Author: Mia

Youth Arts for Social Change Conference: #LeadNotFollow

CITI PERFORMING ARTS CENTER TO HOST FREE CONFERENCE ENCOURAGING TEENS TO #LEADNOTFOLLOW

Inaugural Youth Arts for Social Change Conference to be held on November 7

Citi Performing Arts Center announced today that its Teen Leadership Council will host its first annual Youth Arts for Social Change Conference (YASCC). The conference, titled #LeadNotFollow: Navigating Identity through Media and Art, seeks to spark a transformation in the way youth think about media, art, their identities, and social change. YASCC will be held onSaturday, November 7, 2015 at the Dudley Branch of the Boston Public Library from 10:00am to 4:00pm.

“The mission of our Teen Leadership Council is to empower teens to recognize and embrace their potential as creative leaders and community advocates,” said Josiah A. Spaulding, Jr., President & CEO of Citi Performing Arts Center. “This conference is just one example of how we’re using arts to drive social change and make a difference in communities across Boston.”

The Youth Arts for Social Change Conference is a free program, and all teens, organizations, and programs that work with young people, and those who support youth, students, artists, and activists, are welcome to attend. Topics include Forgotten Headlines: The Stories that Go Untold; #Nofilter: Do you show the real you through social media?; and Picturing the Future: How do we use the arts and media to spread social change?

When asked about the impact of the arts on social change, Teen Leader Jacarrea Garraway, 17, from Dorchester asked, “How can the arts not effect social change? If teens work together in a positive manner, and use the arts to achieve social justice, it will greatly impact the future.”

Richard Andujar, 17, from Roxbury said, “During the conference, we’ll talk about our identities and social media, and how easy it is to follow other people’s ideas. People hate what they don’t understand, so we want to talk about expressing what we think and feeling safe.”

The conference will feature presentations by Hyde Square Task Force, Theater Offensive, and Urbano Project, and will include a keynote panel with Anthony Thomas of Thomas Ent, Justin Kang of City Awake, Cedric Douglas of The Up Truck, and Thato Mwosa, Artist & Award-Winning Filmmaker. The Youth Arts for Social Change Conference is sponsored in part by the Fellowes Athenaeum Fund.

Click here to learn more about YASCC and learn more about Citi Performing Arts Center’s Education and Community programs here.

October 31, 2015
Halloween Safety Tips for Parents of Pre-Teens & Teens
Halloween Safety Tips for Parents of Pre-Teens & Teens

Your teenager may no longer need your help dressing up as a super-hero, but it’s important to continue to be involved in your teen’s Halloween plans. Here are a few important safety tips and ideas from Day Middle School’s Nurse Gayle’s Newsletter:
- Find out where your teen is going, get the phone number, and agree on a time for him/her to be home
- Make sure adults will be present at parties your teen will attend
- Explain how Halloween pranks can be vandalism and result in serious consequences
- Remind your teen you don’t want him/her to use alcohol, drugs and tobacco
- Offer to drive your teen to where he/she wants to go for the night
- For teen drivers, remind them to watch carefully for young trick-or-treaters and drive slowly
- Give your teen reflective tape & a flashlight if he/she is going to be out trick or treating
October 30, 2015
Help Out on Online Reading Study to Win $200

My name is Andrea Mooney. I spent my early career working at Boston Children’s Hospital writing to parents and children, and now I’m working on a study being conducted by researchers at the George Washington University, hoping to find out more about how kids learn from children’s books. If you feel that your readership might be interested in participating in this study, would you consider promoting it on your blog?

Here are the details: If you’re a parent of a child ages 6-8 (or you know one) and have regular internet access, you can participate in the study by simply reading to your child four nights over the week of Nov 2-9, and taking a 15 minute online survey by Nov 15. All participants who complete the survey by Nov 15, 2015 will be entered into a lottery, and one participant will be randomly selected to win a $200 Target gift card, sent via email.

Please feel free to pass this message on to other eligible parents. Email kidsliteracyGW@gmail.com to learn more.

Kindly,

Andrea Mooney

October 30, 2015
Upcoming Boston Charity Fitness Class = Solar Light for a Girl

Buy your tax deductible ticket and get ready to power up and power her!

komeracyc.eventbrite.com

Can’t join us? Donate in support of a dedicated girl scholar at Komera!

October 29, 2015
Foodie Guide to Boston’s Chinatown

I keep running into my friend Stella in Chinatown even though we both live here in Newton so I am calling upon her expertise to help me with this guide to Chinatown in Boston. It’s a little mystifying to find the best of the best in Chinatown. We usually agree, but when we don’t, I’m going to list both options.

