issue77 by Exposure

Peace together

A HARINGEY YOUTH PUBLICATION

free SEPT 05

ISSUE 77

£0.00

Exposure is free and open to anyone between 14 and 21 living in or around Haringey. write, edit, illustrate and design this magazine build your own website make a video To arrange work experience, a work placement or to volunteer call Gary Flavell on 020 8883 0260, email gary @ exposure.org.uk or just walk into the office. The Bigger Shoe Box, Muswell Hill Centre, Hillfield Park N10 3QJ Tel: 020 8883 0260, Fax: 020 8883 2906, Mob: 07947 884 282 E-mail: editor@exposure.org.uk

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www.exposure.org.uk Regrettably our office is inaccessible to wheelchair users but we will nevertheless make every effort to include your contributions.

ISSUE #77 SEPTEMBER 2005

georgia

Articles

esther

AMITYVILLE - 08 Georgia Wheeler gives peace a chance. Illustrations by Abi Arojojoye.

lionel

SKIN DEEP - 12 Colour isn’t black and white, says Esther Opoku Gyeni.

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COMMUNITY BUILDING - 16 Lionel Eddy on Hornsey Town Hall.

michael damian

Under Exposure: BINGE DRINKING

michael

• Amelia Dillingham • Ben Weekes • Damian Fitzgerald-Ryan

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Contributors

11 & 19 GALLERY - 10 ZOODIAC - 18 AGONY - 22 DIRECTORY - 27 POETRY -

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Features

nick

IT TAKES TWO - 20 Esther Opoku Gyeni asks: are you ready yet?.

COME AND BE HEARD - 24 Ben Weekes and Michael Antoniou-Nicholls are all ears. Photography by Nick May.

shelley

noreen

Editorial Team Esther Opoku Gyeni, Lionel Eddy, Noreen Dove, Sanny Wang and Shelley Gray.

lionel

fear into others that they themselves are trying to avoid. This creates a vicious cycle where their fear of getting into trouble leads to an increase in licks to da face, shankinz and, on occasion, someone bustin’ a cap in they ass. The message is clear: aggressive and confrontational behaviour does not preserve the peace, it takes it. BW & MAN

esther

Sometimes, keeping the peace is a knife to the belly. In attempting to avoid trouble, some Gs try and appear intimidating. They try to become what is known as a ‘true G’ and escape the problems they faced as polite and welladjusted civilians. But in deliberately intimidating those around them, they are putting the same

• Grace Lee Shevket • Kayleigh Hardy • Mercedes Mowatt • Michael Antoniou-Nicholls • Nick May

HARINGEY WEEK OF PEACE 11-18 September It’s Haringey Week Of Peace this month and it got me thinking: everyone moans about the Government and the war in Iraq and ethnic minorities being treated second best, but how will moaning change anything? The Haringey Week of Peace celebrates families and friendship through performing arts, sports initiatives, topical debates, music and cultural shows. It’s your chance to promote peace in your community and contribute to making Haringey a safer place for our generation. Only when there’s peace in our community can we start to work on peace around the world. Would you stop moaning about Tony Blair then? MM

SCOUBIDOU MADNESS by Francine Fittes £4.99 If you don’t know what a scoubidou is, it’s not the cartoon dog, it’s the long plastic string thing you see everyone playing with. Here’s a book that shows you how to make everything from ants to elephants. But if you’ve never done a scoubidou before and want to make an animal, you’ll have to read the first pages very carefully. They show you how to do the basics: squares, rectangles and, hardest of all, spirals. Then, as my 10-year-old brother, Zeki, said: “Once you know how to do it, it’s fun.” And even my 5-year-old brother, Seza, could make a tortoise. GLS

HMV DIGITAL www.hmv.co.uk This month HMV launches HMV Digital, its new digital download service. Now you can download single tracks or whole albums from a collection that will start with more than one million songs. The collection includes loads of tracks from the ‘Indie’ music sector, which you probably wouldn’t find on other sites like this.

QUOTE UNQUOTE

You can access the site through jukebox software available to download online or via free CD-ROM discs from HMV stores.

Martin Luther King, African American civil rights activist

F I N G E R TIPS T I P S FINGER 04

“

Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek, but a means by which we arrive at that goal.

SCHOOL - Going back to school? Follow these 10 tips lined up like naughty kids outside the headteacher’s office.

