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| Headlight |
 If you’re not online with The LAMP, you’ve been missing out! We recently added several new videos to our YouTube channel, having finished our Family Video Workshop with P.S. 102 and our short-form documentary workshop with P.S. 107. We’ve also posted loads of new photos on our Flickr page, and you can click here to find pictures from our workshop with MOUSE on persuasive advertising techniques. And, we were featured on Mashable.com with American Red Cross,The Humane Society of The United States and Greenpeace as a recommended nonprofit to follow on Twitter. See what all the fuss is about, and connect with us online using any of the links on the right-hand column! |
| Spotlight: Kathie McKenzie |
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Occupation: Graduate student at FIT in a museum studies program focusing on textile conservation (and LAMP alum!). Also a wife, mother, PTA volunteer and intern at Cathedral of St. John the Divine at the Textile Conservation Lab.
Family: Husband: Greg Pitkoff, two children: Chloe (9) and Thatcher (7), crazy corgi: Missy (4) and my mother (Eileen McKenzie) is a frequent part of our lives.
What did you discover in the Family Video Workshop? I really liked the purposefulness of the workshop. It wasn’t about catching an event or a cute moment. It was about what we would say about ourselves as a family. My daughter and son both had ideas about what they wanted to do and some of that was included. We did some short interviews as well, but in the end, it was pretty much the things we do on car rides and at the dinner table — which I thought really captured our family dynamic. I really learned that we all have completely different styles and ideas about things!
What was your favorite part of the workshop? I liked watching the clips of different families. It was interesting assessing each family and what was realistic and what wasn’t. It brought out the different dynamics (real and fictional) of families. And it made me think about the idealized version of your own family versus the reality of the individual personalities in the mix of our family. My children really loved actually making the video.
What surprised you in the workshop? For the “skit” our family was given characters: father & son, place: upstate NY, event: moving 100 miles away. I was surprised at how literal our family was. Also my son and daughter just couldn’t envision a family with just a father and son, so the plot they wanted to go with was that the father and son were moving to be with the mother and daughter. To them family is the make up of our family. Most other families came up with comedies, but we went with realistic drama! It hadn’t even occurred to us to be funny!
Do you and your family look at media differently since taking the workshop? I don’t know if we look at media differently — we were already skeptical viewers! But I definitely learned a good deal about our family. Each person had really different ideas about what our family video should say about us. My husband wanted the interviews, my son wanted to perform, my daughter wanted to play a game and I wanted it to be us interacting. In the end I think we all got what we wanted and the video hopefully would give someone a pretty good idea about who we are and what we value as a family.
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| Highlight: Check this out! |
Here’s an interesting interactive game for kids: A company called Fun and Function, which makes toys and equipment that help kids develop essential skills and provide therapies to kids with special needs, recently launched a website called ByKidsOnly.com. The site lets kids aged 5-13 design, post and vote on clothing, expressing their sense of style and personal sensitivities to things like fabric, tags, seams and other factors tied to the fit and feel of what they’re offered to wear. Every six weeks, a new category of clothing is highlighted, and registered participants on the site are able to submit and vote on ideas for that category. The current category is shirts, but dresses, skirts and pajamas are scheduled as well. The most popular designs have a chance of being incorporated into actual garments produced and made available for sale on the site. Check it out and tell your friends if you like it! –Katherine Fry, Ph.D., LAMP Educational Director
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To help us continue our services as New York City’s only nonprofit organization giving free media literacy workshops to parents, youth and educators, please consider a small tax-deductible donation.
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LAMPcamp is coming!
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It’s official: This summer, we will be offering a one-week media literacy summer camp through the Prospect Park YMCA! We will divide middle school-age students into separate boys and girls camp, and look at gender messages as perceived by them through the media they interact with. They’ll also learn the persuasive techniques marketers use to craft their message for each gender, and they will create their own media projects to address all of our findings. For more information about how to sign up, contact the Y at 718-768-7100.
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Gaslight: This Month in Media History
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April 3, 1955: The ACLU successfully defends Alan Ginsberg’s Howland its publisher against obscenity charges.
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April 12, 2000: Napster Inc. is sued by Metallica for piracy and copyright infringement.
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April 13, 1964: Sydney Poitier becomes the first African American to win a Best Actor Oscar, for his role in Lilies of the Field.
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In July, we wrapped up two sessions of LAMPcamp, one in Brooklyn with the 
The LAMPpost’s newest blogger Sarah Brown sat down with Sabine Gruffat and Bill Brown. Together, Gruffat and Brown created an iPhone application called 
The LAMP is proud to present its 
This week, The LAMP completed its first collaboration with 
This month 
This month, Communications Director Emily Long wrote on The LAMPpost about her embarrassing turn as the victim of an online scam. It’s important to remember that even the most web-savvy people can still make mistakes. Check out 
This month, we interviewed Chesley Andrews, web designer for The LAMP. Last summer she took on the daunting task of overhauling our website, and launched her own studio,
On February 2nd, PBS Frontlinepremiered “
Happy new year from everyone at The LAMP, and a very special thanks to all of you who donated during our December fundraising campaign! Your donation will support many activities in 2010, including upcoming workshops with 
This month 
Lorenzo Tijerina is a father, former television news editor, independent videographer and photographer…and LAMP facilitator! Check out 
Occupation:
