Connectopod™

changing the Narrative- Ep. 2, From Fairytale to Feminism: A Black Girl in 3 Acts

 Episode 2 of our collaboration with The Social Justice Learning Institute is the identity episode, where every girl finds her path. In these three stories, from the optimism of childhood to the independence of womanhood, and all the trials and joys in between, we meet the real fairy godmothers in the form of friends, grandmas, and moms.
Act 1: Blu's Fairytale - Jessica Diamfimpa's modern fairytale follows a classic princess problem-follow your heart or your duty? How do you code your heart's desire? 
Act 2: The Girl Percieves - Things may be tough in South Central, but Chassydi Crane is her own built in cheer squad. With and open heart and open mind, she shares her own unique all American high school experience.
Act 3: The Woman - From Inglewood to Loyala Marymount,  Dominique Williams finds she is more Dorothy than Cinderella-there's no place like home! The power was hers all along.
 
Music by Young Ambition and  Quest
Follow the links to hear their amazing talent on SoundCloud!
Visit the Changing the Narrative page on our site for more content
 Produced by Betsy Foldes Meiman
Original concept by Daniel P. Castillo
Created in a 5 week collaboration between Connectopod and SJLI developed and taught by by Andrea Lopez, Daniel P. Castillo, and Betsy Foldes Meiman
Sound Design on The Girl Percieves and The Woman by Daniel Castillo
Changing the Narrative is supported in part by a generous grant from the California Arts Council, a state agency. Learn more at arts.ca.gov 
Thank you! 
 
 
 

Changing the Narrative- Episode 1, The Urban Entrepreneur

Welcome to the first episode of Connectopod's collaboration with The Social Justice Learning Institute! These six episodes were created with the youth of Inglewood and other parts of South LA to tell a more nuanced story of their community and experiences than they see in the media. 
With a broad  age range from middleschool to college, the podcasters of this series share an indepth view of the world as they see it. 
So let's begin!
Marcus Pickens is motivated. How do you create a successful internet start up when all of the odds are against you? Find out what it takes to be an Urban Entreprenuer in this episode.
Jonathon Zeno starts us off with a call to remember our power.
Music by Quest
Find out more about Marcus' company Questcutz
Visit the Changing the Narrative page on our site for more content
 
Produced by Betsy Foldes Meiman
Engineered by Daniel P. Castillo
with booth direction by both
based on a 5 week collaboration between Connectopod and SJLI 
developed and taught by by Andrea Lopez, Daniel P. Castillo, and Betsy Foldes Meiman
Original concept by Daniel P. Castillo
 Changing the Narrative is supported in part by a generous grant from the California Arts Council, a state agency. Learn more at arts.ca.gov

Get Schooled by Dr. Gabriel Gutierrez!

How do you go from getting kicked out of school your freshman year of college, to a 'C' student, to a department chair? Through the power of Chicana/o Studies! Connectopodistas, Daniela Catalan and Vicky Benitez, led by Angie Benitez, get schooled by Dr. Gabriel Gutierrez, Chair of the Department of Chicana/o Studies at Cal State Northridge.
 
And you get a two-fer! Thanks to Gabe Evans and Andrew Bidwell of Jukin Media, this making of this episode will be featured on Poke My Heart, a new YoutTube Channel. Watch for it on our social media feeds!
 

Team High Flying JAMJABJACX Ninja Brothers! Life in Classroom 11

Welcome to our very first Guest Podcasters Show! While our core reporters contemplate summer vacation, Connectopod Cofounders Betsy Foldes Meiman and Andrea Lopez headed over to Haskell STEAM Magnet to work with a class of diverse learners taught by the incredible Mrs. H! 
It was a pleasure to meet Mrs. Herbst's elementary class, AKA Team High Flying JAMJABJACX Ninja Brothers! (Say that fast one time . . . now 5 times!) These boys crafted their catchy name using things they found in their classroom. Wondering what JAMJABJACX means? Not only is it fun to say, but it is an acronym made up of all of the first letters of the students' first names:
Jose Castaneda, Adrian Hayes, Marlon Venegas, James Alltop, Andrew Moreno, Balam Garcia, Josiah Luna, Angel Flores, Christopher Moran, and Xavier Morales! JAMJABJACX! Get it?
Listen as our newest (and youngest ever)  contributors share their take on Life in Classroom 11.  You will also be treated to some fabulous Shel Silverstein poems, because we were lucky enough to have one of our podcast workshop days land on Poem in Your Pocket Day!
We hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed producing it! 5 weeks of fun, and that's a wrap!
If your child or student participated, and you are so inclined, please take our quick survey. Thank you!
Want to bring our 5 week program to your classroom? email us at aLopez@connectopod.net
Help us bring Connectopod programming to more classrooms by supporting our GoFundMe!
 
