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.
There’s this awesome website called Rapgenius.com, which attempts to provide meanings in lyrics for every songs that’s at least semi – popular. It works like Wikipedia as most of the meanings are provided by fellow listeners offering their interpretation and then again like Wikipedia there are moderators who regulate the meanings. There are a bunch of big artists like Snoop Lion and A$AP Rocky who provide the meanings so you know it’s not just someone’s interpretation. I use it often to connect on a greater level with the music than merely it’s harmonious sounds.
NME – Started out as a magazine, it’s a music journalism publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It provides music reviews and a bunch of lists which detail every type of music. Much more up to date than Billboard magazine.
Check out some new music – Listen to these artists called The Strokes. This is one of their most euphonious songs.
The Ya’an earthquake occurred at 08:02 Beijing Time (00:02 UTC) on April 20, 2013. The epicenter was located in Lushan County, Ya’an, Sichuan, about 116 km (72 mi) from Chengdu along the Longmenshan Fault in the same province heavily impacted by the 2008 Sichuan earthquake. The magnitude of the earthquake was placed at Ms 7.0 by China Earthquake Data Center, Ms 7.0 by Russian Academy of Sciences, Mw 7.0 by Geoscience Australia, Mw 6.6 by the United States Geological Survey (USGS), Mw 6.6 by the European Alert System (EMSC) and Mj 6.9 by the Japan Meteorological Agency (JMA). 1,815 aftershocks have been recorded as of 00:00 (UTC+8h, April 22) – Information from Wikipedia
Ya’an before the earthquake
Most Beautiful Teacher-Liao Zhi, a dance teacher from Mianzhu, Sichuan, who lost both of her legs during the 512 Wenchuan Earthquake, went to Ya’an as a volunteer immediately after the earthquake.
Most Beautiful Reporter-Chen Ying, a news reporter of Ya’an TV, was supposed to get married on Apr.20. When the earthquake suddenly hit the town, she immediately left her wedding to report the condition of the disaster.
Best Roommate-Huang Yuzhou, a student of Sichuan Teachers’ College, saved all of his roommates’ important properties from his dorm, including 6 laptops, 3 DSLRs, and a little turtle.
There are certainly more beautiful people during this disaster whom I cannot talk about one by one, including volunteers, donors from all over the country, as well as the soldiers who went into the site and saved countless lives. However, there are also issues exposed, which I will talk about in Part 2.
No, it’s not IB summer school (ohgoodnessno) – it’s a week-long stay at Beautiful (University of) British Columbia to meet fellow IB-ers and talk about sustainability!
The IB World Student Conference is held at 4 campuses this year, and we’re lucky enough to have one in the province next door!
The week is full of discussions and workshops on sustainability, including speakers like Severn Cullis-Suzuki. The focus is the balance between environment and economics.
But summer wouldn’t be complete without some relaxed fun – so the week also includes lots of activities, from exploring the west coast rainforest, to drumming circles, to a harbour cruise…
It’s a great opportunity not only for exploring the world of sustainability, but also Vancity and UBC (super important if you’re considering going here). You can make friends from around the world, who you already have a lot in common with (all those blood, sweat and tears, late nights and early mornings…) Maybe you’ll even get to practice those IB French skillz with students from France :O
This weekend it was my dad’s birthday, and of course, birthdays mean cake. Short on time, yet still wanting an impressive looking cake, I chose to make a bundt cake. Although they’re simple to make, because of their pan bundt cakes always turn out looking, well, pretty cute. With an glaze drizzled on top it’s easy to make a simple bundt cake magazine-worthy.
The cake was simple to make; the most novice baker could do it. However, its super important to oil/butter and then flour the pan well, otherwise the cake will stick and the shape of your cake will be ruined. The cake was baked in an hour, exactly like the recipe said. The only change I would make to the recipe would be the addition of three spices to the batter; cinnamon, cardamon, and nutmeg.
After leaving the cake to cool overnight in the fridge I made the glaze. It was very quick to make and put on the cake, an advantage over icing when in a time pinch. It turned out sweet and caramel-y, perfect! The only thing to mind when making a glaze is to remember to stir it constantly as it cooks, to avoid burning the sugar.
