Click for more photos!

As LAMPcamp wraps up its first full week, LAMPers have explored media in their own neighborhood, looked at how gender is portrayed in media, explored how narratives are used to construct a message, got into the basics of podcasting and began their own short-form documentary video projects. Click here for the first pictures available from LAMPcamp in Brooklyn, and read on for Brooklyn facilitator Lorenzo Tijerino’s account of Day 4:

“Today went well. We began with a screening of three documentaries;  two were student-produced documentaries and one was from Rooftop Films. The students responded strongly to the documentary featuring Merlin, the boy in the pink scarf. The LAMPers discussed their feelings and impressions regarding gender roles and stereotypes. The third film was about a female fan of hip hop and her response to the objectification of woman in music videos. This led into a discussion about the responsibility of the viewer and the role that we all play in propagating negative imagery.

Before long, LAMPers were out on the street asking the hard-hitting questions. They returned to base just in time for lunch. Tomorrow they’ll get started on the editing process armed with technical skills they picked up over the course of the week.”

Click here for the video!

Yesterday marked the first day of LAMPcamp 2010, running concurrently in the Bronx with the Mount Hope Housing Company and in Brooklyn at the Park Slope Armory with the Prospect Park YMCA!

In The Bronx, News 12 stopped by to interview LAMP students and teachers for a video segment on LAMPcamp. Click here to check it out!

Brooklyn LAMPcamp also got off to a fantastic start. In the words of lead facilitator Lorenzo Tijerina:

“The group was, as expected, very boisterous and lively and eager to get started. We began with the entrance survey, which everyone filled out. We moved on to to viewing commercials and got to use the fancy new projector, which I love by the way. We got the kids talking by showing them a few sensational videos involving BP and the World Cup, asking them to describe the purpose of these commercials in their own words. They had a great understanding of the intent and techniques used by the advertisers. We also showed them a re-cut BP commercial on YouTube and they were very excited about the idea of expressing opinion through satire and video.

We introduced the class to some of the vocabulary of persuasion, and with the help of the facilitators they really seemed to get it. By the halfway point we moved into the first exercise, the Media Scavenger Hunt. We ended up with about 16 kids, which allowed us to divide them up pretty evenly into four groups. I stayed behind while the kids hit the streets with the YMCA staff and the other facilitators. Katherine, Chrissy, Scott and Mike all agreed that the children were calm and well-behaved outside, but still excited about the exercise.

The children videotaped their findings, paying particular attention to ads that are not supposed to be directed at them, such as alcohol and cigarette advertisements. They did describe many of these ads as being very colorful and attention grabbing. This led into a discussion about their interest in these products, peer pressure and the glamorization of adulthood.

Finally, at the end of the class I went around with a Flip camera and got to know everyone. Then, everyone signed my cast and we called it a day.”

Stay tuned for more LAMPcamp news!

Kristin Trethewey

This month, we interview video artist and LAMPcamp volunteer Kristin Trethewey. Read on to learn why media literacy and art are tied together…

Favorite Blogs: Thinkthinkthinkwhywhywhy (because a little self promotion never hurts) Cakewrecks (because I’m a bit of a foodie) and Kitschykoomag (this is a friend from Calgary who is a great advocate of young hip art and culture)

Posted by meredith on 07-23-2009

D.C. asked the LAMPers again if they remembered to bring their cellphones. Like an excited crowd rushing through the opening gates of a brand new amusement park, the LAMPers quickly shuffled into their backpacks, pockets and purses retrieving their favored devices. Holding them at the ready, the LAMPers waited to see why we had prepped them so much for this moment. D.C. explained to them that he wanted them to text him any question they wanted to ask him, and if he felt the question would benefit the group as a whole, he would read it out loud. The person who asked the question would remain completely anonymous.

Honestly, we didn’t know what to expect, and we’re certain that if we hadn’t logged the many hours already with the LAMPers, this exercise wouldn’t have worked the way that it did. As it was, we’d developed relationships with them, started conversations and narratives which was reflected in the dozens and dozens of questions D.C. received on his phone.

All told, in a period of 15 minutes, over 45 questions were sent to D.C.’s phone. Some of them silly, some of them revealing and some of them very, excitingly poignant. For the most part, they were read out loud. Those that D.C. felt were too private and deserved a private response, were replied to directly by D.C. with a text.

