Policy and Media: Sabrina Epstein, Maryland

This snapshot was gathered in conjunction with the Maryland Voices initiative at Maryland Humanities, specifically to supplement the "Voices and Votes: Democracy in America" traveling exhibition from the Smithsonian's Museum on Main Street program. This collection, made up of stories of first-time voters between the ages of 18 and 24, showcases the experiences of young people as they wrestled with the 2020 presidential election, issues around social justice, the environment, immigration, and the pandemic.

Sabrina Epstein (00:00): Hi, I'm Sabrina Epstein. I live in Baltimore, Maryland right now, but I'm originally from San Antonio, Texas, and I'm a student at Johns Hopkins University.

Sabrina Epstein (00:13): I think media might be one piece of it. I think it's also great to be able to engage more with policy makers that way, people like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who use Instagram Lives to talk about these issues. It's not just about it being social media, but it's about this greater sense of connectedness and a way to ask questions and learn about policy that's so much more accessible to so many people.

Sabrina Epstein (00:46): I hope we can continue to make policy and advocacy more accessible and easier for people to get involved in and to understand what issues are on the ballot, because it can be really intimidating, and there isn't a lot of effort to, well, I shouldn't... There are a lot of people working on this issue, but I think that's something we can continue to work on.

Asset ID: 2021.03.15.e
Themes: Media, policy, advocacy, social media, politicians, Instagram, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez
Date recorded: February 19, 2021
Length of recording: 01:16 m
Related traveling exhibition: Voices and Votes: Democracy in America
Sponsor or affiliated organization: Maryland Humanities
More information: https://www.mdhumanities.org/programs/museum-on-main-street/2021-2022-tour/