Congratulations to Carolina (...and an obligatory update)

I third, or is it fourth(?) the congrats to Carolina. Yay!

And now I need to update my progress.

My posts have been, well, not happening lately because of my McNair application, which was finally finished and I'll hopefully get in. The work I've been doing so far has been relating to my McNair ap. I've been reading more scholarship on fic, honing my research proposal and planning my methodology. I practically lived in the GMP office for a week. I'll know whether or not I've been accepted in December, so wish me luck.

Until then, I'm reading up on more scholarship. I'm talking to someone online who's doing a similar project on alternate sexualities in online fanfiction, so that's been thought-provoking. I've also found a comprehensive survey (which apparently was someone's phd dissertation) of slash readers from 2005 which has given me a better idea about the reader participation aspect of slash.

That's about all for now.

Hope you all had a great Thanksgiving.

CoNgRaTs!!!!!!

congrats to caro and wendell!!!!! they had their baby!!!!!!!!! caro finally popped out that baby!!!!...yay!!!!
I can't wait 'till we all get to see her....
hope you and the baby are doing well caro...we all send you many blessings and many many good vibes : )

Well as for my internship...its going good. I went yesterday for the second time. They had me design some logos for them that would be used on some labels that they need that are going to be sent out. So it was kinda nice to be able to put my photoshop skills, the very few I have, back to work.

That is pretty much what I did the whole time since Linda Pollack was out that day, therefore I wasn't able to work with her this time around....

All in all it was good, now I'm starting to try figure out my schedule for next quater, to see how I'm going to fit everything in again. I'm also trying to see if I could fit in some time to go to SPARC next quarter...we'll see, only time will tell...

Wilson's Scholars Luncheon

Hi Everyone! I just wanted to let you know that I attended the Wilson's Scholars luncheon last Thursday and I had the lovely opportunity to meet Mr. and Mrs. Wilson, who help fund the ArtsIn program. I appreciate their generosity, and I am also grateful their dedication to UCLA. Their continuous support has helped me pursue research in an area that I am passionate about. I would never think that I would be able to combine my two interest of dance and public health, but with the generosity of the Wilson family I have been able to realize that goal.
I was glad to meet the other Wilson scholars as well. I was happy to see students that truly want to make a difference in the world and are passionate about their field. We had a chance to discuss why we are passionate about our majors and what inspires us to make a difference.
I am a sociology major and learning about how people interact with one another will help me better understand the students I will be teaching at Carver Middle School. I am also passionate about dance. Dance allows for expression and creativity and I hope that my students will be able to relate to dance in a similar way. I also thought of using dance as a form of exercise because I know when students hear exercise they are really turned off. So I hope that they find dance an appealing way to get fit.
This lunch was a great opportunity to honor the students, faculty, and the Wilson family. I am so glad that I went and thanked the Wilson family in person. This is all for now. I will write again soon!

update...

ok so I started my internship at 18th St. on Monday. It was good...granted it was the first day so who knows what else there is to expect.
I was there from 12-6....long day. The first few hours I did some archiving for Ronald and the last two hours I spent with Linda Pollack. We took some pictures together, and she had me go through all of the photographs that she had already had taken in her space with her.
Ronald, the program coordinator. gave me a form to fill out, and that I will have to fill out each time I go.
So far it went good...its nice to be in that "artist" enviroment, but I guess I'm still trying to figure out how what I reeeeeeally want to be doing there.
My schedule has still been kind of hectic...I don't have that second job anymore, buuut, I have been spending more time doing band stuff...recording, shows, etc.
I've been all over the place....
basically I'm looking foward to this 3day weekend we have coming up...woot woot!

Another Update

I haven't started teaching yet, but I can't wait until I do. I am not only preparing my curriculum for next quarter, but I get a chance to sample teach a part of my curriculum to a middle school that already has an art curriculum in place. I will get feedback from my peers and students in the class, which will be helpful because it will allow me to make any necessary changes.
I should also be meeting with the sixth grade head teacher for Carver Middle school soon. She wants a movement focus in my curriculum, but I hope she also allows me to teach about nutrition and body image. I plan on helping the students make a newsletter about healthy recipes and nutrition facts. This will give the students a chance to display the knowledge they gained from my class and allow other students to be informed. I also have to figure out how I will incorporate body image in my curriculum. I am thinking about using the media and how they portray this ideal body type that isn't attainable. I think I will use some celebrity photos and how they are harmful to our self-esteem. It is crucial to instill more self-confidence in these students because they are at the age when they can be insecure about their bodies. I also think I might use the book "Fast food Nation" for inspiration as well. I want the students to know the truth about fast food. And hopefully, they can share this knowledge with their families so that they start eating healthier meals.

