Regent Park Focus

The Divas today were greeted by Angelina Stoikova. She’s a student currently attending OCAD and she has an excellent project in store for the Divas.   The Divas were given the task to create a digital self portrait. They’re inspected to research and select an artist that inspires them, and come up with either a portrait or vision that relates to the artist. Researching the artist will give some of the Divas a chance to learn about art’s history and where certain fashion ideas came from.   They also took photographs of themselves to tell a story about how they view themselves visually.   The point to that is to give the Divas a chance to think about how they may see themselves in the future. This task allows the Divas the opportunity to practice artistic and technical skills that they may or may not already have.   Overall many of the girls enjoyed today’s activity by expressing excitement and joy while taking photos of one another. This was just the first day o...

If you missed the new radio segment, Girl Talk , then this post is for you. Hosts Gina, Whitney and Victoria speak on different social issues with hints of fashion, celebrities and boy talk. The first airing of the show was on Tuesday, April 30, 2013, which was just earlier this week. Their first topic was on a serious note with eating disorders, particularly in teens. Although the topic is well-heard issue, the girls used it positively to explain the facts on the disorder, and tips and suggestions that people could use if they have friends they know that are struggling with eating disorders. For example, they spoke about the stigma with men not having the same care or programs that women have when they enter rehabilitation clinics. The girls offered their own opinions on the subject matter and insight to what it’s like to be in high school, dealing with the pressures and stress of society. The girls also did a television piece following the live radio promoting the show Girl Talk ...

Earlier this week I facilitated a workshop with young participants of FOCUS in regards to their hopes for the future and thoughts on their heroes. With materials such as paint, glue, bristol boards and writing materials the girls were asked to currate a multi media piece that answered and expressed a particular set of questions set out for them. Within these questions were inquiries such as what the girls hoped to be when they were older, why was this their choice of career, who was their hero and what had this individual done that held such significance to them. Majority of the girls worked on the set of questions relayed to what they hoped to be when they were older.   Some of the answers to these questions included doctor and curer of cancer. Among those that chose to do their work on the hero collage was a little girl who created a work of art dedicated to her hero. This hero, also her best friend, had lost her brother in a shooting in Regent Park last year. Some of the st...

On Monday May 28th, 2013 and Wednesday May 30th, 2013, Gina Brockerville, Victoria Mascarenhas, and Whitney Farrell did a workshop with Client. We made two pictures merge into one to make an eco-friendly, environmental poster. We learned how to resize, transform, copy, layer, merge, discolouration, and other important techniques in Photoshop and InDesign. Learning techniques and skills from Photoshop and InDesign was amazing. I could merge two photos together and still distinctly see the photos separately. We did that three times in order to make three different pictures. We then took those three pictures and then make another huge poster on InDesign. We also added four triangles in a rectangle, and placed the pictures in them. Then added a circle in the middle and placed a recycle symbol in it. Lastly, we put the words “Bring The Green Inside” on our poster to make it stand out more. This edit will help me in the future because I wanted to do photography and graphic design. ...

If you missed the new radio segment, Girl Talk , then this post is for you. Hosts Gina, Whitney and Victoria speak on different social issues with hints of fashion, celebrities and boy talk. The first airing of the show was on Tuesday, April 30, 2013, which was just earlier this week. Their first topic was on a serious note with eating disorders, particularly in teens. Although the topic is well-heard issue, the girls used it positively to explain the facts on the disorder, and tips and suggestions that people could use if they have friends they know that are struggling with eating disorders. For example, they spoke about the stigma with men not having the same care or programs that women have when they enter rehabilitation clinics. The girls offered their own opinions on the subject matter and insight to what it’s like to be in high school, dealing with the pressures and stress of society. The girls also did a television piece following the live radio promoting the show Girl Talk...

What is homophobia? It is a fear or Homophobia is an ever growing issue all across Canada and it is not something to be taken lightly. Although there is no law against homophobia, it is often not tolerated. But even though it is not tolerated, it is also often ignored, one example of this was in a Toronto school. A transgender student was isolated and asked to use a gender neutral bathroom, or the woman's bathroom. This student had transformed from female to male in his grade 10 year of high school and constantly changed schools hearing the same stories regarding the washroom situation, all teachers and principals would say "It's only temporary" but the situation would never change. You would assume that it would be the students that would be taking part in the homophobic "activities" but that is incorrect, often it would be the office that would isolate the student. At one school he was even asked to use an off-site bathroom because he did no...

