Winter weather causing problems for the holidays?

The snow started to fall on Monday for most people around the North West. The crazy conditions knocked out power for many people, and many gas stations were down as well. Some people thought because of the power outages and the snow they would not be able to have their Thanksgiving feast with their friends and family. The roads stayed slick throughout most of the week, including on Thanksgiving. For some, that stopped them from having their usual gathering, but for many they went forth with their holiday festivities anyway.



There was many stores around the North West that opened a day earlier - on Thursday - for the Black Friday shoppers to get a head start on their shopping. Kmart, Sears, WalMart and Toys'R Us opened their doors on Thursday. Many people did not take up the offer, because of weather and holiday festivities. The malls were packed with people during the weekend, many stores offered weekend sales, extending the Black Friday madness.

A Brief Note on Today's Elections: Important Issues for Young Voters

Hey guys! Some of you are 18, or are at least pretty close. So I was thinking we should talk about some of the laws coming up in the Washington State elections (TODAY, NOVEMBER 2!!). This is an important mid-term election year. Nationally, there could be a political shift of power which could change the direction the country is heading in. Within Washington, there are several key issues also.  If I-1098 passes, there will be an income tax on the state’s wealthiest population. There are also a couple of initiatives to change where and how liquor is sold (I-1100 and I-1105). Another key issue is Referendum 52. The goal is to fix schools, such as improving heating and air conditioning systems and overall making them cleaner and to be more energy efficient, as well as to provide new jobs for people.  While the money for all these initiatives go towards good causes, they all raise taxes. 

I wanted to letcha guys know the good and bad of the key laws in Washington, so when the times come you can be educated voters!! You can also find more personalized voting information at Washington State's MyVote website, which lets you look up the location of your nearest polling station (if applicable), how and when to mail your ballot (if voting by mail), and the races happening in your district, as well as track the progress of your ballot at the Ballot Tracking Website (if you live in King County).

Brain Breaks

As much as education and learning stimulates the brain cells to a point which I'm sure all you students out there love, sometimes we all just need a little break. So here are some websites out there which give a nice and at least semi-intelluctal window into the wonderful world of recreation. Because of course while you're doing homework, the last thing you want is to entirely thrown off your game!

HyperCube

This is for all y'alls who are Rubix cube wizard. Although personally the Rubix cube makes about as sense to me as art does to en elephant (who isn't this one, mind you http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He7Ge7Sogrk), I'm sure some of our readers out there love that magic cube. Of course if you can already solve it in less than 30 seconds blindfolded with your feet, maybe you need a new diversion.

So this intellectual break is for you. This is a 4-D theoretical representation of a rubix cube there for you to solve. Each block on the outer layer of each side including the middle changes the cube in a different way. It starts solved but randomally click for a bit and I'm sure you can solve that!
Good Luck!

Sporcle

Sporcle gives small random quizzes on anything from World Series winners to Shakespearean Sonnets, and even random trivia like the characters of House. Sporcle has it all which makes it a perfect candidate for a break from homework.

Cube Logic

Cubes seem to have all the answers to getting away from homework with a fun game called Cube Logic. A simple puzzle game which is easy to drop and pick up again, while still rather difficult Cube Logic, and the sequal cleverly named as....3d logic 2...., could be just the break you need.

3D Logic 2 

Logic Puzzles

If you're like me, and you want to keep your brain going while still taking a break, nothing does that quite as well as a good logic puzzle. This a website with plenty of puzzles that should keep you diverted for a nice long time. 
This website has some very easy ones for the brain which has been truly wiped clean by homework, some slightly harder, some that are difficult, and for the truly brave the very difficult section. 




I hope that helps you clear your head a bit while traversing the perilous cliff that is school work. Best of luck in all your puzzling and logic endeavors! 
Until next time!
TeenLink

It’s TV Time!

Greetings again from the Teen Link blog.

We KNOW that the school year probably has you pretty bogged down at this point, but when you come up for air and find some time to relax we've got some suggestions for you. Here are some new (and old) shows to tune into for some hilarious comedic relief!

Title: Community
Time: Thursday 8:00 PM
Channel: NBC

Summary: Starring Joel McHale (of "The Soup" fame and get this - he's a local Seattle boy!! Joel graduated from Mercer Island High School and went to college at UW) and comedy legend Chevy Chase.
This is a show about a quirky group of Greendale Community College attendees, who form a study group. The show is witty, entertaining, and hilarious and will provide comic relief to any bad day.

