Regent Park Focus

This session the girls worked on creating magazines.  They picked topics and created a cover and began writing articles for it. Some topics picked included: Anti-bullying, fashion, feminism, and more! The purpose of this project was to see how much they already knew about issues and what they wanted to continue working on and talking about.  It also helped to get a glimpse of the girls' interests. They were offered many different things to complete the project, these being pencil crayons, markers, magazines, paint, etc.  When asked why they picked what they did, many mentioned how their topic impacts them.  For example, one of the girls talked about bullying, stating that she would like to educate people on things to do if they feel like they're being bullied. One of the other girls picked the topic of Feminism, she talked about how important feminism is and why it can help many people around the world.  The girls also mentioned being able to type...

April Agally is an aspiring young man. He is eager to learn and already aware of the idea of photography and has creative perspective. We started with my curriculum I prepared for introduction to photography with detailed notes including the meaning of photography; why do we photograph; the different genres of photography; and the most major of all, Understanding Light. The workshop is filled with video tutorials from critiqued YouTube and Agally was given homework to watch the videos in his convenience and to take notes of what he learnt and presented it in the next class. May After enough lecture and understanding of how camera works and its technical adjustments, Agally took the first shot in a studio setup and learned how to light your subject and adjust your camera to get the right photograph. On the following, we went out in Regent Park neighborhood and Agally has taken landscape, street and a few portrait pictures after proper approach and explaining why we are doing...

    Today was the first day I had the pleasure of working with The Diva Girls. Up until this week students had been coming in and working on their own projects but the girls had something else in mind. They wanted to prepare two songs for a showcase they were putting on. After spending some time showing them the ins and outs of Logic, and the capabilities it has as a recording program, they informed me they had chosen to record "Girl On Fire" by Alicia Keys.     Right off the bat I was impressed at how self confident these young women were. For students who had never recorded professionally or spent any substantial amount of time in a recording studio they were undaunted by the task at hand. Rather they approached recording vocals with such joy and enthusiasm, laughing during takes, and encouraging one another to do more, and push themselves further. They took turns singing choruses and verses, carefully practicing their parts to themselves before it was...

Date:   May 13 th , 2019 Hosts :  Shuhita & Nicole Guests : Caryma Sa'd, Criminal Lawyer Topic : Weed Legalization & Criminalization On May 13th, we decided to talk about weed legalization and criminalization. Recreational cannabis was legalized on October 17, 2018 in Canada however, it was not decriminalized. For example, it is illegal to possess more than 30 grams of dried cannabis, to grow more than 4 plants per residence, and it remains illegal to sell cannabis.  An estimated 500,000 Canadians already have a criminal record for possessing this now-legal drug. Although the federal government has said they will pardon Canadians with a record for simple pot possession, how accessible and just that process will be remains questionable. Charges for marijuana possession have disproportionality effected racialized communities, especially black and Indigenous people, and black and Indigenous people are given longer criminal sentences for canna...

This session the Divas continued working on their music with the help of Glama. The girls divided themselves unto groups, 2 decided to do music production while the other girls decided they would like to create videos. After some contemplating the girls decided they would like to change the song they were going to sing. They had 3 songs in mind and ended up choosing "Girl On Fire" by Alicia Keys, due to the very empowering lyrics. The girls got through most of the song but will continue the rest next week. The other group of girls decided they would create their own song which they will record on the 29th. The Divas who were working on the video were having a harder time on discovering what they wanted to film, after some talking they decided they would be making instructional videos, some examples being: hijab tutorials, clothing hacks, dances, etc.  The session on the 29th was done with the assistance of John, he talked to the girls about creating audi...

This session was used to brainstorm future project ideas. The girls talked about projects they would like to work on, this being podcasts and videos while also taking the radio into consideration. The girls then worked on creating a playlist they would like to play in the background during the showcase, some even asked if they would be allowed to film their own music video/record something. Some ideas they had for podcasts revolved around mental health, gender-based discrimination, Islamophobia, the media and its impacts, and identity. The following week (April 22nd) the girls worked on creating their own music with the help of John, the music producer at Focus. Working with logic they not only made their own beat, but some of them also sang some covers of songs they picked. These will be on display during the showcase. Amna Quaid Azam 

This session is the Little Divas' first session without the presence of Canvas.  Many of the girls mentioned that they would miss both the coordinators, but are still looking forward to the sessions coming up.  The girls came in and after having some snacks, began introducing themselves and went around the room showing the projects they had created and added more information on why each was important to them. They then began to not only discuss what they had previously learned but also, discussed what they wanted to learn from the future sessions.  These being activities revolving around mindfulness and breathing, meditation, podcasts and radio shows, videos, photography and much more. They also stated that they would like more in-depth information on being independent One of them also stated that they would like to have sessions where they can talk with the older divas about the program and offer advice, this idea will be explored more in the coming da...