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Mini Forbidden City at ROM

8/22/2014

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Do you want to see a chicken cup that worth 36 million dollars? Come to ROM and take a closer look at the expensive porcelain cup that has a chicken on it and as well as some other artifacts that came from the original Forbidden City.

“The Forbidden City is the imperial palace in Beijing, China. For a long time, it was forbidden to everyone. So it is one of the most mysterious places in the world,” said Courtney Murfin, the interpretative planner for the exhibition. Murfin comes up the story line of the exhibition and translates the curators’ and researchers’ complicated language to something easily understandable.

The exhibition started March 8 and will end on September 1st, 2014. So this might be your last chance to experience the fascinating history of the Forbidden City at ROM.

Luckily, on August 20th, the Voice K summer camp had the chance to look around and experience how it feels to be in the Forbidden City.

“The original Forbidden City in China is really big, so it was hard for us to recreate how big it is in our small exhibit hall,” said Murfin.

Most of the items are shipped from the actual Forbidden City in Beijing, China, but some artifacts are owned by ROM.

As we entered the exhibition, we saw a big screen to our left and the entrance to more artifacts to our right. The first thing that caught our eyes was the palace room display, which includes the Imperial Throne set. It was made with wood and jade. The throne was a symbol of the ruler’s imperials power. The area where we first entered was the outer court. The colours were mostly yellow and red. The last artifacts in the outer court are the ceremonial bells.  Then we entered the inner court where the colours were mostly blue and our surroundings felt homey. The inner court was for the imperial family and their eunuchs to live in.

At the end of the journey, we hit gold – the gift shop! We discovered so many awesome toys and utensils related to Chinese history. There were stuff panda animals, Chinese flutes, porcelain chopsticks, Chinese ponytail hats, ancient Chinese books, and even a glow-in-the-dark Mahjong rubik’s cube. Some of us bought the flute and some of us bought the chopsticks set.

The journey might have been exhausting, but at the same time we gained a lot of knowledge. It was definitely worth the trip. 


Photo credit: ROM
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The chicken was made by Emperor Chenghua. He made it as a gift for his mother. We can’t believe that it is so rare and worth so much. It’s just a cup!
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We also saw a puzzle; it was designed for the kids in the palace to play. There was a fragment of image on each side of the puzzle. You need to rotate the blocks to complete an image. There are 35 blocks in a puzzle.  Not even the staff from ROM could do it easily.
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Our favourite part of the exhibition was actually the ceremonial armour, which was used by emperor for inspection of troops. The armour was made with cotton, silk, copper and as well as metal plates, which is great for showing but offers limited protection in return.  
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ROM is an educational place for everyone, even if you can’t see. There is an area in the exhibition for people to touch the replica of the artifacts and read in Braille. 


The instructions and maps are in both English and French. They are also raised for for people to touch. 



The ROM tries to keep their hallways wide and easily accessible for people in wheelchairs too. 

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Article is written by: 
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Sunni Zhou
Hello, I am 12 years old and go to Tomken Road Middle School. I really like singing, dancing, cooking, travelling, and everything related to art. A very special thing about me is that I am a journalist and I do lots of thinking, writing, exploring new places, meeting new people, and learning new things. If you love having fun, exploring, writing, and learning, come to Voice K! I wish I could say more wonderful things about myself and Voice K but I really need to go. BYE! 

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David Kang
Hello! I'm 12 years old. I will be going to grade 7 in the fall. I love playing chess and games that involves strategy. My dream is to become the CEO of the worlds' most influential corporation. I hope you enjoy this article. 

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Ryan Zhou
Hi, I am 9 years old. I am going to grade 4 in September. I like to play video games, travel and eat. When I grow up, I want to be a doctor.  

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Jasmine Ding
Hi, I am 7 and half and I am going to grade 2. I am the smallest in the camp, so it is very difficult for me. But my good friend and amazing teacher is so good to me. My favourite animal is cheetah. My favourite food is pizza! That's all for now. 

