If you’re interested in writing, editing, photography, design or illustration, then join the Contrast editorial team. Contrast gives you the chance to learn loads of new skills, meet some great people and get some ac-credited media training. We have a weekly meeting which anyone is free to drop into and we hold regular training sessions and workshops.

If you would like us to run a workshop session in your school or youth organisation then please get in contact by phone or email.

AGE 13 - 19?

FROM HACKNEY?

THEN GET

INVOLVED

email anna@socialspider.com

Find us here

Meetings:Every Tuesday4:30 - 6:30pm@ SkyWaySkyWay can be found at:

Unit 2, 222 Kingsland Road, London, E2 8AX

For more information and directions, call Anna on 020 7359 7825

Hi guys. Welcome back to Contrast Magazine’s seventh edition. This time we’ve got a report on the new Mayor of London and how he’s going to help young people. We also have new book and film reviews.

There’s also some tales in store about chickens, lambs and goats from Hackney City Farm and new reports about how young people learn scary, death-defying tricks to perform in a circus, plus some new interviews and more interesting news on what’s going on in Hackney.

Also, we’ve got the latest from our agony aunts and we have a new agony uncle! Who are all going to help give advice and tips on your problems.

Issue 7 Editorial

Contrast is published by Social Spider. Social Spider is a Community Interest Company registered in England, No 4846529The views expressed in Contrast do not necessarily reflect those of Social Spider or Hackney Council © 2008 Social Spider Community Interest Company ISSN 1754-0623 Contrast is printed on paper that comes from sustainable sources and is monitored by the Forest Stewardship Council, an international organisation that promotes the responsible management of the world’s forests.

Advertising: If your organisation is interested in advertising, please call Stephen on 020 7354 9129 or email: stephen@socialspider.com Download our media pack from www.socialspider.com/contrastmediapack for information on our rates and specifications.Printing managed by: Ten Alps Publishing, 9 Savoy Street, London, WC2E 7HR Tel: 020 7878 2300Contrast editorial team: Cheryl O’garro, Niki D, Rhasan Brunner, Lara Akinnawo, Bisi Fashesin, Elizabeth Balogun, Selin KavlakContrast staff team: Mark Brown, David Floyd, Stephen Gardiner & Anna SelbyThe Contrast team would like to thank: SkyWay, Hackney Libraries. HCVS, Emma Spielgler, Philip Nichols & Rhian HughesContrast is funded by Hackney Youth Opportunity Fund, which is managed by young people in Hackney Youth Service.Contrast is supported by: SkyWay, Hackney Libraries, Hackney Youth Parliament and Exposure Organisation Limited.

Now ask yourselves, do you like writing, designing, reviewing and covering events around Hackney? If yes, would you like to get involved in Contrast magazine’s editorial team?

If you would, then email us at contrast@socialspider.com or telephone 020 7359 7825, or just come to our sessions at SkyWay Unit 2, 222 Kingsland Road every Tuesday 4:30 - 6:30pm

Rhasan, for the Contrast editorial team

Painting the townThis summer 16 young people, supported by artists from local company, Onit Design, learnt how to design and create graffiti art with an Olympic theme at a skate park in Daubeney Fields, Hackney.

Phot

os: B

arry

Mac

dona

ld

Contrast 05

BLACK

HISTORY

MONTH

From the 13th-16th October 2008 young people across Hackney will be voting in the Hackney Youth Parliament election.

If you are aged 11-19 and live, work, or go to school in Hackney then make sure you vote. Ballot voting will take place in schools and youth clubs. Young people can also vote online from the

25th September to the 14th October as long as they register to vote by the 18th September. To

register visit www.hackney.gov.uk/hypelection The results will be announced at a free

public event on Thursday 16th October in the Assembly Hall of Hackney Town Hall

from 3:00 - 5:30pm. There will also be a number of local and national organisations

and high profile figures present.

What’s

On

www.blackhistorymonthuk.co.uk

Free trip to a developing country

to work on community-led projects

Platform 2 is a fantastic opportunity for 18 to

25-year-olds who wouldn’t be able to fund their

own trip abroad to go on a free 10 week trip to

a developing country to work on community-led

projects. When they come back they are trained

to express their experience to their peers, com-

munity and contacts in whatever way they want.

It is government funded and run by Christian

Aid with BUNAC and Islamic Relief.

Check out some of our volunteers blogs

on www.myplatform2blogs.com

or visit the website at

www.myplatform2.com.

