Digital Commons Network^™

Teach Me How, Asmy Fayad

Capstones

In Teach Me How, director Asmy Fayad shows how the new generation are being educated on gender identity. Some parents believe that their kids should learn about gender identity at an early age either at school or at home. These parents take their kids to events such as the Drag Story Hour at the libraries or parks, for them to learn about gender identity and interact with Drag Queens. However, other parents are against this type of education because of their own beliefs that would be explored.

New York City Homeless Queer Youth Face Harsh Realities; Advocates Fight For Change, Randi R. Love

Capstones

New York City unhoused youth face years of harsh realities because the lack of knowledge and policies that exist to aid them don't provide the protections and outreach to assure they don't live on the streets or in bad situations for years to come. These youths experiences are exacerbated when sexuality or gender are included.

https://randilove.github.io/capstone-2022/

Unpure: Serving The Purity Culture Deconstruction Community, Julia Capizzi

Capstones

Unpure: Serving the Purity Culture Deconstruction Community is an in-depth understanding of how engagement journalism can serve those who are deconstructing, or unlearning, harmful religious beliefs around sex and sexuality.

Engagement Journalism In Action: Supporting New Yorkers With Long Covid, Sarah Luft

Capstones

What do asthma and long COVID have in common? 1 in 13 U.S. adults are living with them. This report is a recap of my efforts to address the information needs of New Yorkers with long COVID as a student in CUNY's Craig Newmark Graduate School of Journalism engagement program. For my final project, I partnered with THE CITY, a nonprofit news outlet serving New Yorkers, to expand the MISSING THEM project. The report details the what, why, and how of my engagement reporting process, including a community engagement framework, a service journalism series, and lessons to carry forward. You …

Preservando La Playa Del Pueblo, Tasha A. Sandoval

Capstones

After more than 80 years, the only queer beach in New York City, the People’s Beach at Jacob Riis, is in danger. In 2022, the city announced the demolition of the Neponsit Hospital, a long-abandoned structure that shelters the beach from the street, creating a sense of privacy and safety. Can Riis Beach live on as a safe and joyous utopia for queer communities without the presence of the hospital buildings? Some beach-goers are campaigning to ensure that whatever replaces the hospital space centers the queer community and preserves the beach’s queer history, including the legacy of Ms. Colombia, a …

The Tale Of Two Leagues: Is There A Wage Gap Between The Nba & Wnba, Isaiah D. Johnson

Capstones

This capstone takes a look at the differences between the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Women's National Basketball Association (WNBA). The capstone looks to find any similarities and looks to see if there's truly a wage gap between the two professional leagues.

Report Card: Nyc's Student-Powered Newsroom, Julian Roberts-Grmela

Capstones

During my time in the engagement journalism program at CUNY, I aimed to use journalism to serve the community of students in New York City’s public school system. At first, I tried to serve students through my reporting, by aiming to center student perspectives in education-related stories in order to uplift their feedback about the system. But I realized I could do more to report with students, instead of just about them. So, during my final semester, I launched Report Card: NYC’s Student-Powered Newsroom. Report Card is a Substack-based newsletter and a training program for middle-high school aged students …

Reclaiming South Asian Beauty, Rizwana Zafer

Capstones

Shows like Never Have I Ever, Bridgerton, and Love Is Blind have put South Asian beauty at the forefront of American media. However, the increased popularity of these shows has also reignited an interest in the appropriation of South Asian beauty trends. Through their work in the beauty industry and social media, Arpita, Susana Mollick, and Soni Kohli are reclaiming South Asian beauty in the face of appropriation.

Link to capstone project:

https://medium.com/@rizwana.zafer81/reclaiming-south-asian-beauty-9d8484f00a14

Black Cosplayers Push For Proper Dark-Skinned Character Representation In Media, Taylor K. Johnson

Capstones

As cosplay continues to rise in popularity at comic conventions, anime conventions and on social media, Black cosplayers push for media companies to invest in adding more dark-skinned characters in their shows and games.

Latinos Move The Us Economy, But Hardly Get To Write About It, Ana T. Sola

Capstones

Cuando se escribe sobre la economía, hay que incluir una diversidad de voces en la historia porque todo el mundo participa en la economía de una forma u otra. La misma filosofía debe aplicarse a quien escribe estas historias. Sin embargo, dentro de todas las complicaciones que existen dentro de la industria de las comunicaciones, hay un problema en particular desatendido.

El campo de estudios económicos tiene fama de carecer de expertos de diversa procedencia, y parece repetirse en la industria del periodismo. Antes de este proyecto, solo se me occuría un puñado de periodistas latinos especializados en el area …

One Man's Pregnancy Story, Yvonne S. Marquez, Paige A. Perez

Capstones

Pregnancy is a challenging time for anyone. For LGBTQ people there are unique obstacles that make it especially difficult to navigate a medical system that was not built for them. Finn Schubert is trans and six months pregnant. He’s loving the experience but stressed by insurance claim denials, concerns for his safety, and medical incompetence.

