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Bridging the Gap: Between Generations, Acceptance & Self-Identity, And Across Integration & Cultural Differences

The 2010 Multicultural Youth Health and Well Being Conference. It’s quite the mouthful, but the title says it all!

The Southern Alberta Child & Youth Health Network (so many long names!) in collaboration with multicultural youth and youth organizations have been working hard to prepare for you the 3rd MYHWBC!

This year, the conference will be held at the Hyatt Regency downtown on May 1, 2010 from 9:00am – 7:00pm. The total cost is only $10! This includes lunch, snacks, and all of the amazing programs and prizes that are in store (NOTE: subsidies are available upon request).

Our keynote speakers will be John Duwana and Ajang Bul–they will address the universal strength of youth, inspire with their stories of hope and determination, and empower youth to overcome every obstacle they meet.

There will be two workshop sessions during the day, a dance and game console party and door prizes! You won’t want to miss out!

If you would like to attend, you MUST register.

Please contact Linda Kongnetiman at 403-955-7742 or at Linda.Kongnetiman@albertahealthservices.ca

Welcome back to Perspective! Not that you’ve got all those confusing settings on your camera all worked out, it’s time to put them to work!

As counterintuitive as it may sound, taking something away from a picture is not always a bad thing.  Today, we’re taking away the colour.  Yes, all of it.  Black and white photography can be quite dramatic (such as the famously powerful and disturbing photo after the jump from the Vietnam War taken by photographer Nick Ut, which won him a Pulitzer Prize), and many great and renowned pictures were taken in this colour-less format.  Take a look:

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On with my adventures at the Vancouver 2010 Olympics…

We climbed 260 stairs to get to our seats in the bleachers.

Tuesday, February 16th was a day I will not soon forget.  First we took the Sky Train and Sea Bus, but we’ve already discussed my love for public transport enough. The shuttles getting up to Cypress Mountain for the day were very fast and I was very impressed with how well things were organized with for transporting of thousands of people and athletes. 

However, once we got up the mountain the weather took a turn for the worst and of course it started to rain.  Complete downpour.  And thousands of people had no where to hide from the rain – the only available coverage for spectators were two tents, each probably the size of your kitchen. After the rain though, the Women’s Snowboard Cross event did not disappoint and neither did Canadian snowboarder Maelle Ricker!

Maelle Ricker sliding in for the gold!

The atmosphere was absolutely crazy once the semi-finals started.  Even before the gun would go off to signal the start of the race, everyone in the stands would be standing up, jumping around and screaming so loud!  (My voice kept cracking a lot.)  There were even those cheesy moments that you think only happen on television where you high five the random person sitting next to you because you are both just so excited.  Maelle Ricker took an early lead during the Big Final and I have never witnessed so much excitement as our Canadian girl took the gold.  It was absolutely crazy!  I was able to snap a photo of her coming to the finish, but it’s a little blurry from all the jumping.

Because of the rain, the snowboard cross event had been delayed so we had to rush back to GM Place to see the Victory Ceremony!  We were lucky enough to watch Canadian, Mike Robertson accept his silver medal for Men’s Snowboard Cross.  The crowd went absolutely nuts when they announced his name and he hopped up onto the podium and it made me even more excited for the following nights ceremony where Maelle Ricker would receive her Gold medal.

After all the winners had received their medals that night we were treated to a performance by The Barenaked Ladies who made several jokes on how the Opening Ceremony wasn’t THAT bad and the fact that Wayne Gretzky was there should have just made up for any technical glitches.

I hope everyone is feeling all this excitement at home too! GO CANADA GO!

…it’s really all any Canadian seems to have on his or her mind these days.  No doubt, most of the country  has spent the last few days watching Team Canada kick Germany and Russia’s butts in hockey at the Olympics and move on the semi-finals – one step closer to GOLD!

We love our amazing players like Luongo and Crosby of course, but where did all these wicked players come from?  They’ve been playing since they were kids and the majority of them played in the junior leagues at some point in their careers.  It’s great to recognize where all those great players started their careers as well as the hockey culture in Canada (and Calgary)…which is why Youth Are Awesome has decided to give away some hockey tickets!

The Calgary Hitmen hockey team is the awesome junior team in our city that plays in the Western Hockey League, and we want to give you the chance to go see them for free at the Saddledome!

The FIRST READER to call the Youth Are Awesome headquarters  at 403-266-5448 between 8:30am – 4:30pm over the next few days will win a pair of tickets to see some ridiculously fun hockey!

We’ll update as soon as we get a winner, but don’t be discouraged if you miss out – Youth Are Awesome will be doing many more giveaways and contests over the next few months…Happy Thursday everyone!

