Ave. 50 Studio to Raise Awareness for Captured Journalists

Kathy Gallegos, owner of in Highland Park, proudly identifies her gallery as a space where artists can use their work to embrace democracy.

Next week, she’ll also be using her studio to raise awareness for a journalist who has made a career of doing just that.

On Saturday, May 7, Ave. 50 Studio will host the "Free Foley" poetry reading to raise awareness for the plight of James Foley, a correspondent for the Global Post who  was detained by military forces loyal to Libyan President Muammar Ghadafi while covering the ongoing revolution and civil war in the North African country.

 Gallegos said she became aware of Foley’s detainment through Luivette Resto, a Glendora based poet who organizes the “La Palabra” series at Ave. 50 Studio.

Resto, along with Yago Cura, another poet who has performed at Ave. 50, formed a close bond with Foley while all three were MFA candidates at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst between 1999 and 2003.

Gallegos said she was immediately willing to help Resto and Cura raise awareness for their captured friend.

“I believe in the rights of journalists to be able to tell us what’s going on. If they’re not able to do their job, then we’d have no idea about what was happening,” she said. “I thought it was really important to have this show.”

Poets scheduled to perform at "Free Foley" include Resto, Cura, Billy Burgos, Rafael Alvarado, S.A. Griffin, Jeff Rochlin, Annette Cruz and Dennis Cruz.

Resto told Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch that Foley’s work in Libya was borne from a fierce work ethic, which he has displayed since his days at UMass.

“One thing I know about James is passion and his dedication to his work,” Resto said.  “He’s one of the few journalists who is really willing to put himself out there physically, mentally and emotionally to get the information out there about what’s really happening.”

After receiving his MFA from UMass, Foley went on receive his Masters from the Medill School of Journalism at Northwestern University.

Cura said his friend immediately sought assignments that would allow him to experience conflict first hand.

Following graduation, Foley traveled to the Middle East in 2008, embedding with the Indiana National Guard and 101st Airborne in Tikrit, Samarra and Mosul.

Following Iraq, he covered the war in Afghanistan as a multimedia reporter for the Global Post.

“I know it sounds ironic, but the kind of reporting he felt most safe doing was the stuff that put him in the most danger,” he said.

According to eyewitnesses, Foley was stopped by security forces outside the Libyan city of Brega on April 5, 2011, while traveling  with three other journalists. Their vehicle was fired upon and they were taken into custody by Libyan military forces.

According to reports, Foley and the other journalists, Clare Gillis, an American correspondent for The Atlantic and U.S.A. Today, Spanish photographer Manu Brabo, and South African photographer Anton Hammerl, were later spotted in a Tripoli detention center.

Media coverage of the detention has been sparse as none of the four journalists are particularly well known, Cura said, and he hopes that the poetry reading will shed light on the important work being done by freelance journalists covering the Libyan conflict.

“He was working to bring to light the courage of the Libyan people,” Cura said. “We’re just hoping we can stir up some publicity for him.”