Basketball Memory

My final project will be finishing my memory project: "How i almost gave up". I'm still working on scanning pictures into the computer of my three sisters, my mom and dad, my two little brothers, and me. I'm going to tell people as they look at the pictures that this is a family full of joy, that they don't have to worry about us.

When my family was split up, it caused my sisters' heart and mine to be broken. It's hard to explain what went wrong with this family that was split so lets just say that life was too good to be true for me and something bad just had to happen because it felt like I was in utopia. That's the way I remember it. Then utopia switched around to be anti-utopia. However, experiencing anti-utopia till today isn't all that bad but I still pray that it will go back the same and feel the same as it did before.


For my last blog post I talked about my brother, this time = my dad.

Yeah! I said basketball is my favorite sport/ i love it when i dribble up n down the court/ I like to pick and roll/ I like to give and go and its basketball/ Josh Mauldin let's go!-words from Bow Wow, the rapper.

Here you can see pictures of the shoes I wear playing basketball. I bought them all black and decorated them myself. I made a hat to match too.

These words apply to me because basketball is my favorite sport and my dad taught me most of my basketball skills. My dad and I are super close and one of the activities that we love to do together is play basketball, basketball, and basketball, obviously. Ever since I was three years old I've been playing basketball and once my dad payed attention that I could better my skills, he pushed me into being one of the best at any school I went to. So every school I've went to or go to now, I'm one of the best.

I don't like bragging because if you know you're good, whats the point of bragging. I know you're wondering how do I know I'm one of the best at my school. Is it because everyone else isn't that good? Well no, its because I push myself more than others and my dad and I always talked about me wanting to be one of the best at what I do. A tip that I can give you if you haven't already heard, that my freshman basketball coach told me was that, "Practice doesn't make perfect"-"Perfect practice makes perfect".

I will be speaking in a recording to tell whoever wants to listen about "how i almost gave up".

Creativity Explored visits Zeum

"Through art, many find voice for the first time. The work they create is uncensored, fearless, innovative and fresh."
- quote from creativity explored brochure

My first day back at Zeum after a long list of leave requests met me with the opportunity to hear about Creativity Explored. Catherine, a friend of Mathew, came in this morning to speak about a local bay area organization, Creativity Explored, a program that works with mentally disabled adults, helping them create art. The pictures you see are from their website: www.creativityexplored.org.

She began by describing the various disabilities many of the artists have, ranging from autism to down syndrome and their ability to create amazing art with their different physical and mental obstacles. Catherine then walked us through various pieces of art and how they came to be, describing the artists and their specific stories. She explained that each artist had their own unique style and most used the repetitive colors and shapes throughout their pieces. I remembered thinking that if i had seen these in an art gallery i would have never thought that the artists had disabilities. They were that good.

Mathew then brought up the issue of communicating with people who have different needs. How do you communicate with someone who can't talk? I thought about it more and more, how could this possibly work. I related this to life at Zeum. Children come in all the time too shy to attempt anything. Some kids just need a little inspiration, others an example or two, and some kids would rather you walk them step by step. Making it simple, is the way I usually handle the oh so common "I'm not good at singing" or "I can't make that" or "How come my character didn't come out like that" pointing to the collection of infamous Miguel clay characters.

I admit i feel the same way as these children do, I limit my creativity ability based on my past experiences with art. There was always someone who had a more popular collage in the fourth grade or a more impressing combination of similies and metaphors in my seventh grade poetry exhibition. Catherine brought up a good observation, many of these artists are so talented and unique because they aren't affected by others. They create art without questioning themselves because they don't worry about the times or the latests trends.

I was inspired.

Happy Birthday Michelle!

Angee swears she can't help making this face in every single picture.











There's nothing like chocolate cake in the animators studio at the end of a busy Sunday at Zeum. These pics are from Michelle F.'s birthday cake eating festivities.

Poetic Heroes

Hero.

"A woman/man of distinguished courage or ability, admired for their brave deeds and noble qualities. The principal female/male character in a story, play, film, etc."

Well, that's how Webster's dictionary defines hero. But for me a hero is more than someone I admire it's people who help me make up what I am today. There are many heroes in my family that I love and respect but to go deeper, my more personal are people who I admire in the industry that I hope to go into, media.

For my end of the year project at Zeum I am working on Media and my self image - how people in the media have affected who I am and inspired me to go further with whatever I chose to do. Like Gaby's but different. The people who I feel closely connected to are Oprah Winfrey, Queen Latifah, and Will Smith, not only are they successful in the roles they play on screen and on stage but being African American they have became respected in anything they choose to do.

There are so many people that I could look up to, why are these people what's so special? Will Smith and Queen Latifah are both singers in the hip hop business and Oscar nominees. They all are able to do a wide variety of performances like from comedy to drama, to musicals. They're all entrepreneurs. Oprah is a great inspiration because she also came from a background of severe poverty. These are people who do work for their communities.

