Sarah Stuteville, a recent Hunter graduate, is making her way as an
independent journalist. It's not a career option that journalism
students think of very readily, so many of you may find the following
notes interesting.
Peter Parisi
Sarah Stuteville
The Common Language Project
www.CLPmag.org
-------------------------------------------------------
When I first moved to New York City four years ago with vague plans of
studying journalism I had no idea how or where to begin. I enrolled in
the media studies program at Hunter College, but frankly its
overworked adjuncts and defunct student paper didn't
offer me many opportunities to actually get out in the field and learn
how to report, write, and publish.
I stumbled on The Indypendent by chance. I was planning to attend an
immigrant rights march in Queens and someone at a party mentioned that
it might be the kind of story The Indypendent would want. That was,
really, the first article I ever published and I imagine the editorial
team could tell, but despite my obvious inexperience they kept
encouraging me to contribute. John Tarleton specifically spent many
hours talking with me about potential stories, guiding me through the
reporting process, and helping me edit and rewrite my work.
But not only did The Indy nurture my interest in journalism and
encourage me in ways that my huge commuter school never could, it also
allowed me the opportunity to write about issues that mattered to me
and produce the kind of investigative pieces that really honed my
reporting skills and built my experience as a writer. When my
journalism program insisted that I receive some of my degree credits
from outside internships, I tried a few beyond The Indy. Though those
internships were occasionally interesting, I was back at The Indy as
soon as possible after a semester of updating links and writing about
parking problems in Bay Ridge with other publications.
At The Indy I was writing about everything: labor movements in
Bushwick, court cases in The Bronx, policing schools in Queens, and
deportations in Brooklyn's Little Pakistan. I learned new York City
through The Indy, its neighborhoods, politics and people through the
Indy. Over the past three years The Indy has taught me how to be a
reporter in one of the most challenging and exciting cities in the
world.
By the time I graduated I did so with a couple of awards as a direct
result of my work with the Indy and more experience as a writer and
reporter than most of my peers. I feel confident about the next step,
which is a journalism project in Asia called The Common Language
Project in part supported and sponsored by the Independent Media
Center (IMC).
I would encourage anyone interested in Independent media and in
covering some of the best stories that New York City has to offer to
become a contributor for The Indypendent. For people just learning the
trade in New York City, there isn't a better place to develop a love
for journalism.
"Stuteville Wins Undergraduate Aronson Award"
http://hunter.cuny.edu/news/2005.shtml#stuteville
Sarah Stuteville wins a 2004 Aronson Award for Social Justice Journalism
along with Seymour Hersh, Naomi Klein and Frank Rich…
Sarah Stuteville in The Indypendent:
"Refusing to Be Illegal: Immigrant Labor Tour Rolls Into Queens"/Oct. 2003
http://www.indypendent.org/2003/10/15/refusing-to-be-illegal-immigrant-labor-tour-rolls-into-queens
"The Military Solution: Can Junior Cadets Save Troubled Kids/March 2004
http://www.indypressny.org/article.php3?ArticleID=1363
"Trouble in Little Pakistan"/May 2004
http://www.indypressny.org/article.php3?ArticleID=1470
"The Dirty Dozen: Three Strikes, You're Out of Public High"
http://www.indypendent.org/2004/09/22/the-dirty-dozen-three-strikes-youre-out-of-public-high
"The Trials of Miguel Malo"/Nov. 2005
http://www.indypressny.org/article.php3?ArticleID=2367
"Enemy Mine: A Cambodian Veteran's Personal War Against Landmines/March
2006
http://www.indypendent.org/2006/04/04/enemy-mine-328-award-winning-indypendent-reporter-sarah-stuteville-tells-the-story-of-a-cambodian-veterans-war-on-landmines
"Sex Workers in the City of Joy"/June 2006
http://www.indypendent.org/2006/06/30/sex-workers-in-the-city-of-joy
"Walking Out of Slavery"/June 2006
http://www.indypendent.org/2006/07/01/walking-out-of-slavery
"Bitter Harvest"/July 2007
http://www.indypendent.org/2007/07/25/bitter-harvest
Sarah Stuteville & The Common Language Project
www.clpmag.org
Sarah Stuteville on Learning Journalism at The Indypendent:
http://www.indypendent.org/?pagename=testimonials
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--
Peter Parisi, Ph.D.
Dept. of Film & Media Studies
Hunter College
695 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10021
212-772-4949
"People don't change. They just find out who they are." -- Ray Skean
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