You've found the Youth In Control blog, the offical blog of Youth Radio's Core Class.

Youth In Control airs Friday Nights from 7 to 9PM on Youth Radio's RAW web radio stream.

Please download portions of the Core show at letyoursoulglow.podomatic.com

Check back this coming Friday, October 16th,  for the session's debut show, when the Fall 2009 Core Class takes to the air for the first time!.

I used to be in the dance emphasis at Oakland School for the Arts. One of my friends is still in the dance emphasis and she has been very depressed lately. In the dance emphasis there are two groups, dance troop and foundation troop. These two groups are separated from the okay and the really good. All the people in dance wants to be in dance troop because it is a huge challenge, but it is even more difficult and more drama. The dancers usually don’t talk to anyone else except the people in their group. There is always drama and someone is always critiquing or talking bad about someone. The drama usually occurs when a performance is coming up. Read more...

Pretty much everyone, including me, has heard before of the Humane Society, PETA, and other organizations that fight for humane treatment of animals—but until recently, I never realized the true gravity of the issue of animal cruelty. I watched a documentary called Food Inc., which, among other food and health topics, discussed the horrible treatment of the animals that we slaughter to eat. The descriptions of animal suffering and abuse disturbed and disgusted me—enough to do some more research into the topic on my own.

When you look at a cheeseburger patty, you see the singed grill lines. And you smell the onions, and the fresh peppers, and the tang of the mustard, and you taste the juices and spices. But it’s what you don’t see that should concern you more. According to the Mercy for Animals organization, the Humane Society, PETA, and the Food Inc. documentary, many of the animals that we consume suffer from diseases like cancer, tumors, and bloody open wounds, and receive no medical treatment even though workers and companies are completely aware of their injuries. Farm chickens live in sheds with levels of ammonia considered dangerous to humans. Turkeys with infected wounds are slaughtered, boiled, and packaged. They’re all killed, healthy or not—and we eat them. Read more...

According to Yahoo! News and National Public Radio, the 2010 Olympics will not include women in its ski jump event. Since 1998, female ski jumpers have petitioned every year to join the Winter Olympics—and they are no more successful in 2010 than they have been in the past. Ski jump is the only Winter Olympic sport barring women. In 1991, the IOC ruled that future Olympic sports must allow both men and women to participate. However, this did not pertain to sports that already existed at the time, which included the ski jump. The original decision to exclude women’s ski jump was made in 2006. In April 2009, 10 female jumpers sued the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Olympics, claiming that the VANOC had infringed upon the ban on sexism in Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Justice Lauri Fenlon of the British Columbia Supreme Court ruled on July 10, 2009 that—though the exclusion of women from the Winter Olympics ski jump event was gender discrimination—the International Olympic Committee, not the VANOC, was responsible for the decision, and Canada’s charter did not apply to an international organization. The IOC seems to have no intention to change its mind. After the lawsuit in Canada, it issued a statement saying that [quote] “we strongly disagree with the court’s analysis that the IOC acted in a discriminatory manner”. The IOC claims that there are too few representatives in the sport for it to be included in the Olympics. However, not only does women’s ski jump have as many participants as Olympic women’s bobsled, but the IOC recently allowed the ski cross event to join the list of Olympic sports, even though the sport allegedly had fewer representatives than women’s ski jump at the time. Read more...

According to abcnews.com, President Bill Clinton was released from the hospital in Manhattan today. He went in yesterday because he was experiencing chest problems. Blocked blood flow lead to his chest pains. He needed and received 2 stents in his arteries, and as a result he went into surgery performed by Dr. Michael Collins and others for an hour. Clinton’s cardiologist Allen Schwartz found no evidence of him having any symptoms of a heart attack or any damage to the heart. A coronary artery supplies the heart with blood. The 2 stents on his artery may mean that he is not as vulnerable to have a heart attack as he was before. Read more...

By Courtney Tran

Everyone experiences stress. My own life is full of it—pressure from my family and teachers to do well academically; social pressure regarding what to wear, how to act, and how to fit in among peers; heavy homework loads from school; and my constant shortage of time to squeeze in track practices, karate drills, and extracurricular activities.

By Henry Quintana 

Ever since I was a freshman, I would hear seniors complain about how senior year is so difficult and how much of a pain it can be. I would always think to myself “senior year is so far away, I still have time before I go completely insane like them”. Wrong! Senior year came so fast and the madness began. Being so determined to get accepted to my dream school U.C. Davis I once again loaded my self with more challenging classes. I took A.P. classes such as English, government, and calculus along with joining leadership/ ASB for my second year. I also added a part-time job to the mix. I then threw it all in to a 6-period schedule instead of the 4-block schedule I was so used to. Once I was getting the hang of it, November came and college applications completely threw me off. The stress began and I had to make the choice of where I want to spend the next four years of my life.

By Yohan Callen

There are these shoes that people wear called ugg’s. They are these sheep skin boots that are lined with wool that come in lots of different colors. The most common one people wear is tan. In my mind they should be named ugly’s, but some people seem to think other wise.prices range from high too low, but they should be free. I wouldn’t give them to my worst enemy. If they were made out of leather or another material i might like them. Sheep skin doesn’t last and the boot starts to lean on the sides and they turn this dirty brown color. Read more...

By Doris Marie Smith

According to kcbs news the landslides along esplanade in Pacifica has done a lot of damage to their apartment complexes. Tony fortunate of engineering soils repair has contributed a lot to this situation. Him and his team has put up boulders and plastic sheetings around bluffs to keep the landslide from corrupting the town. So far they are holding their points. But the wind is still very strong but, fortunate is doing his best, he says it’s the least he can do.

By Anita Oeun

Today started off as a normal day, I went to 6th period for the first time this week I was in a good mood till my friend had did something very out of pocket.. I just wanted to go home and forget about what happen between us, but I couldn’t take it anymore. I seen her in of the front of the school and I walked up to her and asked her why did she do what she did. To me she took it to like I wasn’t serious of something, so she just started laughing. I didn’t think it was funny because what she did got me in a lot of trouble. All she did was just laugh I was already very mad to the point that I couldn’t take it, so I confronted her about it. She decided to hit me and the next thing I knew we were fighting. All I saw was a lot of people crowding, around us just yelling. Then my play brother came and pulled me away from her. He kept telling me to claim down it’s over, but I was just to mad to let it go. We walked around the block for about an hour. Read more...