We Still Dream for San Francisco

This morning, in the spirit of Martin Luther King Jr., ZeumMasters, Team Leaders, Ari, Irina and David shared dreams for San Francisco...read on...

I have a DREAM that everyone, especially children, can receive the same quality of education, despite age, race, color, religion or beliefs. Starting with teachers passionate about what they do. With that DREAM, parents and children forced to believe that they are incapable of moving up in this jaded society and a social class system that they think still exists, will be more aware of events and issues that aren't happening in SF but also around the world. Education is where it all be

gins.

The city and California need more funding for you

th activities to keep them off the streets.

I want San Francisco to be a place that is affordable, safe and welcoming for everyone.

MY DREAM = clean planet, peaceful earth, friendly people.

I HAD a dream that there would be less violence in San Francisco.

I have a dream that racism never existed. I have a dream that you wouldn't get killed by the color of your skin or your race. I have a dream where if you say you're not someone, you wouldn't get shot for mistaken identity. I have a dream to live in a peaceful world where there is no violence, guns, knives, killings and where we all get along. I have a dream where the economy would never be bad so everyone has a chance for employment and education...R.I.P. MLK, Josh and G-l...If we lived in a world without racism, y'all would be with us and not dead because of your race.

I have a dream that just as many people of color will live in pacific heights as white people and that people will not have reason to think of certain other neighborhoods as dangerous. I have a dream that San Francisco will pave the way for equality in as many ways as we can continue to dream of.

I have a dream that the economic crisis will end so that there will be no poor or homeless people, that everyone will have a job and be productive in the community.

What's your dream?

and you're listening to....RADIO Z!

It's NEW !

It's HIP !

It is the ZEUM MASTER RADIO STATION .
Coming or as I have heard it is already set up and running at a Zeum near you !

The Zeum Master radio station was a sudden and glorious idea that one of our educators had and was set into immediate action much to everyones pleasure . The idea is that there is a Dj that is one of our great Zeum master staff and they will become the role of Dj and everyone in the museum who is broadcasting the stream shall be able to listen and enjoy .

When I say they become the Dj they really do become the dj . Everyone creates a dj name and a set . A dj set is a group of songs , announcements , contests , etc that are mixed together to create one continuous track .

The Zeum radio conveniently named RADIO Z really allows all the zeum masters a chance to express themselves through music . When you create your set your allowing people to see what music makes you smile , what songs make you sing , what beats make you move . You allow the audience a chance to see a part of you . Here at the Radio Z set all of the zeum masters personality's definitely seep into our sets . Different djs here have built up definite radio personality's that specific to their type of music .

I know when I hear Dj Coco Puffs rumbling through the speakers down in the animators studio I am in for a whole hour of popular hip hop music and crazy contests that have no other way but to tell me that Denzel is on the microphone . When I hear backstreet boys and Hannah Montana then I am definitely listening to Leigh Ann busting it out . When I hear the great king of pop Micheal Jackson playing , well then that could be anyone .

The Zeum Master radio is also a way for everyone in the building to stay connected . Everyone at zeum is close ; part of the zeum family . The radio really lets the zeum masters be connected to each other when there is a whole floor of guests and exhibits keeping us apart . The radio also helps us stay connected to everyone who works as a part of the office portion of zeum . Although us zeum masters hardly see them it dosn't mean we dont wonder who they are , what they do , and how they have been . In a work place where there is so much going on all the time its great to know something so simple as a song playing through the radio can keep everyone together .











Up above you will find a music player playing a music clip that I created with the help of a Zeum educator [the same one who had the idea for the radio in the first place!] help me make and publish onto this blog . Let me tell you NOT as easy as it sounds ! The above clip is a RADIO Z sampler BRIANNA style.

And a huge shout out to Michael the official director of marketing and develpoment at Zeum ! He got my blog to be read by tons and I really loved all the feedback . So thanks to everyone who supported my blog !

Signing Off - DJ BEE -

Nae's trip to the Jewish Museum!

Hey! Its Nae...I'm currently a zeummaster. I've been working here for two months now and i love everything about zeum especially helping kids create things by using their imagination.

All the zeummasters went to visit the Jewish Museum on 8/12/08. We had the chance get a tour given by two teens that work in the program there. The place was coo and from what i heard everyone enjoyed themselves. We learned how old the building is and what it was used for back in the day because part of the building is old and part is new. It was cool to see how the building had more meaning than what i'd thought was a "sacred place for people all around to see how Jews live and feel". Here's this coo pic that I got off their website!

I was impressed with the tour guides and their interest in the architechtural structure. They made it easier for me to become interested. What really shocked me was how much time and effort people had put into making the building..it shows they care about the space they were given because they were creative and used it wisely. I think the tour would've grabbed more people's attention if they showed us some art that resembled the Jewish community.