We’ve already told you about the cool festivals and events in March…but have you heard about the Calgary Kiwanis Music Festival?

Yes, as you may have guessed, the Calgary Kiwanis Music Festival is one of North America’s largest amateur competitive classical music festivals.  To put that into normal English?  The Kiwanis festival is a celebration of music and speech arts!

Close to 10,000 amateur musicians and speech arts performers have the opportunity to perform, compete for scholarships, listen to others, and be adjudicated by national and international adjudicators during this festival. The performers featured range from being 5 to 25 years old, and they will be (more…)

Higher Ground has had great success with its three-course vegetarian meals, and now the Calgary Downtown Association is teaming up with a list of the city’s top restaurants to provide three-course meals at a set rate from March 5th-14th.  Lunches will be served for either $15 or $25, and dinners for $25 or $35.  Although this might be a little pricey for most of our wallets, it’s a great opportunity to splurge a little bit for the opportunity to experience a higher-end restaurant at a discount.

Of the participating restaurants, Koi is one of my favourites.  They describe themselves as a “blend of passionate people pooling their skills to…support local people, art and culture,” and this shows in the small, intimate venue just off of 11th Ave on 1st Street S.W.  Koi offers local talent a space to showcase their skills by hosting open-mic nights, live DJs, and visual exhibits.  All this on top of their delectable vegetarian-based menu.

If the tight urban atmosphere isn’t your thing, there’s guaranteed to be something to suit your preferences on the Dine-Out list.  Either way, if you’re feeling adventurous this coming month and have some extra money to spend, try exploring one of our local culinary talents.

Have you ever wondered about how systematic news reports have always been?  You maybe bored out of your mind watching news reports on TV, or you may find it interesting — if so, I applaud you.  The one thing we can be certain of is that news reports are important and sort of part of our everyday lives.  It is one of the means, if not the only means, that connects our little world to the big world out there — knowing the world without being there.  Surely, you see news reports on everyday issues, but have you ever seen a news report on the news itself?  Confused yet?  Just watch the video to find out:

Now, you just watched the video of the day.  The next time you watch news report, you’ll know exactly what the news person is doing.  And, you might be surprised how much the news reports we seen every resemble what is described in the video.

The “Where It’s Art” series, until now, have focused mainly on visual art. Today, I’m branching out into another area of fine arts – music.  I’d like to introduce you to some artists that I feel have an extremely high talent:exposure ratio. Perhaps we can decrease it a little bit.

I’d like to start by focusing on 18 year-old Rachel Ferguson,  a young artist from Aylmer, Quebec,  a “small town across the river from Ottawa,” as she puts it.  Rachel has been singing since she was 10, and also plays the guitar. Voted CHUM Emerging Artist in June ‘08, Rachel, interestingly enough, writes her songs with her music producer Chris Landon over the Internet.  She writes the lyrics, he sends her the instrumental track via email, and she records the song at home before sending it back to him.  Quite the process!

About Her: Rachel is an Indie-Rock fan, but isn’t averse to catchy pop tunes.  She never leaves home without her iPod, which is full of playlists that include the likes of Blondie, The Killers, Black Rebel Motorcycle Club, Regina Spektor, Feist, Metric, and Juliette and the Licks. She also likes to mix in a little Avril Lavigne, Justin Timberlake, and Rihanna.

About Her Music: Rachel’s influences include Avril Lavigne, Simple Plan and All American Rejects. Her style is pop/rock/powerpop. She has seven songs available to listen to on her MySpace page and they’ve been played over 3 MILLION times!  From rawer pieces like “Stronger Than You Think I Am,” and “Throw It Away,” to the simple, reassuring “Joshua,” Ferguson’s songs are full of emotion.  If you enjoy her songs, you can support her music by purchasing songs on rachelfergusonmusic.com.

My Opinion: The first song of Rachel’s that I listened to was “Never Good Enough”, which was on my top ten list for quite a while. Wanting more, I listened to her other available music. While all keeping the same depth and focus, her songs are varied and genuine. I love the beat of her songs and admire the amount of emotion that she manages to inject into them.

We all have at some point in our lives experienced or been in a situation that is uncomfortable and downright awkward; some more than others, unfortunately.  Ever wonder to yourself why these kinds of embarrassing moments seem to only happen to you? Don’t worry.

It’s not ‘just you.’

You may have seen the hand gesture or heard the expression ‘awkward turtle’ used to describe an awkward moment. The people at Awkwardturtle feel the same way.  The concept of the website is similar to other well known websites such FMyLife, where people can post and share their stories. The readers can comment and vote: ‘Awkward turtle, or ‘It happens’ for each story. There is also a photo gallery where you can catch a glimpse of an ‘awkward turtle’ moment.

