Multimedia Podcasts

Below are the final podcast projects for Journalism I, incorporating the general writing, reporting, and multimedia skills students learned in class. 

Ayo Hanciles Opinon Article: NFL Lockout

Ayo Hanciles

Journalism 1


The NFL (National Football League) is having a lockout that will cut the 2011 season all together, players will have pay cuts, and $160 million dollars will be cut from each city that has an NFL team. Many NFL players and fans are upset about the lockout for many reasons. This lockout is basically about NFL owners wanting more from their players without any justifiable reasons.

If there is not an NFL season in 2011, the NFL owners cost will definitely decrease drastically. Guaranteed television revenues that Ayo Hanciles



The NFL (National Football League) is having a lockout that will cut the 2011 season all together, players will have pay cuts, and $160 million dollars will be cut from each city that has an NFL team. Many NFL players and fans are upset about the lockout for many reasons. This lockout is basically about NFL owners wanting more from their players without any justifiable reasons.

If there is not an NFL season in 2011, the NFL owners cost will definitely decrease drastically. Guaranteed television revenues that had made about $4.5 billion, they had $4.4 billion dollars in player salaries and benefits during a lockout if there is one during the 2011 season. Owners are also willing to sacrifice the sport of football during this lockout, if their is low-cost and less work from the players. During a lockout players are not to even workout in their practice facilities.

“ It won’t work if there is an NFL lockout, because many NFL players will get injured, for sitting for one whole season,” commented NFL Corner back Darelle Revis of the New York Jets. Some NFL players have even started their own workouts with other teammates so they could be fit for the upcoming 2013 NFL season. Some of the teams that are having workouts are the New Orleans Saints, New York Jets, San Diego Chargers, and Detroit Lions.

Some NFL players have also tried to get different jobs because of the lockout. Chad Johnson of the Cincinnati Bengals is trying out for a Major League soccer team just to try to make some money for a year. This NFL lockout really can affect some players contract because they won’t get paid as much as they use to. To tell you the truth I really can’t just imagine life without an NFL season in America.


The Raiders had the lowest attendance at their games and they can lose a lot of money if there is a lockout in the 2011 season. If the NFL lockout is going to be agreed, upon many teams other than the Oakland Raiders will lose millions of dollars.

I myself do not believe that this 2011 NFL lockout is going to be worth doing. I believe that America is not America without a Super Bowl. Fans of different NFL teams like me, will be very upset that there is not going to be a NFL season. Many players will get injured for sitting a season, stadiums for every team will lose money because there are not going to be games, and NFL owners will lose money to because there won’t be any ticket sales.

The Uprising Of Gas Prices by Jessie Rivera

Rivera, Jessie
Period 5
Journalism
Thursday, May 19, 2011

The Uprising Of Gas Prices

Monday, May 16, 2011 many citizens dread driving due to the ridiculous gas prices that keep on rising. Gas has been rising since the early years of 1979, which was .80 cents per gallon. The highest amount of gas was $4.40 which was in 2008. The national average price for a gallon of gasoline is $3.96 and we wish it would be less. Gas prices started raising in the U.S. because the 9/11 attack they were furious with the Muslims.

Driving a car is inconvenient for many American citizens because the gas prices are so high. Many people have no other choice than to take their car to their preferred destination. Others have the luxury to take the metro or train to get to where they choose to go, but sadly not everyone has the advantage such as to ride the metro or train. In cities like LA (and most of the US) public transportation is in adequate. Another downfall to the gas prices rising is that many people are not going on vacation or road trips because it will cost them a bundle.

Even though the society is trying to help the cause by making energy efficient cars, it still isn’t good enough due to the fact that some can’t afford to buy a new car. Gas overall affects many, due to the fact that it is a necessity for all. Gas also affects the economy because if the gas prices rise then the bus fare will increase. The fruit will also increase due to the reason that the truck drivers also have to pay for gas. The gas rising affects all because not just the gas will rise but also other necessities that we need will begin to rise.

Gas has many reasons onto why it is so high. Greed is one of the main reasons why gas prices are so high, the other main factor is all of the wars that are going on in the Mideast, as shown on the Pew Research Center (http://people-press.org/2011/05/05/why-are-gas-prices-rising-a-mix-of-reasons/gas-1/). Most think that its due to the economy but actually it is one of the lowest factors. It also has other main reasons onto why the gas prices have been rising but those are the top ones.

