Episode Transcript
[00:00:00] Speaker A: If you really knew me. If you really knew me if you really knew me if you really knew me, you would know. Hey, who are you?
[00:00:09] Speaker B: Who, me?
[00:00:10] Speaker A: Yeah, you.
[00:00:11] Speaker C: It's Monday.
Hello and welcome to if youf Need Me Mondays, a student powered Park Day inspired podcast that builds belonging by sharing stories and perspectives from the margins of our school and community.
[00:00:26] Speaker A: Say what?
[00:00:27] Speaker C: My name is Hadiya. And if you really knew me, you'd know that I love art, specifically realism with colored pencils.
[00:00:33] Speaker D: And I'm Gemma. And if you really knew me, you know that I love to make art just like Hadaya. But I like to do watercolors.
[00:00:41] Speaker C: As you just heard, we both share a love for art, but there's a lot more we have in common. Like, we're both new to Park Day.
[00:00:46] Speaker D: This year and it's been so fun. The community is great and I've made loads of new friends just like Adaya.
[00:00:53] Speaker C: Anyway, more about us later. We've got a whole show to get to.
[00:00:56] Speaker D: Yep, in today's episode, we're going to be highlighting audio projects from last spring's sixth grade Jedi class. They spent the whole year focused on.
[00:01:05] Speaker C: Media literacy, learning about media messaging, how.
[00:01:08] Speaker D: To determine if a source or a claim can be trusted, and how to.
[00:01:12] Speaker C: Include their own values or what's important to them in their own audio productions.
[00:01:16] Speaker D: They use a program called Soundtrap to make all kinds of fun audio that focus on identity and various social justice topics.
[00:01:24] Speaker C: And at the end of the year, their final project was participating in the KQED Youth Media Challenge. Several Park Day students were even chosen out of the thousands of submissions to be featured by KQD staff on their.
[00:01:36] Speaker D: Website, which is seen by thousands of participating students across the country.
[00:01:41] Speaker C: On today's episode, we'll be looking back at this project and catching up with several students to learn about their experience and listening to their productions too.
[00:01:49] Speaker D: Of course, they're now in seventh grade, so it'll be interesting to hear their thoughts now that some time has passed.
[00:01:56] Speaker C: And since we're sixth grade Jedi students, how cool is it that we get to feel what it was like? Because, news flash, we're going to be participating in the Youth Media Challenge as well.
[00:02:04] Speaker D: Yep, that's what I heard too.
[00:02:06] Speaker C: I bet by now some of you are wondering, what exactly is the KQED Youth Media Challenge anyways?
[00:02:12] Speaker D: Well, to get us started, here are several of last year's participants to explain.
[00:02:16] Speaker A: The Youth Media Challenge is a nationwide Is that correct? Challenge hosted by kqed. Kqed in which students create their own short podcast episode.
[00:02:34] Speaker E: Their three options are a personal narrative.
[00:02:41] Speaker A: A call for change, or showing what they know.
[00:02:46] Speaker E: Yes, Beth, good job remembering what we did last year.
[00:02:50] Speaker C: That's what students had to say. Now, here's KQED's official description for their website.
[00:02:56] Speaker D: The KQED Youth Media Challenge invites middle and high school students to explore how they see themselves, their world, and their future by creating original audio, video and images and publishing them on the Challenge Showcase.
[00:03:10] Speaker C: Okay, hopefully that gives you a good idea about KQED and their Youth Media Challenge.
[00:03:14] Speaker D: I say we give a listen to the first of our five featured Youth Media Challenge submissions. First up, we'll be hearing our show what you know piece by seventh grader Desi Hoffer. One of the voices you just heard.
[00:03:26] Speaker E: Hi, I'm Desi, a sixth grader at Park Day School. In class, I've noticed my peers jump at the mention of a spider. In seconds, they hop on their chairs to escape the wrath of a seemingly harmless arachnid.
