Election Day not my cup of tea… party

True failure is the failure to try. Partial failure is trying without success. Nick Lilja failure is where I ended up last night. I was sans a story at 11 P.M.

The idea was simple. Be different. Everyone is going to have a live stand-up. Everyone is going to put together a package. Give the readers of dia-cny.com/electionday something different. A slideshow with some audio.

The idea seemed feasible. Even Michael Lederer and Jon Wiener were on board. But it failed.

That’s not to say I didn’t try. God knows I tried. At the Pioneer Homes Coffee House I was able to get great photos and good natural sound. But I was faced with a dilemma: To break the law or not to break the law. The law – according to the wonderful State of New York – says no interviews can be conducted inside an invisible 100-foot circle around the Polling Place.

So I could either interview people illegally or try to coax them to go outside the 100-foot invisible circle.

Turns out it didn’t matter. Most voters were skeptical of the camera. Or the microphone.

Or the three guys in ties.

I don’t blame them.

So, I thought, perhaps I would have better luck at the next location. Google Maps informed us we were headed to downtown Syracuse. Of course people would want to talk there. Worse case scenario I could roam the streets surrounding the Polling Place.

So, I put my project on hold and helped Mike and Jon W. capture good B-roll. I framed their stand-ups and recorded them with pointers on presentation.

We packed up and headed over to the next assigned Polling Place, One Franklin Square. We quickly found out it wasn’t in downtown Syracuse. One Franklin Square wasn’t an address, it was a Sentence.

The building, all brick, was a retirement community. Where walkers weren’t pedestrians and buggies weren’t shopping carts.

We met a cheerful an even more skeptical woman inside, Mrs. Golden. Don’t let her name fool you.

The idea that we wanted to waltz in there with a microphone or a camera – or God forbid a smile – came with even more suspicion and apprehension.

This is when it helps to have a southern gentleman like Jon Wiener. Michael was the smartest of the three of us. He stayed outside.

Jon, though, persuaded her to allow us to shoot B-roll. I grabbed a camera.

But there were a handful of criterion. First, I was not allowed to move without making eye contact with her first. Second, she would ask what I was shooting every time I did move. Third, she would be allowed to look over my shoulder at all times. Fourth, and most importantly, she wanted my name and where I was from in case I used this footage inappropriately.

I wrote: Nick Lilja, Syracuse University.

She responded: “So, Nick Lil-juh, I can just call up Syracuse and they will know who you are?”

She wasn’t joking. She asked for my cell phone number.

I asked if after the shooting was done if I could grab some still shots and natural sound for a different, but related piece.

“No, that’s all. You’re done.”

As instructed by Professor Grimes, I said: “That’s okay, thank you so much for your time.”

No natural sound, no still shots.

And no interviews, to boot.

Turns out the only person interested in talking to “NCC News” was already halfway to Liverpool by now. Everyone else said no thank you. Or just no. One woman even put her head down and her hand up as she walked away. Couldn’t even express herself monosyllabically.

Monosyllabic is how I was feeling by the end of the day. Only I was thinking of words that started with an F or an S.

In truth, I did learn something today: Thinking differently on Election day might not be the best idea. Going against the grain isn’t always the best plan of action.