My response to the gas prices rising is just to ride the metro, train, bus, or carpool because that way you waste less gas and you spend a lot less money. I was also surprised on how there are many reasons onto why gas is increasing and how it also effects all the other things that we need in life. I don’t think that many know the reasons why that gas prices raise and how they also affect just not drivers but almost everything else. Maybe we can have strikes to say that we disagree with the gas prices and that they are ridiculously high. We can even make it so we can get Obama`s attention and make him realize the prices are to high.

Cutting the School Calendar

By: Patrick Avognon

Ayo Hanciles

Robert Tapia

In the California education budget crisis, one solution that has been discussed is the possibility of cutting the school calendars. California school districts feel that by shortening the calendar they can save over $305 million. Some criticisms with the cutting of school days is the fear of not meeting state requirement standards. Also, by cutting days teachers are going to have to take a reduction in salary.

Anything that saves money and jobs at the same time is a big plus. The shortening of the calendar is small price to pay to conserve our budget and the job security of our teachers. We encourage more serious consideration of shortening the calendar because, if used correctly, the proposed $305 million we would save could possibly pump life in California’s dying budget.

“I’m not in favor for days being cut, but if they had to be I’d prefer if they were the days after CST Testing,” commented Math teacher Dan Cramer.

Critics of this idea to cut days would complain that the lack of time used for preparing for CST Testing would result in lower scores and overall grades. They might also argue that the last few weeks of school are necessary for culminating processes.

Majority of the school year is spent preparing for the California Standardized Tests (CST). In the beginning of the year the required standards are introduced to students, by the middle the year they are still being taught, and by the end they are being reviewed just in time for CST Testing. After CSTs are over, there are usually still about 20-25 days remaining in the school year, but this time is used for school finals and other common end of the year activities. If these days after the testing period were cut and finals were pushed forward there would be no use for those last 20-25 days of school.

Another excuse that those against cutting the calendar might use is that the positives for this plan don’t outweigh the negatives, meaning that the amount of money saved is not worth the amount of money teachers would lose towards their paychecks. They would argue that when the original calendar with only 7 days assigned as furlough days, they already are losing about $2000 a year. If California school districts were to add more furlough days to the calendar the teachers would lose even more money from their paychecks.

What most teachers don’t understand is that when the entire country is in an economic depression, certain sacrifices have to be made to ensure the safety of our country’s infrastructure. Would you rather take away from students, this country’s future, or its teachers? Making cuts in other areas would be another plausible solution, but it would elongate the problems and the budget crisis. Also when the recession finally ends, the sacrifices you made won’t be forgotten.

This proposed solution to cut the calendar might not be in the best interest of the state’s teachers, but it is definitely a preferred method of saving money for California’s school district.

Offseason Training Benefits

Off season Training Benefits

Ayo Hanciles

April, 25, 2011



Off season training has become a trend for athletes of all typesaround the world for many different sports like soccer, football, and wrestling. Doing training of different types of categories like cardiovascular training, resistance training, and flexibility training get better in their sport
to be very competitive and unstoppable for opponentsFor example Soccer player Jonathan Hinojoisa of Birmingham High School in Van Nuys, California does very intense off season
training. He believes that off season training has become a trend around the world because it keeps you fit and makes you very competitive to win a championship. Also many famous soccer players like Christiano Ronaldo, Rohnaldino, David Beckham, and Landon Donovan do
off season training to get better. Another athlete that does off season training is Football player
Brian Medina of Birmingham High school in Van Nuys, California. Brian said that it is important to do off season training for the sport of football because it is a year- round sport and you have to drive to get better. Athletes like him that play football do off season training at a gym, school
gym, track field, the beach, or at home with weights. “ even though the season is over, you still need to prepare for the season to get better in your sport".

As time keeps going, more and more athletes around the world do off season training to get better in their sport to be very competitive. Athletes around the world get inspired by famous athletes like Lebron James, Michael Phelps, Tiger Woods, and Darrelle Revis of the New York Jets to get better in there sport. When yo do off season training you become a better athlete.

Different Communications

By: Robert Tapia

Date: 4/14/11

Different Communication

I was asked to write a 500 word essay from my teacher. She had told us we could write about anything, but we have to support our thesis. I thought to myself that I can write about the autism bracelets that are sold at my school, but I have to back it up. I scheduled a couple of interviews and took a couple of pictures to back up my facts. While I was doing this process I realized that all of my evidence has to do with communication. We take for granted all of o

ur communication abilities because people with autism have a different way of communicating and is difficult to understand by other people. People have to understand that autism has not just appeared out of nowhere, it has been in our world for a while now and we have to

recognize it.

Autism is out there and people need to recognize it. Their way of communicating is different than ours and they struggle to obtain what they want. People communicate all the time to interact and survive.

