ACE Spectrum

Home Stretch for KALW Audio Academy Class of 2021 and Their Big Futures

Posted by Martha Sessums on May 26, 2021 in ACE Learning Center, ACE School Report, Continuing Education | 0 comments

By Ben Trefny, News Director, KALW and David Exumé, Audio Academy Fellow ’21

We’ve reached the home stretch for the Audio Academy class of 2021!

Our fellows are working on final stories and getting guidance about entering the next phase of their lives. Some are lining up new jobs, including David Exumé, who has a contract with the national show Snap Judgment starting in June!

David’s been busy with KALW work, lately. Here are the pieces he’s published in May

Rexx Life Raj Raps About Hope For The Bay And His Future Self

Mimi Tempestt Poetry Collection Is A Meditation On Death

Vendela Vida’s New Novel Explores Friendships And Lies In 1980s San Francisco

New Anthology Focuses On Black Liberation

I asked David to share some thoughts, and here’s what he had to say:

Your job is to make your subjects comfortable,” was some advice David Boyer, my mentor, recently gave to me. I had finished up a story on health equity, which involved collecting tape at a vaccination site in Oakland. “Make your subjects comfortable,” I thought as my boom pole drew some wandering eyes. I decided to lean into it — crack jokes, point out my KALW tote bag, look available. As folks compared me to Obi-Wan Kenobi and Gandalf, they all got more comfortable with me. They knew I was there to represent them, to tell their story, and to listen. By the time the community’s pastor asked to speak to me, we were all in our comfort zone and ready to share.

This is a small example of the confidence and guidance KALW’s Audio Academy has given to me. I keep Boyer’s advice in mind in all my reporting, right down to the small things, like encouraging interviewees to pause to take a sip of water in the middle of our conversations. The Audio Academy isn’t all deadlines, reporting plans, and butcher-shop-esque edit sessions. It’s learning how to turn good tape into great tape. It’s learning to balance your list of interview questions with asking questions that fit the flow of the conversation. And, personally, it’s helped me figure out what professional roles in audio I’d like to shoot for.

Community Conversations About Health and Equity Increase at KALW Plus First-in-a-Year Reporting Experience – and Chicken Talk

Posted by Martha Sessums on May 24, 2021 in ACE Learning Center, ACE School Report, Continuing Education | 0 comments

By Ben Trefny, News Director, KALW, and Wren Farrell, Audio Academy Fellow ‘21

We’re very excited about an upcoming project that’s been a year in the works. It’s focused on issues of health and equity around the Bay Area.

The origins of this project came from our reporting on the 2020 election. We focused on neighborhoods where comparatively fewer people voted. As we learned more about these communities, we found that the people who lived there were typically lower income earners and had worse health outcomes. Essentially, these were places where institutions like government and media were not coming through.

We began establishing relationships with local organizations serving these communities, and provided some meaningful, targeted reporting that served people living in our focus areas. And when we were able to raise funds to continue that community-focused work in a different way, we jumped at the chance.

For the last four months, now, we’ve been deepening our ties to these communities: East Palo Alto, San Francisco’s Bayview, West Oakland, Richmond’s Iron Triangle, and Fairfield. We’ve provided daily updates on testing, vaccination and other resources every week during live resource conversations each morning on KALW. We package those updates in digital video and audio form and share them back out to the organizations with whom we’ve been partnering. And our Audio Academy fellows have been focused on building and maintaining community conversations there, while developing a feature story that will be part of our upcoming podcast.

Wren Farrell is working on a story about Richmond. Here are some thoughts he wanted to share about his reporting experience:

A few weeks ago, I went out reporting for the first time in over a year. I drove up to Richmond to hangout at a community farm, Urban Tilth, while employees packed CSA boxes. I was nervous. It’s not like I’ve been living in a cave for the last year. I talk to people. I do stuff. I see things. But this felt different.

“Did I have enough batteries?” I asked myself, at least five times. “Wind sock? Does my bag look too full? Are they gonna think I’m nerdy? What if they don’t like me?”

I applied deodorant twice, brushed my teeth, and then popped in some gum. I asked my girlfriend how I looked. She said I looked good.

“But really,” I asked, “do I look okay?”

She said I was gonna be late, and she was right, so I ran out the door, still not sure how I felt about this whole thing. I spent the 20-minute drive up worrying about my hair, my clothes, my equipment, my breath. But then I got to the farm, and I was so damn happy to be back out reporting all my anxiety went away.

The first woman I talked to was named Maria, she’d been working at Urban Tilth for seven years, and kept apologizing to me because she didn’t think her English was good enough. I told her that her English was great and tried to bridge the gap with my broken Spanish. She told me I spoke very well, but I think she was just being nice. I moved on to record some chickens, then to talk to the other employees.

