FORWARDEVER MEDIA CENTER
Writer Alex
Haley writing The Autobiography of Malcolm X with Brother Malcolm.
"The
media's the most powerful entity on earth. They have the power to make
the innocent guilty and to make the guilty innocent, and that's power.
Because they control the minds of the masses."
- Malcolm X
Mission
The Forwardever Media Center is 100% committed to providing unconventional writing workshops and media literacy training to "at-risk" Black youth, particularly males, ages 14 through 24. Working in partnership with The Mentoring Center in Oakland, CA., the Center's writing workshops, website internship, and film forums, help students develop critical thinking skills and discover their creative talents. We recruit youth for our programs from the California Youth Authority (the state's largest prison for youth) as well as from universities and high schools. This cross-pollination of young minds creates dynamic shared experiences.
Programs
Whatchusay Cinema–A monthly film forum hosted at schools or community centers in Northern California that explores issues such as race, class, gender, and society. Students are joined by a panel of activists, educators, athletes, entrepreneurs, etc. to rate the films and convene roundtable discussions about corresponding relevant issues in society. For info about film screenings and schedules contact: cheo@whatchusay.com
Writing Workshops–We offer intensive seminars in journalism, creative writing, cultural criticism, new media, film production, etc. These seminars are taught at the center, located at 1224 Preservation Park, Oakland, CA, 94612. They are also available on location, at schools, community and detention centers, churches, etc. For info about class schedules contact: cheo@whatchusay.com
Internships–Whatchusay.com offers competitive internships to young writers who have clearly demonstrated a passion for the craft of writing or media production. The 3-month internship covers news writing and reporting, feature writing, creative writing, media literacy and new media. Working in partnership with community based organizations, universities and international and national media outlets, we produce a pipeline of informed journalists of color who will go on to create their own independent media organizations or work for major media organizations.
More...April 30, 2008 10:48 AM
by Tresa Chambers
My immediate response to the image was utter offense. LeBron James and Gisele Bundchen posed like the King Kong and fair lady of a previous era on the cover of Vogue magazine. The image of King James, as LeBron is called by basketball fans, in his basketball uniform grimacing at the camera while grasping at the fashionably dressed Gisele who seems to be smiling only to attempt to appease him, was undeniably offensive. Wasn't it?
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March 31, 2008 10:38 AM
By James Morgan
According to a recent article on Wired Magazines website the two major social networking websites have finally found a weakness in there online empires. Myspace.com and Facebook.com are both websites that have taken the internet and our generation by storm. They allow for people from across the planet to meet and share stories, information, pictures and events with a variety of people on a variety of topics. However now as other networking sites are slowly popping up advertiser and investors are starting to ask are these two gigantic websites a little too general?
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August 17, 2007 8:41 AM
By Nelson Kim
Charles Burnett is the epitome of a cult hero-almost famous for not being famous. On the rare occasion his work attracts any notice in the mainstream press, the article will be sure to mention how little attention his work receives in the mainstream press. Despite the public acclaim of critics and fellow filmmakers, the festival awards and retrospectives, the MacArthur Foundation "genius" grant, the Library of Congress' selection of Killer of Sheep for its National Film Registry-despite his legendary status among a small cohort of cinephiles, Burnett goes unrecognized by the larger culture, the pop marketplace. His films are known to few. But among those few they're loved by many. Recently his cherished film "Killer of Sheep" was theatrically re-released to wide acclaim.
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April 12, 2007 8:06 AM
By Kwan Booth
It's no secret that mainstream media's coverage of African Americans is severely one- sided. From the nightly news to "reality shows" like "Cops" and "Flavor of Love" to almost every music video on BET, MTV and VH1, the dominant image of black people these days is criminal, bitchy and more than slightly stupid. If you didn't know better, you'd think the whole Black World is rocking grills, packing gats and sitting on 24-inch spinners. "Turn Off Channel Zero," a new film by Opio Media, attempts to broaden that image and get everyday black folks interested in the ways they're represented in television, film and popular music.
