Explore. Create. Advocate.
Thursday Oct 07, 2021
Thursday Oct 07, 2021
Thursday Oct 07, 2021
We're back with the Los Angeles Public Library! This time Librarians (yes, capital L) Marcia Melkonian at the Canoga Park Branch and Elisabeth Calla at the Encino Tarzana Branch are helping Teens Leading Change realize their plans for The Domestic Violence Awareness Project. The concept for a graphic novel and a podcast was developed over eight classes with Samantha Guevera of StrengthUnited, a CSUN Community Agency (and CA Non profit of the year!)
This episode highlights specific types of domestic abuse as reported by Melissa Peruch, Estephanie Paz, Viviene Carjaval, Artina Turokh, Tanisha Gunby, and Isabelle Saeedy.
Thank you Joe Foldes for mastering the audio recorded off of Zoom and handling our post production.
Music by Karl Casey @ White Bat Audio
Produced by Betsy Foldes Meiman
Monday Jun 28, 2021
Monday Jun 28, 2021
Monday Jun 28, 2021
Andre Devancens has been a part of Connectopod since second grade. Now he's fully graduated from Van Nuys High School and on his way to Cal Poly Pomona for Journalism. In Andre's 2019 interview that was a part of our Teen Mental Health project at CSUN, he talked about coming out as pan sexual, and his inspirations and aspirations. So as part of our 'grateful for our grads' June we revisited that interview and followed up with Andre to see how that interview stacks up to his present experience and to find out where he is headed now. We can't wait to see Andre's open-minded intelligence and energy out in the world! Thank you for all of your work with Connectopod. Congrats Andre!
topics: Coming out as a teen, journalism, graduating high school, Los Angeles Master Chorale, Daryl Davis
For more of Naia, The LA Master Chorale/Van Nuys HS project visit:
https://lamasterchorale.org/oratorio-project
Sunday Jun 13, 2021
Sunday Jun 13, 2021
Sunday Jun 13, 2021
Long-time Connectopod contributor and valedictorian Laz Meiman graduated Grover Cleveland Humanities magnet with High Honors class of 2021. He has been with us since the beginning, as reporter, teacher, producer and supporter.An independent thinker who wants to turn his perceptive talents to government, Laz feels he can be a proponent of positive change. His passion for history has inspired some great Connectopod episodes over the years. Congrats to Laz and good luck at UCSC! In this repost of a 2020 interview, Laz covers Fred Hampton and the Rainbow coalition, high school political internships, social justice leadership, the college application process, and cutting up an ox.
We are so proud of you, Laz! Congratulations!
You can also hear Laz explaining campaign finance reform as a guest on the podcast Contested Politics
Monday May 24, 2021
Monday May 24, 2021
Monday May 24, 2021
Part therapist, part educator, part advocate, and part den mother Alejandro Soria, director of the drop-in center for homeless youth at The Village Family Services, leads his team to provide support for homeless transitional age youth 14-24 (TAY)
This interview, edited for length, took place during the height of the pandemic, and soon after two of their TAY, had recently passed away, including Robert Fuller, whose murder by hanging in Palmdale was in the news. Alejandro talks of all the Village Family Services in North Hollywood offered to homeless youth and the hidden challenges of serving youth in a lasting and life-changing way.
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Friday Apr 16, 2021
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Friday Apr 16, 2021
This was ninth-grader T's first brush with Edgar Allan Poe. She had a definite opinion!
Mr. Blythe was concerned that his 9th Grade class of IEP* learners were having a hard time engaging with online learning (really who wasn't?!). Rockstar Librarian Marcia Melkonian and The Friends of the Canoga Park Library reached out to Connectopod because engagement is our game! Mr. Blythe shared his curriculum and together we came up with the idea to have them narrate Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell-Tale Heart." The crazed narrator provided the perfect vehicle for the class to become an ensemble of different personalities in his murderous head. Betsy Foldes Meiman directed the piece as if it were a take on Batman's Joker or popular video game homicidal maniacs, some of which she has voiced. The class took up the challenge and dug deep into the text, ingesting and performing Poe's words with deep understanding. Language and literacy barriers were smashed. The shy became killers, and of course Mr. Blythe himself, the poor victim. Recorded remotely by Betsy over zoom over a week's time, the edited files were given to professional sound designer Eric Willhelm who then created an eerie and ever more stressful atmosphere driving the story to its explosive conclusion.
We had so much fun with this class and are grateful for their hard work and the joyful spirit with which they took to learning through art. We think they will never forget The Tell-Tale Heart!
*Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) is a plan or program developed to ensure that a child who has a disability identified under the law and is attending an elementary or secondary educational institution receives specialized instruction and related services.