So I've set out to answer the question, can spiders really harm you? I started by researching and it was instantly clear that the likelihood of a spider killing you or even biting you is low. While 99.4% of spiders are venomous, only 0.08% are dangerous to humans.
13.8 to 27.9 people are hospitalized by spider bites each year, and only four people on average die by spider bites. In fact, in California, you're more likely to be crushed by a falling chandelier than by a muesli spider.
Most people don't even know what a real spider is. A daddy long legs isn't a spider. I know. Shocking. But a daddy long legs is more like a scorpion than a spider. They're still in the arachnid family, but they're not spiders. There's a myth that if a daddy long legs did bite you, it would be fatal. But daddy long legs aren't even poisonous or venomous in any way.
Another common house spider is a cute little jumping spider. They're known for their tunnel like webs. And of course, jumping jumping spiders are cute little angels that should be protected.
In fact, most house spiders are harmless and small. There are many pros of house spiders. For example, they eat pesky flies that buzz around your head. Now for the spiders you should watch out for. If you live in the US be on the lookout for western black widow spiders, desert recluse spiders, and Chilean recluse spiders.
Still, these aren't going to kill you as long as you seek medical attention Right after a bite.
You probably won't even find these in a classroom or house. These spiders likely won't bite you. They're docile creatures and don't want to cause you pain. While a fear of spiders is mostly irrational, it's important to respect someone's feelings, especially if it's a small eight legged someone or a scared friend. So next time, instead of jumping on a chair or stomping on a spider, you can take it in a cup and paper and safely remove it from your home.
[00:06:06] Speaker C: Well, that was really cool.
[00:06:07] Speaker D: Yep. And super informative.
[00:06:09] Speaker C: It's also something that I've experienced in class once and I was coming back from the bathroom. My class at the time was history. Walking in, I noticed spiders. Not one, not two, but six in one corner. If you really knew me, you'd know that I cannot stand spiders. So I was really scared. Rachel, our middle school history teacher, came over and said, oh, they're probably all dead. She grabbed the stick and put it near the spider and it moved. You better believe I stayed away from that corner.
[00:06:36] Speaker D: I would too, had. Let's get back to Desi and find out the origin of her story. Production.
[00:06:41] Speaker E: I'm Desi. I'm in seventh grade and I use she, they pronouns.
[00:06:46] Speaker C: Uh, Desi, what inspired you to make this piece?
[00:06:49] Speaker E: So I have a lot of friends who are terrified of spiders, and I really wanted to make something that would either freak them out or make them just a little less terrified.
And then I was like, but I'm also going to make it funny. So I had to cut a few parts out, but I made something that I thought would be a little funny.
[00:07:14] Speaker C: Tell us about the title you chose and what kind of media convention you used.
[00:07:19] Speaker E: So for my title, I wanted to take inspiration from Dhar mann, a popular YouTuber.
So I stole one of his title prompts and used it for my format. And I really wanted to play into the clickbait because sure, there were some surprising parts, but nothing was really shocking.
[00:07:44] Speaker C: That's funny. Yeah, that worked on me because I'm personally scared of spiders and I wanted to see what this podcast is about. How does it feel to have your YMC production be featured on kqed?
[00:07:56] Speaker E: So when I saw that it was featured, I was actually in my room and my mom came in and she was like, did you know that your project for Jedi got spotlighted? And I was like, wait, wait, what?
And I looked and I was like, oh my God, that's so cool.
So I saw that. And then she was like, can I put this on Facebook and I was like, sure.
It was really, really shocking when I learned that because personally I was like, this is good. And I put work into it, but I didn't think it was that good. So when I saw that it was spotlighted, I was like, this is shocking. This is awesome.
[00:08:41] Speaker C: Yeah, that must be really cool.
I would be very surprised if mine was spotlighted on KQED too. Is there anything that you didn't share about spiders that you would want to share now?
[00:08:55] Speaker E: Well, I know that I did talk about jumping spiders, but they are my favorite kind of spider. They're very cute and I love them.
[00:09:06] Speaker C: That's really cool. Thank you for your time, Desi. I hope you have a great day.
