VOA – CONNECT EPISODE 99 AIR DATE 12 06 2019 TRANSCRIPT OPEN ((VO/NAT)) ((Banner)) Lifelong Learning ((SOT)) ((Vince Ylitalo, US Veteran)) It's very, very helpful for me because it keeps me in the moment. It brings me into ‘now,’ which is very beneficial for me. ((SOT)) ((April Magill, ACBA Instructor)) So we are building with a method called Rammed Earth which is a sustainable building method that goes back 7,000 years. The class is a hands-on building course where we try to give back to the community. ((SOT)) ((Andrea Hatcher, Coding Sensei - Code Ninjas, Burke)) The cyber and technology field is the fastest growing industry in the world. The earlier you learn, the more time you have to develop and hone-in those skills. ((Open Animation)) BLOCK A ((PKG)) NATIVE AMERICAN ARTS SCHOOL ((Banner: Native Arts)) ((Reporter: Julie Taboh)) ((Camera: Adam Greenbaum)) ((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki)) ((Map: Santa Fe, New Mexico)) ((NATS)) ((Robert Martin, President, Institute of American Indian Arts)) We started as a Bureau of Indian Affairs school in 1962. We were celebrating culture and not trying to just focus on assimilation and punishing students for speaking their language or practicing their customs. So that was a big difference for us. ((NATS)) ((Delores Scarlett Cortez, Arts Student, Institute of American Indian Arts)) My work is paying homage to the people who raised me, my mother and my father and then my cousin who helped shape me as a person. Growing up, I felt like I was really missing that kind of side of me because my parents never talked about it. What I'm hoping to do is go back to my community to document the people back home that I really care for. ((NATS)) ((Anthony Deiter, Professor of Virtual Simulation, Institute of American Indian Arts)) I always wanted to bring something back to my culture because I've been in the mainstream so long. ((NATS)) ((Daniel Yazzie Natonabah, Student, IAIA Studio Arts)) Growing up on the reservation, I was entirely isolated. I was surrounded by other natives of the similar tribes and my whole perspective of the world was just Navajo. But when I’ve came here, I've learned other perspectives of Yaqui, Tohono O?odham, Pueblos. ((NATS)) ((Robert Martin, President, Institute of American Indian Arts)) That's a lot of diversity. And of course, we also have non- native students as well. We're open to everybody, but our mission will always reflect that indigenous or native perspective. I think that's important aspect of what we have here is a sense of community, almost a sense of family. ((NATS)) ((Daniel Forest, Student, IAIA Studio Arts)) It's called shelter and it feels symbolic to me. I'm learning how to walk differently, really pay attention because western culture tends to be a little conquistador, a little aggressive and you just take that with you wherever you go in the world. It, sort of, suits you for the most part. That doesn't work here. So, I'm learning to just recalibrate everything. ((NATS)) ((Robert Martin, President, Institute of American Indian Arts)) If you ask the average college student why they’re going to college, what they're going to do with their degree, they'll say, “I want a job”. You ask our students and they'll say, “I want to be of service to my family and my community.” And so that makes our students different. ((NATS)) ((Anthony Deiter, Professor of Virtual Simulation, Institute of American Indian Arts)) I think they estimate since the inception of Hollywood, 4000 movies have involved Native Americans. My challenge to the industry would be this: We've heard what you have to say about us. Now you're going to hear what we have to say about us. ((NATS)) ((PKG)) RESTORATION ARTS COLLEGE ((Banner: The Art of Restoration)) ((Reporter: Julie Taboh)) ((Camera: Adam Greenbaum)) ((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki)) ((Map: Charleston, South Carolina)) ((NATS)) ((Courtesy: NOAA)) ((Popup Banner: Hurricane Hugo tore through historic Charleston, South Carolina in 1989)) ((Retired Lt. General Colby Broadwater, President, American College of Building Arts)) After Hurricane Hugo, the city had a lot of damage that had to be repaired and there were not enough craftsmen and skilled artisans to do it. More damage is said to have been done by the bad repairs than done by the storm itself. So, some interested citizens decided something needed to be done about that and it gave birth to what, at the time, was called The School of the Building Arts which was basically workshops and then in 2004, got a license from the state of South Carolina to open a college and they started classes here in 2005. ((NATS)) ((Steven Fancsali, Student, American College of Building Arts)) I saw the school on a TV show and my thought was, well, I wish I had known about this 10 years ago when I was actually looking at schools and I decided to just make a change and come here. ((NATS)) ((Retired Lt. General Colby Broadwater, President, American