The
9th annual Allied Media Conference ended almost two months
ago (June 22-24, 2007) and I’m still processing what happened intellectually,
but more important by sensing a new energy and vitality within myself.
The
conference itself (www.alliedmediaconference.org) was amazing. More than
150 presenters, over 500 participants gathered at
Participation in the conference really expanded my definition of what makes up the media. Web logs (Blogging), arts, filmmaking, magazines (both print and electronic), record labels, and publishing houses. A dark cloud hung over the conference as the decline in independent print media was a topic that came up. Two important radical publications: Punk Planet, which had been in print for 13 years, and Clamor, in print for half that time, closed their doors in the last year. In the spirit of the conference, organizers and publishers of these magazines were in attendance and were smack in the middle of discussions and workshops sharing their lessons learned on factors such as distribution, fundraising, and marketing.
The AMC was not just a criticism of corporate-owned or mainstream media. In fact that was a very, very small part of my conference experience. It was full of skill-sharing, information sharing, resource-sharing on a diverse range of topics including:
How can women of color use blogging to build communities and support grassroots organizing? How can we inspire youth coming from marginalized and oppressed communities, unleash their potentials and energy, help them become bold spokespeople for their own futures via media instruction? How can we use documentary to highlight pressing community issues that are difficult to discuss in person or in public settings? How can the widespread influence of hiphop be unleashed as a communal economic force to benefit the communities that birth the art form?
The first day was a symposium on popular education. UM professor Scott Kurashige stressed that popular education builds on the knowledge that people already had “Likewise,” writes Elijah Barrett-Aviles from New Haven in Wire Tap magazine “an effective news article should be in a language, tone, and register that its target audience will understand, and will not feel excluded by.”
As part of the local organizing
committee, I made sure that even long time conference goers would understand
from the onset the tremendous strength and resourcefulness of
a group in Detroit captures rain water to water their organic garden
that is planted on abandoned lots and provides fresh produce for people without
access to grocery stores…there is a 52% drop out rate in Detroit–that means
there’s 52% of the youth population that haven’t been contaminated. If we look
at what we don’t have and regard it as a potential resource–the city of
As
poet-activist Walter Lacey put it in a workshop on the future of media
in
Personal Lessons Learned
Grassroots spirit- I left the conference with more energy to do what needs to be done. Being in that atmosphere of creative people gave me a greater appreciation of the “self-educated” and how to overcome obstacles in problem solving. I hope to carry this attitude in my daily life to see my way through hurdles, whether alone or in community.
Teamwork- I did my part as part of the local organizing committee.
I was excited to be a part of the success of this organized project. As a
poet, I seek the spotlight. After the AMC I was consciously aware of my
role as a participant among many. A few people heard of the conference
because of my efforts. I played a role in creating the Opening
Ceremony by helping to find speakers and artists. These efforts were part
of a much greater effort put on by the
Healing and activism- I watched a video of “A Century of Genocide in the
In the 1930’s 75% of
Native children were in Boarding Schools in the
Workshop facilitator
The facilitator of “Sculpting Trauma into
narratives” quotes bell hooks: “In dominator cultures most families are
not safe places. Dysfunction, intimate terrorism, and violence make them
breeding grounds for war.” With
headphones, car and truck audio systems, laptops, and cellular technology the
media can follow us in almost every space we enter. Instead of being breeding grounds for war or
profit, media is being created that heals relationships, gives people
empowering analyses of the world around them, and brings folk together.
Afterthoughts:
The conference is helping
me to clarify my own values, my own outlook. I have a greater
understanding of myself as a poet-activist, specifically as a poet whose work
comes out of engagement, education, and struggles (internal and
external). I have a greater sense of how I come from both
my generation/ my peer group as well as the city of
Lastly, I want to point
out something that was in the spirit of this particular AMC, which focused on
popular education. That is, it wasn’t
just an alternative media that was the focus.
How is alternative media different from mainstream media? It often operates on similar patterns of
information giving (the banking method that “deposits” information and expert
or witness testimony) with smaller budgets and outreach. Supposedly alternative media is on the side
of justice as opposed to the side of the corporations.
This focus at the AMC was on interactive media (not just alternative), media that is inclusive, media that is shared between communities and generations. "At its best," said Ora Wise, an organizer with Youth Solidarity Network YSN, during the plenary panel, "radical media comes and takes our stories and may say more of what we like, but they give nothing back. We wanted to find ways to give people the means to tell their own stories in their own way, to give them the tools they need." The media is in our acts of sharing and exchange as much as it is in the pieces of technology, data, and equipment. Remembering this will humanize media making, help us to bridge digital divides and be inclusive of ages, ability, and technological access.