60second Recap Declares War
"Literature is fun ... REALLY!" says Jenny Sawyer, launching a $50,000 crowdfunded campaign to prove her point
BOSTON, April 13, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- 60second Recap, the video study guide staple of classrooms and dorm rooms throughout the English-speaking world, today called on its global community to join an all-or-nothing war against teen apathy, boredom, and annoyance with the classic literature they're forced to read in school.
"We can't do it alone -- and, frankly, we wouldn't want to," said Sawyer, whose witty, incisive 60-second video analyses of classic literary works were recently featured on the CBS Evening News.
Sawyer announced 60second Recap's startup Campaign for Literature with a new social networking forum, ClubRecap, where teens can post their own 60second Recap-style videos, and a 60-day crowd fundraising campaign through Kickstarter.com. The campaign seeks to crowdfund $50,000 to underwrite continued video production and to develop free educational resources for teachers and home-schoolers alike.
"We get so many requests -- thousands of them -- from everywhere," Sawyer added. "This is a labor of love, but we can't begin to fill the requests without everybody's support.
Sawyer's one-woman crusade -- to make the great works of literature accessible and relevant to today's teens -- has been underway since the September, 2009, launch of her website, www.60secondrecap.com. The success of Sawyer's venture led USAToday to dub her "American education's next 'it' girl."
Most recently, her efforts may have inspired television reality show producer Mark Burnett to announce a multi-million dollar deal to produce 60second Recap-style videos based on the venerable CliffsNotes study guides for AOL. But that, Sawyer said, has nothing to do with her efforts -- or 60second Recap's mission.
"This isn't about cramming for a quiz," she said. "It's about learning to engage, learning to think for yourself." Sawyer also said that's why she researches, writes, and performs every 60second Recap herself. "I want people to say, 'If she can do it, I can do it.'"
Kickstarter.com is a platform for grassroots crowdfunding. 60second Recap is a premier online resource for literary studies; by providing "albums" of 60-second video "recaps," the site engages teens with custom-written and produced literary analysis. In its first 18 months, 60second Recap (60secondrecap.com) has posted nearly 500 video recaps and, on its YouTube channel, logged over five million views.
SOURCE 60second Recap
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