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Life & Times Transcript
11/23/05 Val Zavala>> Tonight on Life and Times -- Los Angeles is known for breeding brutal gangs, but is the problem rooted in other countries? Alex Sanchez>> I've seen dead bodies and decapitated bodies in El Salvador when I was only five years old and I still remember those images. Val Zavala>> And then, cars with a mind of their own. These robot-driven vehicles are competing for some big money, but the real prize may be in saving lives. These stories and more next on tonight's Life and Times. Announcer>> Life and Times is made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Val Zavala>> You may think that gangs are only a problem in big inner cities, but then again, gangs have a way of spreading. In fact, one Los Angeles gang has now migrated to thirty-three states and its one hundred thousand members have even attracted the attention of the United States Congress. They call themselves MS 13. In a city with an estimated thirteen hundred gangs, MS 13 has managed to distinguish itself as one of the most vicious. Its members live in the Pico Union area just west of downtown Los Angeles. Police say they extort money from prostitutes and drug dealers and victimize residents and merchants, people like flower seller Susana Antillion. Susana Antillion>> At about eleven o'clock every night in my neighborhood, they gather together in cars and then they head out to graffiti different places, do robberies, assault people, break windows. It's a disaster, just a disaster. Val Zavala>> MS 13 was born twenty years ago here in Los Angeles, but its roots transcend borders and stretch down to Central America. In the 1980's, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Guatemala were plagued by civil wars. The wars created a wave of Central American refugees, many of them children who had witnessed horrific violence in their homelands. Officer Frank Flores is with the LAPD Anti-Gang Unit. Officer Frank Flores>> Most of these members come in from war-torn countries where, you know, killing was a regular occurrence. Violence, beating people up, stabbing people, seeing people die. I mean, they were desensitized, so when it came time for them to deal with rival gang members, I mean, their readiness to commit a violent act was nothing. It was second nature. Val Zavala>> The refugee immigrants settled in poor and crowded neighborhoods like Pico Union and Macarthur Park. Alex Sanchez>> There's about ten gangs in the one-mile area right here. Val Zavala>> Alex Sanchez was a member of MS 13. He now works with an anti-gang program called Homies Unidos. Today he's giving a tour to interns. Alex Sanchez>> I've seen dead bodies and decapitated bodies in El Salvador when I was only five years old and I still remember those images. Val Zavala>> He says many immigrants arrived in the United States with deep scars from the wars. Alex Sanchez>> Many of those peoples' parents were involved in the war either in the military or the guerilla, and they came fleeing that war into these communities, you know, where a lot of them were dealing with the trauma of war. Val Zavala>> Sanchez was recruited into MS 13 when he was only in junior high. It wasn't long before he was shot by a rival gang and later imprisoned for car theft and weapons possession. Alex Sanchez>> So we're coming up on the mural. Val Zavala>> This mural depicts the brutal rivalry between the Eighteenth Street gang and MS 13. Eighteenth Street is a mostly Mexican-American gang who resented the Central American newcomers. The violence between the gangs escalated, fueled by drugs, money and guns. In the late 1990's, the LAPD launched a crackdown on gangs. Prosecutors obtained injunctions that prohibited gang members from gathering in public. And as law enforcement turned up the heat, Central Americans, including MS 13 gang members, moved to other cities. It was a kind of Diaspora of violence. Officer Frank Flores>> They are so mobile and they are so easy -- I mean, it's easy for them to travel, especially when you have other cities with cliques and you're able to go and find friendly faces and hide out within those communities as well. Val Zavala>> Even as far as Virginia. This is a surveillance tape taken by police in northern Virginia. It's the MS 13 gang. They're taking retribution on a fellow gang member who stepped out of bounds. Rep. J. Randy Forbes>> This particular tape was taken in one of the most affluent areas in northern Virginia. It was out in daylight in a public park and it shows the brutality that these gangs have. This is activity they were doing to their own members in terms of disciplining those members. Val Zavala>> Virginia