NAYE NAYE--->HECKA DAYS LATER @BAMMA...

SINCE THE LAST TIME I BLOGGED, LINNAEA AND I WENT TO SEE LA PLEBE AT THE GILMAN IN BERKLEY.BEFORE WE SAW THE CONCERT, WE GOT LOST AND ENDED AT UP AT A SKATE PARK. WE TOOK AMAZING PICTURES AND VIDEOS OF THE SKATERS.WE THEN ATE TACOS AND BURRITOS. IT TASTED GOOD. LATER, WE SAW A BAND WHO I DO NOT KNOW THE NAME OF BECAUSE THEY ARE NOT VERY IMPORTANT. ONE OF THE MEMBERS LOOKED LIKE FOURTY YEAR OLD FATHER AND THE REST LOOKED LIKE THEY WERE FROM THE 50'S. YEA...THEN WE SAW LA PLEBE. THEY WERE AMAZING! I WAS AFRAID OF THE MOSHING. OKAY, THE NEXT DAY WE WENT TO A MUSEUM BASED ON THE CHINESE CULTURE. IT WAS COOL.THEN WE WENT ON THE BAY CRUISE. IT WAS ALSO COOL. OKAY, TO TELL YOU THE TRUTH, I'M SOO TIRED! SO I GOING TO JUST FINISH THIS BLOG UP RIGHT NOW.OKAY, BYE. -_-

Oh happy day.

Hahaha...That was what I was doing the entire day today. Laughing. Cackling. Giggling. Mwahaha! I have no idea why. I am just full of joy:) Okay I am reserving this spot for JACKIE. HEY THIS IS JACKIE AND IM FRACKING KOOL WITH A K. bye. <----she's so funny...

Okay. Thanks Jackie. So I finished my story! Yay!!! I went from like 1, 200 words down to 513. Oh yeah baby! I still cannot believe that I am a journalist. O-MI- GAWD. Yup. I am super proud of myself. Super proud. Basically that was the highlight of the day. Right now I'm editing my audio. Ew. It's boring and I get distracted WAY too easily.

Okay well that's all I have to say. Till next time.

Bye!

P.S. I only have one love. Initials: VFC. If you know what I'm talking about, I'll give you a prize!

FINISHED STORY!

I FINALLY FINISHED MY STORY YAYYYYYYY! IM SO HAPPY! I was kind of frustrated because i finally got another interview but i had to put that into my story but i didnt know how so my stories organization was pretty whack but as i worked on it more it started to get better. Then when i was finally done i had 950 sumthing words, then 778, then 637, then 560, then 538 and finnaly 507 WORDS! I had to make so may drafts i felt SO BAD because when you really think about it i killed alot of trees so i feel bad but im still hecka juiced that i finished my story. Now im doing my multimedia. Im really excited to do the multimedia because i really like doing things that involve film and editing (random note) but before i wanted to be a journalist i wanted to be a film maker because i thought making films was really kool. So im excited for that except i dont have alot of pictures or film so i hope everything turns out well. Yea so im tired now so im going to finish this blog so we can all go back to the dorms to rest. Well yea nite! :)

Tuesday @ BAMMA

What it do mayne! Lately I been writing semi-formal blogs but I've been doing so much work lately that I am just going to write whatever is on my mind. I'm not going to write down a sentence read it in my head, look at it again and read it out loud to see if it sounds good. Thats basicly what I have been doing these last couple of days while writting my first report ever! I am shure in the future I will continue to write many more. It's been fun being able to write about something that I enjoy talking about. SPORTS!!! I'm so glad the San Francisco Giants are doing so well also. Go Giants! Oh and the Warriors mayne the Warriors mayne got Stephen Curry "With the seveth pick of the 2009NBA Draft." As NBA's commissionar David Stern said. What I am trying to say basicly that this past week and a half has been amazing. I cannot believe how much I have been through in such a small amount of time. Go Bama!(*BAMMA) hahaha. I love the staff, students and enviromnent I am in. I hope that this fall in school at SFState the same will continue to happen.
-Jorge Iniguez

Done with my story!

So i am finally done with my story. All the rejection from people I had to attempt to interview is over.

I can't believe BAMMA is almost over. it has passed by so fast. Honestly this program has confirmed how much I want to pursue journalism. I like how this program has forced us to get out of our comfort zones and be more aggressive about stories we're doing.

I did not think it was going to be this much hard work, but so much fun. I really enjoyed going to the pride parade this weekend and going on the bay cruise. It was a snippet of down time in the middle of all of last weeks madness.

Now all I have to worry about now is working on my multimedia. I have about 12 minutes of audio from the SPCA interview, but no video.

Getting Better or Worse?

Wow what a trip it has been here so far at Bamma. It is already Tuesday night writing this blog and have 3 more days till we all (hopefully) graduate and head off to the rest of the summer. I hella want to hang out with some of the people I have met here cause they're super cool!!! Even though there has been some crazy stuff and was messed up in the moments, but as usual I always have my boys picking me up when I fall to the fall floor on my face badly. but the boys ain't the only ones who has helped me, got to give big ups to the girls who kept bugging me when I wanted to be alone at dinner. Gosssssh!!! can't never get some time alone, lol. Surrounded by loved ones(well most off them), can't escape from them just cause I'm tapped in. It has gotten better in some ways but there are some things that has not. No matter how hard I try to stay away from my other side, it takes over like venom. As always though, whens there a problem, there is always a solution. In the middle of being happy and sad about Bamma. Happy cause I get to go back home to Oakland where I belong and stay at. Sad because I'm going to miss the experience with all my Bamma Familia and what we have been through like the good, the best, most funny, charitable memories, and being close to each other. but always family comes together. love everybody!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Wish the best for all of us here at Bamma and keep this thang goin'!!!!!!!!!!!lol

i'm a kool kat. with a k. cause im kool.

Today was a good day. Very, very good.
I went to ISA today to get some interviews on the kids. Apparently, these were juvenile kids, but to be honest, they were nicer than the kids that I interviewed at the mall a couple of days ago. Oh yeah, and some of the people at the mall were good looking. Eheheh. Anyways, i couldn't interview that many kids because only a few students went to get lunch. 3 asian kids. then the other kids. I only keep track because my asian senses tingle when a see a fellow cult member.

I really have nothing to talk about today. Other than my interview, i ate a delicious philly cheese steak NOMNOMNOM. we went to phat philly's. phat as in pretty hot and tempting. sorta like me. hehe.

kbye

I'm a tomato.

Hello skin cancer.

I look like a freaking tomato right now.

*Note to self: take sunscreen EVERYWHERE. Even when you sprint out of the newsroom, grab some pizza, jump into David Debolt's crap-mobile with Eric G, who is, for the record, the funniest man on the planet.

Anyways, we went to a protest in the Bay View district for Tiff's article about the Lenar corp. building condos there and polluting our planet with their evil conspiracy. The protest really really really pushed the "civil" part of civil disobedience. They blocked the road, and a few people coming from some art studio on the water drove up, so they let them past. THAT'S NOT WHAT PROTESTS ARE ABOUT! Then, the police came, and the freaking organizers allowed themselves to be unchained from the sign. I wanted to see some yelling! One guy was detained for one minute. Media circus, like Eric said.

Also I wanted to say a humungous THANK YOU to every person at BAMMA for making my birthday magical yesterday. It's hard to imagine that come Saturday, we won't be together anymore. Sad face.

Back to today's events, I really am getting sick of people who pose for photos. I get that you held the protest to get the word out, but please please please please pretend like you are actually doing something.

Also, two things I learned from Eric G.

1.It's probably not a good idea to microwave other people's toothbrushes

and

2.David Debolt's windshield is cracked because *someone* got a massive erection from looking at him, so big it cracked the windshield.

I FINISHED MY STORY

I CAPTIONED THE PHOTOS FOR MY STORY

I EDITED THE AUDIO FOR MY MULTI MEDIA

I GOT REALLY SUNBURNED

THERE WAS ACTUALLY GOOD FOOD AT THE CAFETERIA TONIGHT.

Holy crap sweet Buddah this is a beautiful thing. Except for the fact that I'm going to die of skin cancer by the age of like 30.