Gina Brockerville and Victoria Mascarenhas hosted a radio show focused around high school life, and work life. The spoke about the difficulties of high school, such as finding where you belong, how much you grow as a person in high school, the difficulties and benefits of being in an all girls school. Throughout high school you come to know yourself on a whole other level, you become who you will be for the rest of your life, you learn who your friends are, who to trust and who not to trust, and you learn to be an independent person. Not all high school experiences the same, for Gina and Victoria whom are enrolled in an all girls school, it is much different than a student who is in a co-ed school.  Being in an all girls school they have learned that looks aren't everything and they have learned to be confident no matter what they wear and it has helped them be comfortable with who they are. Along with this helping them with their confidence, it has also effected the...

Victoria Mascarenhas, Gina Brockerville and Whitney Farrell produced a radio show. Our topic was about Mental Illness. We had four subtopics for Mental Illness. They were Suicide, Stress, Anxiety, and Depression. Each segment was about 15 minutes each. We discussed about some typical questions that people would not understand. We answered them and gave our own opinions about it. We also had three articles that had to do with Mental Illness. One of the articles discussed about Demi Lovato and how she went through a bipolar disorder, depression, etc. She went through a lot of struggles and we thought discussing about her story would help influence youth to step up and not suffer in silence anymore. The second article we discussed was about therapy in the wilderness. It helps youth become more open about their illnesses and to help them speak up about their struggles. The last article we discussed was about this 17 year old boy who committed suicide. His father was a pastor and o...

RPTV and RP60 Launches at Regent Park Focus Last week was monumental here at Regent Park Focus. We launched our very own television channel, RPTV! RPTV is a one-hour television show that will air on Rogers cable 10 for one hour a week. RPTV is a community operated and owned television channel. In other words, the community gets a say in what content is created and showcased on RPTV! The vision of RPTV is that the youth and residents of Regent Park get an opportunity to learn about television broadcasting, as well as get the opportunity to learn how to produce their own content. It’s all about content being created by the community for the community. Not only did we get to launch an awesome TV channel for the Regent Park community, we also launched RP60. RP60 is our very own news and informational channel that will run 24-7 on channel 60 in the Regent Park area. Government representatives, Hon. Bob Rae, MP, Glen Murray, MPP, and Councillor Pam McConnell, were also in att...

Youths participating in todays March Break activity were met with a blank sheet of paper and multiple crayons. They were asked to fill the paper with different shapes and patterns making sure to press hard as they colored. Once they finished filling the paper with light colored patterns they were then asked to color over the whole paper using a black crayon. Once they were done, they used a sharp object, a pencil or a pen to scratch words and or designs into the black colored paper. Doing this allowed the light colors to pop through revealing a rainbow of colors below. Before moving on to the next activity the youth were asked why they chose the colors they did and the response consisted of “it stands out,” “no one else chose it,” “I like the colour,” “its unique,” and (of course) “its my favourite colour”. Some of the youth also chose to take a different spin on this activity. They ventured towards using a colour that was not black to colour over the light coloured pattern. ...

Youths participating in Todays March Break activity were met with a blank sheet of paper and multiple crayons. They were asked to fill the paper with different shapes and patterns making sure to press hard as they colored. Once they finished filling the paper with light colored patterns they were then asked to color over the whole paper using a black crayon. Once they were done, they used a sharp object, a pencil or a pen to scratch words and or designs into the black colored paper. Doing this allowed the light colors to pop through revealing a rainbow of colors below. Before moving on to the next activity the youth were asked why they chose the colors they did and the response consisted of “it stands out,” “no one else chose it,” “I like the colour,” “its unique,” and (of course) “its my favourite colour”. Some of the youth also chose to take a different spin on this activity. They ventured towards using a colour that was not black to colour over the light coloured pattern. Th...

Today the Diva’s got together to discuss what we would do if we only had 24 hours left to live.  The girls were to write in their journals three things that they would do in the last 24 hours they have to live. After spending some time writing these grand ideas each Diva took the time to disclose with the rest of the Divas what they would do with their last 24 hours. Some would spend there time swimming, take the whole family to wonderland, ask the lord for forgiveness, and travel some parts of the world. After hearing how each Diva would spend the last few hours of her life, the other Divas were to help each other figure out how to make some of their goals become a reality. This activity helped the Divas figure out some of their passions, interests and as well they were able to receive peer support from one another.

A very fun-filled evening for the Regent Park community because of “ The JAM ” event. Although the line up was very short this month, the Regent Park residents were very excited to see what was in stored for them this end of the month. We moved the event to familiar territory which is at the Daniels Presentation Centre. At this time of the year, this is a much preferred venue for the sunny outdoor feel, and the open space. We had so much fond memories there before we started moving ‘ The JAM ’ events at the Daniel Spectrum! The Focus House Band led the introduction of the performance as usual, and played a little longer than usual because there was a performance cancellation as short notice. Their energy  was always there at a constant level whatever transitions that were given to them. Pete Townsend followed up with a powerful spoken word poetry performance… I was a little confused why he was doing poetry instead of a musical performance. But then again, I was ...