Served with vanilla ice cream the cake was delicious, the sweetness of the glaze balanced by the cake. Disappointingly, the cake was rather bland.
Although I enjoyed the “candy apple” cake, next time I will either add the spices to this recipe or try a different cake. Still, the glaze turned out well, and the combination is one I’ll be sure to repeat.
“All photographs are memento mori. To take a photograph is to participate in another person’s (or thing’s) mortality, vulnerability, mutability. Precisely by slicing out this moment and freezing it, all photographs testify to time’s relentless melt.” – Susan Sontag
Melanie Martinez
The advancement in Photoshop technology has definitely changed the definition of photography. I personally had always viewed photography as a medium with which truth is reflected. The invention of cameras marks such a milestone. Cameras are wonderfully designed so we can capture what we see and what we feel to the smallest detail; however, nowadays with easy access to Photoshop, we often question the validity of the pictures we see. It’s quite a shame, really, to come across a magnificent picture and having to scrutinize it to determine if it is “real” or not. Now, after encountering photography from a more artistic standpoint, I have come to understand that photography isn’t necessarily about capturing the truth as we perceive with our eyes. Photography is the instrument in which we form our music of imagination.
Coming across Melanie Martinez‘s photography on The Voice, I realized that Photoshop can be utilized in such a way to portray the fantastical element of every day objects and every day lives. Along with her music and fashion, she exudes a style that is simply ethereal.
Check out more of Melanie Martinez’s photography here!
Another way of titling this post would simply be “Life Hacks,” but because I’m feeling particularly adventurous today, I’ve given it an unnecessarily long title and an extremely misleading thumbnail image (sorry!). I’ve gathered and learned many techniques on how to make life easier, either for when I’m busy, in a state of despair, or just feeling extremely lazy. “Life hacks”, “life savers”, or just “helpful tips”- whatever you may call them, I’ve listed a rather random couple below:
1. When shopping for pants and wanting to save time waiting for a change room (or avoiding one altogether), take the waistband of the pants and wrap it around your neck. If the waistband of the pants fits around the circumference of your neck comfortably (not tightly!), then the pants will fit your waist.
2. After you’re done boiling eggs, drop them into ice cold water. It makes peeling so much easier and faster.
3. Placing an apple slice in a bag of hardened brown sugar will help to make the sugar soft once again.
4.For some reason, sticking out your tongue while cutting onions helps prevent the tears from flowing.
5. Save bread from going stale by putting celery in the bag, making sure to close the bag tightly afterwards.
6. Placing bananas in a brown bag will help them to ripen faster.
7.Adding hydrogen peroxide to your laundry acts as a nice bleach alternative.
8. Spraying hairspray onto ink stains in fabric will help to remove the stains.
9. If you’re ever in a struggle to thread a needle, simply dip the end of the thread in nail polish- once dry, threading will become extremely easy.
10. Putting a tube of dried mascara in a cup of warm water for a few minutes will make it liquidity once again.
In today’s blog I’m focusing on multiple quotes within pictures that have helped me throughout this year. I hope you enjoy and have a glimpse into what inspires me to do my best everyday! 😀 All of these quotes have either made me smile or tear up because of my connection to each of them. I hope you enjoy scanning through them. I believe they are a true representation of every teenagers life in one way or the other. These pictures are my tools in helping sustain my balance and not becoming totally whack 😛 Yeah I’m kind of weird, but who isn’t? Being normal is boring! You are unique and embracing your flaws is what truly makes you beautiful, my darlings!
If you love it, do it. No one is going to achieve your dreams for you!
We all go through our ups and downs but if it weren’t for the obstacles we would never pave our own path to success. Well no kidding? Who would want to be boring? Be yourself and you will have millions of admirers. This quote makes my life complete. Don’t cry over a guy who’s not worth it, you have a million other princes waiting in line to make you feel beautiful. Someone once told me, “Don’t ruin your mascara over a guy…it’s too expensive” 😉
Exactly what it states! If you can dream it, you can do it. As long as you put in the hard work and dedication your dreams have a possibility of becoming a reality.
This is beyond 100% true, you are unique, being a copy will only make you miserable!