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Mr. Blythe was concerned that his 9th Grade class of IEP* learners were having a hard time engaging with online learning (really who wasn't?!). Rockstar Librarian Marcia Melkonian and The Friends of the Canoga Park Library reached out to Connectopod because engagement is our game! Part of the Edgar Allan Poe Project, Mr. Blythe had his student write letters from 'Dr. Poe' to the insane asylum about his 'patients' (his characters!). They are as creepy as Mr. Poe's characters themselves! We thought it would be fun to have them read by professional artists.
Letter 4 is narrated by Voice over artist Laz Meiman (of Nickelodeon's Harvey Beaks) soon heading off to college!
We had so much fun with this class and are grateful for their hard work and the joyful spirit with which they took to learning through art.
*Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) is a plan or program developed to ensure that a child who has a disability identified under the law and is attending an elementary or secondary educational institution receives specialized instruction and related services.
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Mr. Blythe was concerned that his 9th Grade class of IEP* learners were having a hard time engaging with online learning (really who wasn't?!). Rockstar Librarian Marcia Melkonian and The Friends of the Canoga Park Library reached out to Connectopod because engagement is our game! Part of the Edgar Allan Poe Project, Mr. Blythe had his student write letters from 'Dr. Poe' to the insane asylum about his 'patients' (his characters!). They are as creepy as Mr. Poe's characters themselves! We thought it would be fun to have them read by professional artists.
Letter 3 is narrated by Voice over artist Betsy Foldes Meiman
We had so much fun with this class and are grateful for their hard work and the joyful spirit with which they took to learning through art.
*Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) is a plan or program developed to ensure that a child who has a disability identified under the law and is attending an elementary or secondary educational institution receives specialized instruction and related services.
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Mr. Blythe was concerned that his 9th Grade class of IEP* learners were having a hard time engaging with online learning (really who wasn't?!). Rockstar Librarian Marcia Melkonian and The Friends of the Canoga Park Library reached out to Connectopod because engagement is our game! Part of the Edgar Allan Poe Project, Mr. Blythe had his student write letters from 'Dr. Poe' to the insane asylum about his 'patients' (his characters!). They are as creepy as Mr. Poe's characters themselves! We thought it would be fun to have them read by professional artists.
Letter 2 is narrated by Voice over artist and actual therapist Steve Morris
We had so much fun with this class and are grateful for their hard work and the joyful spirit with which they took to learning through art.
*Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) is a plan or program developed to ensure that a child who has a disability identified under the law and is attending an elementary or secondary educational institution receives specialized instruction and related services.
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Mr. Blythe was concerned that his 9th Grade class of IEP* learners were having a hard time engaging with online learning (really who wasn't?!). Rockstar Librarian Marcia Melkonian and The Friends of the Canoga Park Library reached out to Connectopod because engagement is our game! Part of the Edgar Allan Poe Project, Mr. Blythe had his student write letters from 'Dr. Poe' to the insane asylum about his 'patients' (his characters!). They are as creepy as Mr. Poe's characters themselves! We thought it would be fun to have them read by professional artists.
Letter 1 is narrated by Playwright and film commentator Richard Harland Smith
We had so much fun with this class and are grateful for their hard work and the joyful spirit with which they took to learning through art.
*Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) is a plan or program developed to ensure that a child who has a disability identified under the law and is attending an elementary or secondary educational institution receives specialized instruction and related services.
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Friday Apr 16, 2021
Mr. Blythe was concerned that his 9th Grade class of IEP* learners were having a hard time engaging with online learning (really who wasn't?!). Rockstar Librarian Marcia Melkonian and The Friends of the Canoga Park Library reached out to Connectopod because engagement is our game! Mr. Blythe shared his curriculum and together we came up with the idea to have them narrate Edgar Allan Poe's "The Tell Tale Heart." The crazed narrator provided the perfect vehicle for the class to become an ensemble of different personalities in his murderous head. Betsy Foldes Meiman directed the piece as if it were a take on Batman's Joker or popular video game homicidal maniacs, some of which she has voiced. The class took up the challenge and dug deep into the text, ingesting and performing Poe's words with deep understanding. Language and literacy barriers were smashed. The shy became killers, and of course Mr. Blythe himself, the poor victim. Recorded remotely by Betsy over zoom over a week's time, the edited files were given to professional sound designer Eric Willhelm who then created an eerie and ever more stressful atmosphere driving the story to its explosive conclusion.
We had so much fun with this class and are grateful for their hard work and the joyful spirit with which they took to learning through art. We think they will never forget The Tell Tale Heart!
*Individualized Educational Plan (IEP) is a plan or program developed to ensure that a child who has a disability identified under the law and is attending an elementary or secondary educational institution receives specialized instruction and related services.