Military families and food assistance, improv class helps kids with Autism, ‘Operation Desert Tortoise’

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Some military families struggle to afford food, improv class helps Autistic kids with social interaction, "Operation Desert Tortoise" safely relocates wildlife

Military families and food assistance, improv class helps kids with Autism, ‘Operation Desert Tortoise’

Some military families struggle to afford food, improv class helps Autistic kids with social interaction, "Operation Desert Tortoise" safely relocates wildlife

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Some military families struggle to afford food, improv class helps Autistic kids with social interaction, "Operation Desert Tortoise" safely relocates wildlife 

Serving their country, struggling to feed their families

Facebook's identity crisis: is the social media platform a publisher or not?

It might have just been another murder story. An elderly man in Cleveland, Robert Godwin was shot. Another incident of gun violence.

But then, a video of the murder was uploaded to Facebook.

Tuesday morning, police in Pennsylvania report the suspect, the man who posted the video, shot and killed himself after being chased by authorities.

This incident has re-ignited a long-simmering debate about the company's responsibilities to its users and whether it's just a 'platform' or something more than that.

Laura Davis is Digital News Director of the Annenberg Media Center at USC, she joined A Martinez to discuss Facebook's evolving platform and where the company goes from here.

To listen to the full segment, click the blue play button above.

How improv helps kids with autism: A look at ‘Zip Zap Zop Enrichment’

Kids on the autism spectrum often have difficulty interacting with others.

But what if they were put in an environment where encouraged interaction in unconventional ways. Like say... improv?

That's the mission behind Zip Zap Zop Enrichment, an organization that holds improv workshops to help kids with autism learn how to open up to -and entertain- their peers.

The head of the autism improv workshops

The classes are held The Second City, a building known for hosting plenty of comedy.

It all started when program founder Maja Miletich came to The Second City with hopes of furthering her budding acting career. "Through that process, I was also taking early childhood education classes," Miletich said. "I realized improv was this perfect tool for all children, but specifically kids with special needs."

But Miletich also had a personal stake in the idea. "My brother Zack has autism," she said.  As she was taking classes at The Second City, "For years he was really kind of trapped inside of his own self." 

Zack has since grown more communicative. He regularly discusses his politics on his blog. But Miletich says she thinks her Zip Zap Zop workshops would have helped him open up to others earlier. "I think something like improv would have allowed him to naturally connect with peers when he was younger. It would have been great for him."

Teaching empathy through improv

A typical class begins with Miletich and curriculum specialist Will Todisco putting the group through a series of ice breakers. Around the room are signs that 'Do not like it,' 'Like it,' 'Don't know never tried it,' and 'It's Okay.' Todisco calls out things various places and things as the kids rush around the room to the sign that fits their opinion.

"This is just a really good nonverbal way for students to see what the other kids are into or not into," Todisco said. "One of the main things with autistic kids is they believe their opinion is the only thing that is there. This is a great way to learn empathy and what others are into like, 'How can you not like Poke´mon?!' "

From there, Todisco and Miletich can transition into a number of other activities. This includes imitating their favorite animal, naming different things within a chosen category and explaining how to do something in the funniest way possible.

It all gets the students laughing and having fun, but Miletich insists that her class's sole focus is not just comedy. "You can use specific improv games to help these kids reach goals for the year," Miletich said. "It's not an acting class. It's to help these children become the best versions of themselves."

Combining improv with traditional therapies

Zip Zap Zop classes have helped kids at many points on the autism spectrum. many of them comfortable at different levels of verbal communication.

In the years that she's put on Zip Zap Zop classes, she believes that her work complements traditional autism therapies well. "Improv is just a fun way to adds to what they're learning in these therapies and what they're doing in school," Miletich said. "Just making your friends laugh can be a huge benefit."

To continue the conversation on Autism Awareness month, A Martinez spoke with Kate Movius. She's the head of Autism Interaction Solutions in Los Angeles. Turns out, she really loves what Zip Zap Zop brings to autism therapies.

To find out more about Zip Zap Zop Enrichment and to sign up for their next class on May 13, visit their website.

To hear the full story, click the blue player above.

The Marines and Operation Desert Tortoise

For years U.S. Marines have trained and worked at their base in Twentynine Palms, California, and soon that base will be expanded. 

But before that happens hundreds of little desert tortoises need to be moved, and it's even been given a code name: Operation Desert Tortoise.  

We’ll talk about it with David Danelski the environmental and investigative reporter for the Press Enterprise. 

Tuesday Reviewsday: Kendrick Lamar and DAMN.

If you love music, but don't have the time to keep up with what's new, you should listen to Tuesday Reviewsday. 

Every week our critics join our hosts in the studio to talk about what you should be listening to in one short segment. This week A Martinez is joined by Oliver Wang -  music writer, scholar, and DJ.

Here are his picks:  

Kendrick teased everyone a few weeks back with a new album, his fourth, and now it’s here. Feels more introspective, more focused than To Pimp a Butterfly but no more ambitious in its scope and, especially, the lyrical craft. 

This is the latest from New York’s Joey Badass and I have to say, I was very pleasantly surprised by it. Joey built his early reputation on being a rapper trying to “bring New York back” to its glory days of the 1990s and while I get the appeal of that, sometimes, you could feel like he doth protesteth too much. But with this new album, there’s a striking maturation or evolution to his style, especially in putting together an effort that is so clearly politically charged in its character.

Listening to parts of this reminded me of Tupac in fact, not because Joey sounds like ‘Pac, but because of the particular social consciousness raising he’s doing here seems like it’s in conversation almost with similar approaches that Pac took back in the day. 

The song features Los Angeles’s own Tyler the Creator and as with his last song, “Chanel,” it’s not clear if these are just a bunch of one-off tracks or if Frank is plotting to drop a new album’s worth of material soon. But I have to say, going back to last year’s Blonde and these random songs he’s been floating in 2017 so far, if he’s got something new under his sleeve, that’d be such a gift. Now how can we get Frank and Kendrick to record an album together?