Following here is a sample of the questions from the LAMPers (all spelling and grammar kept in context):
- “Do u like catherine?” (Katherine Fry – Our Education Director and LAMP co-Founder with D.C.)
- “Do you think kids in this generation text way to much”
- “r u married?” (Specifically, asked to D.C.)
- “Are u a happi person?”
- “Do you likee beinq heree ?”
- “How many dates did u go on” (with some clarification, this question was referring to how many dates he went on with his wife before they got married)
- “Do you like to live inn ny? If so why? :)
- “Is yur wife hot” (also directed at D.C.)
- “Why are we doing this?”
- “How long have you been married??”
- “Do u like 2 fart in a bag and then smell it ? (It was decided that this was not appropriate to read out loud and was only meant to cause a stir)
- “Wat is yor favorite color”
- “Do you find LAMP boring?”
- “What did u do in skool wen u were little??
- “Has someone sent ya a text that ever sacred you?” (“scared” not “sacred”)
- “should there be a cutoff time for texting like a bedtime fot texting”
- “If you had kids, would you let them text as much as we do?”

Throughout this texting exercise, we continued to have a discussion about their texting habits, how they felt it benefitted them/damaged them, how they viewed their parent’s involvement in their cyber lives, and how unsafe they felt overall. Universally, they all agreed they texted too much. That said, they didn’t think this was necessarily a bad thing. When pressed, they found themselves often bored, and having a constant jingle in their pocket of a quick quip from a friend made them feel more grounded and connected with their world. They also agreed that they didn’t understand nor appreciated the ban on cellphones in school.

As the questions rolled in, some of them were asked out loud to the LAMPers, which would shape the discussion, leading to more questions sent via text. It’s our finding that texting isn’t just something they do in order to avoid face-to-face communication, but it’s also something they are very good at. It’s very natural to send their thoughts, emotions and opinions out into the ether. We noticed since we allowed them to use their devices while we chatted, they didn’t become more withdrawn, but in fact more relaxed – more themselves. These devices are very much a part of how they connect with the world and retract from it. They stayed even more engaged in the discussion than they did the previous days. Things did not roil into chaos as it might’ve, but in fact stayed very organic and fluid.

One of the most surprising responses to a question we asked was the overwhelming “Yes!” when we asked if they felt they should be able to use their mobile devices in class, especially on tests in order to look up answers to a question ( An aside: Here lies an incredibly interesting conundrum. As it is understood, not everything on the Internet is accurate, just like asking their buddy for the answer, the kids understood that the answers they might find online would also be false. We thought this would be an excellent exercise in media literacy).

We were very grateful for the opportunity to explore this kind of learning environment, and though we only got to dip for a few minutes into this digital pool, it was incredibly fulfilling and rewarding.

Tomorrow, LAMPers get treated to a presentation by a renowned comic book artist for DC Comics and the completion of our media projects. We’re really looking forward to seeing how things look as we wrap LAMPcamp up, but are saddened we only get this short period of time to work with everyone.

We opened our 2nd day of camp with a presentation from Daniela Capistrano. The LAMPers immediately lit up when she told them she worked for MTV News. She was gracious enough to answer some questions about their favorite shows, celebrities and musicians – and even a tough question (“How and why do they come up with all the spin-off shows?”). She spent the majority of her presentation telling our LAMPers about other great organizations in New York City (Ghetto Film School, Starting Artists, and The Point) that allow youth to explore their creative aspirations in media careers.

Many hands went up when she asked who would like to have a job working in the various media. Thanks so much, Daniela, for your presentation and your help throughout LAMPcamp.

We then broke back up into our Girls and Boys camps, allowing us to pursue some very incredible dialogue about issues that impact their respective gender and how the various media they encounter reinforce, define and propogate these issues.

I was with the boys, so i can only report on what it was we did. Our main male LAMPcamp counselor put together an incredible media montage of various video and images that really got the discussion rolling. Images of Mike Tyson contrasted with Michael Jackson, or Christopher Reeves in his ‘Superman’ uniform with images of him in his wheelchair after his accident, or Wesley Snipes all muscled out as the main character in the movie “Blade” next to an image of Mr. Snipes in drag in the movie “To Wong Foo”.

We asked our boys “What makes a man?” And a fantastic discussion grew from there, as they talked about their own experiences and opinions and openly addressed topics that in other circumstances wouldn’t be comfortable to tackle (i.e. boys who want to dress up like girls). Some of it was received with laughter, some of it with some very serious tones – but all of it was simply a thrill to be a part of as afterward the LAMPers declared how much fun and educational that was.