[00:09:10] Speaker A: Bye.
[00:09:11] Speaker D: Wow. Desi has a lot to say about this topic and she's right. There are a lot of tricky ways that people are trying to get your attention and your money too, through different types of media.
[00:09:20] Speaker C: For real these days you really have to be aware because you can't always trust what you see or hear online.
[00:09:25] Speaker D: To illustrate this point, here's another Youth Media Challenge submission from Elliot.
[00:09:29] Speaker B: Attention everyone. AI is getting insanely realistic and is spreading all over the Internet.
Some news articles are even using fake AI generated text and even some fake visuals.
There are also many fake posts on websites like Facebook and Twitter and many people believe them. Need more proof that people believe in AI? Let's interview some people to see what they think about AI.
What percentage of posts online do you think are made by AI?
[00:10:00] Speaker E: Um, I don't know, probably like 2% or something.
[00:10:03] Speaker B: How realistic do you think AI images and videos can be?
[00:10:06] Speaker D: It really depends, but I assume they can't be that realistic.
[00:10:09] Speaker B: What percentage of people do you think believe in AI posts? Huh?
[00:10:14] Speaker A: Nobody believes in AI posts besides really old people.
[00:10:17] Speaker B: Alright, the results are in. Most people think AI posts aren't a huge problem, but they are. And I have proof. Those three people I talked to? Yeah, those were just text to speech. AI's created by the free program Lovo. AI, huh? According to Zreality.com, which is a website that uses AI to improve other websites, 10% of all posts on the Internet are made by AI. And the New York Post states that 70% of all Americans can't tell the difference between a real post and an AI post.
[00:10:46] Speaker A: Oh my God.
[00:10:47] Speaker B: Also, programs like Midjourney, Sora, Dall? E and Stable Diffusion can make really realistic AI videos and images.
If you ever see a post and you think it might be made by AI, there are plenty of ways to tell if it's real or not. For example, if it's an image or a video of a person, always look at the hands and the fingers as they are hard for most AIs to create.
[00:11:09] Speaker E: Nice.
[00:11:10] Speaker B: If it's not a human, look at the small details and if they don't make sense, are weird or sloppily created, then it's probably made by AI.
[00:11:19] Speaker C: Okay.
[00:11:19] Speaker B: If it's text, just run it through a program like GPT0 as it will tell you if it's made by AI.
[00:11:25] Speaker D: Yippee.
[00:11:26] Speaker B: Lastly, most TTS text to speech. AIs sound slightly monotone, just like a robot.
Anyway, I think that's all I have to say.
[00:11:37] Speaker D: Bye.
[00:11:38] Speaker C: Wow, I didn't know AI was taking over that fast.
[00:11:42] Speaker D: I mean, I sorta did, but. Wow, that's a lot to keep up with. Let's hear more from Elliot.
[00:11:46] Speaker B: Hi, my name is Elliot. I'm in seventh grade. Some fun facts about me are that I recently got a 3D printer and I love programming.
[00:11:56] Speaker C: Cool. What inspired you to make this piece?
[00:12:01] Speaker B: I don't know. I was like looking online and I noticed there was like a substantial amount of AI, like videos and imagery and people falling for them. So I also have a bit of a fascination with AI. So I just decided to like, do some more digging into some of that stuff. Yeah, I think it turned out really well.
[00:12:23] Speaker C: What was your favorite thing about this piece?
[00:12:25] Speaker B: Probably all the sound effects I added that was really fun to like mess around with, and it added a bunch of humor.
[00:12:32] Speaker C: Is there anything else you'd like to say about your piece?
[00:12:35] Speaker B: Okay, so for anyone listening, the piece is on KQED Youth Media Challenge 2024 by me, Elliot Rose. Also, fun fact, I was originally planning to do this piece with some partners, but all my friends were already in their own separate groups, so I decided to do it by myself.
[00:12:55] Speaker D: And yeah, like Desi, Elliot has a lot to say too. You can tell this is a topic he really cares about.
