Youth Noise Network: 2006

Saturday, December 09, 2006

passionate premiere

To the Youth Noise Networkers:

This is the third year in which I've had the honor of working as a work-study student with the Youth Noise Network crew. And geez, I don't think I've ever been so blown away and deeply impressed by you all. I've heard some amazing pieces from YNN in the past, but I think seeing and hearing your work today was definitely something new and something special.

I am kind of amused when I think about what I'm saying, because I remember the beginning of last year when the whole PCP was introduced, and I was definitely just as skeptical as all of you were about the prospect of doing an intense and serious work that had to fit someone else's guidelines. But I have to admit that some of what was successful about today's premiere had to do with those grant guidelines. The idea of focus, having a theme, being more rigorous, gathering people and actually presenting to a live audience (as opposed to broadcasting to an anonymous crowd over the radio) all had a lot to do with the impact of your pieces as a cohesive whole.

But all of that stuff aside, what made me really smile was the fact that even given these elements, you guys still found a way to make it your own. From Manny and Anya's awesome introduction to the humorous spins and the personal perspectives you put in your pieces, the little bit of satirical wit reminds us of the presumptuous tendency of some of this stuff. Bring it back down to earth. Remind us that even these "passionate citizens" are just people. Go ahead and admit your own fear of your interviewee. You're people too.

Hopefully you got a sense of the impact of what you do from some of the audience's feedback. I think that's a really important element to your empowerment and the realization that this is about community and "civic engagement" and things that are larger than yourselves even though it is also very much about yourselves and your perspectives.

Ultimately, I don't want to say that I am "proud" of you all because that's a probably too patronizing for what little I contributed. But I am definitely really amazed, and I am thrilled to be working with you.

Thursday, October 26, 2006

cheesecake

we got it.

Kicked out of night club...

and the Third Coast/PRX party, YNN resorts to some craaaaaazy antics in room 405 of the swanky Hotel Orrington. Which we were also kicked out of because we got a little too loud. But it was fun while it lasted. Right now, we are attempting to order ice cream from room service, but it sounds like all there is is cheesecake. It will be here in half an hour. Now, we are going on a barefoot scavenger hunt for some unsuspecting youth groups in hopes that we can get our own party started. (Posted by Lena, Adrian, Erick, Mya, and Maria from the luverly little town of Evanston, IL...which is not really Chicago, but what are you gonna do? Did you know, that the cool place to be at midnight on Thursday in E-town is...BURGER KING?)

Monday, October 23, 2006

YNN pride

I got the fancy haircut to represent YNN in style at the Third Coast Audio Festival.

p.s. those are sound waves in case you're not total audio geeks like we are.

Monday, October 16, 2006

Third Coast

Youth Noise Network has been awarded a generous scholarship to attend the Third Coast International Audio Festival, October 25-27, 2006. We are one of a handful of youth radio projects selected for this honor. In attendance will be Erick Villeda, Mya Hunter, Lena Eckert-Erdheim and Adrian Boyes along with YNN coordinators Tennessee Watson and Maria Francesca Braganza.

Mya Hunter and Lena Eckert-Edrheim will be presenting their work during the "Teens with Mics" break out session. We are very proud of them and excited to hear what they have to say.

So on October 25 we're headed to Evanston, Illinois. We're going to learn a ton and have lots of good stuff to share when we get back to Durham.

Passionate Citizens

Youth Noise Network doesn't post much because we are constantly working so hard. But we are going to try harder to be active bloggers in the future.

Right now we are in the midst of the Passionate Citizens project--a documentary audio and photography exploration of civic engagement in Durham, North Carolina. That means Lena, Manny, Swati, Mya, Erick, Adrian, Liliana, Anya and Kiah are all working on 5 minute profiles on civically engaged Durham community members. The final pieces will be compiled along with photographs and written reflections about the project onto a DVD to be distributed to local high school civics and social studies classes.

We will unveil the pieces on Saturday December 9th, 2006 at 10:30am at the Center for Documentary Studies.

Come check us out!

Young Drivers

Emmanuel Watson: Young Drivers

In Durham, North Carolina, like elsewhere around the country, teens get into accidents which often result in fatalities.

Roll on a journey with Riverside High School junior Emmanuel Watson as he talks to brand new drivers. They tell him what they learned in drivers' ed, how their parents feel about them driving, stereotypes of teen drivers, and what are the main problems with teens driving.