To do anything in this world you have to communicate with somebody that understands you. Talking, texting, chatting online, singing or rapping are all forms of communication in their own ways. When you don’t understand something then you might ask a question. With autistic people it is harder because they are frustrated and use sounds instead of words. How autism occurs is a mystery. Autism is noticed around the ages of three to four years old.

There are many different forms of autism. The three main forms are Autism Spectrum Disorder, Pervasive Developmental Disorder, and Asperger’s Disorder. Spectrum Disorder is

the most serious because their behavior and interaction are really effective. Pervasive Developmental Disorder (PDD) is not as much as serious as Spectrum but still a serious

matter. PDD are people who think literally and can’t take jokes. Lastly, is Asperger’s Disorder which is the least serious and it is only a general language delay.

There was a walk in Marisa Mead’s, sophomore at Daniel Pearl Magnet High

School (DPMHS), hometown. Her friend called Mead and told her that there is a walk on April 2^nd. The walk was at Land caster Jet Hawks stadium. The walk was for autistic awareness and Mead wanted to support the awareness. Mead had orders some bracelets that she had found on awarenessdepo.com and wanted

to raise money toward the foundation of the walk. She is doing that by selling the bracelets at the student store on the campus of DPMHS. The bracelets are $2.00 at the student store.

“The main Point of the Fundraiser was to raise money to bring awareness to an educational environment as well as raising money to advance technology pertaining to the Autism Spectrum Disorder.”

Mead’s twin brother has Autistic Spectrum disorder and she has made the decision to donate all the money from the bracelets to the foundation even though the walk has ended. You don’t have to have an autistic family member to be a donator. Support the awareness of autism.

Teens tell the story of why they dance

By Patrick Avognon

Thursday April, 14, 2011

The art of dance has been around for centuries. It has evolved simple steps to more complex moves. Today teens all over the world use the complex steps for a multitude of reasons.

Zulma Cristobal, a freshman student at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School (DPMHS), used to be a timid student when she enrolled in Millikan Middle School and Performing Arts Magnet. She was self-conscious about her weight, she didn’t feel talented, and was always the girl in the back, until the summer before her 7th Grade year.

“My teachers always used to push me, and at the start of 7th grade, when I lost the weight, I was in love with dance,” Zulma said with a smile on her face.

That summer, Zulma attended a summer dance class at her school. She was more comfortable due to the lack of experienced students. Almost immediately, the extra weight started coming off, and when school started in the fall she was put in Advanced Dance.

“When I dance, I feel on top of the world. I feel so graceful when I dance, plus it’s health,” she added.

Healthguidance.com says that dancing not only benefits the lungs and heart, but it is also a huge calorie burner to help you lose weight, so it’s safe to say Zulma is right about that. With her practicing at her normal rate of four days a week and three hours a day, Zulma will have the body to keep doing what she loves for a long time.

Another student at DPMHS, Omar Memije, has had dance in his heart for a while as well. Only a sophomore at the school, he had decided to transfer out to attend a performing arts high school. He hopes to focus more on his art and to share his experience with the world. He is so dedicated to his art that he is willing to drop the entire life he has spent two years building, to start all over.

“With all the arts being cut at schools, I don’t have anything to look forward to anymore when I come,” said Omar with a disappointed look on his face.”It’s the only way I get to express myself."

Many teens, like Omar, use dance as a form of self expression. There seems to be a genre of music for every emotion. Many dances such as Crump, “Jerking”, Ballet, and Jazz all originated from one specific emotion emotion.

“Whenever I dance, I don’t notice anything else around me. All I need to hear is the bass line and I’m dancing my heart out,” commented Omar.

Many youths, like Omar, hope to become professional dancers so that they may share their experience with the world. But some dancers, like Zulma, want to pursue other careers and one day hope to put their love of dance to rest.

“I want to study, and go to college and be someone successful, but I always want to keep dance with me,” said Zulma. “But when you’re somebody that nobody notices and you get this chance to perform and be somebody else, it’s amazing.”

The Rocky Road to College

Wednesday, April 13, 2011 By Ayla Allen

Eighteen-year-old Katharine Blackman entered the ninth grade at Viewpoint School in California four years ago, with college already at the front of her mind.

From that point on, every summer was carefully planned with extracurricular activities and internship experiences that would strengthen her college application. She worked her hardest in all classes through freshman and sophomore year.

Then junior year arrived and Blackman found herself taking Advanced Placement (AP) Chemistry, AP English Language, AP Spanish Language, AP US History, and Honors Math Analysis. Though this year was the most stressful in her opinion, Blackman persisted to keep her grades up to provide an impressive transcript.

