Youth Are Awesome, commonly referred to as YAA, is a blog written by youth for youth.
YAA provides the youth of Calgary a place to amplify their voices and perspectives on what is happening around them.
Youth Are Awesome is a program of Youth Central.
Any views or opinions expressed on this blog belong solely to the author and do not represent those of people or organizations that the blog may be associated with, unless explicitly stated. All content is for informational purposes only.
The great thing about a classic buttercream is that as long as you have an extract or concentrate in the flavour you want, you can make any icing you could possibly dream up. Lucky for me, One of the benefits of working in a restaurant is the little food items I get to take home; muffins, leftover cheesecake, and even root-beer concentrate.
Naturally, I had to make a root-beer buttercream, and to keep with the soda theme, I decided to make cherry coke cupcakes, adapted from Nigella Lawson’s recipe for cherry coke cake from “How to be a Domestic Goddess.” The cupcakes were rich- chocolatey cocoa in the batter perfectly complimenting the sticky sweetness of the cherry
Who can resist soda pop and cupcakes in one?
flavour. When done the cupcakes came out moist and soft. The icing when finished had a distinct root-beer flavour, as well as being quite sweet.
Rating on the recipe choice was mixed, some guests thought the cakes were perfect the way it was, while others suggested paring the icing with a different cake (I’m thinking of trying vanilla), while other guests remarked that the icing was too sweet.Depending on how much of a sweets lover (or hater) you are, will probably determine whether or not this cake is for you, the soda on soda combination packs sugary sweetness into both the cake and the icing.
Once you get over the initial challenge of finding root-beer concentrate, either in a specialty shop or online, these
cupcakes are simple to make. With a soda-y taste that is perfect for all kinds of summer events, these playful cupcakes will bring a fabulous spin to your party.
This July, I had the opportunity to visit one of the premier Canada Day events in Calgary at Prairie Winds Park, hosted by the Ahmadiyya Muslim Jamā’at (AMJ) Calgary. The community event was filled with speeches, various community booths, games for the kids and a free family barbeque. I thought that the event was a great reminder of the multiculturalism of Canada, and is one aspect that makes our country unlike any other. Even the wake of the recent flooding, it was a time to reflect and celebrate with friends and neighbors, even in our growing city.
Make sure you check out there website at www.celebratecanada.ca and some of the photos I took from the great event!
It’s been great being able to finally get some sun and get the opportunity to go outside and soak up the rays. However as nice as it is to spend the day outside, it is important to protect ourselves from the sun. I’ve had some pretty tough experiences with bad sunburns and sun related injuries myself, and obviously, “fun in the sun” becomes well, no longer fun.
Protecting yourself from the harms of the sun can be burdensome, but also extremely crucial. A few of the steps listed below should be taken to help prevent sun damage:
1. Obviously, it is important to always wear sunscreen when out the sun. Use a sunscreen with a minimum of SPF 30, but the greater the better. Remember to generously slather up on every place that is exposed, and reapply every so often according to the instructions on the bottle. It is an especially good idea to reapply after swimming or sweating. Also, putting on SPF lip balm won’t hurt either!
2. Protect your eyes! Make sure to have a pair of sunglasses with UV protection and the ability to block up to around 99-100% of harmful rays.
3. Avoid too much direct exposure during the peak sun hours, around 10 am to 4 pm. Depending on your location, this time may differ drastically, so as a precautionary measure, check your shadow- if it is shorter than you, the sun is at it’s height. Avoid being outside for too long during these hours by seeking cover in the shade or going inside.
4. Don’t be fooled by the temperature! Even if you find the temperature outside on a summer day cooler than expected, be sure to protect yourself as the sun is most intense in the summer months.
5. Always check the UV Index before heading out- it’ll give you an idea of what to expect and help you prepare for protection.
6. Wear dark, tightly knit clothing to add protection against the sun. However, keep in mind that clothing alone won’t give you absolute perfect protection.
7. Wear dark, tightly knit,wide brimmed hats to protect your face and neck area from harmful UV rays.
8. Lastly- be sensible! Don’t stay out the in the sun too long and always be sure to do what you can to avoid sun related injuries. And of course, despite it all, be sure to have fun!
Hey everyone! There will be a hangout occurring this Friday at the Genesis Centre for Community Wellness. It is for youth from the ages of 15 – 24 and is intended for youth to meet varying people and experience different perspectives.