063009 (Patty)

I'M DONE WITH MY NEWS ARTICLE!!
Now to start on the MultiMedia. I basically don't have anything except a few audio clips and a couple of pictures. Hopefully, I'll be able to get more "man on the street" stuff tomorrow!

I started my morning by chugging a coffee. I use to absolutely HATE coffee. Now I just add a ton of creamer & sugar when I drink it to dilute the harsh taste of the coffee. I hope I don't get addicted... (Shrugs)

Today I went to a protest with Linnaea, Tiffany, Erik G and Jen. The protest was really weak because the protesters cooperated with the police 100%. Civil disobedience at its' weakest. I'm glad I went though because I didn't want to be in front of the computer for 10 hours like I did the day before. I basically begged Eric G to take me with him. I couldn't take editing my news article anymore!

Tuesday...The shiiz

Today I finally got a draft done for my story. We are getting closer and closer to the end of the whole BAMMA program. It feels like its going too fast. I think that i need more time to bond with my peers that I have meet here at BAMMA. But this week has been pretty chill so far...I know, I know, its only Tuesday. But I have a feeling that it is going to be a good week. hahaha..I just got these new shoes and they feel like a good snug. I think that others might try to wear them but they are VANS that are custom fit for me. I always have to sport VANS becuase they are my type of shoes. They are hella comfortable. And even when it feels like Ima land too hard when I'm skating, the super soft insoles are always there to absorb the impact. And these VANS are hela clean too. Im almost sure that everybody would want to sport these. In this scenario you actually have to judge these shoes by the outer sole because they feel as good as they look. I always feel comfortable wearing them no matter what. But sometime I feel like they are too big or too small for me but in the end I have to realize that the shoes are not the one that have to FIT me, but its me that has to be able to FIT them. Because after all there is nothing wrong with them, its still just me pushing so hard to skate past the BS.

And in my eyes I think that they are the darn best multi-purpose shoes ever.

But...I have had previous shoes in the past but now I'm thinking that those are SO last months edition.....This is for those who know who I'm talkin about. And for da haters, get off...or else I'm making you get off because you is in mah way... I got to get my grind on...Ya feel me

I'm out and Ima keep sportin dem...

)

View From T's Eyes (6/30)

Lord be praised!

Not only is my draft done, but my official multimedia piece is looking better than ever! Just a few more stills and I'll have a masterpiece on my hands ha.

I gotta thank Zo, Amanda, E-Law, Ali, Jen, Suzy, and Mary Ann for all their support through this project; without y'all, I would've been stressed out of my mind. I'm so grateful to you all for showing me the way.

Now that that's done, what's left to do?

Answer: be myself. (Cheesy, but true.) All my boys tell me I gotta work on that if I wanna be happy and chill here, so for once I'm gonna listen ha.

Ever notice how one person can change your whole mood? Well, I got that experience goin' on out here. It's a trip, because I try not to be influenced so much by the actions of the person, but in the end I can't help it.

Enough about that. Well, in other news, we watched a documentary about Malaysian transvestites (or, as they say in Malaysia, Mak Nyahs) and the struggles and prejudice they face there. Why must so many people hate someone just because they decide to divert from what everyone else does? Accept and embrace differences, don't reject and ignore them.

Can't wait to see the paper tomorrow! well I gotta stop cuz I feel like I'm doing a confessional or something, and the last thing I want to do is say or do something to alienate someone.

Peace and love.

-T.

Happy 15th Birthday Linnaea! Woo Hoo! Stay wonderful! Love you!

So, fellow readers, I have completed my first draft! Yippee dee! It took me forever and a day, but it is complete!

Amanda still needs to read it over and tweak, tweak, tweak. Thank goodness. I think it’s going pretty good. It has structure, with a steady direction…I hope. Anyhoo.. Today I wore flip flops. I know, "Random!", but it was weird, because I actually never expose my feet like this for an entire day. The breeze between my toes was refreshing! Although, I felt exposed. I know, it's just feet. Lalalalala..

Okay, no more talk about feet. Back to Bamma stuff! I am eternally grateful for all the interviewees who helped me with my story. Eternally grateful. The quotes I received really made my story. Oh man. I really felt like the quotes can not be any better! But with great quotes, comes great responsibility! (Haha that was corny) I have to make my story really really awesome. Not just for the perfectionist hunger inside of me, but also for everyone who has helped me write the story. This is a big deal! But I’m excited. Very much excited. Yay!

The View from T's Eyes (6/29)

Happy Monday, Everyone! (Yeah, right.)

Just playin. Surprisingly my Monday didn't go so bad.

Before lunch, though, I was incredibly stressed cuz 1) I think all the girls think I'm paranoid and creepy or something, 2) I had to do some MAJOR remodeling on my story, 3) My multimedia piece was still dead in the water, and 4) I'm running out of cash (Damn Pier 39.). So I did what I normally do under pressure..I bugged out like crazy, of course. (Remind me never to forget my Prozac again...)

However, it was around this time that my times change. First, I changed around a few paragraphs to make my piece look muy perfecto. Second, Ed (Remember him? Me neither.) called me back AFTER 4 DAYS. Yeah, real urgent buddy. Jokes aside, he did give me some decent viewpoints on my story.

Third, and most exciting of all, I went up to Westfield with Jacky and Jen to get some new footage for our multimedia pieces. I swear, I didn't know that mall was so huge! Naturally, I usually get stuck in the food emporium and never go beyond there...Anyway, I was able to get some good inteerviews from some good people, and I was way satisfied with the results. The only thing I feel kinda stupid about was how I was around Jacky...I mean she's just so naturally hilarious so I felt I had to try and make people laugh like she did. Yeah right, like I could ever do THAT. Never try to beat someone at their own game...

Well, before I jet I gotta say this: Happy B-day Linnaea! Although we argue sometimes, you're still a great person, a great writer, and a great friend. Have fun at 15 =)

Peace, love, and what I'm thinking of.

-T.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINNAEA

I have officially sold my soul to the devil.

It was the day to get cracking. So my editor decided it was best that I go to Trader Joe's to do some hunting-and-gathering for soccer moms and cougars. So I thought it would be totally easy, since I wasn't really afraid of rejection because of all the phone calls that prepared me before.

But I didn't know what I was getting into.

So I'm semi-interviewing and semi-getting rejected, when a lady overhears our conversation. She is all perky and nice and what not. I found out she was a teacher, and I was like "Hellz yeah! Hit it and quit it!" no just kidding. But we went through the interview smoothly. I recorded her with my microphone thing the whole way through. We said our goodbyes and she left.

Its surprising how fast a devil can awaken and spawn in a dumb blonde.

I say she is a dumb blonde because during the interview, she wished to remain anonymous, but insisted that we could take photos of her to publish on the paper.

Is it just me, or does that not make sense whatsoever?

Anyways, The Devil comes back running towards us after a couple of minutes. She begins to morph her face into a demonic child and starts talking about how we cannot publish her interview because she might lose her job. Even though we promised that we would not risk her job and publish her quotes, The Devil insisted that I write and sign a document on the spot to sport me as a new slave. Unfortunately, with her wicked ways, I stupidly wrote and signed the so called "document" (aka a release form to sell my soul) because I was so confused.

But its okay, because my advisor, Jen, was there. She was like, "what the hell?" so she took the paper and said that she didnt feel comfortable enough to give it away.

THEN, out of no where, The Devil reaches out her boney hands and rips the paper from my notebook and steals it. Then she becomes the "nice teacher" and says "Oh, well I'm just making sure. Blahalhlah"

God, she is CRAZY. Then she walks away as the ground opens up to swallow her back into her hellhole.

Lesson: People are crazy. Get used to it.

bad moods

Days are getting more tiring and tiring every time I get up. It's like I already know what it is going to happen. So predictable, it is not even fun or good anymore. right now i am at a stage where i just want to be away from everybody and be by myself most of the time. It's not like I do not want to be with the other bamma kids but I can not be with them if I am mad at i don't know what(still gotta figure it out) and messed up their mood. Thinking just makes my bad mood worse. sleeping is the thing i need most. but the only thing i do not understand is why when i am in a good mood having fun, i suddenly get in a mad mood. hopefully nobody is getting affected by my mood. I do not want people to keep asking me if I'm ok cause it gets annoying and all i want is to be alone. Do not worry bout me cause i'll get better soon hopefully.

