Midpen Media Center is a community access media production facility, serving the communities of Palo Alto, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Atherton and Stanford. We operate PEG(Public, Educational and Government) channels 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 and 75.
Over the past two days we have recorded a slew of candidate statements and ballot measure arguments for the upcoming general election. The races include school district boards, a water district board, a healthcare board, and important local measures regarding development projects, city employee pensions, firefighter cutback procedures, and healthcare coverage for disadvantaged children. These local issues are usually in the shadows of state and national races in general elections and it's not easy for a conscientious voter to find comprehensive resources to help inform a voting decision.
These video voter resources are tremendous assets and we hope you will help us to disseminate the internet links and our cable playback schedule. Do you have any ideas you can share about how you might help us get these resources to the voters in Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties?
The specific videos will cover two Palo Alto measures, two Menlo Park measures, two Santa Clara County measures, one San Mateo county measure, two school districts in Menlo Park, the Sequoia Healthcare District in San Mateo Cty, and the Santa Clara Valley Water District. Additionally we will be recording candidate forums for those running for Atherton Town Council, Menlo Park City Council, and San Mateo County Supervisor.
As soon as we upload them to the internet we will post the links on our own Elections page and on http://www.Smartvoter.org.
Tonight the Palo Alto PTA Council kicks off another season of its Parent Education Events. These discussions are free and open to the public, and are packed with great ideas not only for parents of school aged kids, but for any adult who works with kids or wants to support the kids in their lives. Tonight's topic: "From Crisis to Long Term Strategy... Developmental Assets - A Community Framework for Helping Youth Thrive".
This will be a panel presentation to introduce the Developmental Assets Framework which has been adopted by the school district, the City, and community agencies to support the health, resiliency, and overall well-being of our youth.
Right now, kids at both Paly and Gunn are returning permission slips from parents allowing them to take a confidential survey exploring kids' feelings of safety, well being and connectedness at school. This important survey will be discussed this evening and the results of the survey will be used as a basis for new initiatives at both schools to make sure all children feel good about school and about themselves. The goal is to connect kids to one another, to adults and to the institutions that support them.
Attend the meeting at 7 pm tonight at PAUSD Board Chambers at 25 Churchill Street. Or watch it live, coming to you on Channel 28. You can watch it replayed on our channels. Click here to see when it comes on next.
And click here to visit the Parent Ed page of the PTA Council website. There's a lot of support for families and students out there. A lot of people just don't know where to go. The PTA Council website is a good place to start.
The next Parent Ed program is October 13. We hope to bring that to you live as well. The PTA Council is currently seeking angel donors to help underwrite the costs associated with producing this series, seven in all.
The Media Center is proud to be a sponsor of the first in this valuable series!
Vivid news, intense documentaries, discussions about recent events or fiction videos exposing an individual view on a relevant concern: The Midpen Media Center keeps all of you guys up with everything that recently matters in Atherton, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Palo Alto and Stanford. A television station that is closely connected to its community members as opposed to the usual rather unconcerned and passive TV consumption. Here every one of you can even become a producer yourself in the name of the Bay Area. The MC is a true local facility, one could say.
THEN WHAT THE HECK AMI DOING HERE?!
I am the Media Center's latest intern ... German intern. From the other side of the world. Time shift:9 hours ahead. My name is Sarah-Marie (actually Sarah-Maria but as there are far too many syllables, I abolished the a), I am 23 years old and study at the Frankfurt Goethe-University. Even though this here is not in the least my community, I am glowingly delighted about every blink of my eyes that I can spend at the Midpen MC. For sure it is due to the huge variety of things I get to learn. As a student of 'Theater-, Film- and Media Studies' and 'History of Art' (and 'Economics', by the way; a lot, I know, sometimes I think it's even too much of a lot) moving pictures are a engaging and esteemed field to me, yet in a merely theoretical and philosophical way. So my hands have been tickling for some time to get onto something, on a physical project so to speak. But there is far more to my amazement concerning the life as an intern.
When I accidentally got the opportunity to be accommodated by some people in Palo Alto, foreigners at that time (their openness still leaves me stunned yet feeling like home), I began searching for some volunteer opportunities in the Bay Area. Googling I came across the MC website that instantly raised my curiosity. Still, I never would have dared hoping to learn such ambitious techniques and achieving such skilled training without bringing any foreknowledge with me. So although video production turns out to be a mainly digital process (in relation to my prior used 'physical' image), this is exactly what I wanted. I had planned on doing a 20 to 25 hours/week internship but have ended up staying all day at the MC during the last three weeks, mainly spending time with my precious Final Cut Pro (Plug! ... ? no, love.). And when I, beyond that, could shoot the footage myself (in HD!), a rather marvelous feeling emerges. What one can conjure with moving images and sound! I supremely appreciate being able to follow just these personal interests and urges, while steadily receiving support - not only by Becca (!!) but by all the other members, volunteers and employees that provide their time and thoughts, and what is more their open-minded interest in letting me take part in their MC life. And here we have the other fact I am so lucky about:
Back in Germany one of my biggest worries was to remain a tourist in the Californian Bay Area, in this faraway place that I however was so eager to get to know. Now I can honestly state that I don't find myself in a touristy spot at all. Besides the just mentioned steady support this is due to some people I have never even met face-to-face: the MC's youth. One of the first things I intensely encountered were the works of former MC internsand members of the YAC when editing their 2010 Youth Highlight Reel. It is quite a bond to be formed in the editing process towards the respective footage. Their documentaries, shows, visual essays and fictions offered me versatile and sensitive insights into the Bay Area as well as a slight idea of the young videographers' mindsets and thoughts. Some touched me personally or left me stunned of the work's visional beauty.
