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Behind a cracked wooden door, the sound of music trails up the stairway and into a colourful kitchen filled with laughing young people. The mouth-watering aromas of lunch cooking on the stove float into the adjoining theatre. The walls of the theatre double as a gallery for the artwork created by the young people assembled in the kitchen. This is KYTES.
I remember the first day I came to KYTES (Kensington Youth Theatre and Employment Skills). Being the shy person I was I entered the classroom with my heart pounding, unsure of what I was getting myself into.
Prior to finding KYTES, I was out of school and working. This program, aimed at street-involved youth who have experienced problems including discrimination, racism, and stereotyping, has turned my life around.
Not everyone earns high school credits for working on a Hard Core web site. But I did.
Shocked?
Well, get your mind out of the gutter! I'm part of a unique high school class where I helped to design the web site for the "Hard Core Military Style Training" fitness company.
At Young People's Press, we're really impressed by the stuff that they do at V.O.I.C.E. So we're giving over a bunch of space so they can tell you about their concerts, CD and workshops. After all, one good turn deserves another.
Kytes Youth Soar
By Kristy-Lynne Brautigam
Young People's Press
Youth & New Media
By Irene Chu
Young People's Press
A Voice Against Violence
Approximately 10 000 kids in Toronto ranging from 13 years of age to their mid-twenties are catching the rave craze every weekend. Though raves have just surfaced onto the radar map of mainstream culture, they have been going on in Toronto for over a decade.
For the uninformed, raves are weekly all-night electronic music dance parties, which are described by police, social workers and politicians as one of the fastest growing - and most worrisome - social trends among teens.
I didn't realize how much I had brought my friends down during last year's GREAT DEPRESSION until the friend who helped me to get through it fell prey to the very same affliction.
It was funny, I had never thought of myself as someone who could be depressed - but I was -and in a bad way.
Raving Can Kill You
By Geneviève Pagulayan
Young People's Press
My Friend is Depressed
By Melanie Charlebois
Young People's Press
Punks, Ravers & Labelling
By Leanne Kennedy
Young People's Press
Skaters, punks, hip-hoppers, ravers, blah blah blah…
These labels are getting old. Why do teens need to label people in order to understand their world? "Are you a rocker?" "What kind of music do you listen to?" "Oh, then you must be a gino..."
Think for Yourself
By Norm Townsend
Young People's Press
Is high school just a place to be brainwashed and prepared for a lifetime of wage slavery? (Maybe). Do big-name corporations and the popular media subtly chip away at teenagers' ability to be themselves and choose what they like? (Possibly). Is it true that most young people don't possess the maturity to know what they want? (Definitely).