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Pan-Asia Fortune Cookie Festival

8/30/2013

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Pan-Asia Fortune Cookie Festival

By Wendy Wang (Age 14), Edward Wang (Age 8), Tom Yang (Age 13)


Nagata Sachu – Drum Performance

Boom! Boom! Boom! The Japanese Taiko drum ensemble, Nagata Sachu, was drumming at the West Jet Stage. We sat amongst the crowded audience and enjoyed the performance. We heard the drummers hitting the drums with wooden sticks as soon as we walked near to the West Jet Stage. It was such a loud sound! Each piece of music was better than the one before.

Most of their songs were imitations of nature, such as horses in the springtime. We could hear the horses' hoof beats as they raced across the meadow. During the song "Echoes of the Heart", we heard a steady heartbeat amidst the melody.

The name Nagata Sachu was taken from its leader, Kiyoshi Nagata, and sachu, an old Japanese term for "group". Nagata has been Taiko drumming for 31 years, ever since he was inspired at 12 years old.

"Our group started in 1998 and has been performing across Canada, United States and Europe for almost 15 years. In fact, we'll be celebrating our 15th anniversary with a concert this coming November," he said.

PictureInterview With Kiyoshi Nagata
Taiko drumming may not look that complicated, but it is much harder than it looks. 

"We are constantly practicing and preparing. In the beginning, it was hard to memorize all the beats while listening to each drummer's part in a song. Not only that, there is also physical strain, such as muscle strain and back pain. Our last song imitated fishermen reeling in their catch and there was good reason for it to be the last song we played. We were more or less worn out after that song." Nagata said before adding, “That's why we always stretch before playing!"

He just loves making music. The hard work paid off, as Nagata mentioned, the feeling when he performs is so hard to put into words. It goes somewhere along the lines of exhilarating, satisfying and fun. He wasn't the only person that thought it was fun, Tricia Evelya, an audience member who was sitting beside us was impressed with the drummers' power and strength.  

"What a wonderful performance! I like how the drummers play together in sync and how they explained the meaning of each song."

The drums came in all shapes and sizes, from the size of a plate to the size a flat-screen TV! All their recording, equipment and costumes were made in Japan. They also teach Taiko drumming in Scarborough for all skill levels.

"It would be cool to see a gong next time, but until then and I want to say a big thank you to Nagata Sachu," Evelya said.

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Tea Dyeing Workshop

Next, the crew learned about dyeing fabrics using a natural process. Our instructor, Debbie Arruda, who studied textile design, gave us a peek into the world of tea dyeing. 

"The fun thing about tea dyeing is that it is an adventure. You never know how it will turn out and each time it will create something new,” Debbie said.  “Best of all, it's easy, something you can do at home within a few hours."

PictureDyeing Cloth
Here are the basic steps to tea dye: 

  1. First, you make tea. Put a couple tea bags into boiling water; wait until the water gets dark, in tea colour. 

  2. Then, you dip your white fabric into it. You can also test out many different methods. For example, bounding the cloth tightly with string before dipping in the dye, dipping some parts longer than others or just dunking it in!

  3. Experiment with it and have fun. 

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Shadow Puppet

Soon after, we participated in a form of storytelling that originated in Southeast Asia. 


It was invented by an emperor in Han Dynasty who was trying to remember his lover. The traditional puppets were made of leather. Our puppets were made out of black construction paper and wooden sticks. 

Our instructor, Alexandra Iglesias, is a visual arts teacher. She was the one, who explained all that we need to know about making shadow puppets.

We liked shadow puppets very much.


PictureWhite Jade Performing Live on Stage!
White Jade

After we finished, we ran to the WestJet stage for our last event for the evening.  But we found out that White Jade, the band we were expecting to watch, wasn't there. There was a notice saying that it has been transferred to the Redpath Stage. We moved fast to the Redpath Stage. We arrived right before the show start. 

White Jade is a unique Chinese band from Shanghai. The band is based in Shanghai and contains 8 members and this was their first trip to Canada and we think they made a great impression. Dressed in unusual yet fashionable black and white outfits, this band pulled off a new trend of music. They combined electronic rhythms with traditional instruments, such as the Pipa (Chinese lute), Guzheng (Chinese zither), Erhu (Chinese violin) and Dizi (Chinese flute). 

