Voices in Our Heads
For Journalist Zamná Ávila, The Writing is His Passion
This Voices in Our Heads podcast features Zamná Ávila, Assistant Editor at Random Lengths News in San Pedro. It’s the first of two podcasts with the newspaper’s staff, the second one being the paper’s Managing Editor, Terelle Jerricks. The newspaper is published every two weeks for the Harbor Area communities of San Pedro, Rancho Palos Verdes, Lomita, Harbor City, Wilmington, Carson, and Long Beach. Ávila, Jerricks, and I began talking some time ago about story ideas and the state of community-oriented journalism in the South Bay/Long Beach Area. Random Lengths News is one of the few media outlets that are not afraid to tackle controversial issues and stories in greater San Pedro as well as at the State and Federal level.
We first sat down with Zamná Ávila at the offices of Random Lengths News in San Pedro for a wide-ranging discussion on the origins of his unique first name, growing up in the Pico-Union area of Los Angeles, and the struggle over journalism in his future.
Zamná Ávila
Zamná Ávila grew up in the Pico-Union area of Los Angeles
…a very diverse community then as it is now. He legally changed his name when he was eighteen years old. He went from Frank Peter, his birth name, to Zamná in an effort to have a better connection with his culture.
“Zamná was the deity-man, creator of man, teacher of writing and teacher of medicine.”
Zamná Ávila remembers other important milestones at an even younger age. He learned to write at two years old and read at three years old. I was skeptical. How does someone learn to write at two years old?
“Bolitas y palitos (Balls and sticks).”
Ávila’s mother would sit him down and force him to practice writing using a very basic exercise of penmanship using stick and ball figures.
“I had a very strict mother…and she was a seamstress…and she would sit down to sew her clothing while I was sitting next to her and I would have to be writing, bolitas y palitos.”
At the time, Ávila doesn’t remember the experience fondly but over time, he says, he began to appreciate the art of writing. His sister taught him to read at three. Those talents of writing and reading at a young age came in extra handy years later. When Zamná Ávila was nine years old, his father took him to Mexico so he could learn to speak Spanish more fluently and more about his culture.
“I love lyrics and I love writing.”
Ávila would write original music for a young man of twelve, same as him, who would sing in bars to make money to support himself and his family. He calls it a tragic reality that still happens today.
For Zamná Ávila, the writing was important
“I think I liked the technical part of writing, the technical aspect of it. Kinda like math in a way…I enjoyed the formulaic part of writing.”
Writing is an art and a skill, all at the same time, explains Ávila. It’s what he tells his interns.
Writing as a young man to writing song lyrics to poetry to a slight detour into the business world was the path to journalism for Zamná Ávila.
“I had a counselor in college because I still wanted to write for the newspaper, I wanted to take some journalism…she told me that if you go for your passion, the money will follow.”
Armed with a Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and with help from the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, Ávila plunged into that world and to the Reno Gazette-Journal.
“It was the first medium size newspaper that I worked in and I learned a lot about writing. I learned a lot about reporting.”
Fast forward to Random Lengths Newspaper
…where Zamná Ávila is involved in a number of organizations. He’s co-president of the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, LA chapter. He also finds time to be a board member of the California Chicano News Media Association/National Association of Journalists Los Angeles. There’s a slew of additional associations which begged the question, why?
“Giving back to not only the community but also the organizations that believed in me or helped me out in my early career.”
There’s also the networking and organizing events.
All this hard work and involvement comes with a price. In today’s changing journalism landscape, you can pay a high price with your life and receive very little economic reimbursement for that dedication. As anyone who loves and is passionate about journalism will tell you, the business of the industry is rapidly changing. Buyouts and layoffs are common today amongst big media as well as small and medium size enterprises. That reality has forced many journalists to confront their own future. Zamná Ávila is no different.
“I think you have to be open to change…I want to change careers. I think I’m ready for it.”
But, Avila is still passionate about the heart of journalism, the writing.
“If you were to take away my ability to write, you’d be taking an arm from me.”
Teaching is one path. At Random Lengths News, he’s taken on the mentorship of the interns and the writers so, in a way, he’s already teaching.
More about Zamná Ávila
You can find him at randomlengthsnews.com. He’s also on Facebook. As if he’s not busy enough, there’s Zamnáville: The Words and Works of Zamná Ávila.