When i stepped inside of the building it was as if i was surrounded by art that i quite didn't understand. As they started to tell me about what the walls symbolized and the history of the building I started to become comfortable with the art. I was able to see how things connect.

It was great and I really enjoyed myself. This was a museum like no other, It had its own style. I usually walk into a museum and see painting or sculptures that represent something and I didn't feel that at the Jewish Museum...I'll be visiting again, soon!

Almost Summertime at Zeum

Hello Folks !! Summer is about to kick in and I am uber excited. I am looking forward to a lot of fun and interesting things; going to summer camp at Hidden Villa with full scholarship, working at Zeum, assisting with Zeum's summer camp, Little Voices and taking a Health Education class.

I am really excited to help Perry with his camp, Little Voices because I really enjoy working and educating young kids. I always wanted to work with kids (which I already do as a ZeumMaster) but for camp we see the same kids for one full week and that way I get to know them more than I already do as a ZeumMaster. My goal for this camp is to make every child an artist and an amazing performer on stage. And if they're shy then I'll try my best to bring them out of their shell within a week. How, you may ask? I will use my creativity that Joy taught me, my way of inspiring people when they seem to look like they are day dreaming, by offering them unique things to do or telling jokes that Perry taught me, and self motivation that Bob taught me.

For example, last week there was a visitor who really wanted to make an animation but without clay! He wanted to use his toy car that he had bought from Walgreens. He was screaming and yelling at his mom because his mom was like you can only use clay, how many families do you see using cars? I obviously eavesdropped and I stepped in and explained to the mom while his son was take a potty break that anything the boy wanted to do in his animation was ok. When he was done he gave me a big hug and that made my day. I really didn't expect that I could do something like this but I guessed wrong.

It has been ONE year since I first became a ZeumMaster. Zeum is a terrific job. Working with different kids is an opportunity and I feel privileged. Seeing kids smile when they're done with their animation, music video, paper mask, what more can you ask for? It felt like I had an impact, not only in customer satisfaction but my daily live. Zeum has been contributing a lot to my daily life. Before working at Zeum, I was really shy performing on stage (and I still am) but working on it, nervous when talking to a huge group of anxious visitors and just shy in general. Now, I am not shy to talk to huge crowd of anxious visitors, I talk to them about Zeum to personal life. (; I am however still a little bit nervous on stage but I am determined to sing my lungs out when summer is over. (:

Josh on Media Movement

What I think about BAYCAT (Bayview Hunters Point Center for Arts and Technology) Presenting: Media Movement - the new exhibit up in the spiral gallery. (the photo is of me, Joshua.)

This morning, the ZeumMasters looked at the new show in the spiral gallery, which was mostly made up of videos. The video I watched the most was about transforming the negative. I picked this video because youth that start off young, influenced by the negativity don't help anyone at all. Living this way not only makes their life difficult, but the community they're living in also.

I know this because it took me till I was fifteen to realize that I wanted to make a difference. That was the turning point in my life because something bad would always happen to me when I was disobediant. I wasn't going to school, I was hanging with youth who were selling drugs, and I would be involved in turf issues just because I was with the wrong crowd. I didn't want that in my life anymore. Pretending to be someone you are not is very hard because everyone wants to be and feel apart of a group.

If I were to run a workshop with other teens on how to use media to make a difference, first, I would give it a name. It will be called, "Love looking for trouble". The video would be a discussion with different youth from different turfs (neighborhoods) but not about the negativity anymore, with another group of youth who are influenced by the negativity from different turfs and have a small conversation on why youth today, love looking for trouble!

I say and pick this name because in the past, my friends and I would be so confused about what's life about. We would get up in the morning and say lets go look for trouble. We would go in the streets looking in cars to see if there was bags in the front or back seat. That mean't that either lab tops were in the bag/s or something useful was in the bag/s because then people would put bags over things. That's why people don't leave important things in their car unless it was some books. You don't get that everyday...a person breaking in your car for a book which is quite funny to say.

However, my friends and I were so confused that we loved looking for trouble until one day we ran into trouble. That was the day where my friends and I knew what we were doing had to stop and change our lives around into something that could influence others to start being positive. For example, instead of stealing and hanging out, finding a job was a better choice. Instead of hanging out on the streets getting into more trouble, playing basketball was a better choice. And finally, instead of waking up bored and lazy, going to school getting educated became the number one thing in our lives.

Of course, other youth in our neighborhoods and people my friends and I knew called us names and thought we were "soft" (doing the right thing makes you soft), but we were told by an older adult, that you only get one life, so be the best that you could be and make things better in life not worser than it already is. This older person was a random senior citizen who knew what we were getting ourselves in just by looking at us. That was surprising!