WE3 by Grant Morrison & Frank Quitely £8.99 Grant Morrison (The Filth, The Invisibles) is one of the best-selling and most experimental writers in comics. In WE3, he fuses animal rights, cyborg technology and future warfare into a violent and original story. When three experimental ‘animal weapons’ – a dog, a cat, and a rabbit in cutting-edge weapon suits – escape from their government facility, the full might of the military is mobilised to bring them down. Relentlessly pursued, the killer pets search for ‘home’ in a frightening and confusing world. The animal’s simplistic, animal-like speech - ‘No St!nnk boss. ?1 say? 1 know 0’ leaves much of the story telling to illustrator Frank Quitely, whose innovative panel design and precise detail combine to show things never before seen in comics.

Go to bed early on school nights.

HARINGEY SHED Haringey Shed is an inclusive theatre company working with children and young people in Haringey. We started five years ago and are based in Northumberland Park. As well as regular Tuesday evening sessions, we have two summer theatre projects and regular outreach projects in schools all over the borough. Recently some of our funding had been cut and our annual summer theatre projects were in jeopardy. So on a warm Sunday evening at Northumberland Park School we held a Fundraising Gala. Over 150 children and young people took part in a song and dance show with input from theatre and television celebrities. We raised over £9,000 and could finally go ahead with our Summer projects. To contact us or find out more about what we do visit our website www.haringeyshed.org or call 0208 275 4812 or 0208 275 4835. KH

‘PROTECT THE HUMAN’ BADGE Amnesty International £2 from selected retailers Amnesty International’s new 'mini protest’ badge looks just like a placard, right down to its real wooden handle. Each badge is individually numbered with an access code to www.protectthehuman.com where badge-wearers will be able to activate their ‘digital badge’ and join the online movement. Amnesty International is a movement of ordinary people from across the world, protecting individuals wherever justice, fairness, freedom and truth are denied. Current campaigns include arms controls, violence against women, the death penalty, torture and arbitrary detention for asylum seekers.

Arrive at school on time and with a positive attitude.

A grammatical guide... FULL STOPS Sentences begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop. Questions marks (?) and exclamation marks (!) already contain a full stop: You don’t listen to hip hop and you’re black! Do you feel unsafe at a bus stop? The full stop goes after brackets or quotation marks unless they enclose a full sentence: Junk food is convenient and cheap (which might be why almost one in three of us is overweight). ‘The thing I want the most is world peace.’ Use a full stop after abbreviations (e.g., etc.) and people’s initials (E. B. White). Don’t use a full stop after the titles of people (Dr, Mr, Mrs) or organisations (BBC, USA).

SCRUTINY REVIEW ON TEENAGE PREGNANCY Haringey Council has launched a new Scrutiny Review on teenage pregnancy in the borough. The Council want to find ways of reducing the number of teenagers with unwanted pregnancies and to improve the support and advice available to help them make the right choices. The Review is chaired by Councilllor Gideon Bull (pictured) who told us: “We are keen to involve young people in this Review, so please come forward if you would like to get involved.” If you are a teenager or a teenage parent and would like to contribute to the Review, call Michael Carr on 020 8489 2933 or email michael.carr@haringey.gov.uk

GO ZERO LOLLY MIX

PHOTOGRAPHY COMPETITION

Go Zero is a new range of lollipops and chewy sweets with no sugar. So, like us, you can give up smoking the Kojak way without losing your teeth.

Prizes up to £50 and no age limit. £2 to enter. Entry forms from Alexandra Park Library.

YOUNG LONDON

From now on, under 16s can travel free on buses and trams, as long as you’ve got an Oyster card.

A new website listing activities, events and things of interest for young people. There is also information on getting healthy, getting streetwise, having your say and knowing your rights. And if you like politics then you can get info on who runs what in London.

www.London.gov.uk/young-london

FREE BUS TRAVEL

â&#x20AC;&#x153;After the London bombs on 7 July, people helped each other regardless of race or religion. Everyone was a priorityâ&#x20AC;?

Arrive at school on time and with a positive attitude.

georgia

Amityville BY GEORGIA WHEELER The thing I want the most is world peace.’ Overused by wannabe beauty queens, George Bush and hippies, this statement has become a happy clappy norm that makes the rest of us roll our eyes. You can sit back and think: ‘It isn’t my responsibility. I can’t stop a war: I’m just one person’. But peace isn’t just about wars ending. It’s about people being able to walk down the street without being intimidated or victimised; a child being able to go to school without being bullied; it’s about not being beaten up for your Nikes. After the London bombs on 7 July, people helped each other regardless of race or religion. Everyone was a priority. It’s a shame it takes such a terrible event to bring people together.

You probably won’t be able to solve the puzzle of world peace, but there’s a lot you can do. To start with, don’t steal, be racist or bully (which none of us do anyway, right?). Instead of walking down the high street with your mates sounding like a bunch of hooligans, have a little respect for the people around you. You know you don’t mean any harm, but others don’t. Something as small as a smile can make a big difference. Instead of arguing with your parents about pocket money, try to hold off the screaming match. It might be hard but peaceful people make peaceful communities and when you have peace in a community you’re well on the way in the words of the beauty queen - to world peace.

Gallery 10

Untitled by Trevor Sylvester

Send your artwork to: The Bigger Shoe Box, Muswell Hill Centre, Hillfield Park N10 3QJ Tel: 020 8883 0260, Fax: 020 8883 2906, Mob: 07947 884 282, Email: jon@exposure.org.uk

Send your poems with your name, address and age to Exposure, The Bigger Shoe Box, Muswell Hill Centre, Hillfield Park, N10 3QJ email editor@exposure.org.uk or fax 0208 883 2906

WHEN A

DREAM BECOMES

REALITY I can’t express the way I feel: The pain I feel is so unreal. Depressed, angry and lonely is what I am And no one but me gives a damn. A child at sixteen, what a shame. Life for me will never be the same. No support, love or trust is ever there. I look for someone to talk to but no one’s near. It’s just me and my son, how boring it can be. I was blind before but now I can see. He said he loved me, He would be there no matter what. The baby’s here and now he’s not. I can’t express the pain I feel. I wish it was a dream but it’s all so real. SHYRA - MARE AARON PRYCE

If it’s your first day at a new school, you’re not the only one.

BY ESTHER OPOKU GYENI Just ‘coz your skin is black doesn’t mean that you are!’ This is an attitude shared by too many in the black community and one that needs to stop. Fast. ‘You’re not black, you’re too posh.’ ‘You’re a bounty.’ ‘You don’t speak slang so you’re not black.’ ‘What! You don’t listen to Hip Hop and you’re black!’ Most of us have said, been on the receiving end of, or heard someone else say one of these statements. If speaking proper English, getting good grades in school, or not listening to Hip Hop

necessarily mean you have to act and behave in a certain way.” “Black is a state of mind, style, and flava. And no, just having ‘brown skin’ does not make you culturally or racially ‘black’.” So what does being black mean to white people? A white extremist website, www.stormfront.org, by no means a representation of all white people, posted the question ‘why do I dislike black people?’: “It's hard to list everything that I dislike about these people but I guess I could name a few: They are some of the most dirty, diseased, disrespectful, H.I.V.

“In my opinion, you cannot really define 'blackness' or what it means to be 'black'. Just like you cannot define whiteness what it sickle cell having... drug means to be 'white'...” spreading, selling, drug doing... neighborhood contradict what being black is about, then what does it mean to be black? This question was posted on www.blackchat.co.uk, a website dedicated to black people and the issues surrounding them. “In my opinion, you cannot really define 'blackness' or what it means to be 'black'. Just like you cannot define whiteness what it means to be 'white'... If you happen to be black it does not

trashing... complaining, lazy, pimply skin having, greasy braided hair having, corner hanging... human beings that I have ever seen.” “Black people fulfill every stereotype that exists about them and they know it.” Clearly this was a racist website full of small minded people but are we as black people doing anything to reinforce these stereotypes? The main stereotype associated with black people is that they are criminals.

Smile at teachers. Some of them are human.

esther

In London, the Metropolitan Police report that 62% of people arrested for robbery are black. Afro-Caribbeans are not only more likely to be stopped by the police but four times more likely than white people to be arrested when they are. So in terms of crime there are some black people who are reinforcing these negative stereotypes. But it’s still not fair to assume that all black people are potential criminals. Another typecast, even within the black community, is that if you’re black, you are uneducated and speak slang. There’s a belief that any black person that’s successful through working hard in school or in business has done so by compromising their ‘blackness’. They’ve sold out by marrying a white woman or by playing golf with their new white friends.

This belief has no substance. If black people didn’t educate themselves then how can we change things? Can you imagine if Martin Luther King had said: ‘Yeah, blad. I have this dream, yeah, dat blacks and whites won’t be judged by their skin, innit.’ It was because he educated himself and broke all the stereotypes placed on him that he was able to make such a difference. It’s sad that we live in a society where we have to classify everything, even people. Yes, we are black or white or Asian. But more importantly we are individuals who don’t have to be tied down to stereotypes. Being black isn’t what people try to be, it’s what they are.

Get organised: think of a no-homework excuse the night before.

Gallery 14

Dress designs by Sanny Wang

Send your artwork to: The Bigger Shoe Box, Muswell Hill Centre, Hillfield Park N10 3QJ Tel: 020 8883 0260, Fax: 020 8883 2906, Mob: 07947 884 282, Email: jon@exposure.org.uk

Gallery

Slang Girls by Charlotte Haynes

Send your artwork to: The Bigger Shoe Box, Muswell Hill Centre, Hillfield Park N10 3QJ Tel: 020 8883 0260, Fax: 020 8883 2906, Mob: 07947 884 282, Email: jon@exposure.org.uk

COMMUNITY BY LIONEL EDDY

On the outside it looks as if it hasn’t aged a bit - big, tall, strong and towering over Crouch End as if it was newly built. After 70 years, Hornsey Town Hall is still standing. Everything’s going to be all right and everybody’s happy, right? You couldn’t have been more wrong!

Haringey in the 1960s, the Town Hall has slowly fallen into disrepair. The Assembly Hall was closed because of the cost of maintaining it in a safe condition, the roof weakened and water leaks caused damage. The Council chambers are off limits because of asbestos risk.

Hornsey Town Hall is a Grade two* listed building owned by the Haringey Council. Since it was built in the 1930s it’s been a centre of activities for children and young people, including dances, performers and Christmas parties. There were fundraising activates for refugees of World War II in the 1930s and a Youth Parliament in the 1940’s.

Now the Council and the community want to restore the Town Hall to its former glory. To do it, they’ve set up a Community Partnership Board. The Board want to know what you would like to see in the Town Hall, and to ask for young people who would like to get even more involved to come forward. Ideas so far have included a cinema, art gallery, under 5’s soft play area, café, bookshop, multimedia suite, after-school club and rehearsal space…

Huge wood-panelled offices and meeting rooms are spread over three floors connected by a central staircase made of Ashburton marble, an interior which is often used for

Hundreds of young people meet outside the Town Hall every day.

“There were fundraising activates for refugees of World War II in the 1930s and a Youth Parliament in the 1940’s” filming, particularly Eastenders’ registry office weddings. Some of the original devices, like the specially commissioned clocks, are still there today. Original elevators, cupboards, desks, door handles, lights, fires, switches, coat stands, chairs, sofas, all still in the Town Hall. The huge Assembly hall has what was one of the best sprung dance-floors in the country in the 1930s, and in the 1970s bands like Queen and The Kinks held concerts there. But since the borough of Hornsey became part of the new borough of

Now we’ve got a chance to decide what goes on inside too and make sure that whatever happens to the Town Hall, there’s something there for everyone, including young people. Tell us what YOU want to see in the Town Hall and how YOU want to get involved! This is about being an active citizen - having your say and making your mark in the community. Email HTH@haringey.gov.uk or editor@exposure.org.uk with your ideas, comments and your contact details if you would like to hear how to take an active role in this.

Choose the healthy option at lunchtime: ignore school dinners.

lionel

Public Hall, Council chamber and 1955 Festival, copyright RIBA. All other images copyright Frances Walsh.

BUILDING Sponsored by: Hornsey Town Hall Community Partnership Board

Rooster 1981.1993.2005

Rat 1972.1984.1996

After all that sun, your feathers are looking beautiful. You just want to stretch out your wings and show off. But if you’re going to strut your stuff, you’ll need to keep your feet on the ground and stop trying to fly.

Stop sticking your nose in where it’s not wanted or you’ll start to feel the pinch. It might be hard getting by on scraps of gossip, but now is the time for lurking in the background, keeping your teeth sharp and waiting for your moment.

Dog 1970.1982.1994

Ox 1973.1985.1997

Stop barking up the wrong tree and really think about what you want. You’re letting people lead you around wherever they want. Stand your ground but don’t be too fierce: those puppy dog eyes aren’t well known for nothing.

You’ve been dragging your feet in the mud long enough. Stop carting other people’s problems around or they’ll drag you down. You’ll feel a lot more positive once you get your neck out of the yoke.

Pig 1971.1983.1995

Tiger 1974.1986.1998

It’s been a lazy summer. Its time to get active but for some reason rooting around the same old places just isn’t enough to get you moving. Trying a few new things might get you out of this trough.

You’ve calmed down and stopped trying to take charge all of the time. But now you’re on the prowl and not sure what you want. Keep looking: when you find it, you’ll know, and you’ll be smitten.

Rabbit 1975.1987.1999

Horse 1978.1990.2002

You’ve been hopping all over the place trying to keep everyone happy. The burrow you’ve been building is big enough already, now it’s time to think about yourself, chill out and relax, before you get lost.

Someone wants you to be fast out of the starting gate but it doesn’t matter how hard they dig their heels in: slow and steady wins the race. Take your time or you’ll come unstuck at the first obstacle.

Dragon 1976.1988.2000

Goat 1979.1991.2003

Your fiery temper means you sometimes burn things to a crisp when a little warmth would have been much better. You need to calm down or get a job in Burger King because your friends all end up flame grilled.

You’ve been going headlong at things in the same stubborn way, over and over again, and you’re surprised not to be getting anywhere. Try something else before you crack your skull in frustration.

Snake 1977.1989.2001

Monkey 1980.1992.2004

Little things bother you but stop taking a bite at people without thinking. Before your poison spreads any further, you need to remember those you really care about and bite your tongue instead.

Sometimes you have to do something you really don’t want to and this is one of those times. There’s only one way to peel a banana but be careful with what you throw away: you might slip up.

Bunking lessons is more boring than being in them.

IT TAKES

TWO BY ESTHER OPOKU GYENI The pressure to have sex is everywhere: from partners, peers and the whole of the rest of the world.

Rappers such as 50 Cent, Snoop Dogg and Ludacris talk about women as if they’re sex objects. In their music videos, women wear hardly anything, moving and shaking like there’s no tomorrow. Magazines like FHM, Zoo and Nuts treat women the same: Nuts’ advertising slogan ‘Women: Don’t expect any help on a Thursday’ basically says women are incapable of doing anything by themselves. The front covers of the magazines are nothing more than porno images. Artists like Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Madonna and L’il Kim use sex to sell their records. How many

“Dress like you respect yourself and guys will respect you” mainstream female artists can you think of that haven’t used their bodies in some way? In Christina Aguilera’s ‘Dirty’, is she really behaving like an empowered female? After all, since when does stepping into womanhood mean wearing less clothes? Lets be real here: some girls love dressing up to go out (even to go on the High Street) but it doesn’t mean

sponsored by:

lionel

we’re looking for a man. Dress like you respect yourself and guys will respect you. But even if you choose to go out lacking a bit of class, it doesn’t mean you deserve to be treated as though you are a prostitute. But this has got nothing to do with the way girls dress. It’s more to do with the status of women in today’s society. All over the world, women have lower paid, less powerful jobs. Women work two thirds of the world’s working hours, earn only 10 per cent of the world’s income and many women reach a ‘glass ceiling’ in their careers (even if they do try to sleep their way to the top). The stereotypes that have been around for centuries show no sign of going away. Men are still seen as hunters, only now they hunt women. Not only is it socially acceptable for men to sleep around, it’s expected. But if women do it they are called ‘sket’, ‘ho’ or any number of derogatory names used by rappers in their lyrics (even though, at the same time, some people think being a virgin is pathetic). It’s hard not to feel pressured into having sex by your so-called friends or, even worse, by your partners. It’s easy to say ‘wait until you’re ready’ when you’re not in the situation: some partners can be very convincing and say things like ‘If you love me, you’ll sleep with me’ or ‘I thought you wanted to make me happy’. Please! Sex is not the only thing in a relationship. If your partner would leave you for not sleeping with them, it doesn’t say much about who they are as a person. They should respect you for who you are, not for what you can give them, and they should want to make you happy too. After all sex, like love and respect, is a two way thing! So how do you know when you’re ready to have sex? Easy: when you don’t feel any pressure.

If you're confused about relationships, sex or want someone to talk to about any aspect of relationships, sex or growing up visit a 4YP Drop-In Session or the 4YP Bus and talk to a 4YP Educator in confidence. Remember you don't have to be having sex to ask for advice!

All schools have an anti-bullying policy. So no need to worry.

Dear Michael I just got my GCSE results. They’re not as good as I imagined they would be. It’s all down to my comrades forcing me to go to the park and blaze all day. My parents are forever on my back telling me ‘boy, you should go to college and put something back into this world’, but I just don’t see the point. No message could have been any clearer: If you wanna make the world a better place take a look at yourself and then make a change. Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Hoo! Na na na, na na na, na na, na nah. Oh, yeah! Gonna feel real good now! Yeah, yeah! Yeah, yeah! Yeah, yeah! Na na na, na na na, na na, na nah. Ooooh... Dear Michael Me and my girlfriend have been going through a rough patch and we seem to be drifting apart. So I’ve been seeing her sister! I don’t want to hurt either of them. How can I get out of this with at least a friendship with my girlfriend? People always told me be careful of what you do and don't go around breaking young girls' hearts. And mother always told me be careful of who you love and be careful of what you do 'cause the lie becomes the truth.

Send your problems to Exposure, The Bigger Shoe Box, Muswell HIll Centre, Hillfield Park, Muswell HIll, N10 3QJ or email agony@exposure.org.uk

Dear Michael Every week my friends go out to get drunk. The routine is the same every time: we search around for a place that will serve us alcohol and then everyone gets pissed. Someone starts a fight, someone falls over and someone is sick. I don’t want to keep wasting my nights like this but don’t want to lose my friends either. How do I deal with this? The word is out you're doing wrong. Gonna lock you up before too long. Your lying eye gonna tell you right, so listen up; don't make a fight. Your talk is cheap. You're not a man. You're throwin' stones to hide your hands. But they say the sky's the limit and to me that's really true and my friends you have seen nothin': just wait 'til I get through because I'm bad. I'm bad. Come on. (Bad, bad - really, really bad.)

Dear Michael I was recently arrested and charged with a serious crime. I’ve got to go to court and everything. My name’s been in the papers and I feel really sorry for my mum and the rest of my family. The thing is that even though I didn’t do what they say I did and I’m totally innocent, I’m totally ashamed. I don’t know how I’m going to get through it. Please help. You have to show them that you're really not scared. You're playin' with your life, this ain't no truth or dare. They'll kick you, then they beat you, then they'll tell you it's fair. So beat it, but you wanna be bad. Just beat it, beat it, beat it, beat it. No one wants to be defeated. Showing how funky and strong is your fight. It doesn't matter who's wrong or right. Just beat it, beat it. Just beat it, beat it. Just beat it, beat it. Whooh.

“Come and be

heard”

Young People’s Conference

BY BEN WEEKES AND MICHAEL ANTONIOU-NICHOLLS, PHOTOGRAPHY BY NICK MAY On July 7 around 130 young people were scribbling on spider diagrams at the ‘Come And Be Heard’ Young Peoples Conference about what it meant to be a good citizen. The event was all about what we had to say about growing up in Haringey, but who was going to hear us? Important Councillors, senior officers from Children’s Services and fast-talking Councillor George Meehan were there despite the bombings in London earlier that day. Dibs Patel, Head of Youth Service, said: “I came away with the feeling that young people want to continue to play a role in the governance of their services and this is something the Council is keen to facilitate.” The workshop presentations made lots of points about the nature of education in schools, bullying and discrimination. What was clear was that despite the efforts made by all sorts of organisations, only a small number of youths take advantage of what they offer. Perhaps the Council should be communicating more with us.

SEX One in ten sexually active youths have Chlamydia. Not enough people know about the 4YP sexual health clinic at St. Ann’s or the 4YP website. We want services that already exist: we just don’t know where to find them. More advertising is definitely needed.

HYGIENE Most of us think Haringey is unclean and full of dog crap, needles and condoms. This encourages a lack of respect for the environment. Schools charge too much for poor quality dinners while junk food is convenient and cheap. This might be why almost one in three of us is overweight.

DRUGS Police don’t take the issue of drugs seriously enough and the laws are too weak. Students aren’t afraid to take or sell drugs in schools. Some people said that more ‘practical’ education may be better than ‘informative’ education. In other words, they want to try drugs to see how bad they are. Can’t you just take their word for it?

michael

ben

CRIME

BULLYING

Nearly one in three victims of crime are young people, but we only report one in ten crimes.

Few of us know where to go if we’re being bullied. Either we’re too shy or embarrassed to speak out about being bullied or other people don’t take it seriously enough: many of the people in the workshop laughed at the questions about bullying.

Do you feel unsafe at a bus stop? According to the ‘team leader’ in this workshop: “The idea is to discover who the ‘author’ of these feelings is and, if the feeling is negative, how can it be made positive.” Feel better? Probably not.

WORK Nearly one in five 16-18 year olds in Haringey are not in education or work. This, we are told, is because we’re grumpy and anti-social when looking for ‘proper jobs’. We need to learn how to work together: everybody in a working environment relies on somebody they don’t know. And we can do anything if we put your minds to it.

Don’t worry, exams get easier every year.

Send your poems with your name, address and age to Exposure, The Bigger Shoe Box, Muswell Hill Centre, Hillfield Park, N10 3QJ email editor@exposure.org.uk or fax 0208 883 2906

le t t i l s i h t

t h g i l mine of

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However much you think you hate school, they’re the best days of your life.

Directory YOUTH CLUBS Muswell Hill Youth Centre Hillfield Park, Muswell Hill Tel: 020 8883 5855 Bruce Grove Youth Project 10 Bruce Grove, Tottenham Tel: 020 8808 1604 Wood Green Area Youth Project New River Sports Complex, White Hart Lane Tel: 020 8489 8940 / 020 8489 8942 SEXUAL HEALTH 4YP Haringey Tuesday 2.30-4.30pm St Ann’s Sexual Health Centre, St Ann’s Hospital, St Ann’s Road Tottenham N15 3TH Tel: 020 8442 6605/6536. 4YP Drop-in Sessions: Northumberland Park Monday 3.30-6.30pm Aspire Youth Project, Kenneth Robins House, 240 Northumberland Park Rd, N17 0BX. Wood Green Wednesday 3.30-6.30pm Sky City Community Centre, (Wood Green Shopping City), 65 Penwortham Court, 50 Mayes Road, Wood Green, N22 6SR. 4YP Bus Tel: 0800 1613 715 www.4yp.co.uk

STAFF Andreas Koumi Jon Golds Enrico Tessarin Luke Pantelidou

Gary Flavell Ryan Alexander Mirella Issaias Flo Codjoe

Young Mums To Be Alexandra Court 122-124 High Road Wood Green Tel: 020 8889 0022 Outzone For gay and bisexual men under 26 www.outzone.org.uk MENTAL HEALTH Antenna 9 Bruce Grove, Tottenham Tel: 020 8365 9537 www.antennaoutreach.co.uk email: info@antennaoutreach.co.uk Host Excel House, 312 High Road, Tottenham Tel: 020885 8160 LEARNING DISABILITIES Markfield Project Markfield Road, Tottenham Tel: 020 8800 4134 DRUGS AND ALCOHOL Step-ahead 40 Bromley Road, Tottenham Tel: 020 8493 8525 Turning Point The Old Health Clinic Suttton Road, Muswell Hill Tel: 020 8883 8887 HAGA 590 Seven Sisters Road, Tottenham Tel: 020 8800 6999 Freephone Child helpline: 0800 389 5257

Michael Rally David Warrington Liz Millar Abi Arijojoye

is a registered trademark of Exposure Organisation Limited, registered in England no. 3455480, registered charity no. 1073922. The views expressed in Exposure do not necessarily reflect those of the publisher. (c) 2005. All rights reserved. ISSN 1362-8585 AWARDS Purple Youth Award for best youth representation website London Electricity Londoner of the Year Award Nationwide Award for Voluntary Endeavour Phillip Lawrence Award Ed & F Man Award for Best London Youth Publication ADVERTISING If your organisation wants to get its message across to young people call 020 8883 0260 PRINTERS Miter Press Ltd, Miter House, 150 Rosebery Avenue, N17 9SR Tel: 020 8808 9776

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