Tricia-Andrews

What is Phi Slam? from Patricia Andrews on Vimeo.As a journalism and religion double major, I set out this semester to bring my disciplines together by developing a multimedia documentary focused on religion. Contrary to popular belief, religion is not dead on the American college campus. This series of multimedia pieces takes a look at some of the surprising ways college students are living out their religion.

After 12 straight hours of paper-writing today, I’m having some trouble focusing … even though I still have more to do than I can shake a stick at. (but honestly, who shakes sticks?) Anyway, this is the tangential result: finding random photos we took several months ago on facebook and giving the 100k version a little polish instead of the full 25 mb version. How’s that for wasting time? So in order to feel some sense of productivity, I decided that the 100k versions are perfect for a blog upload.

Note: The grocery shopping shoot was post-poned today, but will we’ll hopefully have a chance to shoot on Saturday.

  I knocked on the glass door of the Fred Building  just in time. Before the elevator on the opposite side of the glass door shut, one of the three people standing inside stopped the elevator door and walked across the foyer to let me inside and onto the elevator. “Are you headed to the prayer meeting?” one of them asked smiling. Indeed I was.

 I had heard of the Tribe of Issachar several times before. A group dedicated to praying for Athens, they keep a room open for prayer downtown in the Fred Building near Sandbar and Wachovia. The room is open 24 hours, but the building closes at 7 p.m., after which time the room may be accessed by key.

The small room was already filled the people. Soft chairs and cushions lined the walls that were plastered with art and prayers and draped in lights. For the next hour and a half the small group of about 10 people worshipped through singing songs with the guitar and praying aloud. The prayers were not exactly what you might hear around your family dinner table (Maybe they are. I haven’t eaten at your dinner table) They prayed fervently, urgently, with great respect and great expectation. They spoke of God’s love and begged him to do something in Athens. The worship was more of a dance than a liturgy. As gradually as it began the evening closed as everyone slipped out of the room, down the elevators and out of the doors to downtown Athens.

Downtown Athens on a Thursday night (because we all know that Thursday is the new Friday): up and down Clayton street you’ll see the masses of students dressed up for socials, headed to shows, stumbling into cabs, and munching on edamame and noodles; but a lesser-known downtown event is also going on between Sandbar and Walker’s. It’s the Thursday night, downtown … prayer.

I met with the Rabbi of the Chabod house here in Athens for coffee about two weeks ago. Within the first moments of meeting him I had already behaved incorrectly. When meeting someone new I habitually offer my hand for a handshake. When I did this, the Rabbi kindly smiled and said that his wife could shake my hand but he could not. “Great,” I said, “those are exactly the kinds of things I want to know.”

We spoke for a little less than an hour about the High Holidays approaching and how the Chabod house would be celebrating. “One big problem,” said the Rabbi, “we are not permitted to use technology on Yom Kippur and the presence of photos or audio may suggest that we did.” Photos would be permitted, however, before the official ceremonies began.

So, on Sunday September 27, 2009 I went early to the Georgia Center where the service would be held. The proscribed liturgy was set out on each seat and the Torah and prayer shawls and candles were ready.The men and women sat on separate sides of the room and the men placed yamakas on their heads as they entered if they were not already wearing them.

I sat with girl named Amanda who had been there early to help set up.The Chabod house group is an orthodox group and the other Jewish group on campus, Hillel, is a reformed group.Before the service the girls lit candles and asked for blessings on this auspicious day. At the end of the candle lighting Yom Kippur was officially begun and I could no longer use my camera. Amanda studied in Israel and mentioned that this would be her first Yom Kippur in which she could really understand the Hebrew spoken throughout the service.The rabbi and the “cantor” sang the prayers and scriptures so beautifully that it made me wonder if a decent voice is a perquisite to rabbihood.

Yom Kippur is the Day of Atonement in Judaism. It is the day that the people of Israel ask God (or G-d as the orthodox write it) to forgive them for the sins they have committed, aware, unaware and everything in between.Throughout the service Amanda kindly pointed out and explained words and passages to me. There are several points in the service in which your physical posture has meaning. In some parts you stand with your feet close together as the angels do, and in another you cover one eye so as to focus on what you are reading and doing.

Here are a few random photos from my Why-Not-Go-to-Boston-This-Weekend? weekend.

In the daily situations of my life I know where to go, what to do, what to say and more importantly what not to say. Perhaps what I’ve enjoyed most about this project so far is the way that it has removed all of my usual comforts of familiarity and habit. It’s not everyday that I find myself completely out of my “typical” environment and I value these opportunities because you don’t learn anything inside your own comfort zone.  For instance, I may have never recognized my own assumption that all Muslim women cover their heads. I’m sure much of this stems from the fact that when I see a woman with her hair or face covered I immediately identify her as Muslim; However, when I see women without covered heads I identify nothing except perhaps their hair color.

  As  I rode the elevator up to the Ramadan fast-breaking dinner at the Tate Student Center, I wondered if my uncovered red hair would seem irreverent, disrespectful or just plain offensive. When contemplating my wardrobe choice, though, I had quickly eliminated the idea of covering my own head. I felt that this would be more likely to be irreverent than naked hair. An outward display without an inner reality seems more like a Halloween costume. Yet still I was painfully aware and self-conscious while I walked past the rows of prayer mats and groups of men giving me a few curious glances. Then I saw two doors: one labeled “sisters” and another labeled “brothers.” Yes! I know the answer to this one! I’m a sister. That’s something.

  Inside a large room a line of tables ready for food separated the men and women. I saw a table of girls who looked about my age, took a seat and introduced myself. To my relief, only half of them covered their heads. The girls I met were warm and receptive to me, the newcomer. I explained to them the idea of the project (debunking the “college is where you go to lose your religion” myth) and many of the girls affirmed that their faith had in fact become stronger in their college years. A man began to sing the call to prayer and many women whose heads were uncovered pulled out scarves and veils or pulled up their hoodies. Moments before, a girl who had arrived without her hair covered expressed her concern to her veiled friend that she had forgotten her head covering. The veiled girl reassured her that she need not worry because if she is to cover, then she should do it for God and not for the people around her. While the others left to pray the girl who had forgotten her hair covering explained to me that while some women choose not to cover their hair at all times, Muslim women always cover their hair during prayer so she would not participate without the proper covering.

  I took the opportunity to ask her about sensitivities to photos during prayer. She told me that the men would likely not mind at all but that certain women may be more sensitive. I also learned that prayer should always be photographed from the front and not from behind out of respect. I’m looking forward to getting to know some of the girls that I met, and some seemed open to letting me document their walks of faith. I hope to better understand and communicate the role and value of Islam in their lives.

20 seconds of Phi Slam from Patricia Andrews on Vimeo.For the HD version view  here.    

The first shooting of my semester-long documentary aimed at debunking the “college is where you go to lose your religion” myth will commence tomorrow night at an event commonly known as Phi Slam and fully named Phi Sigma Lambda. Friday’s party is entitled “Puffed-up- Pumped -Up-Bumpin’ Blow-up -Blast.” Phi Slam was created to provide college students an alternative to the typical downtown alcohol scene…definitely check out the Phi Slam website for more information on what they are all about. More to come…