Working at Zeum and being a zeummaster has meant a lot to me. Having this job has a big affect on me. I could talk to any of the adults at Zeum and youth. I’m blogging about these things because I’m going back to my hometown, Los Angeles, where I was kidnapped from to go to San Francisco, just kidding. However, I am going to miss my job and being with the people at Zeum because they are like a second family to me. Being with the people at Zeum, they have taught me that its o.k for a young man to get sensitive sometimes and no one would make fun of me or think I’m soft (a punk), which is what associates call it in the streets. Now, I can listen to women music, talk a lot and brush my hair which has become really wavy.
I don’t think I’ll ever meet bosses like Christian and Ari. They are the coolest bosses you could ever meet because it’s like they never get mad and they are always smiling which brightens my day and also makes me smile. I want to have the same mood as them when I get older like them because the people in my family, most of the time are always grumpy for no reason. I think it doesn’t take much to just put a smile on your face. Show them teeth, no one cares if you didn’t brush them, just kidding, but wait I think that’s the answer…People don’t smile a lot because they don’t brush their teeth as much as Christian and Ari do everyday. See, if people don’t start smiling then that’s what people should think, so you better smile and show them teeth. A teeth smile is what I mean, not a lips’ smile.
To get back to the point, I hope I could come back to Zeum in the future and see the same people because they are all like family.
To conclude, my most memorable moment at Zeum was when all of the zeummasters went down to the slide at that park by Zeum. It was funny because when we went over there the little kids thought we were taking over their territory but teens can play too. So, we went over there and all the kids all stoped what they are doing, looked at us like we didn't belong. Then on top of that you had the cutters, which was unfair.
I really really enjoyed being apart of Zeum, I learned a lot. I thank everyone and now I’m off to college in L.A. Peace Out you guys and girls, and I hope your lunch breaks become longer than half an hour.
Showing posts with label josh. Show all posts
Showing posts with label josh. Show all posts
Sunday, June 1, 2008
Sunday, February 10, 2008
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.)
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.
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!
Sunday, November 25, 2007
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
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
Thursday, July 26, 2007
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.
Sunday, May 6, 2007
Chili Fritos Memory: My Sister
What I'm writing here is more stories for my memory project.
This is a picture of my oldest sister, Erica and I. We are in Detroit Michigan at this time. It's very hot out there with not enough oxygen in the air.
When my sister Erica and I were little, I would come home from my elementary school across the street from my house. I would be coming from my after school program after six and I always would see the ice cream truck as I crossed the street. Because my sign is a virgo and I love to hustle positively, money would always be in my pocket.
When I stop the ice crea
m truck by raising my hand like I'm in class, I would always get the same thing and never try anything new, "chili fritos". If I'm having a bad day, after eating chili fritos, my day is automatically brightened. The good thing about chili fritos is that they were cheap, you could buy them from the ice cream truck for a dollar.
Sometimes before I would eat them, I would go in the house and put them on the table to go to the bathroom and wash my hands. My sister Erica would be sleep on the couch, having the TV watch her instead of she watching the TV. I would go to the bathroom come back and my chili fritos would be on the table empty. I'd wonder who ate them because there was only my sister Erica and me in the house.
After five more times of this situation happening, I started to figure out a plan to "catch" that person eating my chili fritos. It was obviously easy because I would act like I would go to the bathroom and instead, hide under the table where my chili fritos were and end up "catching" my sisters Erica not eating my chili fritos but gobbling without chewing. There went my chili fritos down to her stomach. I had a camera on me so I immediately snap-shot my sister for evidence. In the end, all we both could do is laugh.
This is a picture of my oldest sister, Erica and I. We are in Detroit Michigan at this time. It's very hot out there with not enough oxygen in the air.
When my sister Erica and I were little, I would come home from my elementary school across the street from my house. I would be coming from my after school program after six and I always would see the ice cream truck as I crossed the street. Because my sign is a virgo and I love to hustle positively, money would always be in my pocket.
When I stop the ice crea
m truck by raising my hand like I'm in class, I would always get the same thing and never try anything new, "chili fritos". If I'm having a bad day, after eating chili fritos, my day is automatically brightened. The good thing about chili fritos is that they were cheap, you could buy them from the ice cream truck for a dollar.Sometimes before I would eat them, I would go in the house and put them on the table to go to the bathroom and wash my hands. My sister Erica would be sleep on the couch, having the TV watch her instead of she watching the TV. I would go to the bathroom come back and my chili fritos would be on the table empty. I'd wonder who ate them because there was only my sister Erica and me in the house.
After five more times of this situation happening, I started to figure out a plan to "catch" that person eating my chili fritos. It was obviously easy because I would act like I would go to the bathroom and instead, hide under the table where my chili fritos were and end up "catching" my sisters Erica not eating my chili fritos but gobbling without chewing. There went my chili fritos down to her stomach. I had a camera on me so I immediately snap-shot my sister for evidence. In the end, all we both could do is laugh.
Mama Memory
My memory project begins with two pictures of my mom.
This is a new picture of my mom, dad, and little new born baby brother. My mom's name is "mom"! My dad's name is "dad"! My new born baby brother name is Jeremiah. My mom and I are very close. I remember there was an entire month when my mom just wanted to take off of work just for me and spend time with me by going to lunch. I appreciated that so much.
I felt like an only child. As my mom and I kept going to lunch throughout the month, I was wondering why she chose me to spend time with. Did I need special treatment or something? What? But that was not the case. The case was that she felt like I was her only son, not only child and that she don't see me as much as she does the girls (my sisters) because I'm always running around or with my dad.
My mom is the best and I'm glad she gave me life (having me was hard work is what my mom told me). I also appreciate my mom giving most of her genes, very outgoing and learning how to make a good impression on new people I meet. Cheers, to mom!
I have a lot more pictures to write about. Pretty soon I'm going to start the recording so that you can hear me, Joshua, telling this story.
This is a new picture of my mom, dad, and little new born baby brother. My mom's name is "mom"! My dad's name is "dad"! My new born baby brother name is Jeremiah. My mom and I are very close. I remember there was an entire month when my mom just wanted to take off of work just for me and spend time with me by going to lunch. I appreciated that so much.
I felt like an only child. As my mom and I kept going to lunch throughout the month, I was wondering why she chose me to spend time with. Did I need special treatment or something? What? But that was not the case. The case was that she felt like I was her only son, not only child and that she don't see me as much as she does the girls (my sisters) because I'm always running around or with my dad.
My mom is the best and I'm glad she gave me life (having me was hard work is what my mom told me). I also appreciate my mom giving most of her genes, very outgoing and learning how to make a good impression on new people I meet. Cheers, to mom!
I have a lot more pictures to write about. Pretty soon I'm going to start the recording so that you can hear me, Joshua, telling this story.
Sunday, April 29, 2007
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 sk
ills, 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".
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 sk
ills, 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".
Monday, April 2, 2007
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.
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.
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