The First & Last Full Weekend

Saturday:
We went to the Pride Celebration that took place at the Civic Center in SF. We had an assignment where we interviewed random strangers about Michael Jackson's death and we asked them to sing/dance like MJ. It was complete madness in certain areas and completely dead in others. After that we went back to SFSU and had dinner and then watched Born Into Brothels. It was a really good documentary. After that, we played Mafia for two hours. I will probably NEVER play that game again!! Wow. It was fun the first few games, but after a while I just got so bored of the game.

Sunday:
We watched the Pride parade for a few minutes. (Broom) Eric saw San Leandro's Unified School District in the parade and he told me and asked if I wanted to interview them. I thought it'd add some dimension to my news article, so I asked him if I could. We chased them down a few blocks and then we bypassed the barriers (there was an area where it was just CAUTION tape) and then I just jumped in and began asking questions. It was a really cool experience. After that, Eric and I went back to the main group and after a while, we all left. We walked to this Chinese Cultural Center and got. We had lunch at a park across the street and then we ate lunch. We went to Pier 39 and then went on a beautiful Bay Cruise. It was amazing! It got really cold when we got near the Golden Gate Bridge. We went back to City Eats and ate lunch then we watched the Zodiac.

P.S.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY LINNAEA!! <3

Bruises

I'm glad I don't bruise easily, or else I would be purple and blue all over.

So, on Saturday, we went to the Pride festival! There were lots of bare boobs and penises on display, and lots of fabulous men dancing Michael Jackson moves upon request. A real San Francisco experience.

After pride, we returned to State for another bleak meal at City Eats. Mysterious potato things, and salad. No wonder vegetarians are so skinny.

Then, Renee and I grabbed a camera and an audio recorder, and dashed up to the CIIJ office. Zoneil and Suzy drove us across the bridge to North Berkeley. As we pulled up to 924 Gilman St, the bright red La Plebe van was parking. We jumped out, and after everyone woke up, grabbed portrait shots. After that, we went looking for a place to grab real food, but ended up at a skate park. Multi media opportunity for Jabari! We jumped out of the car, and started snapping shots. At some point, I ended up under a jump. Yes, you heard me, under it, with several teens ollie-ing directly over my head. Thankfully, only one person failed, dropping their skateboard on my shins.

After burritos, we headed back to the Gilman, just in time to hear La Plebe play. As the beginning chords were heard, people rushed into the space, banging heads and flailing arms, causing me to go into freak out mode, cradling the camera as if it were my child.

The events of Saturday taught me that being a journalist is a risky business. You have to be willing to shove your camera in peoples faces, and slow down and get good shots, no matter what pushy bikers are saying. I learned that being scared generally means you're getting a better picture. This whole experience has pushed me outside of my comfort zone, and that's what being a journalist is all about.

AAAH I sound like a sap.

Weekend View from T's Eyes (6/27-6/28)

Well, it's back to business yet again.

I had a good time over the weekend though, despite my personal ups and downs.

On Saturday, we took a break from our normal, stressful, daylight-less days in the newsroom and headed to Civic Center to see the Pride Festival. I have to tell you; that thing was crazy! There were so many interesting characters there and I could really feel the passion that the LGBTs have for their community. (Of course, exposing yourself is a little bit TOO passionate.) That festival was so carefree and loose that it actually did the impossible; it calmed me down! Go figure. If it wasn't for the MUNI rides where I keep ending up sitting by myself, I would've considered that to be the perfect day.

Saturday night, however, wasn't so good. We all ended up gathering in 230 to watch this real compelling documentary and that documentary really kinda killed my mood. I couldn't stop thinking about all the injustice that goes on all around this world and how helpless we are to change most of it. Unfortunately for me, I thought about all this at the wrong time; instead of being chill, playing mafia, and cracking jokes, I was too busy visualizing what I could do to make this world a better place. Maybe I am weird....

Yesterday was chill though. Even though I tried (and failed) to shut myself up for the whole day, I still liked how everything was. Once again, we took the MUNI to The City, and once again I was by myself (although this time it was completely my fault, I admit). Once we got there, we witnessed a parade down Market; it's amazing just how much these people stand up for their rights. It's very admirable. But anyways I actually saw and met up with three of my SLHS friends in the crowd, which made me a lil bit homesick. Thank god for me my feelings don't normally last for very long.

After the parade, we walked down Montgomery to the Chinese Cultural Center. I found it strange that it was located in a Hilton, but aside from that it was real interesting. The one thing I did lament was the visible divide between debauchery and poverty; In other words, I was able to see the skyscrapers and gilded exteriors of downtown on one side and the peeling buildings, foreign language signs, and overall struggle of Chinatown to the other side. It's upsetting.

Well, after that trip, we headed down to Pier 39 to go on a cruise. We had some downtime before the cruise, and during said downtime I wasted my cash on a 49ers jersey and a Carolina Panthers hat. (Oh well..at least they look good on me.) When we got on the cruise though, the bay wind finally got me out of my isolationist stage. Even though I still probably talk way too much and I'm still probably Public Enemy number 1 to a lot of people, I was able to let my insecurities go as we sailed under the Golden Gate. If only I could feel like that every day...

Well, that's the weekend recap. I would say more, but I got way too much work to do.

Peace, love, and the sun above.

-T.

Yesterday was amazing! It was my first vigil/ protest ever. It was extremely emotional; there were tons of people there mourning the deaths of close relatives, trying to stay together and be hopeful for their friends and families back home. I took a lot of great pictures, with the help of Jackie and Eric. Thanks! There were posters, flags, and so many other great images, so I tried to get all the best angles and use all those lighting techniques I learned in class. But still, it was hard to remember everything. I interviewed a lot of people, but one that really touched me was a woman who hadn't spoken to her mom since the election. She said it was an "emotional two weeks" to say the least. She's been trying to contact as many people as she can in Iran and trying to spread the word of the true, more graphic violence happening in Iran. She was extremely inspiring and I can only hope that my article could do her justice. Today I went to the protest on Golden Gate bridge. That was crazy! There were tons of bikers, (evil and not so evil) crowding all the streets, making me go insane. I was shoved and shoved some more, but it's okay! I still got great interviews and great pics thanks to Linnaea, Tiffany, Suzy, and Ali. Both protests were unbelievable; I have become so much more aware of affairs happening globally and just becoming more observant in general.

I haven't finished my rough draft! Gah! Extremely nervous! But I'm working on it. Oh and a side note, sorry my blogs are so boring. I'm more of talker.:)

Draft Deadline Day

Today was very stressful to me. I hate getting started on writing my stories because i have trouble writing leads. So I write them last. I think my rough draft was pretty good. My next step is to make it more thorough and add quotes from a lady I interviewed when I find the audio. I went on interview with Jackie and we walked to Lowell high school. Jackie didn't get to interview any students or take pictures because the school wants her to ask the district permission. So she only got to interview a security guard on what he thinks about the school lunch. Then we came back and went to lunch. Then we finished our rough drafts.

Friday @ BAMMA

Alright so I don't really know what to write on blogs anymore. People can be getting in trouble out of them or people can get their feelings hurt. But I'm going to be honest I really do not care. Nothing in life is really fair so I always say what I got to say and face the consenquenses which sometimes can suck big time. So that is why people can set limits on things that are said yet people can still get to the point on. As people may now I always like to crack a joke and just be hella chill about everything. However, I get hella mad when people just snap out of nowhere. Seriously I'm just going to stop there because no matter what in the end I really like everyone in the program. It really intresting how I got along with everyone as well. For example, Taj man he is actually a really cool guy. I enjoy talking about sports with him he knows a lot. Even though i'm not close with everyone in this program its cool to know that I know every single person here. Enough about my feelings and emotions. I don't want to sound like a little softy because

I go hard. So I havent written a blog since the first day so i'm going to tell you what I been doing over the last few days. I'm going talk about thursday first. So yesterday I did my first interview at the University of San Francisco with Ryan Lipkin, a baseball player who was drafted by the Oakland Athletics. His coach Nino was there as well they both were hella chill. Later on when we went to record some footage of Ryan Lipkin playing catch he was catching pitches of ex-Giants world series pitcher Jesse Foppert. Yea that was my highlight ob thursday. Wednesday was really cool too. I got to attend my freshman orientation for SFState and I got to select my classes. I will be taking communications, english 104, Statistics and Journalism and mass broadcasting. I need to thank the BAMMA staff for also allowing me to attend my orientation. I'm happy with that. For lunch I also got to eat chicken tenders, broadcasting, mash potaotes oh man should I go on? Oh at night I got the honor to go with linnaea, Eric, David and myself. It was sick the band seem to love all of us. They gave us Cd's to take home and listen to and invited all of us to the concern. Unfortunaly I will not be going to the concernt which I was trippin off of yesterday. I really want to go but i'm still beeing hated on so I just got to get over it one way or another. I hate getting mad over little things because I really never seem to get pissed off so you know when I be pissed of. Anyway so tuesday. I do not remember much from tuesday. I got to learn a lot and that it. I'm looking foward to the weekendand hopefully I will not get mad again as I did today. My song right now that I been singing is In the Air. don..don...don...don don don..BOOM!!! I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh lord!

