Angry Black White Boy

On Saturday November 8th, 2008, we went on a fieldtrip to see a play called "Angry Black White Boy" at intersection for the arts. It is based off of the book written by Adam Mansbach. The play was about a 14 year old white boy who was angry and tired of learning about white history and how they oppressed black people since beginning of time. That was one of the reason why he wish he was black, another is because he says rap is another form of poetry. The main character(angry black white boy) committed white on white crimes. He was a white taxi driver who tried to rob white passengers, while doing that he threatened them.

This play was interesting. The parts I liked the most were the beats and the music. At first I thought it would be super boring because I don't like plays and can't sit in the same spot for too long because I lose attention focus and want to do other things like text. The play made me a little sensitive thinking about tragedies that happened at my school the past few months and and also other personal things.

This play is very relevant today. There is also more racism and hateful crimes. An example of this is when the N word is used. I feel the feelings felt by the angry black white boy are still felt among youth. The main character said hip-hop isn't for white people but it is. Anyone can listen but I feel the actual rapping should be done by blacks since they are the ones who started it. I feel the same as the main character when he said he hates learning about white history and wishes he wasn't white. For me learning about how whites oppressed blacks, that made me soo mad and not want to be white. I don't know anything about 90s music.

James and the Giant Peach

This past Sunday, I went with my dad and my brother to see JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH, starring Zeum's Jerrod and Perry. Perry played the grasshopper and Jarrod played the earthworm. In the story, James' parents died so he had to live with his awful aunts. He wished for a better life and his wish came true when he decided to run away and live in a peach and made a lot of new friends who were bugs. The peach rolls off the aunts hill and lands in the Atlantic ocean. They used their teamwork and skills to escape the man eating sharks. They had a lot of struggles but survived through the challenges and obstacles.

I wanted to write about this is because Zeum is all about story telling and performance and being creative... so I really felt like it was related. whether its through creating an animation or a production at the production stage and being creative and that's what the play is, creating a story come to life and being creative.

The part of the story that affected me was when James ran away from home because at times I feel like running away because life at home can get hard. A lot of the times I have to a lot of the work like James...I get blamed for things my brother did. The other part that touched me was when James made friends with the bugs and they became really close and became best friends for life. I have a few close friends who are my best friends. I don't know what I would do with out them, that's how close to them. I also have a few close people here at Zeum, if something were to happen to them I would break down and cry. They are like my family.

The play was AWSOME. The actors and actresses did an amazing job especially since they had about 2-3 roles EACH and had to memorize SO MANY lines. They all seem so dedicated and put a lot of time and hard work into making the show ...you can tell. Just watching the play, I could tell that to be in a show like this, you have to have completely dedicated to what you're working on. That's inspiring. If you are not 110% dedicated you wont be able to learn your lines on time for the play. And also if your not 110% dedicated you'll probably not be focused during rehearsal which will determine how you do on opening night

When i talked to Perry and Jerrod after the show, they said it was great seeing someone from work seeing the play. they were excited to see me there and same for me. I was SO EXCITED to see them. the main reason i went was to see perry and to support him.

I can totally relate the experience of going to the theater to working at Zeum. Since we have a music production lab and a production studio, people learn to be comfortable with getting in front of the camera. When you do a play you have to be comfortable being in front of an audience or else you'll freeze up and mess the entire show up.

When I have to get in front of an audience of any kind I get so nervous. A lot of the time I feel so nervous my hand shakes, i feel like throwing up or I feel like breaking down and crying. I feel this way because I am afraid if people will judge me or make fun of me.

Since working here at Zeum, I'm not nervous talking in front of strangers.... for example when I greet them and explain what they can do in the room I am always perky and friendly but I still feel the same way if I'mtalking in front of people i know. I feel a lot more nervous talking in front of people I am really close to like my co-workers or friends.

I totally recommend seeing this show. It's at the Julia Morgan Center for the Arts in Berkeley.

"You Really Love Your Job, Don't You?"

