Music = Life

February 8, 2011 By Leave a Comment


This article also appeared in the Toiler Times, the student newspaper of Manual Arts High School.

By Juanita Yat

Music inspires all types of people and age groups from the youngest to the oldest. To many people in many cultures music is an important part of their way of life. In most cases music shows people who they are. While some use the art of music as entertainment other use it for other use it for inspiration. Sometimes it helps say what’s on your mind without saying it yourself. It’s a way people and bands express their feeling about society and the government

Personally for me, music is everything. Music can help in my rough times; just by listening to the lyrics I know I’m not alone, that somebody else felt or went through what I am feeling. Many people like me find that music is what calms and relaxes them and makes them feel safe. Hear it because you are living it.

Music is important to me because it’s a way I express my feelings, also music was a bond between me and dad. One of my favorite bands that brought us together was HIM. I was around 7 or 8 when I was looking up to my dad and his HIM interest. The very first album I ever had was Greatest Love Songs vol.666 which was my Dad’s. I would have to say my favorite songs from that album would have to be The Heartless, When Love and Death Embrace, and For You.

Soon my passion for HIM grew bigger I started asking for cd’s like Razorblade Romance, Venus Doom and Dark Light. These albums included songs like; Dead Lover’s Lane, The Kiss Death, Dark Secret Love, Wings of a Butterfly and Killing Loneliness. Each of these songs have meaning to me and many have got me through problems greater than life. I think at first it wasn’t only the beat of the drums, base, and an awesome guitar solo but the lyrics that touched my heart. I just sink to my music and everything is okay.

Music is everywhere. There is no noise, only sound.

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In Favor of Free Dress Day

February 7, 2011 By 1 Comment


This article also appeared in the Toiler Times, the student newspaper of Manual Arts High School.

By Mariana Ruiz

Over a year ago the administration decided to give our school uniforms. The reason for this was to reduce the presence of gangs, but that hasn’t changed.

Everybody is unique, everybody has different styles, and everybody has different interests. If every kid wears the same outfit and looks the same as everyone else, they’re losing their individuality. We look like a sea of purple, grey and black and we need more colors. Teenagers’ expressing themselves can help find who they are.

Having free dress day can be a school motivator. I think Friday would be a good day to have free dress day because it’s the day right before our weekend, day where many students don’t come because of it. If the school were to let us have our free dress day every Friday, it’d help students come to school.

We’d all fit into one place. We have our Jocks, Cheerleaders, Goths, Emos, Geeks, Class clowns, Band freaks, etc. if the school gave us an opportunity to let us be who we are once in a while, it will help build community.

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Manual Arts student speaks at USC Annenberg

February 6, 2011 By 2 Comments


This article also appeared in the Toiler Times, the student newspaper of Manual Arts High School.

by Carla DeLeon

On December 4, 2010, I was selected from my journalism classroom to present my school’s newspaper article at USC. The program with which I was going with is called Youth Media Los Angeles Collaborative. In the auditorium there were about 100 people, everyone from all over LAUSD. I was happy I wasn’t going to be the only student presenting.

I didn’t have much time to prepare my presentation because I arrived about 25 minutes before the event started. This made me very nervous; I wasn’t exactly sure about what it was I was going to say. My mentor, Silva, helped me out with as much as she could and prepared a presentation with prezi.com for me.

When the big day came, my mentor was directing people to the auditorium and helping others. While she did that, I was in the back with her laptop thinking of what exactly I would say for each slide of the Prezi. Silva wasn’t able to help me out as much as I wished she could because she couldn’t be at ten places at once, but thank goodness that my boyfriend Carlos, my friend Kerlie, and brother Marvin were there to help me out.

The event started at 11:15 a.m. A lady taking photographs was telling us to go inside the auditorium. Silva, Mike, and the director of journalism school, Geneva Overholser, began the event. After that, high school students and college students presented on women’s rights, Cesar Chavez, public matters, and more.

The whole time, I was counting down for when it would be my turn. I was a nervous wreck. I felt cold sweat running down my neck and I was shaking like an earthquake. Soon I knew I would go up to the podium. Carlos was telling me to relax and that it would be okay, but I didn’t want to listen. I believed it wasn’t going to be okay until I was home.

When my turn finally arrived, I went up on stage. The prezi Silva prepared malfunctioned. I figured I had already started everything wrong. After a few seconds the prezi started working so I began to talk about my article, which discussed teen suicides among gay, lesbian, and intersex students.