I love Jabari <3

NAYE NAYE--->DAY CUATRO Y CINCO @ BAMMA...

YESTERDAY DURING BAMMA, I WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE AN INTERVIEW WITH THE DIRECTOR OF OUT REACH AND ADMINISTRATION OF YEAR UP, DEBORAH LAO. INSTEAD, I WENT WITH AMANDA, SUZY,AD TAJ TO DO HIS INTERVIEW AT THE BAYFAIR MALL LOCATED IN SAN LEANDRO. WE WALKED IN INTO A PROGRAM CALLED B.E.T.A. WHICH GIVES UNDER PRIVELIGED KIDS AN OPPORTUNITY TO GET AN OCCUPATION. WHEN WE ARRIVED,THE FIRST THING I HEARD WAS THAT MICHAEL JACKSI=ON WAS DEAD. I SERIOUSLY DIDN'NT BELIEVE IT BEAUSE I THOUGHT IT WAS JUST A SICK JOKE OF SOME SORT. A STUDENT WHO WAS APART OF THE PROGRAM SHOWED ME IN AN ARTICLE ON THE COMPUTER. I WAS SO SURPRISED AND SORT OF SAD UNTIL THEY BEGAN PLAYING ONLY HIS SONGS ON THE RADIO. I HAVE A LIKING FOR HIS MUSIC. I WOULD HAVE THOUGHT THAT IT WAS FROM PLASTIC SURGERY. ANYWAYS, WE WALKED INTO B.E.T.A. AND IT SERIOUSLY SMELT LIKE TOXIC AND THE WOMAN WHO TAJ WAS SUPPOSE TO INTERVIEW WAS VERY RUDE. SHE DID NOT SEEM LIKE SHE WANTED TO ANSWER ANY QUESIONS,AT FIRST, AND SHE DID NOT WANT ME TO TAKE AND PHOTOS OR BE AUDIO RECORDED BECAUSE SHE "DID NOT LOOK PRETTY THAT DAY." I DID'T BLAME HER IF YOU KNOW WHAT I MEAN.I JUST SAT THERE FOR ABOUT AN HOUR, DRAWING ON MY WRIST. WHEN WE FINALLY GOT OUT OF B.E.T.A., I FINALLY BEGAN TO TAKE PLENTY OF PICTURES.LATER, WE WENT TO THE BAMMA FUNDRAISER AND WE MET A FEW OF THE FORMER MEMBERS.OH, AND DID I MENTION THAT I SAW THIS GUY GET HIT BY A CAR? _!

TODAY I WORKED ON MY STORY AND INTERVIEWED THE DIRECTOR OF OUT REACH AND ADMINISTRATION OF YEAR UP, DEBORAAH LAO. I BELIEVE THAT IT WENT VERY WELL.

Candy Stripper or Candy Striper

The highlight of Friday equates to my confusion of the words "striper" with a "stripper." It all started when Broom Editor Eric strolled into the room with a very eye-catching red and white striped shirt. At a glance I was reminded of a candy striper's apron. When I told him though I stated, " Eric you look like a candy stripper." The rest of that conversation was a whirlwind because all I could think of was why would any hospital volunteer be called a stripper. Isn't it bad enough already that candy stripers have to wear an apron that makes them look like poster models of old-fashioned food brands (i.e. See's candy), but now they have to be associated with the a stripper! To confirm my disbelief, Jackie and I googled "candy stripper" and realized that the word had only one letter "P" so therefore it does not have such a derogatory connotation. The Best and the Worst about being at BAMMA is that I say and do the weirdest things in my life.

Going back to my writing. I think that there is so much information that I am having trouble condensing and only focusing on part of the issue. I hope that I will write a appealing article because I think that the issue is super duper important! I have to think about the story and remain neutral! That is so hard !

Oh and a lesson from Ali. Never accept any token from a protestor when you're on a reporting job. If you do then you are basically taking someone's side and not being a objective journalist.

Deadlines and Protests

Yesterday was amazing! It was my first vigil/ protest ever. It was extremely emotional; there were tons of people there mourning the deaths of close relatives, trying to stay together and be hopeful for their friends and families back home. I took a lot of great pictures, with the help of Jackie and Eric. Thanks! There were posters, flags, and so many other great images, so I tried to get all the best angles and use all those lighting techniques I learned in class. But still, it was hard to remember everything. I interviewed a lot of people, but one that really touched me was a woman who hadn't spoken to her mom since the election. She said it was an "emotional two weeks" to say the least. She's been trying to contact as many people as she can in Iran and trying to spread the word of the true, more graphic violence happening in Iran. She was extremely inspiring and I can only hope that my article could do her justice. Today I went to the protest on Golden Gate bridge. That was crazy! There were tons of bikers, (evil and not so evil) crowding all the streets, making me go insane. I was shoved and shoved some more, but it's okay! I still got great interviews and great pics thanks to Linnaea, Tiffany, Suzy, and Ali. Both protests were unbelievable; I have become so much more aware of affairs happening globally and just becoming more observant in general.

I haven't finished my rough draft! Gah! Extremely nervous! But I'm working on it. Oh and a side note, sorry my blogs are so boring. I'm more of talker.:)

Cigarettes and protests

My highlights since Tuesday:
1.Eric can make himself look pregnant.
2.I spent Wednesday night with 5 men smoking cigarettes, drinking beer, and telling me their crazy adventures involving smuggling immigrants across the border and getting wasted.
3.Pushing past bikers on the Golden Gate Bridge.
4.FINISHING MY ROUGH DRAFT!
So I suppose I should make myself clear:
1.Eric is expecting twins. I'm hoping he'll name them Michael and Jackson, but I dunno.
2. For my profile on the Mexican punk band La Plebe I went and interviewed the dudes in their cramped studio on Natoma in the Mission district. For the first hour of every band practice, they smoke and drink and just hang out. Funnn. But seriously. My first real interview. It was awsome. I found out so much interesting stories that are the center of my story that I wouldn't have if Jorge hadn't asked about all the signs they have on their wall.
Also, last night, I had to speak at this BAMMA fundraiser(DONATE NOW. KEEP IT GOING) and afterwards, a BAMMA alum of '94(Holy truck, that's the year I was born. And I'm almost the youngest here. That dude is old.) came up to me, and turns out he's a huge fan of La Plebe! haha, small world. I'd never heard of them before.
3.Today, I went to a march across the Golden Gate Bridge for peace in Iran. Everyone was being a butt. Bikers were on the ped side, and kept ramming into me and yelling, and people who didn't want their pictures taken would cover up the lens of my camera when I wasn't even taking pictures of them. But I swiftly got the hang of it, and now, I would have to agree with our multi media dude, Ali, protests are the best thing to photograph.
This brings me to my next point. I think one of the reasons journalism is so important to our society is to keep people informed. You're probably like, no man, I got me some yahoo, some CNN, some People Magazine Text Updates, but seriously, that's gossip. Those people aren't out there, experiencing, seeing, hearing, feeling what's going on. To me, journalism is taking what you know, and expressing it. So, anyways, I don't think that's the whole reason journalism can't die, so IProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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7ll keep you posted.
4. Well this says it for itself. IM EXCITED

Anyways I'm going to go jump for joy, so I reccomend you pick up a camera and go to the nearest protest. Seriously, amazing.