Being a ZeumMaster has given me loads and loads of experience working with people and working as a team. I can definitely say that I've learned a lot from this internship.


One of my many lessons was one day in Main Gallery when I was working on a performance with a family. As always I was ready with a positive attitude and a huge smile. I became super involved with what this family was doing. I helped them with ideas for their script and costumes to go along with it. The family requested a whole bunch of background changes and scene transitions that took a lot of work on my part, but I was more than happy to see a family leave satisfied with a DVD that they could watch over and over again.


As they were finishing up, the mother came up to me and said "You really love your job don't you?" I responded "Yes, I do." Then she continued and told me how great it was to have someone helping them who really cared about the outcome of their production.


That mother made me realize that although we probably talk to hundreds of people a day, if we just put a little extra effort into each of those conversations, we can really mean something to them. If we make each experience with our visitors just a little more personal, families can leave feeling like they were in a caring atmosphere and not just being fed mechanical directions.


Seeing families truly enjoying what they have created here at Zeum is one of the most satisfying parts of the job - knowing that my help actually made a difference in a child's, or a family's, experience. My moment with this mother was just a little reminder of one of the many gratifying parts of this internship.

A Little Local Theater....Assassins!

Last night we went to see Perry's show, Assassins. It was fun to see a live performance because everything becomes a lot more real to you since the characters are basically right there in front of you. You may not get the special effects of Hollywood but its fun to have a front row seat (and we did!) to see the action that is going on on stage. It was also great because we actually got to see Perry on stage performing to his fullest. I liked saying that I personally knew one of the actors in the show.

Assassins was different from what I'd expected. I assumed it would be another history lesson on people that have killed presidents. Instead it was told from the side of the assassins in a not so depressing way so it wasn't at all boring. What really kept my interest was all the songs that the characters sang - they weren't so serious, actually they had a comic overtone. They told the story with sort of a carnival background "Win a prize try to kill a President." Instead of just having one person come out at a time and tell their story they made it seem like they were all friends and tied all their assassinations in together with one another.

Seeing the way the actors portrayed the characters was good for me - It was great to see all the different kinds of emotions coming out of each person they played. They didn't have to be sad all the time they could go from mad to even happy or just crazy. It's good to know the different type of acting techniques that people can do on stage. I love seeing different styles and ways people act. It's like a mini acting lesson for me.

I love acting, especially in musicals. When I go see plays it only helps me get more into what I am doing because I have a chance to see how other actors work in their space, with their characters, and in the performance they are doing.

Even though it was a small space, the performers used all the open areas they could find to perform in making us feel like we were involved in what was going on in that scene. At Zeum we could do the same we have a lot of space and its fun to use it all because you get a bigger effect when you take up all you have. We could use things like the spiral walkway to do something fun or the metafield maze to get everyone involved. What if??

An special addition to getting treated to a performance was we got CREAMPUFFS that Ari bought for us. They were vanilla and strawberry and extremely good and we ate almost all of them. Good show and good creampuffs.

Spoken Music: Fran Varian visits Zeum

This morning Ari's friend, Fran Varian came and talked to us - she is a spoken word artist. I might have mentioned spoken work in my project in media and self image because that's how I'm performing it. Spoken word is a kind of performance art in lyrics, poetry, and stories are spoken instead of sung. So it's like talking music.

Fran gave us a insight into the world of spoken word like slam poetry, which is a competition with eight people who have two minutes to make up their own piece of work and get judged by random people from the audience. Wow that must take extreme talent to make up something in two minutes... it takes me weeks to come up with something even close to a poem.

The artistic process is different for everybody... but I'm seeing that the base of a spoken word poem is to "be vulnerable". A lot of artists write about things that are really personal. This can be hard because people feel uncomfortable but also really easy because you are writing about a subject you know the most - yourself. When you talk about yourself lots of people might respond to it because they might have felt the same way or had the same experiences.

I have never really performed as myself - I'm use to getting characters and being someone else. But I can be someone else and even be myself at the same time. I talked about this with Fran and the group. Even in getting a script and being a different character can be a way to "be vulnerable".

