Jennifer Crandall

Today, we bring you the start of a new American documentary series with a big goal: bridging the gap between people.

We publish it now, just weeks after the inauguration of our 45th president, but there's no politics in it. Just regular, decent, hardworking Alabamians who remind us of who we are: judges and prisoners, doctors and laborers, cave-explorers, firefighters, singers, gravediggers, fishermen, candy-sellers, mascot-wearers, lawyers and flat-tire changers, all more than their labels.

We publish it here as an inspiring reminder of the essentially unchanged nature of human beings, and of our inescapable longing for connection.

This project doesn't ask "who is America," but, if you listen, you will hear some of the answer.

For two years, filmmaker and artist Jennifer Crandall has rambled across Alabama, inviting people to stare into her camera and reveal their own selves through the word of a 19th century poem, Walt Whitman's epic "Song of Myself."

Yes, we know Walt Whitman is not a Southern writer. And we know poetry is not commonly seen as the language of everyday people. But while this is an Alabama project, it's also an American project. While this is a contemporary exploration, it's also a timeless one.

Just listen to the late Virginia Mae Schmitt, whose voice speaks beyond borders of place or age or gender.

She was 97 when Crandall and her project collaborator, Birmingham filmmaker Bob Miller, captured her reading Whitman's first person words from her Birmingham living room chair.

"I, now 37 years old, and in perfect health, begin."

And so begins this journey.

It's not an obvious one, perhaps. Using radically provocative 19th century poetry to catch a glimpse of humanity, circa 2017.

This work poses many questions:

What does a 19

Why is a young man on a coal boat moving down the Warrior River in 2015 saying words written before the Civil War?

Who are we?

How are we connected?

What is the heartbeat that pulses through us all?

"For every atom belonging to me as good belongs to you."

Are these words, written before America fought to tear itself into two nations, too radical for a united and yet divided America today? We ask but we don't need to know the answer. We simply publish them here.

"These are really the thoughts of all men in all ages and lands, they are not original with me."

And so goes this work, a co-creation of filmmaker, of subject, of the mountains and beaches of Alabama, of the heart of America in this moment in time.

Crandall made it her mission for the last two years to listen for it and record it here for you.

This is how she describes her intentions and her methods:

"I believe in listening and I believe in creating spaces intimate enough for voices to be heard. To do this, a patchwork team of us set out and began to make a 52-part documentary film. We crisscrossed the state, made acquaintances with strangers and asked. 'Might we pull out our cameras to capture a few tiny moments from your life?' And people said yes! And then we said, 'there's a catch. Might we pull out our cameras to capture a few tiny moments from your life while you read some poetry written by a dead dude from New York?' For a smidge more context we usually topped off our plea with some version of: 'Walt Whitman probably wrote the most all-encompassing poem ever about American identity in "Song of Myself." It's a sprawling, unconventional lot of poetic verses that describes an unconventional sprawling lot of people. The man managed to draw from a deep well of empathy to describe the awesomeness of American diversity and that's kinda what we want you to be a part of ... You in?'

"I have to say, you Alabamians stepped up to the plate. You said, 'yes, I believe that'd still be all right.' "

Learn more about John Graham & Chris Freeman



In this work, Crandall builds on her existing body of work exploring what it means to be human and how we come to know the essence of another.

She expresses it simply, often: "I want folks to get to know each other better."

That drive was evident in her groundbreaking work for the Washington Post, called OnBeing, a series that simultaneously simplified and deepened the art of the video interview.

The work is the result of an artist-in-residency program established by the Alabama Media Group in 2015 - one of the first experiments of its kind in American journalism.

Through this partnership, the company has supported the work of Crandall as she traveled thousands of miles through Alabama to reimagine this quintessential American poem through an intimate portrait of its people. Much of the inspiration for the work, she said, comes from growing up around the globe.

"When I first meet someone new, I'm pretty consistently asked 'What are you?' I was born in Ethiopia to a white American man and a Chinese woman from Vietnam, and raised all over the world. I have a unique story and I often struggle to express who I am. But who doesn't? I think that's why I like to do work that showcases the diversity within people, not necessarily the diversity between people."

In this new work, Crandall moved out of the studio, and drove thousands of miles through Alabama's hills and shores and red clay roads, teaming up with filmmakers Bob Miller of Birmingham, and Pierre Kattar, now based in Italy, to capture a breathtaking range of people and places.

"It is you talking just as much as myself... I act as the tongue of you," Whitman wrote.

We hope you will feel this big and universal sound.

We invite you to join us. Put on your headphones. Step away from the every day for just a moment. Join us here in Whitman, Alabama, for a while.

Share Whitman, Alabama with the world: Contact us to use these videos in your classroom or share on your website. Email Alabama Media Group at videos@whitmanalabama.com, subject line "Whitman."

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