The performance lasted half an hour; they managed to play so many songs.  When it was time to interview, we rushed and chased down the band members. We were lucky that we caught them when they were hanging out outside the clubhouse. We got to interview the lead of the band, Tao Ye. 


PictureTao Ye (Leader of White Jade)
“When did you start to play the lute?" we asked.

“I've been playing since I was 10," said Tao Ye. "I soon grew in love with the instrument and music. My dad is also a flute player. I saw him play all the time. He inspired me," said Tao Ye.

When we asked him what was his favourite part about performing. He said, “We love interacting with the audience!" 

That is true because they even came down from the stage and danced with the audience! After playing a remix of the popular Chinese song "Mo Li Hua", the band managed to execute a cover of the songs "Move Like Jagger" and "Oppa Gangnam Style".  Lots of people started dancing wildly during these popular songs.  

Tao also mentioned that Sunday at the Harbourfront was the last performance for the band in Canada. They will move on to tour Europe next. He says he hopes to come back to Canada again. If you ever see them perform in Canada again, listen to their performance and they will get your ears very satisfied!


We were really amazed at how they performed. It was great music! If anyone told us to rate them, we would give it a ten out of five! We even got a souvenir from them, which was a cute panda hat.  

From our missing member
By Angela Zhao (Age 12)



Voice K’s summer camp and members gathered enthusiastically at Harbourfront for the Fortune Cookie Festival. I wish I was there, but I couldn’t make it.  Though I was lucky that on Monday, my friends from the camp told me about the trip and showed me pictures of the all the events. 


I was introduced to the shadow puppets. The history of shadow puppets is very romantic. It all started in China by a king, who tried to make a shadow puppet for his lover. The other campers showed me the Shadow puppets that they made. Edward made a dinosaur, Tom made a fish and Wendy made a horse. 


If I was there, I would enjoy all of the events, but mostly the tea dying because it sounded like fun. The idea of dipping a fabric and making a pattern is very interesting.  

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Let's go to the Ex!

8/29/2013

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PictureEdward with the Pizza Nova mascot
2013 CNE Trip - Food, Dance, and Exclusive Interviews
By Alex Hu (age 9), Edward Wang (age 8), Leo Yin (Age 10)

Voice K took a trip to the CNE on August 26, 2013. The CNE is a very attractive place for kids to play and learn. The CNE also teaches kids how to make pizza at Pizza Nova’s Kids Making Pizza workshop. If you stop by the workshop, at the beginning you will meet the Pizza Nova mascot. Then, they will teach you how to make the dough round, and at the end, you will get free pizza!

 We learned that we need to make the dough flat with our hands, and we also learned how to flip the dough in the air. We really enjoyed eating the free pizza. We also managed to ask questions about
the session. We interviewed Dominic Bruno, who was the instructor for the workshop. We asked how
this event got started and he said: “We started doing this session in a tent. We got great results and
the manager gave us this room." We also asked why he liked making pizza. He said: "I like making
things with my hands, and pizza is very special to me. I have no difficulties making it." Bruno has
been making pizza for quite a long time; “I’ve been working here for twelve years!” he said.

PictureAn interview with Carmen Harany
Next, we interviewed the manager, Marilyn Stater. Edward asked why she liked to work there, and
Stater replied, “Because I like playing with kids!” Like Bruno, Stater has been working at the
workshop for a long time too! “I’ve been working here since 1981,” she said. We learned that there’s
always a new kind of pizza because people order different pizzas everyday, sometimes with more
than five toppings! I liked this event very much and I even got to film some of the session.
When we walked out of the workshop, there was a whole new long line of kids outside waiting to go in.

For our next event, we took the CNE express train. However, the name is very deceiving because it
moved so slowly. When we finally arrived at our event, we missed it because we were late.

This led us to our third event, which was at the International Pavilion. There, we saw the five-man
dance group, Cascade. They did a lot of fighting moves and dancing. They did back flips and
slow-motion actions. We really liked their cool moves, and we really want to learn how to do them
when we’re grown up. They even picked random people from the audience to come up on stage and
perform.

