Leigh Ann's Thoughts on the 2009 Holiday

1. Describe your experiences working at Zeum during the Winter Holidays (one of the busiest times of the year!). If you have worked here for more than one Winter Holiday season, share any experiences from those years.

This past winter holiday season was a lot different that past holidays. This is my 3rd winter holidays and this was definitely the most busiest ever. I was surprised that it was this busy because of the recession, people losing their jobs and cut backs. This season went a lot smoother in terms of order, structure and support. Even though we had 400 plus people each day and 515 plus on the last days before school was crazy busy, it went smooth because we had managers, office staff, team leaders and ZeumMasters all working together and communicating effectively.

2. What did you enjoy and gain from the 2009 Winter Olympic Games? What suggestions and additions would you like to make for next year?

What I liked most about the winter olympics is that the games were really fun this year. We were more competitive this year than last and all the ZeumMasters and educators worked together and made everyone in their group feel like a team. For next year, my suggestions would be get the point system more clear because we were told different things by different people and to get ZeumMaster input on what games they want.

3. How will you apply your experiences from the morning team building exercises and the teamwork witnessed on the museum floor to the upcoming spring months?

I would apply the stuff that I learned with the team building to the the spring months by remembering what i learned and also the effective communicating and keep up those skills.

Happy 2010 from the ZeumMasters!

Happy 2010 from the ZeumMaster team! We enter the new year with amazing experiences from the floor, reflections from morning workshops, and of course OUR STORIES, told by US.

In the most recent morning meeting, we asked the teens to share their thoughts on the recent 2009 holiday season at Zeum. For those of you who have not experienced a 400+ visitor day at our museum, it is NOT an EASY task. But what's amazing is how the ZeumMasters make running a packed museum LOOK EASY to their visitors. Yes, these 24 high school interns are a huge part of making the magic happen here. Come visit and find out for yourself!

Below are the 3 questions we asked each ZeumMaster:
1. Describe your experiences working at Zeum during the Winter Holidays (one of the busiest times of the year!). If you have worked here for more than one Winter Holiday season, share any experiences from those years.

2. What did you enjoy and gain from the 2009 Winter Olympic Games? What suggestions and additions would you like to make for next year?

3. How will you apply your experiences from the morning team building exercises and the teamwork witnessed on the museum floor to the upcoming spring months?

Look out for each ZeumMasters responses and our thrilling ZeumMaster 2009 Winter Olympics short film by educator Eli Africa!

We Heart PlayLab

We had some before-hours fun this morning with Zeum's newest exhibit, PlayLab! Evidence...

ZeumMasters on Film

Check out this video, made by Nae, Brianna, Denzel, Andrew, Leigh Ann, Wing Yan, Victor and Sammi and with the assistance of awesome Educator Eli.

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?

What Do You Get When You Cross Art and Technology?

Mentor Groups Round 2- Silk Screening

Is there a better project out there that combines art and technology than silk screening? Thanks to our beloved educators D.Danger and Fran, zeummasters now have the chance to experiment with silk screening.

We spent the morning discussing silk screening 101. The possibilities are limitless. We could silk screen any image on shirts or paper. David showed us a virtual silk screening demo on an Andy Warhol website and gave us some pointers on what kind of images to use. In a couple of weeks, we will be going on a mini field trip to Babylon Burning (a close three blocks away from Zeum!), a store that centers on top quality silk screening, so we can see how the process works.

The next week or two will be focused on finding and adding personal touches to images we want to silk screen. We have ideas flying everywhere from spoons to faces to the Great Wall of China. The best part? You never know how the images will turn out and it could come with the perfect surprise!

Whatever we decide to make, they will probably be put in display at Zeum so that visitors can be exposed to the world of silk screening. Who knows, our project could inspire future Andy Warhols. All anyone really needs is some time and imagination (and silk screens and ink and paper and blah blah blah). What will you create?

-T

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 -

Mixing & Matching: The artform of Mashups

Yesterday morning ZeumMasters had a special presentation by DJ Earworm ...and dont worry its not an ear bug. DJ Earworm creates what are known as "mashups." A mashup is a combination of differents songs lyrics and background music. For example, you would put MIM'S "this is why im hot" lyrics and add them to Rihanna's "Umbrella" music. And its not just like the mix songs you hear on the radio, they're 2 different things.