When all the presentations were over, the audience began asking questions. Public matters and Alejandra Cruz were receiving most of the questions so I figured I was safe because no one would ask me any questions. I was dead wrong. Out of nowhere, people began asking me questions.

But by the end of the day, I felt such a relief to be done with it. Even though I did have a few problems, such as forgetting what to say and not knowing how to answer the audience questions, I had a good time and the experience was amazing. Knowing I can present something in front of many people felt good and I can’t wait to do it again.

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A Word of Advice to Freshmen

February 5, 2011 By Leave a Comment


This article also appeared in the Toiler Times, the student newspaper of Manual Arts High School.

By Jose Cornejo

Welcome to Manual Arts Senior High School. We are happy to have you here, We are looking forward to working with you and helping you to achieve your goals. In your first year of high school, classes should be smooth. You will learn how our system works and know what classes to take. What you don’t want to do in your first year is fall back in your classes.

When I was a freshman I slacked off and did not work. I always talked to my friends or disrupted the teacher from teaching. The times I was doing my work, there was always a person distracting me and it preventing me from finishing. Going to the third semester, I started doing my work. I had teachers that cared about me and wanted me to do well in school.

Talk to your teachers when you start to fall behind. Most likely the two teachers you will have are Mr. Garlaza and Mr. Gailbraith. If you have problems with any work they would gladly help you. What you could also do on your own time is to go talk to them. Both teachers are supportive and trustworthy, when he sees students interested in passing their class.

Absences have a great impact in your freshman year as well. The more you miss, the more work piles up. First year shouldn’t be stressful. That’s the year were most fun is, but at the same time do your work. Ninth grade you should not be missing a lot classes, because they are easy. School is mostly about just coming, paying attention, and doing your work. If you notice, every test the teacher gives you is just a review of the same work over and over.

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Students discuss expectations and inspiration at Manual Arts High School

November 17, 2010 By 6 Comments


imageFrom left: Henry Pineda, Nestor Nunez, Kerlie Medina and Gisela Bats.

“We must learn to reawaken and keep ourselves awake, not by mechanical aid, but by an infinite expectation of the dawn.”

– Henry David Thoreau


Sometimes it’s hard to keep awake, especially at seven thirty in the morning.

Most of us rely on a cup of coffee or a cold splash of water to the face. But Thoreau was right. Nothing works quite as well as true inspiration.

Tom Roddy’s journalism class at Manual Arts High School explored recently what keeps them awake to their own aspirations. Where does inspiration come from, and why do some find it and others fail? How do students establish the expectations they have for themselves? And what happens when they are faced with low expectations from others?

“People outside the school think Manual Arts is like prison,” said senior Nestor Nunez.

Listen to Nestor Nunez:

imageKerlie Medina is a senior who says that low expectations from others only encourage her to break them.

“Those negative things that people think about us makes me actually want to try more,” said Medina. “People may say that just because we live here in South Central Los Angeles, they probably think that we’re not as smart as other students. I think it’s wrong. I think there are smart people here.”

Medina added that supportive families can make a difference in a student’s life. “[Parents] should support their children,” said Medina. “If they don’t, then who else is going to support them?”

Listen to Kerlie Medina:

Henry Pineda says he noticed a difference in attitudes toward students during a field trip with Community Coalition to Beverly Hills High School.

“Students over there are actually expected to achieve,” said Pineda. “They’re actually expected to be the doctors of the future, the presidents, the senators and all that.”

Listen to Henry Pineda:

While the students at Manual Arts may receive support from their peers, teachers and families, Pineda says that negative perceptions come from outside the community.

“People from everywhere else except South Central L.A., they don’t have those expectations of us,” said Pineda. “They probably feel like we’re going to take the lower jobs. That makes me feel like they’re kind of just putting us down on purpose.”

But where do these perceptions come from? According to Medina, the root of the problem is stereotyping.

“I think it’s because of all the stereotypes people form of difference races,” said Medina. “They believe so much in these stereotypes, they judge you without even knowing you.”

The environment the students face at school also plays a large part in forming their own expectations, as well as influencing the views held by others, according to the students. One problem the group brought up in their discussion was littering.

“Other schools are really clean,” said Pineda. “When we come over here we’re walking through trash and it makes us feel down, like we live in this poverty that we just see every day.”