For more info contact Sarah Corbett on

020 7523 2363 or scorbett@christian-aid.org

Free Autumn CoursesNewington Green Now & Then is a new arts and heritage project for young people aged 13 to 25. The free, 10-week courses run from autumn 2008 and again in January 2009 and participants will be able to complete a Bronze Level Arts Award.

www.newingtongreen-nowandthen.org.uk

Film nights, Saturday drop-in workshops, ses-sions on how to make your own animations and more...Interested in our FREE activities? Then get dialling 020 7729 2323 email mouththatroars@btconnect.com or visit www.mouththatroars.com

Film-based FREE Activities for 13 to 19-year-olds

Every year, the State of Lon-don Debate brings London-ers together to discuss the key concerns affecting them. This year, the new Mayor, Boris Johnson, declared that the debate would be about young people in London. He wanted to talk about young peoples role in shaping the capital, and the relationship between them and the rest of London.

I attended the debate held in June at City Hall, repre-senting two organisations that work with young people: Skinners’ Girls Young Cham-ber Business Council and Contrast magazine. The panel included actor and documen-tary-maker, Ross Kemp, Jen-nette Arnold, who is the Lon-don Assembly member for North East London (which includes Hackney) and Ray Lewis, the Deputy Mayor who has now resigned. Some of the questions were tough to answer and one or two people even received stand-ing ovations from the rest of the audience after making a particularly valid point.

It was clear that many young people’s organisations wanted to feel like they were being listened to and to re-ceive funding to help young people. In fact, so many peo-ple asked for funding and per-sonal visits from the Mayor that it rapidly became a run-ning joke every time someone introduced themselves.

Ross Kemp said he believed that mentoring was the an-swer to London’s spiralling knife and gun crime. He also talked about life imprison-ment sentences handed out in America including 300, 400 and 500-year sentences for murder and schemes that al-low potential young offenders to meet criminals doing time to understand the likely con-sequences of their actions.

Many of the audience mem-bers complained that the me-dia had a part to play in the vilification of young people because of the rising instanc-es of knife crime. It was felt that hard-working children and teenagers - including those working to support families, themselves and their

peers were being tarred with the same brush as those who were committing senseless crimes. There was a general consensus amongst the audi-ence that this was not fair.

Some moments drew a smile, especially when a woman asked Boris to cut down all big trees. The audi-ence was highly amused, be-fore the Mayor sobered the moment by informing the audience about the bus trage-dy that sparked the comment. He couldn’t stay serious for long though, declaring that as the new Mayor, he was not consigning himself to being “pro-tree” or “anti-tree”.

Boris Johnson clearly rel-ished the debate, as it was a good opportunity for him to find out what Londoners really wanted and for Lon-doners to feel as if they too had a voice and an influence on political decisions. I think the next thing for Boris to do is visit some of the London Boroughs (Hackney, for in-stance) and further reassure people that he is the people’s Mayor.

Mayor Boris states his caseCheryl O’garro attends the State of London Debate

06 Contrast

Imagine a field full of ani-mals: hens, pigs, ducks, lambs and goats. It’s a normal scene from the English country-side. Here’s the thing though - you don’t have to go to the countryside, you can find this right here in Hackney. I volunteer at the Hackney

City Farm, which is in Hack-ney Road near Shoreditch. It’s a great place to volunteer. I go there every S a t u r d a y m o r n i n g from 10 until 12. I got in-v o l v e d because I went to Hackney Voluntary Action to ask about envi-ronmental projects and they referred me to the Farm. I’ve taken care of lots of

animals, including goats and lambs. Goats need to exercise reg-

ularly to stay healthy so we take them out of the barn and put them on a leash. Then we take them into a field for a walk. Baby lambs are really active and they want to run around a lot. When they want to explore, we pick them up and take them into the field. The goats are the most

difficult to deal with be-cause they are really strong and rebellious. When you try to pull them they just stop and stay where they are. We have to try to get them un-der control and we usually manage it, but it does take the fight out of us. The funni-est animals are the chickens; they keep shouting. When a chicken shouts it sounds

really weird. Over the last few weeks, I’ve learnt a lot about agricul-ture and taking care of animals. I’ve also made some good friends. I’ve learnt to be a

good volunteer and how never to give up. I

think Hackney City Farm is a fantastic organisation that is making a big difference within the community.

Don’t be a chickenRhasan Brunner recommends volunteering at Hackney City Farm

Contrast 07

GET INVOLVED

For more information on Hackney City Farm go to their website: www.hackneycityfarm.co.uk

or contact the team at: Hackney City Farm 1a Goldsmiths Row London E2 8QA

Telephone: 020 7729 6381 Email: farm@hackneycity-farm.co.uk

For information on volun-teerting in Hackney go to:www.hackneyvoluntaryaction.org

‘Hackney City Farm is a fantastic organisation’

Tell us about COAP?Emma: It’s for young people affected by somebody else’s addiction, it could be someone they are living with, a family member, or someone they are not living with but who affects their lives.