While the mixing we hear on the radio starts out as one song and then gradually you hear a second song fading in, a mashup uses the same song beat and takes out the lyrics from a different song and gets added to the beat. Its like a new song. You can download an acapella version of a song and and instrumental version of another song and mash them together( hint the term "mash-up")

I don't consider myself a really "technically connected" person, meaning it may take me a while to pick up on things on the computer. But when DJ Earworm was explaining everything to us and showing us how we could create mashups, i was really following along. I love music. Its a huge part of my like.

Music does so much; it gives people something to move to, and it can change peoples moods too. Its a form of expression. I could really connect to the concept of mashups because when i listen to songs on the radio i think to myself "that would be cool if i could put these words with that beat". I was really into the workshop because it gave me a chance to see that i can do stuff like that. He explained that mashups work when you choses songs whose key and tempo are the same, and my mind was thinking of so many songs that would sound good together.It was neat to hear it from someone who got into doing it by accident. I think it also opened up a lot of people mind's by showing them different things and forms that they can do with music. Being able to have the opportunity to hear from and have this presentation done by DJ Earworm was also influencial to Zeum because it gave us different ideas about how we could maybe incorporate mashups into the Zeum environment, such as MPL.

DJ Earworm showed us some examples of mashups he didnt like, and he showed us one of his more popular one's named " United State of Pop," which is shown below;

All in all the presentation was really fun and opened my mind. It gave me a chance to think about music and the different things that i can do with it.

ZeumMaster Winter Olympic Madness....

The ZMs have been full swing into the annual Winter Olympics. Here's a little sneak peak into the inner world of the ZMs....From the top, Flor shows off her winning creation in the foil hat making competition, Sammi models her hat, Educator Jordan and finally, a group shot.

My Own Powerful Media

My name is WENDY I've been at zeum for about 2 weeks. I like zeum. It's actually really fun - I like seeing the kids have fun and I be having fun too. What I like about everybody who works here is they are really friendly and nice. When i first came I was kind of scared and shy but now that I know everybody and I've worked with almost everybody... its actually pretty fun.

Well this morning we had a workshop with World Savvy and Theo, a photo journalist and Katina from World Savvy came in to talk to us. They talked about Cindy Sheehan how she went to Texas and sat in President Bushes ranch because she was mad that her son died in the war. Theo had taken a lot of different pictures and the picture that was different - the one that ended up getting published - was the one where she was like screaming and she was holding a cross with her son's name up high. We talked about why newspapers choose the photos they choose. They choosed the picture they think is best to one that actually relates to the article they writing about.

All the attention was on Cindy. There was a sign that was against the war and another one that wanted the war to continue. Some one made a poster that said "god bless bush and the troops." There was a chair that had a sign that said "why is bush afraid to talk to cindy?" Then they also showed us another picture where a 9 year old little girl that had another sign that said "thank you Mr. president for staying in Iraq." But in the pictures it seemed like a lot of people were supporting Cindy. After he showed us an article that they used the picture that said "why is this man afraid to talk to Cindy?" and in the bottom it said "i'm so sorry" then it had another picture with a family and Bush they looked pretty sad. Theo told us about a lady that lost her son in the war to and she sent a letter to bush and it said that she still supports him after what happen with her son. Some of these picture were chosen to be in some news papers and some in others. Newspapers have a lot of power -they pick the pictures based on what story they want to tell.

Pictures can be interpreted in different ways. people interpret pictures the way they want. In pictures you can't actually hear or see everything the people do, so that's when they say stuff about the people just by looking at it, even if is not really true.

Then Theo talked about an immigrant family, he showed us a video with pictures. Some girl was talking about how Americans say that supposedly they're taking their jobs knowing that they could get better jobs than them and that they would never do job they do. She also said that almost all Americans think immigrants are criminals when that's not true.

After we finished talking about that we got to make our own article about topics we don't see in the news and that peoples don't actually talk about for example they only talk about teens when they fight or kill somebody but they never say the good things they only publish the negative stuff.