Next, we went backstage and interviewed some of the staff. The first interview was with the
International Stage manager, Carmen Harany. We asked her what are some of the excitements
involved with organizing this stage. She said: "We bring people from different countries to perform."
We asked what some difficulties of organizing this show were, and she said: "We sometimes have
trouble getting [the performers] work permits to come into the country. Another thing is language.
Many people speak different languages so it is hard to communicate with them."

We interviewed Emma Dennis who is a writer from Voice K. She helps behind the scenes as a
costume character - a ladybug. We asked Emma how her job was, and she said: "It’s a fun job,
because the whole point of the job is to make people smile, so it’s nice." We asked her how she got
her job, and she said: "Carmen's daughter. I am friends with her, and we went to school together.
And one day she called me and asked if I wanted a job. I sent a resume and had an interview with
Carmen's boss, Daniel. And yeah, I got the job." We asked her why she wanted the job, and she
said: "It’s my first job, and I figured it’s not a difficult job. I figured it was a good place to start, and I
found the interaction with kids was fun."

Lastly, we interviewed Maurice Chan who is the founder of Cascade from France. We asked when
he started performing. He said: "I started when I was 19 years old, and now I'm 38. I also practice
martial arts and gymnastics." We asked how he formed the group, and he said: "I found students,
some students who came all the way from Paris." We asked what the most difficult part was. He
said: "The creation. It is difficult to create ideas for audience participation." The group also does stunt
moves in movies. In fact, they are working on some movies such as Tekken 2 and Smurfs 2.

We had a really great time at the CNE and we hope there will be more events such as these for next
year.


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Flattening the dough at the pizza making workshop
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Voice K journalists meet Cascade!
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Alex Hu
Hi, my name is Alex, I am 9 years old. I am in grade 4. I go to Maple Grove Public School in Oakville. I was born in the United States. I am the only child. I love hockey, tennis, basketball, and swimming. I joined Voice K camp for two weeks this summer. During the two weeks, we interviewed people at the CNE; we learned to film and we did funny fake news reports and uploaded them to Youtube. I really like the fake news conferences we did; one topic was about Superman getting defeated by Darth Vader. 
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Edward Wang
My name is Edward Wang. I am in Grade 3 now. I go to Edenrose Public School. My favourite food is pizza because it is so yummy. My favourite sports are soccer and hockey, because they allow me to play with team members. If you want to be the winner, you have to work hard and smart together as a team. I also like to read interesting books and watch TV when I finish my homework.  
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Leo Yin
Hi, my name is Leo Yin and I am one of the journalists in Voice K. I am 10 years old and I am in grade 5. I live in Mississauga, Ontario. I like to play sports, such as ice hockey, basketball, badminton, swimming, biking, etc. I go to Credit Valley Public School. My favourite subject is math and also I really enjoy playing piano and singing. My favourite piano piece is Fur Elise. So yeah. That's pretty much all you need to know about me. See ya! 
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Evergreen Brickworks' Wild Blueberry Festival

8/27/2013

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PictureVoice K Journalists with Catherine Gerson
The Wild Blueberry Festival
By Wendy Wang and Leo Yin

The term "blueberries" has become more than simply "blueberries" at the Wild Blueberry Festival at the Evergreen Brick Works. There are low bush and high bush blueberries, either wild or conventional, each unique in flavour and size. The festival started in August 2009, in the same place as it is today. It is a very popular festival! Catherine Gerson, the farmer's market coordinator, agreed.

"Over 3,000 people come to this festival every year," she said.

There are two ways to harvest blueberries: by hand, or by shaking the bush to make them fall onto mats.  Blueberries picked by hand are quite expensive since they take a long time to harvest. You have to individually pick every blueberry.  One basket can carry up to 100 blueberries. It takes about 1- 2 hours to fill up one basket. At the festival, we got to taste those hand-picked berries!

"It's a wonderful setup. I enjoyed tasting different things made with blueberries, the pies in particular," Debra, a visitor, said.

