"I didn't think it was right…maybe that's insinuating that student work is not as good," Chen said. "A lot of young adults don't have a lot of experience, but they definitely have something to add."
The experience was, in part, an impetus for the creation of her own literary magazine geared at children aged 9-16.
Chen and her brother Jack, 15, who helped start the magazine, enlist the help of artists around the world as well as local youth to create the publication, which they have dubbed JJ Express. Focusing primarily on comics and cartoon art, but with several written articles as well, the magazine aims to encourage youth to affect social change.
"We wanted them to be inspired so they'll grow up to be change-makers when they grow up, or even now," Jack Chen said.
The magazine started as a homemade venture but the project morphed into Jenny Chen's independent project her senior year at Wootton. With the help of educators there, she learned to lay out the magazine using Adobe InDesign. Now editor-in-chief, Chen writes and works on layout, while her brother Jack, acting as art director, manages artists — both professionals and students — and creates much of the art himself.
With the help of a $1,000 grant by Youth Venture, a group that invests in efforts by youth to create positive social change, the duo published their first professionally printed issue in the winter of 2007-2008.
The most recent edition, published in the spring, focused on environmental issues, Jack Chen said. One comic strip, he said, centered on the "Radium Girls" — women factory workers who were poisoned by radium in the 1920s, Chen said. Another article and comic strip focused on re-using items rather than throwing them away.
Highlighting important issues through comics and cartoons makes it exciting for youth to read about, they said. "The graphic novel market is so popular and rising really fast," Jenny Chen said. "Absolutely everyone, from any culture or background, loves to read comics and cartoons."
About 200 copies are printed, and sold for $3.50 through online distribution. According to Jack, the name comes from the initials of his and his sister's first names, and the word "Express" – which embodies both moving forward and self-expression.
"I am a very strong proponent of kids having decision-making power about the media that is targeted at them," said Lacey Louwagie, managing editor of New Moon Girls Online, the Web portion of New Moon Magazine, a Minnesota-based magazine aimed at girls which was the first to include children on an editorial staff.
Louwagie acted as a mentor for Jenny Chen during the formative stages of the magazine, fielding questions about the day-to-day realities of printing and distributing a publication, and proofing the final pages as she would her own magazine.
However, Louwagie praised the independent nature of the Chens' work. "That's been the nature of our relationship – her taking the initiative when she feels she needs guidance or feedback," said. "…I've been so impressed throughout the whole process with her own sense of direction and her organization and drive."
The brother and sister team are also in the process of forging relationships in the community, they said. They hope to soon begin hosting cartoon workshops, partnering with VisArts, a Rockville visual arts center, to encourage more area youth to learn about the craft.
"There isn't enough support for creating that kind of art, and I think a lot of kids would really like that," Jenny Chen said.
To learn more about JJ Express, order a copy or to donate, visit www.jjexpress.sitesled.com
