Montreal: Broken clouds, 2 °C
Hey Youth, Let’s talk dollars and sense
Ask any parent about persuading their teenagers and pre-teens on the benefits of spending their money wisely, saving and budgeting.
They’ll tell you, it’s impossible…cannot be done.
But community worker Brian Smith isn’t quite convinced; he knows it’s a formidable challenge, but he says it has to done.
“We have to teach our young people personal money management,” he says. “Too many of them are being burdened with financial difficulties too early in life.”
Smith, a project coordinator with Carrefour Jeunesse-Emploi, a community organization serving young people in the NDG/Cote des Neiges district and an advisor to the Jamaican Canadian Community Women’s League of Montreal Inc., has made it his mission to take the money management message across our community especially to those between the ages of 16 and 25 in the NDG-Cote des Neiges area.
Salah Steelpan Academy Takes Toronto – Again!
Egbert Gaye
On the evening of Friday, July 30, it took 15 pulsating minutes of musical rapture for arranger Salah Wilson and his band of musicians at Salah Steelpan Academy to establish Canadian steelband supremacy.
And by the time they finished playing their two songs, I’m Coming Out and the appropriately named, First in the line, most of the thousands of spectators gathered for the Pan Alive Steelband Panorama competitions at Lamport Stadium in Toronto knew that the Montreal band had won… again, making it three years in a row.
The three-peat was especially savory for elementary and high school students in the band, many of whom have been practicing for more than three months, so much so that when they realized that the band was victorious, a few of the young girls just huddled in a corner of the massive stadium and cried, while other players high-fived and hugged and kissed each other.
Submitted by peterf on Thu, 09/03/2009 - 11:00
Fitting Tribute To The King Of Pop
Contact Staff
On Tuesday July 7, as thousand gathered at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles, and an estimated billion watched on television and on the internet, it seemed as if the world stood still for a moment to remember Michael Jackson, who died of cardiac arrest on June 25 at the age of 50.
The memorial service for the acclaimed world’s greatest entertainer was a fitting mix of eulogies and celebration.
Against a backdrop of heightened anticipation, more than a million people applied on-line for tickets to attend the memorial, but just 11,000 were accommodated in the place where a over a week before Michael was rehearsing for 50-concert stints in the UK.
The memorial service also drew an impressive lineup of sports and entertainment celebrities, all eager to pay tribute to the man who, through his music, inspired generations of people around the world.
It was a telling moment in time.
Family members, including his three children, his mother, father, five brothers and three sisters, all wearing evidence of their devastation over the loss of their loved one, were the focal point of the ceremony.
Beenie Man A Go Sweeten Dem Up At EB
There’re many reasons why reggae lovers have to flock to EG Lounge to celebrate with Beenie Man when he comes to town on September 19th.
High on the list is the fact that the man whom they call the King of Dancehall is himself celebrating 30 years in the music business . And if his massive anniversary production at the National Stadium in Kingstown, Jamaica , on August 22, is any indication , fans here are in for a treat.
With a full repertoire of monster hits like Who Am I (his first international hit), De Girls Dem Suger, Romie, and Murderer, Beenie’s penchant for nicing up a session is unrivalled.
Beenie Man is coming to Montreal at a time when he’s celebrating a new relationship with the New York-based independent label Brookland Records. It’s a deal he’s particularly happy about because it gives him more creative control of his music.
As he said in a recent interview with the Jamican Gleaner: "Music is my life and has been my life from I knew myself. I was singing from I could talk.”
Submitted by peterf on Thu, 05/28/2009 - 23:21
Introducing America's New First Lady
Never in her wildest dreams could she have imagined it. But Michelle Obama's new reality is just that: On January 20, 2009 she becomes the First Lady of the United States of America. In seventy-six days, 44-year-old Michelle Obama, the mother of two, is poised to become the first African-American First Lady of the United States.
And would accompany her husband Barack Obama, USA's 44th president and their two children, Sacha and Malia-Ann to the White House. Born and raised on the South Side of Chicago, Michelle Obama grew up in a conventional two-parent home. She spoke about a father who struggled with a disability to go to work every day and ensure she and her brother got an education. She graduated from high school in 1981 and went on to major in sociology with a minor in African American studies at Princeton University, where she graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in 1985.
As part of her requirements for graduation, she wrote a thesis entitled, Princeton-Educated Blacks and the Black Community. She went on to obtain her Juris Doctor (J.D.) degree from Harvard Law School in 1988.
About 115 children from Toronto and its surrounding...