Chicago Avenue Project

Last night we watched a play that kids did themselves. And there was a real actor with each kid, too. We took the city bus to the Pillsbury House Theater to see their program where local kids work with professional actors, directors, and playwrites to learn to act and produce a show in about three months. Here is a video about the project from the theater's website.

There were many short plays all put together, the one that Malik likes the most was the very last one. What he liked about it was that the kid was really really funny. Hillarious.

Khalid liked another one that featured a kid with glasses who was probably about 11 years old and he was energetic, active, he was a hero. He was honest and brave because he saved the museum from a bad guy and he was humorous the whole time.

The play Chala really liked was the first one, about a pair of soldiers fighting against a volcano. He liked it because it was funny.

Another day, another brain teaser!...

On a cool and crisp April afternoon, the gang of teenagers gather around to do an activity that really gets your noggin a flowing. The game is called the "hand-cuff" challenge. Easy, right? You get you and a partner to take a string,wrap it around the wrists like hand-cuffs, and overlap the string so they are linked. The object of the game is to unlink the cuffs without taking it off your wrist. Not so easy now is it? Its help team building, and it also helps with interaction. Getting teens to meet new people is one of the hardest things to do, next to finding a needle in a hay stack! (My apologies for being old fashioned, but you have to admit, it's so fun!). Anyways, the bottom line is, that this game is good for the youth because it lets them have fun and it lets them feel like they can enjoy themselves. I'm Mohamed Mohamed saying good night and Go Twins. And remember bloggers, LeBron James is a Monster. A total and complete Monster. Two fingers.

Acting Class with Anton

This is the class with Anton, and we are learning how to act. That's Anton with the red hat on, he is a really good actor and he's teaching us so many things like how to persuade other person to get what you want.
the program is every other Thursday from 6:00 to 7:30 until may 20th. we will have Performance at the end. the performance is for everybody to watch and everybody is welcome. People that join this program with Anton have a fun time to act like different people and have a specific person to act with. It is very fun and entertaining to act with Anton and the others.

Working on the Youth Farm (32nd St and Portland Ave)

today was the third day of youth farm programs, yesterday we experienced how to do different things about plants and seeds in the greenhouse (located at Cherokee Heights Elementary School in St. Paul). We saw a lot of different food like a tomato, basil, and others. Nur reflected, "I touched one thing (a plant) and then I could smell it on my hands, it smelled good."

Pictured here are some youth from the teen center shoveling for gardening and preparing for the spring.