MC SPORTS LAUNCHES TONIGHT - The Bigger Picture

Tonight the Media Center, your Community TV Station, is hosting an open house from 7-9 pm to kick off its youth-driven, you-led community sports coverage program.  The plan is to train middle and high schoolers in our community to cover sporting events at area schools and to use the MC mobile production truck to videotape entire games.  The Media Center is located at 900 San Antonio Road (near 101) and is a non-profit community cable access TV station that operates 5 channels, serving the communities of Athetron, East Palo Alto, Menlo Park, Palo Alto and Stanford.

Kirsten Baird, Ethan Cohen, Trevor "The Voice"
Felch and Wes Rapaport in the MC Control Room

I am not running the sports program, at the Media Center but I love this concept so I just gotta share my enthusiasm for it.  We get local kids doing the work with training by video pros and the Media Center scores local sports programs to run on its channels.  Brilliant!   This effort is being spear-headed by veteran videographer Chuck Alley who founded Y-Ball.  For the launch and the program, Chuck has recruited students Kirsten Baird of Gunn and Ethan Cohen of Paly, plus former student (the "voice" of Gunn sports while he wasthere) Trevor Felch, and the amazing Wes Rapaport,  MC veteran and Paly grad, back from college for the summer.  Chuck is still looking for a youth leader to step forward from Menlo Atherton High School and any other area high schools, private, public or charter.

MC Sports wants  to connect with interested students, sports boosters, athletes, parents, schools and organizations.   Students will not have to pay for training and schools will not have to pay for coverage, which is why MC Sports also must connect with individual donors and sponsors.  Local businesses like Howie's Artisan Pizza and the Palo Alto Cafe are contributing refreshments for tonight's event!

We do such amazing things on a regular basis at the Media Center and then I brag about that.  I know I must sound like a huckster peddling the latest cure-all.  But that's just it, the Media Center can be a cure-all for folks that haven't found the way they want to contribute themselves to a cause, or who need to get out of the house and out into the world.  The Media Center could just be what you or your friend is looking for.  A way to make a difference by building video skills.  No barrier to entry here.  And if video or sports isn't your bag, there are other ways to get involved.

We are non-partisan and try to stay out of big fights over politics, religion, etc.  The very nature of our "business" does require we take one stand - to protect everyone's right to speak their mind.  But we go beyond mere belief.   We promote free speech every day!  That's my job, isn't that amazing?

So what does all the sudden gear change into the topic of free speech have to do with the Sports Program? MC Sports aims to engage young people and give them skills to create an entire new program -  using their voices, and having them set the priorities.  This is great training for their maturing into adults who will have these important media skills and know how to use them.   When it is their turn to lead and to take a stand in their communities, they will be prepared!


MC SPORTS OPEN HOUSE
MONDAY JUNE 25
7-9 pm
900 San Antonio Road (near 101)
Palo Alto
All our welcome!

Cisco and Microsoft Help Us With After School Programs

This September the Media Center will begin to conduct after school activities at a second school in the Ravenswood City Elementary School District. Thanks to grants from Cisco Systems and Microsoft Corporation, the Media Center will begin working at Willow Oaks Elementary School in Menlo Park, where 86% of the students are English-learners. We'll be making movies with a group of 6th - 8th graders and casting among the entire after school population from 1st grade and up.

Mauricio Rodriguez, Director of the Willow Oaks After School Program was hoping for a movie making partnership after he found the time to recruit kids to make their own version of the movie "Grease" last year. It was a great success that also involved the after school "Project Runway" class that made costumes. The Media Center is currently recruiting a bi-lingual instructor who wants to make a difference in the lives of youth.

The Media Center has been conducting an after school activity at the San Francisco 49ers Academy since 2008. It's another school in the Ravenswood City District and it has its own mini-TV studio made possible by SF 49er legends Steve Young and Jerry Rice. There, the kids produce a weekly news show featuring anchors with school announcements, a pre-produced feature of the week, and a special interview. The program runs in all the classrooms and on local cable TV.

Thanks to a Cisco 2012 Silicon Valley Impact Grant, we are able to open up the second program and solidify the first one with intern assistants. The grant from Microsoft Corporation provides much needed media production equipment for both programs.