Friday...

Today was a little different. This week , I think, went by hekka fast. Today i finally got to talk to K-Dub after a long 5 days trying to find him. I was looking for him like I was a bounty hunter or something. He gave a lot of good information about the park and his life growing up in South Central Los Angeles. Lately I have been drawing a lot of the staff. The drawings have been pretty dope. I've been trying to draw everybody...I haven't got to it though....

Nighttime View from T's Eyes (6/25)

Yawn. What a day.

All day I was working to the bone on this story, but in the end I think it came out well. With some help from Zoneil, Mary Ann, and Amanda (hopefully theyve forgiven me for yesterday's post), I was able to cut my word count down from 640 to 519. What I'm most surprised at is that this article still is just as impacting and just as deep with 100 less words. I'm glad I chose such a meaningful topic?

Now what else should I say?

I have no clue, cuz I'm way paranoid about these blogs now. Since Zo cut GB (and the class pretty much dogged me for calling him out ha) I don't know what I can write to make this blog seem deep, yet not too revealing. Well I guess all I can say is that if you really wanna know what's up in my head, you gotta talk to me and my boys ha.

Along the lines of talking...I hate being so shy. I mean everyone here is a natural comedian and when I try to crack a joke...its like all you can hear are crickets. I love being here, but me and all these other people is like a triangle fitting in a square. Not like I don't like being around them, cuz I'm real close with all of them they're like the brothers and sisters I've never had..but yeah everyone says I'm too serious, but in reality I just don't know what to say...it's tough. Really.

Well anyway, buenos noches persones!

Peace, love, and the moon above.

-T.

It's Friday!!! (Patty)

To most teens, that means chilling and having fun with their friends. For me and my colleagues, it means DEADLINE DAY! It was really nerve-racking for me because I had to leave from 10am-12pm to cover a community meeting and the deadline was 2pm (or so I thought). I speed wrote my first draft because I thought that the deadline was 2pm and I found out (when it was 2pm) that the deadline was just Friday (in general). I was quite frustrated because I couldn't get a official comment on my story since it was so sensitive and controversial. Transcribing all my audio was a pain in the butt. I had so much to transcribe and people kept stuttering and tripping over their words.I hope my next Tuesday my article will be so refined that it'll be amazing. I worked my butt off today and I'm exhausted. For some reason, it was the hardest day for me to wake up out of all the days that I've been at BAMMA. Hopefully, this weekend will be really chill and my stress level won't be so high.

Staying in the same room, staring at the computer screen and writing a news article with incomplete sources was not the best way to spend my Friday (to say the least). I wish I had been able to go and help someone with their stories and not think about my own story. I'm so glad that I met friends here that help me laugh and give me a bit of a distraction for my stress.

A day without laughs is a day gone to waste.

Crazy Sights

Ok so today was a really wierd day. I wont talk about the morning because it was pretty uneventful. I basically just wrote my first draft of my story and im very happy because i think its gunna turn out really good. So later today i went with Jackie and Jen to Trader Joes to interview some people for Jackie's Topic. So first were there and no one wants to talk to us. I am so proud of Jackie because she kept asking people even though they were just like no i dont have time and a whole bunch of other excuses. Then the CRAZY LADY. So there was this one teacher that agreed to get interviewed so we interview her and she asks us to put her as anonymouse and were like ok and i asked her if i could take her picture and she was like yes. So then after the interview she comes back and is like im sorry i just realized i shouldnt have done the interview please dont publsih what i said because i could get fired and thats my job. So we were all like yea we understand. Then she tells jackie to write a written agreement saying that she would not use the recording or any part of the interview. Jackie writes it down and the lady signs the paper and so does jackie. Then she passes the paper to Jen and she was like i dont think we should sign the papr its not necessary and the lady hecka went on a tangent about yea dats fine you dont have to sign it i jst have to be pretected and all this other unnecesary stuff. Then she tries to snatch the paper out of jens hand and it rips and she stuff its into her purse i was just like what in the world are you thinking lady??? Like you seriosly dont have to be that freaking rude and 1. snatch the paper out of her hands 2. stuff it into your purse and 3. demand to have the recording erased. Then the lady had the AUDACITY to be like why do you guy look upset your faces look really upset. I really just wanted to be like excuse me lady did you not just see how rude and hypocritical you were being like ahhhh i really wanted to respond back to her but i didnt. Then the lady left and she called jackie still talking about how she needed the paper just to be safe. She was a wierdo. That exprience just showed me that in journalism your going to be faced with many wierd and different sitations and you just have to keep your composure. Other then that the rest of the day was really chill but i still think that lady was crazy.

Friday @ BAMMA

Alright so I don't really know what to write on blogs anymore. People can be getting in trouble out of them or people can get their feelings hurt. But I'm going to be honest I really do not care. Nothing in life is really fair so I always say what I got to say and face the consenquenses which sometimes can suck big time. So that is why people can set limits on things that are said yet people can still get to the point on. As people may now I always like to crack a joke and just be hella chill about everything. However, I get hella mad when people just snap out of nowhere. Seriously I'm just going to stop there because no matter what in the end I really like everyone in the program. It really intresting how I got along with everyone as well. For example, Taj man he is actually a really cool guy. I enjoy talking about sports with him he knows a lot. Even though i'm not close with everyone in this program its cool to know that I know every single person here. Enough about my feelings and emotions. I don't want to sound like a little softy because
I go hard. So I havent written a blog since the first day so i'm going to tell you what I been doing over the last few days. I'm going talk about thursday first. So yesterday I did my first interview at the University of San Francisco with Ryan Lipkin, a baseball player who was drafted by the Oakland Athletics. His coach Nino was there as well they both were hella chill. Later on when we went to record some footage of Ryan Lipkin playing catch he was catching pitches of ex-Giants world series pitcher Jesse Foppert. Yea that was my highlight ob thursday. Wednesday was really cool too. I got to attend my freshman orientation for SFState and I got to select my classes. I will be taking communications, english 104, Statistics and Journalism and mass broadcasting. I need to thank the BAMMA staff for also allowing me to attend my orientation. I'm happy with that. For lunch I also got to eat chicken tenders, broadcasting, mash potaotes oh man should I go on? Oh at night I got the honor to go with linnaea, Eric, David and myself. It was sick the band seem to love all of us. They gave us Cd's to take home and listen to and invited all of us to the concern. Unfortunaly I will not be going to the concernt which I was trippin off of yesterday. I really want to go but i'm still beeing hated on so I juProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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got to get over it one way or another. I hate getting mad over little things because I really never seem to get pissed off so you know when I be pissed of. Anyway so tuesday. I do not remember much from tuesday. I got to learn a lot and that it. I'm looking foward to the weekendand hopefully I will not get mad again as I did today. My song right now that I been singing is In the Air. don..don...don...don don don..BOOM!!! I can feel it coming in the air tonight, oh lord!

The View from T's Eyes (6/25)

Welcome back to my world!

First of all, R.I.P to the K.O.P. Michael Jackson you will be missed...

Aside from that, yesterday was good.

First, me and Jorge went to the USF campus and interviewed their top prospect. That was a completely interesting experience; not only did I get an amazing interview with him, but I got to be in the locker room, meet the coach, AND meet Jesse Foppert! (Ali is still gushing about that; I can tell ha.) It was cool to actually be in that whole college baseball atmosphere, considering that's something I really want to do when I get to college.

After that, me and Renee went back home to SL to get some valuable info about B.E.T.A. Thank god I did, because it made my article ten times better than what it was before. I was able to get so many different perspectives that even Picasso would be envious. It was great to be back home, if only for a second, because I was able to connect with the outside world for the first time in days.

After all of my field work was done, we all went to this church on the corner of Geary and Franklin and held a fundraiser to get some money for next year's BAMMA class. (Funny how we can't stop thinking of the future even when we're in the present...) What was ultra great about it was the fact that I was able to see my mom. (Yay!) Yes, she might be a lil bit TOO nice, but I was glad she was able to see me and check up on me once. I bet she's been going crazy without me....hmm maybe not ha.

