For those of you who don’t know what or who the UpTake is, let me inform you now. It is definitelyy one of the most rockin citizen journalist efforts to spring from the offices, basements, and living rooms of Minnesota.
It is also the brainchild of St. Paul activist and sculptor Jason Barnett, Minnesota Stories creator Chuck Olsen, and Mike McIntee, producer of Inside Minnesota podcasts. Not only have they stayed up late covering all things Minnesota politics, but they also have loyal bloggers, video journalists, and writers all over the country covering this wacky thing we call the election. Their motto is, “Will journalism be done by you or to you?”
I sing their praises on the Walker blog because we here in ECP will have the pleasure of working with these nice fellas during the summer months on the Walker’s Unconvention project, “I Approve this Message.” It’s a project that will hopefully incite the Twin Cities and beyond to explore what is democracy, and what does participating in it look like despite the craziness that will be our metro area in the first week of September. Ordinary citizens like you and I will roam the streets armed with video camera and microphone to find out what people think about this election and our role in it.
So, congratulations, UpTake folks! We’re working with the best!