I wrote about how everybody thinks that all immigrants are criminals and that is NOT TRUE. I choose to write about that cause my parents came to San Francisco as immigrants and they are not criminals. They came here because they wanted a better future for my family. The only reason why my parents came here was for more money cause my grandmother was sick and they needed to pay her medical bills cause everything in El Salvador is expensive.

THIS IS SOME OF THE WORK OTHER ZEUMMASTERS WERE DOING THIS MORNING.

Censorship In Our Media

Long time no blog. This morning at Zeum we had a World Savvy workshop about photography, censorship & the media. When I first heard the words: censorship and the media, I immediately thought of human rights, the Iraq war, and Google. The news informed us of China trying to limit search results on Google, and the US government trying to cover up the current situation in Iraq. But today we focused on things a little closer to us, like censorship of our school newspaper or artists we listen to. By seeing censorship in a new light, I got to learn more about how it affects me everyday.

When I got to the workshop, we started doing the agree/disagree activity. A situation was presented to us and we chose whether to agree or disagree. After all the situations were presented, we would discuss each one and why we made the decisions we made. At first, everyone stood firm on their side, but once we discussed each one, "what-if situations" were thrown at us, making us question our choice. In the end, it was clear that it was hard to draw a line between censoring to prevent offensiveness and profanity, and exploiting censorship as a way to manipulate the public. Our next activity was an experiment to see how much of what we see in the media is controlled by one big corporation. The results were mind shocking, showing us that though we may get our sources from a couple different places, most of them are owned by one big corporation that could possibly be just showing us a side of the story that they favor.

Through these activities, I got to see how censorship is closer to me than I once thought it was. Censorship, like most things, has a good and a bad side. It all depends on what you limit and where you draw the line. But once you allow one thing to be uncensored, it opens many other doors and controversies over what else should be uncensored. Often, different people will view one thing differently. Some people may be offended but some may see it as perfectly fine, and wrong to censor. Even at school, you may think it's right to have the school censor things like profanity on the school newspaper, but what if one teacher thought that a certain article was inappropriate and the writer didn't? The battle of censorship rages on, and the decisions towards what should be censored is affecting our view of the world everyday. Sometimes what we think is the truth, could be just one big corporation showing you their favorite side of the story to try to get you to think a certain way. In a world where everything is controversial and the truth is debatable, where should censorship in the media stand?

What's up with YAC

Zeum has recently started something called YAC, the Youth Advisory Council. It is a group made up of ZeumMasters, and run by ZeumMasters. YAC was started so that the ZeumMasters, the teens working on the floor, have a voice in their internship program and can have their ideas implemented into their own experience.

I decided to join YAC so that I can contribute to this experience and help bring everyone's ideas or concerns to the table. I like the fact that I am part of a team with other people my age, working together to benefit and satisfy everyone. We discuss issues happening on the floor, and come up with fresh ideas that will hopefully help make the day for our visitors.


Lucky for us, Zeum cares about what we want to get out of our internship. They have created a group that will help support the program and contribue to the changes done to it in the future. YAC will make sure that the internship program can remain as a fun, fulfilling experience for current and future ZeumMasters. I am a member of YAC.

"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.

Why Zeum?

Finally, I, Lilian Fernando, am creating a blog post. It's taken me the whole summer to actually settle on what I should blog about. I've finally decided on TALKING ABOUT THE BENEFITS we ZeumMasters, the teens working the floors of Zeum, get from participating in the internship program. It's NOT YOUR TYPICAL TEENAGE JOB. It's not just a thing to do for the money. It's unpredictable, fun, and nurturing.

Imagine a hands-on MUSEUM FOR VISITORS OF ANY AGE, OF ANY GENERATION. A museum that can change a kid's childhood by opening the door to endless possiblities in the areas of visual and media arts; a place that can help a family bond while creating clay figures, and where parents or kids can discover that THEY CAN STEP OUT OF THEIR BOX and perform on our production stages. It sounds FAR FROM ORTHODOX OR TYPICAL, right? Those are just some of the things that are happening at Zeum every day.

