Francesca Harding, University of California, Berkeley  (August 29 - December 7, 2001)

Ester Bloom, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA    (June 4 - August 3, 2001)

Dyannah Byington, Amherst College    (June 11 - August 3, 2001)

Andrea Singer, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY    (June 4 - August 3, 2001)

Cindy Lin, University of California, Berkeley    (June 4 - July 27, 2001)

Alexis Luckey, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA     (May 29 - July 27, 2001)

Silvia Soriano, Lima, Peru     (March 30 - June 30, 2001)

Caledonia Allen, Memphis, Tennessee     (January 8 -February 4, 2001)

Francesca Harding, University of California, Berkeley

(August 29 - December 7, 2001)

Francesca Harding put together the wonderful webpage of Women of Color Media. She helped edit the Directory of Women's Media. Francesca sent out an Alert encouraging support of passing the Hate Crimes Prevention Bill. WIFP is part of the Women's Network for Change which monthly informs women of Congressional issues affecting their lives. She sent personalized emails to U.S. women's media in the Directory. Francesco wrote for the December Online Associate Newsletter: VOICES for Media Democracy.

Francesca Harding was an English Major in her Senior year. She graduated in December. Francesca did not simply travel across the country for her internship. From August 1999 until July 2000, she spent a year at the University of Ghana in West Africa. Francesca volunteered in the World Hunger Program.

"My experience in Ghana was absolutely amazing. Of particuar interest to me was being able to study the function of oral culture in West African society. In various places, before the adoption of the written word, information was disseminated by mouth with amazing accuracy. Griots-- African historians-- memorized generation after generation of historical events, peoples, and places, again with amazing accuracy. Comparing and contrasting oral culture with Ghana's present-day thriving print journalism, served to foster my interest in the various forms that media can assume.

"My mother and father are West Indian, born and raised in Panama. Toward the latter half of the 1960's, they left their homes and came to America, in search of the type of job opportunities that were--and in most cases, still are--nonexistent in their own country.

"I myself was born and raised in California. After twenty-one years of experiences and daily interactions on American soil, I find that I have been totally immersed in this culture. Growing up, there was never a Panamanian community to which I was a part of, nor have I ever returned to the land of my parents' birth. However, though the bulk of my knowledge and the way that I have been shaped is not distinctly Panamanian, yet I feel that certain values that my parents have instilled in me certainly are. Therefore, my connection to Panama exists.

"Unfortunately, access to any information regarding Panama is very difficult to come by. After relinquishing the canal zone, news regarding Panama has remained virtually untouched by American media. One would think that Panama has fallen off of the map. Neither do we ever hear about the Afro-Panamanian presence in America, despite there being a large community on America's east coast. Searching for different avenues to gain information about current events happening in the small Central American country has led to me developing an interest in Panama's own thriving media. What type of role does the media play in Panamanian society? What role do Afro-Panamanians play in the press, radio, and television? I am confident that working with WIFP will provide me with the type of background information that I will need to begin critically analyzing these and other questions that I have.

"My experience in Ghana was absolutely amazing. Of particuar interest to me was being able to study the function of oral culture in West African society. In various places, before the adoption of the written word, information was disseminated by mouth with amazing accuracy. Griots-- African historians-- memorized generation after generation of historical events, peoples, and places, again with amazing accuracy. Comparing and contrasting oral culture with Ghana's present-day thriving print journalism, served to foster my interest in the various forms that media can assume."

Ester Bloom, Swarthmore College, Swarthmore, PA

(June 4 - August 3, 2001)

Ester's Website: link

Ester Bloom was a rising sophomore at Swarthmore College.  Her interests included Religion, Sociology/Anthropology, History, and Film and Media Studies, so she hoped to somehow combine those into a special interdisciplinary major and call it American Studies.  

So far on campus she had contributed to and associate-edited Scarlet Letters, the women's literary magazine; contributed to and been on staff for Spike, the humor magazine; and contributed to the literary magazines Small Craft Warnings and Unmentionables.  She had a weekly film column in The Phoenix, the weekly campus paper.  She planned the next spring to study at the University of Stockholm, Sweden.

