Regent Park Focus

"The energetic youths of the community converged on the said date full of excitement for yet another skills for industry training in Maya. Guess what, it was the 3D Artist Jude Ifesieh a long time volunteer with the Regent Park Youth Media Arts Center on the wheels steering this workshop. At the end of the workshop, youths could now navigate through the Maya 2017 interface with ease, learnt some of the industry standard for low poly models,all that is new in Maya and were all fed to a treat with Pista. What a great way to keep updating your skills. See you there in our upcoming !!!!" - Jude

On Wednesday the 31st of January 2018,we continued our training in Modeling (Interface Training) using Maya 2017 Student version. The following topics were covered extensively with activities by the student : 1.Menu Set 2.Channel box 3.Tool Box 4.Quick Layout Menu 5.Shelf 6.Some hot Keys 7.The Extrude tool 8.The X,Y,Z. axis. Homework was given for the next class,and next week we shall be learning how to set a project in Maya. - Jude

Divas Program Session 17: “Sharing the Mic... Team Piece Writing: Part I” This week’s Diva’s Program centered on exposing the young ladies to build on their creative foundation, but doing with the help of another person. What stood out to me most was that the whole session had an undercurrent of teamwork and collaboration. Writing can be a solitary activity when gathering thoughts and ideas, but what makes a piece richer and fuller to me is working with another person. Sometimes, the other person may be on the same tangent as you, or on a one but it is the saying of art imitating life. What stood out to me was the Picasso in Pairs game, most of all. I observed and assisted but I also played it. It was something that I remembered vividly because the game itself was a game that forced connections to be built. You had to focus on capturing the person’s face, as you drew but to me, Picasso in Pairs was more about building a sense of trust. There was ...

For this episode of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, we had a panel discussion on Bell Let’s Talk Day since it occurs this year on January 31st. In discussing the importance of events like these, where Bell has created a national campaign to have mental health awareness through donating texts during this day to organizations that help those with mental health issues, we had some questions in terms of mental health. We discussed why it was so important to even have a day to “talk about mental health” as we reflect on the past and cultural viewpoints on mental health. Joel shares that in his Jamaican culture, mental health is nonexistent and that people think ​ those suffering from it should be addressed by the church, causing them to go undiagnosed and untreated. In the past, we know that mental health practice were not always supportive of patients with mental health. ​ A lot of people who were in mental health institutions suffered from abuse and mistreatment, as practices ...

For the January 30th show of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, we invited Sleep Specialist Judith Mendoza to talk about the importance of sleep for youth. Asking her a series of questions when it comes to the issue of sleep for youth who are growing and struggling with different competing obligations, Judith talked about how sleep is more important for youth than we may realize. She mentions different tips for “sleep hygiene” which is about how to take care of oneself before and after bed. She encourages people to turn off lights and slow down their activity an hour before sleep, and upon waking up, turn on as many lights and open the curtains to signal to the body it is daylight. She mentions that the body can’t tell the difference between daylight and electronic lighting, so that’s why it is important not to have any lights on an hour before sleep or the body will still think it is daylight and have a hard time adjusting.     Speaking on stimulants, Judith says it is ...

For the second half, cohost Judy talked to Nicole and Annette who are both trained in the skillset "focusing" and have backgrounds in psychiatry and personal health. They talked about the skillful living experience known as "focusing" and what that entails, how it is similar to meditation but how it is also different. More information can be found on their website:  http://www.focusingonborden.com Listen to Podcast:

For this episode of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, co-host Diamond and Joel talked about the issue of body image and dieting for our panel discussion. In studio for the discussion were Beverly and Erika, to talk about their experiences with dieting and body image issues. When asked about whether they tried diets, Beverly said she had and Erika said she had not, but due to different standards of beauty in their cultures. For Beverly, being thin seemed like an ideal in the culture she was surrounded in while Erika grew up in a community that being "thick" and heavy was healthy and thereby more attractive. Diamond shared that for her, she even tried to diet hoping to be very thin but then she acknowledged that her body was never built that way and so she made her peace with her body and stopped willing it to do something it wasn't made to do. Joel shared that he had tried dieting as well, taking long walks in the heat and "sweating" off the weight. In a panel discus...

