We went into this interview without a project -- or at least without a "cause" -- but instead we had a person we wanted to focus on. Relying less on the "institution" and more on the intrinsic values or beliefs that one person -- Jesse Baird -- actually had allowed us to get to the meat of a problem he actually cared about instead of a cookie-cutter "mission." In fact, we tried to prompt Jesse to talk about various topics that we thought might provoke a discussion (politics, abortion, feminism, female circumcision, etc.) but sometimes smaller issues take precedent over these universal issues and can provide a basis to build up to them. Jesse's thoughtful critique of passivity in societal interactions relating to harmful behaviors actually does address sexism, racism, homophobia, rape culture, etc. but not in the rah-rah, grandiose Big Topic way that we are used to in confrontational social settings.
Furthermore, our aim was to capture the actual essence of what Jesse cares about and finds valuable just by himself. Our project is about how not everyone has to be the director of a food bank or spend their Saturdays volunteering at a soup kitchen to be an activist. Jesse, in his everyday interactions with other people, stands up for a cause that isn't getting enough attention from media, politics, society, etc. Moreover, not everybody has the societal influence to start their own campaign or charity, and not everyone has the opportunity or time to make a drastic global change. Thus, it's the day-to-day, interpersonal human interactions that can actually start the ball rolling toward social evolution and away from antiquated paradigms of bigotry and injustice.
As for outside media, we referenced home videos to capture a more realistic aesthetic instead of a clinical and polished experience. In home videos, you get the unedited truth and probably gratuitous material -- like Jesse on the broomstick or screwing around with a camera -- even though not all parts of those moments relate directly to the cause, they still relate to the individual.
Goldbard makes an statement claiming that "encroaching on the old paradigm, knowledge from many different spheres reveals how cul- ture is key to creating the conditions that enable human rights and therefore, security rooted in caring rather than coercion." Jesse's project is not to be the next President of the United States and change the world that way, instead he just wants to add to the conversation to create "the conditions that enable human rights" and it's as simple as that.
