ACE Spectrum
ACE Spectrum
Ace Spectrum is about you — the ACE Learning Centers.
It’s a quick sharing of ideas, inspiration, opinions and best practices among our continuing education organizations.
Please join the conversation.
KALW Audio Academy Fellow Has Twins – Two Radio Babies For a Sex Ed Series
By Ben Trefny, News Director, KALW and JoAnn DeLuna, Audio Academy ’19 Fellow
As we wind down toward the end of our time with the Audio Academy class of 2019, it’s been a pleasure to hear the fellows finishing up sophisticated and heartfelt stories. JoAnn DeLuna is one of those folks — she moved to San Francisco from New York to take part in the program. It’s my pleasure to let her talk about her work, in her own words:
I’d like to announce that while in Audio Academy — I had twins!
JoAnn wins the KALW Award – Most keeping the news on-point and on time.
No, not actual babies — radio babies. My 2-part series on sex education finally debuted at the end of May. (You can hear part 1 by clicking here, and part 2 by clicking here.) It’s been a long labor of love and took nearly as long as having a child to produce. And as with most twin scenarios, I was not initially expecting two…
I first got the idea for the story right before moving to San Francisco for Audio Academy. While still in New York, I attended a panel discussion in August full of women techies who were doing interesting things around technology and access to sex education. One of them, O.school CEO Andrea Barrica, was based in San Francisco. After hearing her journey, I knew I had to do a story about what she and other women were doing in the sexual health wellness space. What a great coincidence that I was about to move there!
Having been a print journalist, I quickly envisioned the story in my mind, whom I needed to interview, and the different perspectives I’d capture. I went about getting lost in dozens of studies, statistics, and news articles about the detrimental effects of having abstinence-only sex education — or no sex ed at all. I also cringe-binged A LOT of vintage school sex ed films, watched Netflix’s entire Sex Education series when it was first released, and listened to a lot of R&B classics to help tell the story. In total, I interviewed about nine sources for the pieces and did a dozen more pre-interviews with people who didn’t make the cut.
I never imagined it’d take me as long as it would. The more I interviewed people, the bigger my story became, and the more it reinforced my inclination to do it. Almost everyone I spoke with had a similar storyline: Because the sex education at school or at home they received wasn’t comprehensive — and instead was based on shame and outdated ideas of relationships — it took them a long time to come to terms with who they were. Still, it motivated them to make a difference. It also solidified the notion that if you can teach kids to communicate about something as awkward as sex, it also teaches them to speak up at work and stop incidents of sexual harassment, as exemplified by the #MeToo movement.
It was a lot of information to fit into one 8-minute piece, so I was relieved when my editors agreed it should be two pieces. The most challenging aspect of producing the stories was creating scenes. I had been so focused on interviewing the right people, asking the right questions, and making sure the sound was good, that it was easy to forget about audibly portraying the fun and shocking aspects of people’s stories as they told them. But, with the help and guidance of my editors Jenee Darden and Ben Trefny, and sound engineers Gabe Grabin, James Rowlands, and Tarek Fouda, my stories came alive. Thank you!
Throughout this process, I was simultaneously working on my third feature, which I’m just as eager to share, about an incredibly special community for poets of color. I was also freelancing and figuring out my next steps after Audio Academy — no wonder the stories took me so long! In the end, I figured it out. I’m excited to announce that I’ll be returning to New York in July to be Radio Diaries’ first-ever fellow. I’ve always enjoyed creating long features, whether for print or radio, so I feel incredibly grateful to work with them to produce “extraordinary stories of everyday life” and hidden moments in history as told by last-surviving witnesses.
The past eight months have simply whizzed by — it only feels like three — and I can’t believe Audio Academy is nearly over. But it makes sense. I’ve undergone so much growth and transformation and have made so many beautiful connections here with people. I’m still so happy and grateful I made the decision to move my life from New York to San Francisco. The experience is allowing me to return to my city armed with new skills. No regrets!
JoAnne DeLuna, Audio Academy ’19
Oxford Day Academy’s ACE Learning Center Poets Write Epically of Life, Death and Family Emotions
By Thor, ACE Poetry Contest Mascot, Oxford Day Academy
It’s me, Thor, doing the Poetry Walk.
And I thought our Oxford Day Academy (ODA) students wrote epic poems. Wait until you read the winning poems written by parents from the ODA ACE Learning Center. The parents let out their emotions about their life, family and how death doesn’t mean the end of holding someone dear.
Okay, short poems, but epic messages and even more epic poetic results. Let’s let the ODA ACE Learning Center poets show off. Eeeepic!
1st Prize Winner – Leleiti Grew
2nd Prize Winner – Tevita Kioa
3rd Prize Winner – Patrisha Ragins
4th Prize Winner – Petra Reyes
The Pressure Inside
By Leleiti Grew
The pressure inside
It builds it rise
The stress inside
It builds, I cry
The loneliness inside
It builds it subsides
The emotions inside
It builds no where to confide
As I lay on the grass
Watching the flower die
I scream so loudly
Because I was that flower inside
I let out my tears
I gave my emotions and my stress
As if the world can hear my cries
As I gave my last cry and felt
So relieved soon after
Rain fell from the sky as if
It heard all of my concerns
As I looked at the flower
Expecting to see its death
It was brought to life
With the relief of my emotional debt
That’s it Done Deal
By Tevita Kioa
That’s it, done deal
The world is ending
There’s no time to hide
There’s no more pretending
Cause we’re all gonna die
There’s no point in living
For right now we’re alive
Just waiting, not riding
Not trying to survive
Too busy living
In This World
By Patrisha Ragins
In this world we are all lovers of
family. Family is very important. They are
ways that family operates. Children have
a place and adults have to build the
foundation of truth and fairness, there
is always a love for life and the life
of a child. We are family at Oxford Day
Academy this is family too! Oxford
Day Academy is an awesome school
we’re new and a moving force for the
coming years that our children will
be more educated more
equip for the real world. We are family
we are community. We are one, we are
better together!