Congressman J. Randy Forbes is author of a Gangbuster's Bill, which passed the House. Rep. J. Randy Forbes>> They're cutting off peoples' heads. They're cutting off their fingers. They're cutting off their arms. Val Zavala>> In 2003, a seventeen year old pregnant Virginia girl was murdered. She had become an informant against MS 13. They stabbed her sixteen times and left her body on the banks of a river. Her murder is what prompted Congressman Forbes' anti-gang bill. Rep. J. Randy Forbes>> After 9/11, our focus was on terrorism and homeland security and we did lose our focus a little bit on what was taking place with this huge rise of gang activity within our own midst. Val Zavala>> In the late 1990's, the federal government stepped in and started deporting gang members who had committed crimes and were in the United States illegally. Sanchez himself was arrested and nearly deported until the INS made an exception, gave him amnesty and allowed him to continue his work against gang violence. >> "All right, so the first question, I am asking you to define your self-esteem." Alex Sanchez>> You know, you still have kids joining gangs as small as junior high and you have kids that are in elementary school already knowing, you know, the gang structure and already knowing about gangs. Val Zavala>> Alex Sanchez has made the transition to peacemaker and the civil wars in Central America have come to an end. Now the question is whether peace can come to gang territories on the streets of Los Angeles. Announcer>> Kcet.org is the place to look for the very latest on Life and Times. You'll find previews of upcoming stories, transcripts and audio of past episodes and links to some of our most interesting features. Just go to kcet.org and click on "Life and Times". Val Zavala>> Have you ever been stuck in traffic just wishing you could take your hands off the wheel, close your eyes, kick back and let your car do the driving? Well, that day may be in our future. Recently, an amazing race took place among more than twenty cars, all of which had one thing in common: no driver. Roger Cooper explains. Roger Cooper>> Emerging from a garage in Irvine, a very strange vehicle with no steering wheel. Behold CyberRider. It was built by a team of Orange County volunteers who put in tens of thousands of their hours on weekends and nights in hopes of winning a two million dollar prize. CyberRider is a robot capable of driving itself. It can follow a course and avoid obstacles in its path with no human on board and no remote control. The leader of this Orange County team is a cigar-chomping engineer named Ivar Schoenmeyr. Ivar Schoenmeyr>> You can look at it as the Olympics for geeks. Clark Dwinell>> Getting this thing to run from point A to point B and, oh, by the way, you've got to stay on a road that curves and you've got to look out for rocks and bears and cows and other automobiles. That's pretty much of a big challenge. Roger Cooper>> Team CyberRider is here at the California Speedway in Fontana to compete in the Second DARPA Grand Challenge. A two million dollar prize is put up for the first vehicle that can travel a 123-mile course through the Nevada desert all by itself. In garages normally inhabited by NASCAR racing teams now sit geeks with laptops. Robots have been entered by teams representing the best robotic programs in the nation including Caltech, Stanford and Carnegie Mellon led by Red Whittaker. Red Whittaker>> The vehicle that we're looking at now has run Grand Challenge difficulties for Grand Challenge duration at Grand Challenge pace and hits it every time. That's completely irrelevant because all that matters is what happens on race day and that's a crap shoot. Roger Cooper>> One of the most interesting things about this challenge is the way the teams approach it. Everyone is given the exact same problems, but they come up with an amazing variety of strange-looking vehicles. Some are modified cars and trucks right from the show room floor. Others look like they've come from another planet. Some teams think having lots of wheels is the way to go. Others think the more sensors on board, the better. Some think small and some think huge. This is TerraMax from Oshkosh, Wisconsin, the biggest competitor here. And then there's the robotic motorcycle which retracts its robot training wheels as it gets underway and runs along on two tires. The two million dollar prize has been put up by a branch of the Defense Department known as DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Project Agency. It's done in an effort to spur development of robot vehicles that could have application on the battlefield. A former Orange Countian, Dr. Tony Tether, is Director