Youth Radio - Topic: home

Teen Reflects on Occupy Damage

denise — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 14:08:38 -0600

The following originally aired on KCBS

By: Lanaya Lewis

Why come and damage a city that is not your own?

Looking back on the last few weeks of Occupy protests in Oakland, I’m angry about the damage and violence. For weeks 14th and Broadway was filled with trash, which made downtown look dirty and gloomy.

According to Alameda County Sheriffs, 103 people were arrested during the November 3rd protest and more than half were from outside Oakland.

I believe those people who came to Oakland knew that they could do what they wanted because they wouldn’t have to deal with the mess they made. If the shoe was on the other foot they wouldn’t be too happy.

I think that some of the protestors were trying to prove that they were big and bad, but what they proved to me is they know how to make people’s lives harder.

Everyone has the right to protest and voice their opinion, but it should be respectful of the people around them. Protestors have a point that middle class and poor people aren’t being treated fairly, but I’m glad to see the encampments gone. My city shouldn’t be damaged by people who don’t call Oakland home.

From Ulaanbaatar to San Francisco

sanfran — Wed, 04 Aug 2010 18:26:26 -0500

By: Rasam Aminzadeh

For a lot of people moving to a country they are not familiar with can be difficult. That's what 17-years-old Alex Begzsuren found out after moving from Mongolia to the United States two years ago. Begzsuren moved to the United States for a better education. He is currently a senior in high school and wants to attend UC Davis because his family suggested him to go, and also one of his friends is going to that university. He wants to study computer technology and become a computer technician.

When he arrived to San Francisco, he thought it was going to be a lot better than his hometown in every way possible, but he was wrong. Being thousands of miles away from home, he found out just how much he missed his hometown of Ulaanbaatar. “I missed all of my friends, all the places I used to go in my hometown and hangout with my friends.” Begzsuren thinks nothing can compare to his hometown of Ulaanbaatar.

He thinks that no one would like another place more than their hometown because they have lived there more. People know more about their hometown, and they can communicate better with the people there. He sees no similarities between the two cities, “There are a lot of differences. Everything is different even the people,” Begzsuren said. He sees his country better than San Francisco in a lot of ways. He thinks the weather in his town is better because you can actually feel all four seasons opposed to San Francisco. He loves his country, and he wants to go back to his hometown.

He loves to play soccer, but he says, “there aren’t too many public soccer fields to go. You have to have permission to play.” He also added, "There aren't a lot of soccer fields in Mongolia, but most of the ones I go to don't need any permission for playing in there."He is a good soccer player, but he doesn’t aspire to become a soccer player. He’d rather watch his favorite team, Barcelona and his favorite player Lionel Messi on TV.

Although he misses his hometown, he says that he's slowly getting more comfortable here in San Francisco and hopes to pursue his college dreams.

Daddy's Home

ameyer — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 18:48:47 -0500

Cassandra describes what it’s like to raise her daughter, Savannah, by herself, since her baby’s father is in jail, and couldn’t even be there when Savannah was born.

(download mp3)

Home Schooling

patrick — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 21:55:43 -0500

By Zahur McCoy

I have been home schooled for two years now through a program called Hickman. It’s very interesting, because of all the organized events can be counted as a class, I can get up late, and have access too my computer. My teacher is my mother which is good and can be bad. At times it’s bad because she can grade papers pretty harshly; good because she’s not afraid to admit that’s she’s wrong and can except critics from me. I have home school friend who come over and we all do work on certain subjects; like math and science. The good part about working with a group is that we can revise each others work and give feed back. The bad part is that some people in the group think they’re always right and won’t except that they can be wrong at times. Even with working in my group I like this system of learning because Hickman provides you with the recourses you need along with lists of extracurricular activities. To prove that you have done your work you must come in every 6 weeks and show your work to you educational coordinator. Educational coordinators are people you meet with every six weeks to review your work and set your goals for the year.