College of Building Arts)) It's different and unique because we have blended a liberal arts education, you know, the critical thinking aspect of that with a skill set that we teach six different skilled areas, so that a student leaves here with the art and the science of either preservation, quality construction and the skills to be able to do it when they leave here. ((NATS)) ((April Magill, Instructor, American College of Building Arts)) So we are building with a method called Rammed Earth which is a sustainable building method that goes back 7,000 years. The class is a hands-on building course where we try to give back to the community. ((NATS)) ((Retired Lt. General Colby Broadwater, President, American College of Building Arts)) We touch so many places and so many people, public projects that enhance the beauty of this city or state. The students are proud of actually producing something. That's why they came here and so they can sit there and say, “I made that.” ((NATS)) ((Simeon Warren, Instructor, American College of Building Arts)) You're working on 250-year old monuments. The value and worth of that means you don't want to make any mistakes. That sense of worth for a person, I think, to actually know that their work is going to survive hundreds of years. ((NATS)) ((Leigh Yarbough, Student, American College of Building Arts)) I actually already got a job offer last week. And he was like, “Let me know if anyone else is interested in hiring you because I'll be competitive”. So, there’s just a lot of opportunities after this. ((NATS)) TEASE ((VO/NAT)) Coming up….. ((Banner)) Training After Service ((SOT)) ((Meghan Ogilvie, CEO, Dog Tag Inc.)) We say thank you for your service which is what we should be saying but I think we actually really need be putting a hand out, pull each other back up. BREAK ONE BUMP IN ((ANIM)) BLOCK B ((PKG)) VETERANS BEEKEEPING ((Banner: Learning Calm Through Bees)) ((Reporter/Camera: Deborah Block)) ((Adapted by: Martin Secrest)) ((Map: Manchester, New Hampshire)) ((Popup Banner: Beekeeping is helping US veterans cope with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD))) ((NATS: outdoors)) ((Vince Ylitalo, US Veteran)) Couple of weeks into it, I was, I was hooked, absolutely hooked. It's actually helped me so much that I've actually cut down on my PTSD visits. This has actually taken care of or in place of that. So, it's really helped me dramatically because it's grounding me now into the fact that I have to be, at the moment, taking care of the bees because I have to remember what to do, how to do it, when to do it. ((NATS: beehive)) ((Valerie Carter, Recreation Therapist)) I am a beekeeper myself and so I have found that being connected to the beekeeping community, being able to go in the hives and not, you can't really focus on much else except the hives when you're in there. Focus on the bees because you're really, just really ‘in’ with about 70-thousand bees. So, you’re very focused on what you need to look for, what you need to do. So, the veterans that we have come into the beekeeping program, you didn't see their self- esteem growing, their confidence growing around beekeeping. And you see that with them educating other people or knowing, “Oh, this is what we need to do today. I know how to do this and I can do it. ((NATS Beekeeper: So, anybody that has mites that are going to weaken their hives, these bees, being strong and healthy, will go rob those and bring home mites. So, we're not out of the woods before winter yet, OK?)) ((Anthony Jenkins, US Veteran)) That’s fascinating. I didn't realize just how much was involved in it and how much animal husbandry, if you will, goes into the maintenance, the upkeep, the establishment of the hives and it's very complex. It's a lot, it's a lot more involved than I expected it to be. ((NATS Beekeeper: So, let’s see if there’s any brood in this frame and this frame, these two. There should be only honey on the outside.)) ((NATS Veteran: No brood. I mean, I’m talking about the bee, itself.)) ((Vince Ylitalo, US Veteran)) It's very, very helpful for me because it keeps me in the moment. It brings me into ‘now,’ which is very beneficial for me. Sometimes I wasn't but now I am. And I’m constantly thinking about it. Even when I leave, I'm always thinking, ‘OK, what did I do, what did I need to do.’ So, I'm constantly going back to ‘now’ throughout the week, until next week, then we start up again. ((NATS Reporter: This is like a science.)) ((NATS Veteran: It is, and to be honest, science was not one of my biggest subjects but I’m learning to love it now.)) ((NATS Veteran: Right? Me too.)) ((NATS)) ((PKG)) DOG TAG CAFÉ ((Banner: After Military Training)) ((Reporter/Camera: Unshin Lee)) ((Adapted by: Philip Alexiou)) ((Map: Washington, D.C.)) ((Popup Banner: Dog Tag Bakery helps veterans transition to civilian life)) ((NATS)) ((Meghan Ogilvie, CEO, Dog Tag Inc.)) I don't think we recognize that cultural shift that happens when you are serving in the military and then transitioning out. So, you go from a uniform that says, how many times you’re promoted, to now walking out wearing a blazer and now my name is Meghan. ((NATS)) ((Meghan Ogilvie, CEO, Dog Tag Inc.)) Dog Tag Bakery is our living business school where we empower veterans that have service-connected disabilities, military spouses and military caregivers to understand entrepreneurship and small business. So, for five months, four days a week, our fellows participate in six hours a week of classroom time. During that time, they're going through seven courses taught by Georgetown professors to ultimately graduate with a certificate in Business Administration from Georgetown. The need for our program is to making sure that no one falls through the cracks, to start understanding what does employment mean to you but also how do you start taking care of yourself. ((NATS)) ((Tiki Ntundi, Veteran, Army)) Well, I got medically retired from the Army in 2015. It took me a lot of time to try to figure out what I wanted to do because depression kicked in. I was excited for the program and the opportunity one - to just get out of bed, and two - having a plan for the day, something to go do, to use my mind again to accomplish something, made me very excited for what was yet to come. ((NATS)) ((Meghan Ogilvie, CEO, Dog Tag Inc.)) During a whole course called finding your voice, taking the time and space to really develop who you are, what your values are and what your purpose is today and what that journey looks like going forward. ((NATS)) ((Brandi Lambert, Military Spouse)) I was a stay-at-home mom for four years and then I was, I became a caregiver. He was in for four years before he got medically discharged. So, I was not only a caregiver to my son. I became a caregiver to my husband as well. ((NATS)) ((Meghan Ogilvie, CEO, Dog Tag Inc.)) So, we have military spouses that come through here that don't have the luxury of the resume that their service member or their spouse does, because they've had to move every other year and even raising a family and employment is difficult if the employer knows they're going be moving. ((NATS)) ((Brandi Lambert, Military Spouse)) The hardest part was noticing that I had to get out and do something. The hardest part was leaving and, you know, taking a step back from that and figuring out, you know, where do I go from here? How do I balance, you know, what I want to do to make an impact on the world, but also how do I, you know, balance my family? ((NATS)) ((Meghan Ogilvie, CEO, Dog Tag Inc.)) When you come in here, you're, whether you're an officer or enlisted, a spouse or caregiver, you're just Brandy or you're just Teaky and there's value in moving today’s workforce in the civilian world to know who you are today. And it really becomes kind of an equalizer. We say thank you for your service which is what we should be saying but I think we actually really need be putting a hand out, pull each other back up. It’s not the military community or the civilian community. It's about community. ((NATS)) TEASE ((VO/NAT)) Coming up….. ((Banner)) Digital Learning ((SOT)) ((Paul Jaskot, Art History Professor, Duke University)) All of this is to help make the object itself, the historical object, the spatial object, really much more comprehensible and better to interpret. BREAK TWO BUMP IN ((ANIM)) BLOCK C ((PKG)) DIGITAL ART HISTORY ((Banner: Digital Art History)) ((Reporter/Camera: Elizabeth Lee)) ((Map: Los Angeles, California)) ((NATS)) ((Mandatory Courtesy: NTU Singapore/Courtauld Institute)) ((Paul Jaskot, Art History Professor, Duke University)) GIS, digital mapping has been around for decades. So, it’s quite an old technology but it’s really only been applied to humanities relatively recently. ((Mandatory Courtesy: Nevola / University of Exeter CICT))? ((Skype Logo)) We do have large datasets that….. ((Mandatory Courtesy: Nevola / University of Exeter CICT)) …..because of the developments in computer science and in regular standard computers, even laptops, have made this kind of work much easier for art historians. ((NATS)) ((Heather McDonald, Senior Program Officer, Getty Foundation)) We look at art history across all geographic locations, all spaces and times and across all media. So, we are interested not only….. ((Mandatory Courtesy: Nevola / University of Exeter CICT))? .….in the history of art objects at the preserved in museums or historic houses, palaces, but also architectural history, archeology. ((End Courtesy)) ((Paul Jaskot, Art History Professor, Duke University)) All of this is to help make the object itself, the historical object, the spatial object, really much more comprehensible and better to interpret. ((Mandatory Courtesy: Rice University/imagineRio)) ((NATS)) ((Heather McDonald, Senior Program Officer, Getty Foundation)) One of the great contributions of these kinds of digital art history projects is the ability to….. ((End Courtesy)) .