Returning to High School

So this past week with my ArtsBridge classmates, we went to Watts to visit Jordan High School and the Watts towers. I was happy to get out of UCLA for a little while and see what is going on in the community. When I visited Jordan High School the students were glad to see us. They were curious about college and we tried to answers any questions they had. Jordan High School has developed their arts program. They have a visual and media arts class for the students, and we got a chance to look at the student's work. This visit made me realize that arts integration is still developing in th schools. I wish I got the chance to observe the dance program at the school so I could get an idea of the student's interest in dance. I am very excited to work at Carver Middle school next quarter. I think it will be very challenging, but a lot of fun. I am going to be contacting the head teacher of the sixth grade so that I can start planning my curriculum. I am going to focus on movement and I also plan on teaching the students about how unhealthy McDonalds fast food is. McDonalds fast food is a business and I don't want the students to contribute to this kind of business. I also wanted to add that I plan on talking about the farm worker's movement in Delano because I wanted to give the students some historical context about farmers since the students have a farmer's market at their school. So that is what I have so far. I will update again soon.

i'm finally starting my internship!

ok....so I'm definitely going to be working at the 18th St. Art Center, and I start on Monday. I'm not going to lie.... at first I was a bit concerned because I didn't know exactly what the internship would entail....and I also didn't know how would it exactly benefit me...but after the meeting Carolina and I had last Monday, it looks like it is going to be a reeeeeeeeally good opportunity. I start off by working with Linda Pollack, which I'm excited about. I have decided that for my SRP I'm goign to cocentrate on doing research on each of the artists that I will be working with to really know what their work is about.
This will be good to see the process in which a show or exhibit is created...

Oh yeah...and this past Thursday night I FINALLY got in contact with Judy from SPARC. I went to their dia de los muertos celebration and I talked to her...I'm goign to try to meet with her sometime this monthand have a meeting, and go over my proposal with her, to look into a possible collarboration between SPARC and 18th St?? If not I already talked to her about going to help out their, and if not this quarter, definitely next quarter as part of my Chicano/a Studies 100SL class.

All in all, everything is starting to sort itself out...

Carolina....thanks again for having that meeting on Monday with 18th St. with me!!!

A Post for the Curious

These past few weeks have been quite eventful. Many of my nights and early mornings have been dedicated to finishing many creative projects in a studio in the San Fernando Valley, 15 minutes north of my home in Westwood (right next to UCLA). In company of my guitar, and colleagues, Josue Arias and Bryce Wilson, many exhausting nights of recording have proven to have been quite fruitful. Three tracks created in the our studio have been used for videos that document the happenings at this annual's Hispanic Heritage Awards in Washington D.C. I strongly encourage you to visit the link below and check out the videos of this event, but more importantly to become familiar with some of the work I have been producing in the past few weeks.

This clip features the RED CARPET at the Hispanic Heritage Awards and an original song of mine called "TODO LA NOCHE". If you listen closely, you can hear me singing while actor BENJAMIN BRATT shares a few words.

The clip also features stars like Rosario Dawson, Judy Reyes, from SCRUBS, Reggaeton/hip-hop star PITBULL and well known actor Nicholas Gonzalez.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=1vJPg63vago

I am also proud to say that I plan on taking a trip down to South America this December to once again share some music I have co-produced with singer/songwriter Alonso Gonzalez. Along with other musicians, we will be playing at the famous TELETON de ECUADOR, raisings funds for handicapped children in the country. I recently finished recording his demo and sending it off to ECUADOR. We started the last recordings on Monday @ 10pm and ended Wednesday at 4am. A very intense experience. I'll keep you posted on that event.

MORE IMPORTANTLY, my group AREPA will be performing next week, Thursday, NOVEMBER 8th at 9pm at a PANE E VINO. This Beverly Hills restaurant features a great italian cuisine. Hopefully you can join us on this special evening as we showcase some of our new music to many of our friends and supporters. Its sort of a big deal since many entertainment figures will be present. It'd be nice to have some moral support :) :)

Thats all for now, but if you want to see more of my music visit my page @

www.myspace.com/daveed