"Come On America!"

Reporting live from a lecture by Jesper Steinmetz

It’s Monday evening. I’m sitting in the train towards Middelfart. It’s been a long day but I’m looking forward to hearing what Jesper Steinmetz has to say about coming to America.

I’m standing outside the building where the lecture is taking place in just about 15 minutes – “Middelfart KulturØ”.

As I’m walking up the long stairway, with white steps, I feel my stomach filling up with more and more excitement.

Entering the door to the room wherein the lecture is being held, I feel overwhelmed by the large windows facing the Little Belt. The sun is shining beautifully and is just about to set.

In just a few minutes the clock will be exactly 7.30 pm and the lecture will begin.

Before stepping on to the platform Jesper Steinmetz quickly spits out his chewing gum and places it in an ashtray.

As he introduces himself he uses an inch of irony, when referring to an article that once wrote, that Jesper Steinmetz lived in America when he was 19 – in 1886 (!) Today is his 45^th birthday, and he seems happy to spend it here with us, in Middelfart.

Jesper has travelled to America many times, but he has only lived there for two years (and once when he was 19). His contract as a correspondent for TV2 runs out when four years have past. He loves his job, and puts a great deal of pride into portraying America in ways people wouldn’t expect – giving the Danes the small story, instead of always portraying the big story.

To give us a glimpse of a regular day in his life he shows us a bit from a documentary made by “TV2/Nord”. A very hectic life, which isn’t as glamorous as one would think.

Then he pulls out three things he always carries around: a red hat, with TV2 written on it, for a microphone, some make-up, and two cell-phones; one he uses in Denmark and one he uses in America. Those things are linked to his work, a work which he carries with him wherever he may go.

When pulling out the make-up and smiling from ear to ear, he tells us an amusing anecdote:

I was once on my way to do a live interview for TV2. I was in quite a hurry, and I had to powder my forehead because of the lighting. Standing in the male lavatory in Mac Donald's, in front of the mirror, powdering my forehead I get the strangest look from an American man. Looking like he was waiting for me to pull out a dress.

The room is filled with laughter, and on every seat people are smiling. Jesper Steinmetz is a very charismatic man, and even though he speaks no formal language (he curses quite often!), he comes across as being a nice and very likeable man. When cursing, he blames his parents, with a smile, for the way he was raised.

Jesper constantly brings us behind the scenes by showing clips on a white screen. At one point he experiences some technical problems and I feel the crowd waiting in silence with full excitement. He quickly fixes the problems all while talking about random things and episodes in his life.

After an hour of listening with full attention there’s a 30 minute break with coffee and American carrot cake.

Second round is a Q&A.

At least one person from every row has a burning question, and as Jesper Steinmetz has said, it’s always the random questions which seem the most interesting.

“How are the American women?” “Tell us about the American election!” “What can we expect to read in your book?” “Do you have an American wife?”

Jesper politely answers all the questions.

The alternating switches between lecturing and showing clips from the documentary and from previous newscasts, creates an excitement over the feeling of being “close” to him. It leaves you with the feeling of being a part of his life and with a feeling that there’s a backside to America which you must explore. And this is the feeling I carry with me when heading back to the train station after the lecture.

-- Written by Naomi Altamirano, 2.d 

COME ON AMERICA!

Lecture with Jesper Steinmetz 07.05.12

It´s a few minutes past 7.30 p.m. and the exited listeners are sitting on the edge of their seats. They all stretch their necks to catch a glimpse of the Danish, well-known reporter, who has travelled all the way from America to “Kulturøen” in Middelfart on his forty-fifth birthday. The view from the room is absolutely fantastic; outside the big windows the two bridges over the Little Belt girdle the beautiful sunset. Jesper Steinmetz is introduced by the Danish American Canadian Friendship-association, and begins his lecture about his life as the American reporter from TV2. It is a country that he is very fascinated by, but today he also knows that it is a lot more nuanced that he thought.