What got you interested in this problem?Emma: When I was growing up, my mother had problems with alcohol. COAP is inspired by my experiences of supporting my mum and feeling lonely as no one understood what I was going through, then looking around Britain and finding that there weren’t many support facilities available.

Alcoholism has a massive effect on family life in different ways – it can tear a family apart. It’s not necessarily the drunkenness that affects people, it’s the behaviour afterwards, such as arguments in the household and constant tension. Often with young people it’s that worry and fear that they have to look after their parent which is a really big burden.

Does this affect a young person’s development?Emma: Definitely but it could be positive or negative – some might react by becoming very resilient and they will become a stronger person as a result of it. But it might break other people down and they become more vulnerable, so it depends on how the young person reacts to the adult’s addiction. It may affect them at later stages of their life when they decide to have a relationship with someone else. However, with support from friends and others they can definitely turn their lives around.

How do you think COAP has made a difference?Emma: Hopefully by speaking out for young people who have addicted parents, people can read about other young people’s experiences on the website and realise that they are not the only ones who are affected by it. Quite a lot is of this information is online, but I also speak at events about my experiences so that people can learn what it’s like to live with an addiction. I do workshops

as well, open to anyone, but directed towards young people aged 11 to 25.

What happens in the workshops?Emma: I talk about my experiences with addiction, the feelings that I felt, how I came through it and now the positive tools I use to deal with it. I ask the young people about how they view addiction and how they see it affect people’s lives, it’s more like a discussion.

What do you think of people’s drinking habits generally?Emma: It’s a really big part of youth culture and quite a few people are in danger of becoming addicted.

Do you think social drinking is OK?Emma: Yes, definitely. I think that anything done in moderation is OK. The problem starts when the alcohol use becomes a problem in that person’s life and in their relationships with other people.For more information go to:www.coap.co.uk

Message on the bottleRhasan Brunner talks to Emma Spiegler, the founder of a useful website for young people dedicated to Children of Addicted Parents and People (COAP)

08 Contrast

Learning the tightropes Lara Akinnawo and Bisi Fashesin on a degree with a difference

Contrast 09

Imagine swinging upside down from a trapeze several meters from the ground. Not your idea of a good time? Believe it or not, some people do this daily, as part of their university degree! The Circus Space in

Shoreditch is a centre of excellence in circus arts. It’s one of the top three circus schools in Europe and puts on a series of impressive performances throughout the year.

Contrast was fortunate enough to attend a performance put on by third year graduates of The Circus Space’s BA (Hons) degree course. The performance, entitled ‘On The Brink’ consisted of various acts from juggling clowns to elegant acrobats. For us, this was an entirely new experience. We had never seen any circus acts before and we were prepared to be shocked and amazed. The show opened with a

female double-act strangely titled ‘The Living Room’. The girls performed around two poles where they completed a number of dazzling spins and flips, all from heart-pounding

heights. In the final moment of the piece, they slid rapidly down their poles and braked just before hitting the ground. The audience gasped in shock and awe. Some of the acts were

more on the arty side and combined storytelling with physical performance. In an act entitled ‘The Forest of Vanishing Dreams’, the performer presented the legend of a tree whose branches reached the four corners of the world, while displaying immense physical strength, agility and style. He flipped and span while incorporating an element of dance, all centred on a single pole. Another act entitled ‘Keeping

It Really Real’ was more contemporary, consisting of a hoodie-wearing boy who rolled on to the stage on a skateboard and a backpack! He then proceeded to perform a number of tricks using objects like a yoyo, iPod, mobile phone and baseball cap! He juggled, he tricked and he wowed the audience, also receiving whistles from the admiring younger girls.

The show went out with a bang, with a comedic Elvis-inspired performance. Surrounded by bright lights, the Elvis clone performed a hula-hoop dance to classic songs from the King himself, such as ‘Rock n’ Roll’ and ‘Hound Dog’. He had up to 10 hula-hoops swinging around his torso and each of his limbs at the same time. This was a very lively and crowd-pleasing performance, which left everyone without a doubt that the King was in the building, the King of hula-hooping, that is! The Circus Space was a fun

and interesting place to visit. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to watch something quite different or better still, for those of you who are considering what degree to take, the circus could develop your physical abilities and also you grace and style. So for those of you who have never considered it before, the circus is definitely something that deserves looking into.For more information on performances and courses at The Circus Space go to: www.thecircusspace.co.uk

The YOF (Youth Opportu-nity Fund) and YCF (Youth Capital Fund) are run by young people for young peo-ple. Two or more people can apply to the YOF for up to £3,000 for projects and ac-

tivities that benefit other young people in Hackney.