It all started out in 2008 when a Mr. Mark Hopkins started hosting “We Should Know Each Other” parties for people to get together and meet the people that live in the same city as them. You could be listening to a harrowing tale about a homeless man or an inspiring story about an established businessman. It is claimed that people will “stretch the limits of their social circles and enhance their thinking with a diversity of new ideas and perspectives”.
Now, WSKEO has teamed up with Antyx Community Arts (empowering youth to get them involved in communities) and 1000 voices, a local initiative by the Genesis Centre and they have created a We Should Know Each Other party for youth
It is happening from 6-9 PM on Friday, at Room D105 and in the same building the Saddletown YMCA is located, in case parents need something to do.
It sounds incredibly exciting and I plan to be there.
Who doesn’t love to save money and time? As I’m about to move into a new place, I looked up some life hacks–tricks that improve productivity and efficiency!
I bet you remember Kat’s post on Life Pro Tips from last year, and were itching to find some more tips. Well here are a few of my favorite:
Extremely useful when either you or your friend are forgetful…Extremely useful when you have a ton of shirts!One of the reasons to reuse a bread clip……and another reason!It’s even more useful when you’re cutting gigantic cakes!One of my favorite life hacks. It really works!Look for a future post on tips when moving!
Here are some more links for you guys:
TwistedSifter‘s 50 life hacks to simplify your world
In case you missed it on the Herald, here’s a timelapse from EarthCam atop the National Music Centre showing how the raging waters progressed to flood the intersection of 9th Avenue and 4th Street SE. With the footage captured from June 20th to 24th, this video documented the impact the floods have had on East Village and how the city crews pumped the water out of the 4th Street SE overpass.
Please have a look at all of our wonderful contributions of the impacts of the 2013 Alberta Floods here. Kudos to all! I hope to share more timelapses I’ve found around the interweb with you guys. 🙂
It’s so close to Stampede! The greatest outdoor show on earth is about to open their gates to welcome the world. Here are some pictures during of stampede ground during the flood, and they(CS staff) managed to clean much of the mess up in 10 days and welcome up on time!
With all these BUT………
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrQfDffVVq4
Crews in the stampede worked really hard to prepare this for us! So, see you on July 5th and should your support! Calgary can come together and face any challenge!
(A friendly note – please enjoy all of our blogger’s contributions on the 2013 Alberta Floods that can found HERE)
Yes, #YYCisOpen despite the adversity that all those nifty local businesses have to encounter.
The flood knocked the power out in most of our inner-city hotspots and drenched many storefronts, but to top it all, it threatens their viability. Small shops and eateries in the core are facing the challenge of recouping lost revenue from the height of the flood; most were unable to open due to insufficient resources, the situation exacerbated by the lack of power.
From volunteering at the Worldview Thrift Store!
On this past Saturday, I went to Chinatown to get a haircut with my mom. As the owner of the salon worked on my hair, my mom asked her about damages they may have received. Despite the salon itself being shielded by the higher foundation, she told us that her basement area was a flooded mess. What struck her most was the insurance company’s refusal to compensate her for the damage. They claimed they were unable to accept her request because she didn’t know whether it was caused by overland flooding or a sewer backup.
The owner mentioned that neighbouring businesses were also suffering though this scenario as they deal with the double whammy of repairing flood damage and a budget shortfall. Many of the restaurants in the area were closed for several days as they replenished their food supply.
Yet there’s another imminent threat; as if these hurdles didn’t hamper the growth of the locally-owned small business scene, the so-called “failure rate” after a disaster like this could be about 40 percent, with estimates going up to 80 percent. It’s a “triple-whammy” as the Calgary Herald source article states. The Chinatown area is only one of the several devastated business revitalization zones that could be facing a downscaled retail streetscape.
All those independent retail choices are valuable to the diversity of Calgary, no doubt. It’s a breath of fresh air to see that that YYCisOpen came to fruition as an initiative for us ordinary Calgarians to help as consumers. The most vibrant areas of Calgary were the most affected, but only if you choose to spend your time in those areas and shop will they go under a resurgence.
The last step to rebuilding small local stores is to visit and appreciate what they offer. The initiative will hopefully encourage locals to form group shopping events and the likes for a day of leisure. With reviews and customer feedback, these “truly Calgarian” businesses will be bestowed with support to brace the impacts of this flood.