Everybody has something to say about this, including a member of law enforcement, a drivers' ed teacher, and parents of teen drivers, including his own mother, who tells Emmanuel, "I'm going to have faith that you can drive."

The Progressive

Lena Eckert-Erdheim: The Progressive

A high school student in Durham, North Carolina publishes an anonymous lefty newsletter and scatters them around his school. Rumors abound, but does "The Progressive" actually have an affect on his peers?

The Freshman Cycle

Mya Hunter: The Freshman Cycle

Youth Noise Network reporter, Mya, talks to two high school students about dating, sex, love, and the controversy of upperclassmen getting with freshmen.

Jordan Marching Band

Swati Rayasam: The Inner Workings of a High School Marching Band

Ever since I was little I've always dreamed of being in marching band. Being at a competition and hearing them announce, "Now on the field. C.E. Jordan High School Marching Falcons. Director, David Robinson." Under all the lights, the stadium being packed, people cheering for you. It's always been a big dream of mine. Not your usual dream, I know. But, I'm not your usual person. Finally I get to be IN the band instead of watching it.

This piece goes into the "inner workings" of the Jordan Marching Falcons. You learn alot about what everyone does and what the "legendary" band camp is all about. Jordan is one of the few real marching bands left from the DCI days. They haven't become Show Style and given up on trying to win just with the marching and music, relying on their colorguards and props to get first place. The only props you'll see with this marching band are the flags, rifles, and sabers. That's why I'm disappointed that lately, the judges have started to just judge on props, and that's not cool.

Interviewed in this piece are two marchers, a colorguard, and our well-known band director. It rids (I hope) marching band of all, or at least most, sterotypes produced by television or movies. Enjoy!

This Piece is Dedicated to Mr. David Robinson who is leaving Jordan after 20 years. We Love You DR!

Vocab for Non-Geeks like myself

DCI- Relies on marching skills to win competitions
Show Style-Relies on props to win competitions
Guard- The girls (and sometimes boys) who do the dancing part of the marching show while the band plays
Rifles(guns) Sabers(swords)Flags(flags)-Three basic things the guard uses
Drum Majors- The students who conduct the band while they are marching

Music-"Escapade" Performed by Jordan High School Marching Falcons 2003

Jon LeSeur

JLA

Aaron Garcia: JLA

Flea Market

Laura & Gabbi: Flea Market

This piece was created when Laura and Gabbi ventured through their local flea market in Raleigh, North Carolina. They fished through the goods offered by many different vendors and found both treasures and trash. They were at times successful exercising their flea market skills of bargaining and hunting for the right item at the right price!

You'll hear what can and cannot be found on a typical saturday morning at the local flea market.

Fish

Maria Francesca Braganza: Fish
youth noise network goes dumpster diving at duke university after the college kids have gone home for the summer.

Condoms

Youth Noise Network reporters Erick Villeda and Adrian Boyes hit up the Duke Universtiy campus in Durham, North Carolina to find out what folks think about handing condoms out to teenagers in school.

Durham Love Yourself

Adrian Boyes: Durham Love Yourself

Cruising around Durham, North Carolina you can't miss the 'Durham Love Yourself' bumper stickers stuck everyone--on cars, bikes, the backs of street signs . . . . But why does Durham need to love itself? And who made the bumper stickers? Adrian Boyes solves the mystery.

Prom

Youth Noise Network's Adrian and Manny travel to the Durham School of the Arts and Riverside High School 2006 Prom to talk to students about everything from prom fashion to post dance festivites.

Listen to the piece:

Monday, September 18, 2006

tennessee in action

looking engaged with the youth. yahhhhh!

what up peeps!?

Holla from D-Town! .
YNN ROCKS MY SOCKS
is there anything (but adrian does not wear socks.)
yo lena why you trying to tell everyone all about me, yall dont know me. oy, gurl. yes i do. since you were TWELVE!!!
What ever man? Yo Surfing is awsome. (this is the requisite dadaist post. just get that out of the way. back to socks)
Dude cool ppl like me dont need your socks, they confine my feet. And feet arae teh gateway to da soul.

WORD TO YOUR MOTHER and your grammama (c)

Monday, September 04, 2006

back in the day

here are some random photos from 2 years ago just to spice this page up :)

Youth Noise Network