[00:13:01] Speaker C: Yep, it really shows in all the cool sound effects he used and he used. AI generated voices in production. That deserves extra credit, in my opinion.
[00:13:09] Speaker D: Well, that's enough about AI for now. Let's hop over to our next piece with Myla.
[00:13:15] Speaker F: Have you ever obsessed over something? Has it ever gotten so big that it impacts how you control your everyday life? I erased the two I wrote on my paper for the third time, thinking it looks too sloppy compared to the others.
The other twos that I drew on the paper are neat and a good size. This one however, is slightly bigger and messier than the others. They all need to look the same or else I will be thinking about it for the rest of this quiz. I take two minutes away from my work time trying to make sure all the numbers are the same size and style. Why are you still on the second page? A kid in class asks. Because I can't write anything without correcting it, I think. I don't know, I say, disguising the truth.
I finally turn in my test five minutes after class ends. This is one of the many times OCD has impacted my life. OCD stands for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. This is a mental disorder that makes a person obsess over things, big or small, uncontrollably.
There are many symptoms of OCD and ways that it appears in a person's thoughts or actions.
Some of mine are asking repetitive questions, rewriting things a lot, locking the front door every time I pass it, even if it's already locked, I have to at least touch it and more. Sometimes with this condition, I will even look for things to obsess over. Even though I have the ability not to at that moment, my mind still tells me there is something to obsess about that I am forgetting. Over the years I have gone to therapy about this and learned about coping skills and tools.
It took a lot of time, but when I started to improve my OCD and it started to slowly fade out, I felt proud and free. OCD does not go away, it can just be helped and improved with many skills and methods. To this day I still have small OCD experiences except I can control them better than before.
[00:15:29] Speaker C: Now that's what I call a very personal production. Let's catch up with Myla to hear more.
[00:15:33] Speaker F: My name is Myla and I'm in seventh grade at Park Day School.
I just wanted to say something about myself and kind of put it into my youth media challenge. So I chose my like mental like disorder and I chose to do it.
[00:15:50] Speaker D: About ocd we also asked Myla about her favorite part of her production.
[00:15:55] Speaker F: I really liked adding like the sound effects and kind of like personalizing it and make it to make it my own. Yeah, it was just a really fun process and at first it was hard to start and kind of hard to get going. But once I had my topic and I knew the facts about myself about it, I was able to really get in the flow.
In class. I made podcasts and songs on Soundscape before or Soundtrap before, but that was the first like long like kind of professional project I've done.
[00:16:30] Speaker D: Myla, thank you for sharing such a personal story. This was really brave of you and I think that it was really cool.
[00:16:37] Speaker C: You pretty much said it, Gemma. That was definitely a brave personal story and a great example for other students to own what makes them unique.
[00:16:45] Speaker D: Up next, we're going to hear from Liz Production all about his passion for writing. I bet Jen, his English language arts teacher, will love this.
[00:16:55] Speaker G: Do you write? Why does anyone write? Why do I write? I write because I need to. I write because it helps get my thoughts on paper. I write so I don't become shallow. I write so if anyone finds my journal, they'll know about my life experiences. I write to not fall. I write so people can see my perspective on the world. I write because it helps clear my mind. I write because I don't want people to have questions unanswered. I write so no one has to be as confused as I am. I write because it's easier than talking to someone. I write because it's simpler than my thoughts. I write because I want to.
I write because I like to rhyme. I write so I don't have to tell people stuff.
I write to organize everything. I write because it sets me apart from the others.
I write because it's quieter than to sing.
I write so that I don't have to think.
I write because I don't feel judged. I write for self worth. I write to release the inner monster on paper.
Some people hate writing, but I love writing. I write so that I don't become a smudge. I write for personal power. I write so that I don't have to talk. I write to remember the last time I twirled. I write to keep myself on the ground. I write for self worth. I write for myself. I write for my future kids. I write for my mom. I write for my dad. I write for my sister. I write for my cat. I write for my bunny. I write to everyone. I write to everything, anything, everywhere. I write for anyone who can relate. I write to make people go, whew, that's good. I write for people that need to hear this. I'm writing right now. I write for you too, with a perspective. This is Liv Steelsmith.
