youth

Dropping in and landing it

March 21, 2011
By Susan Main
caveman

The kid in this picture has a big cast on his arm, but this doesn't stop him from doing risky things. We met at Leeside Park, near Hastings and Cassiar, in an underpass and had seen him around at other parks.

Posted in community, education, exercise, health, home learning, kids, mentorship, parties, skateboarding, Vancouver, youth | No Comments »

Where will the children play?

December 5, 2010
By Susan Main
IMG_1491

Our local school - Laura Secord - is trying to win votes for a new playground. About 9,000 kids in the area would be served by the new playground, including an estimated 350 children with disabilities.

Posted in charity, community, education, exercise, families, health, kids, organizing, Vancouver, youth | 4 Comments »

How to get up your nerve

July 22, 2010
By Susan Main
DSCN2148

Yesterday my son went to the Dry Spot indoor skatepark in Vancouver and spent nearly an hour psyching himself up to "drop in" on this ramp in the picture. He said he felt "scared as all hell" when he decided to try it.

Posted in community, education, exercise, families, health, home learning, mentorship, safety, self-employment, skateboarding, Vancouver, youth | 1 Comment »

Visiting the new Don Hartley memorial skate park

July 13, 2010
By Susan Main
IMG_2021

Do you think it’s disrespectful to the Mad Carver to not wear a helmet in his memorial bowl? That’s an opinion I heard today from someone who wrote in to the Province newspaper about how upset she was to see the paper’s

Posted in community, exercise, families, safety, skateboarding, Uncategorized, Vancouver, youth | 2 Comments »

Come out to car-free day tomorrow

June 19, 2010
By Susan Main
car-free revertebrate

It's Car Free Vancouver tomorrow - and I'm going to be on Commercial Drive watching Slowpoke and the Smoke at the East End Food Co-op at 2 p.m. Slowpoke's "psychedelic doo-wop" gets me every time, with all those wacky Frank Zappa covers and more...

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Posted in community, education, parties, Vancouver, youth | 1 Comment »

Youth take over the Cultch during IGNITE! festival

May 20, 2010
By Susan Main

Last night my son and I went to the IGNITE! Youth Festival at the Cultch – and I was truly surprised by how good it was. My son heard about the performance yesterday from one of his friends at Windsor House and begged me to take him. The theatre performance was at 6 and...

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Posted in art, community, education, families, home learning, kids, music, theatre, Vancouver, youth | No Comments »

Partiers at Grandview Park on Commercial Drive protest park’s one-year closure

May 16, 2010
By Susan Main

A couple hundred people gathered in Vancouver’s Grandview Park last night to party, dance, and protest the park’s one-year closure and redevelopment. A Facebook Group called “Defend Grandview Park on The Drive” outlines its opposition to the City of Vancouver’s plans for the park upgrade. “Defend Grandview supports a park upgrade, in phases, that...

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Posted in community, education, exercise, families, kids, safety, Vancouver, youth | 10 Comments »

Deceased drummer’s mom says “let them follow their passion”

April 20, 2010
By Susan Main

The words of a mom who lost her adult son have stayed with me today. Her 30-year-old son Devon Clifford died after collapsing on-stage at the Rickshaw Theatre in downtown Vancouver on Friday night while drumming with his band You Say Party! We Say Die! The young man suffered massive bleeding in his brain...

Posted in education, families, health, home learning, kids, mentorship, music, pain, Vancouver, youth | 1 Comment »

The Dry Spot indoor skate park spells relief on a rainy day

April 3, 2010
By Susan Main

I’m sitting on a loveseat in the lounge of The Dry Spot indoor skatepark using their wireless connection. This is my second day coming here, and today we brought my son’s pal. They are super excited and impressed to meet the owner of The Dry Spot, Ben Chibber, who also owns Monke Skateboards. Now...

Posted in community, education, exercise, families, games, home learning, kids, safety, Vancouver, youth | No Comments »

Playing darts helps kids learn math

April 1, 2010
By Susan Main

At first it seemed like a bad idea to buy darts for my son. Visions of darts stuck in the flooring, the drywall, and human flesh frightened me. But he really wanted them, and promised to be safe. He Googled “Vancouver BC dart store” and found Billiards Plus in south east Vancouver. Oh why...

Posted in education, games, home learning, kids, safety, Vancouver, youth | No Comments »