Winning Essay

Winning Essay: Will Okun

 

Let's not mince words: I am charismatic, handsome, muscular, stylish, articulate, hilarious, intelligent, tenacious and innovative. Oprah wants me on the show, non-profits are desperate for my endorsement and young people hang on every word I speak.

Or not.

 

But as far as I know, the above-described rapper/mogul/semi-philanthropist Jay-Z (who also recently hosted the well-received MTV documentary "Africa: Water for Life") is not a fully accredited high school teacher and is thus ineligible for this amazing opportunity.

Which is where I enter the picture. Not only am I a high-school teacher of good-standing in Chicago, but I am also in possession of the unique perspective that Nick Kristof seeks.

Nearly every day after school, I go to students' houses to shoot photographs of the students with their families and friends. Since our school, Westside Alternative High School, is located in one of the lowest-income communities of Chicago, there is ample opportunity to photograph the poverty which seemingly envelops their lives. SNAP, a picture of a child sleeping on a mattress without sheets. SNAP, a picture of drugs and guns unhidden on collapsing couches. SNAP, a picture of another teenage mother handing her child to the grandmother for a "minute." SNAP, a picture of a young teen violently playing with a malnourished animal. SNAP, a picture of a 12-year-old boy in dirty clothes and no familial support who has no chance for money but to join the gang. SNAP, SNAP, SNAP!

But I do not take these pictures. These pictures have already been taken. Book after book, exhibit upon exhibit depict only the poverty and misery of the current black community in America. Unless you happen to live or work in a black community, it is likely that blacks are perceived by the majority of America as either extremely poor and sad (from the media and photographs) or extremely materialistic and gangsta (from rap music and videos).

Instead, I seek to capture the happiness and joy that can occur in everyday moments and the beauty that exists within every person, regardless of their income. Most importantly, I try to produce unique portraits that capture the essence of each person. Secondly, I want the people to be happy with their own photographs. Nothing gives me greater satisfaction than going into a student's house and seeing my framed pictures on the walls. Lastly, I hope my photographs offer another perspective of black American teenagers that is largely inaccessible to the general public. (My photographs are posted on my www.wjzo.com Web site, which receives over 30,000 views a week from all over the world.)

This is the perspective I will bring to Africa with Nick Kristof. While America is only presented with images representative of Africa's poverty and misery, I will seek stories and photographs that will offer our young people a more comprehensive depiction of African people and culture. I hope my photographs and stories will present young Africans with an opportunity to educate, communicate with and relate to young Americans. In addition, I hope to produce photographs and stories that will emote pleasure and pride from the Africans themselves.

As for the other qualifications of this application, I have taught high-school English and Physical Education to 11th and 12th graders in the Austin community of Chicago for seven years. I am not a miracle worker, but I am a good teacher. My class greatly enjoyed Ishmael Beah's "Child Soldier" story in The New York Times Magazine and made many interesting comparisons between Ishamel's life and that of young gangbangers on the streets of Chicago.

As for my resilience, I was shot in the arm and only missed four days of school. I have traveled extensively throughout the United States pursuing newspaper jobs in the mountains of North Carolina, the Keys of Florida, the Navajo Nation in New Mexico and the commonwealth of Puerto Rico.

Otherwise, I am very professional, dress well, can drive stick-shift and am easily adaptable. I strongly believe in the work of Nick Kristof and would work hard to contribute to his educational efforts. Also, this journey would give me reason to not teach summer school for the first time ever. Talk about JADED!

 

Winning Essay: Leana Wen Published: April 29, 2007

"Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere." – Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

 

 

If we just looked for them, we can find injustices everywhere. Hurricane Katrina exposed Americans to abject poverty and health disparities right in our backyard. Many more injustices exist "over there," in developing nations, that result in millions of preventable deaths and lifetimes of wasted talent and squandered opportunity. I want to fight these injustices and change the world.

My upbringing exposed me to injustices first hand. Raised in a dissident family in China, I came to the U.S. on political asylum after the Tiananmen Square massacre. We were outsiders in a Communist regime and remained outsiders in predominantly Mormon Utah and then inner-city Los Angeles. Though Shanghai, Logan and Compton have little else in common, they all bear witness to the differences between the haves and have-nots, and I grew up keenly aware of the impact of political, cultural and socioeconomic oppression. As a child with life-threatening asthma and debilitating speech impediment, I also confronted the stigma of disability and the challenges of seeking healthcare with limited resources.

Yet the mechanisms to address injustices eluded me. I thought that becoming a doctor would allow me to help those most in need; however, I witnessed more problems than found solutions that had sustainable rather than short-term impact. Our H.I.V.-positive patients would receive antiretrovirals, but we would not know if they had food at home to stave off starvation. Our orphans with pneumonia would be cured with antibiotics, but we are not changing their lives of destitution, chronic malnutrition and forced prostitution. Pills might help the individual patients at that point in their lives, but does not resolve the root causes of their problems.

Global change requires more than pills and individual-level change: it hinges on concerted education and mobilization. Today happens to be the anniversary of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, an acute illustration of preventable atrocities that proceeded because of public silence. The scourge of H.I.V. and the conflict in Darfur has had much more media attention, and many more activists are engaged and many more people are pressuring their governments to take action. Short of bringing everyone to Africa to witness conflict and disease, the next best thing is to find ways to communicate to people who otherwise are content to live in our insular worlds.

It is to learn communication to the public as a method of effecting change that I apply for this opportunity. Doctors are natural storytellers who have the privilege of hearing, seeing and experiencing the lives of our patients. I have heard my patients' stories, and now want to help tell them. Treating a patient's problems and moving on to the next ailment is not enough, and I want instead to convey my patients' stories and describe their communities' struggles. I want to solve global problems by educating and motivating the public to action. I want to learn these tools from you.

Perhaps I am not your typical or even ideal candidate. I am not a journalist. I was born abroad; have had some experiences working in developing countries; and as a Rhodes Scholar-elect and future physician in international health, will seek opportunities to travel and work in other parts of the world.

However, my perspectives are different from and complementary to yours. My life story and experiences working in underserved communities to fight H.I.V./AIDS and advocate for healthcare access may appeal to activists, minorities and youth. I have enough medical training to explain illnesses, but not enough for ailments to become routine or for cynicism to trump idealism.

My overseas experience has been as an aid worker and participant, and now as an observer, I will approach every encounter with fresh eyes. I have written regularly for the medical community, including a blog and a monthly column for The New Physician; my writing to the public will be similarly opinionated and inspired. I will bring to your team incessant curiosity, keen intuition, wry humor, high energy, physical agility and fiery dedication. I aim to make a difference and become a change agent against global injustices; with this experience at The Times, I will have the tools to do so.