Day of the dead at Habourfront Centre

By Dea Yu (age 9), Selena Xu (age 9), Edward Wang (age 9)

On   November 9, 2014, Voice K journalists went to the Day of the Dead Festival at Toronto Harbourfront Center. Colourful lights lit up the rooms. The halls were filled with beautiful Mexican paper cut-out decorations and stunning flower arrangements.  Mexican music was heard almost everywhere. This festival looked like a memory from Mexican past.

When we got there, we went downstairs into a room full of information on the Day of the Dead. We went to the back where we started to do some paper cutting, just like the ones that were hanging on the ceiling. 

When we got to the theatre for the band performance, it was already very cramped. A couple minutes later, the show started and the audience quieted down. A man walked onto the stage and gave a mini-speech. He talked about the birth of the festival and he introduced the band ─ which was all female ─ that was called “Mariachi Flor de Toloache”. The band members explained that “Flor de Toloache" is the name of a flower in Mexico that they put in love potions.

The show included various songs from the people of Mexico and also Latin America. They have slow, fast, high- and low-pitched songs. They sing many famous songs like Calaca and Guadalajara.

All band members wore skull makeup on half of their face. They were also dressed in beautiful band costumes. To us, we didn’t see a band with costumes and makeup. When they were playing slow music, we saw a musical river with beautiful cherry blossom trees all over it. When they were playing fast music, we saw an empty desert with a rampaging horse dancing in the distance.

 The audience cheered for the Mariachi Band on stage while they were singing a wonderful tune and clapped to the beat while others danced or sang. That is the Mariachi Flor de Toloache. They are the first ever Mariachi band that are all women. In 2008, Mireya Ramos found the Mariachi band. The Mariachi band was originally from New York, but the members are from Indiana, United States, Australia, Dominican Republic, Mexico and even Canada! What you can explore are celebrations from Mexico and other areas of Latin America.

 “My father was a mariachi and I used to go with him to all his shows,” says Ramos, a violinist and a singer. “So I fell in love with mariachi music and through that I would learn violin and voice.”

The band explained their half skull makeup: “The day of the dead is about celebrating our ancestors. Part of the makeup represents the ancestors and part of it represents our generation.” 

“It was very exciting when I learned the festival is happening and is assigned to me,” said lead artistic associate, Umair Jaffer. “Harbourfront Centre has a theme of legacy this year. Under this theme, we are transforming from the past to the present and to the future,”

Day of the dead (Dia de los Muertos) is the time of the year when people celebrate and be happy for the people from the past. This celebration was born before Christianity was invented.


“All the activities from the festival are about legacy, celebrating the past and passing onto the next generation,” said Jaffer.

ARTIST AT DAY OF THE DEAD CELEBRATION

BY: Leo Yin (age 11)

Crafts, music, and fun! I couldn’t decide which was best.

From the craft section, there was a great artist, Steve Loretta, who made attractive skull crafts. The most interesting skull was a sugar skull completely covered in icing leaves which was really breath-taking since the leaves looked real.

He made about four types of crafts for the Day of the Dead celebration. Loretta said, “I started making the these crafts five years ago when I was running a children’s workshop on making the sugar skulls in 2009 at the Brick Works, which made me now have a good memory of how to make them.”

There were paper skulls, sugar skulls, full skeletons, and skull decorations. The biggest question in my head was how he created so many decorations for the celebration and did not run out of ideas.

 “I was inspired from my heart to make these creations and that is just a thing I like to do,” Loretta said.

He even made a sugar skull kit with which to decorate your own sugar skull with icing. The decorations came with eye catching colours and irresistible style.

This is a Mexican celebration to respect the dead. Next time don’t forget to have fun with some awesome Day of the Dead crafts!

On Tuesday, November 18, 2014, Voice K went to the media opening of the Ontario Science Center's newest exhibit, "Brain – The Inside Story."  The experience was so educational, fun, and even weird!

 The Exhibition:
by Dea Yu (age 9), Michelle Zhou (age 9) and Jeffrey Li (age 9) 


The first thing we saw when we walked into the doors of the Brain exhibition was a large amount of tangled wires covering the ceiling. At first I felt very confused, but then I read a sign and suddenly I understood. This is what it looks like in a brain.

As I moved on, I learned more and more fascinating facts. Did you know that if you have shorter memory it is because you don’t get enough sleep? Also, did you know that there are about 100 billion neurons present in the human brain? That’s about 15 times the total human population on earth!

There were activities and games at every turn. There was a stacking game, a tracing game, a language game, a map route game, and lots more!

The tracing game had you trace a shape while looking at your actions in a mirror, so you can only see what you are doing through the mirror. There was a Beginner Shape, which was a triangle. The Advanced Shape was a star. Warning: this activity is easier said than done, but it gets easier over time. It was an example of How-to Memory.

The stacking game is a simplified version of the Towers of Hanoi, where two people can compete against each other. There was also a screen that showed you what happens in your brain when you do things. For example, it showed what happens in your brain when you steal a cookie from mom,  when you're happy, or when you’re hungry.  

There were plenty of strange facts as well. One of the games taught you that things can be easier to memorize when they are in groups that make sense. Plus, there were facts about memory. There was one guy who memorized 2254 digits of π!

Also, we learned that descriptive words can play tricks on your mind. There was also one activity that told you to read two columns that had colored words in them. Column A had words like black, red, and white printed in the color of the words. Column B had the same words, but printed in different colors. Then you had to use the clock above to time someone not to read the words, but to say the color they are printed in. You will notice that Column B takes longer.

We interviewed two guests at the exhibition, Alicia Hilderley and Andrew Barr.

Alicia is a Ph.D. student at the University of Toronto. She works part-time for the Holland-Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital, one of the organizers for the event.  She gets to work with lots of kids and play interactive games with them.

