Dare to Dream

The Seven Youth writers/bloggers are reaching yet another deadline. You can just imagine the last minute sounds of typing and telephone calls we all have to make as we go into the next production cycle.

As a group of young gifted writers, we have been able to learn on a day to day basis of basic journalism. This goes to say that a lot of us have not been to any college to take journalism but rather have used our spirit, soul and mind to express our well-written words.

I for one have never considered journalism nor have I had any thoughts of ever being a writer or a person to ever think of working the field of mainstream media. Since I started involving myself with the media, I have learnt a lot from other well-trained journalists like Adrienne Fox-Keesic, Bryan Phelan and many more.

I remember visiting my aunt one evening and perusing through the issue of Wawatay News and she asked me one question that triggered my interest in journalism. I remember so vividly by her asking me “What do you want to be?” I read through the whole newspaper and said, “I want to be a writer!”. Years come flying by, I got into high school. I met a group of reporters from CBC and Wawatay. I remember sitting there as they were interviewing my classmates and me writing notes and pretending I was actually one of them.

Zooming forward, as I got used to writing notes and keeping things memorized, I seen an ad on the newspaper calling for freelance writers to submit stories and photos. I remember my teacher came calling for me with excitement as he said, “James, did you see the ad for writers?” I told him yes and write away he helped me write a note to the editor of Wawatay which began another deeper experience with journalism.

As I started submitting my work, I would sense excitement because this was my dream. I wanted this and thankfully my teacher helped me get to where I am today. Evantually, I landed a co-op job one day at Wawatay News office in Thunder Bay interviewing people who I never thought I’d meet. Being fearful was one thing that kept me back at times but that I had to get rid of ‘cause there is no such thing as being fearful when you are in the field of media. I had to learn to be open, sensitive and caring to others beliefs, opinions and culture. It was no problem at all because I enjoy learning about other people’s lifestyle.

Being with Seven Youth Media is no different. We are taught to be open, caring and of course accepting. Working here has not been a problem, except for when something needs to be done, I always say “later” or “wait”. Lessons learnt, I realized I cannot wait or say later when I am working as a journalist. When a story needs to be done, it has to be done. It is especially because it is still fresh in the mind and it may be of interest to others.

If you are interested in the stuff you see on Seven and you have something to say as well or would like to join in the team, we encourage you to get in touch with us as we’re always looking for new talents in the north.

I have a dream to see our magazine grow from its current 12 pager to a 24 pager. I dream of it being a magazine to save a life and see a stronger future for the NAN Youth.

Indeed Seven Youth Magazine is our seed to plant a brighter future. We strongly believe that. Pc3.