CONTACT: Eming Piansay
Associate Editor, YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia
415.503.4170

Calling all Youth/Youth Media Bloggers
Participate in the Fifth Youth Media Blog-a-Thon
Topic: Regime Change

Building on the success of 2008’s virtual events, YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia and WireTap are proud to announce our fifth weeklong Youth Media Blog-a-Thon to kick off on Tuesday February 3rd.

We are calling all young bloggers (between the ages of 14-26) – along with any bloggers dedicated to writing about youth issues and youth media – to blog from February 3rd to February 10th about: REGIME CHANGE.

It finally happened! After two solid years of anticipation, a new administration based on change entered the White House on January 20th. The youth of America played a huge part in the success of Obama’s campaign, but how will we sustain the energy and support in keeping the new administration on task?

Here are some ideas to address in your blog posts:

• How do you think Obama’s Presidency will affect the civil rights movement? Explain.
• Rolling Stone Magazine quoted Cornell West as saying, “I told Obama that when he wins—which I think he will—I will celebrate for one day, I’ll break-dance in the morning and party in the afternoon. But the next day, I’ll become one of his major critics.” How will you straddle adoration and criticism of the nation’s first Black president? Explain.
• On Jan. 14th Oakland rioted over the shooting death of an unarmed Black man by a white police officer. On Jan 20th we inaugurated our first Black president. What’s the irony of race in the US today?
• Do you think Obama inauguration will have an impact on future situations similar to the shooting of Oscar Grant by BART Police in Oakland. Why or why not?
• Obama has promised to remove the ‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’ policy for gays in the military. Do you think this will have positive or negative repercussions?
•Where were you on inauguration day?
•Barack Obama is reportedly the first sitting president to have a computer on his desk in the oval office, making him our most tech-savvy president. He’s also the first president to post weekly addresses on YouTube and promote civic engagement online through websites like www.change.gov. How does—or doesn’t—this speak to you?
•Over the past twenty years, presidential “regimes” have remained largely the same: Clinton and Bush Jr. served two terms each, and many progressives are pushing for Obama to do the same. Are you optimistic about a two-term Obama presidency?
•Are there generational differences in how you and your family perceive Obama’s election? Explain.
• With America in an economic crunch, what steps do you think Obama will have to take to get America back on track?
• What do you hope Obama’s inauguration will do for your community?
• What issues do you hope Obama tackles in his first 100 days in office? Why are they important to you? Why should they be important to him?

If you are interested in being a part of the Youth Media Blog-a-Thon, please email Eming Piansay at epiansay@newamericamedia.org.

Sponsoring Organizations: For over 15 years, YO! Youth Outlook Multimedia has been a leader in youth-produced content in the Bay Area. Through our active website (http://www.youthoutlook.org), YO!TV – a weekly 30-minute television show on Access 29 in San Francisco, and our weekly YO!Radio segments aired on KMEL 106.1, YO! gives young people a voice on the issues they most care about. YO! content is also regularly syndicated in the San Francisco Chronicle, The Oakland Tribune and more. The YO! blog has been active since 2007. During our last session, The Youth Media Blog-a-Thon was featured in an article on the Youth Media Reporter.

WireTap is a national news and culture magazine by and for socially conscious youth. Our online community promotes social justice, inspires action and gives young people a voice in the media. Wiretap provides free, daily content to over 60,000 monthly visitors and 14,000 weekly newsletter subscribers. Our award-winning journalism and youth commentary is syndicated every week on the Nation.com, AlterNet.org and Chicago Sun Times, college papers, and hundreds of our stories get linked to in widely read blogs and websites from Mother Jones blog to Fear of a Brown Blogger to social networking site MyBloc.net.

Blog-a-thon Instructions

We don’t set a time or day for you to send in your posts—just make sure it’s within the week-long period of Tuesday, February 3 through Tuesday, February 10. If you have any questions, please contact me at: epiansay@newamericamedia.org or call me at 415.503.4170.

The goal: to amplify youth voices on our change in political leadership. You can talk about anything—myths, opinions, observations, annoyances, personal experiences, etc.

Here are the directions:
Post an election-related blog (subject matter is totally up to you) on your personal or organizational website (liveblog, xanga, facebook and myspace included).
Send me a link or written text. If you don’t have access to a blog, send me an email version of your piece and it will be reposted on WireTap or Youth Outlook (youthoutlook.org)
I’ll post periodic updates on WireTap and also send blog updates to participants as they come to me.
We strongly encourage folks to read, comment and respond to posts. If you’re moved by someone’s post, agree, disagree, or have additional information to share, please do so respectfully.
Throughout the week, selected posts will be reprinted in full on WireTap and Youth Outlook.
You’re welcome to write more than one post, and tackle multiple issues.

For a general overview of how youth media blog-a-thon’s have happened in the past, check out the links below.

Elections (Round 1)

Violence

Money

Sex and Relationships

Past participants include: Boston Progress Radio, Oh Dang! Magazine, Khmer Girls in Action, Youth Ministry Exchange, Youth Radio, Girls for Change, Sex Etc., iLL-Literacy and Kori Chen, Vanessa Huang, Kameelah Rasheed, Colin Ehara and many more.