“I think my junior year was the worst. I had at least five hours of homework most nights, and I usually stayed up until about 1 or 2 in the morning studying for tests,” said Blackman, now a senior.

Many students feel the need to attend a certain college, and unknowingly increase the pressure on them in an already complex process. In addition to that, students can feel pressured by parents, teachers and peers to the point where it all becomes too much. Japanese society is a perfect example of overwhelming pressure on students.

In Japan, there are test preparation schools, rather than college preparation schools, just to do well on a test to get into the college of their choice. There is extreme pressure for kids to go to the right preparation school, then to the right college, to get the right job to be prosperous in their society.

“I’m proud of the students that work hard because they have pride in themselves, but I don’t think it is necessary to overburden them with work and worry and kill them with our expectations,” said Jo Nakama, who owned her own school in Tokyo, Japan teaching English and American culture.

Performance-driven suicides, or inseki-jisatsu, are not uncommon in Japan among high school students. The fact that U.S. rates are rapidly catching up to Japan is a cause for alarm, though.

The U.S. offers the right and opportunity to pursue higher education even if not at a prestigious university, but the college application and acceptance process is intimidating in itself. First students must choose the schools right for them. This can range from school location, student to teacher ratio, urban or rural areas, small colleges or large universities, etc.

After choosing the colleges one wishes to apply to, complete applications must be put together, including SAT or ACT scores, volunteer hours, letters of recommendation, extracurricular activities, the application fee and other things of this nature. In order to make deadlines, for applications and financial aid, this must be accomplished during the school year while still taking all regular classes and keeping up with homework.

Seventeen-year-old Leeza Arbiv knows the importance of maintaining good grades. Currently at number 12 in her junior class, she is striving to earn a spot in the top five, which would place her in the top eight percent. The top eight percent have much greater chances of being accepted to various Universities of California (UC).

“It is very stressful for teens because this is something that can affect your whole life, and you are competing against thousands of other students for a few acceptances a college has. Then, you are also competing for financial aid,” said Arbiv, a student at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School (DPMHS).

Being a senior doesn’t necessarily mean less work. Blackman is now taking AP Calculus BC, AP English Literature, AP Psychology and Honors Physics; however, all of her hard work has already been rewarded.

“I’m going to UC Berkeley next year. It felt great when I was accepted into UCLA, UC Berkeley and USC. I think I made the process a little more stressful than it had to be, but I have no major regrets because I worked as hard as I could for the past four years,” Blackman said.

Seniors at DPMHS are congratulated on their college acceptances.

Additional college acceptances are celebrated at DPMHS.

College brochures contain helpful information for students at DPMHS.

The Common Application (http://www.commonapp.org/) is a non-profit membership organization, founded 35 years ago, that provides general online and printable applications for students and school officials. Membership is open to colleges and universities such as Yale, Columbia, Harvard, and public colleges. This program is now often used to assist in the college application process.

The Princeton Review (http://www.princetonreview.com/) offers assistance with testing such as the SAT and ACT.

Students can search for grants and scholarships at www.PrincetonReview.com/CollegeFinance.

The Congressional Hispanic Caucus Institute, Inc. (CHCI) has partnered with State Farm Insurance to create the College Preparatory Kit for High School Students which offers tips on organizing time for applications and various tips at http://www.collegeboard.com/student/apply/the-application/23626.html

It’s time to get down and dirty because ‘Grease’ is here to stay by Ayla Allen

 Grease brings an All-American romance to light with its “electrifying” musical energy.

A summer fling turns into something deeper when bad-boy Danny and good-girl Sandy spend their summer together at the beach.  Then Sandy has to go back to Australia and the two don’t know if they will ever see each other again.  Little does Danny know, Sandy has a change of plans and soon the teens find themselves at the same school, Rydell High.

This hit Broadway musical features stars John Travolta (Welcome Back, Kotter and Saturday Night Fever) as Danny, Olivia Newton-John as Sandy, comedian Sid Caesar, and heartthrob Frankie Avalon.  Randal Kleiser created this 1950s adult teenage world as his first directed feature film complete with music from the Bee-Gees. 

Travolta morphed his character of Vinnie Barbarino into the equally charming leader of the T-Birds with ease. A couple of supposed high school students, like Rizzo and Danny’s ex-girlfriend Cha Cha, looked a little too much like their real age (can we say 30s and 40s?), but their believable acting made up for the shock. 

