The School of Authentic Journalism Showed Me It Is Possible to Build a Different World

By Ave Jaramillo
School of Authentic Journalism 2016

March 14, 2017

My name is Esteban Jaramillo but people call me Ave. In these few paragraphs I want to tell you what it meant for me to attend the “School of Authentic Journalism”.

Ave Jaramillo, School of Authentic Journalism 2016

The last ten years I have been writing scripts, mostly comedy. I’ve worked in radio, television and I have produced web content, so I was very surprised when I got accepted to a journalism course. When Iván Ulchur, former scholar and current professor of the School, recommended that I apply, he told me it would be a beautiful experience. He was wrong; it was much more than that.

It is very hard to summarize in just a few words what that week in Mexico meant, spending time with so many talented people who are guided by hope, the hope that building a different world is possible. Photographers, journalists, leaders, communicators, cartoonists, community managers, all working together to combine skills to make all their voices become one single cry.

And moreover, I must stress the importance given to organizing at the school. And I’m not only referring to the organization of the school itself – impeccable – but I found a group that understands that any effort to defeat an unfair and inhuman system can only be effective when it is well organized. In this sense, the value of the professors lies not only on their talent, but on their experience.

To me, having participated in the School of Authentic Journalism meant recharging my batteries, meeting people with whom I want to meet again, and discovering a wonderful country that keeps calling me back. And if none of this were enough, the mezcales of Professor Tiberio’s bar are the best I’ve ever tasted.

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