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The TIFF Kids  Jump Cuts Film

6/12/2014

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The TIFF Kids International Film Festival
Attending Journalists: Dea Yu, and Michelle and Amelie Zhou, Sunni Zhou,  Edward Wang

By Edward Wang (Age 9)

The TIFF Kids International Film Festival has been running for 17 years. This year, the festival had 112 films from 31 different countries!

On April 19th, 2014, Voice K got a great opportunity to send four journalists to attend this event. Luckily, I got to be one of those journalists. Along with Amelie, Michelle, Dea and Sunni, we got to watch a lot of different short films. We also got to interview these kids that tried very hard and made films to the best of their abilities.

There were a lot of events going on in the TIFF Bell Lightbox Building. When all Voice K journalists finally gathered together, we went straight to cinema 1 to see the short films the kids made.

I had to say, all the films were funny and enthusiastic. If I were the judge, it would be very hard to crown the winner. In my opinion, the top three films they would be:

1st Place: Spaced Out

2nd Place: The Dam Keeper

Last but not least: Regret.

At the end of the screening, it took us five seconds to figure out that it was time to go, but our adventure wasn't over yet. We still have the Award Ceremony for Jump Cuts Showcase to attend. We had a while to rest our eyes before the Award Ceremony started.  

Remember how I organized the winners? Well, the TIFF kids program has organized the winners way differently.

First, there were a lot of different categories and there was only one winner for each Category. Secondly, the categories were sorted by AGE! I thought that age didn't matter! Did you think so too? Well, that's how they want to do it, and that’s fine with me as long as I still get to interview and write this article.

At the end, I did get my chance to interview winner of the Grade 4 to 6 Category ─ Morgan Brown. The film was called Tango Vibes, it is about clay sculptures dancing around the school. I got to admit it was fun to know how it felt being a winner out of so many people who had worked so hard.

When I asked if she ever wanted to give up during filming, Brown smiled and said “ No, I didn't.” I was so surprised. I was even more surprised that Brown did not want to become a film director or actress in the future. She said, “I want to be an archeologist.”


Thanks for hanging out with me and hope you liked this article. If you have questions or concerns, please tell me. So I guess this is THE END


By Dea Yu (Age 9)

On April 19th, 2014, the Voice K journalists went to the TIFF Kids International Film Festival. When I walked into the doors of TIFF Bell Lightbox building in downtown Toronto, I knew it was going to be a fun day. According to Elizabeth Muskala, the organizer of TIFF kids, this is its 17th year and it is the first time partnering with StoryMobs-a flash-style book reading-who held their April edition at the TIFF Kids Festival with a reading of “Cloudy with a chance of a meatballs” and it was a lot of fun!

As soon as I pushed open the heavy glass doors, I was hit by a loud volume of noise. Then I saw lots of kids and volunteers with painted faces and cardboard signs. On my left, was a big screen with pop-out circles that light up and changing colours. Beside it, was the digiPlaySpace and the TIFF Shop.  Wow, this is going to be a highlight of my life, I thought.

After we got our tickets, we went to the theatre to line up. Just then, a magician passed by. “Hi guys!” He said cheerfully, “Do you want to see a couple magic tricks while you’re waiting to go in the theatre?”

After magic tricks, we went inside to the cinema, and chose one of the upper rows to sit. Just as I was going to ask my dad how many more minutes until the movie would start, a person named Spencer Butt, the coordinator for Jump Cuts Showcase, came up on the stage and said a few things about the movies we were going to see.  The movies were all made by kids in Grade 4 to Grade 6.

The first movie was called “New Genre” and it was about 3 objects that were going to make a movie but they didn’t know what it was going to be about. The second movie was called “Tango Vibes” and it was about 2 clay sculptures dancing around a school and doing their own little thing.  My favourite one was “The Missing”. It was about 2 boys who had lost their dog and then they found out that they weren’t the only one that had lost someone or something.

Right after we watched all of the movies, we had to go to the awards ceremony. First, they announced the grades 4-6 winner, which was “Tango Vibes”. They called the directors Morgan Brown and Nathan Wood to come up to the stage and get their $500 check from RBC bank and their RBC bank doll. Then, they announced the grades 7-8 winner which was “Call of the Dead.” It was about zombie who bit other people and they became zombies too. The message was smartphones can change you.