Go to @yycisopen for some aggregated info about the businesses that are currently open and tweet with #yycisopen. Have a look at their facebook page. Head to their main webpages to access information related to Calgary’s post-flood retail situation.
When I found this initiative, they sat at 19 twitter followers; as of Monday night, they can now boast of 1,200 followers who have taken the step to participate. I’m fond of our food trucks and my way of helping out is that you can be sure to see more of my reviews during the summer (and using the power of food photography to induce hunger).
Now that summer’s finally here, I’m sure many of you are heading off on vacations or at least small trips, such as camping. I am leaving for a trip and will be gone for lots of the summer, and since I don’t have an abundance of time to write a blog post at the moment, I thought I’d share a poem to welcome summer holidays.
This poem is a sonnet (look it up if you have no idea what that means. If you have some knowledge about poetry, a sonnet has a rhyming pattern of abab cdcd efef gg) about a campfire :). Enjoy!
Campfire
My eyes are burning in the blazing light
The beat of my heart joins the flames crackle
A breeze, soft and light, tickles through midnight
So there you go! Hopefully all you readers and writers and internet-browsers are having a wonderful summer that will continue to get more wonderful :).
Ready for GlobalFest? I’m volunteering there this year! Have a quick listen to Danny Lutz’s “Chanson Thème”, this year’s “compulsory piece” that all of the firework presentations at GlobalFest in August are going to feature:
Maybe this can be your background music while you browse YAA! 🙂
To freshen up your mind and kindle some of that anticipation, have a quick read of Elena‘s blog post about the festival last year and many other ones! There will be more posts from our awesome bloggers to come! Stay tuned!~
Everyone has the right to find true love; sadly, this fact had not been highlighted in fairy-tales nearly as much as it should. Regardless of who you are, what race you are, or what sexuality you are, everyone deserves the same chance at love. And so, I’d like to present to everyone a beautiful fairy-tale musical promoting love, in its many shapes and forms.
After watching Despicable Me, I’m sure there are lots of you out there who just can’t get enough of the adorable minions and their mischief. Luckily, the wait is over! Despicable Me 2 comes out in theatres on July 3, and I’ve had the chance of catching the advanced screening of the movie on Saturday. Now the question is… did the sequel live up to the oh-so-loveable first movie?
Don’t worry, there will be no spoilers here!
This pretty much captures everyone’s excitement for the movie.
Plot
Unfortunately, I personally didn’t think the plot was developed in a very cohesive fashion. Gru didn’t seem to have a clear goal in mind to drive the development of the movie; whereas in the first movie, his plan to steal the moon was very articulate. Instead, it was the happening of certain events that furthers the movie’s progression. Conclusion? Disappointment. Hey, maybe I’m being too critical of the ex-villain, but nice Gru certainly isn’t as interesting as bad Gru.
Minions
Yes, there has to be a category for the minions! This is the category the animation developers absolutely would not want to miss – and thankfully did not. What makes a better day than watching miniature yellow creatures running around the lab?
As a “Family Movie”
In terms of the content, there were some more mature subjects – particularly the one of relationships. I think a younger audience would definitely find it difficult to understand and relate to, which makes it less of an ideal movie for a family night-out.
Overall
3/5
Despicable Me 2 being a light-hearted film – although I wouldn’t say it’s one of the all-time favourites – is ultimately a relaxing start to the summer holidays. Enjoy the sunshine!
Why do we read it? Why do we watch it? At first glance it seems like an over the top comic book with completely unrealistic characters but once you read a really good manga for the first time, you’ll find yourself hooked in the masterful creations of Japan’s world. Manga is basically a Japanese style comic book while Anime is basically Japanese style animation. Note that this is not a light read.
Common misconceptions:
1. People who read manga only enjoy the fan service (moments meant for adult viewers)
Completely false. In fact, a lot of people who read manga do not enjoy the fan service at all. If we wanted to read manga just for the fan service, we would read something else. However, it seems to be an integral part of most manga out there, even the most popular ones marketed to kids. It’s just a natural part of the manga and some will enjoy it for a moment while others will just flip through it. But don’t lump all readers in together.
2. It’s for nerds, little kids and fat slobs.
When people mention manga or Japanese animation, people often tend to think that the type of people who read and watch that kind of stuff are overweight, unclean, and addicted slobs. It’s true that there are some people out there hardcore enough to pile up loads of cup ramen in their room and collect millions of magical girl figurines, but that’s often not the case. Most who enjoy manga and anime are just everyday, normal people.