….help us understand in a more rich and informed way how those….. ((Mandatory Courtesy: NTU Singapore/Courtauld Institute))? .….art works that now exist perhaps in a museum were part of a larger complex three-dimensional setting. It actually lets you think about how people lived in these spaces, moved through these spaces, how artworks interacted and would have been seen and understood in relationship to one another in their original setting. ((Paul Jaskot, Art History Professor, Duke University)) That’s a digital map where you have, you can search various points, so you can search, say, 1000 buildings in a city instead of one building in a city but it can also include 3D environments where you’re actually building up those architectural monuments. You can see….. ((End Courtesy)) .….change over time, for example, how a building was constructed, sometimes over thousands of years. You can see changes to the site. ((Mandatory Courtesy: Rice University/imagineRio)) ((NATS)) ((Heather McDonald, Senior Program Officer, Getty Foundation)) Who lived there? What were their professions? Were there children in the house? There is lots of really granular data that is available in archives that can be applied to these digital maps….. ((End Courtesy)) .….and allow users to ask very new kinds of questions that would have been so challenging and so time consuming using traditional archival research methods. ((NATS)) ((Mandatory Courtesy: American Excavations Samothrace and ECDS)) ((Paul Jaskot, Art History Professor, Duke University)) Many of our digital humanities projects work with space. We’re working on very complex archivally based very very specific scholarly problems….. ((End Courtesy)) .….but they’re also trying to recreate environments that can then be explained to a much broader public. ((NATS)) ((Mandatory Courtesy: Nevola / University of Exeter CICT))? Augmented reality really makes that possible where you can go into a city and you can use your phone or any kind of device and you can start to layer historical evidence or historical views or historical material onto that physical environment. ((Heather McDonald, Senior Program Officer, Getty Foundation)) I think by reflecting on the past and what these sites were like then, what we can see today, I think it does sort of awaken in us a deeper understanding of how our own physical lived existence takes place amidst culture, amidst artworks, and hopefully makes one more sensitive and thoughtful about those experiences that surround us at all times. ((NATS)) TEASE ((VO/NAT)) Coming up….. ((Banner)) Kids Creating Games ((SOT)) ((Jessica Lopez, Owner - Code Ninjas, Burke)) Kids love video games. That’s why we have built our curriculum around learning how to code. By building video games, the kids are engaged. And when they’re engaged and having fun, they’re going to learn. BREAK THREE BUMP IN ((ANIM)) BLOCK D ((PKG)) UNIVERSITY COMEDY CLUB ((Banner: Learning Comedy)) ((Reporter: Faiza Elmasry)) ((Camera: Adam Greenbaum)) ((Adapted by: Martin Secrest)) ((Map: Baltimore, Maryland)) ((NATS)) ((Alex Hecksher Gomes, Member - Comedy Club, Johns Hopkins University)) I'm kind of awkward all the time. Like even like just standing around feels like I'm not supposed to be there. So, a lot of people would be like, ‘Are you new here?’ And I’m just like, ‘No, I’m just uncomfortable.’ ((Nicholas Scandura, President - Comedy Club, Johns Hopkins University)) So, it started five years ago. A guy named Brandon Block was talking to his friend and he’s like, ‘We should have a standup comedy club.’ And they actually started having shows. It attracts a lot of different people because I think a lot of people want to do this as a hobby. Members go up and then they deliver their about seven-minute standup sets. ((NATS)) ((Alex Hecksher Gomes, Member - Comedy Club, Johns Hopkins University)) And like, even back home, it just looks like I'm lost. People will be like, ‘So when did you move here?’ And I’m like, ‘I don’t know when I was born.’ ((Nicholas Scandura, President - Comedy Club, Johns Hopkins University)) The general rule in the club is that you're allowed to do whatever you want. But we just strongly advise against certain controversial topics that are, just because you’ll offend people but they also, you know, they won't play well on stage. You know, if you go up and say something that people are going to hate for you saying, why are you up there saying it, you know. ((NATS)) ((Ariella Shua, Member - Comedy Club, Johns Hopkins University)) And when we do our writing, we do it similar to a writing class style. So, everyone brings in their own material and then, when we're in a standup meeting, we ‘workshop’ it. So, we go through it. It's very different than any other type of writing I'm doing in my classes. It's just completely different. It's like an outlet for all of my other thoughts and feelings that like can't go into my classes. ((NATS)) ((Alex