After the ceremony, we went to a place with couches and tables to do our interviews with the winners. I did my interview with Morgan Brown.

“I felt happy and I had butterflies in my stomach.” Brown said. “The movie wasn’t really my idea because I had no idea what to do, so it was more like my teacher’s idea.”  

Brown thinks that her film was chosen as the winning piece because it contained a great message. Brown has no idea what her next film is to be about.

When a journalist asked her if she would like to change her film, she simply answered, “no.”

From the Jump Cuts organizer, Spencer Butt, we learned that The Jump Cuts showcase was only open to residents of Ontario.  They got a lot of attention from word of mouth promotions. A student filmmaker will participate and have a great time and they’ll tell a bunch of their friends who then submit the following year.

“One of the most challenging parts of organizing Jump Cuts is narrowing down to the finalists. We get a TON of amazing submissions every year but we can only pick about fifteen to actually show on the big screen.” Spencer said. “To help with this process, we get a team of people who work in the film industry to watch every single entry and then, based off some criteria I give them, we slowly figure out which ones really stand out to us.”

After we did all the interviews, it was time to go. I felt like this was one of the best days in my life and nothing could be more exciting than this.

A review of Grade 7-8 Category
By Sunni Zhou (Age 12)

On Saturday April 19, 2014 there was an exciting event at the Toronto’s TIFF Bell Lightbox called the TIFF Kids International Film FestivalThere were many kids and parents all ready to watch the films some of these people have put together.

When my dad and I got there, we saw the TIFF Shop and digiPlaySpace.After my dad and I got the tickets and we made our way to the snack shop and got a bag of popcorn and 2 cookies.  Suddenly a magician came and asked for a phone so my dad gave him his blackberry. The magician blew a balloon and the phone somehow was stuck in I the balloon. “Does your dad have angry birds on his phone?” the magician asked me. Of course he did and the magician pulled out the toy birds from the phone!  He also told us and if we ever got lost in this humongous building, go to the first floor and look for the teddy bear. It was going to help you.

For the jump cuts 7-8 showcase there were 14 films in total. It was really amazing how the films were put together. The 14 films were

-    A Ruff Expedition
-    Dreams of the Past
-    Flat
-    Lucky
-    Man vs. School
-    McKenna’s Dream
-    Precious Cargo
-    Terre
-    Think Inside the Box
-    Call of the Dead
-    Follow
-    Rexy Troubles
-    Safety Man
-    Over One Million Ways to Live

All these films were amazing and they all showed a lot of hard work. But there was one winner “Call of the Dead!”

The film was about a zombie girl arriving at school attacking everyone. Anyone that got bit was turned into a zombie. After everyone was turned into a zombie there was a very important point, kids with the obsession with and overuse of technology are like zombies.

The film’s idea was by Alice Irving Hughes for her class project. She thought of what the modern society likes and decided that zombies were “cool”. “We decided that zombies will attract more kids” said Alice. She got a lot of help from Grace Irving Hughes, Elizabeth Elliot, Finn Hourihan, Max Lafferty, Derrick Price, the secretary of their school and their whole class. They decided the film was for awareness to people who are always on the computer playing games and using electronics. At the same time everyone liked it.

Another film that I liked was, Safety Man. It was about this boy who had to make decisions and there was always safety man and a Mr. Danger. He had to choose who he would listen to, but always messed up and listened to Mr. Danger. I found it super funny.

The whole event was really fun and I really enjoyed it. I bet all the other kids were so inspired they want to make their own video because I sure do. The clay figures, makeup, acting, drawings and cooperation really made this event a great success. I can tell the kids have put a lot of effort into it. Hope to be back next year!