Like regular school you have to go to classes that are required to pass to go to the next grade. Some classes you take because your teacher does not know the subject or does not have the resources to teach it. The greatest thing about home schooling is that you can go at your own pace without being rushed or heeled back like at regular school. Students are forced to work at the schools pace and dead lines. This can be bad because a student might not learn what they need to know in that period of time and everyone learns differently. Also, schools don’t take in consideration that some students need more attention than others. The horrible part of Home schooling is there are no school dances, sports teams, and I can only see my friends who are Home schooled on the days when there are classes that people have to take. Even with these flaws of Home schooling I don’t feel left out in any way. My friend who go to regular school are confined to a class form 8:00 to 3:30 while I can go any where I want to during the day. Home schooling is not for every one, but for me working at my own pace helps me understand what I’m learning.

Underage Homeowner

brett — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:03:20 -0500

Before she was old enough to legally drink alcohol, Denise Tejada bought a house in the San Francisco Bay Area, one of the most expensive real estate markets in the country. Her brother Wilmer bought his first house when he was 21 and now he’s planning to invest in a second property soon.

Watch the video to find out how they did it.

Previously:

TEACH YOUTH RADIO: The Turf, The Village

lucyk — Fri, 02 Apr 2010 16:31:51 -0500

News Break:

THE TURF, THE VILLAGE
(Broadcast May 18, 2005 on National Public Radio's News and Notes with Ed Gordon)

What's the story?

For this News Break, we follow one Youth Radio commentator on a trip to Ghana, in West Africa. Dru Harshaw was a senior in high school when he traveled with his school to Ghana, having worked with classmates to raise money for the trip. It was the first time Dru had left the United States, and the experience profoundly affected him.

Still, it wasn’t until Dru initiated a “deep” conversation with a drum-maker he met in Ghana that he began to understand the purpose and meaning of his trip: to understand his “point of reference” back home, in Oakland, California. Dru couldn’t get Oakland out of his mind or dreams while he was in Ghana, and in this commentary he shares his own dawning understanding of why.

You might “read” Dru’s commentary as a form of travel writing - an approach that moves beyond the standard “what I did this summer” frame often applied to student writing about school vacations or family holidays. Dru’s piece is also an exploration of identity, and a way of mapping a very personal as well as social, cultural, and historical geography that crisscrosses time and national borders. For these reasons, his story provides rich material for discussion in English, history, geography, social studies, and ethnic studies classes.

“The Turf, The Village” reveals how this young commentator, like so many of us, needed to go away in order to begin to grasp his sense home.

Read this Script!
Listen to this Commentary!

Teach this News Break!

SCRIPT

PRINT

The Turf, The Village
"West Africa or West Coast, every village has its own way of life."
By Dru Harshaw

Youth Radio's Dru Harshaw recently spent two weeks in the West African country of Ghana. The trip was his first time ever leaving the United States. It took being half a world away to finally understand why home is home.

I spent five days at a cultural center on the edge of the Dogbe village in the Volta region of southern Ghana. The most memorable part of the whole trip was the village Easter celebration...decadent costumes, a crowd of over 100 heads, and little children dancing in the background as if they were part of the action.

I was absorbing so many different cultures and ways of life. I began to notice a trend in my sleeping habits: every time I closed my eyes I had dreams of Oakland and visions of my home: childhood mischief, attractive women, even street signs. This confused me. With the beauty of Ghana right in front of me, why was my mind back home?

I brought my question to Kobe, the village drum maker. Kobe was a well-spoken, muscular man, who had performed a ritual dance at the Easter celebration, which involved him applying a flaming stick to his bare skin. Afterwards when I asked how he did it, he replied with a wide smile, “mind over matter.”

He struck me as one of those deep-thinker, heavy-outlook-on-life types; so I thought he’d be a good person to ask about my dreams. He said dreams are only 3 to 5 second visions that register in a person’s subconscious. Then he dropped the knowledge that people only remember the dreams that affect them emotionally.

