Bay Area-based journalist Carrie Lozano is a documentary filmmaker, an expert on collaborative reporting, and a project director for the Investigative Reporting Program at UC Berkeley. Before participating in a panel on the state of watchdog media today, she confessed in the Zócalo green room to a despised childhood nickname (“Care Bear”), a recurring dream she used to have (of a spiral staircase), and the latest purchase that gave her buyer’s remorse (a Spiderman web).
What weapon would you choose in a zombie apocalypse?
My son would love that question! I’m a pacifist; it would have to be something like spray foam. Maybe I could get them in the eyes or something?
How would you describe yourself in five words or less?
Practical, friendly, curious, obsessive, and fun.
What’s the best thing about making films in San Francisco?
The community—100 percent the community. It’s very supportive. Filmmakers there share a lot of information and knowledge—really just support. It’s a very open community.
What year, past or future, would you time-travel to if you could?
The height of the civil rights movement, or maybe 1967 to see the Summer of Love or something. I’d definitely go back—back seems better than forward.
Did you have any nicknames as a kid?
Yes. I absolutely hate it: Care Bear. I cannot stand it.
What’s the last purchase that gave you buyer’s remorse?
A Spiderman web that I bought for my son at Target.
What’s your biggest pet peeve?
Disorganization.
Do you have any recurring dreams or nightmares?
I don’t anymore, but I did as a kid. I had a dream about a spiral staircase that I just couldn’t get up. I would be climbing, tripping, falling. I had that all the time as a kid. It was terrifying.
What’s your favorite movie snack?
Licorice. [Red Vines?] Yeah, Red Vines.
What was the most important year in your life?
It’s hard not to say the year that my first son was born, 2002. It was also an interesting year, we were finishing [the documentary] Weather Underground. It was right after 9/11. You felt the world changing at that moment—it was a remarkable year for me.