Meal Team Pt2

Goddard College. 1987. In addition to all of our other 'work' the students had to contribute two hours of general 'cleaning' and two hours of dreaded 'meal team.' These four hours were a throw-back to a sixties community vibe. (Come to think of it..we also had to work four hours a week doing a 'real job' for free. Most of my time was spent being a clerk at the College's bank...no wonder they went bust.) No one really did the cleaning part...but meal team was a must and it was difficult. Scrubbing pans and mopping floors...it was two hours, essentially, analogous to working a poor minimum wage job. In retrospect, I think this is a wonderful idea. However...there came a time when I would no longer 'play ball.' I had stopped eating in the cafeteria (because of the bad food) and instead ate the traditional student diet of microwave noodles and cheese sandwiches. Another student, Jeff Kirkwood, had also given up eating in the cafeteria however the meal team police would not leave us alone. At Goddard not many things were against the law. Things that were: murder, gun ownership, hitting another person and not doing meal team.

At first it was suggested that Jeff and I cook for two hours. We threatened to make cakes with shavings of cardboard and other such not usually consumed items. Then came the clever idea that we make a training film for new students...something that would teach them the joys of the miserable meal team.

We had an agreement. We decided to make the video in the style of a 1950's American industrial film. (In which I had an interest at the time.) Jeff and I wrote the script in two evening sessions inside Doolin 2. To say we had a laugh would be largely understating the events. We shot the video over two weekends, having bought Casey's Heidi's and Bryan's 'costumes' at charity shops in Barre. We flooded each shot with light to try and create as much contrast as VHS would allow us.

I think we edited the video in a two week period. The song was recorded in my room (Doolin7) with one Sennheiser microphone, one take. The script was read in one take as well by the very talented 'radio student' we recruited.

I love this video. I think it hilarious. I would like to thank Casey for sending me the VHS, as my copy was stolen.

T.

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Goddard
• College
• Meal
• Team
• Kitchen
• Industrial
• Film
• Campus
• 1987