To deliver my ideas for this project, I'm going to do a spoken word performance. Now, at first I wasn't so sure about spoken word, it is a type of performance, but not like any I ever done before.

I tend to lean more toward to stage performance where I'm given a script and and I act out a character. Through this project though, I can perform alone, myself - which it's hard to say, but it might be the hardest role I have yet to experience. Kwesi and Ari explained the concept of spoken word and other things I can do with different types of media. I get to learn more about this type of performance and work on being able to get my ideas onto paper and on stage.

My media, My self image

How has the media portrayed me?

Since I was little, I have always heard of female Latinas not finishing high school and ending up pregnant. I know that this is not expected of me from my family and friends, but this is what the media expects of me.

For an end of the year project at ZEUM we were asked to do some type of art work that refelcted on one of these topics: Family history and Memory, Conflict Resolution, Human Rights and Media and Self Image. I choose to reflect on Media and Self Image by doing an animation that portrays what the media expects of me to become and what I want to become.

As I mentioned before, growing up as a Latina, I have always had stereotypes follow me wherever I went. Starting in middle school, my 8th grade Principal has said it himself that "If [we] didn't graduate from high school, which was most likely to happen, there were a lot of jobs opening for us that paid enough to get by". Later in High School I began to notice that many of the girls that I went to school with had gotten pregnant and were forced to drop out of school. This really upset me because it was like they threw their lives away. From then on, I knew that I wanted to be more than another fact to fit another stereotype.

What I am now is a high school Latina who goes to a private school in the presidio and is getting ready to apply to college next year. I hope to finish college and move on to graduate school and become something other than what is expected of by the media.

I hope that this art work will show others that the media doesn't have to decide who you are to become, you are in control of choosing what YOU want to become.

* Peace *



GABY

Why Zeum's Different

When I tell my friends that I work, of course, their first reaction is: where do you work? And then i tell them: Zeum! most of them ask: what is Zeum? where is that? and then I go through this whole process of: you know, that place right next to the bowling and ice skating. it is an art and technology museum.

Then my friends ask: oh. okay. what do you do there? Then I answer: umm.. we do something different everyday, we are in charge of a station, there are machines to control. Help people record their stuff. Or just greet them. Sometimes even sit and work with them. At the end, my friends will get pretty confused and stop asking questions. And I will feel relieved.

Zeum is a complicated place to explain. you've got to work here or come in to visit in order to understand the whole process of zeum. words are not enough, action is key.

Here's a complicated question: How is learning at Zeum different from learning at school? The answer is: very different! At Zeum, we are learning with a much smaller group of people. There isn't the same pressure or competition. Unlike at school, you don't compete with other zeummasters to see who'll get better grades. and there is no point to competing. It's different, but still a job.

But it's a job where we learn, which is different than most jobs for teenagers. We get paid, yes, this is a job. but also very different than a regular job. Other friends i have work at the Gap, customer service, at foot locker.

I mean, everywhere you go you learn something new, but at zeum.... learning is interesting. it doesn't make me feel like "ohh great! another work day!" but more like "hmm, I wonder what's new at zeum today. I wonder where I am going to work. I wonder if it is going to be busy or not. " working at zeum has made me have all these questions.

Compared to school. one day there is 6 to 7 classes, plus clubs and after-school activities. at home, i will have homework, tests and quizes to worry about. one class will have at least 30 people, everyone is competing with everyone. I try hard to get good grades, either beat my peers' record or beat my own. sometime, I get so tired that i want to give up. however, I know I shouldn't. I know everything I am doing right now at school is going to be in my record for the rest of my life. it is going to follow me.

But zeum, yes! You can say this is a fun job. You can say this is a easy job. But i will say that this is a job which will help.

We are Noise MACHINES.

Pam here. I just took part in a fantastic workshop in Studio Z. The leader of the workshop was our very own Zeum educator, Matthew. He led this sound effects workshop from 2-4 called "Fun with Foley: Sound Effects Extravaganza". I was in charge of recording the sounds.

Jack Foley was one of the best sound effect technicians of all time.

"Basically, get anything that makes noise" is what Matthew told me when we were setting up. After scrambling around all over Zeum to get various sound effect instruments...a cowbell, a miniature door, a glass jar filled with beads, frisbees, bells, other things I don't know what to call... we were set to create our very own Foley sound effects.

Our movie clip was a short film about Felix the Cat, and the kids and even a few adults in the room were definitely in their element, making noises to go with the cartoon. We got a few volunteers to do voice overs for characters like the pirate and the old man.

Here's what we made. Enjoy! (and click HERE after to watch the original. A lot of people said they liked our sounds better. You be the judge. )


-PAM-

Where do signs come from?