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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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Hi everyone, my name is Dea Yu. I am eight years old. My name is not popular; I only knew one girl whose name sounds the same, but it is spelled 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 a new costume each year and dancing on the stage. That is it, so far.
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Hello, my name is Sunni Zhou! I am 12 years old and go to Tomken Road Middle School. I really like singing, dancing, cooking, travelling, and everything related to art. A very special thing about me is that I am a journalist and I do lots of thinking, writing, exploring new places, meeting new people, and learning new things. If you love having fun, exploring, writing, and learning, come to Voice K! I wish I could say more wonderful things about myself and Voice K but I really need to go. BYE! 
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The RBC Markham-Milliken Children’s Festival

9/10/2013

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The RBC Markham-Milliken Children’s Festival
By: Sunni Zhou


  On Saturday, September 7th, 2013, there was an event at the Markham Civic Centre called the RBC Markham-Milliken Children’s Festival. It was an outdoor learning and playing event for kids. It was great and fun, except for the fact that it was raining, so not very many people showed up.

  There were a lot of cool zones such as the art zone, the building zone, the game zone, the garden zone, the imagination market, and many more. Each one of them had different activities we could participate in and different crafts we could make. For example, at the art zone, kids could draw, colour, trace, and paint the picture of their dreams.

  At the building zone, kids could build anything they wanted with the right materials and tools. I saw a little boy build a huge building with windows. It was very impressive.  

At the garden zone, you first get a small pot, and then you fill it with dirt. Afterwards, you poke a hole in the middle and finally, you drop a seed inside. I planted my own bean plant that will one day hopefully grow into a big, well grown, strong, and bean-providing plant.

   There were also some rides and a petting zoo that was set up, and we had to pay ten dollars to get in. Unfortunately, it started pouring rain, as if some girl had just lost her favourite job and had started watering her plants in the garden with her tears. So, the bigger activities were removed except for the petting zoo.

The petting zoo was totally awesome! There were lots of goats, a herd of llamas, two zebras, two monkeys, a tortoise, and some pigs. I fed the llamas and goats. The food was one dollar per cup and from that one experience of feeding animals, I learned two very valuable lessons within ten minutes. One, never hold a full cup of food and give it to one animal. It will not only eat all the food, the other animals will try to steal it as well, and that isn’t a very pretty situation. Two, never hold the food between your fingers and feed it to them because they don’t have very good eyesight when it comes to eating and they don’t think about anything else except biting at that period of time. Watch your fingers!

  My favourite zone was the button making zone because we learned how to make our own designed buttons. We first took a piece of round paper and drew any kind of design we wanted. I wrote my name and drew a cute little rabbit face on mine. Then, we put it on a button inside a machine. The instructor would twist the machine and the button would come out at the other end of it. .

  My experience at the Children’s Festival was wonderful because I had never planted my own little plant or made my own button before, but the most amazing thing was seeing how the monkeys were fed. I would love to go again and I hope next time it won’t be raining.



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Hello, my name is Sunni Zhou! I'm 10 years old and I'm in grade three. I go to Vista Heights French Immersion Public School. I really like singing, dancing, cooking, travelling, and everything related to art. A very special thing about me is that I am a journalist and I do lots of thinking, writing, exploring new places, meeting new people, and learning new things. If you love having fun, exploring, writing, and learning, come to Voice K! I wish I could say more wonderful things about myself and Voice K but I really need to go. BYE! 
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Family Day at Habourfront Centre

2/18/2013

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By William Yang & Sunni Zhou
On Sunday, February 17th, 2013, there was an event at Harbourfront Centre located in Downtown Toronto. There were lots of family and kids’ activities, and all of them were free to the public. Almost everyone was there and, it was one of the biggest events we have ever seen.
Kids were crowded at every single booth. We were glad that we went early, so we didn’t need to wait in long lines to participate in any activities. The activities were all different and unique. It went from milk testing, (decide which milk brand tastes better) to snow castle building (I really admire the staff who were standing there for hours in the freezing weather).