Now imagine being able to EXPERIENCE A FAMILY BONDING at a set, creating a clay animation movie that you taught them how to do. Imagine recording a little five year-old singing, 'Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star', standing at center-stage all by herself. And WOULDN'T YOU LOVE TO BE THERE when a couple, celebrating their 50th anniversary, become experts at using Photoshop. As a ZeumMaster, those are just some of the things I've been lucky enough to be a part of; BET YOU'RE JEALOUS NOW.

But of course this place is not facilitated by teens alone; in almost every room, you might find the older-looking staff member. That staff member is the 'Educator'. Our EDUCATORS help make sure that rooms are running smoothly. Beyond that, they HELP OUR VOICES BE HEARD. They encourage individuality, they encourage us to develop our interests and talents, and THEY ENCOURAGE US to show ourselves off. This summer, we have been given the opportunity to work on projects, with the aid of an Educator, that will be in a show, that our parents are invited to, at the end of the summer. Each ZeumMaster is creating a project within the realms of visual and media arts. A majority of us are working with Video Production and Clay Animation, so NEVER THINK THAT WE ARE INCAPABLE of answering questions in the Clay Animation Studio, or on the Production Stages.

So, if you become a ZeumMaster, you get to work with people of all ages, you get to see kids overcome their 'safe-zone', and you are encouraged, by the people you work with, to create projects that express you using visual and media arts.

COOL.

Learning Here and There

My name is Musiliu Adewunmi, and i am an "Afropean", which simply means that i was born in Nigeria. I'm from the continent of Africa and also mixed with French. I am a capricorn born in the month of December. I love to listen to music especially hiphop and R&B, play video games, watch the T.V. and go to the movies with friends. My favorite holiday is Christmas, it is a special holiday because it brings family and friends together, sharing presents and enjoying christmas cards from well wishers. My favorite style of breakfast is toasted bagel with cream cheeze and fried bacon with orange juice. There is nothing more delicious than having peaches and cream for desert.

I want to write about education.

School is so fun for me I know that some people will think that Musiliu is insane but you know what, I don't care what other people say or think about others. Education is uplifting for every one including myself as an individual. School allows me to be more experienced in community work.

Education in the states is quite different from that of my Nigerian and French education. Back in Nigeria and in France, the teachers really get strict with the students. Students get hands on experience being at school and a lot from learning the hard way which is teachers being strict about our school work and attendance in school. In America students don't get struck by the teacher at school when there needs to be correction, when homework isn't completed it is suppose to hurt the students grade while they get away with only a warning or two. In Nigeria and France, students get more than just a warning but we realize our mistakes through a little bit of discipline.

School is important for teenagers today because it keeps them motivated towards a higher education, leading them to success and enabling to fulfilling their career goals. Going to school i realized the outcome of having a community which helps in areas of group projects, sport teams, after school programs, and clubs.

I see Zeum as a community because it has given me the opportunity to be more flexible, having a cooperative work force with other Zeum masters at including my supervisors, Christian and Raquel. I have gained more communication skills such as answering phone calls, greeting visitors, teaching visitors how to create their own take home art work. I could relate my work experience in the Zeum community to school because working with different people and even multi-tasking usually on busy work days has given me the chance to realize what responsibility is all about, getting my work done in school and in the work place.

Learning in Zeum is different from learning in school because in the worksite, interns like me are taught how to work with technology in music production,video editing and production, mask making, clay animation and even blogging. In school we are taught with computers but without the involvement of music and video production. The task required in Zeum, takes us all interns to a whole new level of experiencing the art work in technology based on hands on experience.

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.

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.

First Job: Under Pressure and Lovin' it!

Time flies! It's my first blog-so be easy on me. Before working at Zeum I was volunteering at the store with Bob, who manages the store. That was a customer service job mostly. But part of volunteering at the store is that you have to "walk around Zeum." I didn't feel comfortable walking around Zeum at the time because I was agoraphobic. :)

I'm a ZeumMaster now....and becoming less agoraphobic!

Being a ZeumMaster is more than just customer service because there are times where you have to sit down and work with kids. The very first day when I started working at Zeum I was really too scared to greet customers because they would come in as a big group lunging at me and asking questions rapidly and I just wasn't prepared.