Fran told us about an organization called Youthspeaks.org it helps teens get into spoken word. It gives them a chance to really have a voice and express their feelings, opinions.

I'm using spoken word in my project so it was good chance to hear about her process and actually hear one of her poems. It was cool because the hardest part for me was to get down and write what I wanted to say. Hearing Fran talk about her process of writing made working on my project a little bit easier. I never thought of myself as a writer but in reality if you write something down on paper you're a writer.

End of Junior year. Beginning of Zeum Summer.

My junior year has come to a close. I made it through finals. This past year was stressful and very busy, and working at Zeum only added to my crazy schedule. Although my Saturdays were always occupied from the hours of of 10am to 5:30, I'm glad I had Zeum this year.

It's hard to believe that I've been at Zeum for an entire year. The time has gone by so fast partly because working at Zeum is so much fun. The kids are great, the staff is even more amazing but I cant lie though, it is hard work. Overwhelming crowds made me question how much I wanted to work with kids. Some days were crazy, running from room to room, trying your best to please every visitor, pay attention to every creation, always an impossible task when the numbers reach the 500 mark.

The only way I was able to survive and have such a good experience was because of the other staff, seriously. We made the hard days go by faster by laughing.

Saturday mornings at Zeum are always fun. We'd spend the first few minutes before morning meetings trying to catch up and explain what had happened during the past week. Eventually Christian would summon us to "Animators" for our morning meeting. That never stopped us, we would still be telling our stories from across the table. We have our own inside jokes, our favorite songs, and Angee is the founder of the ZeumMaster hand sign. (see me demonstrating in photos)

Like most Zeum Masters, this is my first real job, and working on a team is not new to me, but not something that I've had a ton of experience with. A big part of life at Zeum is teamwork. We work together with the common goal: to try to make the best overall experience for the visitors, most of the time that includes making a fool of ourselves. We perform all the time. High School musical is a favorite - we'll act as silly as possible to embarrass ourselves and try to encourage shy kids to perform.

People constantly ask me "What do you do at Zeum?" That question often stumps me. I have to think about it for a while, but eventually say "We help kids perform and create art." and they just give me that puzzled look and I know they're thinking "thats all." But the truth is it's so much more than just helping kids with art.We ZeumMasters facilitate and practically run the museum with the help of the educators. The ZeumMaster team helps with not just the art and the performance, we help make the overall experience an amazing one, a hard but possible task.

I now look forward to another busy summer at Zeum. This summer I can call myself a senior staff member and have the pleasure to help the newest Zeum Masters. The summers at Zeum are always with swimming with camps of kids and visiting families. The most exciting experience is meeting all the new Zeum Masters.

I met so many new people this past year and at times we had just as much fun as the visitors. Summers at Zeum bring out the kid in all of us.

Hello, it's Summer

Summer at Zeum can be crazy. Instead of being here one day a week we practically live at Zeum working weekdays also. Oh my God waking up early going to work everyday how BORING!!!! Actually coming to Zeum for my first summer made my summer so much more fun and interesting. Coming into my first work experience ever I wasn't too ecstatic about that I mean I wouldn't get to spend my summer sleeping in bed all day.

Zeum isn't the typical white collar job. Starting my first summer I have to say it was confusing after all the fun and games of the scavenger hunt and games it was time to get down to work. All the exhibits all the buttons. Going through various workshops and trainings I felt like I was going to forget all the things when and why I suppose to push things turn on things.

It was so hard recording people the first time I even forgot to tell somebody to use the microphone at the main gallery and you couldn't hear them on the video. After some bad tapes, changing floppy disks in DW, and learning pretty good animation I can be proud to say I'm a certified expert (there are still slight mistakes here and there) in all the rooms.

This month it will have been one year that I've worked at Zeum.

Yesterday, I graduated from high school. Because of Zeum, I have experience in the work field so that when I get another job (hopefully one as fun as this) I will know the basic groundwork for working.