Why is it a turtle instead of a monkey, hippo, giraffe..etc? I don’t know.  Maybe it is because turtles are cute and sometimes wobbly on their legs when they walk making them prone to get in embarrassing situations. Or it’s simply just fun to put your hands on top of the other with your thumbs sticking outward and rotating forward.

(Quick Tip: Sometimes in a situation saying ‘awkward turtle!’ may in fact make things less awkward!  Best thing to do is laugh it off and don’t stress about it, after all this happens to everyone.)

Cheers! =D

Every now and then we receive some cool research opportunities from the University of Calgary.  We try to help out and promote what they’re doing as they’re work is often connected to youth issues. This one passed by our email and relates to how youth connect with counsellor’s.  Have a read:

Adolescents between the ages of 14 and 16 are needed to participate in a study exploring the relationship between counsellors and adolescent clients. Most of the information on the counselling relationship is from the adult counsellor’s perspective and it is very important that we understand this relationship from the adolescent’s point of view. Therefore, this study requires the following of its participants:

1. To attend a free, 30 minute, one-on-one counselling session with a PhD counselling student (supervised by a registered psychologist) on the topic of career paths, study skills, and/or exam preparation. This session will be videotaped and used in the next part to the study.

2. Participants will review the video tape with the researcher and use it as a talking point to discuss their engagement in counselling and the working relationship with their counsellor. This should take approximately one hour.

3. Once the researcher has reviewed and analyzed the information across the individual sessions and conversations, the researcher will email each participant the themes found in relation to adolescent engagement in counselling. Participants are asked to respond to the email within 2 weeks and comment on how that information fits with their experience.

Participants can express interest or withdraw from the study at any time without consequence. For more information or to sign up as a participant, please contact Chantelle Quesnelle, at the University of Calgary: c/o 403-606-5206, or clquesne@ucalgary.ca

“They were getting more and more interested in unusual sounds, they were trying out new instruments and always coming to me saying, what, what ideas have you got for this.” – George Martin, Music Producer for the Beatles

1965 is the year that The Beatles really came out of their previous genre of music and began to experiment with new, different and sometimes even counter-culture music.  The group was also now starting to mature as a band and this can especially be seen  in their lyrics.  In June of 1965, Queen Elizabeth II appointed the Beatles Members of the Order of the British Empire for their musical achievements.

Help! was the second Beatles film. It reached mixed reviews from both the reviewers and the band.  It was, however, a great success overall. The album that accompanied the film, Help!, was dominated by John Lennon’s contribution. Songs such as “Help!” and Yesterday received great responses.  The song ”Dizzy Miss Lizzy” on this album also marked the last cover that the Beatles would do on an album, as full blown of originality began.

In August of 1965, the Beatles found themselves touring in the US for the third time.  The Fab Four were introduced to Elvis Presley, a foundational musical influence on them, and were even invited to his home!

Rubber Soul, the last album of the year, was released in early December.  This was seen as a major step towards  complexity and maturity in their music.  It could be seen in “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown),” the Beatles moved beyond the boundaries of rock. Rubber Soul was ranked number five in 2003 on Rolling Stone The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.  Overall, the Beatles expanded the limits of their music dramatically in 1965, testing out  new instruments, and more complex and richer lyrics, which of course contributes to them being regarded as one of the greatest band of all times.

Here’s Yesterday from their album Help!. The most recorded cover versions of any song ever written!

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You can check out the rest of my series on the Beatles here on Youth Are Awesome!

Own the Podium? More like Blown the Podium.

To date in the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, Canada has 10 medals overall, 5 of them gold, placing 4th overall in medal standings. The USA? 25 medals, 9 of them gold.

Canada’s plan was to have the most medals overall in the Olympics. Instead, they watch helplessly as the USA and Germany run away with the race. They conceded defeat and admitted that they would never catch the Americans.

How about Canada’s other slogan: “Let’s Show Them Whose Game  They’re Playing!” Sunday, as most of us watched, Canada’s men’s hockey team lost 5-3 to a young United States team, adding insult to injury.  The Canadians now might have to beat Russia just to make it to the semifinals.  Disappointing news for many Canadians, who were looking forward to a much more golden finish.

It seems like Canadians all over the country are disappointed with their athletes’ competitiveness.  However, the athletes cannot be held fully to blame.  The pressure to succeed and bring home medals cannot be easy to bear.  But, after injecting twice as much money as the US into their national athlete program, more than $110 million dollars, we all expected a little better.