We then broke out into our smaller groups and started working again on our group media topics. These projects are really going to be fantastic as we can see how the discussion on gender really is going to play out in them.

Some of the more profound moments from the 2nd day:
- It was declared that most of the boys weren’t comfortable with seeing two guys kiss (that it somehow made them less of a man), but thought there was an incredible double-standard that it seems so socially acceptable if two girls were to embrace (which had no impact on how they were viewed as women).

- After just shooting two takes of one shot for their “Thriller” tribute video, the LAMPers declared “Man, if it takes this long just to do two shots for a 5 minute video, no wonder movies take so long to get made and are so expensive.”

- Going through some camera tricks to show them how they can get some cool effects, one LAMPer said,”You’re gonna ruin all the illusions of movies for me.”

Tomorrow, we’re going to chat about their mobile devices, their digital lives and the best practices for how to have a positive online, digital experience. We hope to go into more detail about the private social network we created for LAMPcamp and how we want this to go beyond the completion of LAMPcamp at the end of the week.

When we walked into the room, the first thing we thought was “Oh my goodness, so many kids!” Originally, we had contracted to do LAMPcamp for the Prospect Park YMCA, we had figured on 12-15 kids (even split between boys and girls). Well, the room was brimming with 29 future LAMPers who looked at us with a little confusion. We didn’t have much time so we started right in (and so much we hoped to accomplish on our first day), passed out their LAMPackets for the week and moved everyone into a circle.

We showed them some basic interview techniques and then handed them the camera. They were supposed to switch back and forth interviewing the person seated next to them, then handing off the camera, and going around the circle. With so many kids, we pulled out another camera and got the other side involved in the same activity.

And even while this was going on, we still had kids idling doing nothing. So we chatted them up. Asking them about all sorts of things regarding media: Facebook vs. MySpace (“MySpace is so boring” “Facebook is for adults” etc.), Sidekicks vs. Smartphones (They all decided that DC’s phone needed a massive upgrade), TV vs. hulu/youtube/limewire (“Why would you need to listen to the song on your phone when you can get it for free at limewire?”), etc. Finally, we made it through the opening interviews, which meant it was time for our Media Scavenger Hunt.

Once out on the street, the LAMPers really engaged with the urban environment, trading off taking pictures and videos of different instances of media they encountered. And because we had such a short period of time to work with, we really had to cut short the full exploration. But every single kid had the exact same thing to say at the end of the Hunt: “I never realized how many advertisements and media there are in the neighborhood before we stopped to look today.” Score!

We broke into smaller groups (2 boy groups, 2 girl groups) and discussed the media projects each group will be working on for the rest of the week. Here we’ll really be able to engage in a deeper exploration and conversation about topics that really interest them. We’re looking forward to what these obviously creative LAMPers will come up with.

Some of the best lessons and interesting experiences from the 1st day:
- On the Scavenger Hunt, our LAMPers found a bodega that had a wall panel overflowing with cigarette ads (who didn’t know why they’d never seen a cigarette ad on TV), sitting next to another panel that was advertising NY State’s “Quit Smoking” campaign.

- When we broke into girls-only and boys-only groups, one of our male LAMPers asked why we did. It was stated to allow us the opportunity to explore topics and to talk about things that we don’t feel comfortable saying in front of the opposite gender. He replied “I don’t act differently around girls.” Really? Don’t you say things with other guys that you don’t say in front of girls? “Oh, yeah, i guess i do.”

- During a short discussion about “What defines a guy?”, after answers like “your father, your brother, your uncle, etc.” we got ‘Michael Jackson’. Someone replied to that “Michael Jackson ain’t a man, he talks like a girl.” Many were quick to defend Michael but it also led to an incredibly rich discussion about what makes a “guy” (deep voice, big muscles, anger, etc.) and how did they derive this image.

Already we can see that time is a very precious commodity, and we have so much to accomplish by the end of this week. On Wednesday, we’re getting a presentation from Daniela Capistrano on her work at MTV, and then we’re going to break back into our small boys/girls groups and really get to cracking on our media projects.

If any of you would like us to explore anything in particular with our LAMPers, leave us a comment on this site or drop as a line on Twitter: @thelampnyc

Catch ya on Wednesday!