YM Blog-a-thon: Post-College Anxieties
(Editor's note: Youth Outlook and WireTap are kicking off the third Youth Media Blog-a-thon. This month's topic is money. Check back frequently for updates and feel free to join the discussion.)
Few things annoy me more than unsolicited advice.
So it's not surprising that during my senior year of college, I turned a deaf ear to anyone who tried to give their two cents about life post-college. I already knew the horror stories. Me? I was going to be fine. The universe would align itself, I'd fine myself a nice job that didn't assault my soul, great apartment, and my friends and I would visit each other every other month.
Things didn't exactly turn out that way.
While I'm probably the last person who needs to give advice, I'm going to offer my ill-advised, unprofessional opinion based on my not-so-cute encounters with brokeassedness over the past year.
First, a little background:
Recently, a friend and I were talking about how unexpectedly hard knock this post-college existence has been. To put it lightly: it's rough. And not just for spacey cats like myself who majored in impractical things like English. My friend got her degree in Biology, which meant she really studied -- like numbers and shit. Interview after interview, we're learning the truth behind the age-old adage, 'It's not what you know, but whom you know.' Sadly, it rings true both in the corporate and non-profit world's which, for better or worse, are both pretty exclusive. When you don't know the right people, it sucks.
We're not adverse to work in any way. We both had steady full- and part-time jobs while we went to school. But having a degree can sometimes give you a sense of entitlement that's flat out unwarranted.
[Note: These tips come from a very particular kind of college experience. I went to a small liberal arts college in the middle of the Southern California desert. It was like being at Camp -- with a few token people of color thrown in the mix to grace the front of the school catalogue.]
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Biggie and Puff might have popularized the refrain "Mo' Money, Mo' Problems," but nowadays, millions of Americans find the exact opposite to be true. With skyrocketing gas prices, thousands laid off at jobs, a housing crisis, cuts to school budgets and a costly war, words like "recession" are on the minds of millions. And with no lucrative record deal or Hollywood biopic film, no one's really singing anymore.
For our third virtual event, WireTap and Youth Outlook want to know your story. Our monthly Youth Media Blog-a-thon is set to run from April 23rd to April 30th and the topic is: Money.
Some questions you might want to address in your entry:
• What do you and people you know do to make money, i.e., sell things on eBay, braid hair, babysit, DJ, sell drugs, etc.?
• Do you feel the effects of the national “recession” in your community? What does it look like? What has changed? How are people dealing with it?
• What are your strategies to save money during hard time? What does your family do to cut corners? How do you save money?
• California is cutting $5 billion from the school budget next year, what will this mean for your education system? How does the lack of money affect your school?
• The price of gas is $4 a gallon in some states, how does this affect your life?
• The “recession” is due to the sub-prime mortgage disaster which caused many people to lose their homes, do you know anyone this happened to? Tell us about that.
• Do you know how to go out and have a good time without spending a dime? Write a post advising others how to have fun on the cheap in your city or town.
Past participants include:
Boston Progress Radio (http://www.bprlive.com)
iLL-Literacy (http://www.ill-literacy.com)
The Playground (http://www.jaysplayground.com)
The Cheddar Box(http://www.thecheddarbox.wordpress.com)
Oh Dang! Magazine (http://www.ohdangmag.com)
Youth Radio (http://www.youthradioflows.com)
Girls for Change (http://www.girlsforchange.org)
Edin08 (http://www.edin08.org)
Respect RX (http://www.respectrx.com)
Vanessa Van Petten (http://vanessavanpetten.com)
Kameelah Rasheed (http://kameelahwrites.blogspot.com)
Vanessa Huang (http://graniterainbow.wordpress.com)
Sex Etc. (http://www.sexetc.org)
We want to hear from you! Read, comment and participate! For more information, contact me at Jamilah@wiretapmag.org
Recently Matt Nelson, a frequent contributor to WireTap and spokesperson for the Milwaukee Police Accountability Coalition, was stopped and harassed by an officer from the Milwaukee Police Department. In a written description of the confrontation, Nelson explains:
"On the evening of Monday March 10, 2008 at 11:40pm I was stopped by two MPD officers while standing on a public sidewalk outside of my business on 2008 N. Farwell Avenue. Officer Ferrell (District 1) approached me aggressively and demanded that I give him my social security number or he would have me arrested."
While Nelson pursues legal action against the department and the officers' blatant abuse of power, his situation sheds light on important issues related to the civil liberties we often take for granted. The issue is particularly relevant given the hostile climate of today's immigration debates. Whether you're documented or undocumented, it's crucial to counter the fear and intimidation tactics used by many over zealous folks in power with knowledge.