Let’s show them whose game they’re playing? Looks like the USA is showing Canada whose Olympics it really is.

What do you think of Canada’s showing at the Olympics so far?  How about the Own the Podium program?  Leave your thoughts in the Comment section below.

I’m blogging once again about the cool holidays, but this time, for March – a month that isn’t just known for St. Patrick’s Day.  Interestingly, March is National Noodle, Nutrition, and Frozen Food Month.   Check out the dates in March below to see the cool holidays and events.

March 1st – National Pig Day, Peanut Butter Lover’s Day, Share a Smile Day
March 4th – National Poundcake Day
March 5th – Multiple Personalities Day
March 6th – Dentist Day
March 8th – Working Women’s Day
March 9th – No Smoking Day, Panic Day
March 12th – Girl Scout Day
March 14th – Pi Day, Potato Chip Day
March 16th – Everything You Do Is Right Day
March 17th – St. Patrick’s Day, Submarine Day
March 21st – Children’s Poetry Day, National Teenagers Day, Single Parents’ Day
March 22nd – National Goof-off Day, National Sing-Out Day
March 24th – Chocolate Covered Raisin Day
March 26th – Make Up Your Own Holiday Day
March 27th – National “Joe” Day
March 28th – Something on a Stick Day
March 30th – Doctor’s Day
March 31st – Tater Day

So, look forward to March and have fun with these interesting and crazy holidays!

OK, pause, and rip yourself away from the Olympics for just one second.  Fact or Fiction: Cow-Town-Calgary has no appreciation for the arts.  Answer?  Fiction!  Now, sure, we’re no New York, New York, but Calgary has its fair share of haute-art opportunities.  This upcoming weekend, on the 26th and 27th, Calgary is gearing up to be a prime example of some of our city’s prime creative juices.

Friday the 26^th and Saturday the 27^th is the ArtaWEARness event put on by the Alberta College of Art and Design (ACAD).  Let’s all pull out our checklist for events worth digging into our moth-bearing wallets to see.  Does it/is it:

1)      showcase something awesome

2)      provoke your interest

3)      have meaning of some form or another

Bonus points:

4)      involve local youth

5)      affordable and accesible

The ArtaWEARness event fulfills ALL of these criteria – and more.  Essentially, and I can not put it in better words, it is a college of crazy spewing from some of the most artistic, analytical, sleep-deprived minds in our city – the students of ACAD.  Everything from sculpture to recycled material to metal working is somehow transfigured into avant-garde pieces that strut down a runway.  Really, it’s better to not try and explain the genius that is birthed out of this. So, I’ll show you an example:

Lydia Karpenko’s collection from last year’s event took place in a not-too-distant future where environmental pollution has become extremely toxic to all living things.  All humans that populate this world must wear biohazard/containment clothing that protects them from their polluted surroundings.  People have adapted their technological research and developed an extremely effective protection “suit” in the form of a living, fungus-like organism.  This organism consumes atmospheric pollution and excretes oxygen as its byproduct.  By entering into symbiotic relationship with the organism, the human is fully protected from environmental toxicity.  The result, human hosts become hybrid organisms or bio-cyborgs that have successfully adapted to their natural habitat.

The pictures are her creations. Mark the dates – this Friday and Saturday at 8pm – on your calendar. Standing tickets are only 15$ (seated is 25$) and ACAD is right off the C-train.  Want more information? See the website!

I won’t be here for it this year, but I wish I had known about it earlier.  Certainly, this is an awesome, youth-showcasing event in the city that should not be missed!

As you may have seen, I’m still exploring authors who’s work I’ve never read before.  Read on to find out what I thought of the latest novel…

If you are looking for a cheerful, light hearted story, It’s Kind of  a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini is not what you’re looking for.  Here’s a quote to prove my point “It’s so hard to talk when you want to kill yourself.”   The author uses lines like this in the beginning of the novel to capture the reader’s attention, but I believe such lines may have created a feeling of hopelessness and caused readers to give up on the novel.

However, the novel covers a very important topic for teenagers today.  This is a story that explorers teenage depression through the eyes of a severely depressed teenager.  The novel is shockingly realistic in its interpretation of depression and teenage mentality.  Yet it manages to still be quite funny, which makes the book a less painful read. This is the first novel I’ve read that so openly discusses depression.

Basically, our depressed protagonist (Craig) chooses to seek help over suicide.   As a result, he finds himself in a mental hospital.  And, like in all great teen novels, the plot twist leads to self discovery and newfound love.

I would recommend this novel to readers 15 and older. I give this novel a 4/5.