FALL 2019- ARTS AND COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT

By Kevin Crisostomo There are so many topics in regards to the law enforcement/police and the prison system. Where to start, what to focus on or tackle, what to even do about it.. It’s tough and it’s complicated. I grew up respecting and loving law enforcement and always thought they were heroes held to the highest standards. I have family and friends in law enforcement. I still respect them and I appreciate the hard work that they do, but as I grew older and faced personal situations on my own with them, I lost my trust in them and in the system. With an industry and job that they have, why do I feel like that they too can be bad guys? There’s countless stories and incidents out there.. Facts.. that make you wonder how do so many cops get away with actions that would otherwise throw someone else who did the same action in jail or facing worse penalties. I’m not saying they all do something bad, but two is too many. And there’s way more than two situations. The prison system itse...

By Kevin Crisostomo CONTEXT: What were the circumstances that framed the meaning and process of this project? The circumstances attributed to the climate of what was going on at the time, and was still goes on today, in regards to racism and the perception of black people. People were viewed and treated differently because of skin, and these teenagers were able to discuss and talk openly in this project, in cars, and viewers can listen in. CONTENT: What was the issue, need, idea or opportunity addressed by this project? Many voices that aren’t heard need to be heard, especially the black youth and teenagers, to express and shed light a reality that is unjust and unfair and horrible in regards to discrimination and stereotypes and the negative perception on them, which also affects their future and education. The opportunity presented is that their voices can now be heard and it’s a start. FORM: What is the medium that was used to address or embody the content? They held conversat...

Although the United States has made some progress, it remains a substantially racially segregated nation residentially. And, the country stays very economically segregated as well. It is not surprising that poor people of color have been incarcerated disproportionately during the massive increase in imprisonment that has occurred in the nation since the early 1980s. It is from poor communities of color that a very large number of felons are removed, and to these same neighborhoods that they return when their sentences end. This population churning has been called “coercive mobility” by criminologists. Although it is the intent of legislatures, judges, police, and prosecutors to protect citizens and communities, there is reason to believe that coercive mobility has the unintended consequence of actually increasing crime and victimization. There is overrepresentation of minority group members among those engaging in crime, but even after this is taken into account, people of color a...

What is a community garden? A community garden is a small piece of land that is shared by individuals, groups, or in any public area. “The land may produce fruit, vegetables, and/or ornamentals.” There are different types of community gardens as well: neighborhood, residential, institutional, and demonstration. Neighborhood gardens consist of a piece of land that is owned by a group, in which each individual may own a single plot if they pay a yearly fee for maintenance. Residential gardens are much like neighborhood gardens, however they are owned by a single unit like an apartment complex for example. These are purely communal to the public within that particular residential community. Institutional gardens are connected to public or private organizations, “These gardens offer a number of beneficial services for residents, ranging from mental or physical rehabilitation and therapy to teaching a set of skills for job placement.” Finally demonstration gardens are used in educatio...

“With five percent of the world's population, the US incarcerates 25 percent of the world's prisoners” (Daisy Hudson, Noisey Magazine. 2014). That same year “African Americans constituted 2.3 million, or 34%, of the total 6.8 million correctional population, though African Americans and Hispanics make up approximately 32% of the US population, they comprised 56% of all incarcerated people in 2015 (NAACP). The prison system in America serves not as a correctional facility, but a container for which black bodies are buried alive. The conditions of which inmates are kept, the disparity in numbers and portrayal of those incarcerated. There is no question that factors such as education, employment, mental and physical health; the lack of access to such resources targets and propels African Americans through the pipeline to prison. In our history, it seems that prison, or largely the criminalization of African Americans, Black men in particularly, has been used as a tactic of oppr...

Systematic poisoning research -by Meisen Hu Discrimination and systematic poisoning of aboriginals in Canada During my high school times in a small town called Fort Langley in British Columbia, Canada, I’ve befriended with several aboriginal students in town, and I was quite shocked by the way how the First Nations were discriminated since the colonial times. After the Indian Act was signed in 1876, the law enforcement would forcefully abduct childrens to attend residential schools-in which they tried to force these kids to believe in Catholicism.  Kids were often abused and molested by these schools’ staffs and even the priests. Until the last residential school was closed in 1996, over 150,000 Indigenous children were placed in residential schools and the estimated school-related death was around 3,200 to 6,000. North of Fort Langley, there’s the McMillan Island-an Indian resort by which all aboriginals were forced to live in. They were not allowed to live on any othe...

The reason why I choose this topic is that I know a lot of students are complaining that CalArts is too plain. It is just one main building with a small campus. I would like to design a space for the CalArts campus where students and teachers can work together as a community and taking care of the plants. The community can hold a farmers market, season food festival or food-related artwork competition.    Few things I read about the benefits of school garden:   -  Gardens create opportunities for students to work cooperatively and to take on responsibilities.  - Gardens provide unique opportunities for cross-generational connections.  - Students learn to focus and patience, cooperation, teamwork, and social skills.  -Combining language arts and gardening activities brings a hands-on element to a subject normally taught lecture-style, providing inspiration and motivation for students who struggle to focus in traditional cl...

The topic of “Maternity Leave” itself has been a problem that I have been interested/aware of lately. My encounter with the problem was mainly back in Korea. Not just as an artist, but also in socially common jobs have the underlining avoidance of female employees that are going on/ planning on have a baby. While a lot of countries in Europe have pro-maternal welfare system, Korean female employees are secretly laid off mysteriously around the time of the supposed maternity leave. Even while in job interviews, they are asked the rude question of if they have any significant other one, if they are planning to get married or even to the point of if they are planning to have a child. This rude question is so commonly asked that it comes to a point that socially, females are to either get married then stay at home or to not get married at all. The over population of young females applying for government issued jobs are also because of the maternity leave; the government issued jobs are o...

Currently in the United States, the only federal law guaranteeing maternity leave in the U.S. is unpaid, and it only applies to some employees. “ Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), will protect jobs for up to 12 weeks after childbirth or adoption.” The law states that your job be waiting when parents return and ensures that parents cannot be penalized for taking time off. Citizens are eligible for coverage only if they’ve been working in a job for a year  and  the employer has more than 50 employees within 75 miles of where employee works. Under FMLA, men are also eligible for 12 weeks of unpaid leave to care for a child. Some employers may offer additional paternity leave as well.      Maternity laws also vary by state. For example, “California, New Jersey, New York, and Rhode Island operate programs that require private-sector employers to pay their employees who utilize maternity leave at partial replacement rates .” In New...