The YOF can be used to buy small equipment, however if you need more expensive equip-ment you will need to apply for the Youth Capital Fund.

The YOF is managed by a group of young

people who have been trained as grant makers.

They assess applications and decide who should be award-

ed funding. Since 2006, YOF has funded over 100 projects, including arts and media projects, vocational training, ex-peditions, residential, events, sports and edu-cational workshops.

Recently, they funded over 150 young people to

see the widely acclaimed play Gone Too Far! at Hack-

ney Empire. Suleiman and Leroy told us: ‘The show

was about two brothers who grew up in two

different countries and how, now they were together in London, they would learn to deal with their differences. It explored different people’s cultures and their search for identity. We thought a lot of young people would get something out of the show and decided to use the YOF to fund the trip.’

The Panel members have also been gaining new skills and qualifications. Kelly-Louise updates us: ‘We have just completed Youth Bank OCN accredited training in Decision Making and Grant Making. We looked at dif-ferent decision making styles and worked out our own decision-making characteris-tics. Through this we gained more knowledge, confidence and understanding of how to assess applications.’ The Panel also took part in a resi-dential weekend at Woodrow. Jake feeds back: ‘Our group looked at the administration of the YOF, visits to projects and planned an upcoming celebration event. Over the weekend our group didn’t forget to have fun though, we did many activities, including archery, football and a rave night!’

Making a differenceMembers of the Youth Opportunity Fund Panel tell us about the fund and what they’ve been up to recently

10 Contrast

The new YOF application form and guidance notes are now available at www.thehype.info The next deadline for applications is October 30th 2008. If you have any questions please email YOF@hackney.gov.uk or call 0208 8356 7404 and ask to speak to the YOF Grants Officer.

Thanks to the YOF Panel for writing this article (Leroy, Suleiman, Jake, Lindsay, Kim, Sarah, Alfred, Jake, Kelly-Louise and Alex).

This August at Hackney Summer University, BBC journalist, Colette Hibbert, hosted a week-long course detailing the various ways of getting into journalism and the sort of things journalists had to conform to in order to become as successful as possible.

The first thing that we learnt is that there are three forms of journalism: print (newspapers and magazines), broadcast (TV and radio) and the baby of the bunch, online journalism.

It was a very interactive workshop with the class able to hold an impromptu Q and A session any time they wanted to learn something new. This was something I really enjoyed about the workshop.

The highlight of the week was imagining that Justin Timberlake was dead and we had to report on the nature of his death (we all really like JT but it was hilarious, nonetheless, coming up with evermore ridiculous suggestions to add to the fictional newspaper report).

There was also a debate on whether political correctness was stifling the voice of journalism and free speech. We concluded that sometimes being PC was a good thing because it stopped groups in society being offended.

I thought it was a very interesting workshop, where I got to meet other young people

who didn’t necessarily want to become journalists but just wanted to see how the world of journalism worked.

Cheryl O’garro

Hold the front pageWorking in Journalism

Contrast 11

For more information about Hackney Summer University go to: www.hackneysummeruniversity.org

Reviews

12 Contrast

The Recruit Robert Muchamore

The Recruit is an excellent book based on a secret or-ganisation that uses children as spies. It is an action/ad-venture book with plenty of laughs and a bit of romance. The first half of this book is probably one of the best first halves I’ve read - it’s original, gripping and creates a very real and believable world. The book is action packed and nail-biting. The thing that makes this book one of the best is that the characters are so easy to relate to. Girls shouldn’t be put off by the fact that it looks as if it’s just for boys. It definitely isn’t! This book is a fab read and, bound to tickle any taste bud!

elizabeth Balogun

Get smart (12A)Being a big fan of Anne Hathaway and finding Steve Carrell amusing was always going to be a plus when they are both starring in a film I am going to see.

Get Smart is a light-hearted, funny action movie that doesn’t take itself too seriously. Carrell and Hathaway make a believable but unlikely partnership that keeps you guessing, while Dwayne Johnson (The Rock, for wrestling fans) provides the muscle. There were some truly laugh-out-loud moments in this movie, with much repitition of the rather charming phrase “missed it by that much” and the ever present stapling the paper to the head trick.

I wasn’t surprised to see Terence Stamp as the main KAOS antagonist after his weird performance in The Haunted Mansion but that made it all the more convincing.

