Interview with Ivan McMullen

Interview with Ivan McMullen, long-time (former) volunteer and current employee at CCTV
Ivan has worked with Channel 17/Town Meeting TV and CCTV in a variety of capacities and took a moment to share some of his thoughts with us.

How did you come to find Channel 17/Town Meeting TV?
I started out doing some volunteer work here and found that it was a nice place to work and they asked if I would stay on board and work here.  Mostly I heard about this place through a friend at the Williams house, I believe it was Deb Parizo.

When did you start and what did you do?
I think it was 2003 or 2004 when I first started working here.  I got started out with volunteer work.  I mostly worked on the camera.  Then an employment opportunity came about, taking care of equipment, taking care of archives, making sure the floors are vacuumed, making sure the archives are well preserved.  With us switching over to DVDs it is going to be an obsolete job because I would fast forward and rewind the VHS or cassette tapes as this helps keep the springs tight and removes dirt.

What have you learned while working for access TV?
Well, so far I have been learning stuff about running the booth and perfecting my camera technique.  It has also been interesting, I have learned about how to ask questions in an interview.  Learning how to set up the camera for taping a show.

How about the shows you record?
We did this interview down the road about the swine flu epidemic.  Tell me about that.  Pretty much we asked the politician some questions. Well I asked them the question "How are you going to guarantee that some kids aren't faking the flu so they can get out of school?"  They easily avoided that question.

Other shows?
There was another show where I was running camera about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome at the Burlington police department.  Thought that was interesting, that it is difficult to diagnose the disease or get people some health care for it.

How will you use what you have learned here in other parts of your life?
Well, I've been kind of learning about some things that are interesting.  I could use my camera work to make movies, help out with my hobbies in animation.  You could also learn an awful lot about politicians because you get to see them both in character and out of character.  You also get to learn some interesting things about politics that you didn't know in the first place.  You can learn about how the media or corporations tend to marginalize people or politicians when they speak out of character, like the case when Bernie Sanders voted for gun control, the Burlington Free Press marginalized him by putting him in a very small corner of the front page.  laughter.  you can kind of get a better feel for our politicians when they show up.  Whos kind of smarmy and whos kind of not. You also get to hear some funny ways on how they tend to avoid questions all together.

What do you do outside of working for access TV?
I do artwork.  I study animation and I take care of my neighbors' dogs and well, I watch movies, listen to books on tape and occasionally I do a little bit of volunteer work for the library when they need someone to run a camera for a show that is being produced there.

What is something you think people might be surprised to learn about you?
hum, well I don't know.  Maybe that I am looking for a girlfriend. and that I am often wondering what is the truth, Do women like guys who like sports or do women like guys who don't like sports?

Is there a questions you think we should ask?
Well, I don't know like, maybe is there a lack of news savvy in this country or whether there is a lack of scientific thinking being taught in our country.

so what's the answer?
yeah, I think that is borderline true.  I mean, we are not really a, I have seen some news on television and I see an awful lot of questions that aren't being asked. 
And scientifically? Well they don't ask the question, like if you believe that mercury or pesticides cause autism then why do you have a cases with identical twins where one of them is autistic and the other isn't and they both show the same amount of mercury and pesticides in their systems.

What does this tell you?
Well it tells me is that it is not really the case   There is an emerging field called epigenetics that is bringing up a lot of questions, even a lot of questions about the rising obesity problem in this country.  When for all that we know it can be things we are doing for good intentions.  Like maybe, vegetarianism can be causing it or eating disorders like anorexia or bulimia.  There was a lady who came here who brought up that probably generations ago when there was a famine that may have caused something epigenetically that caused something to happen years later down the road because scientists believe autism may be related, say your great great grandfather was dealing with a shortage of food or famine, it may cause an increase in the likelihood of his great great grandson having autism down the road. 

What is your favorite site on line to visit?
All kinds I guess, mostly I do a little research here and there mostly studying animation and things like that.  look at animation programs here and there, looka at how things were done in animation both old school and new school.

Favorite animator and recommended movie?
too may to say, but I like Osamu Tezuka, Ralph Bakshi and Hanna Barbera and Renee Lallow.  Favorite movie, that's a tough question, too many.

But if you had to chose one for showing to your animation class, say.
I believe I would show either Light Years or Heavy Metal or Ghost in The Shell.