By Kurt Schawacker and Daniel Lewis

May 8th, 2013 – C-SPAN’s Matthew McGuire visited La Quinta High School to talk to students about the media giant and how it is reaching out to communities across the country. The network visited the Coachella Valley in an effort to highlight the region’s historical background and relevance on a national level. C-SPAN will be creating a number of public education videos to emphasis the history, culture, and issues here in our local area and broadcast them on their network to the rest of the country. These pieces will be airing this summer on C-SPAN 3 in ten-minute shorts throughout the summer.

La Quinta High School is the only high school in the valley that C-SPAN selected in their tour of the country. During McGuire’s visit to La Quinta High School, he sat down with students to highlight the importance of using multiple outlets for sources of news and to educate students about C-SPAN’s importance in covering the daily operations of government. McGuire also explained how C-SPAN covers the multifaceted aspects of our federal government with C-SPAN 1, 2 , and 3.

La Quinta High School government and economics teacher Susan Kennedy asked, “Are voting archives available from C-SPAN?” In fact, C-SPAN’s online archive dates as far back as 1986, unabridged, unedited, and unfiltered for free public access. The network prides itself on being a primary source for access to government issues and topics that concern Americans . Marcy Herrera, media production teacher and yearbook adviser at LQHS asked, “How can students use C-SPAN for research?” Matthew McGuire explained that the network has a number of student outreach programs on their website.

Having C-SPAN select La Quinta High School as the only school in the Valley was an amazing experience for all the students who attended the presentation. Overall, it was an honor for C-SPAN to have selected the Coachella Valley as an important historical location in America.

By Isabella Houg

On Saturday, February 9at 4:30 pm, The Renaissance Esmeralda continued the H.N. and Frances C. Berger Foundation events by introducing the founder of TheDailyBeast.com, renowned editor and best-selling author, Tina Brown. The event began with a panel of local females working for news stations such as KESQ and KMIR6 discussing the process to becoming journalists.

At 5:00, Tina Brown was then introduced to the youth ambassadors’ audience. Rather than beginning with her life story, she held a brief Q&A session for the various students who attended. Brown began by saying that the most fundamental aspect of journalism is to ask questions. LQHS reporter Emily Pierce (12) began by asking the question regarding her now online newspaper, Newsweek, “What is your opinion on the transition from print media to digital media?” Brown responded, “It takes $42,000,000 a week to print newspapers and since beginning my transition to online print, several hundred thousand digital readers have already joined.”

Brown ended the Q&A session by giving aspiring journalists a few pieces of advice: “Start and do your own things; be as fierce as your questions, and if you don’t have a budget, get yourself a point of view, because it doesn’t cost anything.”

Once the Q&A portion ended, a select few from each school were chosen to attend Brown’s main lecture seating 1,600 people and the 5 star dinner following. Brown began the lecture by touching on everything that has happened in her life from the start of her career to where she is today.

Brown’s career began over twenty years ago working for Vanity Fair and The New Yorker. Working for Vanity Fair in the mid-1980s, the renegade editor faced obstacles in finding advertising for the magazine. Demi Moore stirred controversy by shooting in the nude while pregnant. Brown even persuaded the actress to approve the use of the photos on the front cover. Soon after, Vanity Fair was on top of the charts.

In 1992, Brown went to work at the prestigious literary magazine, The New Yorker. In this male-dominated workplace, Brown became the first woman editor and proceeded to change the hostile environment by hiring new staff, revamping the format to be more user-friendly and basically taking charge. Since then, she has transitioned from print media to her new prized possession: online media. Starting her online newspaper, The Daily Beast in 2008, she is now allowed to combine news and magazine stories that can be updated anytime. Brown ended the lecture urging people to follow their dreams and always chase what they desire.

By Sarah Enoki

Famed American neurosurgeon and journalist Sanjay Gupta came to the Coachella Valley to lead off the Desert Town Hall Speaker Series on January 29. Students from across the desert were selected to attend the lecture through the Youth Ambassador Program at the Renaissance Esmeralda Hotel.

Gupta began his speech to the students at 5:00 p.m. with a few biographical facts about himself. He stressed the importance of school and based part of his speech around the question, “What really motivates you?” At the end of his address to the students, the group was able to ask the doctor questions about things regarding his life and career. During the Q & A, Gupta spoke about how he became fascinated with learning new skills and how he began integrating media with medicine.

After the youth meeting, Gupta moved into the main lecture hall where he spoke in front of a large crowd while the students stayed and watched a live feed on a screen in a room nearby. During the presentation, Gupta spoke more in-depth about health issues in the country such as obesity and hypertension. “In ten years, one out of three people will be diagnosed with diabetes,” claimed Gupta. The doctor also spoke about the brain itself and the cause behind depression in today’s society. “Our brains are continuously changing,” he shared, “We need to probe the brain more deeply than ever before. The brain interprets the world.”

After Gupta concluded his main lecture, the students held a group discussion involving some of the main points of the speech. “Things in our lives can be difficult and challenging, but overall, they can change us for the better and make us better individuals,” commented Jessica May (11) on how a specific person can create an impact on your life.

Once the group discussion was over, a few select students were invited to eat the extravagant dinner the Esmeralda provides for the main lecture attendees. La Quinta High School junior, Brooke Mekemson, was one of the lucky few who got the opportunity to dine at a table with Gupta himself. “I really enjoyed my time with him,” she commented, “I was able to contemplate my own desires and passions to go into the field of medicine.”

By Frida Escatell

With the arrival of Coachella Fest comes fake Coachella line-ups; some are easily identified as frauds and others just toy with your heart, but the hopes that Daft Punk and The Rolling Stones would headline were shattered into a million pieces on January 25 when the anxiously awaited line-up was released and the stressful quest for tickets began. Unless you were one of the smug bunch who pre-ordered your ‘Chella tickets and let everyone and their mother know, you spent Tuesday, January 29 wishing and waiting until 10 am to either jump with joy and relief or sob while emailing your teachers for the work you missed in class.

Either way you have come across the Coachella 2013 line-up and either wept because of the lack of hip-hop/rap or praised the music gods because your favorite underground band will finally be coming to the dirty D.

This year’s headliners are The Stone Roses, Blur, Phoenix and The Red Hot Chili Peppers, who have left us with “Scar Tissue” because of their absence of ten years.

The line-up stretches from indie rock duo Tegan and Sara to rap lyricist Aesop Rock and the wonderful genres in between including Vampire Weekend, Trash Talk and Earl Sweatshirt from the rap collective group Odd Future.

What puzzles me the most is how and why 2 Chainz is attending this year or any year for that matter. I think we’ve heard enough about what he wants for his birthday and I would rather be protecting my neck during Wu Tang Clan but I digress. So if you’re enjoying the music covered in sweat surrounded by foreigners or jealously viewing from the Coachella Live Stream, we can all agree that Coachella will be as amazing, if not better, than past years.