Jesper lives in Washington during his time as a reporter, and he tells us that his job cannot be separated from his private life, it is a lifestyle. He thinks of his job as a possibility to tell stories about the posterior America and he makes it a point of honour to study different dialects and states. His ambition is to make different portraits of American lives, to visit private homes and especially to explode false myths about America. As a journalist he sees it as his duty to take a look at his stories from different angles. About that he shows us a clip from the demonstration against Obama in connection to the approaching election in America. Jesper interviews the demonstrators, but not all of them actually know what their arguments are, but they are many people assembled, and therefore they have a lot of influence. As he says, the Americans are born to be on TV, they have a lot on their mind, only hear themselves and love to get attention. Jesper tells us that the Americans´ motive power is “I will, and no one can control me!”

“It is a country without any quiet places or moments, everybody introduces you to their life for a moment, and you cannot get rid of it, it is fantastic!” Jesper says. “It is the whole spontaneity, the enthusiasm and the kindness”, he continues.  

But even though he is so impressed by America, he also sees the mistakes and imperfections. No one in America wants to make the unpopular decisions about reductions, and he thinks that America is going to have bigger distinctions between poor and rich people in the future. In that way America is a lot more behindhand in the development than for example Europe. As he sees it, the American spirit results in an ineffective country.

Jesper loves his job, and he travels around America with his two photographs Peter and Thomas. The three most important things to carry all the time, is mobile phones, the TV2-microfone-“hat” and makeup. It is absolutely impossible to make plans ahead, and he must be available at any time. Jesper reveals some of the reporter-methods; for example that every time he is reporting live from The White House, he is sitting in his own room in front of a TV screen with a non-moving picture of The White House.

Even though Jesper loves his job, he could not imagine himself living in America for the rest of his life. Actually he has been more impressed by Denmark and its society after moving to America. The listeners are glad to hear that, and leave the room with a smile.  

-Isabella     

”Come on USA!”

Presentation with Jesper Steinmetz, in Middelfart 7th of may.

Jesper Steinmetz is a man in his best age – 45 years old. He is fresh and seems happy to be here. Jesper Steinmetz is a TV reporter, stationed in the USA. His contract will last for four years, but he wants to stay longer in his favorite country, though he does not wish to stay permanently. Jesper has been living in the USA for two years now, and he has already experienced a great deal. He doesn’t mention a marriage, so therefore we must believe he is a single man living for travelling experiences. Jesper’s family lives in Denmark, he explains how he sometimes feel divided and split between the two countries. It can be hard to prioritize family over work. Jesper tells about an episode earlier in his life, where he was attending a birthday party with his family in Denmark, suddenly he is informed that 33 mineworkers have accidentally been trapped while working in a mine. It is Jesper’s job to always be ready to report for TV, so therefore he had to make an important decision – to stay with his family and enjoy the rest of the birthday party in Denmark, or let his family down and complete his work for the Danish TV in USA. In this instance he chose to stay with his family in Denmark, because he was convinced that the mineworkers wouldn’t be saved that fast. He flew back to the USA later the same evening, just in time to see the mineworkers’ rescue and do the report for Danish television. Later on, when he looks back at his decision, he admits it seemed quite cynical. But he felt that he sometimes has to trust his instincts and prioritize his family and loved ones higher than everything else.

Anne Sofie.

Come On Jesper Steinmetz
Lecture with Jesper Steinmetz in Middelfart  7.may 2012

He has a voice that makes you want to hear more - you can tell from the way he acts that he is used to be on the camera. Which he is - especially when he shows the three things he never travels without: two phones; a Danish and an American, a microphone head with TV2 on so he can report to TV2 everywhere, all the time, and some makeup, also so he always is ready to go on television.  Because he goes on television often to report everything that happens in USA. Not only to report the big story, but as he says also to report the small story. He chooses the story, just as he has chosen that he wants to go to all states before his four years long period ends, which he is half through now. He shows a clip he has made to tell one of the small stories, a story he heard about because his secretary had read about it in a family magazine, about a woman who is teaching at a school where the children came hungry to school and stole ketchup to make soup of when they came home. So she decided that no child should ever come hungry to school, and she changed the school so it not only is a school but also a “helping central.”  Where people can donate clothes to the people who needs it, and the children and their families who doesn’t have money enough can get food. As he says himself; he doesn’t like the thing about saying that he has made a difference, but in some way have the thing that he reported the story to Denmark made a difference. Because people in Denmark contacted the women and wanted to donate money.

