"I am a life-long resident of Bushwick, Brooklyn - a beautiful community besieged by gun violence" - Jesus Gonzalez.

*Mr. Gonzalez will be live chatting about gun control and school safety with Radio Rookies and Youth Radio from 1-2pm.

On Sunday, January 20th, President Obama was officially sworn in to his second term as president, but yesterday he shared his moment with the public at the inauguration ceremony. There were many great moments of the entire day, but Obama’s speech is what most people were waiting for (that and Beyonce’s singing of course)!

By giving New York City teenagers the tools to tell stories specific to their realities for over a decade, it is no surprise that Radio Rookies’ stories reflect how some teen issues have evolved over the years. This is especially true when it comes to the thin line between gossiping and bullying. Going through the Rookies archive, one can hear how the emergence of the internet and social media has amplified this issue.

Radio Rookies hosted an in-class live chat to coincide with a new story about sexual cyberbullying. Rookie Reporter Temitayo Fagbenle hosted a facilitated online conversation for high school students to discuss the issues her story brings to light.

In November, Radio Rookies took part in the Mozilla Festival -- in London! The festival is all about teaching everyone to be a webmaker. Presenters come to show off their own hard work but are also there to teach young people and educators their skills.  People have the chance to actually use the tools they learn to make things there at Moz Fest. 

Jessica Klein grew up in The Rockaways, and Rookie Grad turned Rookie Producer, Veralyn Williams followed her as she made her way to her parents' house after the storm.

Three cheers for another successful year! Bravo to our youth organizers who did an incredible job of creating what is a now a great tradition of bringing together youth, youth media enthusiasts and media professionals! 

I've had Sickle Cell Anemia since the day I was born—17 years ago. Despite what some of my friends think, Sickle Cell is not a disease you can get rid of! September is Sickle Cell Awareness Month and I thought I’d take the time to remember my Uncle Jhonnie.

The game is on! You can now enter to win cash prizes and bragging rights as this year's festival slam competition is now accepting entries.   

Recently a New York Times article delved into the issue of online gaming and sexual harassment. “Sexism, racism, homophobia and general name-calling are longstanding facts of life in certain corners of online video games.” But when do we draw the line?

When online gaming becomes a type of misogynistic and bigoted-bullying that goes beyond the world of avatars.

Radio Rookies attend "Bully" Movie Screening at the Village Cinema, hosted by Hive Learning Network.  

Radio Rookies took a trip to the Catskills -- tasting a bit of fresh air, away from the hustle and bustle of the city and enjoyed the star filled night skies.  The trip was a tremendous success (we didn't get eaten by any bears!).

With the pressure of standardized tests, being graded by your boss and having those grades made public, and managing over-capacity classrooms with limited resources, we doubt that anyone would say it's easy to be a NYC public school teacher.  So in honor of all the teachers in our city, here's an oldie but a goodie from the Radio Rookies archives: Teacher, one boy's celebration of a teacher's life and work.

As part of our current Neighborhood to Neighborhood workshop, a group of Rookies are reporting on the NYPD's Stop and Frisk policing policy in public housing projects on the Lower East Side. WNYC's award-winning reporter Ailsa Chang has reported extensively on stop and frisk. She met with Rookie Reporters Temitayo Fagbenle and Vincent Marrero to give them some ideas about how to deepen their investigation.

A recent New York Times article reveals that 41 percent of Mexicans in New York City between 16 and 19 have dropped out of high school, which is the highest drop out rate for any population in the city.   A few years ago Radio Rookies aired this story from Radio Rookie Christian about the extremely limited options available to him as an undocumented youth, even if he did finish high school and go to college.

Radio Rookies producers and Grad Rookie Rayon Wright are in London as part of the Hive Learning Network for the Mozilla Festival. The Festival brings together web and media makers to explore the frontiers of the open web. Young Londoners came out and learned to make audio podcasts, hack and remix boardgames and websites, become video reporters and design a digital hang-out space.

We're currently trying something new: running two simultaneous workshops and calling it Neighborhood to Neighborhood. In partnership with Facing History and Ourselves, Radio Rookies will be producing multimedia stories about their neighborhoods in Crown Heights, Brooklyn and the Lower East Side of Manhattan. 

Recent census data shows poverty rates are climbing all over the country and children are being hit particularly hard, with one in five of them living below the poverty line.  In 2009, Rookie Reporter Miguelina “Erikka” Diaz reported on how the stress of being poor affected her and her family as they struggled to pay the bills and find money for the extras that kids always need, like money for class trips and senior prom. The Pew Hispanic Center reports that more Latino children are living in poverty than children of any other racial or ethnic group.