The National Lawyers Guild has a very detailed Know Your Rights manual, available in seven different languages including Spanish, Farsi, Punjabi and Arabic.
For more information, visit their website:
http://nlg.org/resources/kyr.php
Key points include:
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YM Blog-a-thon Update: Violence
Here's a quick update on the Youth Media blog-a-thon focusing on violence. This is the second of our monthly Youth Media Blog-a-thons organized by YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia and WireTap in which youth bloggers connect around issues that affect our lives. Below, you'll find young folks from across the country address everything from the wars abroad, violence on our streets, feminism, every-ism, depression and more. Read, comment and spread the word. There's also still time to participate! Holler to find out how.
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YM Blog-a-thon: Our Silent Majority
(Editor's note: Youth Outlook and WireTap are kicking off the second Youth Media Blog-a-thon. This month's topic is violence. Check back frequently for updates and feel free to join the discussion.)
I'm in an awkward position. On the one hand, I'm a member of the media. What that really means, I still don't know. So far I've gathered that it has something to do with writing and making decisions about what other people read. Take this here, blog-a-thon, for instance. I've been harassing encouraging people for almost two weeks to tell their stories of how violence impacts their lives and communities.
Midway through sending out a mass text message, I started to have second thoughts. It's not easy to get people to write about anything, much less something as personal as violence. And then I began to reconsider what I would write about. I had made the decision long ago to write about topics from a distance, especially those that were closest to me. It was a decision based more on personal protection than journalistic objectivity, and it's always easier to write about something you're removed from. I was going to google some statistics, quote some song lyrics, maybe make a reference or two to The Wire, and then write about it all in some vague, circular way, make sure all my links were on point, post, and then peace out.
But that would make me a hypocrite. After all, I can't ask anyone to do something I’m not willing to do myself.
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What Do You Think About Youth and Violence?
It’s time for Round 2 of our monthly Youth Media Blog-a-thon.
Beginning on Wednesday, March 19th we’ll be kicking off another round of blogging. This month’s topic is violence -- from violence on our streets to the war on Iraq. Once again, we’re asking for participants.
Here’s a little blurb from our official press release:
San Francisco, CA - YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia and WireTap will host the second round of the Youth Media Blog-a-thon from Wednesday to Wednesday, March 19-26, 2008. Youth bloggers (between the ages of 15-25) – along with any bloggers dedicated to writing about youth issues and youth media – will address the topic of violence and its effects on youth and our communities.
The monthly blog-a-thons will connect the youth media community around issues that affect their lives, asking for their thoughts on hard-hitting topics. The goal of these monthly events is to foster more dialogue between youth media, which will lead to their connectivity as media makers and as activists.
We’re coming off of a tremendously successful first round of blogging where over 15 young folks debated important issues surrounding the presidential election.
If you are interested in participating, contact me at Jamilah AT wiretapmag DOT org for more information on how to participate.
Here's an a list on a few of this month's participants:
- Oh Dang! (http://www.ohdangmag.com)
- Khmer Girls in Action (http://www.kgalb.org)
- Boston Progress Radio (http://www.bprlive.com)
- Vanessa Huang (http://graniterainbow.wordpress.com")
- Kameelah Rasheed (http://kameelahwrites.blogspot.com/)
- The Playground (formally known as Grits & Eggs: http://jaysplayground.blogspot.com)
A little update on the first Youth Media Blog-a-Thon being sponsored by Youth Outlook and WireTap. So far, it's been a tremendous success! A big shout out to all the participants and especially to the readers. We've had a lot lively online discussions about issues that aren't really being tackled in mainstream media -- and it's not over! We're asking everyone to participate in some way, from posting a blog, comment, or passing the message along to friends. The reason is simple: our voices need to be heard.
Below is a quick rundown of some of important discussions that are on the table -- or screen, however you want to look at it:
Confusing Voting Process
Eming Piansay, from Youth Outlook asked a good question: "Why is the process of voting almost as complicated as the election itself?" Does our delegate system negate the power of the popular vote?
The Cheddar Box had a few suggestions, such as allowing same day registration:
Why have all these confusing dates and deadlines for registering? Yes, it would mean more work for people working at the polling sites as they would have to process paper work and all that. But that’s a small price to pay for strengthening democracy. All you ever hear about is how terrible our voter turnout rates are and how apathetic and lazy the young people are. People stay away from the polls because the process is so damn confusing. Same day registration would go along way towards increasing voter turnout and making it easier for people to exercise their political will.
