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Amber Nicole Alston – About Life

Published NJ Time

http://maplewood.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/07/20/the-day-the-fruits-of-j-school/#comment-8709

from a Maplewood Resident Amber Nicole Alston

July 20, 2009, 11:06 am

The Day: The Fruits of J-School
By href=”http://southorangemaplewoodnj.com/author/tina-kelley/”
>Tina Kelley The Local J-School Pad in hand and camera on wrist, Paul Adam Bongiorno, 14, of Maplewood, joins the Fourth Estate.Last week, The Local sponsored a journalism workshop for about 10 high school students. We have another such workshop starting up this week at our sister blog in Brooklyn.

We brought in experts who could teach them about journalism ethics, deciding what’s news, crafting a story, editing, taking pictures and making videos.

Then we sent them out in the world so they could actually commit journalism!

Even though we are welcoming them into a profession that seems to be hemorrhaging jobs, we loved seeing their enthusiasm, and have faith that people their age, if not slightly older, will figure out how to continue the news-gathering business far into the future.

Next stop? Maybe a workshop for grownups who want to be citizen journalists. Is there interest for that out there?

Here’s an example of one teenager’s view of the bad economy. Introducing, in its entirety and only lightly edited, a post by star journalism student and future sophomore at Columbia High School, Amber Nicole Alston:

When referencing our teen years, our thoughts often linger to hanging out and exploring with our friends. Though we’ve often found fun for free, being an average teen is far from cheap. With the changing of trends in clothing, technology and activities, expenses tend to add up. As a nation our economy is looking less than hopeful. Everyday the news tells us that adults are losing their jobs and tightening their belts. But the question that goes unanswered is how are these losses affecting their kids, more specifically teens.

Here in Maplewood, a small picturesque town in metro New Jersey, the hints of the recession seem hard to find, but the evidence lies in the many deserted teen hot spots. A few teens embarked on how the recession has influenced their lives and reasons why teens are hard to find.

“Prices have gone up on everything and your parents can’t give you money to go into town,” said Julia Farrell, 14. “Town” being Maplewood’s epicenter of teen activity. “It’s like you get less things that you need.”

Everyday needs for adults and teens are often very different things. Teens ‘need’ clothing, accessories, phones and hand-held games, as opposed to bare necessities – objects which now seem unattainable due to lack of income and new expenses.

“My parents say they need the money for other things,” said Carmen Cortez, 14. Her parents, she said, “have been giving me cheaper thing.”

Dominique , 12, stated, “I only got like three gifts last Christmas.”

When asked, various students thought that getting a job would be an easy remedy. A major problem since the Maplewood job market is on the decline. Sandra Robinson, 58, whose daughter is a 19-year-old college student, commented, “My daughter has been looking for jobs all summer. She can’t splurge as much as she used to, there’s no extra money and I have my mortgage.”

Ms. Robinson said her mortgage, coupled with the laying-off of her husband, has ” forced” her daughter to get a job. Her mother stated that she hadn’t yet found a job because “people who wouldn’t normally be working are.” Meanwhile, she said, “tuition rates are up, so it’s harder for me to give her money”.

The local library, one of the few places where teens can get jobs, has had an influx of job applications for the summer. As you look around the first level, which includes computers and reference materials, you see a variety of teens.

“I’ve noticed an increase in applications and checking out resume books,” noted Maplewood Librarian Karen Paradiso, 58. Also, she said, “the parent’s can’t afford childcare,” which means that the kids and teens have started to go to the local library to hang out.

The affect of the economy in this little tree-lined town can be described as superficial. But the teen existence is just as superficial. Most teens in this town look for the economy and job market to get better so they can keep up with their friends who don’t seem to be experiencing it. But at the same time, as America falls into a deeper financial hole, the quintessential ‘teen existence’ is in jeopardy.

Aside from the cost of hanging out, school fees are just as troubling. Dues, which must be paid in order to participate in school and town sports are, according to 14-year-old Anna Rappaport, “over $100″ and can get pretty expensive.

Jeston Weeks, 26, a teacher in Newark, a neighboring city, has said that the economy has had great effect on his school which serves kids 8-13 from middle to low income families. Programs that were once offered have been cut and fees for uniforms and lunches have left parents “frustrated,” and he himself questioning his job security.

Without teachers, sports, clothes, iPods, family vacation, computers and school supplies the teen life here is on the decline. Until the recession pans out, how do people expect teens to experience what most refer to as “the best years of their lives?” – Amber Nicole Alston