This capstone project includes a 20-minute documentary, text, and a photo essay.

The Bronx Solidifies Itself In The Fashion World With Borough-Based Nonprofit, Nicholas R. Hernandez, Demetria Osei-Tutu

Capstones

Bronx-born nonprofit organizer, Flora Montes, founded Bronx Fashion NYC in 2014. The organization aims to establish Bronx-centric fashion-event opportunities and better representation in an industry where access is often unattainable for people of color or of limited means—or who happen to come from the Bronx, a borough often perceived by some as un-chic despite boasting a culturally thriving history of innovation in both fashion and music.

With Bronx Fashion NYC, Montes is working on putting Bronx models and local designers on the map with multiple fashion shows and paving the way for the future with the addition of a start-up …

The Party’S Over: How Russia’S War On Queers Spelled Its Downfall, Lucy Papachristou

Capstones

The test of any democracy, the Russian philosopher and sexologist Igor Kon once wrote, lies in how it treats the citizens it most despises. In Russia, the government of Vladimir Putin has fashioned many enemies: migrant workers, ethnic and religious minorities, and women. But none have come under such vicious fire as the LGBT. As the war in Ukraine rages and Putin tightens his grip on power domestically, an almost obvious story unfolds: that this all began long ago, with the queers. And it is Russia’s queers — scorned, brutalized, shunned, and exiled — that can best tell the story …

Queer Stories Don't Change Queer Lives, Bhaskar Choudhary

Capstones

Queer representation in films is increasing, and some countries might be doing a better job of depicting the population, with their limited freedom, than the United States. It doesn't often change reality, but perhaps the fact that queer people and queer movies exist is a cause of celebration in itself.

Are The Kids All Right? What Tv Shows Get Wrong About Teen Dating, Radhamely E. De Leon

Capstones

Dating culture and sexuality have changed so much for teens over the years but shows like Euphoria, Gossip Girl and Sex Education seem to stick to the same narratives and bad practices, even as consumers have voiced that they want more from show creators. This article explores how teens feel about the way popular television shows portray characters their age and the realities of teen dating. https://rdeleon915.github.io/capstone/

The Drive For Disability, Aliyah Walker

Capstones

After recent inclusivity movements, the fashion industry had a reckoning that they need to do better when it comes to diversity. Size, age, and gender have started to have better representation in recent years; however, disability representation is still lagging. If the fashion industry wants to become truly inclusive, it needs to start representing disabled individuals positively and regularly both on the runway and in campaigns.

Link to Capstone Project: https://medium.com/@aliyah.walker83/the-drive-for-diversity-b29288adc482

Venezolanos En New York, Mariel V. Lozada

Capstones

The process of developing a website with information about the bureaucratic process for the immigrants in the city, especially focusing on the Venezuelans and a five steps guide with the most basic information a newly arrived immigrant may need. The idea behind is to deliver useful content that would live in their inbox so they can revisit it easily anytime they want, even without having an internet connection, and, if the reader wants to deepen their knowledge, can visit the website for more in-depth coverage of these topics.

Trans Sex Workers - A Community In Resilience, Alejandra Pedraza Buenahora

Capstones

By exploring the ways the trans sex worker community supports itself and all the tactics community leaders are using to support community members, this engagement journalism projects details the way journalist can service the trans community and aid in their information acquisition needs. By using an array of journalistic skills this capstone explores what journalist can and should do to build trust with trans community members to better report on the experiences of individual community members. Here you will find detailed lessons learned from interviews, informal chats, reporting and gatherings with trans community leaders in the city of New York.

De La Discriminación A La Descriminalización: El Camino De Las Mujeres Transgénero De Queens Por Sus Derechos Laborales Como Trabajadoras Sexuales, Bruce Gil, Sara Herschander, Juanita Ramos

Capstones

Una mirada a la legislación propuesta que despenalizaría el trabajo sexual en la ciudad de Nueva York a través de las historias de las trabajadoras sexuales inmigrantes transgénero que se están organizando en Queens, Nueva York.

http://trabajadorxssexuales.tilda.ws

Living Positive, Cheyann Harris, Emani King Mack

Capstones

A short documentary by Emani King Mack & Cheyann Harris, that focuses on Black men who are living with HIV. This film features the stories of Malik Davon, Jah Love, and Melchizedek Roberson to destigmatize, empower, and set a new precedent in media on how to cover people living with HIV.

