Youth Radio - Topic: Culture

Learning American Culture In The Fast Food Lane

denise — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 16:54:12 -0600

The following was originally broadcast on 11/12/11, WABE-FM Atlanta

By: Aaron Choi

I immigrated to the United States from South Korea when I was twelve years old. My first fast food experience was a few days after I arrived. I strolled into a local Burger King to try out their famous burgers. After a short glance at the menu, I ordered what looked to be the most American meal the store had to offer: the number six combo. A rich steakhouse burger with fries and a large coke.

Before approaching the cashier, I hastily practiced in my mind what I was going to say. And in spite of my primitive English, I managed to place my order. But, the teen cashier behind the counter mumbled a question so quickly to me, I could not understand the question, let alone answer it. "Here or to go?" I picked up the word “here.” I spat out its counterpart, “there.” It was a reality check. My transition to life here in the US would not be as smooth as I was hoping.

Over the following years, there were bound to be many more moments of embarrassment and trouble. But with a bit of boldness and a sense of levity, I’m accepting this transition – and enjoying my number six combo.

Nutrition Labels Are Meant To Confuse

denise — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 19:41:21 -0500

The following originally aired on KCBS.

By Ross Andrews

To say that American consumers are being tricked is an understatement.

Like most Americans, I eat packaged foods every day. Fortunately, I have a fast metabolism so I rarely look at the nutrition labels on the foods I eat. But for the majority of Americans who do check labels, many don’t understand the loopholes and intricacies of the labeling system.

The other night my mom brought a microwaveable pizza home for dinner. “I just couldn’t believe how few calories were in this, I just had to buy it!” she said excitedly. Then after eating three quarters of the pizza, I realized that I had eaten two servings amounting to about half my recommended calories for the day.

Shiny labels, exaggerated health claims, and misleading serving sizes, trick us into eating things we shouldn’t. There’s a reason Americans don’t check serving sizes - they don’t make sense. We need to find ways for consumers to make healthy choices. Changing serving sizes on packaged foods to what people actually eat is just the start.

Silly Bandz: Breaking Down Barriers

Jburns — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 19:57:56 -0600

The following originally aired on KCBS.

BY:Jaylyn Burns

Thanks to 10 cent rubber wrist bands which make silly shapes when you’re not wearing them, teenagers like me are finding it easier to make friends.

I’m a high school sophomore, and it can be scary for me to leave my comfort zone. One day my math teacher put me at a table away from my friends. She sat me with this boy who has been in my class all year, but I never noticed. When I saw he had a humming bird shaped silly band around his wrist I asked if he would trade me for my elephant. Now we sometimes talk when we have free time in class.

Kids have been trading things forever, but Silly Bandz are different because they appeal to everyone. Unlike Yugio cards and Barbies, they’re not just for girls or boys.

High school cliques are a powerful thing, and at my school they too often fall on racial lines. If you’re not in the clique, then you can’t even talk to the kids who are, but Silly Bandz are breaking down these walls.

Sure, I admit these rubber bands are silly, but their affects are profound.

Islam Is A Way Of Life

denise — Fri, 04 Mar 2011 13:45:01 -0600

The following originally aired on KCBS.

By Fareeza Ali

I’ve tried teaching my friends about Islam, but it seems like even though they accept me, they’re unwilling to accept my religion.

Recently, a guy from my school started an Islamic Club and asked people what they’d be interested in learning about. I heard one girl tell him she wanted to learn how to make bombs.

WHAT!? The thing that killed me is that I think she was actually serious. It made me think different about my peer’s jokes. Jokes, I admit, I used to make sometimes. But they seemed more hurtful after I heard this. The fact that she felt this way about Muslims made me question what she thinks about me.

The way I see it, Islam is not just a faith, it’s away of life because devout Muslims are dedicated to living a life incompliance to their religion.

It seems like because I don’t fit the stereotypes of the violent Muslim, my peers accept me, but not my religion. What they don’t get is that because it’s such a big part of the way I live my life, the religion is me.

What is Music?

nmartin — Fri, 18 Feb 2011 22:52:13 -0600

What is music? No really, what is music? This was my personal conquest for the past week or so. I can take a guess, but a guess wasn’t good enough for me, I wanted to understand music further with a definition, and personally I accomplished that. Where was the first place I went to find a definition? Google of course. I searched “definition of music,” and from wordnetweb.princeton.edu, I found: “an artistic form of auditory communication incorporating instrumental or vocal tones in a structured and continuous manner.” Mostly, this is a good definition. It is artistic, it’s a form of auditory communication usually through chord progressions or lyrics, and just about all the time, it uses instruments or vocal tones. I only have a problem with the “structured and continuous manner” part. Some may not find African drumming to be structured, and most of the time it’s not continuous, but it’s still music. Obscure thrasher metal songs may sound deafening or otherwise untasteful to the general public, but others may find this to be an art form that conquers others.