Zeum is my very first paying job I ever had. I had to get used to a lot of different things such as talking to strangers, having a set schedule, having to soak up so much information at once, and going to meetings. It was sooper hard for me to adjust to real work life.

But with the support of senior ZeumMasters and educators I've been becoming more and more comfortable greeting customers and assisting all kinds of people with different exhibits, and it made me come out of my shell that I was hiding in!

Okay!!! Now one of my favorite movie that I've watched twice is Ratatouille. It's totally incredible. In the movie Remie was helping the janitor to cook by pulling his hair and the Janitor was really scared that his boss would figure out that he had a rat cooking for him. That was a ton of pressure on him. At the end of the movie Mr. Janitor comes out of his shell by telling everyone about Remie, the rat in his hat.

This totally relates Zeum: almost everyday there's a lot of visitors coming in and out and that can be stressful. Like the pressure of working in a restaurant's kitchen with a rat in your hat. But when I actually stood up and told one of the educators how I was feeling about greeting customers and how I was scared of big groups and that I needed help and more support. Now that I've gotten the support I needed I am now lovin' the job!

Goal = To be an Artist Even if it Scares Me

Yesterday was my first day working as a ZeumMaster. At first I was nervous but then working with the educators and other Zeum Masters I got more comfortable. When the staff greeted me, I felt like I was important. I had a lot of fun. Working in the animator studio was cool. I love working here.

So last night was also parents night. Parents night was a night for zeummaster parents to come and see what we do. We got to see all the old zeummasters projects they've been working on for a while. The art work was amazing and I want to do one for the next time we have parent night.

They did a fantastic job. The zeummaster projects inspired me. I want to develop my art skills.

I think that working at zeum will help me develop my art skills because here at zeum there are different forms of art like technology, clay animation and so much more. I think I would want to do a poetry piece, a play, a drawing or a clay figure. At the beginning of the event, christian welcomed the parents and thanked us for being there. In the middle of the event, the parents got a tour of where we work. all the old zeum masters and educators work really hard to make the event as successful as it was. parent night was a huge success, we had a lot of parents.

I think I like the idea of having my own art show because then I can chose the art I want to be displayed and it would be a lot of dedication and hard work because you need to be organized and on top of your game. this way if I have my own art show I can put art of of the visitors and zeum masters. I do not consider myself an artist but I would like to try to make art and put it in even if im not that great because this way people can see what i have created and my hard work. Making art scares me because people can judge me and my art and I take things personally and hard even if it is a joke or sarcasm.

What does it mean to be an artist? To me being an artist means expressing your self in poetry, lyrics, drawing, music and so much more. If you express yourself in anyway, you're an artist. The reason why i came to zeum was to get away from all the stress at home and just express myself. Here I've been expressing myself through playing with the clay figures because it calms me down and I can be an artist when working with it.

Old Places New Faces

It feels like its been so long since I was gone. Here I am, blogging again! I love blogging because its one of the many ways we express our feelings here at Zeum. we should take better advantage of this site since it was made just for us. ZEUMMASTERS ;]

Before, I worked at Zeum through a program called MYEEP and since that program ended, I stopped working at Zeum. I decided to reapply. and now I am here again ;] I had to go through training again and this reminded me of when I first got training 8 months ago. A few days ago I met the new Zeummasters and went through training with them. this is my second time being trained. I remember the first time I was trained, I had totally different people with me and we were trained somewhat differently. It was then when i realized how far I had come. these eight months had sure past by way too fast.

While I was gone, I missed zeum alot, the people and the place itself. I felt like I couldn't say I worked at Zeum anymore and that made me sad. but I got really excited when Raquel called and offered the Zeummaster position to me. I thought, everything will be the same again.

When I actually arrived at Zeum, some of the old people were gone and new people came it. I think its not typical for a teenager to work at a place for so long and I am glad I have the opportunity to do so. even though I was so sad that the old workers left because they graduated, I was glad to meet the new people. I know that every year, people would come and leave. and some of the new Zeummasters will be leaving when summer ends, so i should better spend more times with them. ;]