Link to capstone: https://cheyannharris.wixsite.com/livingpositive

Femicides: The Other Growing Epidemic We Don’T Want To See, Natalia Gutierrez

Capstones

This report analyzes how gender-based killings is a growing topic within the feminist community of New York and Mexico City and how the use of the right terminology is essential to understand the scope of the problem. I worked for 18 months with the feminist community in both cities and the term ‘femicide’ came over and over in the interviews Femicide, how it is referred in the rest of the world, is the intentional killing of women or girls because they are female, and it is a growing epidemic in the U.S. and in Mexico. I interviewed more than 40 …

Poetic Self Expression, Impact, And Activism, Mariah Thomas

Capstones

Poetic Self Expression, Impact, and Activism revolves around Black women activists and how they used poetry to fight against racial and social injustice.

Link: https://medium.com/@mariaht/poetic-self-expression-impact-and-activism-a98c7f3385b2

The Healthcare Changemakers Podcast And Existing Conditions .Press, Emily Lowinger

Capstones

A podcast made from live interviews with healthcare changemakers.

http://existingconditions.press/podcast

No One Told Me What Infertility Would Be Like For A Black Man. That's Because Nobody Knows., Keith "Jared" Wright, Zachary Smith

Capstones

I am a 34-year-old, 6-foot-3 Black man who weighed over 330 pounds. In navigating my infertility journey, I noticed a major disparity in donors throughout sperm banks all over the country. Additionally, I noticed that while male infertility is rarely discussed in general, it is significantly more suppressed in Black and Brown communities. An open dialogue and more transparency can hopefully ensure that those suffering from this condition can have an easier road in their journey than their predecessors.

https://zacharysmith90.github.io/capstone/

Engaging Black Girls And Women From The Capital Region, Neimra Coulibaly

Capstones

Black girls and women sit at the intersecting identities of being Black and women in an anti-Black, patriarchal, misogynistic society. There are certain experiences that Black women in the United States endure due to historically negative perceptions of Black women.

When I decided to be a part of the engagement journalism program at the Newmark Graduate School of Journalism at CUNY, I decided to cover the community of Black girls and women from Schenectady, New York, and the rest of the Capital Region or what I call the (518)

For the past year and a half, I have covered the …

Working With West African Hair Braiders In Nyc, Houreidja Tall

Capstones

This project is a culmination of collaboration efforts with a group of West African hair braiders in Harlem, New York City. Through listening efforts, a WhatsApp group was formed.

https://houreidja-tall.medium.com/reflections-on-working-with-west-african-hair-braiders-in-nyc-5086a173ac9c

Hips That Harm: When Medical Devices Fail Women, Sophie N. Putka

Capstones

Medical devices that save the lives of thousands of Americans each year advance at a rapid pace - but some of them consistently leave women behind. When it comes to joint replacements and even heart devices, women have worse health outcomes. Behind this preventable problem is a system that overlooks women from start to finish. Female bodies are different from male bodies, but women are often underrepresented in medical trials for device approval. Women’s participation in clinical testing for devices has increased, but there’s rarely a detailed analysis of performance by sex, and even less information on women by race …

Resilientxs: El Impacto De La Covid-19 En La Comunidad Trans Latinx De Nueva York, Oscar Molina, Ariel Goodman

Capstones

The Trans Latinx Community has been one of the most harmed due to the coronavirus pandemic in New York. According to a survey by the Williams Institute at the University of California Law School (UCLA), there were 17,300 self-identified transgender Latinas in 2016 in the State of New York. Most of them are people of color, undocumented, without any type of health insurance or job stability. To these vulnerabilities must be added the violence and prejudices that still exist against this community, which affect the equality of their rights.

There is no official data that shows how many transgender people …

‘No Possible Peace’: Rising Construction Worker Deaths In New York And Tennessee, Ana Lucia Murillo, Mary Conlon

Capstones

Construction worker fatalities and injuries are a growing problem across the U.S. And for a myriad of factors, death rates are higher in the Southern and Western U.S. than in other regions. Over 1,000 construction workers died from injuries received on the job in 2019, according to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, many of whom are Latino workers. Now, advocates and workers are demanding reform after years of diminished regulation and little oversight that have cost numerous lives. Link to capstone project: https://medium.com/@analucia.murilloa/no-possible-peace-rising-construction-worker-deaths-in-new-york-and-tennessee-796f757dd199

Gun Country, John Philp

Capstones

This report discusses Gun Country, a multi-format online project that serves as the capstone of my Social Journalism Masters degree at the Craig Newmark Graduate school of Journalism. The report begins by exploring the community the project was built to serve, the gun safety community, made up of survivors of gun violence, their friends and family and other advocates for gun violence prevention. The report then details what I determined to be the community’s storytelling needs, and discusses the approach I took to address these needs, by building a multi-format website that weaves together news, storytelling, dialog and advocacy. …