of DARPA. Dr. Tony Tether>> It's been in existence almost fifty years now. It was created by President Eisenhower because of Sputnik. The country at that time was embarrassed that the Russians beat us into space and, when President Eisenhower had his equivalent 9/11 commission forensics, he found there was no reason why we didn't go into space first. It just wasn't on anybody's really priority list, so he created an organization to never let that happen again, an organization who looked into the future, who did things that, if they could be done, had great probabilities, but the probability of those things actually being done was small. That's what DARPA is and that's what DARPA does. [Film Clip] Roger Cooper>> The robot vehicles are able to find their way and avoid obstacles using a combination of GPS, lasers, radar and video cameras. Ivar Schoenmeyr>> And since it's a stereo camera, it gives us a depth perception. It's like two eyes. You can actually determine the distance of things. >> "And this window here, when you see yellow spots or red spots, those are obstacles that the car needs to avoid. It sees it as an obstacle, but we couldn't steer around it. It was in the middle. We were indecisive. Go to left, go to right, we didn't know what to do." Roger Cooper>> So you crashed. >> "So we crashed and we popped the trunk." >> "And we popped the trunk." Roger Cooper>> The Defense Department thinks robot vehicles could save military lives. Dr. Tony Tether>> We have convoys traveling all the time in Iraq bringing food, water, ammunition, and those convoys are targets. If we could find some way to have the convoys drive themselves -- Clark Dwinell>> And if they get blown up, we've blown up some rubber and tin and metal and we're not wasting any more Marines. Roger Cooper>> As robots try to navigate the two and a half mile speedway course and qualify for the main event in the desert, it became clear that things can go wrong and our camera was rolling when a bot called Tommy lost its robot mind and started speeding up into the tunnel. [Film Clip] Roger Cooper>> No one was hurt but Tommy. Ivar Schoenmeyr>> Now the first time around, we probably got twenty feet. The second time around, we hit a wall. The car seems to have an affinity for a concrete wall down there. Roger Cooper>> Unfortunately, the Orange County team just missed the cut to move on to the two million dollar race in the desert. The two million dollar prize? You going to be writing a check this year? Dr. Tony Tether>> You know what? I think I will. I really think I will. The only problem we're going to have is that we may have more than one vehicle get there and it's just too bad that we only have one two million dollar check. Roger Cooper>> Just into daybreak the following Saturday outside Primm, Nevada, the remaining robots were released at several minute intervals to take on the 123-mile obstacle course through the desert. Again, no outside control allowed. At last year's DARPA Grand Challenge, no robot made it past seven miles. But it was clear from the start this year that lots of robots were ready to rumble. Even so, one candidate appeared poised to make history as the first robot to be cited for driving under the influence. [Film Clip] Red Whittaker>> It can go right, it can go wrong. It's racing. Roger Cooper>> This year in the desert, five robotic vehicles actually completed the entire 123-mile course led by Stanford, which won the two million dollar prize. Carnegie Mellon's two red robots came in just behind. Dr. Tony Tether>> It's going to impact all our lives. Farmers will use this for basically plowing fields. Red Whittaker>> Groups of combines cut the wheat fields, groups of driverless machines that go on to do the work of the world. Dr. Tony Tether>> So what we were able to do is tap in to the intellect of the country and actually get the people who are high IQ's, garage mechanics, calibration mechanics, all came out and gave this a try. Red Whittaker>> Which, once started, will never go back into the bottle. Roger Cooper>> I've got one final question. I want you to give me an honest answer. Dr. Tony Tether>> Sure, okay. Roger Cooper>> You're doing this because it's fun. Dr. Tony Tether>> You know what? That's right (laughter). I am. I really am. Roger Cooper>> And so you can mark it down. 2005, the year the Grand Challenge was met. In Orange County, I'm Roger Cooper for Life and Times. Announcer>> To send a comment or a question to our program, you can reach us by mail at this address: Life and Times 4401 Sunset Blvd. Los Angeles, California 90027 You can also call our viewer comment line (323) 953-5555) or contact us the fast way by e-mail at kcet.org. Val Zavala>> He's one