The most awesome and fantastic thing was... FREE COTTON CANDY! Listen up kids! That was a once in a lifetime chance, I mean who gives FREE cotton candy out? We usually beg our parents to buy us a bag in a Disney show, or we have to exchange it with our hours of hard play and collection of tickets we gained through Chuck E. Cheese games. See the picture; we had a rack of cotton candy marked FREE.
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Sunni and William enjoying free cotton candy

Some events were:

• Skating/skating performances/Le Patin Libre at 12:30 pm and 3:00 pm.
• Snow castle building at 11:00 am-5:00 pm.
• Street Dance Canada Competitions at 12:00 pm, 2:00 pm and 5:00 pm.
• Vibrating toothbrush painting at 11:00 am-5:00 pm.
• Gelatin art engraving (they called it magical painting) at 11:00 am-5:00 pm.
• Lego playing and building at 11:00 am-5:00 pm. There is also a feature LEGO® building class by the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre Toronto’s Master Model Builder!
• Museums: A showcase of work created by some of the youngest – and most talented artists around.

There were many more free activities available all day long. The one that I paid most attention to was the street dancing.

Street Dancing

The Canadian Street Dance Championships (CSDC) is an annual competition that qualifies dancers to compete at the world street dance championships. It features categories for kids, youth and adults in solo, duo, crew, as well as battle competitions in hip hop, popping, locking, break-in’, crump and house. There were many professional dancers that practiced before the competition, but there were also many audience members who volunteered to show their wacky and cool moves. During the performance, there was a DJ, who was playing awesome tunes and pop music to match the style of dance the dancers were doing. In the middle of the dance, the MC asked, “Are there any children in the audience who want to show their break dancing moves?” After that little speech, everyone started calling each other’s names, but only two little kids went up. One of them was a girl that looked about 7-9 years old and the other one looked like he was around 3-5 years old. After that, the MC called all the adults to come up. The winner got one free ticket to the national street dance competition.
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Gelatin Art Engraving:

The gelatin art engraving was really fun. There was a medium sized plastic box that was filled with gelatin, toothbrush-like paintbrushes, cups of different colours of paint, white paper, and an object that looked like a comb. The instructor said, “That is the most important thing in all of these tools.” It was something they used to spread the paint in the gelatin. The instructions are simple. 


First, take a paintbrush and dip it in paint.


Next, shake/wiggle the paintbrush over the gelatin so the drops of paint could fall in the gelatin and make little dots. Now, repeat step 1 and use a different colour.


After, repeat all of these steps until the box is filled with different coloured dots. Then, take the comb-like thing and spread (only using the tip with the spikes) the gelatin any way you want.

Now, take a piece of paper, and gently place it on the gelatin. After a few seconds, gently lift it off.


Finally, take your picture and hang it somewhere to dry. You can definitely make a new one after the first one. When you’ve dried it and it’s hard, it will look something like this. The fun part about this art is that you can design the gelatin any way you want with any colours you want. You can even make a smiley face on the gelatin.

LEGOLAND Discovery Centre

There was another wonderful place called LEGOLAND Discovery  Centre. This wasn’t just any Lego centre; it was a centre with building classes by the LEGOLAND Discovery Centre’s Toronto’s Master Model Builder!
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Rhyme Timez

At around 4:00 p.m. we went to watch a show called RhymeTimez. At the show there was a really crazy man
who kept on dancing with flashing lights everywhere in the background. The show was about random characters having rap battles. The first round was a cat vs. a dog. In the end the dog won the match because the cat barely ever rhymed. The second round was Sunny Sunshine against Old Man Winter. This battle was the weirdest because Old Man Winter looks like a huge hairball and he thinks he is a little kid. Old Man Winter totally owned Sunny Sunshine. The last fight was the turtle vs. the hare.This round was really close but the turtle won.


“My favourite battle at RhymeTimez was the turtle vs. the hare. I voted for the turtle because I love Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle,” said a young boy named Josh, who claimed to have gone to every single event at the Harbourfront Centre.
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A Season to Give – The Mississauga Food Bank Calls People to Donate

11/27/2012

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Voice K journalists interviewing the Executive Director, Chirs Hatch
By Wendy Wang and Sunni Zhou
As it gets closer to the holiday season, families are getting together and buying gifts. However, amidst the busy shoppers, one organization is holding its biggest food drive of the year – in order to raise $60,000 and more food than last year’s drive. The Mississauga Food Bank plays a very important role in our community. The food bank feeds over thousands of families and individuals each month; their motto shouts loud and clears, "Fighting hunger, feeding hope."   