Our Rating: ****

Title: The Office
Time: Thursday 9-9:30 PM
Channel: NBC

Summary: Michael Scott (Steve Carell) is in charge of the Scranton office for Dunder Mifflin Paper Company.

The office and it's employees are truly a strange and interesting bunch and will keep you laughing from the beginning of the catchy theme song to the end of the half-hour.

Rating: ***

Title: Glee
Time: Tuesday 8:00 PM
Channel: FOX

Summary: Glee is in its second season and is gaining more and more fans with every episode.With guest stars like Britney Spears John Stamos and comedy legend Carol Burnett, season 2 is a safe bet to be even more popular this time around.

The Glee club is home to a mixture of students from every clique and cliché and make the perfect set-up for loads of some-what comedic drama. But what makes this show better then the rest of the teen dramas is this show has musical numbers in every show, not to mention they are outstanding.

Rating: ****

Title: Raising Hope

Time: Tuesday 9-9:30 PM

Channel: FOX

Summary: Entering its first season, this show is about a guy named Jimmy Chance (Lucas Neff), who knocked up a serial killer and is left with the baby, Hope.

Jimmy still lives with his outrageous family in what is way short of the American dream family. This show makes you cringe, tear-up, laugh hysterically, and will always leave you with a warm feeling.

Rating: **

Title: Running Wilde
Time: Tuesday 9:30-10 PM
Channel: FOX


Summary: This show is about Steve Wilde (Will Arnett) a rich, oil company owner who is desperately trying to win the love and approval of Emmy Kadubic (Keri Russell) the nature-loving humanitarian.
What makes this show interesting is it is told through the eyes of Emmy’s daughter, a 12-year old girl who desires nothing more than to live a normal American life, out of the jungle.

Rating: **

ENJOY...

Movement from Tragedy

Billy Lucas was a 15 year old kid from Indiana who didn't fit in at his school. As a result, he was the target of bullying and regularly called "fag". This had a tragic result - Billy committed suicide on Sept 9th.

From a local news channel:  It was alleged bullying that, according to the Billy Lucas Memorial Facebook page, caused the outgoing freshman to take his own life.


"He was threatened to get beat up every day," friend and classmate Nick Hughes said. "Sometimes in classes, kids would act like they were going to punch him and stuff and push him."


Friends of Lucas say that he had been tormented for years.


"Some people at school called him names," Hughes said, saying most of those names questioned Lucas' sexual orientation, and that Lucas, for the most part, did little to defend himself. He would try to but people would just try to break him down with words and stuff and just pick on him," Hughes said.

This tragedy follows a string of other youth suicides that were the result of harassment and bullying. Schools and districts across the country are creating or amending policies to attempt to address the growing problem and protect their youth, however most DO NOT protect the youth from harassment/bullying due to gender or sexual orientation - which leaves kids like Billy out in the cold, so to speak.

Billy's tragic story is catching national attention quickly. One person who was particularly moved by it is Seattle advice columnist, author and activist Dan Savage.
He has since launched the "It Gets Better Project" - a Youtube channel currently seeking video submissions from adults in the GLBTQ community sharing their stories of surviving harassment and how they've moved on to find happiness in their lives since.

When asked why he created the channel, Dan said "I put up a link to the [Billy's] story and someone said in a comment that they wished they could have talked to the kid for five minutes to tell him it gets better." read more of the article...

Click here for some helpful information on bullying

If you are being bullied or know someone who is and want to talk about it, give Teen Link a call. 

1-866-833-6546

9 years ago...

Written on September 11, 2010 by a Teen Link volunteer...

I have never written a blog post before. I have no idea what type of etiquette blog posts usually follow. Instead of doing a news report like the previous blog posts, I'll do a commemoration, of sorts. 


I've been waiting to write this post for the whole week. I didn't get a chance during the week and I'm glad I didn't. What better topic to talk about than the 9/11 terrorist attacks 9 years ago on this day? The attack that killed 2,977 victims and the 19 hijackers. There was also a secondary death. This man died from lung disease due to the dust from the collapsing of the Twin Towers.  


