BRONX, N.Y. — Brown Bears at the Wildlife Conservation Society’s Bronx Zoo “bear-ly” notice the 8-degree temperatures and feel right at home in 11 inches of fresh snow.
Author: scenebygina
Writer. Public Relations. NYC. Colombia.
Teen pregnancy rates drop thanks to … MTV’s Teen Mom?
I was that girl in high school who rolled her eyes any time a friend declared she and her boyfriend were so “in love,” they’ve already discussed having a baby, and if it happened by mistake, they would raise that baby and be a happy little family. If that girl started picking out names, chances are I said, “Eww. Gross. Who wants a baby?”
I’m no Grinch-like baby-hater. I think babies are fine, some of them are even cute, but I just figured that a baby would get in the way of cheerleading and yearbook, or the cool college parties of my future. Why add messy diapers or a screaming toddler into that mix?
Which is why I thought MTV‘s “16 and Pregnant” and it’s more successful spinoff, “Teen Mom” were a brilliant idea. Once they showed the hardships of parenting, teens all over the United States would commit to abstinence, right?
I watched from time to time and saw the show didn’t pull any punches. Parenting was hard, expensive, and in many cases, school (high school or college) would have to be put on hold, not to mention a social life. Often, the parents of these teen moms and dads, would judge how the young parents were (or were not) parenting, and (I’m pretty sure) almost always, the new parents would break up, and tears were a plenty.
That birth rate was going to plummet.
But as the show gained immense popularity, I panicked. (And so did pro-abstinence Fox News, of course!) Teen Mom was so buzzworthy, that the show’s stars were constantly gracing the tabloids (or the monologues of late night TV), and not always in a bad way. Sometimes they got makeovers, complete with free plastic surgery. I wondered: ‘Is this going to inspire pregnancies?’
Well, apparently not. Phew!
According to NPR’s “All Things Consdiered,” a new study attributes a portion of the decline to these shows!
Melissa Kearney, an associate professor of economics at the University of Maryland, talked to NPR’s Audie Cornish about the findings. (Listen to the segment here.)
Using birth rate data in the show’s media markets, and combining that with historical data on Google searches and Twitter data, they found some patterns:
“The day that an episode airs and the next day we see large spikes in the rate at which people are searching for how to get birth control and we see higher volumes of searches in places where more teens are watching MTV,” Kearney told Cornish on “All Things Considered.“
“The Twitter data was astounding. In the Twitter data we can actually see what teens are tweeting and there are literally thousands of tweets that say things like: “Watching 16 and Pregnant reminds me to take my birth control.” [And] “16 and Pregnant is the best form of birth control.” So getting that insight into what teenagers were thinking about while and right after they watched the show was really informative.”
The numbers are impressive. Kearney and her team estimate that “teen birth rates as a result of this show fell by 5.7 percentage points over this 18-month period. To put that in perspective, that is a third of the overall decline in teen birth rates over that time.”
That’s impressive. And I hope the trend continues.
(Listen to the NPR segment, or read about it, here.)
MTV should come up with more reality shows that may help youth in this country. Perhaps a more regular look at drug addiction, binge drinking, sexting and social media privacy, or rape, for instance.
Who knows? Perhaps “Catfish,” MTV’s show about the “truths and lies” of long distance online dating is inspiring young people to be cautious about who they carry on with on the internet.
KC eighth-grader’s song about poverty holds message of hope
Image via Kansas City Star
*** I work with Making Movies, and when I see the fruits of their M.U.S.I.C.A. camp (in conjunction with Kansas City’s Mattie Rhodes Center), I can’t help but be amazed at the power of music.
BY MARÁ ROSE WILLIAMS
The Kansas City Star
Regina del Carmen Sanchez wants to someday make her living writing music, playing her guitar and singing songs that have a message about the world as she sees it.
At 14, Regina’s world is pretty small.
It revolves around the little house she shares with her mom and grandparents on the west side of Kansas City’s urban core. The women of the house spend weekends frying, baking and selling empañadas to supplement the income Regina’s mom brings home as an office assistant.
….
“It’s my dream to become a musician to change people’s lives, to help them understand in an easy way what is happening in the world,” Regina said.
So when she sat down to create her first song, she wrote about being poor, being afraid to open bills, worrying that one not-in-the-budget problem could mean the lights go out.
She was 12 when she wrote “Keep Your Head Up.” It took her several months, writing at home as she lay across her bed or sat at the kitchen table. Sometimes even during breaks in class a lyric would pop into her head and “I would have to write it down right then,” Regina said.
“At the time I was thinking, ‘Let me write a song about the real struggles in my family instead of a song that’s just about me, talking about me,’ ” she said.
My house is in shambles but it beats being homeless.
It’s hot in the summer time, but in the cold the heat’s hopeless.
The bills are coming in and I’m looking so nervous,
because any day now, they could disconnect my service.