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YM Blog-A-Thon: The "Postreality" Appeal
(Editor's note: Youth Outlook and WireTap are kicking off the first-ever Youth Media Blog-a-thon. This month's topic is the 2008 presidential election. Check back frequently for updates and other voices.)
"[Obama] doesn't just talk about change; he looks like change. His persona and his platform are virtually indistinguishable. Obama, like Tiger Woods and Angelina Jolie, has one of those faces that seem beamed from a postracial future, when everyone will have a permanent, noncarcinogenic tan." -- February 11th issue of Time Magazine.
It's been four, maybe eight years since thousands of voters went to the polls and voted for George Bush. Their reasons were simple. It had very little to do with his domestic policy -- just ask thousands of bankrupted white farmers in rural towns throughout the Midwest. It had even less to do with his foreign policy -- just ask the families of dead, AWOL, medically neglected and frustrated soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan. The real reason: his personality.
Bush was likable. He was the type of dude you could go grab a beer with after work. Someone you could sit with and watch Cowboy quarterback Tony Romo stumble in the playoffs. Al Gore was too tired, and John Kerry walked with a stick up his ass. Bush, on the other hand, was the mythical "everyman" who appealed to the sensibilities of millions of folks looking for a best friend.
Now, they're all probably sitting on the steps of their recently foreclosed homes, scratching their heads while they read the classified section of their recently bought-out town paper. Oops.
Barack Obama is definitely not George Herbert Walker Bush, but I'm afraid that he's slowly, methodically and dangerously trying to paint himself in much the same way: the mythical "everyman" who you can kick it with and watch re-runs of Dave Chappelle. But he's doing it by avoiding the very subject that's undeniably at the center of his campaign: race. And while he preaches about "hope" and "change" like they're the chorus of his favorite song, all the while holding onto his "it's not about race" platform," conservatives guarding the gates of white privilege are sitting back, pleased that important discussions about race seem to be fading from the American consciousness.
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Join the Youth Media Blog-a-thon!
On Wednesday, February 20th, WireTap and Youth Outlook will be teaming up to host the first Youth Media Blog-a-thon! Young bloggers from around the nation will come together to discuss the hot topic of the day: Election 2008. This will be the first in what we hope to make a monthly event of youth sharing ideas and building stronger alliances.
What's a Youth Media Blog-a-thon?
Stated pretty loosely, a blog-a-thon is an online event where bloggers discuss and react to a chosen topic. In our case, young bloggers will be giving their opinions and critiques of this year's presidential election. Again, we're planning to make this a monthly event, so be on the look out for future topics.
Why?
It's simple: We think it's crucial to build an alliance of young, progressive voices who not only put forth solid ideas, but who also want to share those ideas and build together.
Who's Involved?
We've rounded up a solid group of young artists, organizers, poets, activists, bloggers and everyday folks to join in. So far, we've confirmed young voices from:
YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia (http://www.youthoutlook.org)
WireTap Mag (http://www.wiretapmag.org)
Grits and Eggs (http://jaysplayground.blogspot.com/)
Youth Radio (http://youthradioflows.wordpress.com)
Ill-literacy (http://www.ill-literacy.com/blog/)
The Cheddar Box (http://thecheddarbox.wordpress.com/)
Youth Ministry Exchange (http://www.ymexchange.com)
Vanessa Van Petten (http://vanessavanpetten.com/)
OH DANG! (http://www.ohdangmag.com)
Boston Progress Radio (http://www.bprlive.org)
Now It's Your Turn!
We're always looking for fresh voices. You don't have to be a professional to have your ideas heard -- or read. If you have a personal blog or if you work as part of an organization, we want want to hear from you. To participate, please contact me at jamilah AT wireapmag DOT org or Neela, from Youth Outlook, at nbanerjee AT newamericamedia DOT org.
So I picked up my morning paper this week and saw two prominent stories on the state of Black America according to white people. The first was the usual coverage of Barack Obama, in anticipation of Super Tuesday.
The second, just below the fold, was an utterly disturbing story on a low-income Black community in San Francisco. Obviously written from an ignorant ethnographers point of view, the story was filled with references to cheeto diets and chronic laziness, with the occasional vague reference to 'peripheral' causes like institutional racism and gentrification.
What bothered me most was the writer's claim that "most" of San Francisco never sees this neighborhood unless they're playing golf at the nearby golf course or if they took the wrong exist off the nearby freeway. Based on that account, the archetypal San Francisco resident is probably young, wealthy, white and works for Google. Ugh.
I guess I shouldn't be surprised, since people of color have been the ethnographic playground for white folks since the days of Sara Baartman. But stories like this still make me cringe, especially in places that pride themselves on being liberal utopias. Perhaps because of all of this, I thoroughly enjoy things that attempt to dissect the interests of white people privilege.