And this following picture explains itself, Happy Friday Lovelies <3 :
Improv, or rather improvisational theatre, is neat if you are the audience seeing it unfold. For the performers, though, it’s in a different league of its’ own compared with scripted productions. As part of Youth Week (of course), the Loose Moose Theatre Company (if you’ve ever heard Youth Central’s Andrew Phung do some public speaking, you know where it is) is hosting the annual High School Theatresports Tournament!
This is a competitive tournament; teams will reach to achieve and to entertain. The follow schools are participating in this competition:
Wednesday May 1st – 7:30pm to 9:30pm – Round Robin
Thursday May 2nd – 7:30pm to 9:30pm – Round Robin
Friday May 3rd – 8pm to 10pm – Semi Finals and Finals
Tickets for this event are $10 for adult and $8 for students, which can be found here and the event itself is held here. Cheer on for these wonderful performers as they battle for “improv supremacy”!
For most high school seniors, grad is quickly approaching! To get everyone pumped for graduating, and of course the grad dance, I’ve made a compilation of sweet promposals:
Raise your hand if you’ve ever seen someone eat something off the floor because of the five-second rule.
I am.
But according to this post by the New York Times, the five-second rule is actually a myth. When you drop food on the floor, and it touches germs, the germs stick to the food immediately. I guess it makes a lot more sense this way – it was kind of a stretch imagining the bacteria slowly making its way over to the fallen food. So, hold on to your viands, because if you drop it, there’s no going back.
Sugar makes children hyperactive? Turns out it doesn’t. Researchers have not been able to find a substantial link from sugar consumption to hyperactivity and cognitive behaviour.
I just want to add that eating dark chocolate actually helps to calm your nerves, according to my piano teacher. I like to take a few pieces with me to piano exams or performances. It also helps with stress.
I’ve always been happy about my high metabolism allowing me to eat as much as I want, but I was surprised to learn that this is a myth as well. A researcher investigated human metabolism in both thin and heavy people, and found that the heavier patient actually had a higher metabolism!
Dawn’s [heavier patient] numbers are actually higher because we find continuously is that people with weight problems who have obesity have a higher basal metabolism compared to people who are lean. Your basal metabolism is the calories you burn to keep your body going, so if your body is bigger of course your basal metabolism is greater. If your body is smaller your basal metabolism is less.
Eight glasses of water a day = how much my mother tells me I should drink.
I actually believed this for the longest time, but I read that this was a misconception some while ago. I think it’s still important to drink lots of water, because it’s good for your health. It’s great for losing weight, and sometimes I find that when I’m getting drowsy, a drink of water can usually refresh me quite efficiently.
Here’s an in-depth explanation of why this is a myth, but essentially we don’t need to drink that much water because our food contains water as well. So, we don’t have to force fluids in order to gain their benefits.
And finally, here’s my favourite. I’ve always believed the story that Albert Einstein got horrible grades in math class (or even just classes in general) at school, but while I was researching this post, I found that this is an unsupported claim – there is no evidence to support this conclusion. Remaining records show Einstein receiving high grades and doing well in all his classes. I guess there’s no more consolation to be found in the story of Einstein – sorry.
A lot of teenagers I know seem to be drained of creativity. I think the reason for this can be explained in one word: laziness. But what about when you’re actually trying to be creative? When you’re about to explode from the cacophony of thoughts and ideas, images and visions, and yet… nothing comes out.
I’d generally classify myself as creative and artsy and all that, and so one of my worst enemies is… Writer’s Block. It deserves capitalization because it is a serious condition for writers and artists and otherwise creatively driven people. Writer’s Block, in my opinion, isn’t just a label for a creative stall in writing, but rather for all forms of art, literature, and general creativity.
There’s numerous ways Writer’s Block comes about. Causes include taking on an overwhelming goal, or making a mistake, or my favourite one, forgetting what you were doing/thinking. Really, just any time your slate is annoyingly blank. On that note, I’ve decided to share a poem I made last year when we were supposed to write poetry to reflect an image we were given, and I was completely uninspired, so that’s what I wrote about…
Drained of Inspiration
My mind,
Empty of all thoughts,
Note a single trace to dwell on.