I also got to use my performance skills at Zeum. Being here helped me develop my talents while working. Having fun while working - I never thought that was a possibility.

So now I want to go to AMDA American Musical Dramatic Theater Academy to study musical theater. for now, I'm going to San Francisco City College to study musical theater - I guess I'm still going to stay in San Francisco for a while.

Now that this is my last summer at Zeum I plan not to totally forget what I have learned. I know that now once I get in front of a camera I'll be prepared for what do thanks to the production stage. Excellent.

On Performing, the Main Gallery and FINISHING a project

This morning at Zeum, I finished my final project: Fantasy Seder. I performed the one girl play I'd written about how I imagined my family members at a Passover Seder. I was really unsure as to how I was going to be able to act out my different family members and really show the audience different personalities that I was hoping to portray. Recording myself was a bit nerve- racking because I wanted the audience to see what I saw as I was writing the script.

I enjoyed recording myself because I was finally able to make a project that I help kids do everyday when I work at Zeum.

All the kids I work with take their performance so seriously and they really have a vision of how they want their performance to be. When I was recording myself at the production stage, I felt like a visitor, like I was new to the experience even though I've worked at the production stage so many times. I wanted my performance to be right what I wanted. I did a practice run-through, and then did another two more practice runs, until I was finally happy with it, and hopefully those who watch it will be happy with it too.

I've been working at Zeum for two years, and over this time, I've seen Zeum change. The production stage in the Main Gallery is one exhibit that has changed a lot, and where I have become a lot more comfortable working. When I first started working at Zeum, I hated working in the Main Gallery because I never felt like I was 100% prepared to help kids produce a performance.

With Zeum changing over these two years, I've changed a lot too.

These days, working at the production stage in the Main Gallery is never dull, helping kids make their own masterpieces. I have become much more confident, and I have much more to say to visitors and helping them make a great performance. Because I feel more confident working in the Main Gallery, I was able to make a great performance of my own, using the same skills I use to help visitors.

Watching my final project made me feel proud of performing something and I felt that I really portrayed what I wanted the audience to see.

Passover Story

I have a big family - we're all over the country and all over the world. My immediate family lives in San Francisco. But my aunts, uncles, and cousins on my mom's side live in New York. And most of my dad's family lives in Israel.

Because my family is so large and scattered about, I have decided, that for my end of the year project, I wanted to write a short play about my ENTIRE family at the Passover Seder dinner, and kind of make up how I think they would all interact with one another.

I'm planning on performing the whole play myself. A one girl show, reading the skit aloud, acting out everyone's part. Because my family who lives in Israel doesn't speak English, I'm going to perform some of it in Hebrew.

I always wanted to gather my whole entire family together for Passover because it would be so amazing for me to see everyone at once for such a special holiday.

With this project I'm creating my wish that someday, this gathering of my family could happen, and I would really see how they would get along.

Because of the differences between some of my family members, i wrote it so that an argument arises between my cousin (who lives in NY), my Uncle (who lives in Israel), and my mom.

The argument finally ceases when my dad says "OK, let's eat and sing songs." And I bring up the Passover song that is my all time favorite - Echad, Me Yodea?" (One, who knows one?"). Suddenly everyone in my family is talking about the song and how special and meaningful it is to every one of them. The lyrics to the song are so powerful and are strong enough to bring everyone together. And the fighting stops.

Who knows three? I know three!
Three are the mothers and two are the tablets that Moshe brought, and one is Hashem...
Who knows four? I know four!
Four are the fathers and three are the mothers and two are the tablets that Moshe brought and one is Hashem...

The song continues in this fashion of counting up until the number thirteen, and it has a lot of meaning because the song is very biblical and mentions important biblical figures. The melody is also beautiful, especially when sang in Hebrew.

When my family was all singing together, I realized that the holiday of Passover and the songs are a "common denominator" in my family and it's what brings everyone together. In spite of their differences, we all share the love for the holidays, and this, in turn, brings the family together and erases any tension.

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.

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.