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.

A World Savvy Tangent

To sort of start off, I'm Dan, and I'm a ZeumMaster. I've gone to Zeum since
I was nine years old, amazed each year with the changes made to each
part of the "museum"...I used to kick the metafield-maze's butt before
they programmed in a level 2. I've been working as a ZeumMaster
for a good seven months now. Done good, made friends and all that.
Everything's been pretty peachy. Capice?

This is also my first time blogging, so don't get too weirded out by whatever
tangents I will quite possibly make.

Yes, it's kinda cheesy, but this is one of the few short video uploads
made by the creative youth at the World Savvy Jam Session whilst informing this generation's long list of intelligent intellects about life changing extremes like poverty, conflict, and peace building in order to prepare a future of great minds.

World Savvy not only encourages a generation of intellectual thinkers, but also challenges people to speak out against unfair situations, promoting natural rights and freedom of individual will, something one could also find at www.youthforhumanrights.org. Look them up.

World Savvy is currently building up for their 2008 theme on Global Health, which, by itself, is one massive topic to cover. But hey, they've done tougher stuff before, and they can do it again, and again, and again, and again.....etc. PBS states in their article on the importance of global health that…

"The world's scientific knowledge, technological expertise, and economic resources are greater than at any point in history. We are capable of applying our collective know-how and wealth to reducing the health risks faced by all nations and alleviating unnecessary human suffering. Many see this as the shared responsibility of wealthier countries. Others continue to raise arguments against pursuing a collaborative approach to the problems of developing nations."

Now, as flawed as the middle sentence is, all countries, be it rich or poor in Resource fulness should be able to touch on a "love thy neighbor" basis. People should be willing to collaborate with each other in order to work towards a common goal, and I think World Savvy brought out global health in order to bridge whatever gaps
they could to help the little guy in this equation.

Poor countries shouldn't have to watch like the lesser sibling while the self appointed favorite sibling gets a bigger slice of the metaphoric cake of good benefits. I know that with every equation, a huge problem has to equal one or more solutions, and that is World Savvy's steps towards a bright future for humankind. I solute your efforts, Savvy.
Keep up the good work.

Those of you who don't know what I'm talking about should go to worldsavvy.org.

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.

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.

My Power In Film

I have always been interested in film making. As a little kid I was always messing around with a video camera. When you’re younger you really don’t know what you are doing but you are just so interested in it that you just keep playing around. As I got older my passion for film was becoming even bigger. I began to watch films that most kids don’t really watch. I paid attention to the methods in which the director portrayed their movie.

When I got into high school I learned the art of editing. I started off simple small little short movies with my friends and I. Then I moved on to creating skate tapes. I never thought I was that good at the process until I was assigned a school project in which I had to use you media to create a story about genocide. I took this project seriously because it was something important to others and not a project that can be half done. When I presented the movie I saw tears in the audience.

Unsure of what that meant I confided in my teacher. He told me that people can speak out through music, writing, and even film. I didn’t really believe until a woman whose grandparents survived the Holocaust told me how power that movie presented. I felt accomplished that I was able to speak out trough film. After that I fell into my slump of writing films and trying to develop new movies but none had that same passion in which I showed in my Genocide film.
It wasn’t until today that I hit point in which I was able to speak out. I was out going to film in downtown San Francisco. I was filming for my online video blog site. As I was crossing the street I heard the sound of a car spin out. As I looked I saw a white truck driven up on to the curb and hearing woman scream. I ran over with my video camera and began to film.

Watch my blog here
http://beta.yourtrumanshow.com/videos/viewVideo.jsp?id=633

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?

Inspiration

My imagination grows bigger and bigger everyday. There's always something new to think or write about. My inspiration comes from the mind and it sees, my heart on how it feels.

I like to write about dreams i have sometimes, kids n how i used to be when i was a kid, and what moods i feel through the end of the day.

I also get ideas from music like Marvin Gaye, Al green, Marc Anthony, and other oldies.

I started writing when I was in 5th grade. I was always quiet all the time mostly my whole life cause I was shy so much of the time that i got to used to it. So with my shyness i started writing in class and my teacher look at what I was writing and said that I was good. It keep on going on on through school years, all my English teachers said I was gifted or something. yeah writing is my thing. Later on I am going to do a project here at zeum. like a slide of pictures and have a poem reading out loud in my own voice using the tech tools here. I'll come up with more later.

here is an example of my writing...

It Ends Tonight

My days are going by fast.
They are not going to last.
They is no point on going on.
All I have lived for is done.
Why should I make myself suffer this long.
To stop this heart to keep on beating,
for what I am feeling.
It ends tonight.
falling from the sky.
This is the day I die.
the end

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.

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.