March 2 017
Issue #4 Youth and Education
We're back again with issue #4! This time our theme is on Youth and Education. I like to think of it as our time-capsule zine about coming of age as most of us are gradually fizzling away into adulthood. It includes the Brighton Youth Cuts and the impact youth centres have on young people as well as various youth projects like Platform B radio, Sullen Girl & much more! Hope you enjoy reading it! Lara, Editor
Article by Bette Davies
Mental Health vs Physical Wealth Late last year, Brighton and Hove’s Labour Council announced a budget cut of £51million, in addition to the £91million of cuts made since 2010. Many vital services will reap the consequences and few will continue to thrive once their funding has been stripped. In attempts to ‘balance the books,’ Labour proposed 80% cut in funding for youth services. Services which provide young people, who could benefit from some love and attention, a place to go where they can take part in group activities, make use of centres and facilities and even have something to eat. For every £1 spent on youth services, the council saves £5.56 meaning these cuts actually cost the council £3,892,000 in policing, health services, homelessness support and community care over the next 3 years. Residents resent this proposal and rightly so, as it’s predicted to have a negative impact on our community financially, emotionally and in terms of mental health. Pre-Qual, and other organisations and individuals working together underneath the ‘Protect Youth Services’ umbrella, have been campaigning to do exactly that. There’s been open meetings, council meetings, demonstrations a march through the city center. So far we’ve managed to get £100,000 put back on the budget but an alarmingly large sum will still be lost.
Assuming on February 23rd the decision is made to cut £700,000 from funding of youth services in Brighton and Hove... What can we expect services to be like then? Councillors themselves have said young people should talk to their parents or teachers about their troubles. An alternative would be to get a referral for CAMHS, which is already struggling from lack of funding. One council reported to YoungMinds a drop of 41% in their CAMHS budget from 2010, which makes this service less accessible and therefore less efficient. You may be wondering, ‘what is CAMHS?’ It stands for Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services, according to nhs.co.uk, “CAMHS is used as a term for all services that work with children and young people who have difficulties with their emotional or behavioural well being.” It deals with all kind of issues and situations, but my struggle was with depression, and I spent most of the the battle stuck on CAMHS waiting list. It was like being in limbo. Teachers often told me I was doing well in class so I had nothing to worry about and my parents could only take so much criticism. My grades were above average all through high school but by the time I received proper treatment, I’d dropped out of sixth form and wouldn't leave the house unless it was to visit CAMHS, once a week.
Once a young person gets referred there’s a procedure which will be different for everyone, more often than not, it will include being put on a waiting list. They get you to fill in some questionnaires, not only to assess you but in order to rank scores in terms of urgency. From there, they make their way down a list of the people who came out as most deserving. Unfortunately, this list doesn't stop growing and every day it can get harder for a young person with depression to hold on. ‘Among teenagers, rates of depression and anxiety have increased by 70% in the past 25 years, particularly since the mid 1980’s’ according to youngminds.org.
Young people deserve funding because it’s an investment of the future. It’s about giving young people a best chance in life, not cutting their development. Protect youth services.
CAMHS themselves are in more demand than ever before yet the government insists on putting more and more pressure onto it. Furthermore, the smaller the budget, the lower the percentile of people getting the help which mean more people, young and old are at risk. The UK suicide rate is higher than it’s ever been. In 2014, 6,122 suicides were registered in the UK. That’s 10.8% per 100,000 people. Of the 5 areas with the highest rates, two are in the top-six worst hit by the cuts. Youth Centres provide a safe place for young people where they can confide in youth workers, whom they know and trust. This support network is a foundation our community depends on and the benefits of these services are clear both in the lives of young people and on paper. Not everyone with a mental illness is born with it, sometimes it can be circumstantial. Photos by Bette Davies & Lara Antoine Article by Boudicca Pepper, Member of Pre-Qual
No Ifs, No Buts, No Youth Service Cuts
Photos by Bette Davies
Sullen Girl
Sullen Girl is a clothing brand run by 19 year old designer Tom Weller. Although this shoot features his 'ID' collection. He recently released a new collection called 'Bloom' about chasing his desire for fashion.
@sullengirluk @sullengirluk
Modeled by Isabella Fernandez Photos by Hannah Grieve
Frigid at 14 Ah secondary school. The sweet smell of pubescence usually highlighted by the overwhelming stench of Lynx or Impulse. You must have your skirt at least 10cm above the knee, despite what your teachers say, and undo at least two buttons on your blouse rather than just the one so you can show off your developing cleavage.
When these groups mixed trouble almost always arose. But everyone and I mean EVERYONE, even the teachers, knew the rumours and gossip being spread around.
For the 'lads' you just had to be cool or at least look it as long as you were good - looking nothing else matter even a rotting personality could be masked by a chiseled jaw and a six pack that made people weak at the knees.
Frigid. Frigid at 14? Surely, this is something rather outrageous as most 14 year olds probably haven't fully discovered their bodies, legally aren't allowed or have other values and priorities other than sex. Why is this a problem? It's a word that had been thrown around a lot when I was at secondary school. I just found it unfair that if someone didn't want to engage in sexual activities that nasty rumours were spread around about it. Equally it's not something to take to heart if someone tries to value your worth just on your genitals and their pleasure over the other more important aspects of you then you should kind of be glad that you got out of a relationship like that.
Unsurprisingly, there were cliques: the popular people - of course! They knew basically everyone and put themselves on a pedestal above everyone else causing all the drama. The drama students, the ones who were classed as really weird, the drifters, the lone wolves, the ones who lived in the library, the shy ones, the ones that always hung out with the teachers and the ones that weren't really classified but were a little bit weird. The only group that wasn't really explicitly seen (at my school) was the 'emo/goth' group it was more so that as you got to know them you realised that they had a keen interest in punk/alternative music.
Article & collage by Lara Antoine
'Did you hear 'x' is going out with 'y'?' 'That party was proper mental!' 'I dumped them because they were too frigid.'
Overall, it's important to not allow yourself to be pressured into especially it you don't want to; remember that it's your body and purely only your choice.
H O P E old
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The remarkable thing about adolescence is I love the fact that I can see my friends that it is such a unique stage of one’s life. every single day. The homework load is You have passed childhood where you are immense; exams are very frequent, yet I completely dependent on a social support always have fond memories of interacting system but at the same time you are on the with my friends that will always stay with brink of adulthood where you are essentially me. learning to gain your independence for As a young adult, I can appreciate the fact yourself in this unknown world. that the very being that is formed in your The hardest part of being a teenager for me teenage years creates the foundation of has been the awkward fit between childhood your adulthood and this knowledge makes and adulthood. One part of me wants to be me proud to be the person I am today. To a child and cling on to the last bit of think that I am a unique combination of my playfulness and innocence. Yet, on the parents, shaped by events and experiences, other hand, I look forward to being treated truly fascinates me. as an equal by adults, to allow me the To anyone who is approaching the teenage freedom to make mature decisions with all years, such as my cousins, there is only one the temptations and social peer pressures piece of advice I would give. It would be to that exist in adolescence. As I have truly realise that after adolescence, you progressed through the teenage years I become an adults with responsibilities. I have come to realise that as each day goes hope that they would live their teenage by, I become less of a child and lose the years to the full such as trying new things, innocence that was there. meeting different people and fully immersing There is a common saying, ‘Ignorance is themselves in the opportunities that may bliss’ and I think this directly relates to that. come their way. If they were to spectate When you are young, you feel invincible; their own life, would they be proud of that there is nothing in this world that can themselves and the decisions they have harm you. It is eye-opening to say this but made? that feeling fades with age. Lastly, something, which I discovered last My favourite part about being a teenager is summer, is stay true to yourself; the the independence. I am given by my importance of having a set of morals and parents. The independence to explore, to abiding by them so that you can be proud of watch and to interact with the world and the the person you are. people in it. It is like receiving an all-access unrestricted ticket to the world. I have been introduced to all facets of new emotions: love, empathy and inspiration. I love going to school. Article by Jessal Suresh, Photos by Alex Anderson
Natalie Claro Natalie Claro, is a 17 year old alternative rock & R'n'B artist from Florida. She fairly recently released her captivating, powerful and emotional EP, Atychiphobia which means the persistent fear of failure. She's evolved that sensation into a way of motivating herself and her music.
BABY BUG YOU HAVE NO FEAR
All locked up here
YOUR WISDOM CLEAR Photos by Hannah Grieve
Platform B Interview We caught up with Nelson Navarro at the to talk about Platform B, Pre-Qual and
@platformbradio @nellymakesmusic @prequaluk @platformbradio @nelsonmakesmusic @prequaluk
with Nelson Navarro
Platform B HQ (Green Door Store) Â the Protect the Youth Services Campaign
Interview by Lara Antoine Photo by Bette Davies
What was the notion behind Platform B being only youth led and directed towards the youth? It was mainly the idea that like there’s a lot of radio but there’s no radio made for young people by young people, that doesn’t really happen. By doing that and having it youth-led it means we can push the boundaries a bit more. So we can do things that commercial radio doesn’t really do, that mainstream radio doesn’t do because it’s youth-led and because we are the next generation. We get the chance to shape what we get to hear in radio rather than the generation who are controlling radio now, who are in their 30s & 40s. Rather than those people having the power – hearting it down. We’re handing the baton down giving people the platform to come up, promote and move on to other things as well as opening the gates to give people the tools they need to make their own thing happen.
making a lot of noise. The first show that we did was a hip-hop/old-skool/ hip hop classics and this time, although she wasn’t able to make it, we had the idea to do a reggae show. So it changes every time coz we’re both quite impromptu and spontaneous people. It's usually any music that we’ve grown up listening to and are liking the sounds of. Hip-Hop is quite a big influence on it because we both make hip-hop music as artists right now. So hip-hop is the root of it but also old soul stuff like we’re both really into Erykah Badu and all the neo-soul vibes and just kind of black music of all kinds, from hip hop to jazz – we’re massive jazz fiends all the stuff like that to modern rap so it just a bunch of stuff. For the next EP, the cogs are turning and I wanna have some real soul elements on there but with a modern twist.
Having recently moved to the Green Door Store, what's it like being in a live music venue?
In one of your sets, Phonetic describes it as the songs you wish you heard on the radio, what would you say sets you apart from other radio stations? Yeah, yeah, I loved that! There are other youth-led radio stations in London like 'Radar', 'Represent', 'NTA' all doing things on the same kind of ilk. I don't know if they’re as youth-led as this is as where we’re setting up a steering group where people who have shows can have a chance to look where’s the station's vibe is & what’s the next step. So, that’s involving presenters on a ground level. It’s all DIY like people are getting involved for the sake of getting involved which I think cultivates a really nice vibe about it and like Nats (station manager) was saying to you earlier the Friday crew broadcast every Friday which is the 1st weekly day that we broadcast so each Friday we’ve got 'the hip hop crew'. So it’s the same presenters each time, based here, not in a studio. As we’re in a venue so we’re just coming down here and there’s still stuff going on around us. It has that DIY kind of feel like a kind of pirate feel without being a pirate station. So you can do whatever you want but everyone is backing you and just having a good time. I think that’s probably what makes it the most fun to be a part of. That’s what, as we grow, is gonna make us stand out.
It’s interesting coz we’ve not had a studio like other stations. We’ve started doing pop-up broadcasts like in the Green Door Store and in Presuming Ed café. In addition to it being youth led, it's mobile and you can broadcast from wherever like so you can have a really small set up wherever something cool’s happening or wherever there’s like a cool vibe. You can go there and broadcast and having people talk about their opinions. We’re in talks with people about doing more chat-based stuff like political shows and debate shows, maybe so we can go to another venue and have everybody sitting down or go to someone’s house and it’s all wherever you are. But now we’re in Green Door we have this space where we can hold the fort down and we can have la cool place where we can say 'we’re reporting from the HQ' kinda thing. But we still have the opportunity where we can go out and do pop-up venues and get out in the city and represent because there’s so much cool stuff in the city but it goes under the radar because there’s so much stuff. So having this HQ where we’ve got the platform that Green Door really kindly built for us – thank you! They’ve done an awesome job. On your show do you have a specific genre or style? And what has influenced your choice of music? Well that’s a funny question actually because the main music show I do is with Phonetic who’s an
You also create music yourself which I guess is like Urban UK Hip-Hop. Do you find making your own music useful when working on Platform B? Photo @platformbradio Insta
amazing MC, up and coming on the radar,
I think so, I think I would recommend that everyone tries to make music, in some way, because you can make music with anything. I think so, I think I would recommend that everyone tries to make music, in some way, because you can make music with anything. As a DJ, you’re essentially a taste-maker coz what you’re trying to do is show people the music you love, the collection you have and be like 'this is cool', 'this is sick', 'I want you guys to hear this.' That’s why you’re playing it on the radio. Making your own music is kind of making you more aware of music and appreciating the history of certain styles and how difficult it is to do something. This is the same with any kind of art form even with writing a zine, if you read other zines it helps you to create your own thing. So it’s all about taking information and being somewhere, like Platform B, where everyone’s playing different types of music. I was playing reggae like an hour ago and it’s hip-hop, grime and trap playing now. So it all just gets into your head and you're like 'oh this is a cool idea I could take this, take this' and it all turns into a bit of a melting pot. If someone wanted to join in with Platform B and presenting a show, what advice would you give them? Tell us that you wanna do that because we’re always looking for people who want to get involved. If you’re young, have ideas or don’t necessarily have an idea and just wanna get involved, just wanna do something - that’s the people we are looking for. People who are determined, have drive, committed and just want to do something cool. Go to the website to find out more info about what’s going on: 'www.platformb.org.uk' click get involved and that’ll take you to a form that you can fill out and literally just tell us a bit about yourself, what ideas you have and what you’re thinking, what kind of music you’d like to play. You don’t even have to play music, you can just talk. It’s just your little hour to do what you want like your little playground and just tell us about it and we can work on something. You're also a part of Pre-Qual, a youth-led activist group that promotes equality. What was it about today's society that drove you to become a part of it? Pre-Qual was started by Leon Tierney from Brighton and after the Alton Sterling and Philando Castile shootings. We just had the idea of having a march, just doing something to say that we’re not happy
about this and this can’t continue like this inequality that’s rife in society. If we’re tired of it and we say something then eventually it will change you just have to take that first step. So, that was what started it all off and then Pre-Qual came out of that idea. It wasn’t initially an idea to start a movement, that was probably subconscious, we just needed to do something and over time Pre-Qual took shape out of that and we just got involved more and more and it turns out that if you have stuff to say people will listen like if you make noise about it, care about it, say it with passion and you say it the right way and engage with people and don’t just slag people off and say ‘This is wrong, I’m gonna shout about it.’ You actually work to make it better and make an action towards making it better then stuff can happen. Because of the work that we along with loads of other organisations have been doing with the Protect the Youth Services Campaign, the council have already stepped down, they’re going to reduce the cuts by £100,000 which is a start and Tom Bewick resigned. So stuff’s been happening. The PYS protest is tomorrow, what's so significant to you about the campaign? With the youth services, the people that use them often don’t get to elect the councillors and the MPs that are making the changes and making the policy. So, when those people that haven’t been elected by the people using these services and they decide to cuts these services by 80%. Then the young people turn around and say ‘Well no. That’s not going to happen.’ That’s the coolest thing because it could’ve so easily just gone unnoticed. The council are going to cut youth services what are we going to do about it but we’ve got young people and older people alike: people using the services, people supporting the services, the youth workers. Everyone is coming together as a community and creating the campaign; fighting for what they believe in and fighting against politicians inside the town hall or parliament who are just reading off bits of paper not realising the consequences that these actions can have. They might be signing a piece of paper and having a boring debate inside a nice warm room with a glass of water but these changes are affecting the lives of about 3000 people who are using the youth services in Brighton & Hove. Those lives are going to be affected if they cuts are made.
Contributors Social Media Alex Jessal
Insta: @alexx_a5
Insta: jessal10
Hannah Insta: @hannah.grieve99 Twitter: @hannahgri3ve Boudicca Insta: @boudicca_pepper Twitter: @boudicca_pepper
Bette Insta: @tre_imagery @banditry_mile Bella Insta: @isabe11afernandez @placeslmao Twitter: @bellawashere99
Lara Insta: @lxrajklmnop Twitter: @larajklmnop Blog: www.lara-jkl-mn-op.blogspot.co.uk
Thanks for reading the zine and for all the support so far! Our next theme is likely to be Politics However, we are not too sure when that will be underway as we have the exam period coming up.