The song goes on about needing money, crying and praying, and wondering how long one could endure.
…
Love yourself and never give up. You’ll see a better life if you keep your head up.
Hand me down clothes but I’ve never been shirtless. B een misunderstood but no I’m not worthless.
Labeled a misfit ’cause I’ve always been different. Don’t want to be a number or another statistic.
Keep your head up …
“When she sings this song, you can tell she’s gone through it,” said Juan Carlos Chaurand, who plays percussion and keyboard for Making Movies, a four-member band from Kansas City with an Afro-Cuban/indie rock vibe.
Making Movies hosted the summer M.U.S.I.C.A. camp for low-income urban youths at Kansas City’s Mattie Rhodes Center, where last summer Regina was a camper. The band charges families $15 for the weeklong camp.
Chaurand said that providing inexpensive lessons and a chance to make music to children who otherwise might not have the opportunity is the band’s contribution to efforts to break the cycle of poverty.
One day Regina sang her song for the band members. They helped her write the music and took her to a studio to record it.
“It’s a great song,” Chaurand said. “To see that come out of her is pretty amazing.”
Read the whole story here. Watch a video of Sanchez performing the song with Making Movies below.
This *so* applies to New York City in some way…
You need to know that this is no longer a city for artists, or writers or musicians. This is no longer a city for teachers. This is no longer a city for the person who just served you that 3:00 a.m. burrito. This is a city for the wealthy, and money changes everything.
It’s not your fault. But recognize that. And don’t be a dick. Know that not everyone can afford Uber. Get to know your neighbors. Get to know a writer. A server. A social worker. Step off the bus. And know that no matter how much lobster bisque and beer they pump into, your company is still a business, and your app is not curing cancer.
Goodbye San Francisco, You’re a Passionate Lover by Eric Barry via Huffington Post: San Francisco
New music & other stuff
New music roundup!
- Stream Sharon Jones (yes, two of my posts mention Ms. Jones this week) and the Dap Kings’ new single, “Give The People What They Want,” via NPR Music. It’s an especially welcome tune since 2013 was a tough year for her. (Details at NPR.)
- My buddy K. Sabroso released a remix of an Arure track which goes from “Classical Orchestration to Jazzy Breakbeats and even touches on Future Garage” to celebrate his one year anniversary of moving to New York from Indiana. K. Sabroso says the track (“Satila“) is “the highlight of [his] career so far even though it’s been sitting in the archive for over a year.”
- The D.C. homegirls of Maracuyeah have a new mix called Maraculeando Con Amor and I wrote about it for Sounds and Colours. The mix includes rhythms from all over Latin America, with a heavy emphasis on “Dominican electro-dembow, experimental 3ball, champeta-inspired electronic music, tropical vintage gems that are often left off the DJ decks, and Moombahton remixes, with that genre’s DC and Latin roots.” So get on it. There’s a free download to this mix!
- My boy Cousin Cole made a New Year’s hangover cure mix. This mix of SOUL (yes, I said that in a high pitch voice) includes goodies from Leroy Hutson, Gil Scott Heron, the Commodores, and more, so it’s certainly soothing. As for the title of the mix, don’t worry, you’ll be hungover again, so stream or download it below.
- I may be a bit of a Hall & Oates nerd, so imagine my surprise when Chicago-via-Brooklyn whiteboy rapper, Trevor the Trashman, released a new track (“Spoiled Brat“) that samples “Sara Smile.” Check it out via Stupid Dope.
Upcoming shows I want to see:
Just making this “to do” list public so I have to oblige and not punk out in favor of catching up on “Scandal” on the Roku.
La Mecanica Popular at the Electric Cowbell and Barbes APAP Showcase 2014 THIS VERY SATURDAY at DROM.
Helado Negro at the Silent Barn Bushwick, Brooklyn, in early February.
Buika at Town Hall in NYC this April.
—–
Tour video!
Last, but certainly not least, have you been to Panama? I sure haven’t! But I want to go. Check out this behind-the-scenes footage of Making Movies recent trip to the homeland of the Chi brothers (lead singer-songwriter/guitarist and bassist of the band). You’ll feel as if you’re there and live vicariously through them, EXCEPT for the part in which they hold snakes and scorpions. No thank you! 🙂
The band never stops touring, really. So stay tuned for upcoming tour dates here.
New mix: ‘We Love Sharon’ by Chorizo Funk of Texas
So if you’re into good music, the funky stuff with SOUL, you have to be into Sharon Jones. Born in Georgia but raised in New York City, Jones has a very interesting music career. After years of trying to make it in the business, including stints as a corrections officer and armored car guard, she got a record deal in her middle age when someone discovered her backing vocals on a Lee Fields track. (Fields is another of my favorites, and also someone who ‘made it’ later in life.)