For our January 23rd episode of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, co-hosts Diamond and Joel welcomed CEO and President of Yonge Street Mission (YSM), Angie Drascovic. Angie has an extensive background in social work, having joined in 2013. She was so gracious to come in and do an interview with us. Some of the questions we wanted to explore included what the services at the YSM are, and what they provide for people and families in need. From food to shelter, YSM had a huge scope of services available to the community, with several different locations including Double Take, the second hand clothing store. Angie told our cohosts that whatever comes into the store has to be dry cleaned and steamed before being sent out to the floor, and it had to pass the test of whether she would use the clothes or use them for her children. Despite YSM servicing the community often free of charge, there were clearly standards they hoped to meet in order to preserve the dignity of those who they serve, that ...

For our January 16th, 2018 edition of Catch da Flava Youth Radio, cohost Diamond speaks to guest Scott Miller Berry from Workman Arts about the upcoming Mental Health Series at Hot Docs Cinema, and their opening film “The S Word.” The conversation surrounds issues on suicide, what the documentary is about. Scott talked about themes like isolation, depression, and the warning signs for someone who may be facing issues of suicide. In their collaboration with Hots Docs Cinema to get the word out about mental health, Scott talked about his work with Workman Arts and the organization in general. Workman Arts is an arts initiative which utilizes the impact of the arts on the quality of life for those living with mental health and addiction issues. Because of their heavy emphasis on the arts to support those with mental health concerns, it would only seem a natural fit to collaborate with Hot Docs on this topic. In discussing the upcoming documentary, Scott talked to us about how d...

For the second half, Joel and Diamond led a panel discussion on Baptist Minister, Cultural Icon, and Civil Rights Activist Martin Luther King Jr. on his impact in our culture and moving forward the issues around racial equality, especially in North America. Since Martin Luther King Day was the day before and was on what would be his birthday, the panel talked about his legacy and how they experience issues of race today. Diamond talked a little bit about her experience in “Black Culture” class and what she learned from the experience. Other panelists talked about how the speeches of Martin Luther King impacted them and compared the work of Martin Luther King Jr. with Malcolm X. Ahmed talked about how much he followed the work of both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, believing more in Malcolm X’s approach and viewing it as more practical. ​ Erika had was very eloquent and well spoken in her perspective on the legacy Martin Luther King Jr. left our culture, and Beverl...

Divas Girl Blog Jan 12 th 2018 Session 14: Our Home on Native Land, Canadian History & Colonization This week the Diva girls had a history lesson on Canadian history. The goal was for the divas to gain a clearer understanding of the dark parts of Canadian history and to learn ways we can recognize these parts while still enjoying what we love about Canada. Since we are just coming back from the break the divas first started off with circle rock talking about what they did on the holidays. To start off the first activity the girls were told to write down all the words that you would use to describe Canada. They also had to draw what they think of when someone says “ Canada”. The divas were asked what are some misconceptions that people think about Canada and what is one thing they would change about Canada. After the divas shared their thoughts and opinions they watched a video poem. The poem “Love You Some Indians” by Rowie Shebala was about the cultural app...

For the cohost Diamond led our youth team in a panel discussion on how the winter affects people’s mental, emotional, and physical state. She mentioned issues like seasonal depression, anxiety, and lethargy and asked the youth panelists about their own experience with seasonal ailments. Diamond highlighted one of the issues of the season known as seasonal affective disorder (SAD) where some people depending on their biology, may experience a dip in their emotional state and render them to be in a state of depression during the winter season due to lack of sunlight and vitamin D. They mentioned different methods to combat the “winter blues” like sitting under a special lamp that is supposed to give the same type of nutrients sunlight does. They are discussed whether seasonal changes can cause different types of issues and which season is preferable, like summer and winter and comparing the two. ​ We would like to thank our youth panelists for this part of the show, Ahmed, Beverly, D...

For our return show of Catch da Flava Youth Radio on January 9th, co-hosts Ahmed and Divine welcomed guest Amanda Neale-Robinson from Toronto Inner-City Rugby Foundation (TIRF). They talked about her role at TIRF, what it offers to youth and why Rugby is so important for team values and to help teach young people how to manage. Both Ahmed and Divine are part of their high school rugby team and talked about their experience as rugby players and what the sport means to them. Divine discussed his role in the team and how it gives him exercise in a fun way, and Ahmed talked about the multiple roles he plays on the team and how much fun he has found it to be. Amanda talked about the logistics of the sport, how there are different types of games such as 7’s and 15’s, called such because of the number of players on the field. She also talked about how it varies from other sports, because rugby is a sport where the person has to run with the ball. Some sports aren’t like that and ...