Anyway, at that banquet, I met this man named Kim Komenich, who was impressed by the speech I made at the banquet and offered me the opportunity to meet with the Chronicle's sports editor! (I'm dreaming...right?) As soon as BAMMA ends, I'm going to call him and see if he still has me in his plans ya know?

So, to update you on my projects...

-My video documentary is going great, as I was able to shoot some good footage out on the streets yesterday. I'm finally learning how to use this stuff...thank god.

-My song is on hiatus....til 2012. I told you Zoneil was going to cut off GarageBand! I know he does it for good reasons, but it still kinda gar-bauge that I can't work on my music as well as my writing. Guess you really CAN'T have your cake and eat it too. (Mmmmm.....cake....)

-My story is done (well, the first draft, anyway.) Every editor seems to think I have the potential needed to be a great journalist, and although I do like when they compliment my writing, I still try to stay somewhat humble. Of course, some things are easier said than done.

Well, stay tuned for the next episode.

Peace, love, and a silver glove.

-T.

6/ 24-

I am disappointed. No one has contacted me back! I think everyone else at Bamma probably has gotten someone to talk to them but I haven't gotten anyone! It's nerve-racking, and not to mention frustrating. Time is ticking, and I am getting anxious. Pretty much the whole day, I was trying to contact any type of Persian center as well as organizations so I could talk to someone and get an interview. No such luck. I even went around SF State looking for the Iranian Culture Center. Nope. But I did hear about two protests happening in the next two days! So hopefully, I will attend those, get some awesome interviews, and have a great story all made in the next week! Till then fellow bloggers!

The View from T's Eyes (6/24)

Today was a day that tested not only my writing, reporting, and editing skills, but also my pride and my courage. Today I finally went out into the field to interview some random people to give my story just that little bit of spice. After all, what is oatmeal without the brown sugar?

Anyway, the first part of the day was filled with surprises. First, I was able to find my notebook and my binder (thank lord I'm not TOTALLY disorganized) and proceded to do a whole bunch of research online. Some of the stats behind my story are pretty alarming; for example, did you know that 21.6 percent of teens are unemployed-the highest percentage since the Gulf War? I'm guessing you didn't, and you know what I don't blame you because I didn't either ha.

Well later I made a few phone calls and-surprise!-no one put me on hold for 20 minutes like yesterday! I guess I just have phone skills ha..

..Anyway I digress. My most interesting moment during my phone calls was when I called this agency named MatchBridge; when I did, this guy named Ed picked up and we had a lengthy and informative conversation (I know it sounds boring, but it wasn't; trust me on this.) Tomorrow hopefully I'll be able to call him and record it so I'll be able to actually remember what he said!

..oh wait, that was a lie; I had a more interesting moment on the phone today! I read this one story about the teen unemployment rate skyrocketing and I was actually able to call direct to the source of the article. Sounds mundane, but here's one little detail I forgot: This person lives in Washington. D.C. Yes, you heard me right. It was real strange calling three hours ahead of my time, but at the same time it was great because she was definitely a unique source I would find nowhere else. So dig this: now I have a phone interview set up with them at 11:30 in the morning....oh wait, that's D.C. time. I meant 8:30. I really wish I brought my alarm clock...

Also, I got my first taste of field reporting today. I got lucky since I didn't have to go all over the place, but it was still really, really scary. Since San Francisco State was having freshman orientations today, I decided to interview them about their job experiences. The first girl ran away from me. (Yeah, I think it was a sign.) The second girl I was actually able to interview, but I made a fatal mistake: I forgot to turn the recorder on! (Score: Insecurities 2, Job Loss Story 0.) Luckily the next 5 interviews went like clockwork and I got a whole bunch of good quotes out of it..

In other news, my two side projects are coming along pretty well. My first is a soundtrack I created myself for the BAMMA video...naturally I haven't told the administration about it yet ha. That's mainly because Zoneil frowns upon my musical creativity...even though he runs a music magazine! (I hope he's not trying to be hypocritical just because I ran off that one time..) I've let my two best friends listen to my song, and both have different reactions. One got me to slow it down a lil bit, and thanks to him it sounds a lil better. The other only listened to a second of it then got scared about if I was gonna get in trouble for it ha. Well at least that person cares about me getting in trouble; most of my people at SL would just let me take the blame for everything.

My second pet project is a video blog of sorts that I'm updating every day. It's starting to turn out to be kind of my own personal documentary. (I guess that means Tiff is gonna like it ha.) At least Eric and Delicia gave me some helpful tips for improving it, but I hope it doesn't turn out to bore everybody..

Well I've already gone on for too long, so I guess I gotta wrap it up before Zoneil catches me on GarageBand again.

Peace, love, and white doves.

-T.

Naye Naye --->Day tres...

Today was so crazy for me. For example, we were to report to the journalism 101 room earlier than usual today as we read the New York Times, my story changed yet again, we were able to interview sources over the phone and face to face interview, we were to record and take pictures during the interviews, and I finally ate dinner around seven o'clock.UGH!Though, today was so hectic, it still was really fun! My editor, Amanda, decided to change my story from a program that helps young adults at Berkeley High School to a program called Year Up. Year Up is a really interesting program that teaches young adults about I.T. work and business. I believe that Year Up would make a better program and story than the Passion Program because first of all, not only does the Passion Program not have a website,but it just does not even really appeal to me as much as Year Up does.Year Up was founded by Gerald Chertavian who was the former software entrepreneur.This program is looking to give many young adults the opportunity to learn what it is like to work at a big named company. For example, they teach their students how to interview, skills about I.T. work, etocosy, business life, etc. Year Up prepares young adults for sucessful careers and a higher education. I actually heard about Year Up from my older brother who actually attends this program.After my phone interview, I actually managed to set up an interview with the head of the program , Deborah Lao. Amanda, Ali, Jabari, and I went to Year Up as I interviewed many trying to join Year Upand some students that are already in this program. We then went to a skate park as Jabari interviewed and I recorded and took many pictures. I am sure looking forward to interviewing Deborah Lao at Year Up tomarrow. I just hope it is just as fun as it was today !_!

Hit me in the face

Admit it: Rejection hurts.

So i'm just sitting at my desk, trying to work on my article like a good asian kid.
But, as usual, there are walls that need to be smashed, burned, and destroyed. Sorta like North Korea. I tried calling a million people today, and guess what? REJECTED.

Scenario 1. A talk to the Lowell Principal the other day.
Me: Um, hi! I'm a student journalist at BAMMA at SFSU and i'm writing an artic-
Principal: Nonono. I cannot do this. I am at a staff conference and i need to get work done.
Me: Oh, maybe I can contact you another time?
Principal: Nonononoo, today is my last day at work. Goodbye
Me: Oh, thank you! (Yeah right, I was about to kick his face and burn the school.)

Scenario 2. I am calling an operator in Illinois.
Me:Hi, I'm a student journalist at SFSU, and i was wondering if i could get a hold of anyone to answer a few questions about blah blahblah
Operator: WHAt? Say it again?!
Me: *Repeats
Operator: Let me just transfer you to New York.
Me: Uhhh 'kay. Thank you!
..later
NYoperator: Oh, leave a message and i'll help you honey!

DEAR JEHOVAH CAN I TALK TO SOMEONE?

and let me tell you- half the operators I called today can't even speak english!
Me: Hi, i'm a journalist blahblh may I connect with Ed Wilkins?
Operator: Oh whAT?!? who are you?!
Me: Oh Im a student journalist blahblah
Operator: What?! You blehbleh INAUDIABLE sje fEg person?
Me: HUH?!?!one!!
Operator:WHAT?!!?
This went on for about 12 minutes.

Another time with an operator who sound like she came from the motherland (a heavy chinese accent):
Me: Hi, i'm a journalsg blah blah blah
Operator: Excuse me-ah?
Me: Oh, blahblah
Operator: You speaking Spanish?
Me: ....no.

Well, other then that, today I got to go outside and beyond to see sunlight with a few people around campus. It was exciting because I got to scan around the campus and see green grass and trees and obscure sculptures.
goodbye.

