Miriam:
Why media literacy as opposed to…I mean I know you have a holistic approach. So basically, everything here is important, but can you come up with kind of a couple of justifications and say for if you were to write a grant asking for money to do a media project, why would you be saying this is important for our community?

Marlo:

Okay. I think, for me, it comes down to a voice and the fact that people have different ways of voicing their selves, and their experiences, and their needs, and their hopes. And it’s not okay just to have one medium or one mode of offering that and of creating that. I mean I was fortunate that I grew up with a lot of music in my house, and had access to taking lesson, and was in the jazz band in school, and that played a major role in my life. So yeah, I came into an organization as an artist and with a major soft spot for any kind of creative forms of expression.

I think I’ve also been very fortunate to learn a lot about the computer, and to kind self teach, and to learn skills along the way, and I’ve been curious, and that has propelled my desire to open up new doors for us as an organization. So yeah, I think it’s about embracing diverse forms of communication and of also activism. People have different ways of moving things in society. Some people like to write letters to local politicians. Some people like to change by-laws like at our AGM last night. Some people like to march in the street. Some people will create podcasts and fire them off around the world. There are so many different ways of voicing out and of acting, so we have to embrace that.

Miriam: Can you talk a bit about the idea of curiosity and how it works in your work with youth?

Marlo:

It’s a tough question. I don’t know. For me, I think curiosity is about helping youth to find a quiet place where they can look inside themselves and find the little sparks and then say, “Okay, let’s fan those. Let’s fan those. Let’s make a bonfire and roast some marshmallows. Let’s have a camp.” And really, I mean everybody has those little embers inside. I mean we all have a desire to learn and to experience the world around us. Whether or not that’s been cultivated or encouraged is another thing.

So when it comes to media, I think it’s about facilitating access. It’s about facilitating comfort. It’s also about bringing people together so that it’s not an isolating experience. It’s about creating something that’s going to be fluid and not static so you won’t feel somehow frozen in time or locked in somewhere. Yeah, I think that’s what comes to my mind when I think about cultivating and encouraging curiosity with youth.