I started working on this blog post by first, watching Flight 93. This was a TV film that came out back in 2006 which is not to be confused with United 93, a feature film from back in 2006 as well. Confusing much? Anyways,   initially I watched the film to write my feelings toward the one plane of the four hijackings that did not make it to the target. Later I realized it would be a lot easier to just summarize the movie.

United Airlines Flight 93 was one of the four terrorist hijackings on September 11, 2001. What made the Flight 93 hijacking different was the fact that it never made it to its target, which was later determined to be the United States Capitol Building. The reason the plane never made it to the target was because the passengers teamed up and attempted to take control of the plane. When the terrorists realized they couldn't fight the passengers, they rolled the plane and crashed into a field in Stonycreek Township, Somerset County, Pennsylvania. This brave attempt by the passengers to take control of the plane saved hundreds if not thousands of lives. 


There was a huge diversity of people who were at different stages in their lives. Husbands, wives, fathers, mothers, sons, daughters and a pregnant woman. There was even a guy who was going to miss his flight but made it just in time for take off. 


The most amazing thing I learned from watching this movie was the security protocols before 9/11. They were so lenient. You could bring a freaking box knife on an airplane! That's just asking for trouble right there. 


I remembered that day quite clearly. I was only 5 years old. I was in first grade. I was so confused as to what actually happened. All I knew was two planes crashed into the World Trade Center. I'm thinking about it now. It's weird, trying to figure out why people do such crazy things. People who try to take other people's lives with them. 


RIP Victims of September 11, 2001 


To watch Flight 93 go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SC3pEzJ0GaI

Seattle Program gives homeless youth a voice in more ways than one

  

Peace for the Streets by Kids From the Streets (PSKS)

"We Provide support and services to Seattle area homeless youth and young adults. Our committed efforts are targeted at providing stepping stones to transition youths from the streets to self-sufficiency and productive roles in community."

PSKS was began as a project - a one day concert planned by, then teacher, Elain Simons with some of her students. After the concert was done, Elaine went back to school, but her students wanted it to continue. What started there has grown into a program unlike any other in Seattle where the participants, homeless and formerly homeless young adults, can take pride and ownership on a higher level if they are interested.

Recently, Teen Link staff and volunteers did a site visit at PSKS to get some firsthand knowledge of what this org that has been serving the youth of Seattle for 15 years actually does, what they are all about and what makes them so special.

Upon walking in and immediately being greeted and welcomed into the space, we were taken on a brief tour of the facility. "Cluttered" is NOT the right word to describe the space because everything seems to be in it's proper place, but there definitely is A LOT of stuff - from toys for toddlers to blankets and toiletries - PSKS seems to have it all covered, which speaks to how MUCH it is that this seemingly small org actually gets done. All of these items are easily accessed and the best part - NOTHING is locked up. This contributes to the laid back/relaxed atmosphere of the center. The walls are also adorned with artwork

After a brief tour, we sat down to speak with Elaine Simons, founder and executive director and ask her a few questions:

Who do you serve?
 - That depends on the program. Each program we offer deals with a different group of young people. But, there is no exit age for the agency. Technically they stop serving youth at age 26, but there are opportunities for participants to then volunteer or apply to work as staff members.

What are your programs? Click here for a complete list of PSKS programs.
 - RISK (Reinventing Steps to Knowledge): high school completion/GED program for young adults
- LEAP (Lasting Employment Advancement Program): PSKS hires young adults who show promise for three-month internships
- STEP Up: Peer organized women's support group
- Step Beyond: support group for formerly homeless youth

(If all that wasn't enough, there are: a ton of ongoing daytime workshops geared toward teaching homeless youth how to advocate for themselves; an ongoing forum of dialogues between the police, business owners and homeless youth to encourage peaceful coexistence; and CORE membership which allows for homeless youth to take some ownership of the program, participate in the decision making process and represent PSKS in public.)

What makes PSKS special?
We try to break down as many barriers as we can for the clients. Once people come through the door, they have access to pretty much everything. Staff are on the same floor as the clients are, clients with felony charges are still served, dogs are also welcome in the center. These are common barriers for many homeless young people, preventing them from moving forward, receiving services and from trusting the system.


Click on the link to view a documentary about street kids from the PSKS website: 
http://www.psks.org/KIROvideo.html

And if you'd like to go check out PSKS yourself, click HERE to view a map of their location.