On Wednesday, November 28, 826LA in Mar Vista welcomed over thirty students, parents, and volunteers to celebrate the release of the final Westside newspaper issue we published in 2012. It also happened to be the last issue of The Venice Wave. Our journalism workshop, which is busier than ever before, isn’t going anywhere. Rather, after our move to Mar Vista, our students felt a name change was in order.
Before the party started students offered up new name suggestions, with playful titles such as The Crystal Dolphin Times and Mermaid Vista Wave going up against the more classic-sounding The Mar Vista Wave and The Mar Vista Gazette. A dozen students shared their articles from December's health and fitness issue, reading to a captivated audience. We learned about ant-proofing your home, the health benefits of carrots and smoothies, how best to survive a zombie apocalypse, a family recipe for a Peruvian drink called caspiroleta, and more.
With bellies full of pizza and juice, we then settled down to the difficult task at hand: choosing a new name for the paper. The evening wound through a series of voting cycles, and we narrowed it down to three terrific titles: Vista del Mar Vista, Viva Mar Vista, and The Mar Vista Messenger.
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Kids, parents, tutors, and staff all voted in a final round. With six votes going to Vista del Mar Vista, eight to The Mar Vista Messenger, and an impressive fourteen votes for Viva Mar Vista, it was decided. Cheers erupted as we announced that students will now be writing for Viva Mar Vista, a title suggested by after-school tutoring student Ashley. (There may have been a little “Viva Las Vegas” singing too.)
Now that January 2013 has arrived, our students are back at 826LA to continue learning about research and reporting, and students and volunteers are welcome to get involved! We’ll fondly remember The Venice Wave … but for now, we say ¡Viva Mar Vista!
