Best friends forever, BFF, were three simple words that we often use in elementary school. Read more...
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Oakland's City Council wants to update cabaret laws which would extend bar and club closing times to 5 AM. Members of the City Council see a potential increase in revenue if the current law is changed. But moving along with these changes may not be that easy. Some Oakland residents feel that in order to make this shift that the city needs to tone down its violenent crime rate first.
Currently the cabaret law states that club owners need to apply for "zoning approval, submit to background checks, and get fire and health inspections in order to play live music or music hosted by a disc jockey at their venues." Small and large venues pay the same fees for some permits. The new cabaret law would reduce permit fees for some bars to $600 from $2,200, create a smoother application process and extending closing time to 5AM from 2AM.
Changing the closing time for clubs would likely require a greater police presence at those hours. CQ press--an independent publisher--released in 2009 their annual city crime rankings and Oakland ranked as the third worst in the nation. The rankings were based on murder, rape, robbery, aggravated assault, burglary, and vehicle theft. Is Oakland ready to have more people out at night?
Reporter Rachel Krantz spent some time in Havana this past fall, and contributed a series of photo essays and stories. We're running one each day this week.
You always call the same phone number to find the party. When someone answers the phone, you always ask the same question:
"Donde esta la fiesta?"
The answer is an address--sometimes familiar, sometimes a new location. But without fail, every weekend, some sort of secret gay party is thrown in Havana, Cuba.
One Friday in Havana, my friend Damian agrees to take me to one. Damian is 23-years-old, Cuban, a filmmaker, and gay. With medium brown skin and a wide, knowing smile, Damian charms most people he meets. Although he only wanted his first name used for print, Damian is open when he talks about what it's like to be young and gay in Cuba.
"The hardest thing is finding a place to have safe sex," Damian says. "It's hard for everyone, but straight guys, they could bring a girlfriend home. I couldn't do that, of course not. My mom doesn't let me, it's forbidden."
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(Updated on May 03, 2010)
The following was broadcast on KUNM FM, Albuquerque as part of a series Youth Speak Out, a collaboration between Youth Radio, Youth Media Project in Santa Fe, KUNM’s Youth Radio in Albuquerque, and New Mexico's Youth Alliance, made possible by a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. For more information about Youth Speak Out go to www.youthradio.org/new-mexico.
by Sienna Sanchez
A recent Santa Fe Public School Board meeting about DWI and teen drinking left a bad taste in my mouth. There was a lot of talk about adding more abstinence programs in schools and steps they can take to try and stop kids from drinking. The school board seems to think that making more rules and punishments for teenagers will prevent teen drinking and driving, but I disagree. They like to show a lot of graphs and charts of surveys they have done asking youth about their drinking habits. Apart from the fact that a lot of those written surveys aren't taken seriously at all by the people who are forced to take them--namely youth and students--how often does telling teenagers NOT to do something really deter them?
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I’m considered an Irish-American girl but for one night each month, I get to try on a new culture. I get to be Bosnian.
My Bosnian-born friend Emina introduced me to Bosnian parties. Once a month we pack up from school and head to her house to dress up.
We arrive at the party around 8 and wait for the guys, who always arrive fashionably late at 9. As soon as I walk in, I can officially no longer hear anything. Techno music blares through the near empty warehouse.
We run to the bathroom every ten minutes to check our faces. We eat our Bosnian junk food: two pieces of white bread with greasy meat inside.
The concert includes a well-loved Bosnian singer, countless drunk men, women dressed in sexy clothes, drama, cigarettes, and lots of dancing. You have to dance a certain way or else it’s obvious you’re not Bosnian. And don’t look at the Bosnian boys too long because than they think you’re too easy and they lose interest.
So now that I know the rules, I fit in perfectly and the Bosnians never suspect a thing...
In the Latino community, having a quinceañera is one of the most dreamed about celebrations in a girl’s life. A quinceañera is a coming-of age celebration—an introduction party to womanhood. Quinceañeras go back to 500 B.C., from the Aztec culture where a girl at the age of 15 was considered ready for motherhood. The meaning of the ceremony has changed with the years. According to Wikipedia, celebrating a quinceañera has become more popular in the United States than in Latin America. Surprising as it sounds, I can agree with that. I never once heard about a quinceañera until I came to this country.
CNN reports that the celebration is not only a coming-of-age but it symbolizes a parent’s prosperity. There is no doubt that celebrating a “quince” is far from cheap, so by celebrating, it symbolizes a parent’s hard work and success in this country. A long held tradition has an added meaning: a reflection of a parent’s economic and social status.
As a person who had the opportunity to celebrate my quinceañera and attended more than I can count, I had never thought about it that way. Being a guest at quinceañeras you can’t help but to comment about how wealthy the parents might be, so in a way it does make sense. A quinceañera has also become our means of preserving our culture as Latinos in America.
YMI caught up with Curren$y in the Bay Area at a studio session with producer Trackademicks. We asked Curren$y what's the best way for the next young talent to maneuver within the music industry. Show footage from Club 330 Ritch in San Francisco,CA. Studio footage from The Academy Studios in Oakland,CA.