 

Gabe Evans- Failure is the Only Option

You read that right! Learn how failure is success in the world of internet. The team, Angelica Benitez, Victoria Benitez, Cuicani Lopez, and quest questioner Laz Meiman, led by Daniella Catalan spend an afternoon with the delightful (yes DELIGHTFUL we say!) Gabe Evans. How did "How to Batman" lead to a career at Jukin Media? Find out here! Thanks Gabe. 
 

Mantras, Malas, and Mom - Enjoli Ferrari

What do you do when life gives you lemons? Make Mala Necklaces! Vicky Benitez (10) leads the team, Angelica Benitez(13), Daniela Catalan (13)and Cuicani Lopez (7), in a wonderfully uplifting interview with Enjoli Ferarri. There are mentors, and there is Enjoli. Wonder Woman, Ghandi, and Glenda the Good Witch all rolled into one! Hear about Enjoli's personal project with her mom, Nicole, who is homeless and suffers from mental illnes. A  story of redemption, reunion and healing. 
For bonus material and an opportunity to buy mala necklaces infused with the super power of love, visit Enjoli's page in our shop. Yes! We have an online shop! Artist friends of Connectopod donate their art to fund our programming. This time we get give! 100% of the proceeds of the mala necklaces go to Enjoli and Nicole. Thank you Enjoli. We're rooting for you!
To read more about Enjoli and The Team's experience, visit our blog.
Visit it us at Connectopod. We are now officially a 501c3. Hurrah!
 
 
 

An Afternoon with Joachim Ssebwana!

 To wrap up our 2017 season, the team brings you an interview with Joachim Ssebwana whose spirit lights up like a Christmas tree! 
He invited the team and our families to St. John's Seminary in Camarillo where he is studying on scholarship from his home in Uganda. We spent a pleasant day touring the grounds and walking the orchard against the background of the disturblingly beautiful view of the smoke clouds from the distant Thomas fire. As we learn in our interivew with Joachim, beauty and distress often coexist.
We also feel our visit with Joachim was a perfect way to end 2017, in the spirit of hope, good will, and new beginnings! We wish Joachim the best in his studies and look forward to corresponding with him when he returns to Uganda. 
Weebale Nnyo, Joachim!

Connectopodistas and Lynn Harris Ballen on KPFK!

Lynn Harris Ballen of Feminist Magazine turned the tables on the team. She interviewed the interviewers!  Angelica Benitez, Victoria Benitez, Daniela Catalan, Cuicani Lopez and Connectopod cofounders Betsy Foldes Meiman and Andrea Longoria Lopez were in the hot seat at KPFK studios.
Here for you is Connectopod's segment. The whole show features  Barb Stanton, President of the League of League Of California Cities Women’s Caucus. and scholar and author Alexis Pauline Gumbs talking about her project, Black Feminist Bookmobile 
Hear the complete show here!
 
And Lynn gave us "The Connectopodistas!" We are totally using it.
 

Hydrologic Part 3- The Ringer

For our final episode of the Hydrologic Series (Phew!),  Our team: Angelica Benitez, Victoria Benitez, Cuicani Lopez and Daniela Catalan,  called on environmental industrial designer and long time friend of Connectopod, Stella Hernandez, to share her wisdom and experiences solving issues in water challenged communities here and abroad. We invited her to do her presentation at St. Euprhasia, where our friends The Incredibots (whom you met in the last episode), are working on their own solutions for water issues for the First Lego League Competition. Share the Love! The Connectopod Team presents you with the highlights of Stella's presentation.
Thank you Stella!
Here is a little bit about Stella:
Designer Stella Hernandez and other faculty members directed the project "Safe Agua" with fellow students at the Art Center in Pasadena. Many years later, their designs of water collection systems have made an impact in challenged communities in Chile, Colombia, and Peru. She teaches different design classes at Art center and participates in social design projects. Safe Agua has been awarded different design awards and has been exhibited at many institutions including the Copper Hewitt design museum in NY. 
You can see more about Safe Agua and other projects here: 
https://designmattersatartcenter.org/proj/safe-agua-colombia/
https://vimeo.com/44406148
designmattersartcenter.org/proj/safe-agua/
 
 
The Connectopod Executive Creative Team is  Betsy Foldes Meiman and Andrea Lopez
Thank you Jasmin Cervantes for the pix!
 

Ghosts, Witches and Owls, Oh My!

Can they investigate? You betcha! But can the team also spin a good auditory campfire story? You double betcha!  We took a break from our  Hydro Logic Series for some holiday fun.  The team's assignment was to take home our portable "reporter in a box" studio kits, come up with a spooky story and send it to me via dropbox so I could add some sound effects and produce the show. They sure entertained me! So here, for some Halloween Happy, we give you Ghosts, Witches and Owls, Oh My!
 
Bwahahahahahahahahahahahahahha!