Common Interests, Common Goals

2-7-07- Isabella Soto

I’m sitting down with a cup of coffee in my hand, staring at a laptop propped up on my knees. The reluctance to continue working scratches at my attention span.. I stretch my limbs and I walk towards the main work area of the Voices building. I start to hear the chattering sounds of teenagers: a happy, complaining, good-natured cacophony.

I approach the heart of 110 Degrees, and kids are everywhere, squeezed on the couch with their laptops on their knees, others crowded around the tables we use for work area. One youth staff member is talking to a volunteer mentor in the far corner in a low voice. Another youth is situated at one of the desktops, transcribing equipment fully decked out, furiously typing out an interview they’ve done and completely shut off from the chatter behind them. I notice there are some youth missing today, and I know they’re on interviews that they arrange themselves, with minimal help from the editors. This is my job. This is my life and my salvation from the mundane system of high school.

This is my second year working at Voices, and despite certain technological upgrades and the distinctly younger apprentices this year, not much has changed. The new hires come from backgrounds that are the very definition of diversity: some are from Tucson, others from across the globe. It still amazes me that such a diverse group of teenagers can sit in one room, get crumbs on the floor, and work and laugh together like they’ve got years behind them. But Voices has just that effect on whoever walks through the door.

Overall, the process of becoming a youth journalist proves to be an endurance test for the mind and a search of the soul. I shouldn’t speak too soon about endurance in high stress times, as we are just barely into February and have only had our first out of many deadlines. The staff doesn’t know what being on edge is until they have survived March-May at 110 Degrees. This year our stories range from topics such as feminism to abstinence to Child Protective Services—and that’s not even covering half of the subjects the 110 Degrees staff is tackling this year. There are even youth researching topics I’ve never heard of before, like as Druidism.

And in all of these perspectives there’s a harmony in what we all have to say. And that harmony comes from common interests, common goals.