There was in fact a blueberry pie bake-off between four lucky bakers who were invited by the festival organizer, Marina Queirolo. The pie bake-off is held during the festival every year because August is the wild blueberry harvest season.  Each baker made many individual pies so everyone could get a taste.  By buying a $5 ballot, a visitor could sample each baker's pie and vote for their favourite. Too bad Queirolo wasn't allowed to vote for her favourite pie; only visitors and judges could. It was such a popular event that by the time Voice K went to get a taste, the pies were sold out, and the festival had been going on for only less than two hours! However, we did get to chat with one of the contestants. Farzam Fallah was his name.

PictureContest winner Farzam Fallah
"This is actually my first festival, and it's awesome! I'm a chef at the Richmond Station, a restaurant in Toronto, so this was a fun way to test my skills," Fallah said. "Although I'm making pies for this contest, my favourite thing to make with blueberries is ice cream.”

Fallah really loves cooking and baking, and he discovered his passion when he was fifteen years old. His all-time favourite thing to make is mousse, especially chocolate mousse cake. The pie that he submitted for this contest was topped with lemon meringue. Fallah's pie was deemed delicious, and won the contest! He gave Voice K his advice for pie baking.

"Don't overwork the dough," he said with a knowing smile.

PictureContest Judges
We also got to see the bake-off from the judge's point of view after talking to Wanda Beaver, who has been judging pies for quite some time now. After all, she owns her own pie shop called Wanda's Pie in the Sky.

"I have been in the Toronto pie business for 25 years now, and I can say my favourite way to eat blueberries is in the form of a pie," Beaver explained. "Pie judging is fun, we get to taste pies!"

Beaver says pies are judged by their looks and taste. The pastry and filling are important.

"The pastry should be crisp and flaky while the filling should be juicy but not too sweet. I think fruit pies should always be served warm."

However, there is more to this festival than blueberry pies. There is also a kids' garden where you can see various plants and vegetables, and even water them! In the front, there was a big tin tub filled with water, buckets, and watering cans. There were a lot of flowers to water. When the watering can was empty, visitors could refill and continue to water the flowers. A few giant watering cans took about four normal sized ones to refill! The big ones lasted for about 12-16 plants, but it depended on the size of the plant and how much water the plant consumed. In the tub, there was also a pipe-like mechanism that held water to refill a watering can, but it can take 10 scoops of water to refill a can. If the watering can is big, it takes about 15-30 scoops! Whew! It was even more tiring than it sounds. 

We met Albert Tu, who was invited by his friends to come to the festival. We asked him if he liked the festival, and he said yes, but preferred the garden.

"I really like wild blueberries, so this was a nice experience," Tu said. "I also really like pies, but I'll have to say the sunflowers from the garden were my favourite part.”


A lot of effort was put in to make this festival happen, and we could tell it was a success by the smiles on peoples' faces. When we passed by Gerson again, she said it was a fun time for everyone.

"The hardest part of setting up the festival is to make sure everyone is comfortable and having a good time. If people don't enjoy the festival, they would not think of coming back next year," she explained. "The festival organizer feels proud because the festival brings in a lot of people every year. Everyone had a lot of fun!" 

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It started with a blueberry and it ended with a pie. At the festival, you could buy and try. It's a blueberry wonderland to let your taste buds fly. Even though this year we bid summer goodbye, make sure to come back next year, and give it a try!

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Hi! My name is Wendy Wang. I am 14 years old and I live in Mississauga, Ontario. Writing is my passion, whether it's stories, poems, or articles. In my spare time I also love reading, drawing, swimming, and hanging out with my friends at Edenwood Middle School. To me, life is an adventure so I never miss a chance to try new things and meet new people. It has been so much fun participating in the creation of this magazine, so I hope you enjoy it! 
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Hi, my name is Leo Yin and I am one of the journalists in Voice K. I am 10 years old and I am in grade 5. I live in Mississauga Ontario. I like to play sports, such as ice hockey, basketball, badminton, swimming, biking etc. l go to Credit Valley Public School. My favorite subject is math and l also really enjoy playing piano and singing. My favorite piano peace is Fur Elise. So yeah. That's pretty much all you need to know about me. See ya!
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Tommy Thompson Park Butterfly Festival

8/25/2013

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PictureKyle and the prairie falcon
Toronto Butterfly Festival at Tommy Thompson Park

By: Dea Yu (8 years old) and William Yang (12 years old)

We went to the fifth annual Butterfly Festival at Tommy Thompson Park on Saturday,
August 24, 2013 in the afternoon. The park is located at Leslie Street and Lakeshore
Boulevard in Toronto.