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October 24, 2006 2:40 AM
By A.L. "Toni" Anderson
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Based on the life of Patrick Chamusso, past employee of the Secunda Oil Refinery in Transvaal, South Africa, and present political activist, Catch a Fire is a fascinating story of racially segregated life in European-dominated South Africa, which closely parallels our struggle for civil rights here in the U.S. Throughout the film, there is a bloodthirsty search for African "terrorists" who are merely seeking to regain their dignity. The film highlights how the overwhelming injustice of apartheid in 1980s South Africa converts a loyal "company man" into a raging revolutionary.
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September 27, 2006 9:16 AM
By A.L. "Toni" Anderson
Gridiron Gang (2006) is based on the true story of a group of teenaged male juveniles housed in Los Angeles County's Camp Kilpatrick in Malibu, California. WWF wrestling champion Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson stars as probation officer and camp counselor Sean Porter. Along with several other of the real life individuals, Porter appears in documentary footage at the end of the film.
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August 1, 2006 5:28 AM
By A. L. "Toni" Anderson
At long last, the movie version of a favorite television series of the late 1980s, Miami Vice, has been brought to the big screen. The original Sonny Crockett (Don Johnson) and Ricardo Tubbs (Philip Michael Thomas) were some of the coolest guys ever to grace a television set. They are back undercover and on the case, on the trail of cop-killing drug distributors in and around Miami, Florida. Can Colin Farrell and Jamie Foxx measure up? Could anyone, ever?
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May 23, 2006 3:43 AM
By Maya J. Pope-Chappell
The Blues is an African American cultural expression rooted in celebration, struggle, and affirmation. It has not only been used to articulate a sense of pride, strength, and resilience in African Americans in the face of racism, discrimination, and violence, but it has served as the foundational musical form for many other genres, including jazz, rock & roll, and hip hop. In recognition of the rich history of the Blues, James Gayles will present an exhibition titled Blues Masters, which will feature paintings, drawings, and large digital prints highlighting Oakland Blues artists and the history of the Blues in Oakland.
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April 23, 2006 4:37 AM
By A. L. "Toni" Anderson
The Sentinel (2006) represents the directorial debut of actor Clark Johnson (Disappearing Acts - 2000). This thriller, which opened in Bay Area theaters this weekend, is based on a novel by Gerald Petievich, and is intriguing to the nth power. The screenplay is by George Nolfi (Ocean's Twelve - 2004). This is a modern-day cloak-and-dagger film, in which the cloaks are replaced by black suits, and the daggers are replaced by tech nines.
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March 26, 2006 1:37 AM
By A. L. "Toni" Anderson
Academy Award winner Denzel Washington stars in Inside Man (2006), the latest, very highly anticipated Spike Lee Joint. The film can be classified as part heist, part mystery, and all riveting. It is the fourth project on which these two wizards of the modern film world have collaborated. The musical score is once again composed by the acclaimed New Orleans native, trumpeter Terence Blanchard. Detective Keith Frazier (Washington) is a wise-ass brother with a less-than-perfect home life. He is under suspicion at work for a check cashing scheme, but when the Manhattan Trust Bank is literally taken over by Dalton Russell (Clive Owen) and crew, Frazier is the man.
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February 20, 2006 1:50 AM
By A. L. "Toni" Anderson
Freedomland stars Samuel L. Jackson, who first captured our attention as "Gator" in the 1991 film Jungle Fever. He has come a long way since those days, having developed immensely as an actor. That development is evident here. The previews of the movie looked exciting and action-packed, and if you are looking for action-packed excitement, the movie will not disappoint.
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February 15, 2006 7:54 AM
By A. L. "Toni" Anderson
Something New (2006) is billed as a cute romantic comedy, and that is exactly what it is. Sanaa Lathan (who starred opposite Denzel Washington in 2003's Out of Time and with Omar Epps in 1999's Love and Basketball) is Kenya McQueen, a Black Upwardly Mobile Professional. Like 42.4 percent (the film's working title) of Black females, she cannot seem to find a mate who meets all of her requirements. With no love in her waking life, she dreams about getting married.
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