While at WIFP, she worked on the website and the directory, and researched the issue of pornography and violence against women.  She took advantage of her internship by attending numerous lectures and workshops and participating in NCWO's New Faces, More Voices feminist leadership training program.

"I'm not sure what modern feminism is.  One of my tasks here at WIFP is to find out, or at least leave with a better sense of the movement.  And I want the knowledge that independent research has shaped an opinion in me that the conventional media had no say in at all."

"I only recently became interested in women's issues.  Before I left for college, I felt the same discomfort with feminism that numerous people do. At school and now at the Institute, I've begun to question the source of that discomfort and why everyone accepts the negatives stereotypes associated with the movement.  

"The answer, I think, lies in the media -- both its deceptive coverage and omission of women's issues.  People are used to trusting the sources from which they get their news, and while often, yes, those sources are accurate and trustworthy, people forget that newspapers too are corporations with corporate interests.  That can result in an unwarranted sense of security: since their newspapers and TV broadcasters are feeding them ideas and conclusions, they don't have to think for themselves.  Media biases therefore often go unchecked and simply perpetuate themselves."

Dyannah Byington, Amherst College, Amherst, MA

(June 11 - August 3, 2001)

Dyannah Byington was a sophmore at Amherst College majoring in political science. Her political science concentration was in development politics, and she had a prticular interest in African politics. She iwa a senior editor for Amherst's political magazine, The Indicator, and participated in all aspects of its publication. Also, she was the fiction editor of The Amherst Review, a national literary magazine run out of Amherst College, and had interest in writing fiction herself.

Dyannah planned to study abroad the following spring in Durban, South Africa, studying development and reconciliation.

Dyannah took on expanding several categories of the Directory of Women's Media and served as the Managing Editor of the 2001 edition of the WIFP newsletter Voices.

"At Amherst I'm studying political science and am particularly fascinated with African politics. I've always loved to write, particularly fiction, but recently I've stumbled upon journalism. This is my way to write and explore social issues that I care about, particularly regarding international development and sub-Saharan Africa.

"...[I]n my desire to explore development issues through journalism, I've become aware of a greater issue­the issue of who is actually represented in the media. This is an issue particularly relevant in developing countries.... Having a voice in the media is definitely an important step in gaining official political power in a nation. Women in developing countries are the most overlooked and underrepresented segment of society.

"I've begun working on the Directory for Women's Media, researching and expanding the harder to find categories, such as women's radio, news services, selected directories, and media websites. I'm looking forward to working with Cindy on the Associate's newsletter and I'm excited to explore and write interesting articles for it, and hopefully interview some of our associates."

Andrea Singer, Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY

(June 4 - August 3, 2001)

Andrea Singer was a third year undergraduate at Sarah Lawrence College with a concentration in art history, anthropology, and religious studies. She had recently transferred from the University of California at Santa Cruz. Through her previous college experience, she gained theoretical background in women's and gender studies, power structure, cultural autonomy and conflict.

Andrea was focusing on science as information in dire need of dissemination to non-elites, and as a simultaneously pervasive and dangerous, if largely undercover, form of media. "In its construction of the female body and the languages of health and disease, scientific thought walks a fine line between politicized ideology, advertised discreetly in every day life, and a more positive form of media- a territory with the capacity to acknowledge the multiplicity of voices in our culture and dismantle the imperialism inherent to politicized thought," she wrote.

At the Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press, Andrea examined forms of media that have previously been rewritten by women and put to more democratic use. This served as guidance in her own personal project and goal of successfully bringing information on health to elementary, junior high, and high school women. Her interests in health advocacy have proved timely, as Andrea, participanted in the National Council of Women's Organizations' New Faces, More Voices program, and had the opportunity to lobby her Senators on the Equity in Prescription Insurance and Contracpetive Coverage and Women's Right To Know initiatives.

Additionally, Andrea put her talents to work on the production of the print version of the Directory of Women's Media. She also researched listservs run by and for women and these are now included in the Directory of Women's Media. Finally, Andrea served as a contributing editor for the 2001 edition of the Associates newsletter Voices.