It took about three months to plan the festival and there were 12 booths that we could
check out.The butterfly festival is meant to teach people about butterflies and to teach
us how to help them.

After we arrived at the park, we went on a nature walk. On the way to the trail, we stopped at the “Wild Ontario” booth. Kyle, a volunteer, had a brownish Prairie falcon resting on his hand. The bird was 15 months old and had beige and white feathers with beautiful black spots on it. At the display table, among a skull of a prairie falcon and a claw, an egg-shaped pill caught our eye. “What is that?” we asked Kyle. It looked like a tiny freckled clay egg. Kyle explained that it was a pellet; falcons can’t digest everything that they eat, so they compact it into small pellets, then cough them out. Very interesting.

Afterwards, we walked on a sandy trail right by Lake Ontario. On the way, we spotted crickets, an orange sulphur butterfly, a Monarch butterfly, milkweeds, a white cabbage butterfly, and cattail weeds. From the scavenger hunt sheet we got from the park entrance, we learned that milkweeds attract Monarch butterflies.

PictureDon with some Monarchs
When we came back from the walk, we interviewed the event organizer, Natalie Racette. We asked, “How long does a Monarch butterfly live?”

“It depends on how long it migrates, so probably three to four weeks,” she replied. We
asked Racette how many species we can find at the park, and she said, “There are 55 species of butterflies around the park.” When we asked what kind of butterfly she would be, if she could be one, she pointed to a poster with a large colourful butterfly and said, “I would be a Swallowtail.”

We continued our walk to other display booths. We saw a man attaching tiny stickers on a Monarch butterfly’s wing, and then he released it. We were fascinated and walked over to his booth. His name was Mr. Don Davis. He’s a naturalist and is from an organization called “Monarch Butterfly Journey North.” He explained that the butterflies he just released will migrate south, all the way to Mexico. Numbers from 1-800 are printed on the stickers he attached so that people down in Mexico will know that the butterflies came from Canada. So far, Mr. Davis has received four phone calls from Mexico since he started tagging the butterflies. He also showed us Monarch butterfly eggs; they were so tiny and transparent! You can hardly see them on the back of a leaf. He hatched all of the Monarch butterflies he released; they are his babies!

Last but not least, we went to a booth with lots of snakes. The volunteers let us hold a
large yellow snake. Its skin was smooth, cool, and slimy. We even had it around our
neck! It felt AMAZING!

Some other things we learned from the booths were that butterflies taste with their feet and use their antennae to communicate with each other, and that some butterfly
collectors preserve butterflies by drying them up.

We had so much fun at the Butterfly Festival, and learned a lot about butterflies! We
hope to come back next year.


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Dea makes a slimy friend!
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Dea Yu
Hi everyone, my name is Dea, I am 8 years old. My name is not popular, I only knew one girl whose name sounded the same but she spelled it differently. Guess how I got this name; my Mom told me she found it on a website called babynames.com. It is a Greek Goddess name who was in charge of beauty. I go to Sommerville Manor School which is really close to Voice K. My favourite classes at school are Drama and Music, I love playing acting games with my Drama teacher. I live in Mississauga, Ontario. I like reading and all kinds of arts. I am a Ballet dancer; I had my fourth recital this year. I really enjoy putting on new costumes each year and dancing on the stage.
That is it, so far
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William Yang
Hi, I am William Yang. I'm a Chinese born in Senegal, Africa. I can speak 4 different languages. I'm 12 years old and I am in grade 7 and go to Hazel McCallion French Immersion Senior Public School. My favourite subjects in school are math, gym, and French. I like video games, making videos, and a board game called "Go". I enjoy playing Go because there are infinite possibilities, and it is challenging. My hobbies are Kung Fu, basketball, soccer, skating, and skiing. I am Tae Kwon Do black belt 2nd Dan and Kung Fu level 3. I also love to read and write. I also love to watch Kung Fu movies, especially Jackie Chan movies. I also love music; I can't stand a day without listening to music of some sort. 
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