A Star is Born

I'm ready for my close-up, Mr. DeMille.

Yesterday a filming crew from Pennsylvania Cable Network (PCNTV.com) came up from Harrisburg to film a segment about Hills Creek State Park for their State Park Tour series. The Park Supervisor asked the Tiadaghton Audubon Society to participate since we run the Saturday morning bird walks in the park during April and May. As a result, Gary, who actually does most all of the leading of those walks, put out the call for club members to show up to--we thought--provide support.

Actually, it turns out that Gary is very much camera shy--you might almost say phobic. He was begging and pleading for someone else to do the talking in front of the camera with his eyes on me and another woman who is a former teacher/administrator. I kept refusing but eventually caught on that Gary was very serious about not want ing to get in front of the camera and said I would do it. I would have trimmed my peard and prepared some notes if I had an inkling of what awaited this morning.

The assistant to the cameraman attached a microphone to my shirt, positioned me in front of the lake and then it was a "Go" from the cameraman and I was off. No talking points, nothing but the sketchiest of ideas of what the Park Manager or the film crew wanted me to say, and damn little direction provided. I felt like an idiot. But, as I usually do under such situations, I managed to produce a creditable, not totally illogical spiel that lasted about 10 minutes with nary a hem, er, um, or haw to be heard. I still felt like an idiot because I really do not care to adlib like that, but everyone said I did very well. (Must have been the "training" I got from being part of the radio station back in high school. As a disc jockey spinning soft insturmentals and reading anouncements over the airwaves and then doing play-by-play for basketball games...without a spotter or color commentator and absolutely no idea who the other team's players were! AND keeping my own stats at the same time.)

One person in our group who is aware of my political leanings, joked that I sounded as good as Obama. I responded that I kept my eyes on the camera lens and didn't tilt my head and chin upward.

They'll probably edit the heck out of this little piece of fluff, dovetail in more footage of the Park Supervisor and the park facilities and programs and make it presentable. Me? I'll never know. We don't get PCNTV on our system. The NorthPen Family of Services which provides our TV, telephone and wi-fi system via our fiber optic line, uses a satellite feed not cable.