Note that there are hardcore people out there, however. Choose your friends wisely.
3. All Asians read manga
Funny, but untrue. Although you will find that most oriental people do read manga and or watch anime, there are people of different ethnic origins that enjoy manga and anime as well.
So what’s good about it?
it’s good i swear
Manga/Anime is a quick and easy way to relax at the comfort of your home. Because it’s so popular around the world, there are tons of sites that offer free scanned, translated and cleaned up manga. You can pop in and check out the latest manga at any time. It’s as easy as that.
They also offer insight into a multitude of themes. Believe it or not, manga often explores in depth human thoughts and other complex concepts and issues. In the manga itself, you’ll find that the characters question themselves about tons of different things. What’s right? What is a friend? How should I treat other people? What is good, and what is evil? It’s extremely enlightening and manga is sure to give you second thoughts about what you may have thought was previously right before.
Of course, not all manga is enlightening – there are some manga that are created just for jokes, so don’t expect to find any higher level thinking in those types.
There’s all kinds of manga for everyone – which is the best part. While comic books may just include superheroes, manga has a humongous variety of stuff. Why? Because Japan is straight up weird, you’ve got all kinds of manga. There’s crossdressing, romance, gag, fighting, action, political, sports, magical girls, murder, etc. There’s way too much to count. The same accessibility and wide variety of themes in TV shows or American comic books is less available because there’s a certain limit on how far certain themes can be explored (appropriate for the audience).
You could argue that books offer the same amount of weird themes, but manga has it drawn. MANGA. HAS. IT. DRAWN. Japan simply just does not care. They have everything, because manga is able to be enjoyed by all ages. IN VISUAL FORMAT. Don’t ask questions. Your brain will self destruct before knowing the answer.
Now, personally, my favorite reason for enjoying manga and anime is how lost you can get in the world. Anime doesn’t have the same feel as American TV animation. All you see for kids shows is Sponge Bob and… other shows, which I can’t remember. But these shows went straight for laughs. They made the characters look stupid so you could laugh at them, but did they take you on an epic adventure?
old but gold, old but gold. and yeah I know its not gen 1 get over yourself
They did not. But anime did. I can’t list all the reasons why anime is so awesome and how it brings you into an entirely different world, but these shows can. Pokemon, Digimon, Teen Titans and Avatar the Last Airbender were all American TV shows that many people have watched, and they all have one thing in common. They all combined aspects of anime, whether it be the art, or the thrilling adventure. In Digimon and Pokemon’s case, they just simply dubbed the anime over. If you’ve ever watched any of these shows, you’ll know how much of a smash hit each and every one was. How amazing it was to watch these characters and their struggles. Just look at Pikachu. EVERYONE LOVES PIKACHU.
Now imagine: there are a million other shows out there just like those four shows. It’s just that the characters speak Japanese, which isn’t a problem. Just watch an English sub! The Japanese language isn’t so bad anyways. There may be some really disgusting “cute” moments and ridiculous shouting that we often don’t find in American culture, but in general, I find that Japanese voice actors convey a lot more emotion than English voice actors (although there are some amazing English voice actors on par with them). As long as you read the English, you’ll have no problem enjoying the show.
The manga can leave a similar, less powerful impression but often are further along in the plot than the anime.
So go ahead, get started! If you’re a guy, try a Shonen (for boys) manga or anime like One Piece. If you’re a girl, try a Shojo (for girls) manga like Fruits Basket.
I hope this cleared up some of the stigma concerning manga and anime. Thanks for reading. If you’re still not comfortable, don’t worry. Even I sometimes feel that way reading certain kinds of manga. Still good though. Catch ya later.
Volunteering is a big part of our city, your involvement is really important.
Looking for ways to help out with the flood clean-up efforts in Calgary? You can self-organize and lead a volunteer team to head down to one of Calgary’s affected communities. Go to www.calgary.ca for up to date information on affected areas.
The great thing about a classic buttercream is that as long as you have an extract or concentrate in the flavour you want, you can make any icing you could possibly dream up. Lucky for me, One of the benefits of working in a restaurant is the little food items I get to take home; muffins, leftover cheesecake, and even root-beer concentrate.