Talking about Hip Hop

This morning we had an amazing workshop about gender and power in hip hop.

Hip hop is something I always loved to listen to because not only did I grow up on hip hop, it's a part of my culture. However, what I learned during this workshop was that a lot of mainstream hip hop is controlled by these rich white, old men that have the choice and power on whether to put certain hip hop in the media or not. Also, the media has a way of only showing the public, hip hop that they think should be what the public needs to here. And that the public they are thinking about making money off of is the youth.

There was some great discussion that went throughout the workshop and I was able to give a lot of input on what I thought about hip hop.

I noticed that because a lot of things I see and hear on the internet, such as on youtube and on other cool websites, I think are being held back and sometimes interesting for the public to hear on the radio but are not given that opportunity. To be specific, a lot of music that is always on the radio mostly has the same message...such as talking about the sexuality of both male and female, turf issues, violence, weapons, politics, drugs, and sometimes about where their from and how things set off in their hood/neighborhood.

During this workshop, the group and I were asked an agree or disagree question on whether it matters if you personally care more about listening to the beat rather than the lyrics or vice versa. I told everyone that the beat of the music determines whether or not I want to listen to the rap/song or not. This is because the tone and base of the beat gives me the opportunity "to lean wit' it, rock wit' it" to the lyrics.

Sorry to say, but if I, JJ, don't have the opportunity "to lean wit' it, rock wit' it" to the beat then, something is really wrong with this song because leaning and rocking to the beat gives me a feel to the lyrics and make me want to say, "This song GO"! When I say that, it means that I really like this rap/song/music and when a person such as I, don't know the lyrics to a rap/song, it only frustrates me when I cannot "lean wit' it, rock wit' it" to the beat.

In others people's opinions, they said that the lyrics attract them more rather than the beat because they would like to actually get a message out of the rap/song/music instead of just leaning with it and rocking with and to the beat.

The workshop made me feel open to saying everything that was on my mind about hip hop. It felt like there was no right or wrong answer and that anything I said, other people in the workshop could relate to and speak on more about what I had to say. -JJ

World Savvy Jam Session!!!

Coming to work and knowing that I'm going to participate in a field trip is cool because field trips are rare, and it makes me feel special. Liz, Ari, Joshua, Jule, Wing Yan and myself were the 6 participating in the World Savvy Jam Session. We gathered at Zeum and walked to the SomArts Cultural Center located on 934 Brannan Street. It was a long walk, it took us about 30 minutes. The Jam Session was basically about youths bringing their creative energy and vision to make artworks with professional San Francisco artist while addressing the World Savvy theme: POWER!

Upon arrival we were all hungry, we all signed in and got our name badges. We were all separated into groups; pink, orange, blue and black. We were offered pizza and we all had two slices, they were delicious. After 60 minutes of waiting we were called into a big warehouse art room and we watched 'Kibera Kids.' It was about a young boy who wanted a life of his own because his parent died. He was always forced into doing things that he didn't want to like stealing phones from others and selling them for money. Everyday he would get beat for not stealing phones. Then one day he decided to leave the country Kibera and start a new life. It was about hope.

We got into our groups based on our registration color. I was in the blue group and our main focus is being a POET. Our group was very unique because the other groups did a physical activity and our group did a verbal activity and it was very strong and deep. We separated in two groups the resistant and the non-resistant side. I was in the resistant side and we had to come up with short lines starting with "I am ....... that's why they call me power" and the non-resistant side came up with quotes to support (positive way) the resistant side. My quote was "I am a very smart person and teachers and my peers look upon me for answers and they call me POWER." I had a lot of fun participating in this session. The people that I worked with to come up with different quotes were teenagers around my age and even the instructors were teenagers. Since I am shy in front a huge group a people, this session brought me out of my shell. It made me express my opinion on what I thought about POWER and how I can relate it in a poem.

After preparing for our performance we gathered into the big warehouse art room and group by group we did our presentations. Our group was second to last. I was a little bit nervous because I had to present my quote with the microphone to the big mob of an audience. Can you imagine what you would feel like in this situation? It was ... because I had to say why I was powerful.

The group I liked the most was the Pyramid group and our group Poet group. The pyramid group really showed a lot of self confidence because they had to climb on top of each other and if one person decides to doze off then the whole group fails. If I could change one thing I would extend the amount of time participating. It was very fun and interesting. There aren't a lot of organizations who offer free programs and sessions in San Francisco so I give them a lot of credit for hosting this event. If they're planning to do this again next year I'll indeed do it again.

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.

