Gerrymandering

I’m resting up after a terrific holiday stomach flu.  Luckily some people are still working - here’s Nate Silver’s stab at mapping the new congress.   I love maps that are built from criteria other than strict geography.  Further proof that maps, and what they capture can be ever-fluid and slippery.  Just like our gerrymanders. 

Our production announcement hit the trades today:

Hollywood Reporter

IndieWire 
 
Variety

And, incidentally, we are not in Tulsa, as planned.  We bagged the trip at the gate as one of our main interview subjects in Oklahoma had a family emergency, one of our main interviews in Iowa was nominated to be Secretary of Agriculture, and weather delayed our flight to the point that we would have missed our connection.  We’re regrouping now, and are planning a monster trip for the New Year. 

I’m also working on a little trailer-y thing for the film with our interview material and will hopefully be putting short clips up here shortly. 
 

Team Gerrymandering heads to Oklahoma and Iowa next week. 

Two in one day!  This article at Scholars and Rogues discusses the likely changes in apportionment after the next census, who currently controls which state legislatures, etc.  I smell a cool graphic…

When I scan through my daily dose of national redistricting news I’m always looking for two things: (a) interesting stories or characters, and, (b) anything that might become good visual material for the film.  I found this nugget today in an article from the Minnesota Daily discussing the likelihood that Minnesota will lose a congressional seat after the next reapportionment:

Larry Jacobs , director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the Humphrey Institute, said it’s up to the Legislature to determine which seat would be lost.

“Think of this as a game of musical chairs,” he said. “One of the chairs is about to go away. Who is going to be left standing?”