Enter: Stuff white people like, a brilliant blog that takes a witty approach to the scientific study of white people. It has an ongoing list of things that are staples of white American culture, things that include: Top 10 hip hop songs white people love, Whole Foods and Grocery Co-ops, Vintage and Religions their parents don't belong to.
As a true ode to the irony of white privilege, my white friends are obsessed with it. There were, of course, a few angry folks who were all "what if I made a blog that listed all the stuff that Black people like?!" Could it be that in this day and age people of color could still be painted as mere caricatures? Then I thought to myself, that would never, ever, ever, ever, ever, ever happen.
Super Tuesday: A Voter's Guide For Dummies, Like Me
I have a confession to make: I'm clueless when it comes to voting. Sure, I care about the issues and can see through most of the deceptive attack ad's on TV, but when it comes to the actual act of casting my ballot, I kind of shrug my shoulders and tell myself that I'll get around to it. And by "it" I mean figuring out what county I'm registered to vote in and what the particulars are of the measures that affect my city. Now, in a true procrastinator's fashion, I'm trying to do some last minute homework on how to make my vote count.
And I may not be the only one.
Super Tuesday is right around the corner, and while the Presidential Election is the hot ticket on the national agenda, important local ballot measures might be flying under the radar. Will your local community college raise fees next fall? Do you want more money to be put into parks and recreation centers around your area? Should term limits be extended for your state representatives? This is your chance to decide. In all, 24 states will be holding elections next Tuesday. Even if you haven't done your homework, you're in luck, because below is a list of helpful voter guides:
What are the issues on your local ballot?
The League of Young Voters has a comprehensive state-by-state list of voter guides at TheBallot.org.
Easy Voter has a simple mission: to make elections make sense. Their voter guides (pdf) are available in eight languages including English, Spanish, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese and Tagalog.
Last Minute Basics
Register to Vote:
http://www.RocktheVote.com
Not sure, if you are registered, or in which county you registered?
This site will tell you:
https://votepoke.org/
Caucus and Primary Voter registration deadlines:
http://www.rockthevote.com/2008-presidential-primary-caucus-calendar.php#registrationdeadlines
Still not sure how caucuses and primaries work?
Check out "WireTap's Voting Cheat Sheet" by Ally Klimkoski.
Can't decide which Presidential candidate represents you the best?
Take this fun quiz at GlassBooth.org to get more pointers.
GlassBooth.org
Free Music: Fan Dream or Industry Nightmare?
Free albums are, like, the "in thing" now. It seems like artists of all shapes, genres and record sales are succumbing -- or embracing -- the digital evolution of music and the new ways that internet savvy listeners interact with albums. The timing couldn't be any better for me -- a perpetually broke music head. I spent my college years being late to classes waiting for my barely legal music files to download. After being on the receiving end of dozens of "food-is-more-important-than-music" lectures, I had to take a long, hard look at how much time, money and effort I put into my music collection.
Now it seems like the universe -- and the industry -- are on my side. One of the more glaring examples is Radiohead's latest release In Rainbows, which was available to audiences at a name-your-rate price (read:free) for the first few months after it was released. The album earned widespread acclaim after its initial release on the internet. On average, 38% of people around the globe paid for the album, with people in the U.S paying about $6. The downloads didn't seem to hurt the band too much when, after puling the freebies off internet and putting the CD's in stores, the release ranked as the top selling album in the country. There are other examples, such as so-called underground heavyweight Saul Williams' The Rise and Liberation of Niggy Tardust, Atmosphere's Strictly Leakage and Dahlak's Double Consciousness*. What's behind this sudden recognition of the power of the internet? Is the digital evolution actually winning?
I sat down with Tunji, half of the hip hop duo Inverse, to talk about the matter. The group is based in Los Angeles and recently released their debut album So Far: The Collection for free on New Year's day.
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"Athletes in society have an elevated status, they entertain, they inspire, and perhaps, most important, they serve as role models," U.S. District Judge Kenneth Karas, sentencing Marion Jones to six months in prison.
"Cash rules everything around me." - Wu-Tang Clan
Ten years ago the story went something like this: I was a little 12-year-old standing in a circle of friends waiting for the bell to ring at my middle school. My appointed bully, let's call her Lipgloss, struts over from her end of the yard smelling like all sorts of processed strawberry and kiwi body sprays. Lipgloss is all "N'sync this..." and "Leonardo DiCaprio that" before she gives me a full length body mug and goes, "you know Jamilah, if you didn't wear Nike's and play basketball, you'd be such a nerd."