What really defines music is culture. You can’t deny that music is an art form, and art is mainly defined by the culture. For example, 17th century painting is much different than gangster rap, but still is considered art. It all depends on the culture surrounding it. Art is relative to culture.
I already had a musical epiphany with this discovery, but I still wasn’t totally satisfied. I then went back to Google and searched music. The three top sites Google came up with were music.yahoo.com, music.com, and pandora.com. Yahoo probably paid for their top spot, music.com directly matched my search and ended up being a junk pop music video site. Pandora.com was another story. If you don’t know, pandora.com is a site where you make your own “radio station” by inputting a song or artist that you enjoy. Pandora then runs this through its database and comes up with similar songs that you may also enjoy. You can press “like” or “dislike” depending on your opinion, and Pandora finds patterns with this data. The company who runs Pandora, the Genome Project, has their own definition of music. Every employee working there must have a four year degree in music theory and must be familiar in many different music styles. They analyze their music down to the bone. Musical roots, instrumentation, harmony and melody, genre influences, minor and major tonality, tempo and time signatures, and song structure are only some of the criteria they use to analyze their music. They believe there is a somewhat mathematical definition to each and every song that can be analyzed, quantized, and eventually organized.

Whether you believe in the cultural relativity theory, or the genome project’s more mathematical theory, there is no denying that music is an important part of normal life. From developed society comes music. Music I found was really hard to define, but I definitely learned from the experience.

Gothic Industrial Subculture

kritchey — Fri, 28 Jan 2011 22:06:21 -0600

Gothic industrial culture is a culture in itself, where people who have like interests come together. I really enjoy this subculture because of the music, art and fashion. The music tells stories about certain things in my life. There was a time when I was constantly fighting with my grandmother and it really hurt me. The way I eased my hurt inside was by listening to this music to let out what I was feeling. I really related to what I was listening to. The music is very sad, slow, angry, loud, or even screaming. Some artists that contribute to this subculture play metal, rock, grunge, techno, and alternative music. In my opinion, the music is very important to this subculture. To me the lyrics really ment more than they literatlly were. The Goth culture is seen as a type of cult to others who are not familiar with it. Many in the media have incorrectly associated the Goth subculture with violence, hatred of minorities, and other acts of hate. However, violence and hate do not form the culture; rather, the culture is formed in part by recognition, identification and grief over social and personal evils that the mainstream culture wishes to ignore or forget. There is some violence against Goths because of public misunderstanding and ignorance surrounding Gothic subculture. Goths sometimes suffer prejudice, discrimination and intolerance. I appreciate the Gothic style because it reminds me of a passion I have with the medieval times, which really caught my attention and made me interested. So if you are like me and have interest in this Gothic culture, please look more into this (before you jump to conclusions).

How Do You Identify Yourself

aminto — Fri, 10 Dec 2010 22:00:57 -0600

How do you identify yourself? People identify themselves as all types of different races but they don’t know anything about them. Do they actually get involved with the culture and traditions? I think people think its cool to just identify themselves as all these different races because they think being what they are is too plain. Maybe if they focus on what they are they could actually learn something about themselves. I think if someone actually do say that they are a particular race they should associate with customs and background. I mean what's the point of claiming something if you don’t know anything about. So okay, you are 12% Japanese…do you at least know how to cook something related from the Japanese culture? I just think it would be a lot more fun to actually get involved with the culture instead of just claiming it.

National Hispanic Cultural Center's 10th Year Celebration:Veronica Sanchez

nmexico — Tue, 09 Nov 2010 15:34:33 -0600

On October 10, 2010 the National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) celebrated its ten-year anniversary in Albuquerque, NM with a community open house. NHCC featured local performers, behind the scenes tours, dance classes, hands-on art, and the unveiling of the fresco inside the Torreon. KUNM Youth Radio Project's Sam Kerwin interviews Veronica Sanchez, Community Leader. Sanchez tells us what the NHCC means to her and explains the ways in which the community can support the NHCC.

National Hispanic Cultural Center's 10th Year Celebration: Frederico Vigil

nmexico — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 20:27:20 -0500

On October 10, 2010 the National Hispanic Cultural Center (NHCC) celebrated its ten-year anniversary in Albuquerque, NM with a community open house. They NHCC featured local performers, behind the scenes tours, dance classes, hands-on art, and the unveiling of the fresco inside the Torreon. KUNM Youth Radio Project's Victor Torres interviews Frederico Vigil, the Artist of the Fresco. Vigil gives the history of the Fresco and explains the importance of the National Hispanic Cultural Center and the fresco.

National Hispanic Cultural Center's 10th Year Celebration:Paz

nmexico — Fri, 29 Oct 2010 20:25:31 -0500

On October 10, 2010 the National Hispanic Cultural Center celebrated its ten-year anniversary in Albuquerque, NM with a community open house. They featured local performers, behind the scenes tours, dance classes, hands-on art, and the unveiling of the fresco inside the Torreon. KUNM Youth Radio Project's Danya Mustafa interviews Paz, Jefe de Kalpulli Ehecatl. He speaks on the traditions of Danza and on what the National Hispanic Cultural Center means to him.