Between Stops

Buses get you from point A to point B. In theory, it is about getting you from one place to another. But what about what happens in between?

Between stops was filmed in intent to capture the fleeting moments between stops.

The piece was orginially performed as part of a collabortive class performance. Resident artists Alec Soth and Brad Zellar led the class, Truth, Lies and Memory: The Photograph as a Story where we examined storytelling methods through visual and written communciation. During the performance, the video played in the background while I read aloud quotations from moments riding the bus in Madison.

I talked to different people randomly each time I got on the bus, asking them questions like, "Do you enjoy riding the bus?", "Why do you ride the bus?", "Tell me about yourself", etc. Here are some of their responses:

"No one has ever talked to me on the bus before." 

"I thought you were kind of weird when you came up to me. But I guess I’m kind of weird for thinking that. You’re just trying to make conversation and here I am afraid of it." 

"Your mind wanders. At least mine does. Buses don’t just physically take you places. Some of my best thinking happens on the bus." 

"You learn one thing from riding the bus at night: people are fucking crazy." 

"I met the love of my life on the bus. But she never knew I existed. Still doesn’t."

"One night I rode the bus as far as it would go. It was one of those days, you know? We stopped at the end of the line and I just sat there. The driver asked where my final destination was. I didn’t have one. I was evicted from my house that day."

"I’m not really going anywhere. I think about that."