The Mississauga Food Bank is on a mission and it is confident to complete it. On Sunday, October 7th, 2012, Voice K went to two thanksgiving food drives located at different Loblaws. At the first Loblaws, we spoke to the executive director of The Mississauga Food Bank, Christopher Hatch.

“The three most important things the food bank needs are money, volunteers and food. There is so much work to be done, and the volunteers are crucial in order to achieve our goals,” Hatch said.  “We need food so that we can distribute to other food banks and pantry programs. Money is important to keep the warehouse running so that we can store food up to 3 months in case of emergency needs.”

The food bank has been working hard to match the growing demand. 26 years ago, only 18 families were able to be fed per day, but now, each month, 65,000 people are able to be fed. The food bank cannot function without the help of local volunteers. Over 400 volunteers help out regularly, whether it's sorting out food, handing out donation bags, or creating awareness. We must also not forget the truck drivers that helped to deliver the donations to the warehouse, as they also played a crucial part in the fundraising.  

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The food bank feeds over thousands of families and individuals each month; their motto shouts loud and clears, "Fighting hunger, feeding hope."
Many people think that everyone in Mississauga is well fed, but unfortunately, that isn't the case.
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Interview with Johanna Dobson
At the second Loblaws, located in the Heartland Town Centre, there were about 10 volunteers in each shift! Voice K got to have a chat with a couple of volunteers and donors. One of the volunteers, Johanna Dobson, was working hard encouraging people to donate food, and she did a great job for her first day volunteering at the food bank.

"I really wanted to help out," Dobson said," I think the food bank is a necessary organization to help the community. After all, this is a group effort."

"It's great to help people at a holiday season. The food bank is doing an awesome job, it's good to feed people who are hungry," said Aida, another volunteer. “By volunteering, I get that good inside feeling."

"I don't donate often, but I donate a lot when I do," Michelle Subhani said, gesturing at her mountain of filled donation bags in her grocery cart. "I gave everything that was on the most needed item list, and I made sure to give a lot of peanut butter. The food bank is a great idea; it should be brought up more often”.


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Meghan answering questions
Meghan Nicholls, the marketing director, also gives us more details on the food bank. She has been working for the food bank for three years as the Director of Marketing and Fund Development. Nicholls enjoys working at the food bank because their mission is easy to explain and anyone can support it. 

"One thing we are trying to do is to create awareness about the food bank. Many people that are hungry don't even know that there is a food bank, and some are embarrassed to come," Nicholls explains, "we want to remind people that the food bank is here to help."


Many people think that everyone in Mississauga is well fed, but unfortunately, that isn't the case. Some large number of working families, refugees, and people that recently lost their jobs depend on the food bank. It is very important that we lend a helping hand by donating. Surprisingly enough, peanut butter is the most needed item. So, next time you have a food drive, why not consider a peanut butter drive? The food bank supports nutritious foods, such as soups, canned meats and veggies. Yes, they need non-perishable items but we should try to avoid donating only cookies and chips because a balanced diet for the hungry ensures their health. 


A couple cans of noodles or a jar of peanut butter will not make our wallet thinner, but it may cheer up some hungry kids and leave them with a big smile on their face.
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Sunni donating a can of food
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Everything Under the Moon

10/10/2012

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By Alex Zhou and Sunni Zhou
Everything Under the Moon is the opening performance of the 2012 World Stage event at the Harbourfront Centre.

It is a shadow play with hand-animated projected images and live narrative song. The show was dramatic, thrilling and a great time overall. The sold out show was very unique and eye opening because of the amazing choreography.


“It was different from any show I’ve seen,” Hiwot Lassanu, one of the ushers in the theatre, commented. “Interesting is too boring a word to describe it.”


From happiness, to sadness, to excitement, the performance took the audience through various emotions. Even younger audience members were captivated by the action. Six year old audience member Woolf Brebner said, “I liked the part with the owl. I liked how the two people were talking and how he wanted to eat them!”