To be honest, I envy all you volunteers for the opportunity to stay involved in this fun work. But you are a great lot and besides feeling deeply grateful I am just happy that this medium is so vivid that thanks to the internet I will be able to keep in touch and anticipate in your pictures and your minds, even 5500 Miles across the ocean.
And here comes:The first German/Bay Area Production!
If you are interested in my very own first work apart from the Highlight Reel, watch this. I'd like to remark that I am still concerned with aesthetics in the main, perhaps because of the 'early experience and try-out'-state I am in, perhaps because of my personal art-theoretical background and interest. So guys don't expect too much content. But ... goodness knows, you might find some.
"Long Shoot"
Here I just tried something with Garage Band, but it's not at all fully worked out. I guess I find the impression and expression of the film better in silence. You might try both.
"First Shots"
Concerning audio, I worked with the background noises here.
The August-September edition of Henrietta Burrough's newspaper EPA TODAY has been on the stands for a few weeks now, but I wanted to draw your attention to an excellent article that EPA TODAY editor Ms. Burroughs penned herself in the Arts column: "American Blues Man is a Touching and Memorable Show", on page 18. Ms. Burroughs attended the world debut screening of "American Blues Man" here in the Media Center Studios on July 24. The documentary profiles the life of Kenny Neal, a Louisiana-born, but locally-based internationally known blues artist. His struggles and achievements as well as his music make for great story telling. In her article, Ms. Burroughs recounts the details of the party and the screening, describes Kenny's life and then the making of the documentary. "American Blues Man" was shot here in the Media Center Studios, produced by Kenny and his wife Josi Neal and edited by Tom "TD" Daniell, a family friend and long time Media Center volunteer. We are proud that we are able to cablecast American Blues Man. Follow the link to see the current schedule for American Blues Man. And we congratulate Ms. Burroughs for her thoughtful story about this Blues icon.
Ms. Burroughs, as well as editing the newspaper, produces a biweekly show called "Talking With Henrietta" right here in our studios. A talk show format, Talking with Henrietta often tackles tough topics of interest to the citizenry of East Palo Alto and her sister communities here in the Midpeninsula. Follow this link to see the current schedule for Talking with Henrietta.
(Pictured above: Kenny Neal addresses the audience, Kenny with TD, and Kenny and his wife Josi Neal. Photos courtesy of Wes Rapaport.)
"Back to school" at the Media Center means LIVE cablecasts every morning from many of the schools in our service area. Every week more schools are come into our master control console over the I-NET. We can then transmit that signal live or record it for delayed palyback. What does all this mean?
It means we can get connected to the most important people in our community: our kids. As parents or concerned adults we can tune in and see if there is a need in our schools that we can fill. We can also sit back and be entertained by these broadcast journalism students developing their skills. The real life experience of going "live" at a certain time and to adhere to certain broadcast standards is fantastic training for our kids.
Today, Paly High joined the ranks of the Fall 2010 YBC line up. Other schools that are already broadcasting as well are Hillview and Oak Knoll, both of Menlo Park. We look forward to bringing on Jordan sometime this week and Gunn next week. JLS and Encinal and La Entrada are all getting their students ready to go live something this month, so stay tuned.
Just type YBC into our schedules pages to see what's up next!
It's Labor Day weekend and you know what that means? Youth Programming Non-Stop for a Week on Channel 28. (Actually it's non-stop until Saturday September 11 at midnight! YVW has never been so long!)
Starting today right after school at 3 pm we are running nothing but Youth produced, youth-topic shows. Watch all the Digiquest Youth Camp productions, the Youth Advisory Council productions and the Intern productions of 2010 plus the best of previous years. Watch Greenlight submissions from our community youth and watch exciting episodes of series produced by College Track, 49ers Academy, FYBY, Menlo College video students and so much more. To find the programs you want to watch, type searchable key words into the search box on our schedules page. Or if you're not near the TV or you'll be out of town for the weekend you can watch online right off the streaming page of our website.
YVW programming is all day Saturday, Sunday and Monday of this weekend, and every school day from 3 pm on. We will still be carrying the PAUSD and Ravenswood School Board Meetings on Tuesday and Thursday evenings respectively. Other than those meetings (which are actually quite important to our youth), it's all youth all the time on Channel 28.
Debate on Menlo Park Measure L between Roy Thiele-Sardina and Barrett Moore