My kids are of a different mind. They think I am being a “Bruce Lee” by spilling Asian secrets and thereby making their favorite haunts even more crowded than they already are. There is plenty for everyone!

What makes you hesitate to go to Chinatown? Is it the bad drivers? Is the lack of parking? Is it because you don’t speak Mandarin? The drivers are terrible; this is true. We park at a lot on Tyler Street. It’s impossible to get meter parking but we manage once or twice a year to score a spot. And not everyone in Chinatown speaks Mandarin; there are hundreds of Chinese dialects so not everyone who lives there can understand each other. Your English will be fine!

Hope you venture into Chinatown. There are a lot of delicacies waiting for you there!

Best Dim Sum

China Pearl Restaurant

9 Tyler St
Boston, MA 02111

Everyone I know agrees that this is the best Dim Sum in Boston. It still doesn’t compare to Dim Sum in Hong Kong, or in Chinatowns in Los Angeles or San Francisco though so don’t get your hopes up too high. Still, their Har Gao is as good as any in the world.

Go before 11am on the weekend or expect to wait in line.

Best Soup Dumplings

Gourmet Dumpling House

52 Beach St

Boston, MA 02111

There’s usually a line out the door for dumplings so your best bet is to call ahead and pick up. Or do what we do. We order the soup dumplings when we are seated for Dim Sum (but before we start eating), then we pick them up on our way out for an afternoon snack.

Best Asian “Starbucks”

Tea Do

8 Tyler St

Boston, MA 02111

Stella turned us on to this contemporary tea house and my kids like their smoothies and bubble tea. Their Japanese snacks are great too! This is a popular hangout for teens in the area and stocked with board games so you can hang out while sipping your drink! This is a de rigeur stop for us when we come to Chinatown for Dim Sum!

Best Cantonese Seafood

We have a split decision. I have been going to Peach Farm for more than 10 years and therefore haven’t tried anything new since finding it. Stella likes Jade Garden and she’s Cantonese!

Peach Farm

4 Tyler St

Boston, MA 02111

Try the Salt and Pepper Squid. We order it half squid and half beef with bone. I like their ginger and scallion lobster too. Even our kids will eat the shrimp — that’s live from the tank (with the heads on), then steamed and served with sauce. Our kids like the sauce that isn’t spicy.

Jade Garden

20 Tyler St

Boston, MA 02111

Best Chinese Cake Bakery

101 Bakery

56 Beach St

Boston, MA 02111

My kids like their sponge cakes; a piece with just a thin layer of frosting in between.

Best Chinese Pastry Bakery

Hing Shing Pastry

67 Beach St

Boston, MA 02111

They make Moon Cakes when it’s that time of year but no one I know actually likes Moon Cakes as they are very dense and sweet. They are made of sweetened bean puree. Instead, try the sponge cake in the paper cones. I also like their beef curry pies, apple turnovers and their version of Pigs in the Blanket. They have Chinese specialities too like pork buns (baked not steamed), and sticky rice wrapped in leaves.

Best Roasted Meat Shop

Hong Kong Eatery

79 Harrison Avenue

Boston, MA 02111

The restaurant is always busy but I’ve never eaten there. Instead, I stand in line to order their roasted meats. My favorite is the soy sauce chicken but the salt chicken is equally popular. They have roast duck and roast pork — both Char Shui (BBQ) and suckling pig style.

Best Vietnamese Sandwich Shop

163 Vietnamese Sandwich

66 Harrison Ave

Boston, MA 02111

Even if you are full, get a sandwich to go. You won’t regret it!

What are your favorite eats in Chinatown? Please share in the comments below!

October 29, 2015
NewTV House of Haunts

NewTV’s Annual House of Haunts event is coming up.

It’s that time of the year again when ghouls and goblins will be out looking for a scare! NewTV’s third annual House of Haunts is a free family-friendly event offering fun and games for the kids, a costume parade, and a scavenger hunt.

The event runs from 4:00pm-7:00pm on Thursday, October 29th, NewTV Studios 23 Needham Street. For more information, visit here.

October 28, 2015
Teal Pumpkin Project for Allergy-Free Halloween

JOIN THE TEAL PUMPKIN PROJECT FOR AN ALLERGY-FREE HALLOWEEN

Choose Big Buckets of Monsters and Zombies for a Healthy Halloween Handout

Halloween is creeping around the corner and kids are gearing up to trick-or-treat. With this spook-tacular holiday comes the thrill of dressing up and collecting treats at every door. But for the 6 million children with food allergies, collecting candy is a dangerous risk. Kids affected by allergies must rifle through buckets of candy, searching for treats that they’re able to enjoy. Those with severe allergies can’t even consume candy that so much as touches an allergen.

Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE) is encouraging families to participate in a new Halloween tradition: The Teal Pumpkin Project. This national campaign encourages parents to offer non-food treats for children with food allergies. Participants will mark their intent by placing a teal-colored pumpkin in their yard, informing trick-or-treaters they have non-food Halloween handouts.

Stop letting big buckets of Halloween candy haunt your home…Offer trick-or-treaters a safe and healthy treat that lasts… Big Buckets of Monsters and Zombies!

Each Big Bucket comes with 100 assorted spooky action figures- including zombies, gravestones, humans, werewolves, and even Frankenstein! With over a dozen unique sculpts… down to the poses!

Unlike the average figurine, these menacing monsters stand up on their own, and they definitely put the action in action figure. Each collection includes 12 uniquely posed pieces full of personality. The bucket of monsters includes: a freaky Frankenstein, creepy crawly spiders, howling werewolves, a clawed-at tombstone, and a monster with an appetite for arms. The assortment of zombies includes: an on-the-go zombie girl running with her teddy, creepy corpses escaping from the grave, hungry zombies munching on their brain-food, and a human with a hatchet in his head!

Give your guests a lasting treat. Hand out Big Buckets of Monsters and Zombies this Halloween!

*Big Buckets of Monsters and Zombies are non-edible and are recommended for children ages 4 and up.

Big Buckets of Monsters and Zombies are available for purchase on www.scsdirectinc.com, www.amazon.com and at specialty retailers nationwide. Retail: $19.99

Please consider including Big Buckets of Zombies/Monsters in your Halloween segments, editorials and give-aways. Product samples available upon request.

The Big Buckets line of products also includes: Animal Adventure Action Figures, Civil War Soldiers, Farm Animals, Firemen, Safari Animals; Sea Creatures and Dinosaur Skeleton figures.

October 27, 2015
Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra FREE Concert

The Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra Performs FREE CONCERT In Symphony Hall
November 2, 2015 | 7:30pm | Symphony Hall, 301 Massachusetts Avenue, Boston
Tickets: FREE and open to the public, first come first served
More information: 617-236-0999 or at www.bostonphil.org

The Boston Philharmonic Youth Orchestra will perform a concert which is free and open to the public on Monday, November 2, 2015 at 7:30pm, conducted by Benjamin Zander, thanks to the ‘Free For All Concert Fund’. The November 2 program consists of Glinka’s Overture to Ruslan and Ludmila, Stravinsky’s Violin Concerto with violinist Ayano Ninomiya, Debussy’s La mer, and Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 5. Ayano Ninomiya is an award-winning violinist who recently joined the faculty of the New England Conservatory of Music and attended Harvard University and The Juilliard School. The 112 members of the BPYO range in age from 12 to 21, and are chosen through a highly-selective audition process. They reside or attend school throughout New England, and come together on Saturday afternoons for sectionals and full orchestra rehearsals at the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology, in Boston’s South End. The November concert is the first performance the orchestra will give since its triumphant European summer tour.

October 26, 2015
Trick or Treating at The Arsenal Project!

Trick or Treating at The Arsenal Project!

October 25, 2015
Shawn’s Studio Free Pilates, Rowing, and Barre

Shawn’s Studio in Watertown, MA is pleased to offer free introductory fitness classes to new clients the week of October 26, 2015. What better way to try a new type of exercise or meet new teachers?

From October 26 to 31 you can sign up for a complimentary group Pilates mat, Pilates equipment, Indo-Row, Pilates Tower-Row, and barre class online here.

Go to the calendar icon to put in the date you’d like to attend and you’re on your way to a new lean, healthy body for the holidays.

Shawn’s Studio is committed to the Pilates principles that build strength with flexibility, good posture and balance, as well as a strong core that is deeper than just a six-pack. We then apply the Pilates techniques to other exercise that complements our work. Rowing is especially good full-body workout that adds an aerobic component to your routine and it’s even more powerful when we incorporate Pilates into the class. Check out our combination group classes along with the Indo-Row program.

Being a dedicated Pilates studio our instructors are fully certified by the leading international Pilates organizations. We have done far more than a weekend “certification” course, and have completed stringent apprentice programs and passed all written and physical testing.

Sign up today for a sample class and feel the difference for your self at Shawn’s Studio. For details about the studio go to: www.shawnsstudio.com.

The fine print: offer only good for anyone new to the studio and there is a limit of 2 free classes per person.

October 24, 2015