I saw Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings in concert on the Upper East Side a few years ago and was blown away. Her energy was contagious. (Yes, this meant white people were having dance spasms in the audience of Beacon Theater. It was amazing.)
And this is why I’m super pleased to share news that one of my favorite DJs from Texas, Chorizo Funk, has put some of her best tracks into a mix: ‘#WeLoveSharon.’ Whew, it’s got so many of my favorites, including “I’m Not Gonna Cry (Scroll to 13:41 in the mix).” Damn that woman could SING!
By the way, this is the second in Chorizo Funk‘s “#WeLove” series. The first one, #WeLoveOtis, is one full hour of the best Otis Redding jams ever. Listen to and download it here.
And keep up with Chorizo Funk’s gigs and new mixes on his Facebook page. And catch Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings live (you must!) by checking her tour dates here.
PRI’s ‘The World’ covers controversial court ruling in the Dominican Republic
You may be familiar with a controversial court ruling in the Dominican Republic that retroactively stripped citizenship from anyone born in the country to undocumented parents dating back to 1929. Not surprisingly, it mostly affects Dominicans of Haitian descent.
Public Radio International‘s “The World“ sent reporter Amy Bracken to the Dominican Republic to interview folks on the island, and much like the immigration debate here in the United States, opinions were mixed.
Take Mario Matos Cuevos, for instance. An 81-year-old retired soldier, he told The World “the Dominican president has made it clear that ‘everyone must get their papers in order,’ just like anywhere else in the world.”
When Bracken asked Cuevos if he thinks it’s unfair to make people who have lived in this country for generations go back and apply for papers all over again, he said “no,” since most of those affected have ties to Haiti.
“According to the Haitian Constitution, anyone of Haitian descent, whether legal or illegal, living in any country, is Haitian. That’s what their Constitution says,” Cuevos said.
On the other hand, high school student Yahisse Cuevas saw things a different way.
“Dominicans are very racist,” she told Bracken, “the way we abuse Haitians, always asking for their papers and mistreating them.”
It is no secret that many Latin American countries have attitudes against those with darker skin. One has to wonder how much that plays a factor in this debate.
Listen to the interesting audio here. And catch their other segments via their archives. The World is a great show to keep more in-depth tabs on news from around the world.
In which I write about my love for Big Band music
Totally random fact about me. If I’m getting ready to go out on a Saturday night, chances are I’m listening to old archives of “The Danny Stiles” radio show.
Stiles, who died in 2011, had this totally rad show in which he played “the greatest records of the 1900s” from 8 to 10 p.m. on Saturday nights on WNYC (820AM). Luckily, WNYC still airs archived shows.
I don’t know … it may seem corny, but throughout the show, I imagine couples dancing at parties in that era. In fact, Styles will talk about parties during the Depression, which must have felt like the highlight of the week, considering the circumstances.
I feel as if you could never stop learning about music history in this country. Stiles didn’t just play songs by the greats, such as Frank Sinatra, or one of my personal favorites, Glenn Miller. (Listen to “In The Mood.” You’ll know it. It was a global hit in its day.)
Stiles pays homage to the history of music from our country, often featuring musicians of color, who as you may know, are at the roots of American music, though it was brought to the mainstream by record labels and white singers.
On this week’s show, he played a song that I know (incorrectly) as “Mani” (the Spanish word for peanut) because I’ve heard it on old Spanish radio stations. The song is called “El Manisero/The Peanut Vendor” and though there were several versions by many recording artists, it was Louis Armstrong who made it a big hit in the 1930s as Cuban rhythms was influencing music in the States. It was smart of Armstrong to record it. All of this I learned on the Danny Stiles show.
But wait! There’s more.
How does listening to this show translate to music I’ve heard in the nightclubs today? Well, using “The Peanut Vendor” as an example, Uproot Andy (real name: Andy Gillis) tends to play this track (I’m guessing this is the version he plays, though I can’t be 100 percent sure) at his well-known “Que Bajo?” monthly parties. It’s obvious they sampled “The Peanut Vendor” sound. And now I’ll think of Danny Stiles and Louis Armstrong in 1930 the next time I hear it!
Bonus fact: Another of my favorite Big Band songs is “Midnight, the Stars, and You,” by Ray Noble, otherwise known as one of the songs in The Shining. Creepy, right? 🙂
Video: ‘La Peligrosa’ by Martina La Peligrosa
Story by me via Sounds and Colours:
You never know what you’re going to find when conducting a random search on social media. Case in point: I recently typed #champeta into Instagram’s search bar and stumbled upon an interesting champeta-inspired track by, what seemed to be, a pop star from Colombia. What’s this? Is champeta going mainstream?
Turns out, the artist is Martina La Peligrosa, (real name Martina López) a native of Córdoba, on the Northern part of Colombia’s Caribbean coast…
Read the rest and watch the music video here.
periMENTAL 