 "Photo: Caleb Miller, Daily Texan Staff")
Fourteen-year-old Alajandra Rodriguez focused a pink Kodak 8.2-megapixel camera on a butterfly landing on a yellow rose in front of the Carver Branch Austin Public Library. She said she was trying to capture it using the “rule of thirds,” a camera technique. It was Rodriguez’s second Latinitas photography workshop, but said she could use the practice.
“I’m looking for a camera for Christmas, so I’ll need to learn how to use it,” she said.
Latinitas, the first digital magazine made for and by Latinas, has held free media camps for all girls ages 8 to 14 at the St. John’s Branch Library for the past two years. Saturday marked the first meeting at the Carver Branch as well as a separate meeting in San Marcos.
Andrea Tapia, a UT advertising freshman and Latinitas volunteer, said the photography workshop helps influence younger girls’ interest in photography. Workshops also taught radio, video, blogging and graphic design sessions.
“It gets the community involved,” Tapia said. “And it gives kids something to do other than watch TV.”
Laura Donnelly, co-founder of the nonprofit Latinitas magazine and Teen Latinitas magazine, said the mission of Latinitas is to empower young Latinas using media and technology.
“There’s a lesser amount of Latinos in the media,” Donnelly said. “Latinitas puts media production in their hands so they have tools to change this.”
Donnelly said that 90 percent of the girls who participate in the programs do not have computers at home, so they are also helping them “in the tech curve.”
Former UT students Donnelly and Alicia Rascon started Latinitas five years ago when they were in a Latinos and Media course.
“We couldn’t find anything in girl media for Latino girls,” Donnelly said.
The majority of the magazine’s content is written by Latina girls in the relevant age groups. Issues they cover include entertainment and serious teen challenges, as well as the geography of Hispanic countries.
Latinitas offers 22 after-school programs in Austin, Round Rock and El Paso and also provides summer camps.
“We are always looking for interns to put in 10 hours a week to help out with two after-school programs,” Donnelly said.
The magazine and its programs are funded by school contracts, grants and donations. For their first upcoming print issue, an insert in El Mundo that will circulate to 30,000 readers, they will use print advertisements for the first time.
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