We'd hoped to have Sarah Stuteville, Hunter Grad and co-founder of the Common Language Project on our Indypendent panel Friday, but due to scheduling conflicts she can't make it.
Below is a testimonial from Sarah about her extensive work with the Indy.
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Sarah Stuteville
The Common Language Project
www.CLPmag.org
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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