My First Day out getting footy

So I went with Renee to Year Up to interview someone it didn't go as planed. We were stuck interviewing random people who were there at the organization. During one of the presentation that was going on in the room that we were in I was half asleep....but don't worry it wasn't because it was boring, me and the guys pulled an all-nighter again because we were board out of our minds and just stayed up talking about random stuff. I got a few cool photos because our teacher wanted us to practice taking pics.
After that we went to the ferry building and filmed some skateboarding (My favorite part of the day besides not getting to skate at all). I met a pro skater but I was bummed because I forgot his name and everybody was like "He's a pro how did you forget his name!" But I don't even study pro skater like that though. That's almost like being a stalker. I didn't even take notes, I was too lazy and tired. Renee helped me by getting some footage of the skaters doing their thing. She got some pretty good stuff. But the rest of my footy was garbage. It was just a whole bunch of poser kids trying to show of because I had a camera. We got o dinner heeeeeeeeeekkkkkaa late because they wanted me to do some extra stuff while we were at the skate spot. I was heka mad though.

Interviewing in SF

Today I went to SF with David and Suzy and Luz and Jessica. It was a really amazing experience. As we were walking to the pet clinic for Jessica's interview, we saw a people with handcuffs and police officers surrounded by a group of individuals. I took pictures while Luz took a video and Jessica was taking notes. Jessica tried to asked the police officers for information, but they did not encourage further conversation with them. Later, the people who were arrested were released (we are not sure why). It was a good lesson on being persistent and aggressive and we learned to not pay attention to people who didn't know what they were talking about. Even though, I did not personally interview anyone I helped Luz interview a veterinarian at a pet clinic (?). I am not sure if that's what it was called or not. I made a video of her interview with him while Luz took photos. Later David and Luz and I went to a pregnant teen center while Jessica and Suzy went back to the pet clinic and recorded some audio. It didn't work out at the pregnant teen center because it was closed. We all walked a very far distance and took the Muni back to SFSU.

We all learned something today that will help us later when we interview others. I was really happy today because people that I called answered their phones or called me back. I, personally, learned how to take better pictures. I was just messing around and trying to figure out what aperture I should use in certain different locations with different lightings.

I changed the story for my news article; instead of doing just a story about gay teens and how their lives have changed since they left, I'm focusing on the Caring Schools Community Curriculum and the people's reaction and opinions about it. I learned a lot about this by reading other articles and going to Mike McMahon's website. I'm looking forward to interviewing some people tomorrow and seeing what people think about this.

Outside reporting

Today we actually got to leave the campus and be reporters. It felt realy good to finally gt out of only the classrom and actually go somewhere.It was sooo much fun but really tiring. We got split into groups and i was in a group with Patty and Jessica and we went with David and Suzie.It was such a CRAZY day! We were at the mission close to the bart station and we saw 2 guys getting arrested. David and Suzie told us to report, take film and pictures. We all felt really akward because we were taking pictures while the two guys were getting arrested. IT was reallly realy akward! Then when jessica was trying to ask the policeman something he started to respond but then he got a call and just walked of which i though was really RUDE but watever. After that we went to go do jessicas story at the pet hopsital and it was cool to see her being the reportet. After that we went to the place wher im going to be doing my story on teen pregnancies. I didnt get an interview today but im all set 2 hav an interview tommorow with the supervisor as well as some of the young moms. In total we walked about 3 miles! we were exhausted! We were so happy to leave campus but after walking so much it was a relief to see the campus. Now im just exited to be able to rest:)

Day 3

So today I was worried I wasn't going to get to interview anyone since yesterday and this morning I didn't get anyone to call me back. If anything I had hit a dead end at one point because I had called around six numbers for one person and that person knew nothing. I ended up wasting 20 minutes. But right when I thought I wasn't going to interview anyone, but my editor Eric informed me I was going to Harass them anyway. I was relieved. On the way to the interview me, suzy, david, luz, and patty say two guys get arrested. I tried to talk to two police and they both ignored me. But then when going to the interview I found myself getting really nervous. But I got a little more comfortable after. i hope tomorrow I do better. I got some good quotes from two ladies that took their pet to the hospital I was at. Then we went to luz's interview place, but the lady she wanted to talk to was unavailable. Then we came back to sf state.Overall it was good experience, but an exhausting one.

Jabaris Bamma Blog

I think that BAMMA the program itself is really cool. Staying in the apartments is really cool. Its like really having your own place. The people here are hella fun and funny..if thats not the same thing ha.hahah....ha. This experience so far for the last few days have been hella fun. Me and all of the DUDERS have staying up each and every night. But the thing about being here is that about every waking moment we get into trouble. Today was alright , as in it went faster than yesterday thank god...I guess because it was our first day being here and it seemed hella long but today was a little better. For the most part the staff here are chill. But sometimes they be Flashin though. Thats when I be like " You a jerk, you a jerk, you a jerk." Then they be like, "I know, I know." For two days that nasty diner been hurting ma stomach do. Well, I mean it don't be nasty but it make me feel like my stomach is about explode or something.

Tuesday @ BAMMA

BAMMA what can I say? It's hella sick! I have had tons of fun with every single individual in the program. From the students to the teachers and directors I have bonded with everyone. But dam I got a question why they hatin' on me? I got a question why they hatin' on me? I ain't did nothin to 'em so I'm going to continue writing this blog. Sometimes I can goof a little too much and get out of line but still sometimes people snap and i'm like OH DANG! chill broooo. I can not believe its tuesday. I learn so much already and done many activities. My favorite activity so far has been recording videos with partners. Last night everyone got to record some funny footage which I enjoyed watching live. RA's be like your a jerk jerk jerk.... and I be like I know im sorry mam and sir but do me a favor call me jerk one more time. Nah I'm just playing thats how its got to be most of the time at BAMMA smiles and jokes instead of hate and frowns.

Bamma Take 2

Hello! Okay, so today at Bamma, we edited the videos that we took of our partners. It was kind of tedious, but in a way kind of fun. Editing is SO long! I have major respect for editors. My video...oh geez, it was not very impressive! I had some difficulties following the directions (like always, I REALLY need to hone my listening skills.) Also, we had to set up interviews with people for our stories! That was so much harder than I excepted, as well as stressful, but the editors are a big help. After lunch we learned about photo-journalism (Is that what it's called?) That took up most of my creativity for the day. Learning all the new picture terms and trying to apply them to taking pictures...wow, talk about challenging! But it was fun doing something I don't do often. You know, "broadening your horizons." Meeting Jamilah was cool too. It's amazing how many journalists there are out there and how passionate people are about what they do. It astounds me the way people are willing to put their life on the line to write about a story they really want the world to hear about. It's really inspiring.

Tiff's Thoughts on the past Deux Days (alliteration!)

Today is the second full day of my BAMMA experience. Everyday is honestly flying by like bam bam bam. There is so much to learn in so little time, but thankfully I'm having a pretty good time. When I joined BAMMA I did expect my experience to be something like boarding school taught by people as strict as nuns however so far my assumptions have been wrong. I was really excited to take the short training on using a SLR camera today. Watching and hearing Ali talking about his own photo capturing experience makes me even more determined to decipher the complicated (or maybe not) exposure triangle.

Last night Natasha and I filmed each other doing the craziest stunts. I performed hand stands, attempted to do tumbles and finally sang to I Believe I Can Fly. This training is seriously multimedia and multi-exhausting ( I know it's not a word. NO SPELL CHECK :) and it is only the second day!

When we worked on our stories, I actually thought that I would do very well especially since I am familiar with topic. So far I have one interview down and I hope that I will get more. This is a very important topic no matter how many times in the last few years the issue has showed up on a news site because very little is being done.

So to sum the last two and a half days up, I'm glad I joined BAMMA so far, I hope there will be less DRAMA, I hope no one on our team will have to leave the program, I'm determined to explore photography when I return home and I'm excited to read more about Wiretap magazine and I'm anxious about my story. Good Night!