The show is a collaboration between Toronto visual artist Shary Boyle and Winnipeg musician Christine Fellows. Shary and Christine have been working together for the past six years, under the name Shadow Songs.


Alex McMaster, a cellist who has collaborated with the duo commented that working with them is “amazing, we are all great friends.” She also said that “as a group it’s all about coordination and doing everything on time.”
The duo performs from behind an overhead projector; Shary makes the detailed hand drawn characters laugh, dance and even talk while Christine sings and plays a variety of instruments. The pair is supported by percussion instruments, the cello, and supporting vocalists.


Jon Campbell, the publicist for Harbourfront Center told us that, “the hard part was making sure that everything was set up properly so that it was clear that the performance was from the artist’s perspective, just as they had planned.”


The organizers for Everything Under the Moon posted advertisements in many different languages so everyone could understand. They also used different forms of media such as posters, websites, and TV commercials to spread word. Shadow Songs are planning to create new shows and tour across Canada and will continue to perform in venues such as the Harbourfront Centre.

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Suessical The Musical

4/1/2012

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By: Sunni Zhou and Vivian Wang

Seussical, a musical for children aged six to 12, premiered on Thu, Nov. 10, 2011, at the Young People’s Theatre in Toronto. It was a huge success.

The main characters are the Cat in the Hat, played by Damien Atkins; Horton, played by George Masswohl;
and Jojo, played by Jennifer Villaverde.

All of the actors performed beautifully in the musical. It was fun entertainment, especially with the words all rhyming. Not one mistake was seen during the show. One very funny moment is when Gertrude, a lone bird played by Jane Johonson can’t even walk because of how long her tail was! Gertrude is a quiet bird. She can’t fit in with anyone and she’s Horton’s neighbor. She has a crush on Horton and a little one feathered tail. When  Gertrude finds out how her tail can get more beautiful, she jumps for the chance. Trying to impress Horton,
Gertrude’s tail grows too big and too heavy. She has to drag it and that makes her very slow. That is why she  cannot  save Horton when the hunters trap him. She tries to fly to save him, but her tail is in the way.

The story is a mixture of all of Dr. Seuss’s stories. It is about how Horton protects the Whos and how he loses them. Horton is captured by  hunters while he has to babysit Mayzie’s egg, which distracted him from finding
the Whos. Mayzie, played by Sharron Mathews, goes on vacation. The hunters sell Horton to the circus. Mayzie sees him but makes no attempt to save him. It was Gertrude who saves him and finds the Whos. She plucks her tail to only one feather so she could fly again.

Mayzie’s egg hatches and it is an elephant with wings! Gertrude and Horton decide to raise it together as a family.

Other characters in the cast are Sour Kangaroo, played by Nichola Lawrence, three monkeys played by Desmond Osborne, David Lopez and Dale Miller and two other birds played by Natasha O’Brien and Bethany Kovarik.

“I would recommend this show, two thumbs up!” says Robert Gontier, an adult who watched the musical. He really liked it. The director of this musical, Allen Maccinis enjoyed the hard work of the performers and he was proud  that the show was a success.

Maccinis wasn’t sure if the show would be a big hit. He traveled to New York to see an earlier version of it. He decided to buy the script and changed it up a little before he allowed it to be shown in Toronto.

Maggie Primeau and Asa Pattison, both four-years-old, were  very excited to watch the musical.They had been at the Young People’s Theatre last year to watch Frog and Toad, which they enjoyed.

Food
After the musical, there were cake and snacks to eat. The cake was in a rectangular shape with a picture of the Cat in the Hat on it. The other snacks were cucumbers, sweet peppers, crakers, cheese, and carrots dipped in salad sauce, and there were also nachos dipped in fresh salsa. 
In both lobbies, the rooms were filled with people enjoying the snacks and lining up for cake that the staff provided. 
Other than the delicious snacks, there was also a juice stand. There were mango, orange andapple juice for everybody to drink.
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The Royal Agricultural Winter Fair - Petting Zoo

4/1/2012

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By: Sunni Zhou

A petting zoo is a place where a lot of farm animals are together and kids can pet and feed them. You can also see how they drink water, which is different from how people drink water. Just imagine drinking from a bowl and having to stick out your tongue and lick a tiny portion every time.