Alicia claims to like everything about the exhibit, but feels that having more games, which is already her favorite part, would make the place even more attractive. Her number-one activity is "Stacking Cubes." Though Alicia is an expert on brains, she still learned lots of new and interesting things at the exhibition. "It's very inspiring," Alicia concluded.

Andrew is also learning about the brain at school – its function, makeup, and evolution. He said that his experience at the science center would help him indefinitely during his studies. Andrew found the exhibit very fun and exciting because it was his first time at the facility in many years and he was able to gain a lot of knowledge from the trip. Above all, Andrew liked the languages activity, as he felt that it revealed the substantial differences between some of the languages that are spoken around the world.

Interview with Dr. Elaine Bidiss
by Amelie Zhou (age 9) 

Elaine Bidiss is a scientist at the Bloorview Research Institute and a Professor at the University of Toronto’s Institute of Biomaterials and Biomedical Engineering. 

She was developing a new way to let kids have fun while waiting in the waiting room of Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospital. She didn't want kids to be bored, but, in an even worse scenario, anxious. Anxiety could result in resistance to treatment, worry, and fighting to not go back to the rehab center. Boredom is just a minor problem, but anxiety proves to be a major problem. They didn't want kids to have a bad memory of the place.

The problem was, they couldn't use toys that involved touching surfaces that everyone touches, because contagious viruses could spread very easily just at a touch. That meant iPads, computers, dolls, hand-activated toys were out of the question. What about bubble machines? That was a good question. It only involved looking at something. However, it’s still no good ─ that interested parents for about 5 minutes, and kids for about 5 seconds. The hospital tried so many things, and after years of experimenting, they came up with a great toy that involved the art of waiting. There was a colourful carpet on the floor and by standing on the squares, floor sensors under the carpet send messages to a big screen. The longer you stand there, the prettier the pictures and sounds will become. Now, parents and kids alike can enjoy growing a garden together!

We also wanted to know why she chose to study the brain. She thought that the brain was a sort of magical thing, and she thought that it was important to know how your brain works, how you learn, how you think. 

 “We want to make sure that kids with disabilities can do things all kids like to do and have fun doing it,  so we design technology that makes it easier for kids to do those sorts of things,” Dr. Bidiss said. We asked a few questions on the brain itself, and learned that playing piano is good for the brain. If you want to improve someone’s brain, it takes practice and willingness. When we asked her why she thinks the brain is located in our heads, she laughed and said she thinks it makes it harder to be damaged, compared to being located in the foot or hand.              

By Voice K Summer Camp

Chinese culture arrived at Habourfront last weekend. The place was jam packed with Chinese art, craft, dance and outstanding food. 

“ It’s amazing to have 70 artists from China to perform at this festival”, said Rodrigo Fritz, Senior Artistic Associate and Project Coordinator at the Harbourfront Centre. The China Now event lasts three days starting with an opening showcase on Friday, July 11th, 2014. 


“The hardest part to organize was the opening showcase that involves 7 artist group. Coming up with the correct schedule and getting everybody together is the most challenging part," said Fritz. It took Habourfront over a year to organize the event. They started discussions with the Ministry of Culture in China and their major partner, Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage in Washington about a year ago. Between different departments there were at least a hundred people involved.

“We are very fortunate to live in a multicultural society,” said Dr. Nelly Ng, the chair of Can 4 Culture, a not-for-profit organization that connects culture. "My goal is to by introducing this magnificent art, for people to understand one another better." 


China has a history of five thousand years. Some of the crafts, such as the clay figurine and kite making has a history of two thousand years. 


"Because we don't know much about China and its rich history, and we get fascinate about it, and we hope more people get to see it. I think through art, we are connected." said Dr. Ng. 


This is the first time Harbourfront Center hosting a festival solely focused on China.  be sure to check it out yourself!

 
By Dea Yu  & Emma Zhang (Age 9)



On Sunday, June 22th, 2014, a group of Voice K journalists headed out to Central Island for the Toronto International Dragon Boat Festival.  The drive was pretty long. When my family finally arrived at our destination, I wanted to jump out the car!


When my family got to the ferry dock, we had to wait in a long line for the ferry. My family rode on the top layer of the ferry. When I got there, I was amazed by the buzz if excitement in the crowd. There were so many people with paddles so I knew they must be paddlers competing in the race. There were lots of vendors with food and games, and the thumping of the dancers’ feet on the stage was amazingly loud.


I explored the island until I saw the Voice K group. We got split up in two teams. I interviewed a paddler named Tim Hudson who was competing for the P&G team. 


 “My dad and I used to always go rowing when I was your age and we did the same in Boy scouts too.” Hudson said. He told me that the important part about racing is that everyone has to be in sync. “You have to make sure you listen to the man in the back and everyone on the boat has to know his instructions.” 


I also learned that in a race like this, you want start paddling very hard at the start, slow down in the middle, and then pick up at the end. 


In order to prepare for a dragon boat race, you need a lot of different training. One of the most important ones is to train how to row. You can pull your paddle to your sides and work on your strokes. You also need lots of warm-ups and muscle trainings because paddling requires a lot of back exercises, shoulder exercises, and cardio exercises. 


“How do you feel when you finished the race?” I asked. 


”Relieved,” Tim said. “Because you get really exhausted in the race and it’s good to finish. And I feel even better when I win.” 


Then I asked to see his hand and there were so many calluses on them!


Then I interviewed one of the organizers of the even ─ Kevin Lo. His favorite part of the race is seeing all the teamwork effort. Lo told me that this was his fourth year being an organizer. “I first heard about this festival when I was a kid,” Lo told me when I asked him about his first experience.


After playing for several hours, it was time to head back home. I still remember the day I saw dragons on the river, and excited to see next year’s race.