When I walked up to the tent where they were packing produce, I had to ask them to turn off the music, which I was scared to do — if someone asked me to turn off the music at my job, I would not be happy — but they were super nice about it. They were all young — late teens, early twenties — and I could tell they really loved what they were doing. They were all making fun of each other but being really polite to me.

After about an hour and a half, I thanked them for their time, and said I was gonna go. I went home feeling happier than I’d felt in days.

Alpha Poets in English and Folklorico Classes Make Poems Dance

Posted by Martha Sessums on May 21, 2021 in ACE Learning Center, ACE School Report, Continuing Education | 0 comments

By Riley, ACE Poetry Contest Mascot, who often dances around, especially for treats, and Martha, who keeps typing for Riley which is kind of a dance in itself

Riley here. One of the things I love about the Alpha Public Schools is the focus on learning to be a leader, getting college-ready and being a part of the Alpha family. They always think out of the box and encourage their students – and parents of students – to work for the best but respect who they are too, including their culture. That’s why this set of poems is from the Alpha Parent Center (an ACE Learning Center) and from the Alpha Ballet Folklorico Group.

Alejandro Espinoza, the ACE Parent Learning Center Lead, says the English Class poems are from the Alpha Parent Center. The Alpha Ballet Folklorico Group is made up of three student groups across our four schools and they practice traditional folklore dances from different regions of Mexico. “We use this group to promote culture, exercise, and strengthen students’ confidence and self-esteem,” Alejandro said. “Because Folklorico dance is such an empowering art form, we decided to ask students to write poems about how they feel when they dance Folklorico.”

Arf, arf. Let’s get dancing with these poems. Congratulations to all the winners. And remember, treat yourself to a poem.

Alpha Parent Center – English Classes Contest

 

First Place: Edith Zepeda

Watch the video of Edith’s poem here: Edith Zepeda

Second Place: Rocio Herrera

Watch the video for Rocio’s poem:

 

Third Place: Alma Miramontes

Watch the video of Alma’s poem:

 

Folklorico Contest

Folklorico Contest 1

 

First Place: Sofia Horta (and my mom)

I like to play
I like to dance
But what I really love
Is my Folklorico dance
When I spin around
My skirt looks like a wave
I spin faster
Because I am brave
I feel very happy
Dancing with my friends
But we feel sad when class ends
Dancing folkloric is beautiful
And also it is hard
But if you enjoy it
Folkloric dance is art.

Second Place: Maggie Reyes

I skip
I jump
I leap
I move to my own drum
Again!
I skip
I jump
I leap
I’m starting to feel the beat
I can do it
I can do it
I can dance
Happiness flows through
The dances I make!

 

Third Place: Diego Garcia

How Folklorico Inspired Me

Folklorico keeps me entertain.
It makes me shine while this pandemic
Is happening. It helps me now dances
From Mexico. It gives me time to stretch
And dance. It also tells me how other
Countries celebrate special days.
I love Folklorico

 

Folklorico Contest 2

First Place #1: Mia Carbajal

Antes de Nacer

I feel the beat
I feel the beat
Cuando será el día
Que este allí
I feel it in my blood
I feel it in my veins
My heritage
Mi cultura
Waits for me
Ya estoy aquí
Ya llegue a la tierra
I can finally see
All the beautiful colors
Of dresses made for me
Yo nací bailando
La tierra es mi escenario
Mi cultura celebrando
Every step I take
Me Mexico estoy representando
Y me cultura seguiré sembrando

 

First Place #2: Gisela Villavicencio

My First Solo

Nervous and scared.
Pretty and made up.
When I went up on the stage, my color
went away
But in listening to the song
My body turned on and my fear was
gone.
I looked up and people were clapping
for me
With my smile and my head held high.
My pride in being a dancer and having
Mexican roots

shock.
It was a beautiful experience
Like a rose
That I would not change for something
Else.

 

Second Place: Melissa Villavicencio

Folklorico means to have
Fun
Folklorico means to have
Outstanding performances
Folklorico means to
Love my roots
Folklorico means to
Kind to one another
Folklorico means to
Learn new dances
Folklorico means to be
Optimistic to dance
Folklorico means to have
Radiant colorful skirts
Folklorico means to
Include anyone
Folklorico means to
Celebrate festival days
Folklorico means to have
Original dance move

 

Third Place: Yaritzia Blanco

Folklorico is a form of art. With every spin and turn the colors of my skirt are like blossoming flowers allowing me to bloom. With every tap of my show there is music making its way out of the soles of my shoes. With every new dance I learn it is a way to show that I am proud of my heritage. So folklorico is a lot of things but most importantly it is how I express myself and the way I show that I am proud of who I am and where I come from.