[00:18:47] Speaker C: Wow. That's a lot of reasons to write.
[00:18:49] Speaker D: And so many good ones, too. I love that Liv writes for both his personal power and his pets. Here's Liv again.
Hello, Liv. What is up, my dude?
[00:19:00] Speaker G: My friend, I'm doing pretty good.
Thank you for having me.
[00:19:05] Speaker F: Of course.
[00:19:07] Speaker D: Liv, can you tell me like One fun fact about yourself.
[00:19:10] Speaker G: Oh, well, I have a fast mile time.
[00:19:16] Speaker D: That's really cool. Okay, so what inspired you to make this piece?
[00:19:21] Speaker G: Well, at first it was an assignment and I didn't really want to do it. And then I looked at some of like the options of what to do and I just saw this one and it was like, why do I write? And so I just started just like writing a bunch of reasons. And it was kind of a list because I really like lists. And then I just recorded it.
[00:19:43] Speaker D: That's really cool. How does it feel to have your YMC production featured?
[00:19:48] Speaker G: Oh, that was scary.
I remember like even hearing myself on the radio. That was actually really funny. I kind of just started laughing.
[00:19:56] Speaker D: That's actually really cool. I would be happy but scared at the same time. That's really cool that Liv started out not excited about this project and then ended up with this piece featured on kqed. Go figure.
[00:20:08] Speaker C: What I really liked is how you could hear your friendship come across in your interview with Liv.
[00:20:12] Speaker D: Yep, even though we're in different grades and I'm new to park day this year, we know each other from running cross country.
[00:20:18] Speaker C: Speaking of friendship, this next piece is about just that. It's a hilarious one. And not surprisingly, it ended up featured on KQD as well.
[00:20:29] Speaker A: Zesty. Having a strong, pleasant and somewhat spicy flavor. Bestie A person's best friend. I met my zesty bestie hi 7 and a half years ago on our first day of kindergarten. And judging how our first interaction went, I don't think 5 year old me would ever imagine our friendship.
Anyway, I will recall the tale of how me and my zesty best for life met.
It all started September 1, 2017.
[00:20:59] Speaker F: God, that was a long time ago.
[00:21:02] Speaker A: I know, right? The details have drifted to the far dusty and cobwebby corners of my mind.
I believe that we were standing during free time and Lila, the star of the story, dropped something. As luck would have it, she bent over.
You could say I saw London, I saw France. You bet. I could see her atrocious parrot underpants.
Me, who was in a dork diaries craze, said the first thing that came to my mind. Your underwear is dorky. Funny enough, she agreed with me. The thing was, she thought that she was wearing her least favorite Elsa undies. But who goes to her first day of kindergarten wearing her least favorite underwear? No one.
Lila was emotionally scarred. We spent the next two years as awkward friends. But spending six hours a day during COVID pods together really brought us closer together.
But I Guess the message is that some things don't end the way you think. Also, don't forget to celebrate your best friend on International Bestie Day, June 8, 2024. Best friends are not something to take for granted. Make sure they know how much you appreciate them.
Now for a quick closing word from my zesty bestie bloopers.
All I can say is that I'm glad that I wore those weird, dorky parrot under wiggle. No, I want you to laugh. All I can say is that I'm so glad I wore that weird, dorky parrot underwear on the first day of kindergarten so that we could be zesty besties for life.
[00:22:44] Speaker F: Zesty bestie.
[00:22:49] Speaker D: It is time.
[00:22:50] Speaker A: Oh, what's up?
We need a fire to please weird parrot underwears on the 1st.
Make sure that they know how much you appreciate them.
Oh, whoopsie. I did that wrong.
We're gonna do that again.
[00:23:14] Speaker C: That was a really fun friendship piece. It's so entertaining.
