Make videos, not war

[will_in_chicago]

Here is a story that I came across in the Chicago Tribune. I am pleased to see that someone who can't even vote yet is taking a stand on an important issue and putting her talents to good use.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/entertainment/chi-0704030625apr04,1,6607512.story">Make videos not war
16-year-old anti-war vidcaster stirs up controversy

By Nara Schoenberg
Tribune staff reporter
Published April 4, 2007

A home-schooler with a cat named Pumpkin and pink rubber bands on her braces, Ava Lowery isn't your stereotypical peace activist.

But with her Web site http://www.peacetakescourage.com/page-home.htm">peacetakescourage.com getting 60,000 hits a day, and her homemade videos juxtaposing images of the war with popular music and provocative quotes landing her on CNN, Nick News and the editorial pages of The New York Times, the 16-year-old from Alexander City, Ala., is increasingly a political force to be reckoned with.

In December, Rolling Stone, which had previously praised her "genius videos," listed her with the likes of Al Gore and Stephen Colbert as one of the greatest mavericks of 2006.

Along with the acclamation have come the accusation that Ava is just a parrot for her mother and stepfather, both lawyers, or a front for a liberal organization -- both of which she denies -- and a series of angry e-mail responses and Internet postings, including death threats and the observation, "it's people like you who need to die and get raped while your corpse rots in the sun."

Personally, I thinking trying to threaten someone into silence is as unpatriotic and unAmerican as someone can get. However, Lowery is not being intimidated by those who chose to hate.

Lowery is best known for her video, http://www.peacetakescourage.com/wwjd.html">WWJD? which has some very graphic and disturbing images of wounded Iraqi children.

[Gregorian]

1. Welcome.

Come on in and have a seat. You've found one of the best places on the net. If you look around, you might even find Ava.

[will_in_chicago]

2. Thanks

Thanks, Gregorian.

I have tried to get the word out about the article. It is very easy to be cynical about young people, especially when the mass media sells such negative images of them. Yet Ava and other young people like her help give me faith. (I am a teacher, so I have a lot of faith in our young people -- even if the state of public education in America is deplorable.)

[Ava]

3. thanks will_in_chicago!

:pals:

[hwmnbn]

4. Here's another bump....

for Ava.

Welcome to DU, will in chicago!! :hi:

[will_in_chicago]

5. Glad to be here and glad to spread the word

Thanks. I think that it is important to show that anyone can take a stand against the war in Iraq, and that there are many ways to oppose it. Ava has done so with the medium of video, while others use other formers of media or other actions. We should keep in mind that those who oppose keeping troops in Iraq are now in the majority.