The writers did an excellent job of transforming a play into an entertaining movie and the transitions into the big musical numbers were very smooth. For example, Sandy’s first day eating lunch at Rydell with the Pink Ladies evolves into the song “Summer Loving” when Sandy says she met a boy over the summer. All the while Danny is on the opposite side of the school telling the T-Birds how he spent his summer with a girl. Sandy’s innocent telling of her days at the beach throughout the song contrast to Danny’s boasting to the guys, but it is easy to see both teens care deeply about each other.

There are dance numbers on lunch tables, bleachers, a car affectionately known as “Grease Lightning!” and at the school’s Senior Fair. Sandy smokes her first cigarette while Danny learns what it is to work for what he wants. A cast full of energy makes you want to sing along.

Rediscover 1950s America full of drive-ins, soda fountains and juke boxes. Watch Grease and you will take the journey with Sandy and Danny as they recapture the feelings they had over the summer.

First Annual DPMHS Football Tournament by Ayo Hanciles

    The First Annual Daniel Pearl Magnet High School Football Tournament is expected to be a very fun event and very exciting. Ms. McMannis the P.E teacher at Daniel Pearl Magnet High School is the one who planned this Football Tournament and she thinks it is going to be really good. They have very good athletes in this tournament that are from the Ms. McMannis P.E classes. This event will also be held at Birmingham High School because there is more room for the playing and Ms.Mannis really wants it there.

   “This tournament will be good because it gives the P.E students from all periods a chance to learn more offensive and defensive skills of the sport of football.” said by Ms. McMannis.

      Ms. Mcmannis said the Football Tournament teams will be assorted in a very interesting way. She said they will be assorted by choosing the students evenly to distribute by the gender, talent, and strength. She also said the participants will be allowed to wear football and soccer cleats because they will be playing the tournament on a field of grass.

     Ms. Mcmannis also thinks there will be a big variety of good players in the Football Tournament. The players she thinks will be good are Steve Maldanado, Alex Ponce, Vanessa Diaz, Alex Dona, Evelyn Lopez, Jarome Muserwa, Joey Weiss, Cynthia Hernandez, Francisco Guillen, Kendall Tucker, Micah Smith, and Yuliya Kipness.

    I myself think this Football Tournament will be fun and exciting for the participants. It will be very fast paste and out of control. In my opinion the best players to me will be Jarome Mugerwa and Steve Maldonado. It will be very cool.

The Only Way to Go is “Up” by Patrick Avognon

In this laugh-out-loud comedy the whole family can enjoy, 78-year-old Carl Fredrickson (Edward Asner) crosses paths with 8-year-old Russell. Russell, voiced by Jordan Nagai, is a young Wilderness Explorer who arrives on Carl’s doorstep to earn his “Helping the Elderly” Badge. Carl’s sends him on a wild goose chase to find a “Snipe”, which obviously doesn’t exist, then due to a wild turn of events they both end up on their way to South America soaring in Carl’s flying house sustained by balloons.

             

            Dug is just one of the many canine characters in the films that Carl and Russell encounter on their way to Paradise Falls, Carl’s dream destination. The canine’s belong to Charles Muntz (voiced by Christopher Plummer), an explorer obsessed with catching exotic animals. He has trained the dogs to search out exotic animals and given them a unique ability to communicate. Imagine the look on Carl and Russell’s faces when Dug responds to Russell’s command by saying “Hi there”.

 Pixar’s second most recent film, the most recent being Toy Story 3, was directed by Pete Docter and Bob Peterson. Docter has also directed such films as Monster’s, Inc. and Mike’s New Car.  This is the first film the Bob Peterson has directed, but he has voiced many films such as Toy Story 3, Cars, Finding Nemo, and voices a affectionate dog named Dug in Up.

            Giving inanimate human characteristics has always played an extremely huge role is Disney/Pixar movies. It allows them to give characters, who normally wouldn’t speak, the ability to speak. It’s one of the things that make their movies so magical. For example the first Pixar movie is saw was Toy Story. It started out as your typical movie about a kid who had a bunch of toys he played with, but everything changed when Andy, the owner of the toys, leaves the room and all of his toys spring to life.

            Up was the recipient of an Academy Award in 2010 for Best Animated Feature Film of the Year and Best Achievement in Music for Motion Pictures, Original Score. In my book, the movie receives a perfect 5/5 rating. The movie speaks to people of all different backgrounds, ages, and interest. It teaches you about how persistence is key, so in the words of the young explorer, “The wilderness must be explored! CA-CA! RAAWWRR!”

Entertainment Unit Podcasts

Click below to hear movie reviews and about up-coming events for DPMS students:

Sharks Shout-Out

The Hanciles and Tapia Show


The Double-A Show