The BECA 580 class, now in Guatemala making a video for the women's weaving collective, Trama Textiles, has encountered some challenging shoots. This week, we captured typically Guatemalan marimba music at a music conservatory in Xela (the Mayan name for Quetzaltenango). A professor allowed us to record his students - and capture them on video. Imagine about 10 musicians, two large marimbas, a bass, maracas, a drum and a percussion instrument constructed from a turtle shell.

Lest you think the BECA 580 trip to Guatemala is all work and no play, consider what the students have been doing in their spare time. The first week we were in Guatemala, we climbed Pacaya, an active volcano. It was what might be described as a medium climb to Bay Area hikers. At the top of the mountain, we saw huge lava fields. We were able to walk out on the black, rough lava. In the distance, we saw several red hot spots. All of a sudden, one of these - about 100 feet from us - began to flow with red lava. As we watched, the lava became a flowing river!

When you are out on a shoot, how many languages do you use?

Nine students from BECA's Media in Community Service class are spending the month of June in Guatemala. The purpose of their trip is to make a video to serve the needs of a women's weaving collective in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala. Four hundred women in seventeen communities belong to the collective called "Trama Textiles." Each woman weaves cloth particular to the design of her native village. The cloth is then taken to the collective in Quetzaltenango, where it is sold, and the proceeds of the sale are returned to the women.

BECA Graduate Student Vidyut Latay, has been awarded the John Bauer Arts Administrative Scholarship and BECA Undergraduate Sean Horan is the 2008 recipient of the Wilbu