of the busiest composers in Hollywood. He is Danny Elfman and you know his work. He wrote the theme for "The Simpsons" and the music for Tim Burton movies. But he didn't just spring into the movie business. He went through an evolution of sorts. Vicki Curry visits with Danny Elfman at his studio in Hancock Park. [Film Clip] Vicki Curry>> He's one of Hollywood's best known film composers. [Film Clip] Vicki Curry>> And a New Wave rocker. [Film Clip] Vicki Curry>> Danny Elfman has scored big in the music industry especially when you consider he has no formal training. Danny Elfman>> I tried taking piano lessons and I just hated it. I remember applying for a position of trombone in my elementary school band and was told my arms were too short (laughter) and I never asked again, so that ended it. Vicki Curry>> Fortunately for his fans, that didn't end it. Danny Elfman>> It's very bizarre that what I ended up doing was something that I never dreamed of doing, but I learned that it was something that I could do. Vicki Curry>> Elfman is a Los Angeles native born and raised in the Crenshaw District. He says, as a kid, he was a movie brat. Danny Elfman>> My parents weren't in the movie business, but I spent all my weekends in the movie theater here. I was a fan of film music until about the age of twelve and it was when I saw "The Day the Earth Stood Still". It was a Bernard Herrmann score and it was the first time I noticed film music and how much it moved me and that there was a name attached to it. Vicki Curry>> After graduating from University High School, Elfman set out on a trip around the world. His first stop was Paris where his big brother, Richard, was playing with an avant-garde theatrical troupe called "Le Grand Magic Circus". Danny Elfman>> And I'd been playing the violin for about four or five months and the director had walked in and heard me playing and I came out and he hired me. So I toured throughout France with this troupe as their fiddle player. Vicki Curry>> Eventually, Richard and Danny landed back in Los Angeles where they set out to recreate the "Magic Circus" with their own troupe, "The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo". [Film Clip] Danny Elfman>> And for a number of years, I earned my living playing on the streets. I picked up trombone. I had a lot of instruments of percussion I'd brought back from Africa. I learned how to blow fire and, you know, it was a raucous street show. I started writing music and I started listening and doing transcriptions. I taught myself to notate, trying to write down Duke Ellington arrangements from old records. I would listen and I wanted the arrangements to be perfect. [Film Clip] Danny Elfman>> Then I started writing my own compositions which got more ambitious. Vicki Curry>> Richard decided to make a movie based on the performances of the Mystic Knights, giving Danny the chance to score his first film. Meanwhile, Danny was starting to reshape the Mystic Knights into the rock band, Oingo Boingo. Danny Elfman>> I heard Ska music out of England in the late 1970's, the Specials, a group called Madness, Selector, and it completely turned me around overnight. I wanted to be a Ska band. [Film Clip] Vicki Curry>> Oingo Boingo quickly built a loyal west coast following after Los Angeles radio station K-Rock started playing their song, "Only a Lad". [Film Clip] Vicki Curry>> In 1985, the silver screen beckoned Elfman again when director, John Hughes, asked Oingo Boingo to write the title song for his movie, "Weird Science". It was around this time that Elfman met filmmaker, Tim Burton, and the two developed a collaboration that continues today. Their first movie together? "Pee Wee's Big Adventure". [Film Clip] Danny Elfman>> I loved it because I was like a fan getting pulled into the sport and, on that film, I learned timing and how to make things fall just where I wanted and I learned I had a real good sense of timing, you know, music image and making things catch just how I wanted to. [Film Clip] Danny Elfman>> It was just a lucky break. It was my first real lucky break because, unlike anything that had happened to me previously, it immediately opened a lot of doors. Vicki Curry>> Elfman went through those doors and never looked back. He has since scored over fifty films. Danny Elfman>> I'm hungry to write for orchestra more and I'm taking all kinds of films. [Film Clip] Danny Elfman>> Then Tim comes up with "Batman". Now it's my tenth film and now I have the confidence to approach it kind of. [Film Clip] Danny Elfman>> So each of these films is then opening more doors because now I'm getting fantasy films, thank God. It's about doing quirky comedies a little bit and now I'm doing