I asked Kobe why all of my dreams in Ghana were about Oakland. He simply said, “point of reference." He explained how in Ghana, many students and workers make a living far away from their home villages. But their memories of home stay with them. So, when they return to the village, they can truly be at home.

Everything clicked. That was the purpose of my trip, to understand my point of reference. Oakland is my village. I know, I know, Oakland isn’t a village per say, but it works the same manner. Instead of drums echoing through out our residences, there are cars that beat down the block as if there were a pack of wild gorillas in the trunk.

And you probably won’t find the beautiful color schemes of kente cloth in Oakland, but you will find my boys coordinating authentic sports jerseys with their high tops. And of course, instead of claiming a tribe; we claim a side, a turf, and a block as our heritage, culture, and home. It’s all relative. West Africa or West Coast, every village has its own way of life.

No matter where my mission might take me, I know that my village will be there for me.

SEE AND HEAR MORE

View Dru's trip photographs:
Photo Gallery

Listen to live music from a cultural ceremony in Ghana:
Drums Beats

TEACH YOUTH RADIO

Use the script and audio of the commentary in this Newsbreak to inspire students to explore these skills and themes:

Language Arts:
• Explore descriptive language through perspectives on “home”.
• Ideas for journaling.
• Examine the origin and impact of perceptions of “Africa” in the US.
Social Science:
• Examine the origins, experience and meaning of being “African-American”.

For this month's feature, you will access to these strategies and resources:
1. Ideas and Suggestions for lesson plans
2. Toolbox handouts
3. Synthesized Standards
4. Reporter Bios
5. Resources and further research
6. Youth Radio’s media production techniques

1. IDEAS AND SUGGESTIONS FOR LESSON PLANS:

LANGUAGE ARTS:

Home: Here is a writing activity for students to process the questions: Where are you from and what does “home” mean to you? Imagine that you are describing your home from galaxies away, to the planet, to the continent, to the country, to the state, to the city, to the block, to the street, to the home. Describe it as you get closer and closer until you are finally there. What does home look like, sound like, feel like, smell like, and taste like?

Compare and Contrast: Drawing from personal experiences, or by interviewing someone from a different country, in addition to using National Geographic magazines, websites, and other resources, students can learn about another country and culture. By creating a Venn diagram based on home and another country, students can highlight differences and similarities to preface making a book complete with images and writing.

Away from home: In Dru’s words, “With the beauty of Ghana right in front of me, why was my mind back home?” What does your class think? Drawing from personal experiences, have any students ever felt homesick? Are any students in the class from other countries? What are their experiences of being in the United States? What moments or events initiate thoughts of home?

Dreams: Dru has vivid dreams about his home in Oakland while he is in Ghana. Kobe tells him people only remember the dreams that affect them emotionally. Students could journal their own dreams: What are some of the most important places that have shown up in your dreams? What do you think the appearance of those places tells you about their emotional significance in your “waking” life?

Comfort Levels: Dru describes Kobe as someone he felt comfortable talking to about his dreams. Some questions for students to explore in a journal might be: Who do you talk to and confide in? How do you decide that you can open up to someone? What do you look for in a person who can give you advice?

Point of Reference: Kobe says Dru’s dreams of Oakland reveal his “point of reference” during his visit to Ghana. If you check out Dru’s bio, you will find that he has been exposed to a broad range of social, cultural, and academic experiences. How does having different points of reference open up his perspective on the world? Can students cite some other examples of articles, books, or stories they have read where a protagonist has similar experiences that shape his/her outlook? Are there ways to discover points of reference without getting on an airplane and traveling for miles and miles? Through what points of reference do students see the world? Students can explore a new sense of place or perspective hidden within their own community or neighborhood, and write an account of how that experience affects their sense of home.

*MEDIA LITERACY

Media coverage of Africa: When your students think of the continent of Africa, what are the first associations that come to mind? Students can look up images and other articles on countries in Africa to find out how the continent is represented in current events. What are some ways that Dru’s depiction of Ghana differs from the typical media coverage of Africa? What are the similarities?