"It would be easy to say that my interest in women's voices was stimulated by the death of my mother and the enormous space that left in terms of the childhood dialogue of upbringing, the constant negotiation of one's image in alignment and rebellion with that of the, especially same-gendered, paternal figure. For years following her death, my ability to engage in any form of dialogue suffered. My voice was never suffocated; neglect does not eliminate so much as it intensifies voice by closeting it, making it claustrophobic and dense. Instead the monologue persisted and fragmented; I assumed the solitary voices of myself and my mother. This monologue was both deeply strengthening and illuminating, and isolating.

My interest in women's media is an interest in a network of voices and stories born of both selfish and selfless reasons. In interning at WIFP, I hope to bring the strength and insight I have gained in isolation into a dialogue; I hope to regain a family and a sense of protection and guidance that I lost with my mother when I was only nine. I also hope to gain the tools to, specifically within the area of physical and psychological health, provide a network of voices, questions and answers, for the concerns of youths, pre-adolescents, and adolescents.

In too many ways, the family can be rendered asunder, in spite of all the best intentions. Therefore, it seems to me of dire importance that the family exist as a subunit of a greater sense of a nonjudgmental world community. I believe health, a faction of science, holds promise to be both nonpolitical, individualized, and caring if voice is introduced to the field. I can think of no better way to rewrite my mother's death by disease, in a highly flawed medical system, and without a bed of voices to fall upon, than to bring women's media to young people through their daily concerns with their bodies and minds."

Cindy Lin, University of California, Berkeley

(June 1 - July 27, 2001)

Martha Allen and Cindy Lin

Cindy Lin launched immediately into work on the Directory of Women's Media on her first day.

Not long after that she was creating brochures for WIFP. She designed and put together an overall brochure on the organization, taking material from the website. When that project was accomplished she began putting together material on the internship program. When the two brochures were ready, off she went to the printer, with Martha and Dyannah, to duplicate her creation.

.Cindy was the Design and Layout Editor for the 2001 edition of the WIFP Associates newsletter Voices.

Cindy Lin was a second year major in Legal Studies and Interdisciplinary Studies Field (ISF) at the University of California, Berkeley. She had been actively involved in publications since her junior year in high school. She designed page layouts, took photos, and wrote articles. In her senior year, she became the Editor-in-Chief for the school newspaper. In 1999 she went to UCB and joined The Daily Californian, which is the largest daily publication on campus. She involved herself with the copy desk tasks, online production and paper production details. Due to her organization and administration skills, Cindy was hired as the coordinator to a program manager to publicize and recruit for the program. She is also serving as an editor on another campus publication.

When she graduates, Cindy plans to take a year off to travel and gain life experiences before she heads back to either a law or journalism school to do post-graduate work.

Alexis Luckey, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, VA

(May 29 - July 27, 2001)

Alexis Luckey joined us May 29, 2001 and was with us for two months. She had a double major in History and English Literature at the University of Virginia, considering a career in publishing or journalism. At U.V.A., she was an assistant editor of Meridian, a graduate literary arts journal. She also taught poetry and creative writing to elementary students at a local school. She was most recently published in the April edition of The Virginia Literary Review. She has also been selected to be published in a poetry anthology, "The Silence From Within." The previous semester she had traveled to Nepal, China, and Russia as a participant in a comparative culture program through the University of Colorado at Denver. While abroad, she studied political science and anthropology. Of particular interest to her was a research project on Nepalese women and the flesh trade with India. She was interested in learning more about international gender issues and how these problems can be resolved.

Alexis worked on the Directory of Women's Media, focusing on women's film and video groups, and women's bookstores. She was also a contributing editor to the WIFP Associate newsletter Voices.

"It's often been said that money is power. Information is power too. Unfortunately, most of the women in this world aren't in control of either of these assets, and they suffer because of it. Domestically and internationally, media is controlled by those with a political or economic agenda, rather than available as a free exchange of information.

"I spent last semester travelling to Nepal, China, and Russia as a participant in a comparative culture program through Colorado University at Denver. Nepal, though tragically modernized in many negative spheres, is still living in the dark as far as women's issues are concerned. To my surprise, a male lectured our group on the state of women in Nepal. Ironically, this typifies the voice of Nepalese women; they are not allowed to speak for themselves.

