Thursday, 06/19/08 TRACKADEMICKS; JACK SPRAT COLLECTIVE; PARAGON
Doors at 7:30 pm; Show at 8:00 pm
$10-up sliding scale
Hip-hop and funk music is the foundation of this fundraiser for Oakland’s Youth Radio, the organization that trains young people in radio, news, and public affairs work and provides an outlet for a young perspective on news, much of it not covered by mainstream media. Performers include Trackademicks, the Jack Sprat Collective, Paragon, and DJ Amp Live of Zion I.
Ashkenaz
1317 San Pablo Avenue
Berkeley, CA
Showline 510-525-5054
Immigration is a serious topic for me but at the same time it’s becoming
worn out. This issue has brought heated arguments with a friend of mine and
every time I say that I don’t believe that ALL illegal immigrants should be
legalized she always says “There just like us and deserve the opportunity”.
I crossed the border for more opportunities and that’s how I’ve learned to
respect the country that has allowed me to stay as a legal resident. My
friend on the other hand is still on the waiting list in order to get her
residency. I understand that obtaining a green card was much easier during
my time (90’s) but once 9/11 all that changed and its become a battle for
undocumented immigrants.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-immigrant but I do believe that living in
this country is a privilege. That is why I do agree that in order to stay in
this country people should have a decent record- no felonies. My friend
calls it discrimination but I call it awareness or even prevention. One of
the things that we both agreed on was that immigrants are crucial to the
economy and deserve our respect and equality.
It hurts to see how companies take advantage of them by not paying them what
they should. I know it’s a critical topic but it’s time that this issue is
taken seriously because it’s driving immigrants to the limit. I know because
I’ve seen families that have fallen into the fast life for quick cash.
I was watching the Spanish news with my parents yesterday and the story that grabbed my attention was about a family who were forced to sell their personal belongings for a quick buck. I can’t imagine myself selling my gold necklace that was giving to me by my parents for my quinceañera. I’m thankful that I haven’t seen myself in that need but I do understand the motivation behind it. It’s upsetting to see how the financial crisis has pushed people to the limit. I used to believe that the United States– being such a powerful nation and known as the land of opportunities– couldn’t suffer this way. I guess there comes a time where even the strongest ruler has to step down sometimes. Of course my family is not like the one I saw on the news but we are suffering some of the same problems. Take my own for example: I’m young and as teenager there are some rules I’ve come across such as having fun as much as you can. But with gas almost reaching 5 dollars I’m about to break that rule. I own a small Nissan Sentra that used to get filled up with 25 dollars and now it takes 40 dollars. If you ask me, I could have used that extra fifteen dollars to get my nails done or something lol. I’m not a parent or a homeowner but I’m still financially hurting. As a college student money is already short but with inflation raising my pockets have been shrinking. I’ve had to put my female needs to the side and start helping more at home. In a strange way this crisis has made me more responsible, but I’ve learned enough and its time that things start changing. I hate seeing families suffering because of this. It brings me flashbacks of how people in my home country were suffering. Don’t be mistaken and believe that this problem is only affecting US citizens, because most developing countries like mine are hurting even more. My family members in El Salvador say the cost of food has increased too much for them to consider having a decent meal everyday. Instead they have to get use to having beans and rice three times a day. So for now my nails are going to have to wait until this situation gets better.
Yesterday in West Virginia, Senator Hillary Clinton vowed to stay in the presidential race even after her big loss in North Carolina and slim victory in Indiana. Democratic Party insiders, particularly those who are loyal and supporting the junior Senator of New York are facing pressure to switch their support towards Obama. Like I said before in my previous blogs, she has every right to stay in the race, however, Democrats fear that their might be a civil war within the Party because of the growing feud between the Obama surrogates and the Clinton surrogates. It has become clear who the presumptive Democratic nominee is going to be but Hillary isn’t giving up her hopes yet.
She should continue her campaign and raise enough money to pay off her debts. She in fact did loan her campaign another $6.4 million coming straight from her own pocket just recently. Now that Obama expanded his lead in the popular vote, the ongoing argument that Hillary makes that she has more popular votes including Florida and Michigan is no longer in check even if she were to count them now. The only realistic way she can receive this nomination is if super delegates decide to overturn the will of the popular vote and the pledged delegate count, which could ultimately turn off a lot Obama’s base supporters. In which case Rush Limbaugh’s “Operation Chaos” will have succeeded. My personal advice to Hillary, come back in 2012.