Listen to the students discussing the problem of litter at Manual Arts High School:

Inspiration, according to the students, begins at home.

“My parents expect a lot from me, which is a good thing because it makes me want to do better,” said junior Carlos Guerrero. “I think it all depends on the person. If you let it bother you then it’s going to affect you. It’s all up to you.”

Listen to Carlos Guerrero:

“My inspiration comes from my mom, ” said Jose Cornejo, who explained that his mother was an intelligent student but dropped out when she became pregnant. “She always tells me to do good in schools because she doesn’t want me to work hard.”

Listen to Jose Cornejo:

Junior Mariana Ruiz says that her father encourages her to work hard in school so that she won’t have to face the harsh terrain he experienced himself.

Listen to Mariana Ruiz:

The motivation to succeed also includes the desire to alleviate the burden their parents carry, said the students.

Listen to the students discuss the importance of being able to help their families:

In the end, self-determination can be the strongest motivating force in a student’s life. “Sometimes, I inspire myself,” said Nunez. “When I have bad grades on my report card, I put it right at my bed at the wall so every time I wake up I see the grades, I’m like, I’ve got to do better than that.”

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Manual Arts High School students explore abuse and violence

November 2, 2010 By Leave a Comment


This is the last write-up from freshman students at Manual Arts High School. Some participated in weeks-long projects about animal abuse, drugs, gangs, prostitution and racism. Part of their projects included surveys they created for their communities. After they gathered information, all of the groups presented their findings at a school presentation. Two days later, each group wrote about their experiences during an Intersections: The South Los Angeles Report mentoring and writing workshop.

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Child Abuse and Violence

By: Nicolas Arevalo and Juan Luis

We chose violence because it is something that exists inside every single human being. It is an important issue because people suffer through violence, including child abuse and domestic violence. We learned that there are many forms of abuse, and there are also ways that we can help people who have experienced abuse in their lives.

Human beings are not the only ones who suffer through violence because animals get treated badly, too. They get hurt and are pushed around, and that is also known as animal abuse.

Our group also learned that people who usually have been treated badly and have been suppressed are the ones who might do the same thing to others that happened to them.

We discovered all of this information after we conducted about 370 surveys on how to stop violence in communities, and if there is violence around and inside us. People who have gone through violence have had a hard time recovering from it.

For example, have you ever seen someone get shot right in front of you? Some people in our group have, and they have seen one friend get shot right around the block. It was a terrible experience because that is the first time the group member has seen someone on the floor, full of blood. You could see the rounds on the ground, cartridges on the floor and the helpless body.

That is one of the reasons why violence is not such a good idea. It is also another reason why people should not get involved in it.

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Exploring drugs and drug dealing

November 1, 2010 By Leave a Comment


This is the seventh of eight write-ups from freshman students at Manual Arts High School. Some participated in weeks-long projects about animal abuse, drugs, gangs, prostitution and racism. Part of their projects included surveys they created for their communities. After they gathered information, all of the groups presented their findings at a school presentation. Two days later, each group wrote about their experiences during an Intersections: The South Los Angeles Report mentoring and writing workshop.

Drugs and Drug Dealing

By: Khyla Brown, Victor Coronado, Jocelyn Garcia, Crystal Leon, Cesilia Orellana and Sarai Teodocio

We chose drugs and drug dealing because it is something that really affects our communities, and we have experienced it in our lives with friends and family. It is also one of the biggest things going around in our communities. Our group was asked to research and interview people to see the different perspectives about this topic.

Our interviews included our teachers and people from community organizations. We also did plenty of research about the topic. We handed out surveys at the senior quad on campus and around the lunch area. When people walked by, we gave them the surveys and had a conversation.

What we have learned is that you can stop the use of drugs, but you cannot stop them from existing. And even though you can tell people not to do drugs, some of them will not listen to what you are trying to tell them. We also learned that drugs will always exist in life, and that we can help you, but it is your choice to see if you want to stop selling or using drugs.

We observed that most of the students at Manual Arts High School do drugs, and they felt that if they told us they smoked weed, we would tell the counselors. We told them not to put their names on the surveys because we wanted their answers to be completely confidential. We told them to be real about their answers and not to lie because their names would not go on it anyway.

One other thing our group learned is that a lot of people have not used any type of drugs, but they would like to try it some day.