bigger, darker films, again thank God. You know, I can dig in a little more, and then "Edward Scissorhands". Well, now maybe something a little more romantic. [Film Clip] Danny Elfman>> My education was right there. I would say those first fifteen scores between "Pee Wee's Big Adventure" and "Edward Scissorhands". Vicki Curry>> But one of Elfman's best known works was for television. [Film Clip] Vicki Curry>> And for ten years, Elfman continued his first love: playing with Oingo Boingo. [Film Clip] Danny Elfman>> The band was starting to do well and I couldn't just abandon the band. That was a big part of my life. A while there, I actually did find a kind of balance because, whichever one I was doing, I longed to do the other one. Vicki Curry>> Elfman finally gave up the band in 1995 when he started to lose his hearing, but he's still able [inaudible] when Tim Burton needs songs in his films. [Film Clip] Danny Elfman>> I still love singing and doing that kind of stuff, just not on a stage in front of six thousand screaming people with monitors that are as loud as jet engines aiming at my head. Vicki Curry>> But scoring films is his main work these days, work that allows him to constantly challenge himself. [Film Clip] Danny Elfman>> There are moments where I felt like I did something beyond confident, like I did something well, and that feeling, I had to hold onto it. I said that's why I'm doing this. It's for these moments. [Film Clip] Val Zavala>> If you've got young children or grandchildren, you'll want to watch this next brief feature. It's about a garden designed specifically for youngsters. It's at The Huntington in San Marino. But one word of warning: once you take your children here, they'll be begging you to go back. Jim Folsom>> Hi. My name is Jim Folsom and I'm the Director of the gardens here at The Huntington in San Marino. We are right in the middle of our Children's Garden which has become a crucial part of what The Huntington represents to this community. [Film Clip] Jim Folsom>> We decided that the theme we would use for the Children's Garden is the same theme we used to teach about plants. That is, earth, air, fire and water. Earth, air, fire and water happens to be great things to young children. We're talking dirt, water, mud, wind. [Film Clip] Jim Folsom>> Now in earth, we have this wonderful feature. It's magnetic sand, the same black sand you'd put at the beach. We have piles of it and we put it in this basin with these two powerful magnets and children truly enjoy watching the magnetic sand do magical things. [Film Clip] Jim Folsom>> We have another feature which is the Rock Chimes. You drop pebbles through it and you get these great sounds. Behind us, to the south of the garden near the entrance, we wanted to make air visible, so what we did was create a Fog Grotto. About a minute and a half out of every three minutes, this whole cloud is created by a series of ninety-six nozzles under two thousand pounds of pressure. Earth and fire. What do you do about fire? You can't have flames for children, right? We interpreted sunlight as the spectrum. We have a crawl-through called the Rainbow Tunnel. We have refraction gratings on top and it casts rainbows inside. Incredibly popular. [Film Clip] Jim Folsom>> Well, that leaves the easiest thing in any children's garden, which is water. What we decided to do was create a water feature, but water features that children could engage in. You'll find it's these wonderful things called Water Bells. It's just these wonderful patterns of water that look like umbrellas and toadstools. You put your hand in it. It's dry on the inside and it's this sheet of water coming out. [Film Clip] Jim Folsom>> It's a complete integral experience that, for younger children, establishes the expectation of wonder in a natural world. It allows both the child and the parent or the grandparent these multi-generational experiences. It allows them all to ask questions and to seek answers together. So that's a perfect learning environment and it's something that carries from a garden to home and to other places. Val Zavala>> For more information on the Children's Garden at The Huntington, you can go to their website at huntington.org. And that's our program. I'm Val Zavala. For everyone at Life and Times, thanks for watching. We'll see you next time. Announcer>> Life and Times was made possible through the generous support of the L.K. Whittier Foundation dedicated to improving the quality of life by supporting innovative endeavors in the fields of medicine, health, science and education. And by a generous grant from Jim and Anne Rothenberg. Sponsored in part by:  | |
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