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Youth Media Corps members
Meet the youths who created the Poetic Roots Web site and video campaign for broadcast on KQED Public TV 9.
 

Dominic Santos • Jackie Vendil • Jackie Johnson • Stephanie Payes • Abe Brown • Sam Mende-Wong • Michael Epstein • Matthias Scheja • Jordan Emmart • Maria Byck • Brian McWilliams

Dominic Santos
WAASAABAANI? Hey, y'all, I'm Dominic Santos, class of '03 (like what!) at George Washington High. I am into video and media. I would truly love to be a filmmaker after I graduate and go into the real world. As a youth living in modern society, I am aware of the problems and situations that we can be placed in. I know how social justice and stereotypes in the media affect many of us youth, and I am a youth trying to make a difference. This YMC campaign is important to me because I feel that many adults prejudge and misjudge youth without really knowing who each individual is. I want to help bring awareness to those who view us in a negative way. I want to let them know that many of us are attempting to make a difference—and can, if only given a chance. I was Mac Daddy on the YMC video production team. Word. (Back to top)

Jackie Vendil

My name is Jackie and I'm here to say,
Youth need empowerment every day.
My last name is Vendil and it's true,
I'm hella slick and hella coo'
I go to school in Pacifica
I'm ASB prez and it's terrific-a
As a youth I have demonstrated,
That all youth aren't instigated
By violence and all that jazz,
I rock the mic with much pizzazz
I'm in the Mural Club and a Mediator
No Filipino emcee could ever be greater!
I'm seventeen and proud of it,
I top the charts with every hit!
Many times I've volunteered,
At Glide Church, and that isn't weird
This campaign is important to youth,
So that they rock the vote in the voting booth.
Stereotypes can be bad,
So our message must be rad,
This is my word to the wise
Media mustn't generalize,
We all are human and we have a voice,
Whether to judge, that is your choice! Peace! (Back to top)

Jackie Johnson

Hi. My name is Jackie Johnson. I live in Oakland. I am 17. I go to Contra Costa Alternative School. I do a lot of volunteering with youth and for youth groups. I am on the city of Oakland's Youth Advisory Commission. I am also on the Youth Council for the Oakland Police Department. I am an empowered youth. I feel that media portray a lot of stereotypes about youth. They show us as being violent. We are really doing a lot of amazing things. Really. I worked on the YMC PR team, but then I moved to the video team and have been doing both. (Back to top)  

 

Stephanie Payes

My name is Stephanie Payes, and I am 17. I go to Lowell High School in SF, and I am Salvadorean by descent. I feel I am qualified to talk about youth empowerment because, basically, I am a youth. I know what it is to be oppressed. I also know how it is to be able to rise above the adults' expectations of me. This youth campaign is important because it is the beginning of something that will change youth and adults alike. I like singing, reading, writing, and listening to music. I would like to go to SF State or UC Berkeley or Alaska Bible College and then do graduate studies at the Idaho State Nunnery. I was on the YMC PR team. Quote: "Stand for something or fall for nothing." (Back to top)  

Abe Brown

 

 

My name is Abe Brown, and I'm a 14-year-old freshman at Albany High. I believe that it is important that adults be aware of the problem of negative youth stereotyping in the media, and this campaign will help. We aren't all what the media shows of us. We all have different experience. I want to help by taking my free time and committing myself to projects like this and doing community service. I worked on the video team to produce the preliminary part of YMC's PSA. Oh„aliens are all around us. (Back to top)

  

Sam Mende-Wong

 

I'm Sam Mende-Wong, a senior at Piedmont High School in the East Bay. I am an active member in my community and an activist toward change. (Revolution.) I teach martial arts and self-defense and encourage youth to use their voice for positive changes in the Bay Area. Young people need to understand that we have a voice, despite popular belief, and one of the most powerful (Revolution) things that we can do is to use it. We won't be silenced when we know what we are saying is worthwhile. That is why this media campaign is important. We need to show people that youth know about issues and realize that we are human too. We want to be able to expand peoples' minds and change views. We can't stand idly by while the media slanders us. (REVOLUTION!)

MY PEOPLE UNITE/
LET'S ALL GET DOWN/
WE GOTTA HAVE WHAT? LOVE, PEACE AND UNDERSTANDING!
ONE LOVE, ONE BREATH, ONE FIGHT!
ONE HEART, ONE SOUL, ONE MIND! (REVOLUTION!)
(Back to top)

 

Michael Epstein

 

My name is Michael Epstein and I've been "keepin' it real" as YMC Web team director. I started "doin' mah thang" in 1993 where I taught computer "skiznillz" and "mad" science in St. Louis. I then incorporated computers into the math and science classes at the University of Health Sciences Antigua. In '95 I became computer instructor and "skooled foo's" at an international school in Morocco. Then I "bounced" out of there to become class designer for big corporations like IBM, Sony and General Electric to make "tha chedda." I am now "kickin' it" in San Francisco where I created Cyber Summer, a program that combines outdoor activity and computer education. Now I work on a nonprofit training program, eLive, creating youth-designed animated content for youth-oriented Web sites."(Back to top)

  

 

Matthias Scheja

 

My name is Matthias Scheja, and I am a university student from Germany. I was working at dot-com and now intern at KQED. (Back to top)

  
Jordan Emmart

 

Peace and unity be upon you, child of the stars and suns. My given name is Jordan Emmart, but you can call me the MoonBeam. My corporal body resides in the earthly city of San Francisco, but my spirit soars free. I was an educational guide (an intern) for the 2000 Youth Media Corps. As a youth, I was part of many youth-led campaigns, including community cleanups and a three-year summer help program with a Mexican-American health clinic in Garden City, Kansas. As a "grown youth" (adult) I have taught drama as a means of learning to appreciate diversity and have helped lead youth campaigns such as this one. Media bias against youth frames the community view of its young people and perpetuates age discrimination and other prejudices. Informing the public about media bias can help communities to progress. (Back to top)

  

Maria Byck

 

MY NAME IS MARIA BYCK (Media & Society Initiative Manager) AND I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! I LIKE CAKE! GOSH DARN IT, I LOVE CAKE!!! (Back to top)

  
Brian McWilliams

 

I am 15 and I go to Skyline High, in tha Town (that's Oakland, for all who ain't knowin'). I joined the Youth Media Corps, and now I can see situations in my everyday life that reflect the topic the KQED YMC is talking about. I can see how youth are marginalized every day. I think that this will continue for as long as I'm a youth if we don't try to change it. This media campaign is part of that change. I've learned a lot more about teens and more about the media, especially how they disrespect us in so many ways. We aren't just numbers. I got to see for myself what teens are doing that is positive instead of negative all the time. I worked on the Web site for this project. Some of my slogan suggestions: "Let's Do It. Get It Right. Just Do It. We Are the Future. We Believe We Can Fly. Do You Luv Us?" I can't believe they didn't use any of them. That's hella boo'sy. (Back to top)

  

















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