BackTalk with Becca

John Gregg &

If you like history, we've found just the ticket and it's free! This is Us recently visited History Park where you can take a big step back in time and emerge in San Jose-1890. Many of the 27 buildings you'll see there are authentic, historic structures, moved to the park for preservation. A few have been replicated. The effect is fascinating.

You can stroll through the "town" or ride, in 1890's style, on the old San Jose trolley. When you get tired, take a seat in O'Brien's Candy Factory or watch the squirrels play from a park bench in the plaza.

The antique buildings are just the beginning. Docents, portraying people from the past, can be found in the print shop, the one room school house, theDashaway Stables even the doctor's office. We were able to interview many of these characters for upcoming episodes of This is Us including Charlie Parkhurst, the colorful stagecoach driver (pictured above), who drove between San Jose and Santa Cruz. Join This is Us for backdoor tours of History Park on March 10th & 17th.

Tonight at 6:30 PM: This is Us visits the Mission at San Juan Baustista and takes a look behind the scenes of one of California’s best kept treasures. Archaeologist, Dr. Ruben Mendoza gives me a special tour of of the "Mission of Music" that includes the River of Life and just a touch of Indiana Jones and the Secret of the Illumination.

This is Us also profiles famed play write and noted film director Luis Valdez, the creator of Zoot Suit and the highly acclaimed film La Bamba. The father of Mexican American Theater and El Teatro Campesino, Valdez reveals his journey from migrant farm worker to Hollywood fame.

Along the way, you'll also meet San Jose's Greg Smestad, an 8th generation Californio, who's family forged the Anza Trail. If California history and the story behind the story gets your attention, well, we’ve got just the ticket for you with another episode of This Is Us.
In case you are double booked, you can see it again on Saturday 2/20 at 1:30 p.m.

Here's a sneak peek!

Betty Soskin, U.S. Park Service Ranger

Last night This is Us presented the remarkable stories of 4 local African-Americans from the deck of the USS Hornet. Featured on the program were Tuskegee Airman, Les Williams; U.S. Park Ranger, Betty Soskin and Sudanese refugees, Simon Deng and Peter Nyok.

There was also lot's of Hornet history from COO & Education officer, Pete Sutherland who
showed viewers the historic aircraft and spacecraft housed there including an Apollo space capsule.

If you missed it last night, you can see it on Saturday 2/6 at 1:30 p.m. or on Sunday 2/7 at 5:30 p.m.

Wednesday February 10, you can learn the secrets of making great chocolate confections from one of the best chocolatiers in the world. Richard Donnelley invited This is Is into his fragrant candy kitchen and showed us how he does it. Here's a clip:

For the rest of the recipe, join us February 10th at 6:30 on KTEH 54 / Comcast 10.

Tonight, This is Us comes to you from the Santa Cruz studio of Susanna Arias. The internationally known artist lights up a torch and gives us a demonstration of encaustic painting - a technique involving fire and wax.

Also on the show, local diva, Irene Dalis; ballerina, Karen Gabay and P.J. and Roy Hirabayashi of San Jose Taiko.

Here's a clip of Susanna at work - not with a torch, though. For that you have to watch tonight at 6:30 PM, channel 54 or Comcast 10.

Last weekend the crew and I shot an episode of This is Us from the North American Cup, a fencing tournament held at the San Jose convention center. 1300 fencers were there to compete including members of the US Olympic team.

Local fencers, Mark Wheeler and Mark Hannah, of the Fencing Center of San Jose, were our guides into the world of fencing. Here's a sneak peek from the show:

You can see the full show on Wednesday evening , February 24 at 6:30.

S V Leadership Group members gather at Brocade's Future Home

Mayor Reed and I…..and about 60 other members of the Silicon Valley Leadership Group met for lunch at 95 Headquarters Dr. That address is home to Brocade's new corporate campus. It's so new, it's not complete.

As the building is under construction, we were led to the 7th floor by construction workers in hard hats. A delightful Lunch was served in black lunch pails. We ate a tables draped with red cloths that contrasted nicely with the bare aluminum frame work for future walls. The heating system is also in the future. The thermos of hot tomato soup was the most popular item in the lunch pail.

The get-together kicked-off Mayor Reed's reelection campaign. Reed spoke the need for improved schools, improvement in transportation and transparency in government. He spoke about San Jose's future and his desire that San Jose remain the capital of Silicon Valley and Silicon Valley be the capitol of innovation.

At first the shell of a building seemed an odd setting for a luncheon but as I made my way out through the construction zone, I saw what I hoped was also in the future - people at work.

Crew shooting aboard U.S.S. Hornet

This season we'll be bringing you the show from locations all over the South Bay and central coast.
Last week we shot parts of a show aboard the U.S.S. Hornet. COO & Education officer, Pete Sutherland
showed us the historic aircraft housed there including one of the helicopters that recovered astronauts
returning from space. (Remember the "splash down" days, when they used to just fall from the sky into the ocean?)

The Hornet was the aircraft carrier that retrieved Neil Armstrong from the water when he returned from his moon walk. ( Click here to see a video about the navigator that piloted the ship that day.) You can revisit the scene including a helicopter, space capsule and one of the classic Airstream trailers that served as a sort of contamination chamber for the astronauts. There are even footprints painted on the floor where Neil Armstrong stepped on his way from the helicopter to the Airstream.

If you can't make it to Alameda, where the ship turned museum is docked, watch This is Us on Wednesday night February 3rd at 6:30. You'll get a good look at the Hornet and meet a Tuskegee Airman.

This Commodore Computer pin is one of the most recent submission to our "Net@40″ virtual scavenger hunt for internet related memorabilia. If you have something really rare, the Computer History Museum may invite you to add it to their collection - you could have a cool plaque with your name on it at the CHM!
Take a look at some of the other photos here.

San Jose State Students Prepare to shoot Equal Time

The station was buzzing with activity this morning as San Jose State Broadcast Journalism students prepared to shoot a pilot episode for their new program Equal Time. Led by their professor, Diane Guerazzi, the students ran the cameras and control room with ease.

Equal Time is a half-hour current affairs show. Reports from the field show viewers 2 sides of the same issue then both sides come to the table for a discussion moderated by SJS Professor, Bob Rucker, formerly of CNN.