School Budget Cuts
In Other Words wants to hear how budget cuts are affecting your school. Leave us a comment or send us your pictures and videos.
Our email address is inotherwords@kqed.org.
Youth Respond to Gang Rape at Richmond High School
Youth Outlook put together this video with footage from a press conference held at Richmond High School earlier this week. It’s great to hear so many youth voices.
Richmond High Responds to Homecoming Rape from New America Media on Vimeo.
Tales from the Edit Booth: Final Chapter
By Nate Hadden
When I was initially told at Youth Radio that I was going to be partnering up with someone from KQED to create a video on health care that the average young person would want to watch, and do this, by re-telling several stories that KQED had already reported, I was very skeptical about the outcome of the project. The subject of health care is so vast and vague that it’s very hard to understand and relay to someone else who’s also uninformed. Even most people who have health care don’t understand why, what, and how their health care and the current health care system works. I felt the process would be like trying to teach a blind person colors or a deaf person what sound an elephant makes. Basically, it would be a very hard thing to accomplish.
When I met Amanda Stupi from KQED, I related my concerns to her, as she did to me, and we found a middle ground. We listened to many KQED shows concerning health care and then we used the facts stated in the KQED pieces in the video. While listening to the KQED shows for information, I found that I had accidently fallen asleep a few times. Also, when I was awake, sometimes I would go into a trance where I could hear someone talking, but I wasn’t actually listening to them — it was kind of like the sound the teacher from Charlie Brown makes when she speaks in class.
At that point, I told Amanda that young people are not going to sit through this video if there’s nothing entertaining for them to watch along with the facts. So I thought to myself, what is all health care related to? Answer: people getting sick or hurt and wanting to get well. What are the most watched videos on You Tube that young people love and watch religiously? Answer: music-related videos, and clips that are funny or show people getting hurt. I told Amanda that information and eventually, we both decided the roles each of us would be responsible for to create this video. Amanda’s role was to make sure all the facts are informative and accurate and my role was to make sure the video was entertaining.
Read more
Teen Suicide
Yesterday’s Forum discussed teen suicide. The statistics presented during the show’s introduction were quite startling: suicide is the 3rd leading cause of death for teenagers in California. 8.5% of high school sophomores attempt suicide. Four Palo Alto teens have taken their lifes at or near the same Caltrain crossing in the last six months.
Many callers voiced concerns that not enough preventive measures are in place. One voice not heard throughout the show was that of teenagers, the very people the show was about.
If you are a teenager, please tell us, what is being done in your community to educate you about suicide prevention? Are there mental health resources at your school? Does media coverage of teen suicides help prevent more deaths or is the media coverage part of the problem?
Please, listen and share your thoughts:
A list of counseling resources can be found on Forum’s archive of the show.
Obama Signs Hate Crime Bill
By Will Sprecher
Today, President Obama signed an update to the federal hate crimes law that was originally passed in 1968.
The update extends protection to attacks motivated by someone’s sexual orientation, gender, and gender identity.
Finally. This bill took longer to solidify than drying cement. As the saying goes, better late than never. Which is very true despite how cheap the cliché makes it feel. So better late than never.
But why was it so late? Why does it take the work of so many advocates, an entire decade of debate, and 14 separate congressional votes to get this passed? Why is something of this magnitude just kicked further down the road? All while people are literally being killed. I don’t think I will ever understand how the Washington political process works but I guess I am happy that it does work. In the end. After eleven years.
The California Report Looks at Foster Care
Listen to The California Report’s first in a series of reports on the state of foster care in California.
Legalize Sideshows?
In Oakland, a sideshow-related accident killed three people last weekend. This week, Oakland Mayor Ron Dellums announced that he’s considering legalizing the underground events in hopes of making them safer. KQED’s Cy Musiker talked to City Council President Jane Brunner about the idea.
Review of Rock the Vote Health Forum
By Jessica Lipsky
RocktheVote.com held a web conference titled “ Health Care Reform, Uncovered” and made a nationwide call to action, urging young adults to become more involved in the health care debate. The hour and a half interactive info session featured the Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement Tina Tchen, Rock the Vote’s Heather Smith, and Fall Out Boy bassist Pete Wentz. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius was scheduled to appear but was called away to Senate negotiations. Viewers submitted questions on everything from how to afford health care as a college student to the effects of a public option – questions were shown on a sidebar and streamed live.
I missed the first 20 minutes or so of the forum because of difficulty logging in. Finally, after trying with three different log-ins, I was granted access.
While there were no questions asked about specific legislature, Tchen insisted that the bills (which ones, she did not clarify while I was watching) would “attack the overall cost of the entire system. . . bend the cost curve.” Health care reform, she said, will cut costs by inducing competition and forcing insurance companies to wrangle with a government-run, not for profit entity. At one point, Ms. Tchen “got real” and said that insurance companies are “making health care for people,” suggesting that the insurance industry, not health needs, determine the type and quality of health care people receive. A bold statement for a White House rep.
Read more
Navy Forces Out Chief for Bahrain Hazing
By Rachel Krantz and the Youth Radio Investigative Unit
This story is part of Youth Radio’s investigation: Sailors’ Abuse Kept Silent In Navy Canine Unit.
After Youth Radio reported last month on widespread hazing in a Bahrain canine unit, the Chief of Naval Operations has completed reviewing how officials handled an investigation into the abuse. He found that the chief petty officer responsible for the abuse had not been adequately punished.
As a result of the top-level Navy review of misconduct in a canine unit in Bahrain, the Secretary of the Navy has censured the unit’s former chief petty officer, Michael Toussaint, forcing him to retire from the Navy.
Previously, an investigation into the hazing at the base in Bahrain between 2004 and 2006 revealed widespread abuse of sailors and other misconduct, including gambling and soliciting prostitutes. On September 22, Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Gary Roughead ordered Navy Installations Command (CNIC ) to review what actions were taken as a result of the hazing investigation.
“After reviewing the investigation and the CNIC report, Admiral Roughead found the incidents were not in keeping with Navy values and standards and violated Navy’s long standing prohibition against hazing,” said Navy spokesperson Commander Elissa Smith.
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Breaking Down Health Care
Health care has been getting a lot of attention lately and some people have asked us why. With that in mind, In Other Words put together a video that highlights some basic health care facts. We hope the video informs, entertains, and leaves you wanting more. If it does, here are some worthwhile resources:
Rock the Vote will host a panel discussion about health care tomorrow, Oct. 21, at 4p.m. PST. The panel has some heavy hitters including the U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services, Kathleen Sebelius, and Fall Out Boy’s Pete Wentz. Don’t forget to register and submit a question for the panel.
If you want help deciphering health care jargon, look no further. We’ve broken down some terms to help you remember the difference between a public option and an individual mandate:
10 Health Care Terms You Need to Know
10 More Health Care Terms You Need to Know
YouTube Journalism?
One of my friends posted this video to her Facebook page with the note, “A great example of how citizen journalism can be useful.” Well, that got me thinking, “Is this journalism?” Somebody definitely saw an event that he or she considered news worthy (a flooding Muni station), created a record of it (a video using their iPhone), and then distributed that record (YouTube), which thanks to Facebook and embed code, will be redistributed in the days to come.
In many ways, I love the empowerment that this video represents–a single person possessed all of the tools needed to spread a story to the masses. But I have some questions that a traditional news organization probably would have answered if they covered the story: Read more
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