[00:23:17] Speaker D: Yeah, and they gave great advice for anyone looking for a zesty bestie. We caught up with Serena and Lila hanging out during their lunch break. Here they are now.
[00:23:26] Speaker A: I'm Serena. I'm in seventh grade, and my Zesty Bestie podcast got featured on the KQED youth media website.
[00:23:35] Speaker C: What inspired you to make this piece, Serena?
[00:23:38] Speaker A: Well, I didn't really have any inspiration. And then I looked across from me and I saw my zesty bestie, and I said, that's a great story right there.
And then I started.
[00:23:51] Speaker C: Lila, how did you feel about Serena making a podcast about your friendship?
[00:23:59] Speaker A: Well, I felt that she stole my idea because I shared with her my idea. And then she was like, great. And she started typing. These are lies.
[00:24:07] Speaker C: These are not lies.
[00:24:08] Speaker D: There's some of that zest now.
[00:24:10] Speaker A: Some people call our mini fights grandma fights because we sound like old people when we're fighting.
[00:24:16] Speaker C: That's really funny. How does it feel to have your YMC production featured on kqed?
[00:24:22] Speaker A: I felt really successful, and I. I'm glad that it got featured and that more people can listen to it now.
[00:24:31] Speaker C: How do you feel about her success?
[00:24:33] Speaker A: I feel happy because now I'm also on the news.
[00:24:37] Speaker C: What advice do you have for people who are looking for a zesty bestie?
[00:24:45] Speaker A: Um, well, zesty besties happen by chance. You can be basic and have a best friend, but zesty besties only come once in so many times.
I think that you just stick with it because personally, we were not that good of friends at the beginning. And then starting in third grade, we.
[00:25:05] Speaker C: Became really good Friends, thank you for taking time to do this interview.
[00:25:13] Speaker D: All right, listeners, that's all of today's Youth Media Challenge pieces. If you're like me by now, you really want to hear the rest of Park Day Youth Media Challenge submissions.
[00:25:23] Speaker C: Yep, and I'm ready to make my own.
[00:25:27] Speaker D: To hear the rest of these super cool productions, head over to KQED's Youth Media Challenge webpage. It's youthmedia kqed.org all in lowercase letters. There's a cool map that shows you which schools across the United States have participated, including Park Day.
[00:25:44] Speaker C: There are so many amazing student productions to check out and KQD has made a curated playlist to help you filter through thousands, thousands of student productions by topic.
[00:25:53] Speaker D: You'll find show what you know, pieces about the presidential election and Marcus Books, which is the oldest black owned bookstore in the country. And just around the corner from Park.
[00:26:03] Speaker C: Day, call for change pieces about immigration and families, yellow skies, California wildfires, and personal narratives to make you laugh, cry and be curious.
[00:26:14] Speaker D: Alright, Hedaya, let's wrap it up so our listeners can head over to KQD now.
[00:26:19] Speaker C: Okay, but before we go, we want to say thank you to all today's super talented seventh grade guests. Thank you, Desi, Elliot, Mila, Serena, Lila, and Liv. Your youth media productions are awesome and make me really excited to create my own.
[00:26:33] Speaker D: We also want to thank all of the folks at KQED who made this Youth Media Challenge possible.
[00:26:39] Speaker C: Last but not least, we want to thank you for listening all the way to the very end of this episode.
[00:26:44] Speaker D: If you enjoyed listening, we want to encourage you to share this episode with your family and friends so they can learn what informative, inspiring and creative voices Park Day students have.
[00:26:53] Speaker C: And while you're at it, don't forget to like and subscribe to if youf Knew Me Mondays and maybe even leave a positive review.
[00:27:00] Speaker D: Well then, that does it for this episode. Once again, we're your hosts, Gemma and Hidayah. Thank you for tuning in. And if you want to hear more sixth graders, maybe we'll do another sixth grade inspired podcast.
[00:27:11] Speaker C: What do you think?
[00:27:13] Speaker F: Bye.
