Connectopod™

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!
 
 
 

Hydrologic Part 2- The Condensation of Ideas

Last episode, Daniela Catalan, Angelica Benitez, Victoria Benitez and Cuicani Lopez explored water issues facing their generation. Now the team heads out to St. Euphrasia School in Granada Hills to learn how other kids are tackling the water issues.(Hint-big brains!) The Incredibots are competing in the First Lego League national competition. They must come up with and present a water solution for a water issue of their choosing and build lego robots to compete. ROBOTS!!! 
In addition to furthering our exploration of the issue, this was a first for the Connectopod team in that they were interviewing other kids. Shy at first, the team quickly hit their stride. 
Good luck, Incredibots!!!
Tune in next week for our final episode in this serial as we interview Stella Hernandez, Industrial Designer and professor of desogn at USC and Art Center college of design in Pasadena. Connectopod will interview Stella about her work with water issues on an international level. 
 
Love the show? There are so many ways you can support Connectopod! 
Become a patron of Connectod, purchase your very own Connectopod t-shirt , or contribute to our Go Fund Me campaign today!
 
 

HydroLogic Part 1: Evaporate or Precipitate

While  the Carribbean, Florida and Houston are underwater, water scarcity plagues places like Yemen and Australia. Yet places like Flint thirst (and Houston, Puerto Rico, San Joaquin) for non-toxic water. With so many water issues swirling around us, the team has decided to take a closer look. This is the first of a three part series we are calling: 
Hydrologic.
Part 1. Evaporate or Precipitate.
Connectopod explores the water issues we face of too much or too little and what we might do about it. 
Part 2. The Condensation of Ideas.
The connectopod team interviews Mrs. Gonzales' 6th grade "Incredibots"  team competing in the national Lego Robotics Competition. They must design a solution for a water issue. Using robots!!! 
Part 3: Collection.
Designer Stella Hernandez created Safe Agua with fellow students at the Arts Center in Pasadena. Three years later, their design of  a water collection system is in use in economically challenged communities in Colombia, Peru and Central California. She teaches the design at USC. Safe Agua has been exhibited at the Museum of Natural History in NY and the Smithsonian in Washington DC. And Connectopod gets to interview her! 

Connectopod Special Edition- DACA

 Connectopod met for the first day of the new season on Tuesday. Donald Trump rescinded DACA the same day. Our team of Angelica Benitez, Victoria Benitez and Daniela Catalan use their voices to respond. Not with anger but facts. So this is a special edition of reporting from those close to the story. (Because we barely had  enough time to research, record and edit the segments in our session, I recorded the the intro and outro later.)
I used the picture above because you can't keep a good reporter down. It is a moment where Vicky, as usual, made everyone laugh. 
 

Jessica Jewell, Gem of Tree People

Connectopod sits down (in a yurt!!) with Jessica Jewell, Senior Manager of Marketing and Communications at Tree People. Reporters Angelica Benitez, Daniela Catalan and Victoria Benitez, dig for details as Jessica shares how she tends the new shoots of social media for an organization that took root 40 years ago in Los Angeles. We also learned the many branches of Tree People: tree planting, education, conservation, and more.  Are you ready for one more pun? The reporters synthesised the sunny disposition of Jessica as we learned of her inspiration. Too sappy?
We have way more info than we could fit into our 7 minute episode so watch www.connectopod.net for some follow up in the coming weeks!
The reporters ended the day with a personalized Jessica Jewell Tour of Tree People. Nothing like the beauty of nature to inspire the green heart.
Thank you Jessica. Thank you Tree People. 
 
 
 

Connectopod Summer Project 3- Video Game Season Pass

Connectopod reporters take  a mouselook at Video Games. Newcomer Andre Devancens takes a speed run at the possibilities of gaming. Victoria Benitez needs a health potion. Laz Meiman examines the social value of an Open-world. Daniela Catalan is on a quest to de-stress. And Angelica Benitez rates the ratings system.