You Are So Dear To Me
By Petra Reyes
You are so dear to me
You have always thought of me
Before thinking of you
You take care of me without
Expecting anything in return
Your unconditional love
Is amazing and give me strength
In my time of need
I know you are always with
Me even though we are apart
Even from heaven I know you are
Still looking out for me
KALW Audio Academy Fellows Find Their Superpowers
By Ben Trefny, News Director, KALW and Porfirio Rangel, Audio Academy Fellow
Our Audio Academy fellows have less than a month left before graduation, and they’re in heavy production on their final pieces. Here are a few that have recently aired:
The legend of Bigfoot is alive and well in the Santa Cruz Mountains – Lance Gardner
The Bay Area is a roadkill hotspot – Kevin McLean
What do you do when your favorite song has toxic lyrics? Play it on repeat – Magnolia McKay
That last one got picked up by the national public radio program Studio 360 — check it out! It was also in Slate — check that out too!
Another Audio Academy Fellow who’s been producing quite a lot of pieces has been Porfirio Rangel. And he recently had a very cool professional experience as well. Here he is to share that in his own words:
Porfirio wins the award for most AMAZING work outfit
PHOTO: Ben Trefny
During my stint at Audio Academy, I learned what my radio production strengths are. While brainstorming ideas for my first feature, my mentor, Eli Wirtschafter, asked what my interests were. Let’s just say answers ranged between comics and drag queens to happy hour drinks and fashion. Maybe not the answers he was expecting. After throwing around a lot of ideas, he introduced me to KALW’s “Bay Area Beats.” This segment involves interviewing Bay Area artists about their work, influences, and connection to the Bay Area. My involvement improved my skills in writing pitches, communicating & audio editing. Creating these brought me joy and won me some bragging rights. Now with the program nearly ending comes the million-dollar question: What’s next after Audio Academy?
Several colleagues at KALW encouraged me to apply for an audio editor/producer position for season 2 of “Adult ISH” at Youth Radio. It’s a podcast that features celebrity guests who give advice about adult-related topics such as dating, race, or self-care. This was something that sparked my interests, and with my experience at KALW my confidence level was at an all-time high. Like Valentina, I was totally living in my own fantasy.
Shortly after turning in my application, I got an email from YR’s senior producer Davey Kim saying he wanted to schedule a phone interview about my application. During the interview, he said he was impressed with my application and ideas for the show. He said I didn’t get the job but asked if I was interested in helping prep the hosts with guests. At first, I was a little disappointed I didn’t get the position, but I was more excited that he wanted me to still be involved and help out with the podcast.
My first taste of the action came when Davey sent me a list of possible episode themes for the season. I had to send in pitches of possible guests that would fit for the categories. This was so up my alley. Then, my first radio project outside of KALW came about. Davey asked me to help the hosts prepare for their interview with Shan Boody, a popular YouTuber and certified sexologist for their “Relationship ISH” episode. Davey gave me the rundown of what I would be doing and soon he put me in contact with the hosts, Merk & Nyge. Afterwards, I had a three-way call with the hosts to brainstorm questions and how to structure the conversation.
Finally, came the day of the interview on Friday, May 17. While on the BART ride to Youth Radio, I was communicating via email with Davey and hosts about last minute changes with the prep sheet. Everything, from when I first got asked to help to that moment, was happening so fast. I was a ball full of emotions. Of course, I was nervous and excited, but overall I was just happy to be a part of the team. I got there a little early for a tour of the studio. It was cool getting to see editors use Pro Tools, recorders lying around, and hearing terms like “tracking” being casually used, terms I’d become familiar with at KALW. Back to the interview, I met up with Davey & Nyge to have one last run through with the script. Then it’s showtime.
The experience was crazy in the best possible way. Because of my time in Audio Academy, I’m so used to doing things in a certain manner. So at YR when things got changed up a bit it took me off guard, but I surprised myself how quickly I adjusted to the situation. As we made our way to the studio I learned that this three-person interview was going to be done in a call. One of the hosts was in the station with us, the other was in New York, and the guest was in Los Angeles. At this point, I’m just sitting back and letting Davey get everyone connected and set up the Pro Tools session. Even though my part of preparation was done, I still wanted to learn. So I observed how Davey set up the interview from connecting all parties to creating the Pro Tools session.
WOW! What a journey. Even though my role with the production was small, it was a huge level up for my confidence. I felt like my ideas were being heard. It was great belonging to a team that actually asked my help. When I first got asked to assist I was thinking, “Do you really want me to help? I don’t have that much experience!” But, honestly, if there’s anything I’ve learned taking into this transition into the radio world is that you have to be your biggest support. You have to believe in yourself.