"In many developing countries like Nepal, women are expected to work twice as hard as men, though they are denied basic human rights. Nepalese girls also face the danger of being married or sold into the human trafficking trade as prostitutes in India. Even if these girls are rescued, the stigma of their shame and rejection from their neighbors and society prevents them from speaking out and warning other women. In Nepal, a little information would go a long way in saving women from a life of mute slavery and shame."

Silvia Soriano, Lima Peru

(March 30 - June 30, 2001)

Silvia Soriano was with us for three months. She expanded the Directory of Women's Media, focusing on the Spanish language media.

A new page in Spanish was added to our website covering women's media and media democracy issues. These have been edited and translated by Silvia. Be sure to see this great Spanish language page.

Silvia Soriano found many more Spanish language women's periodicals and groups for the Directory of Women's Media. 

When WIFP Associate and Board Member Kimberlie Kranich visited us at the end of April, we all shared some great bike rides through Rock Creek Park and to the Awakening at Haines Point on the Potomac.

We continue to be in close touch via email and she plans a return visit.

"I was born in Lima, the capital of Perú . I studied primary and secondary in San Felipe School. In those years I learned English in an institute and in some trips with friends to other countries. Since my secondary years in school, I have become very interested in social problems. Although my school is private, the teachers are concerned about the political and social problems of Perú . I enterered the Pontifica Universidad Católica del Perú, the prestigious university in humanities, arts and social sciences in Perú . I entered there for the study of history but decided to study anthropology. I worked in a prison in Lima and saw the reality of the conditions in the prisons: poverty and human rights issues. I later spent two months in a rural part of the Andeas where poverty exists. Poverty and human and political rights are related because the people there need their own representation in my country. My field work for my studies was made in Cuzco about political participation. This will be my thesis for my licenciate."

"Nací en Lima, la capital del Perú. Mis años escolares transcurrieron en un colegio que se dedicaba a tratar algunos cursos con una perspectiva social, tratando de dar a sus alumnos la posiblidad de expresar abiertamente sus ideas. Desde esos años empecé a interesarme por estudiar alguna especialidad de letras, ingresando a la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú en donde realice estudios generales letras pasando posteriormente a la especialidad de Antropología. Durante la realización de mis estudios de especialización tuve algunos contactos con la realidad de mi país, a través de prácticas y trabajos ocasionales relacionados a proyectos de desarrollo. De esa forma me interese por la pobreza, la política y el género como temas principales dentro de mis investigaciones. Siguiendo con esa línea hice mi trabajo de campo en Limatambo, Cusco; acerca de representatividad e imaginario político la cual será mi futura tesis de Licenciatura."

Caledonia Allen, Memphis, Tennessee:

(January 8 - February 4, 2001)

Granddaughter of WIFP Founder Dr. Donna Allen, Caledonia Allen was not new to WIFP. She worked on the Directory of Women's Media, on a website page, and other projects during her internship. Caledonia was also a part-time intern in 1999.

While in Washington, DC, Caledonia participated in the "Study and Struggle Youth Summit" held in Washington, DC February 3-4. WIFP was a sponsor of the conference and activities. Caledonia attended a number of meetings in January, including the monthly meeting of the National Council of Women's Organizations and the annual National Conference for Organizing Resistence held at American University.  

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"I was born and raised in Memphis and have lived there all 16 years of my life. I've gone to the city's public schools and worked for over a year in it's most popular coffee bar. After graduating the 9th grade at Central High, I became a devoted un-schooler getting my education from books, art shows, and daily life. I became involved with groups like Memphis' Food Not Bombs and a local anti-Iraqi sanctions group called the Humanitarian Action Collective (HuAC). I spent a week on an organic farm in Arkansas last spring called Wildfire Farm, and have done research about food co-ops in Memphis in an effort to get easier access to organic foods. I've also worked some with the Green Party of Shelby County but feel more comfortable with local anarchists, who helped turn me on to Food Not Bombs, HuAC, and escorting women past the protesters at a midtown abortion clinic.

"I enjoy studying Spanish and plan on going to a language school in Guatemala this summer to become fluent."