Jesper likes to report from USA and he likes to interview the American people because they are all good at television and they all likes to be at television, what he tells in a funny way so you can’t avoid laughing.

Almost everyone in there laughed at least one time I am sure, because he told many stories with a funny angle. The things he didn’t told with a funny angle he told with so much enthusiasm so if anyone had any doubt he deleted it right away, this man likes his job. He wants to be where it happens, and he wants to tell the big story. In the start he wanted to be a dentist, but his parents though it was a terrible idea. So he wanted to write about films, but an article at page 16 wasn’t enough for Jesper Steinmetz, he wanted to write the big stories. So he does know, in the big country. Where he wants to stay a few more years but never to live permanent, while he would miss the esthetic Danish sense.   

-          Christina.

Jan Steinmetz

Yesterday Jan Steinmetz visited Middelfart, a small town on Fyn, where he gave a lecture about the American – Canadian friends. He is a Danish correspondent that works for the Danish TV-station called TV2. He said that he loves his job and really wants to renew his contract once the current one expires. One of the reasons he loves his job so much is the social feeling. He told us that he almost 24/7 is followed be his photographers and that he shares not only victories but also sorrows with them.

  His job is also very unpredictable. A few days before he was about to start work he was on a vacation in Cape Town when his boss suddenly calls and asks how long it will take him to fly to Washington because the day after Obama was going to publish the healthcare reform. Jan was a bit confused, but it turns out the correspondent before him had to fly home to Denmark. So Jan jumped on the first and best plane to the US. Because as Jan said yesterday: it wouldn’t look good if DR had a news reporter analyzing the reform half an hour before TV2-news especially if TV2 didn’t have a reporter at all.

  When they realized Jan would never make it to Washington in time, they decided to record the transmission on a ruff in New York.  

  And when 33 mineworkers was about to be pulled up from the whole they had been trapped in for the last two months, Jan had to go to a 50 year birthday. He called his boss, but like all most all boss’ he said he didn’t care, as long as he stud in front of the mine when they where recued. So Jan decided to gamble… He went to Denmark Saturday morning to go to this birthday and took a plane the next morning. When he arrived to Chile, there were over 2000 journalists. But he was there when they started to rescue the mineworkers. He said it was amazing to be in the center of something so big and to know the whole world was watching while they all were sharing the same thought. And I think it is amazing how much he is willing to do for his job.

  This is just a few of the fascinating things Jan has experienced in his two years in America.  But when you ask him: what is your mission? He says that he wants to show the world the small cities that might not share the same opinions as the big cities. He says that America is only represented by the big cities because they are the one with the ‘’right’’ opinions.

  Jan gave us a new understanding about the situation in the US. And he did it in a very exciting way where most people would have lost us. Politic can be a very boring topic to talk about, especially if it is politic from another country. But Jan showed us clips from the news where Americans in the small cities think that Obama is a shity president. He told us how the republicans are willing to do anything so Obama can’t make any progress, just so they have a chance of winning the next election. How can a country with such big power be so selfish, just to get what they want? That is really something to think about. 

- Camilla Hendriksen 2.d 

Hej 2d

Jeg håber, I har været vidner til et spændende foredrag, og glæder mig til at læse her, hvad I har fået ud af det!
Have fun :-)

Hanne

We're not Jews

a)

The central themes in “We’re Not Jews” are immigration and biracial families.

“We’re Not Jews” is a British short story written by Hanif Kureishi. It first appeared in the London Review of Books. In this essay I’m going to analyse the story.

The main focus in the analysis will be on Azhar’s mother, his father, and the situation Azhar is put in. I will describe the Billy’s, the setting and the themes of the story. Finally, I will comment on the ending, as well as the title “We’re Not Jews”.

- Naomi