outLoud's Current Crop

We thought you'd like to know who's making outLoud tick these days, so we asked Spring 2008 Youth Producer Robert to introduce you to our merry band of brigands.

Thao

As further supplement to her already legendary outLoud experience, Thao has come back for round two to tackle the San Francisco school districts’s unpopular anti-JROTC policies. JROTC, or the Junior Reserve Officers’ Training Corps, is a military-sponsored leadership class for high school students. The class has recently been the subject of a great deal of criticism from those who find the Boy Scout-esque program inappropriate in a public school setting. As pressure continues to increase for the disbandment of “RO” (partly due to controversy over associations with the military’s ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ policy), Thao captures her peers’ backlash to this unpopular policy through a series of heartfelt interviews from those who have been positively affected by the class’ stern curriculum and important civic lessons! Though Thao has a lot on his plate with this weighty topic, his mega Pro-tools (digital audio-editing) skills and keen artistic hand should lend a mighty, mature presence to his piece…A presence us nubes hopefully won’t lack.

Sushi

Sushi is a vivacious young maiden with a loud voice, a weird name, and a preternatural keenness for linguistics. Framed by her tenacious velour of glamour, eccentricity, and revealing tank tops, Sushi’s bubbling personality is unstoppable. Though somewhat younger than most other interns in the program, Sushi has nonetheless fit well in the high-stakes world of outLoud radio.
Zeroing in on her teacher’s rocky coming-out experience, Sushi’s profile of Mr “Shoe” (as she is fond of calling him) is a sweeping epic on the trials and tribulations that sometimes come with being gay in an Asian family. Mr. Hsu convincingly describes the questionable methods his father engaged to “turn his son straight”, and recounts the emotional strain these efforts had on an already taut relationship. The small snippets we’ve heard so far have been extremely moving, and I’m very excited to see what new angles she might take in this riveting drama.

Sara Wood (instructor)

Jokes about her name aside, Sara is definitely one of the swellest certified grown-ups the world’s ever seen, and Manifest Destiny must have had a hand in her volunteering for outLoud. Unlike her expansionist compatriot James K. Polk, however, Sara’s divine powers of Pro-Tools trickery leaves the world a much better place—and is far friendlier to Mexicans.

Sara racks up points for her charming interest in obscure French films, as well as her allegiance to hip indie bands. Many a precious editing moment has been fruitfully wasted as the team stares in wonder at her tousled brown hair and flattering compliments, perpetually allied with her green hoodie and caring nature. And Sushi has certainly not let this adorableness go by unmentioned.

Robert

Robert is the rather tall bookish fellow who is currently writing these bios. Among his many lofty aspirations are his keen wishes to not fail French and Pre-Calculus this semester, though these appeals have fallen on deaf ears and unmerciful teachers. Though his time with outLoud has been somewhat treacherous (i.e. lost equipment, long train rides, awkward propositions from homeless women, etc.), he feels it has been an entirely fruitful experience which will only continue to ripen. As his quest for stereotype-driven fallacies among LGBT sympathizers continues to broaden, Robert can only speculate how the finished product will turn out. But hopefully, with enough fresh ingredients, he can make a damn hearty piece of journalism.

Noah Miller (Director)

Bred off the witty banter and stirring drama of Prairie Home Companion and Star Wars radio adaptations, Noah enjoyed an eye-opening education at Oberlin College in Ohio, a famed liberal arts college renowned for its thriving LGBT community (and corn fields). Though notable in almost every other venue of the liberal arts, Oberlin did not put much emphasis on radio. As his fondness for the medium grew, Noah moved back to the Bay Area, and started spending time with the whippersnappers at his old Middle School’s Gay-Straight Alliance. There, the epiphany of queer youth-themed radio soon began to take hold. “Imagine, gay kids running around with microphones and hearts full of hope!!!” he pondered. “It’s so crazy, it just might work!” outLoud radio was born.

It didn’t take long before Noah was playing the counter-culture pirate radio station field with a charming band of well-meaning anarchist gays. After a well-armed visit from the FCC, Noah led outLoud undeterred into its new life as a media-training internship.

But Noah isn’t the sum total of his efforts and contribution to outLoud: he’s a great guy who we’ve all come to love and adore. Whether it’s his excessive generosity in regards to hummus, or his obscene willingness to walk to your house in the pouring rain to get you an audio recorder…there’s just too many reasons to like Noah.

Julianna Sassaman (Assistant Director)

Though visits from Julianna have been regrettably rare this training cycle, what with her ubiquitous soccer tournaments and other hip extracurricular outLoud functions, they are always characterized by merrymaking and hip-hip-hurrahs. Julianna always has enough enlightening social commentary to last her through the preceding week, if not the month or so between appearances. As both a devoted follower of underground woodworking publications and a motivated athlete, Julianna is a hit from all sides of the outLoud hobby/interests water cooler. We are also both in cahoots for making the first official outLoud t-shirt, though it may indeed be wishful thinking on my part. Nevertheless, Julianna is a cunning dude with a surplus of moxy and the darndest smile you ever did see... Stay sharp for those pearly whites!

Elena

Armed with a heart of gold and a thirty six-caliber word processor, this fiery maiden of Lowell’s unassuming journalism room is a force to be reckoned with. Her upcoming piece on the experiences of transgender youth athletes should provoke a firestorm of compassionate debate with its impassioned plea for gender tolerance and consideration. Citing her own school district’s un-recognition of the problem, Elena hopes to engage a new perspective in a gender equality issue that’s hitherto gone unnoticed—even in America’s most exuberantly progressive city. Will justice smile upon Elena’s ostentatious attempt to right a profound social wrong, or will the forces of apathy triumph once again? The former of course!

Diego

Though recently subverted in an amiable attempt at a wicked cool 70’s gay disco house party, Diego Ruiz is not the kind of guy to lie down in a ditch and bemoan existence. Accompanied by an alarmingly clear complexion and a categorical knowledge of riot grrrl bands, Diego certainly has a lot to live for. As a senior at Lick-Wilmerding High, Diego has found numerous outlets for adoration of this culturally significant movement (lengthy discussions, heated arguments, ten page history essays, etc.) but none has proved so introspective as his piece with outLoud. Diego’s uncanny insight into this short-lived though vastly influential genre has provoked some interesting table talk, and should prove to be yet another outLoud treasure.

Amy Jeffries (Instructor)

Amy Jeffries is an no-nonsense firecracker from the fires of Mt. Doom, otherwise known as Cal Berkely’s Communications Department. Not wishing to overextend herself, she is currently earning her Communications Masters, keeping things rolling at outLoud, and also placing the finishing touches on her self-produced radio opus. Don’t let the busy-bee cover fool you, though, she’s weathering this storm of intellectual rigor with a firm hand and a “Thao, you’re wrong! ” attitude.

Amy’s former work experience as a program producer for a Connecticut-based NPR station makes her unique among our advisors as a card-carrying journalist (not counting Noah’s anarcho-laundromat dealings). Amy has also established herself as the yardstick-wielding disciplinarian of the bunch—a characterization to which she heartily subscribes. One thing’s for sure though, this Walter Cronkite’s definitely a keeper!