YouthSpace Projects
Alexandra Ramsey began the computer programming, Internet, and web page design for students in the YouthSpace Program at Warehouse 21 in Santa Fe, NM.
Beth McLendon took over as instructor at Warehouse 21 in February of 2000. Beth worked as Web Designer at Panorama Point in Santa Fe for two years before leaving to teach and develop websites and experimental digital environments as co-principal of Freelance Farm. She holds an BA from Yale University and a Masters of Architecture from Princeton University. She has also taught Web Design at Long Island University in New York City and De Vargas Middle School in Santa Fe. Her websites have won numerous awards, including exhibition in ISEA (International Symposium on Electronic Arts). At Warehouse 21, she helped students Jacob Louis and Brendan Pierpont develop the YouthSpace website.
Judith Fein taught creative writing and drama at the Santa Fe Youth Development Program (SF Youth Detention Center) as part of the YouthSpace Program from Fall 1998 to Fall 1999. Judith is an award-winning writer of movies, television, books, plays, operas, magazine and newspaper articles. She is a frequent writer/reporter for Public Radio International’s “The Savvy Traveler”, and has taught acting and directing in Europe and America. She presents the work of her students on her website, www.livefromsantafe.com, under the title, “Kids Behind Bars.”.
Leif Hallberg coordinated the YouthSpace Garden Project (Garden of Youth) at the Life Center for Youth and Adults during the summer of 1999. Leif graduated from Prescott College in December 1999 with a BA in Counseling/Psychology. She has extensive experience working with at-risk youth; developmentally disabled, behaviorally challenged, and emotionally disturbed adults; and has developed programs for drug and alcohol recovery, a Ropes Course, and sexual assault support groups. Her special interest is equine therapy.
Jason Allen has just completed his first semester at Southwestern College of Naturopathic Medicine in Tempe, AZ. Jason was Leif’s assistant on the YouthSpace Garden Project, and directed construction of bridges, paths, ponds, and other critical facets of the garden.
Four Corners Media Project
Phase I
Nicole Margiasso, MA, served as Research Assistant to Dr. McKay-Riddell in Phase I of the Four Corners Media Project. Nicole holds a Masters in Philosophy and Religion with a Concentration in Women’s Spirituality. She served as group leader for Gaia’s Girls, a project designed to cultivate self-empowerment and inner peace for adolescent girls from underserved communities in the San Francisco Bay Area. Nicole has done cross-cultural research in Women’s Mysteries. She has conducted anthropological fieldwork in Mexico, documenting the practices of Mayan midwives. Nicole is also currently writing a book on the Irish goddess Brigid and her sacred places, based on her recent extensive travels in Ireland. Nicole presented her research at the National Women’s Studies Association’s Annual Conference in June of 2008.
Kate Wolf-Pizor, MA, MFT, former Chair of the Residential Master’s program at the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology, served as Clinical Advisor during Phase I of the Four Corners Media Project. She taught at the Institute from 1997 to 2013, served as Chair from 2001 until 2009, and was a founding faculty member of the Master of Arts in Spiritual Guidance program which ITP launched in 2010. In addition to her years at ITP, Kate has taught at Santa Clara University and National University. She is a licensed Marriage and Family Therapist in California and past president of the California State Division of the American Association for Marriage and Family Therapy. Kate and her husband, Jim Wolf-Pizor, recently moved to Ashland, OR, where she serves as a spiritual guide and Celtic priestess and elder
Phase II
Valentine McKay-Riddell, Ph.D., Founding and Executive Director of Orenda Healing International (501.c.3 nonprofit sponsor) and Project Director of the Four Corners Media Project, serves as Producer.
James Perry, Navajo resident of Shiprock, NM, serves as Associate Producer and Cultural Consultant. He has been involved with the Shiprock community and the surrounding area for the past 10 years. Prior to moving back to the reservation, he lived in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he developed a strong interest in filmmaking as a vehicle for positive change. As a Navajo, he is able to communicate effectively with tribal adults and teenagers and to help supervise the teenagers on location. His ability to bridge the generational gap existing between Navajo youth and elders will facilitate the elders’ telling of their personal stories and the ability of the young people to faithfully record them.
Melissa Peabody, award-winning independent filmmaker, serves as Director and Post-Production Editor. Melissa holds a BA with Honors in Humanities from Stanford, and an MS in Journalism from Columbia Graduate School of Journalism. Her most recent film is the acclaimed nature documentary, San Francisco-Still Wild at Heart, which chronicles the arrival of coyotes to our human landscapes across America, and celebrates the urban wildlife populations that so enrich city life. The film, which aired on PBS (KQED) in 2008, won the BEST of FEST Award from the 2008 Hazel Wolf Environmental Film Festival and a 2009 Bronze TELLY Award for cinematography / videography. Melissa also created the video trailer that supported our funding request by combining video shot by the Navajo teenagers with still photos by Leslie King.
Linda L. Carfagno serves as Associate Director. Her professional experience includes 9 years with the Santa Fe Film Festival, 2 years with the Los Angeles Academy Awards, 1 year with the Cannes Film Festival, and 2 years with the Los Angeles Italian Film Festival. She has created a portfolio for the New Mexico State Department of Tourism and was one of the 13 photographers chosen by the Santa Fe Community Foundation to honor Native Americans, including Wes Studi, in 2008. She was also Assistant to the Southwestern Association of Indian Arts (SWAIA) videographer at the 2008 Santa Fe Indian Market.
Luis Guerra, Founding Director of Terremoto Studios, handles audio production. Terremoto Studios is a full service audio production studio providing location recording as well as post production services with an emphasis on original music and sound design for multi media production. Recent musical scores include a commissioned work entitled Flexion for the Miami Center for the Performing Arts, and independent documentaries Caballos de Colores and Woven Songs of the Amazon. His music has been broadcast on NPR’s “Latino USA,” The BBC’s “Global Hit” as well as numerous commercial and recorded projects. He is a voting member of the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, BMI, and was recently voted “Best Producer of 2009” for the New Mexico Music Awards.
Leslie King serves as Still Photographer. She graduated from Whittier College in Whittier, CA, in 2009 with a BA in both American Government and Policy and Studies in Race and Gender. Leslie’s portfolio includes photos of post-Katrina New Orleans (2006-2007) and photo essays of Phase 1 of the Four Corners Media Project. Leslie’s photos comprise a large part of Navajo Stories: The Four Corners Media Project Trailer.