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June 13: Dominican Debacles

2007-06-13 · letter vlog · Hank, John · 3:10 · watch on YouTube

Topic: Personal life (also: Global development) · mode: Personal update · tags: on location, song or performance, punishment or challenge, recurring series, guest or collab

Without his FireWire cable or guitar, Hank records on the laptop camera and sings a short GarageBand song about his big family; he says it is disturbing to lounge in an isolated Dominican hotel near deep poverty, reports a village visit their dad arranged, and relays a man's account of migration toward better conditions.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — Misplaced FireWire cable; recording on the MacBook camera; footage stuck on the tape; it's Wednesday so there is a song, about his family

  • ★★ Hank misplaced the FireWire cable, so he records on the MacBook's built-in camera and cannot include the footage he planned, which is stuck on the camera. — 00:00:03
  • ★★ Because it is Wednesday Hank sings a very short song about his family, which he says numbers 27 with two more on the way, on his mom's side alone. (playful) — 00:00:31 · Song Wednesday

00:01:10 — Song Wednesday: short song listing the family on his mom's side

00:01:39 — First time using GarageBand; a GarageBand project for next Wednesday; unease at lounging on a Dominican beach near people in bad situations

  • ★ Without his guitar, Hank used GarageBand for the first time to make the music; he is unsure he is good at it yet. (hedged) — 00:01:39
  • ★★ Hank says he has an exciting project for next Wednesday (20 June 2007) that will use GarageBand heavily. — 00:01:39
  • ★★★ Hank finds it disturbing to lie on a Dominican beach drinking piña coladas while people not far away are in very bad situations; the family's hotel is as isolated from the country as the US is. — 00:01:39 · United States

00:02:08 — Village visit arranged by their dad; the hotel's isolation; a man's account of migration Haiti to DR to Puerto Rico to US; Netherlands joke; finding John

  • ★★★ Their dad arranged for the brothers to visit a village and some of the people in those situations; Hank calls it really awesome and a look at what the country is actually like. — 00:02:08 · Mike Green
  • ★★ Hank says viewers will get to see some of the village visit, just not in this video. — 00:02:08
  • ★★★ Relaying a man they met, Hank says Haitians flood into the Dominican Republic because their situation is much worse, Dominicans into Puerto Rico and Puerto Ricans into the US, each seeking better conditions. — 00:02:08 · United States

Humor (significant)

  • Annoyed about the missing cable, Hank asks how to say it in Spanish. — 00:00:31

    “Kaka!”

  • Hank's footage is on the camera's tape and he has no cable to transfer it. — 00:00:31

    “no matter how much I rub the videotape on the MacBook... The videotape won't get inside the MacBook.”

  • Hank's song lists more than two dozen relatives by name. — 00:01:10

    “And that's just on my mom's side.”

  • After the chain of people moving to ever-better countries ends at the US, Hank adds one more step. — 00:02:38

    “the people of the United States have been saying a lot of really nice things about the Netherlands lately”

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: Dominican Republic

Also: People: Mike Green · Sarah Urist Green · Sydney Green · the brothers' grandfather

Works: Hank's song about his family

Rituals: Song Wednesday

Places: Haiti · Netherlands · Puerto Rico · United States

Products: GarageBand · IEEE 1394 · iSight · MacBook

Also centred on Dominican Republic: June 11: SURPRISE · Brotherhood 2.0: June 14: Good News/Bad News · June 28: How to Be a Microfinancier · How to be a Microfinancier Part 2 · Why is Haiti Poor?

← Previous: June 12th: Hank Green "In the Wild" · Next → Brotherhood 2.0: June 14: Good News/Bad News