At the AIHEC (American Indian Higher Education Consortium) Student Congress 3rd Annual Film Festival this year, I took 2nd place. AIHEC was held in Bismarck, ND of all places (North Dakota is suprisingly more boring than South Dakota). 

Sophia Kizilbash, Will White Eyes, Kevin Killer, Kim Killer and Valerie Collins were also in attendance.

Here is Wanagi directed by James La Pointe

Every thirty seconds, a child in Africa dies of Malaria. That means that by the time you've finished reading this announcement, two children will have died from a completely preventable disease. You have the power to help save lives. Simple ten-dollar bed nets can protect children's lives by keeping malaria-carrying mosquitoes out.

I've been working with a youth-driven nonprofit called Americans for Informed Democracy and we want YP4 fellows to raise awareness and funds to support the global fight against malaria. And we want you to film what you do. Our contest is called Buzz Cuts and it strives to harness the power of media and student creativity to save lives. Buzz Cuts is looking for your creative proposals for a "net-raising" event that will help raise money for the NothingButNets.nets campaign and build awareness about the global fight against malaria.

AID will send out video cameras and $500 mini-grants to the best campaign and film proposals. The films that are made will be distributed so that others can use your campaign strategies in their communities. Sign up now and start saving lives one film at a time.

Visit http://www.aidemocracy.org/buzzcuts to get started.

For the past six years of my life I have been trying to delicately balance my roles as a media producer and an activist.    

At journalism school, I was taught to remain "objective" no matter the issue.  Meanwhile, as an activist, I bemoaned the media's lack of attention to progressive causes and what seemed like, although often objective, unfair coverage.  

Although I maintained my belief that media is by far the most influential force in our society, I felt helpless to reform the system.  After being torn apart by these two sides of my psyche and completely giving up on the media as an effective tool for change, I decided to drop out of journalism school in order to pursue a life of full-time activism.

On Tuesday, June 20 I was lucky enough to leave the office early (with my fellow YP4 interns) to attend the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.  The screening featured two films: Punam and Rosita.  A common thread between the films was the theme of growing up and how some children are forced to do so too quickly.