Letter from the Editor
Welcome to YMR’s New Mexico Volume 3: Issue 5, where practitioners in New Mexico (specifically in Albuquerque and Santa Fe) investigate youth media practice and share their insights to the field. With support from Open Society Institute, these practitioners and their colleagues met on August 19 at the New Mexico Forum for Youth in Community to discuss the most pressing challenges of their work.
Following this meeting, contributors wrote and revised drafts that were reviewed by a local peer, a member of YMR’s national peer review board, and AED/YMR staff, as a means to engage a youth media rich and yet underrepresented region to the field.
In this issue, you will find that New Mexico has a complex landscape, where practitioners work among different ethnic groups, including immigrant, indigenous, rural and queer youth; multiple different languages; and, a large geographical reach. Most of the contributors in this issue share a media justice approach to their work, and make use of strategic partnerships, successful mediums (such as radio), and media literacy. Included in this cohort is a principal of a public, media and arts education-specific charter school.
A warm thanks to all twelve contributors for their dedication and hard work:
• Deborah Boldt (REEL FATHERS)
• John Braman & Judy Goldberg (Youth Media Project)
• Jessica Collins & Andrea Quijada (New Mexico Media Literacy Project)
• Roberta Rael (KUNM)
• Steve Ranieri (Quote…Unquote)
• Candelario Vasquez (New Mexico Media Literacy Project)
• Glenna Voigt (Media Arts Collaboative Charter School)
• Kamari Uni (KUNM) * Vodcast (forthcoming)
• Amber Chacon (Quote…Unquote) * Vodcast (forthcoming)
A special thanks to Kelly Nuxoll, YMR’s writing coach for her stellar coaching and edits as well as to YMR’s Peer Review board for giving helpful feedback to each writer.
Many thanks to Judy Goldberg, YMR’s peer review board member, the executive director of Youth Media Project in Santa Fe, NM, who was instrumental in organizing and leading the cohort. She explains:
“Joni Mitchell coined the phrase, ‘you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone.’ I’d like to add, ‘you don’t know what you have till there’s a name to call it.’ This is how I felt when I learned about the Youth Media Reporter and became a peer reviewer.
Like many of you, I had been carving my own way into this field (not even calling it a field), forming relationships and contracts with people in schools, museums, radio stations and non-profits; believing in the potential and power of youth media producers, but never sticking my head up long enough to realize there were others doing this work.
Youth Media Reporter helps us rejoice in our commonalities and ponder our struggles; deepen our questions and affirm our actions. Our stories are vital for us to build a profession of credence and recognition.
Recently in New Mexico, practitioners have started to find one another. Though we face the obstacles of crazy schedules, distances and under-funded programs, we recognize the sharing of knowledge will only raise the level of our work. Youth voice, leadership development and having impact on policy-making are significant extensions of youth media productions, now receiving notoriety.
Sharing methodology, documenting our successes, naming our challenges and strategizing how we can support one another will ultimately unify our efforts and bring the best results for young people – whom we know benefit from this work. While educational systems are eroding, the time is ripe for youth media practices to move into the limelight.
Thank you, Youth Media Reporter, for charging our batteries.”
We welcome you to join the conversation for each of these articles using YMR’s “comment” feature. You can also send feedback or comments directly to idahl@aed.org. If you are interested in posting a pod or vodcast response, please contact YMR’s media crew or email idahl@aed.org.
To reserve your copy of YMR’s annual print journal (Volume 3), you can subsrcibe and purchase via credit card or by check.
Warmly,
Ingrid Hu Dahl, Editor, YMR
Youth Media Reporter is managed by the Academy for Educational Development