Recently, we attended a presentation for all the new Cisco grant recipients. We were inspired by the company we are keeping with agencies that are tutoring and mentoring at-risk youth, bringing math, science, and arts activities to classrooms in innovative ways, and helping Spanish-speaking families get extra support to be successful in K-12 schools. If you have an interest in getting involved as a volunteer with our after school activities, don't hesitate to contact us.

Southern Recipes Revealed -- if we reach election fundraising goals!

Becky and Elliot are serious when it comes to creating non-partisan election programming for our community.  This fall there are not only important seats up for grabs after new districting, but issues like medicinal marijuana are sure to be in hot contention.  So we set up a fund-raising campaign.  The campaign ends Monday and so far we have only netted about one-tenth or fundraising goal.   So we have decided to host a party at Becky's house for donors should we meet our goal!

Because this is important, Becky is willing to share two tried and true recipes from her heritage - mint juleps which can be made at any strength and an amazing recipe for strawberry shortcake that was handed down from Lucy Luck Neal who wore 9 dresses when the Union soldiers came so that they wouldn't take her clothes for bandages.  She buried the family silver in a chest twenty paces from the dogwood tree and played the piano forte for a stream of war weary union officers who bivouacked in her family home in Chatham, Virgina.  She was quite a lady and did not reveal her strawberry shortcake recipe to anyone outside the family.

And if southern tastings aren't enough to lure your donation, Elliot will be engaging in some kind of yet to be announced performance art.  So stay tuned!

Wouldn't you like to experience Lucy Luck Neal's strawberry shortcake and be entertained by Elliot?   Let's rally round the MC election campaign, crowd-fund the effort and have a party to celebrate.  That's how important we feel this programming is.   Thank you for your support!

Follow this link to make your donation and to be added to the guest list!

THE MAYOR WANTS YOUth TO MAKE INFRASTRUCTURE VIDEOS!

Are you a student who would like to explore working with the Mayor to create videos about the fair city of Palo Alto? Yiaway is looking for a few teens to work with - he would like to get them engaged and excited about the city's infrastructure!  The Mayor believes that if young people understand how important the city's infrastructure is, they can explain it to their parents, friends and neighbors and the whole town can get engaged.  And how many potential future mayors are there out there who just need a nudge to jump into civics?  Yiaway, a Gunn grad, was once a potential mayor and look at him now!  But seriously, many of our public buildings are in dire need of updating even to get them up to current earthquake safe standards.   When  young people understand the problems we are facing,  they will become part of the solution.  


The Media Center is acting as liaison for the Mayor, so if you are a middle or high school student who would like to get involved, please fill out this online application and we'll get in touch.

Documentary Produced By MC Producer Wins Prestigious Regional Award

Gila River And Mama: The Ruth Mix Story was awarded 1st Place in the documentary category of the San Francisco Peninsula Press Club 35th Annual Greater Bay Area Journalism Awards.  MC long time producer Charlie Class served as Executive Producer on the Project.  The documentary describes the double life of nurse Ruth Mix and her daughter Claire who served as a nurse's aid at the Gila River Internment Camp during World War II.  Ruth, who felt deeply the injustice of the imprisonment of US citizens of Japanese descent, worked tirelessly and at times unlawfully to improve the lives and living conditions of the families consigned to the barren wasteland camp.    Her daughter Claire who is featured in the documentary shares her mother's story as well as her own story, describing the friendships she formed with the young people in the camp.

This distinction places the documentary among six films that will be under consideration for an Emmy.  Charlie believes it is the power of the story and the subject of the story that set it apart.  Unlawful detention of citizens within the US during WWII has long been taboo and a source of "shame" among many of the families that were affected.  Many children don't even know that their parents were subject to such abuse.   Charlie hopes that the telling of stories like this one will encourage those who are hurting to share their stories and become part of a larger dialogue that will lead to truthfulness and healing with regard to one of the darkest pages in the nation's history .

Be on the lookout for more playbacks of the video on our channels as we put Gila River And Mama: The Ruth Mix Story back in rotation!  Thank you Charlie for giving it to us!  And our profound congratulations from the Media Center on this well-deserved recognition for your years of dedication to this film.

What's MC Producer Charlie Class holding?

WOW!  Congratulations!