Greetings from the Wednesday crew. I'm Michael and I came to Zeum in February with John and several other interns from CAT. (We're the most recent teens here.)

First off, I don't think John has explained the presence of the Wednesday crew, so a little background is probably in order. Our school set up these great workplace learning opportunities for the entire junior class to come out to various places in the city that we might want to work in and act as interns. We picked Zeum and here we are.

As part of our internships, we each have to pick a project to do in order to help Zeum and to have something tangible to show at the end as sort of proof that we were here. In John's case that means the ZeumMaster's Winter Olympics video. My project involves updating the Zeum Gallery Model and installing vinyl around the building. Vinyl is everywhere in museums. Pretty much any signage you see up is made of it.

My projects focus more on making things and building stuff because I really like working with my hands.

I like to think that I'm something of an inventor/mad scientist.

Anything that gets my hands dirty.

That and exceedingly large hats.

Of course, this meant that I had to learn some new skills. I don't know about you, but my experience with vinyl was limited to the kind that has music on it. It turns out that in most cases it refers to this sticky backed sheeting that is used as signage all over the place. Whenever you go into a store and it has the hours on the door it's likely done in vinyl.

Here at Zeum we've got an awesome vinyl cutter that uses a computer interface to drag a knife blade across the sheets as it comes off of the roll. We then take it and stick it up on the walls.

Let me tell you that badly lined up vinyl is so glaringly obvious it hurts. That means that it might take up to ten minutes to line up a single piece. Levels, tape measures, x-acto knives, duct tape; all tools of the trade when it comes to getting this horribly sticky stuff up.

And it is sticky. So sticky that you only have one chance to get it right before it becomes a shredded, sticky mess of foul smelling plastic. Then it will stick to you better than anything else, which can also be fun. Vinyl is final.

On the scale of obnoxious materials to work with (10 being high), I would rate vinyl as maybe a three; right below burst toner cartridges.

(for ZeumMasters, the animator's clay rates a two and a half; slightly above playdough, but below machine oil with metal shavings.)

Hitting the Road: Monterey Bay Aquarium!

Yesterday, April 6th, nine Zeummasters were fortunate enough to be able to go on a field trip to The Monterey Bay Aquarium and get to know a few teens over there.

After the two hour drive to Monterey (Perry drives like a grandma) we checked in at the Aquarium and were escorted to a room in the back of the building
(because we were V.I.P.s). We walked into a room filled with fish tanks and life-size replicas of sea otters and turtles and other wild life.

Once we settled in a little we got to meet the teens of W.A.T.C.H., Watsonville Area Teens Conserving Habitats. We played games where we got to know the teens more and basically "break the ice.". Getting to know everybody was pretty cool and after a few games we felt like we knew each other pretty well.

After the games, the Zeummasters talked to the group about what we do at Zeum. The educators sat back while we did the talking. We showed them our lovely blog that we write in religiously - got it up on a big projector - and the year-long project we're working on. I talked to them about the personal histories project, and the "what does home mean to you" project. I really believe that the Zeummasters made a great presentation. I didn't feel nervous at all.

Then the W.A.T.C.H. teens introduced their program and talked about what they're working on. We got to learn that they are a group of teens raising awareness in the Watsonville Area about the habitats around them. They all go to the same school, a school set in the middle of numerous wetlands.

Their program is cool, because they get to go out into the wetlands, dunes, etc. and do research. Some of their presentations won awards and a group was even able to go to Washington D.C.. Just listening to them, you could tell they were very involved with their projects and the environment they live in.

After their presentation we got to do some art! What we did together was a reflection of our programs, from how we've grown or what we love about the programs. During the project we got to interact even more with the other teens. In my group, we talked about colleges we're interested in, what we liked about our program, our backgrounds, they were all very outgoing people.

And then, the aquarium TOUR, led by their teens. The people I was with were cool. The Aquarium is such a big place, we actually got lost a few times. We got to see the sea otters, the penguins, and the jellyfish. The teens knew their way around so we got to see a lot. The Aquarium is so much bigger than Zeum. It was cool to be in a different environment for a day.

After the tour was over we got to show the W.A.T.C.H. teens a game we love to play at Zeum. Of course, the winners were both Zeum Masters. After the game, we had to say our good-byes, and end a great day.

The experience overall was a great one. To be in a different environment and interact with another teen group was pretty cool. They're all so passionate about the environment and conserving the areas in their community, just like we're passionate about our art and reaching out to the community. At Zeum, we're all about art and technology, but to see a place dedicated to preserving wild life and show how much the world is at risk from the things we're doing to it, it was eye-opening. The teens were great, they were so welcoming and able to help us with everything we were doing that day. I loved the day, and would love to do it again! =]

Click HERE to see the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Live Penguin Webcam!

