brandamiller's blog

A world record of babies attended the screening of Guerrilla Midwife at the Sanctuary this past weekend!

Please share this announcement with all your friends & relations! Thanks, Hiba Alsaffar.

The Department of Humanities and Communication and

The Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences presents the

Inaugural Talk in the SCIENCE, CULTURE AND MEDICINE SPEAKER SERIES:

The Impact of Arabic/Islamic Science on Medicine and Pharmacology

YMS Spring 2012: Day 1, Feb. 8 

Ready for fun, friends, and creative action in Spring 2012!

After introductions and paperwork, we watched other youth's work for inspiration. Check out: YMS Spring '11 Behind the Scenes!

Then, we started immediately on our new production, with "lap-top" media portraits!

Ellie's Delicious Snack: yogurt and granola:

Sheba Marx, workshop participant of our last Be the Media! workshop, "Rediscivoering the Every Day: Basic Documentary Photography, with Brenda Ann Kenneally, created a post on her blog including her workshop photos:

On Sunday, I was lucky to attend a photography workshop at the Sanctuary for Independent Media in Troy, New York, led by Brenda Ann Kenneally who is an award winning photographer. As stated on her webiste, "her long-term projects are intimate portraits of social issues that intersect where the personal is political." In 2005, she began a project called Upstate Girls in Troy. As she desciribes it, the project follows seven women for now seven years "as their escape routes out of generational poverty have lead to further entrapments documenting early teen pregnancy."

Here are some of the photos that I took as we walked around a few blocks of Troy, the former home of Uncle Sam, as well as textile and iron industries employing thousands. A short history of Troy is available here. The photos below speak for themselves.

This page is dedicated to eating RAW, and inspired by the raw food reception after the Afro Asian Scientific Soul Duo event with Fred Ho and Dr. Salim Washington at The Sanctuary for Independent Media on March 30, 2011. Special thanks to photographers Ellie Markovich and Chelsea Kereszi.

Created by raw food chef and holistic health counselor Caryn Halle, with support from May Yaul, pictured on left preparing for the raw reception!

Raw reception co-sponsored by the Honest Weight Food Coop and iEAR Presents!

Don't forget to shop for all your raw ingredients at THE HONEST WEIGHT FOOD CO-OP!

"Purple Hearts," a series of portraits by photojournalist Nina Berman, documents the return of 17 Army soldiers and Marines wounded in the Iraq war. "Youths tend to get wrong impression from video games, TV shows and movies that tend to romanticize and glorify combat," said Bob Alft.

Sanctuary volunteer Bob Alft has made a personal commitment to get Nina Berman's "Purple Hearts" photographs, exhibited at the Sanctuary in Fall '09, to schools and community organizations across the region.

Congrats to Bob, for arranging to have an exhibit at a local high school, and for getting an article written in the Times Union!

Check out this article in the Times Union: 'Purple Hearts' exhibit honors Iraq war veterans

"It's great to see this important work have a life in the Capital Region, beyond our gallery show.  These are powerful and moving images that reflect and create an important debate about the role of military in society and recruiters in our schools," says Steve Pierce, Executive Director, Media Alliance at The Sanctuary for Independent Media.

YMS Peer Trainers Kayleara Miller and Antonio Pabon, along with "Be the Media" Coordinator Abby Lublin, visited Tech Valley High School to present their video, "North Troy Rough Cut."

Relections:

Kayleara:

Today at Tech Vally we showed our film and had to stand up and talk about it.  I'm not very good at public speaking so I was kind of nervous, but it was really fun and a wonderful experience.

Antonio:

It was pretty chill talkin' bout something I worked on in front of a bunch of kids, because when we talked about it to adults it blew.  So yea, that was pretty sweet!

Reflections widen my perspectives of the challenges facing the young people in the Capital Region and the community at large.  Personally it made me appreciate the community I grew up in and the experiences I have had.  What was missing, more important, who was missing?

Branda:

With our deepest respect for their creativity, vision,

and accomplishments in the Youth Media Sanctuary Fall 2010 Workshop!!!

CHECK OUT THIS REVIEW!

Best Practices in Banana Time,  Review: The Beginning of a New Age,  The Free George

Here's an update at the end of Youth Media Sanctuary Project #1:

We have successful completed the first phase of our Youth Media Peer Training workshop at The Sanctuary for Independent Media. After beginning in the summer with initial research, script-development and pre-production activities, the local youth participants started their fall workshop schedule and produced seven short video portraits of their community. 

Our first day: Intro to script writing!

Shedding light on key issues effecting their lives, they've focused on violence, family, teen pregnancy, drug abuse, urban decay and poverty, and a need for health, safety and positive education.  They've opened up, many for the first time, to share their hopes and fears.  They've worked with Missing Link Street Ministries, and documented North Central Troy neighborhood sites.