And she was right. I was all skin and bones with bad acne, a slight obsession with the Civil War and a mean jumper. But it was 1998 and women in sports were, quite literally, the business. There were two professional women's basketball leagues, the WNBA and the now-defunct ABL, not to mention a host of national women's sports idols adorning the pages of the nation's top sports magazines: Jamila Wideman, Kate Starbird, Lisa Leslie, Mia Hamm, just to name a few. In North Carolina, a young guard on the UNC women's basketball team was putting the finishing touches on her legacy after helping the team win a national championship and making a name for herself as a star dual athlete in both track and basketball. After decades of organized resistance, women were finally reeking the benefits of Title IX, stampeding doors into sports arenas and breaking glass ceilings to reach the next level. Little girls like myself and millions of others paid close attention to our sheroes, emulating their cross overs and practicing well after dark to grow up and be just like them.
Now, the story has many of the same characters, but a very different script: the ABL is gone and most folks are surprised to know that the WNBA still exists. That basketball player in North Carolina, Marion Jones, who would go on to win Olympic gold in 2000 and become one the highest paid sports darlings of our era, admitted to using steroids, was stripped of her medals and was today sentenced by a federal judge to six months in prison for lying to federal investigators. The backlash against feminism is complete.
Jones' punishment by the federal government, the media and fans has by far been the harshest of any professional athlete linked to performance enhancing drugs. She's now the precedent for punishment in the sports witch-hunt, and while everyone asks the question of who, very few are asking why athletes chose to use the drugs in the first place, and why Jones' punishment has been so harsh in comparison to more high profile white male athletes accused of similar crimes.
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Fiascogate has been spreading around the hip hop blosphere like wildfire. Quick rundown: Lupe Fiasco, in a larger discussion about hip hop elitism, drops the bombshell that he didn't grow up and wasn't influenced by legendary crew A Tribe Called Quest. The purists are livid.
But I'd have to agree with Lupe on this one. There's an undeniable amount of elitism in hip hop, especially on the 'political/conscious' tip. If you weren't spinning records and bumpin' Eric B. and Rakim from the craddle, you're not hip hop. Or so the mantra goes. Davey D cuts in with his take:
Unlike some of Tribe fans who are upset, I can on many levels see and maybe even understand where Lupe Fiasco is coming from. For a music and culture which lays claim to bringing folks together from all walks of life we do have some over the top Hip Hop snobs who have made it their life's mission to narrowly define Hip Hop resulting in entire generations, regions and sub-genres under the the Hip Hop umbrella being excluded. These are the characters who will pompously run down this argument about some artists are Hip Hop while others are rap. They will assert that artists like 2Pac, David Banner or Ice Cube are not Hip Hop while Sage Francis, El-P and Zion I are. To me they are all part of the same family...
But a lot of it is rooted in in race and class struggles which sooner or later need to be addressed head on if Hip Hop is really going to move forward (emphasis mine).
We can at least thank Lupe for bringing this debate to the table -- again. What do you think?
Stalled Subways and Homesickness
I got stuck in another one of New York City's filthy subways again the other day. Almost made me miss the days of driving down 880 bumping The Best of Crystal Waters.
Now look, before folks start getting all defensive, let me just clarify a few things: I'm not trying to hate on New York City. There's beauty and depravity to be found everywhere. I'm just a kid from the Fillmore (not the 'Western Addition') who went off to college, caught a bad case of 'hood survivor's guilt, and has spent the better part of the past three years meandering the western hemisphere in search of a purpose. Afterall, academia, Saul Alinsky and Mary Kate Olsen taught me that vagaonding was constructive. Thousands of dollars of debt, lonely nights and stalled subway rides made me start to question that idea. I'm realizing that I don't need anyone's expert approval to write about the lessons my mother taught me. Plus, I'm just really homesick.
Anyway, stuck in a dark tunnel with my head halfway up some random dudes armpit, I realized that I've been actively trying not to like this city. I'm afraid that if I give into it, I'll be letting go of home, friends, youth. Lots of my friends are going through similar transitions. Must be that period of malaise that hits after you graduate college and realize you're not so smart afterall. I can't just turn to my best friend and make totally inappropriate Boondocks references. I have to really cook now, and I'm as domestically-challenged as they come. I stood stuptified in expensive Whole Foods the other day because I couldn't tell the difference between their eight different kinds of lettuce. The prices, combined with the food I've never heard of and can't pronounce, and that annoying automated check out line, guarentee that I'll never shop there again.
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Jamilah King is WireTap's associate editor. She is also a founder of Grits and Eggs collective blog.