Imagination escapes,
Through every crevice of hope,
Ripping out my insight,
Wiping out my scope.
As if a cloud has blocked my sun,
As if a storm has washed away my fun,
Left with misery and dread
My slate is blank,
My hopes have sank
Writer’s Block sucks. So here are some strategies for regaining creativity:
Try brainstorming with mind maps, or any other way to get your ideas out without having to analyze them and get caught up with all the other “stuff”
Experiment with different ways to look at what you’re doing. Writing a story? Try writing from 1st person instead of third, past tense instead of present, etc.
Give another form of creativity a shot, and hopefully you’ll get back in the mood
Take a second to just go blank and accept it, then come back with a refreshed mind
Need some inspiration? Check out these views on Writer’s Block:
At the moment, I’m having some Writer’s Block myself, so this post must come to an end. I apologize. Since my thoughts are somewhat few, how about you share some? What’s your view on Writer’s Block?
Immigration to Calgary has been increasing as Alberta has become increasingly prosperous through the oil boom. Immigration is likely to increase, especially considering the that Calgary has just been named Canada’s best city to live in. Numerous social services are already strained, but as more people move to Calgary, they will all have to make another decision, one that comes with a limited amount of choice – buy or rent, and where?
Though many people looking to live in downtown or in any other popular area may want to rent while starting out, in Calgary that is becoming an increasingly unviable option. As Calgary becomes more densely populated, rent is increasing and availability of rental buildings is drastically decreasing. Rent increased by an average of about six percent since last year, while the vacancy rate in Calgary has been decreasing by more than one percent for the past few years. If rent isn’t an available option, are houses filling this demand, and do they have lower prices, or is Calgary becoming increasingly destitute in terms of housing?
Jarome Iginla’s House
Though there has been coverage of numerous high price houses selling, including Jarome Iginla’s and the most expensive house in Calgary, selling for just over 10 million dollars, for the common person housing is nearly as difficult to purchase as it is to rent. Calgary has a strong housing market, and consistently maintains a strong number of sales, even when the overall Canadian market is in decline – over the past year, Calgary housing sales declined two percent, while Canadian housing sales fell by nearly ten times as much. Though the amount of sales is declining, which may mean that in the next few years, the shortage of housing will be solved, with construction catching up to demand, price are still extremely high. The average price of a house in Calgary has gone up by more than ten percent in the last year, meaning that anyone who is looking to buy a house will have an exceedingly difficult time.
We’re going to need a lot of construction to keep housing prices affordable.
Right now is not the time to buy or rent a place in Calgary – though it may never be the right time. Calgary is becoming a nexus of the Canadian economy, and with that, we may be doomed to suffer from increasing housing prices, falling to the same fate as Toronto and Vancouver. Construction may catch up with demand, so new Calgarians’ only hopes are for construction to reach a level which lets everyone buy a house and enjoy their time in the greatest city in Canada.
I know this issue has been brought to attention many times already, but I must admit that I never thought it would happen to anyone around me. I was shocked at how well the victims of self-harm could hide their scars when I first saw the cuts on the wrist of one of my close friends. It still baffles me how someone who seems so outwardly blissful and normal could be suffering.
This goes to show that even the people we view as the happiest could be victims of self-harm. It’s important to watch out for the little signs, because so often we ignore clues that let us on about the happenings of someone else’s life. The girl who puts on a brave face in the morning, as if nothing was wrong, may very well have been crying herself to sleep the night before. It’s so difficult to help when you have no idea what’s going on.
If you notice uneasiness in the behaviors of a loved one, make sure to do your best to console them. Even if you can’t figure out what’s wrong, just know that your efforts can still make a huge difference. I know it’s all been said before, but wouldn’t it be great to know that you’ve made a positive impact on someone’s life?
If you know someone who suffers from self-harm, depression, or stress, please contact the following links.
To Write Love of Her Arm is an organization dedicated to helping people overcome depression and stress. Visit their website for ways to get involved and stop self harm. As cliche as it sounds, I think that if we tried, we can make a difference.
