special person I know, Julie, who once worked for a small oil and gas company here in town. Not that Europeans care one whit for small ten person oil companies, unless of course, one of those persons later becomes President of the United States, which is the case here.
Andrea and cinematographer Peter flew in from Vienna on Sunday, awaiting our return from Fredericksburg and our Memorial Day weekend. They seemed to have done well with the culture shock of leaving the forested beauty of Austria and landing right in the middle of some...well, rather stark countryside which abounds in West Texas. They even paid some small compliment by saying that it was not the complete desert that they had imagined. They wanted to get a flavor of the place so they met with the Mayor, toured the Petroleum Museum and we took them to get some footage of an oil well pumping. They were interested in filming everyday events in the Presidents old home town, so yesterday we took them to a Little League baseball game that Julie's son Jack was participating in. It was interesting trying to explain the game to Andrea who had never in her life seen a baseball game and knew nothing of the rules.
Julie's interviews with the media consist of recounting her years with the future President, what he was like then and how his life, policies and actions have been molded by his years in Midland. At least I think this is the gist of her talks, as I am sent out of the room. I know she does well though, because she speaks from the heart. My taped interview revolved around the history of Midland, the oil business, the ethos of the people and how I, from my perspective inside the oil business, view world events and the Presidents actions. I hope that I'm not heavily edited as it was a brilliant dissertation, at least from my humble perspective.
In our interviews with the BBC and now the Arte Channel, we made a basic assumption that their reporting would have a rather liberal tinge to it, and we tried to keep that in mind. But being Texans, we have a hard time not being ourselves and showing people who we really are and what we think. I believe that these more reserved Europeans have a hard time at first grasping this and it takes them some little while to adjust to this openess. But I think that this has served us well. I know it did with the BBC, as I still get email from one of their correspondents and their article pulled no surprises on us. After the first day with these Austrian filmmakers, we could laugh at our differing philosophies on world events and Andrea and Peter seemed to be genuinely having a good time. At least I hope they did. And I hope that they better understand our President, a man who like us, says what he thinks and means what he says.
If you are vactioning in France or Germany at the end of June, I hope you can catch the program and if you do, drop me a note and let me know how my hair looked.
