April 18, 2008

Money Ain't a Thing?

Posted by Jamilah King at 10:23AM

• Comment Now
• Email
• Print
• Reprints
• Share

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