However, I was disappointed by the length of the movie. Far too short for such an entertaining film! But anyone who enjoys action, humour, a little bit of nuttiness and, dare I say it, romance, will find this film worthwhile.

Cheryl O’garro

Ever since its release, and even before then due to the tragic death of actor Heath Ledger, The Dark Knight has been touted as the release of 2008. Despite stiff competition from films such as Wall-E and Hancock, it has proven to be just that.

The film manages to cover comedy, drama, thriller and just a little bit of romance during its coverage of the battle between Ledger’s Joker and Christian Bale’s Batman. There were many plot twists, including people coming back from the dead (but I wont spoil it by telling you who!) and a moral decision between felons and innocent people.

Overall, the film was absolutely genius, though I found it curious that Christian Bale managed to change from ordinary to very grave just by putting on the batsuit. The Joker constantly entertained with differing stories of how exactly he obtained the scars that gave him his name, and a favourite of mine, Morgan Freeman, was on hand exactly when Batman needed him as the CEO of Wayne Enterprises, Lucius Fox.

I’m hoping that there is another sequel to The Dark Knight, though it’s a shame that we will never get to see Heath Ledger reprise his role as the Joker, because he did indeed steal the show. In a Batman film, that is not an easy feat.

Cheryl O’garro

The Dark Knight (12A)

Cocobutta, an urban grime musical was performed this summer at BSIX College, Contrast went along to check it out. From the outset it wowed, amazed and generally pleased the audience, not just because of the amazing choreography, amusing one-liners and enough attitude to make it seem real, but because the chemistry between the actors seemed to be genuine which made the storyline that much more authentic.

Cocobutta is the modern day urban Grease, with gang rivalry between the “Peng Ladies” and the “Atitude Girls”, love rivalry between Dan-Dan of the Heartbreakers and Prince of the Sweethearts, and people trying to find their place in the world, all while working towards winning the Channel U urban competition. The plotline rang true and it allowed you to forget any worries, because it was the type of production that sucks you in and you have no choice but to fall for it hook, line and sinker.

Overall, I think it was a shame that Cocobutta was only on for two nights and had only a small capacity - because this production showcased the talents of young people in London and showed our potential.

Review: CocoButta

Cheryl O’garro

Contrast 13

Phot

os: P

ete Y

oungThe show was devised and performed by a cast from Immediate

Theatre’s Interactions programme. It offers local drama based arts opportunities for excluded and hard-to-reach young people, aged 13 to 19.Visit: www.immediate-theatre.com for more details

Rhasan: Maybe if you talked to your mum about it and told her that you don’t like it, she might listen to you and might stop ir-ritating you. It’s natural when children and parents argue. Your mum just wants to make sure you’re okay.

Selin: This is a typical teenage thing – you are not alone. Every teenager comes to a point of finding their parents ex-tremely unbearable. It’s some-thing you have to live with and ignore. Try avoiding any argu-ments, by calmly responding and keeping your conversations to the minimum. Right now there isn’t a way you can actu-ally speak to her and find her not annoying. Teenager thing. It’ll pass.

Niki: Is hiding away from your mum helping or is this becom-ing yet another thing that your mum ‘nags’ about? Sounds like you and your mum are not ac-tually listening to each other. Most likely you both have good reasons for being unhappy with one another but unless you both talk and listen to what the other has to say, neither of you will actually find out how to re-solve anything.

What’s your problem?Contrast’s team of agony aunts and uncle: Rhasan, Selin and qualified psychotherapist,Niki D, give us advice from their different perpectives on two of our readers’ problems

14 Contrast

My mum is always nagging me about stupid things and I’m getting really irritated with her, I have to hide in my room when I get home to keep away from her. What can I do?Frustrated, 13, Hackney

This guy asked me out and I said yes because I didn’t want to hurt his feelings but I don’t fancy him. How do I get out of this?Bemused, 16, Hackney

Rhasan: If you don’t like him, just say that you would prefer to be friends instead of boy-friend and girlfriend. He may understand that.

Selin: Ah. Mistakes come with a cost. You will have to go on a date with him, say you had a nice time but you are not really interested because you can only see him as a friend and this date was an attempt to get to know him, to see whether your feel-ings would change. That way he wouldn’t take it to heart so much.

Niki: Well, this is a good lesson in how being too nice can back-fire. It is obviously important to you to be sensitive to others which is great, but not if you end up putting other people’s needs before you own. How about using your sensitivity and kindness now to explain to him that actually you prefer to just be mates? He may well be con-fused but it is much better to be honest now than carry on act-ing out a lie.

http://www.thehype.info

http://www.hackney.ac.uk