About whatchusay.com

Whatchusay?! You may have first heard this phrase as a kid after being disrespectful or unintentionally insulting the intelligence of an adult. It was usually followed by a defiant gaze which put you "in check" right away.

Whatchuay.com is an alternative blogzine that offers an outlet for both youth media-makers as well as seasoned journalists and thought leaders. Forget the talk radio jocks, nightly news anchors, political pundits and celebrities. Armed with the facts and fostered by a global townhall of bloggers, we believe that everyone can be their own news guru.

"Every artist, every scientist must decide, now, where he stands. He has no alternative. There are no impartial observers. Through the destruction, in certain countries, of man's literary heritage, through the propagation of false ideas of national and racial superiority, the artist, the scientist, the writer is challenged.

This struggle invades the former cloistered halls of our universities and all her seats of learning. The battlefront is everywhere. There is no sheltered rear. The artist elects to fight for freedom or slavery. I have made my choice!

I had no alternative!"

cheo tyehimba

Cheo Tyehimba is an award-winning journalist, published author, educator, activist and consultant. He penned "The Ghetto Solution," a non-fiction book that New York's Library Journal called a "work of enormous social, political and spiritual significance." He has been a staff writer for Time Warner Magazines, a reporter for Entertainment Weekly magazine, editor of Promethean: The Literary Journal of The City College of New York and senior editor of Code, a style magazine for men of color.

In 1999, he won national distinction for "Best Magazine Article on Foreign Travel" by the American Society of Travel Writers for "Scarred Walls of Stone," his investigative feature on the former slave dungeons of Ghana.

Mr. Tyehimba's writing has been anthologized in several fiction and non-fiction collections. He has taught writing at The City College of New York and the University of San Francisco, among other schools, and has contributed to several publications, including The Washington Post, The San Francisco Bay Guardian, Savoy, People, American Legacy, O - The Oprah Magazine, George Magazine, where he worked with the late John F. Kennedy, Jr., Vibe, Essence, among others.

Tyehimba is currently a consultant to a number of clients, including the Museum of the African Diaspora, where he directs I've Known Rivers, the museum's oral history and story project.

He is also founder and executive director of Forwardever Media Center, a non-profit media literacy and journalism training organization for youth of color. The center’s blogzine, www.whatchusay.com, is an independent arts and culture site dedicated to promoting media literacy and critical, responsible thought-action.

Writer's Guidelines

The phrase Whatchusay?! is both a question and a challenge. In that same spirit, the blogzine is a thought-driven, independent journal and media literacy organization committed to tackling hot-button issues affecting people of African descent. Although the site features news and information primarily with a pan-African focus, it is not limited to African-oriented themes or subject matter.

Whatchusay.com is first and foremost an intelligent source for news, media critique and arts and entertainment coverage. We also feature the work of journalism students of color through an internship program with the Forwardever Media Center.

If you are interested in submitting work to Whatchusay.com, use the following words as a formula for the required writing style: (1) very opinionated (2) intelligent (3) lively (4) well-researched (5) concise (6) requires very little editing.

We are always seeking submissions from writers in the following categories:

• Front page features:
  Whatchusay.com will regularly highlight feature articles and essays by established writers on everything from global media-bias to children with AIDS in South Africa to profiling politically-aware hip hop artists and celebrities to boycotting B.E.T.'s booty-shake videos. Nothing is out of bounds. Front page features are 800 to 1000 words. Column essays are 800 words.

• Sections:
  

  1. Whatchuthink: This page has several opinion columns. If you want to submit an opinion column, it should be a think piece, that is timely and connected to a current debatable issue; always provocative and compelling, informative, and well-researched. You should consider what questions your column would inspire from readers and include the top three questions for the end-of-column blog.

  2. Whatchulearn: This page is the place for intergenerational interviews with well respected (usually, but not always elders) writers, artists, politicos, activists, actors, directors, musicians, etc. You should consider what questions your column would inspire from readers and include the top three questions for the end-of-column blog.

  3. Whatchuread: This page has the latest news and information about the world of Black book publishing. You should consider what questions your column would inspire from readers and include the top three questions for the end-of-column blog.

  4. Whatchusee: This page has the film column and online version (blog) of Whatchusay Cinema. You should consider what questions your column would inspire from readers and include the top three questions for the end-of-column blog.

  5. Whatchuhear: This page has a music column plus the latest news and info about Black music from around the world. You should consider what questions your column would inspire from readers and include the top three questions for the end-of-column blog.

Although we can't offer a financial reward for your writing at this time, Whatchusay.com, in promotional partnership with other sites like “Black Electorate,” “Seeing Black,” and "Pop and Politics," has a very wide audience.

We offer great exposure to writers.

If interested in contributing, please send your idea for submission and two appropriate clips of your writing to cheo@whatchusay.com.

Thank you!