MediaStorm publishes Driftless: Stories from Iowa

Driftless: Stories from Iowa by Danny Wilcox Frazier Life in Iowa can be punishing. Many Iowans expend their lives sweating over soil and spilling the blood of livestock; they endure the hardships associated with a life inextricably bound to the ups and downs of nature. Today, those challenges and a shift in our nation's economy have pushed the youth of rural communities to migrate to the metropolises of America. Those left in the wake of this out-migration continue their lives, seemingly unchanged from the generations that preceded them, and entombed in obscurity. The tension of contemporary rural life plays out here: the struggle of a family farm to continue, disenfranchised youth, the slaughterhouse, migrant labor, and the aged fading from Iowa's mythical landscape. Through their stories we gain insight to a way of life that is disappearing, a culture that could be lost forever. As "community" continues to be homogenized in zones…

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MediaStorm Workshops present Beautiful Noise

The third MediaStorm Advanced Multimedia Workshop was held December 6-12, 2008. The project, Beautiful Noise by Morag Livingstone, Mareile Paley, and Kimberley Porteous is now online. Kirk and Evelyna are raising their children in a small New York City apartment far from her home in Germany. They try to stay optimistic while coping with the current economic crisis. See the project. Dates for the 2009 MediaStorm Workshops: Workshop Four: March 7-13, 2009 - Application Deadline: Friday January 23, 2009 Workshop Five: May 2-8, 2009 - Application Deadline: Monday March 30, 2009 Workshop Six: August 8-14, 2009 - Application Deadline: Wednesday July 1, 2009 See the site for more information.

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MediaStorm publishes Intended Consequences

Intended Consequences by Jonathan Torgovnik During the 1994 genocide, Rwandan women were subjected to massive sexual violence, perpetrated by members of the infamous Hutu militia groups known as the Interahamwe. Among the survivors, those who are most isolated are the women who have borne children as a result of being raped. Their families have rejected both them and their children, compounding their already unimaginable emotional distress. An estimated 20,000 children were conceived during the genocide in Rwanda, and many of their mothers contracted HIV during the same encounters that left them pregnant. They feel they have lost their dignity, are alone and utterly powerless. Intended Consequences chronicles the lives of these women. Their narratives are embodied in portrait photographs, interviews and oral reflections.

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The MediaStorm Workshops present: An Apollo Legend

The second MediaStorm Advanced Multimedia Reporting Workshop recently wrapped up, and we are excited to present their project: An Apollo Legend by Ricky Montalvo, Bernadette Tuazon, & Evan Vucci. At the Apollo Theater, the audience is judge and jury for the hundreds of eager performers who come to Amateur Night at the Apollo each year. Some make it, many don't, all become part of the legend of the Apollo. See the project. Our next Workshops will be: * Workshop Three: November 15-22, 2008 * Workshop Four: December 6-13, 2008 Application deadline is today- if you're interested in attending, get that application in, or let us know if you have any questions.  Visit the site for more information about the Workshops.

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MediaStorm Publishes Common Ground

Common Ground by Scott Strazzante On July 2, 2002, Jean and Harlow Cagwin watched as their home — the last remnant of their 118-acre cattle farm in Lockport, Illinois — was torn down clearing the way for a new housing development. Several years later, Ed and Amanda Grabenhofer and their four children moved into the new Willow Walk subdivision, their house just yards from where the Cagwin's home once stood. Common Ground introduces us to the lives touched by this land, as photographer Scott Strazzante takes us on a visual journey exploring the differences and similarities of these two families while simultaneously asking us to look at what is common among us all.

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