April and I met today at a cafe to go over my structure and next steps for the MRP. It was a great session! We came up with almost an entire structure chart, the beginnings of a theme statement, and who I should interview next.
It really made me feel ready – once I was slotting my interview subjects into the slots of narrative, it all was making more sense in my head. April was in favour of having the project take on more of a traditional narrative, and helped me bring out the actual themes in each of my interviews, as well as helped me figure out the narrative I personally will bring into the story.
I also intend to write up some new history based on April questioning me about recent homophobic events on PEI: especially a fish and chips shop that closed after revealing its anti-queer stance on social media.
I now have an idea of who the precise experts (such as a scholar to talk about how the definition of the “queer community” has changed over the decades in Canada) I should be seeking out are and the subjects I distinctly want to talk to them about.
A cool thing we thought of during the session was a podcast about my time as a “Father of Confederation” – contrasting the largely colonial, white, conservative leanings of the interpretation program with the largely queer staff and queer growth I and many of my colleagues had during our work with the program. I’ll do a sitdown with some of my former coworkers and have it as a “cut-out” part of the history section.
I’m going to type up a new structure chart based on what April and I discussed today, as well as write a first draft of my opening scene and nut graf for April for October 1.
In my discussion with Emily on Wednesday, we decided that I might also pursue an illustrator to help me create a cool artwork of a lighthouse (following the beacon idea) with a pride rainbow flowing out of it like a wave. It may be the visual motif that follows throughout the piece.
Sounds like an incredibly productive session!