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Local high school students research ethnicity and racism

October 29, 2010 By Leave a Comment


This is the sixth of eight write-ups from freshman students at Manual Arts High School. Some participated in weeks-long projects about animal abuse, drugs, gangs, prostitution and racism. Part of their projects included surveys they created for their communities. After they gathered information, all of the groups presented their findings at a school presentation. Two days later, each group wrote about their experiences during an Intersections writing workshop.

Racism

By: Jorge Arana, Sergio Corona, Rayshawn Holifield and Mayra Romero

When we learned we were going to have a Community Action Research project and present a PowerPoint presentation to the school about a deficit in our community, we were not confident about the project. Two major deficits that influence us are animal abuse and racism. We chose racism because we believe that people need to know that we are all the same, and we wanted to prove that no race is superior and no ethnicity is inferior to any other.

Just because we look different or have different believes does not mean we should be treated differently.

During our research, we found that some people did not take racism seriously, but we also found that a majority of people actually cared. We interviewed two parents to get their opinions. Most of our questions revolved around how racism affects our communities and what we can do to change it.

We learned that we cannot stop racism, but there are ways people can reduce harm. Many people affected by racism are people of color, including African Americans, Latinos and Hispanics, Native Americans and Asian Americans.

African Americans were the most affected in South Central Los Angeles. They are treated as if they have no value, and they are victims of police brutality. Some African Americans decided to have an uprising in Watts in 1965 and a rebellion of what happened with Rodney King in 1992. During those two situations, police were permitted to beat and kill African Americans. This is where some gangs originated from.

The tactic we want to use to reduce the impact of racism is organize community. We want to gather people who have been affected by racism and figure out a way to stand up together to protest and fight for our rights to be treated equally. Another tactic that we plan to use is propaganda. We could paint a mural on our school walls of people from different races socializing and working together through conflicts.

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Manual Arts High School students learn about gangs in their communities

October 28, 2010 By Leave a Comment


This is the fifth of eight write-ups from freshman students at Manual Arts High School. Some participated in weeks-long projects about animal abuse, drugs, gangs, prostitution and racism. Part of their projects included surveys they created for their communities. After they gathered information, all of the groups presented their findings at a school presentation. Two days later, each group wrote about their experiences during an Intersections writing workshop.

Gangs

By: Byron Chaperno, Luis Mateo, Carolina Mercado and Cynthia Molina

We chose to research gangs because it is one of the biggest things that influences our communities. While doing this project, we discovered a lot of information. Our group surveyed about 121 students and one teacher. We visited six classrooms.

Many people agreed that one of the most dangerous gangs is one called Mara Salvatrucha. And a lot of people believe that people join gangs because they want to be “cool,” but nobody really knows specifically why people join gangs.

Ms. Sarah Glasband, our wonderful teacher who helped us discover information, also helped us come up with the main question for our survey. Some of our questions were easy, and some were hard. We asked questions that had “yes” or “no” bubbles, and some that people really needed to think about.

During our presentation, we were very nervous. After we finished the presentation, though, we were all happy. We had a great semester, and we hope we can do this again but better.

If we had more time to do this project, we would have liked to interview more people in the community and try to survey some elementary and middle schools. We also would have interviewed more students and teachers at Manual Arts High School.

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Exploring the meaning of violence

October 27, 2010 By 2 Comments


This is the fourth of eight write-ups from freshman students at Manual Arts High School. Some participated in weeks-long projects about animal abuse, drugs, gangs, prostitution and racism. Part of their projects included surveys they created for their communities. After they gathered information, all of the groups presented their findings at a school presentation. Two days later, each group wrote about their experiences during an Intersections: The South Los Angeles Report mentoring and writing workshop.

Violence

By: Hugo Castaneda and Christian Garcia

We chose violence because we had overall topics that we wanted to talk about. We thought about animal abuse, domestic abuse and gang violence, and they all fell into the category of violence. This led us to our inquiry question, which was, “How can we stop violence in our community when we see violence within us and all around us?”

Our team conducted research by distributing surveys and giving interviews to multiple people. Facts that we got from the surveys are: many students think violence comes from school, and most students would like to stop violence, but they are too scared to try. Also, students do not see other ways to solve problems because most students see violence in themselves. Victims of violence include everyone from children to elders and from pets to farm animals. Men and women also experience verbal to sexual abuse, and the entire world is full of violence. Everyone is a victim. Violence is found in our homes, the media, video games, television shows, schools and movies.

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