Going into my second week at AYA, I felt less anxious than the last as I’ve become more familiarized with my environment and the professors. This week was full of inspirational and informational lectures from both the professors and the guest speakers. The guest speakers were very thorough with their lectures, and they all covered engaging topics in both civic media and journalism. Additionally, we had our first podcast assignment for comm 101. It wasn’t too difficult nor was it really easy; I struggled to find a good topic to talk about, and I wasn’t really sure whether I was answering the questions that I was given.
Earlier in the week, Professor Taj Frazier came in, and we talked about the origin of hip-hop and a popular dance style that pairs well with this type of music, known as “krump.” Krumping is heavily influenced by a street dance style known as “clowning” developed by Tommy the Clown. This dance style is used as an outlet and a way to express yourself rather than just moving around senselessly. This was one of my favorite lectures because it was really informative and insightful about the hip-hop culture in California.
On Tuesday, Professor Mark Schoofs, along with the AYA cohort, conducted a brief analysis of the Watergate scandal, which ultimately resulted in the resignation of President Richard Nixon. We read a section from the book that allowed us to see from the perspective of the reporters who were behind the investigation. Although I wish we had read more, the amount we covered was interesting enough to pique my curiosity. Subsequently, I did my research and found out that there’s a film detailing the investigation titled “All the President’s Men.”
On Wednesday, the class competed in a scavenger hunt that took place on campus. The class was divided into groups of five, and we had to visit various locations around the campus to take pictures in order to mark them off a list filled with unfamiliar building names. Despite having a deeper sense of my surroundings on the campus, I still haven’t explored the entire campus yet, so I still felt like a tourist when we encountered buildings and statues that were previously unknown to me. One of those statues includes the famous statue of George Tirebiter, the name given to the dog who was a previous mascot at USC.
In our most recent Comm 101 session this week, we revisited the principles and art of photography. Among these principles are the rule of thirds, leading lines, framing, and depth of field. All of these principles fall under the composition theory. The last guest speaker of this week was a voice actor who discussed the challenges encountered by many actors and voice actors with the rise of AI. Afterwards, our journalism class went to the Media Center to create our first news broadcast, which covered some topics from wildfires in Southern California to cellphone bans in LAUSD schools and the upcoming Despicable Me 4 animation. This week at AYA has been awesome! Every day has been filled with captivating and enjoyable conversations. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for my next week at this program.
Communicating Change 