Luz Elena Hernandez Day 2

Today is day two in BAMMA. It doesnt feel like its the second day it actually feels like weve been here for a long time now. Today was a pretty cool day. We began contacting people for our stories. The story that im writing about is teen pregnancies so i had to contact organizations that help pregnant teens during and after their pregnancies. I was so nervouse when i had to start calling poeple. I honestly hate having to talk strangers on the phone. I dont mean strangers but i just hate having to call people and ask them for help and information because it feels so impersonal. To me its one of the worst things to do that i can think of. I rather have the person in front of me so i can actually talk to them and get all the information that i need. What made me more nervouse was that my editor Amanda was next to me. I felt more nervouse because I didnt want to say the wrong thing but in the end it was good that she was there with me because she helped me ask more questions. The poeple that i talked to were really nice and they gave me alot of information. Still the main person that im trying to contact still hasnt called me back and its kind of frustrating because i dont want to miss the deadline of the first draft on friday. Hopefully she ill call me back soon. Another thing we did today was making the video about our partners. It was really cool taking all the videos that we took and making it into a movie. Before i wanted to be a journalist i wanted to be a movie director so it was really interesting to see how journalism has film in it because making videos is something i like to do. I kinda wish i had more time to finish my video, i thought my video was good but i wish i had more time because then i could have added smoother transitions and made it alot better. But oh well theres always next time. The photography class was also interesting. It was interesting because theres so much you need to know about taking a picture. Before i would just take pictures and not even think about it but theres so much more to taking a picture like aperture and depth. It kinda made me think back to film because sometimes when i look at something i see it in a camera angle or a pay close attention to the lighting and now hopefully i can integrate it into photography. The time with the guest speaker (Jamilah) was actually shorter than i thought. I thought it was really cool that sProxy-Connection: keep-alive
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was so young because i feel that because shes a young she can relate a lot to us. I dont really know how to explain it but yea. Umm im kind of excited to just go back to our dorms and rest. After today and yesterday im starting to feel kind of tired and i just want to go to bed.

The BAMMA Experience from T's eyes (6/23)

Three days in, ten days to go...and yet I wish it could go longer.

When I applied to BAMMA, and even the day before I made the trek over the bay, I didn't know what exactly to expect at this place. However, when I first opened the door to my temporary home, kissed my mom goodbye, and met my roommates, I knew that this was going to be a good two weeks. BAMMA is a great experience for me so far; I've enjoyed living in my own college dorm and having some freedom from my mom. In addition, I've also made some good friends here, like Jabari, Natasha, Jorge, and Luz. Of course, freedom and social activity aren't the only things that have thrilled me about this program.

In only three days, I have already been involved in various endeavors in all types of multimedia. This ranges from creating a highlight video of another BAMMA student, snapping photos using the natural light, or just typing a blog like this. These experiences have made me realize how broad the field of journalism and communications is. It takes so much work, but in the end the effort is always worthwhile.

For homework last night I had to tape Lanaeah (?) and tried to create a movie out of it. Surprisingly, my movie turned out pretty good!...except for the part where I pretty much bit it and nearly broke the camera. But I was happy with how the text, transitions, and effects all turned out; it's something that I think I have a lot of talent in.

Thanks to this program, I really know just how interesting and challenging journalism can be. It can be a quick 5-minute burst of energy or an all day masterpiece lasting from 9 in the morning to 9 at night. I don't care though; I'm loving every minute of it.

BAMMA So Far.

My experience here at BAMMA is very interesting so far because of everybody here doing alot of different things. I see mostly everybody carrying their cameras everywhere they go video taping or capturing crazy and funny things at of no where. the cool thing is that once people finished thier video they go off showing it to eveybody and everybodies luagh (lol). where do they do these crazy videos? Pretty much everywhere like in the house, when people are hanging out at food time, and in class. its cool though because it brings everybody together closer. Classes with Mary Ann is very cool because she has a style of teaching that makes it not boring class like in other schools. i actualy like what she says in class on the real. Even though all these classes are cool, they got hella work in them. the classes be takingt hella long. Its less then half thre the day and it feels like a full day. and the bad thing is is not even close to done. its just hella time in these classes and feel like we not even doing anything once were done with something. i just want to go to my house(apartment here at bamma) and go to sleep and chillax on the couch with silence. the cool thing is about my roomates is that we get along hella cool. speacially jorge and jarbari. we tay up till like 2 or 3 in the morning talking about alot of things and getting that bond going on. even though i want to stay up with them talking bout funny stuff, i got to go to sleep earlier. ima start doing that. it would really make a differences. lets see how it goes. i want to see how it goes from here and out. hopefully it will get better but i doubt it. Theres good things and bad things. the bad things are really getting on my nerves like i wanna freaking beat up something. good things got to keep it to myelf and my boys.lol

June 23

So if you haven't guessed already, my name's Linnaea.

This is a blog for BAMMA, but I'm pretty sure you already knew that. I'm not a huge fan of blogging, but it seems to be one of the way journalism is staying alive, and I'm all for that.

In fact, one of the main reasons I even applied to BAMMA is because I want to keep journalism alive. The circulation of news is something that this 21st century electronic age cannot, or at least, should not destroy. Journalism needs to stay alive, and as "the young minds of the future," as a San Francisco homeless man once referred to me as, BAMMA is (hopefully) preparing us to keep news circulating.

Why is journalism important? Good question. Maybe by the end of BAMMA, I'll get back to you on that. Just know that it is.

Anyways, more about BAMMA, so no one gets mad at me for not sticking to the topic. I just finished my freshman year, and before I started taking the online courses at newsu.org our Journalism 101 teacher told us to take in preperation, I thought my writing and photo taking skills were pretty much up to par. But maybe that's just because my school's expectations are pretty low. No offense to my school or anything, this was our first year having a journalism department. (Thanks, CIIJ!) But, once I spent about 20 minutes clicking through journalism basics, I realized my perseption of my skills was totally, completely, and udderly incorrect.

I'm crossing my fingers BAMMA will change that. I'm imaging I'll return to school in the fall, find my way to which ever room the journalism club has been moved to, sit down, and wow everyone with my amazing skills.
Or maybe not.

But, I am seeing journalism as a significant part of my high school future, a way to make a few bucks, meet a few people, put something on ye dreaded college apps. Maybe even a profession, if global warming doesn't kill us all. I know that BAMMA will change my idea of journalism, introduce me to new forms of journalism (Audio and video, anyone?) and send me on my way with the ability to be a better journalist.

NAYE NAYE--->DAY TWO @ BAMMA...

BAMMA HAS BEEN SUCH A GREAT EXPERIENCE FOR ME SO FAR. FOR EXAMPLE, I LEARNED PLENTY ABOUT PHOTOGRAPHY, WRITING LEADS AND ARTICLES, EASIER WAYS ON FINDING SOURCES, INTERVIEWS, ETC. IN MY OPINION, I BELIEVE THAT THE ABSOLUTE BEST THINGS THAT I EXPERIENCED SO FAR IS MEETING NEW PEOPLE AND FILMING ONE ANOTHER BECAUSE IT IS JUST A FUN/INTERESTING WAY OF INTERACTING WITH PEOPLE.THOUGH, THE WORST THING THAT HAPPENED SO FAR IN BAMMA IS THE DINNER AND THE FACT THAT THERE IS BARELY ANY HEAT THAT COMES OUT OF THE SO CALLED "HEATER." OVER ALL, BAMMA HAS BEEN SUCH A GREAT PROGRAM AT THIS RATE AND HOPFULLY WILL CONTINUE TO BE! I BELIEVE BAMMA WILL OPEN MANY DOORS FOR ALL OF US MEMBERS IF WE CHOOSE TO PURSUE A CAREER IN MAJORING IN JOURNALISM. YAWN!

BAMMA: Day 2

I really like what I am learning so far. Time flew by fast today. I never have had camcorder experience before, so it is cool that I am exposing myself to that.

Participating in BAMMA is hard work. I never had to stalk so many sources I had to interview in one day. Contacting people as bad as I thought. I was really nervous before I called my first source, but then it wasn't so bad. That initiative is one thing I am going to take back to my journalism staff. I won't be so afraid to get out of the school campus and pull topics that come from the community itself.

I got frustrated today because I wasn't able to schedule any interviews for tomorrow. Only two people called me back out of the seven that I contacted and one told me they wont be able to speak to me. The other is going to speak with me over email.

Photography was fun. I actually understand now what ISO, aperture and shutter is. We even got to mess around taking photos and practice different angles we could use.

I liked the guest speaker from wiretap. I am glad she gave us information on Internships offered by local publications. I definitely want to pursue these opportunities to get more experience since I know I want to continue journalism as a career.