The petting zoo at the Royal Agricultural Fair was so awesome from a kids’ perspective. There are goat, sheep, cows, and rabbits. Although they smell a bit, you can still have fun with them.

The administrator who was in charge of the petting zoo said that he had been there for 12 years already and 
he would love to stay there longer . He told us that kids couldn’t touch the rabbits, because for most people that are allergic to animals, the first animal they are allergic to is rabbits. I wished I could have touched the rabbits, because they looked so cute.

The animals all seemed pretty selfish. Every time we fed one animal the others started to push away his or her 
own type. If they can, they will swallow all the food in your hand. I guess that’s the nature of all animals?

If you are wondering if there are any good shows at the Royal Agriculture Winter Fair, you do not want to
miss the Super Dog Show (sponsored by Presidents Choice). In the dog show, we saw a few competitions where one side of the audience competed against the other side. There were dogs coming out at the first period. Then they started the competition. The dogs raced against each other. The fastest got a point for their
team. Roughly there were 7 rounds of competitions at the show. They also educated us on how to keep dogs healthy and to prevent them from being injured. They told us the right food to buy, to do an annual check with a veterinarian and to get vaccine shots as required. 


Outside of the show, vendors sold various good, including frisbees, stuffed dogs, dog related games, and more!
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Get Animated

4/1/2012

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By: Michelle Zeng and Sunni Zhou

The National Film Board of Canada (NFB) presents “Get Animated” to give kids the chance to learn how to animate. “Get Animated” was really popular. Over 30 kids attended the programon October 30, 2011.

The program invited guest speaker, Co Hoedeman, known for his Oscar award winning film the “Sandcastle”. He was there to demonstrate his animation techniques and also to teach kids how to animate.

The kids made their own animated videos. Hoedeman divided 30 kids into groups. Each group made one animated video and the characters to go along with it. The characters for the videos had to be made in a special way in order for the video to be more interesting. For example, to make a person, the artist would have
to draw a head, cut it out, draw the face, cut it out, and then do the same for the rest of the body. The animated characters were made like this so each body part can move and make facial expressions.

One second in an animated film will need 24 pictures. Since there was only an hour for the kids to create the characters and the videos, all the videos were fairly short.

Despite all the work involving creating animations, Hoedeman said, “Creating animations is simple.”

Perhaps that’s why so many people attended “Get Animated.”

Voice K had a chance to sit down with Hoedeman:

Voice K: Is it hard to make animated videos?
Hoedeman: No, actually it is very simple.
Voice K: Roughly how many videos have you made so far?
Hoedeman: So far, I have made 23 films. They are all animated films. All of my videos are for children.
Voice K: How do you get ideas for your videos?
Hoedeman: All the videos I have made are based on what I have seen and experienced.
Voice K: Which video of yours got an award?
Hoedeman: Many of the videos I made have gotten an award. One of my videos, “The Sandcastle,” received an Oscar Award in 1978, which was a long time ago.
Voice K:  What materials did you use to make your videos?
Hoedeman: I didn’t always use paper. For “The Sandcastle”, I used puppets made of sand.
Voice K: What was your favourite part of today?
Hoedeman: My favourite part of today was helping the children to get ideas. I really like how the children made the artwork.

Hoedeman was not the only person who was enthusiastic about “Get Animated!” Many other people gave “Get Animated” a thumb up. One participant, Kyle said, “It was very good.” Others agreed, including Glenda and her daughter, who said that “‘Get Animated’ was great! In fact, we had been to NFB art programs over 10 times,
we would love to come again.”
Later, Voice K had a chance to interview Jessie Curell, who works for NFB to organize
the program. “I was inspired by Mr. Hoedeman because it’s a rare opportunity
to work with him and learn from him,” said Jessie when asked what inspired him to
organize the event.
We really enjoyed the program, so why don’t you “Get Animated”?For more information about this program, visit www.nfb.ca/getanimated.
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