Hecksher Gomes, Member - Comedy Club, Johns Hopkins University)) I was always like, you know, joking around with my friends back in high school. But I think once you start writing, it's always important some things that I said were funny and then look back and like where I got to with the joke was a lot funnier than where I started. Feel free to take input as well but also, you know, everyone has their different style. So, like if something to like maybe don't always go with your first idea. I've like definitely thought doesn't feel natural with you saying it, then like, you know, don't be afraid to not do it. ((NATS)) ((Jeff, Member - Comedy Club, Johns Hopkins University)) I don't really like do storytelling in my standup. So, I feel like this would, yeah, I should maybe venture into it a little bit. ((NATS)) ((Jeff, Member - Comedy Club, Johns Hopkins University)) There are these people who think that the earth is flat, which is funny because it’s not true. Factually incorrect. A thing called gravity! ((NATS)) ((Nicholas Scandura, President - Comedy Club, Johns Hopkins University)) When we have the Tomato Show at the end of the year, we supply these foam tomatoes and people get to like throw them at us during the set. It's really fun. ((NATS)) I'm a bit out of practice but I'd like to think that I'm somewhat decent at performing magic tricks. And yet, despite every trick that I've mastered, there's one that always eludes me. No matter how hard I try, I just can't seem to make my virginity disappear. ((NATS)) ((PKG)) KIDS CREATING VIDEO GAMES ((Banner: Learning Young)) ((Reporter: Faiza Elmasry)) ((Camera & Editor: Mike Burke)) ((Map: Burke, Virginia)) ((NATS coding)) ((Ethan, Coder)) My name is Ethan. I am 10 years old. I worked on some robots and a game. It’s kind of difficult. I hope I can make five or to seven games by the end of this week. ((NATS coding)) ((Jessica Lopez, Owner - Code Ninjas, Burke)) Code Ninjas is a (for profit franchise) center where children, ages seven through fourteen, learn how to code. We want to leverage screen time and make it productive. Kids love video games. That’s why we have built our curriculum around learning how to code. By building video games, the kids are engaged. ((NATS coding: Up to jump.)) ((Jessica Lopez, Owner - Code Ninjas, Burke)) And when they’re engaged and having fun, they’re going to learn. ((NATS coding: Okay, let’s see it.)) ((Jessica Lopez, Owner - Code Ninjas, Burke)) We also had a drone station where the drones were being coded so that they would code the flight path, test it out through the hoops and then adjust as necessary. ((NATS coding)) ((Jessica Lopez, Owner - Code Ninjas, Burke)) Our Code Senseis (teachers) have a variety of background. The first thing that we look for is that they are good with children. ((NATS coding: Aw, that looks awesome.)) ((Andrea Hatcher, Coding Sensei - Code Ninjas, Burke)) My name is Andrea Hatcher. I am a Code Sensei here. ((NATS coding: It’s a real traffic light.)) ((Andrea Hatcher, Coding Sensei - Code Ninjas, Burke)) I am a junior at Penn State (University), studying cybersecurity. ((NATS coding: There you go.)) ((Andrea Hatcher, Coding Sensei - Code Ninjas, Burke)) Girls are something in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) that I’m very, very passionate about, always have been. And the girls, you know, they stay with the boys. They love it. The cyber and technology field is the fastest growing industry in the world. The United States is far behind it. The earlier you learn, the more time you have to develop and hone-in those skills. And at this age is when they are really soaking up information like a sponge. ((NATS coding)) ((Jessica Lopez, Owner - Code Ninjas, Burke)) Parents are happy because the kids are happy and at the end, they are able to able to show mom and dad what they built. ((Amanda, Marianne’s Mother)) I have an eight-year-old daughter Marion, who has been coming to Code Ninjas for a bit now. Last week, she created a video game where her creative dinosaur would follow the mouse around and catch the mouse. So, each week she is creating video games on a very small scale that will eventually build to more advanced. Coding would be a very useful skill for her to see the back end of the video games that she loves playing and help her kind of formulate the necessary skill set to see if that is something that she wants to do. She’s only eight. So, it’s really fun right now. ((NATS coding)) CLOSING ((ANIM)) voanews.com/connect ((PKG)) FREE PRESS MATTERS ((NATS)) ((Popup captions over B Roll)) Near the Turkish Embassy Washington, D.C. May 16, 2017 President Erdogan’s bodyguard attacks peaceful protesters “Those terrorists deserved to be beaten” “They should not be protesting our president” “They got what they asked for” While some people may turn away from the news We cover it reliably accurately objectively comprehensively wherever the news matters VOA A Free Press Matters SHOW ENDS