I'm Human

January 17, 2012 7:48 AM

I'm Human A video by the students of Liberty Middle School in Madison, Alabama. Featuring the students and faculty of Liberty Middle School, Bob Jones High School, and James Clements High School; and the music of Sigur Rós. (SLYT)
posted by BitterOldPunk (12 comments total)

"Liberty" and "Bob Jones" in the names of the schools made me think this was going to turn out differently.
posted by dubold at 8:10 AM on January 17, 2012

"I'm [a] Mormon" is supposed to go at the end, not in the middle!

In case this comment taken with the previous one is misleading: no, not a Mormon video.
posted by beryllium at 8:26 AM on January 17, 2012

(Just to be clear, the "Bob Jones" in the high school's name isn't the Bob Jones University guy -- the school is named after Robert E. Jones Jr, a former US Congressman from the area.)
posted by BitterOldPunk at 8:54 AM on January 17, 2012

Yeah, having grown up in the area, I was just about to point that out.
posted by ocherdraco at 9:00 AM on January 17, 2012

Hard to go wrong with Sigur Ros and humanity.
posted by philip-random at 9:20 AM on January 17, 2012 [1 favorite]

Man, I just want to hug some of those kids. ("I'm a nerd" "I'm small")

I do wonder, however, how they got them to feel safe enough to share some of what was shared.....
posted by anastasiav at 9:30 AM on January 17, 2012 [2 favorites]

For some of them ("I'm bullied", for example) I imagine what they wrote on their sign is common knowledge.
posted by ocherdraco at 10:01 AM on January 17, 2012

Me Too
posted by fullerine at 10:51 AM on January 17, 2012

I imagine what they wrote on their sign is common knowledge.

Which makes me wonder why "I sometimes drink too much" was the only human whose face was blanked out.
posted by binturong at 11:56 AM on January 17, 2012

Just guessing, binturong, but my guess would be that it's because the "I drink too much" is an admission of actual criminality for an American juvenile.

This is nice, in the way that all of these things are, but I am really really tired of the whole people-holding-signs-containing-handwritten-admissions-and-pleas thing. I am equally tired of the whole "I AM ______" meme, although that is not so much displayed in this video. I can't be the only one.

And man, high schools put together stuff with such nice production value now! At least compared to what we did when I was in HS.
posted by broadway bill at 12:11 PM on January 17, 2012

I don't know what it says about me that, as they flashed backwards, I could remember what had been on every sign.
posted by Iteki at 2:41 PM on January 17, 2012

Man, I just want to hug some of those kids. ("I'm a nerd" "I'm small")

I do wonder, however, how they got them to feel safe enough to share some of what was shared.....

Me too, me too. I found myself really curious about what process they used to set this up - how the people decided what to write on their signs, and so on. I hope there was some comfortable structure to it, because it's fairly bold, especially for some kids taking real risks.

I am really really tired of the whole people-holding-signs-containing-handwritten-admissions-and-pleas thing.

I confess I agree, but this was still touching. It's really hard to feel as though you dislike someone staring earnestly straight at you.
posted by Miko at 3:51 PM on January 17, 2012 [3 favorites]