No Fear on Stage

Hey this is MICHELLE F.. I want to write a little bit about performing.

I've performed in the plays and musicals at my high school for the past 4 years I am currently in the musical Meet Me in St. Louis.

I've been working here as a zeummaster for about 11 months soon to be a year. That's right. And there are many performance opportunities at Zeum.

Music Production Lab...Production Stage... music is a big part of my life something I can't live without.

I am able to use the skills I've been cultivating at acting at school here by making my own performances in MPL and at the Production Stage, and giving tips to kids who are shy. I come up with ideas on what they can do and even work with them if they need extra help ..so they don't feel so nervous. I like seeing them being able to perform something and really breaking out of their shells and being creative. The visitors have a lot of fun doing performances and are often ecstatic that they can take their work home and show their families.

Oh...and I have ideas for workshops that revolve around performing and making performances.

I think can help visitors learn a little more about what they can do. They can work on ideas for script and even go further and get a little technique like vocal warm ups to get ready for the show and performance technique they can learn a variety of things that can contribute to their video make it more developed then it normally would in a typical Zeum visit.

I have been performing for almost half of my life and it is a great thing. I never really took it seriously till about sophomore year of high school - that's when I decided that this is what I really love and what I want to continue for the rest of my life. Performing means to me being able to express myself. Performing helped me break out of being shy and sculpted me to be very outgoing and like one of the "drama kids" at school. Even when I am having a bad day I can always (even though it may be extremely tedious) rehearse for the current play or musical because on stage I can express my self let my anger out through song and whatever character I am trying to convey.

Performing has changed my life. It's given me a chance to be creative with myself and things around me. I have learned how to be different in a way that suits my personality. Usually with my friends I am the more outgoing and loud one.

I'm not scared to play any character. I'm able to get crazy. Like everything from the female basketball player in "Shooting Starts'' to a trumpet playing entertainer in "Gypsy". I'm learning what's possible, what I can do.

First JOB

My name is Sammi and I`ve been a Zeummaster for nearly six months now . I feel like I just started working here yesterday. I found this job through a job-placement-program for youth.

And now I'm writing on a blog about it.

I had no previous arts and museums experience before working here. None! It is so cool to work at a place, in an area where I am not particularly good at (art), and gain that experience and possibly improve on it everyday. For example, I explain animation to the visitors that come into Animators Studio and lead them through their activities. This wasn't easy at first. But more and more I'm able to say, help kids who are alone and don't know what to do - we create animations together. ;D

I always tell my friends that I work at Zeum and they get impressed by how a 14 year old could have this kind of job. So professional. Zeum is different, it's not like working at Jamba Juice. Most of my friends don't even work. At Zeum we do art and educational activities. Zeum has helped me work on my leadership and public speaking skills. So much...

One of my favorite rooms at Zeum is Animators Studio. this is the most popular room and it`s full of families at all time! They use clay characters and create an amazing CLAY ANIMATION. It is the best way to discover a person's art&crafts skills. Working with kids is a lots of fun, especially when they look up to you as a role model. It is amazing how a little piece of clay can make a kid's day.

Memory

The second week of the personal history project = Memory. For this part of the project, some of us get to write about and have the opportunity to show imagery describing our memories. The memories can be either serious or not that serious, yet true. A "favorite memory". The memory project also allows us to be creative with our artwork and very open to anyone who might see it.

Meaning we could trust everyone who sees our memory projects.

My memory project is "How I almost gave up."

I live with my aunt, but wish i could live back home in LA with my mom, dad, two brothers, and two sisters. I have another sister but she is all grown up living on her own now, so she doesn't count. Because I don't live with my mom and dad I don't have that much support as I used to, which made my life very complicated. I was fifteen yrs. old when I almost gave up on school, work, and basketball. That was a year ago, not 2 long ago. So, what kept me to keep going was the support from my baby brother. He is three yrs. old and i've always wanted a baby brother. His name is Elisha (e-ly-sha) and he kept me to keep going because when I talk to him we joke around a lot and for some old reason I can see myself through him which is very weird.


So therefore, I can't stop now, I have my baby brother who looks up to me and what ever i do must be positive so he can catch on to my good example. I'm not only his big brother but his role-model also.

In order for people to see my work, not just read/ listen to my story, I will show whoever wants to see pictures of my family. Individual pictures, groups of pair pictures, and just pictures to show people that there is no way I could give up on myself and a family like I have. It's impossible.

I'm working on scanning the pictures on the computer and setting them up like a slide show. In order to know whats going on, you will hear me, Joshua, talking from computer speakers about my memory project story on how I almost gave up but couldn't because of my reflection on my baby brother and my family photos. When I look at my family photos, there's no way I can give up now.