Zeum as Community

What makes Zeum a community? There is many things that makes Zeum a community. One thing that makes Zeum a community is that we care about our visitors. This makes Zeum a community center to the general public. We work very closely with our visitors. We greet them and help them when they walk into the exhibit. We take turns rotating and talking to visitors to make sure everything is running smoothly. When a piece of equipment is broken we walkie the tech person as soon as we are notified of the broken equipment so it is running back up as soon as possible so we can please our visitors.

Another thing that makes Zeum a community is that we are open to anyone, not just to people living in San Francisco. You can be from a totally different country and visit here. We had some people from Europe visting while staying on vacation to San Francisco.

I decided to take pictures of Zeum Staff. The reason why i decided to take pictures of Zeum Staff is because we are a community. What I did was uploaded the pictures from the camera to the computer and opened them up using Adobe Photoshop. Once the program was open, I used the different filters to change how each picture looks. Somethings I did was use the paint brush to paint on the pictures, blur filter, wave filter and so much more.

Everyone on the staff has been like family to me. They all care about me and check up and see if everything is going ok. Besides Zeum being a community center for the general public we also have a community within the staff. Everyone of the staff cares about each other. When ever ZeumMasters need help with a personal problem or a problem with a piece of equipment we know we can turn to each other for support. Being part of the Zeum staff community has changed my life. Before I was all sad and miserable because of home life but being here, away from my home is the happiest place I have ever been to. I wait every week to come here on Fridays because I get away from home.

When Fridays come I am happy because I get to see the people who care about me. I truly love everyone on the Zeum ok. When Perry was giving me a ride home after seeing Assassins, the play that he was in I was talking to him about personal stuff that was going on in my home, he was totally supportive and gave me advice about what to do and how to handle the situation. That showed me that he cares and is there for me whenever I need someone to talk to.

I am going to mention a few words i would like to say about how the staff touched me.
Perry, Ari, and Noel touched me by caring about me. When I would have a problem I would then with my problem and they would listen. They are totally supportive and help me with my situation the best they can. They would come to me on occasion and make sure everything is ok and I'm doing well. They truely ment the most to me and I will miss them.

Debbo and Derrek touched me by making me laugh. Whenever I was sad they would always give me a high five or do something to make me laugh. Sometimes Derrek would say someting to make me laugh.

Paul and Michelle F.,Musiliu,Sharon touched me by caring about me and keep saying that they will miss me so much. It's nice to know that they care so much that they keep telling me that they'll miss me. I WILL MISS THEM MUCH because they are like my brothers and sisters.

Storyboarding Basketball

Above is my storyboard for animation. (you can click on it to see it bigger) It's for my community project - I chose to talk and create something that relates to me in my community. When I first started thinking about what I would do for this project, basketball was the first thing to come to mind. I'm talking about how I love to play basketball and how its my thing to do.

For my project, I'm going to make two clay male characters and animate them using stop motion animation. Just to let you know, one of the characters out of the two clay male characters is me and I make the basketball go into the net of the court, all net, at the end of my performance.

Also, something cool about my project is that I will speak a rap to the audience and as the two clay male characters move the rap music I say goes exactly to what the characters are doing regarding movement wise. In the end I look forward to seeing everybody who gets the chance to see my work to say, "Cool", after I, the clay character hits the shot and it swishes threw a clay basketball court.

Music as Community

Hello fellow BLOGGERS!

I've been at Zeum for 3-4 weeks now... And now ZeumMasters are in the process of starting our own projects.... topic = community. The definitions of community that I took to heart were support and family. My project is about music as community. I find support in connecting with other people who like the music I listen to and especially in my school marching band.

I truly am in a school marching band. I consider a band to be a community because a lot of people gather together and help each other out. Without support from every single person, a band wouldn't function. In the summer before my freshman year, I had to make a decision whether to take a music class, a video production class, or a theater class. After thinking it over, I decided to choose a music class because of my passion for music. I play the trumpet, saxophone, and a little piano.

Just think! What would life or the world be without music? In my opinion, life would be empty and dull. If music was never created we wouldn't have composers or songs such as: Beethoven, Bach, John Legend, Stevie Wonder, Bohemian Rhapsody, Beat it, or High School Musical.

music is my LIFE. It helps me relax, be happy, be sad. Without music, I probably wouldn't be the person I am today. I probably would be lost, and a whole different person. Just listening to what artists sing and rap about is a big thing for me. They rap and sing about their own life experiences and how they feel about things. I relate to what they sing about.

For my project, I want to make a "beat" for a song. I'm going to do this in the "Sound Lab" in the middle of Zeum's Main Gallery. Super Duper Music Looper can help me play all the different types of instruments that all of my band members usually play. I can be the whole community at once.

"MUSIC IS MY LIFE." -- me.