I’m not ashamed to admit it; I’ve held several conversations on the can that directly pertain to business. I’ve also looked over contracts and planned events, all while relieving myself. In the sitcom Seinfeld, when the character George read a book in the bathroom, it was “flagged” and people didn’t want to go near it. I wouldn’t give a crap (no pun intended) if someone read a book in the bathroom.
[Ed. Note: This week’s Question is: When it comes to News, who do you trust. Tone Kapone aka Tony Waters, our resident pop culture maven, reports in.]
When it comes to news i trust music television stations because they wear nice clothes that catch my attention. i figure its true because its informative for young people and it just seems factual. i would trust the news but i often hear that the news tells lies to cover up the truth. Therefore i trust sations like trl and 106 & park and shows like that but only when it comes to pop culture. News that affects the world? i dont trust anyone.
[Ed. Note: This week’s Question is: When it comes to News, who do you trust. Nico Savidge of Meet The Mess and The Savidge World of Sports reports in.]
My dad likes to wake up early in the morning and enjoy is coffee with a copy of the New York Times in front of him. As he munches on granola or shredded wheat, my dad learns what’s happening in the world – I do nearly the same thing, but (seeing as I’m 17, and not 57 like my dad) I get my news in a more hi-tech way. When I have breakfast, I don’t fold out the “Old Grey Lady” and flip through the sections. Instead, I’ve signed up for e-mail updates from the Washington Post and Reuters, meaning I get the headlines delivered to my inbox each morning. Thanks to the popularity of internet updates, I can get the latest news alongside “Oakland Athletics Postgame Alerts” and “The Urban Dictionary Word of the Day.” –Nico Savidge
I can remember being very young out on a day with my Aunt and some people stopped her and asked for her autograph.I thought to myself, “Why are all these people trying to get her autograph?She’s not Eddie Murphy.Does she know Eddie Murphy?”To me she was just Aunt Julianne, but everyone else knew her as Dr. Julianne Malveaux – economist and television personality.I was her favorite young nephew, so I got to go any and everywhere with her when time allowed.
I also began to check for my aunt on television and in newspapers.While my perception of my Aunt Julianne at home was of a fierce and no-holds-barred temperamental genius, it was exciting to know that she was just as opinionated in media appearances.When I read her columns, I could hear her attitude through the printed words.When I saw her debating loudly over white Republican talking heads on cable news stations, asserting her point and getting the last word, I was always thrilled.My perception of my aunt began to evolve into me seeing her as a media advocate for African-American and women’s rights, much like Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton, but much more electrifying.When I found out she was taking on the role of president of Bennett College for Women, and abandoning her plans to produce a 30-minute news magazine show under her Last Word Productions, my perception of her changed again.
Her sacrifice of her own media career to directly affect the lives of young African-American women on a daily basis makes me view my Aunt Julianne as an agent of direct change in our community.Even after reading her in print and seeing her on screen countless times, I have never been more proud of Dr. Julianne Malveaux than I am now and am blessed, not only to have her as an aunt, but also as a member of our community.
~King Anyi
in your facial face
like Rachel Ray
Cookin All Day!
The new movie Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, sequel to the classic comedy Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle, opens April 25 in theatres. In Guantanamo Bay, Harold and Kumar are thrown into the notorious prison for smuggling a bong onto the plane, which people mistake for a bomb. Caitlin Grey and Ankitha Bharadwaj interviewed actor John Cho– who plays the uptight Harold– at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, where Guantanamo Bay took its debut. The ladies talk with Cho about how he got into UC Berkeley, his family, and his side gig as a musician. Oh, yes, they ask about the movie too:
The first movie didn’t have a plot. We were trying to get to a burger place, and then things happened. And in this movie we’re, you know, kind of fighting for our lives and our freedom. So that makes all the decisions that the characters in the movie make, all those decisions become so much more amped and so much more important. That’s a long way of saying that when funny things happen you laugh a lot harder because circumstances are so intense. I think we’re just using politics… the current political climate to make fart jokes. -John Cho
All in all its an AWESOME interview, so good you won’t believe it was conducted by two high school girls. It was. That’s what we do. [8:25 Mp3 format]
Thursday, 06/19/08
Youth Radio Flows 