Music of the World: Dru’s piece incorporates the music of a Ghanaian Easter festival. Create a musical soundtrack of songs that represent home. Students should analyze the lyrics of their songs and talk about why those words and references represent home to them. They can then analyze how the quality of the music itself, separate from the lyrics -its rhythms, beats, and resonances- contributes to the song’s meaning.

SOCIAL STUDIES:

Mapping: Use a world map, allow students to figure out where Dru was in Africa and calculate how far away from home he was.

From Africa to the U.S. to Africa to the U.S.: Taking into consideration the history of the United States, Black people were stolen from Africa, enslaved in the United States, and have created a whole new culture, which San Francisco State University professor Dr. Oba T’Shaka describes as indigenous to the United States. Why do students suppose Dru, an African-American, feels that the United States is more his home than the African country of Ghana?

2. TOOLBOX HANDOUTS:

Use these to help students focus and extend understanding...Coming Soon!

3. SYNTHESIZED STANDARDS:

Subject: LANGUAGE ARTS
Reading: Connections
Reading: Response
Writing: Process
Writing: Product
Media Literacy: Comprehension
Media Literacy: Analysis
Media Literacy: Production

Subject: SOCIAL SCIENCE
Course: Modern World
Course: Geography
Course: Sociology
Lens: Culture
Analysis: Interpretations & Debates

4. Meet the Youth Radio REPORTER who produced the story:

Pendarvis “Dru” Harshaw was raised around all three corners of Oakland, California. After attending Edna Brewer Middle School, he was granted a scholarship to the Athenian School, a college preparatory school in Danville, California. He struggled mightily with the social scene (only about 20 out of 400 students were African-American), rigorous academics, and financial flaunting by some of his privileged classmates. But in his senior year, Dru was elected Student Body President, accepted by a historically Black university, and got the chance to go on the trip to Ghana that he describes in this commentary. After returning to Oakland, Dru graduated from high school, decided to defer his college acceptance, and is now owner of “Pens and Pistols Productions,” a media and music production label. At Youth Radio, Dru does his Clark Kent impression and produces stories for local and national outlets on topics ranging from The Millions More Movement, to Boppers (younger girls attracted to older men), to the martyrdom of recently executed Stanley “Tookie” Williams.

5. RESOURCES AND RESEARCH related to the story's themes:

•National Geographic Website
•Lyrics Search Engine
•ReadWriteThink: Brainstorming Tools
•"Africa in the Western Media" (U Penn African Studies 02Oct98)
•Teachers Guide to Curriculum about Africa (Exploring Africa)
•"Out of Africa: Western Media Stereotypes Shape Images" (Media & Values Winter 1993)
•"An Unseen World: How the Media Portrays the Poor" (UNESCO Courier Nov01)
•Africans on Africa: Debt, People, Governance, Colonialism (BBC News Jul05)
•"Media's Negative Images of Africa are No Accident" (Chicago Defender 27Jun05)
•"NGOs Present False Images of Africa" (News and Views from Africa 02)
•"Africa in International Media" (Mathaba News Network 25Sep05)
•"Mining Sector Aims to be Kinder, Gentler, Greener" (Planet Ark 15May02)

Off-Line Resources:
•The Integration Trap: The Generation Gap By Dr. Oba T'Shaka
•Images of Africa: Stereotypes and Realities Edited by Daniel M. Mengara
•How Europe Underdeveloped Africa By Walter RodneyNational Geographic Website

6. MEDIA PRODUCTION TECHNIQUES:

Guides and inspiration for creative media-making projects: conducting interviews, writing commentaries, and producing features.

• MAKING AUDIO NARRATIVES •

For many more hands-on resources and behind-the-scenes accounts of youth media production, check out the new book, Drop That Knowledge: Youth Radio Stories. Written by Youth Radio's Research Director and Senior Producer, Elisabeth Soep, and San Francisco State Professor Vivian Chavez, it's being touted by media experts as a "landmark contribution to our understanding of media and youth movements in the US."

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