Every one has issues with headphones: some have the individual piece cover breaking, unexpected loss of sound in one of the headphones, TANGLING!! In short, these lovely equipment are rather shifty and break down easy. There’s two things you can do to prolong the expiry date:
Use a headphones case: It prevents your headphones from external pressures and keeps it nice and safe.
To prevent tangling and further damage, use a better way to wrap your headphones. Keeps ’em safe and sound.
Intergalatic Nemesis photo from their Facebook page. Artwork by Tim Doyle.
Intergalactic Nemesis delivered an amazing, out of this world adventure, satisfying my thirst for a deeply entertaining science fiction thriller. Hands down, one of my favourite performances that I have seen in the Jack Singer Concert Hall. Fortunately before the performance, I was able to interview Jason Neulander, writer, director and producer of this fantastic sensory experience and was able to gain further insight and behind-the-scenes production of the show.
The year is 1933. Pulitzer-prize award winning journalist Molly Sloan, research assistant Timmy Menedez are hot on the chase on the lead of a fantastic story and through a harrowing blizzard, meet up with a contact. However, their contact gravely cautions the intrepid team that their story is at a dead end, as any informants are either missing or dead. There is a clue, a piece of paper with details of the “Central Hive.” Before the contact can elaborate on this strange clue, a mysterious figure appears at the doorway and wields a menacing knife, which sinks into the back of their contact. Another mysterious figure tackles down the knife thrower…soon, Molly Sloan and Timmy Menedez are caught up in an exciting whirlwind of adventure as they meet mysterious figures and informants, including Ben Wilcott, Mysterion the Magnificent and my favourite, Jean-Pierre Desperois…. and stumble upon the story of the century….
Intergalactic Nemesis Promotion. Courtesy of the Epcor Center for the Performing Arts and Intergalactic Nemesis.
Three actors with radio broadcasting microphones shuffled in a corner, alongside an amazing sound technician trained in the art of Foley (sound effects using everyday objects), a piano accompanist and someone to manually transition each comic scene projected onto a huge screen makes for the perfect multimedia production!
I finally got to meet Jason Neulander in person! Camera phone style.
The radio play was brilliantly written, with hilarious awkward stare downs among characters, a budding romance cued by sappy music and spontaneous reactions (often caused by alien Zygonians), my favourite and humorous Jean-Pierre Desperois making great appearances, and a generous dose of great sci-fci action and monsters.
At first, the overwhelming sensory experience made it difficult for me to decide what the focus upon: the excellent voice actors that added humour and realism by their facial expressions and body movements, the huge comic scenes projected on stage artistically created or the amazing “sound technician” that imitated thunder with a plastic sheet. I decided to focus upon the amazing actors that had brought the comic book adventure to life, each actor seamlessly creating the many voices of each character in the comic book- the high pitched and evil trickster, Mysterion the Magnificent, the timid Timmy Mendez, sassy and high-spirited Molly Sloan, and the Frenchman Jean Pierre Deperois- they were able to do them all! (Even when two different characters, voiced by the same actor, was well performed!)
Intergalactic Nemesis actors at their best. Courtesy of the Epcor Centre.
Also, the “sound technician” with a wide array of household objects laid in front of her, acted as her deadly arsenal of killer sound effects. Mysterion the Magnificent entrances were signaled with humorous and eerie alien calling- simply created with two, colourful long tubes waved over one’s head. A cement block screeching across the table for a door slamming shut, dripping water, a huge plastic sheet for thunder… it made the experience organic and fresh.
Hopefully they come back to Calgary with Book 2! It’s not an experience you want to miss out on! I had genuine conversations with the entire cast after the show, while having an item signed by them (I had learned about the art of Foley and meet Jason Neulander and production cast in person) and that love will definitely bring back the audience!
Thanks so much to Kerri Savage, Communications Manager at the Epcor Centre for arranging the interview with Jason Neulander. Also youth volunteers at Youth Central and I was able to enjoy such an amazing, larger-than-life comic book adventure!
Well no kidding? Who would want to be boring? Be yourself and you will have millions of admirers.
This quote makes my life complete. Don’t cry over a guy who’s not worth it, you have a million other princes waiting in line to make you feel beautiful. Someone once told me, “Don’t ruin your mascara over a guy…it’s too expensive” 😉
