Thai is the new Latin Flavor

Thai is the New Mexican food Youth Radio’s Evelyn Martinez explores the new trend of how Thai and Latinos come together through food and culture in Los Angeles, California.

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Aprons are the New Skirts

So I was in Mars yesterday, a vintage store on Telegraph Ave in Berkeley, CA, and went over to their collection of super adorable aprons. I actually had been eyeing them for a while. I don’t cook that often – and when I do I never wear an apron. But these kitchen garments didn’t look like they belonged anywhere near the oil and grease.

A lot of them were flounced and see-through, with delicate colors like light yellows and pinks. Some of them had pockets and flowery designs. Sifting through the clothing racks, my eyes landed on a navy, sheer apron with red and green lining and flowered pattered pockets. It was love at first sight and was way too cute to be hidden by a kitchen counter.

When I told my friend that I planned to wear it outside of the home, she suggested I wrap it around a black skirt. So today I put on a knee length black dress and tied my new apron around my waist. I bought it for 16 dollars, which may be a little pricey for a place like Mars – but there were others in the rack that went for as low as 8 dollars. It was great find and a trendy fashion statement (The compliments from my co-workers let me know).

I know I look like a throw-back. My mother was one of the first girls to wear pants to school back in the 1960’s. So why am I reverting to 1950’s housewife fashion? Honestly, I just like the look. I didn’t wear my apron to set a new trend, but if a Domestic-Goddess style comes out of it, so be it. If my bold fashion statement has inspired you in anyway, go ahead and rock an apron of your own.

Bi is the New Straight

By Lauren Silverman

Girls kissing girls has been “hot” for a while – but recently musicians have gotten hip to the trend and started releasing girl-on-girl themed songs. One that stands out in my memory is T Pain’s “My Girl Got a Girlfriend”.

“My girl got a girlfriend, I just found out but it’s aight as long as I can be with her too. My girl got a girlfriend it really is not a problem cuz I’ma make it do what it do. Cuz havin two chicks is better than no chicks I’d rather just join in, keep my girl and keep the other one too.”

And more recently Kate Perry’s “I kissed a girl”.

“I kissed a girl and I liked it…It’s not what, good girls do, Not how they should behave.”

People seem to either love or hate the new girl-on-girl song trend, and I tend to side with the latter. My frustration has nothing to do with opposition to girls being with girls, but rather, the way in which bi and lesbian women are portrayed in the media. As someone who identifies as bi-sexual, I find it offensive to hear a guy talking about how excited he is that his girl’s got a girlfriend, and how that means he will automatically get to be with two girls. Likewise, it bothers me that Kate Perry, who apparently isn’t bi, and has never actually kissed a girl, repeats over and over that she kissed a girl and misbehaved. Unsurprisingly, I was even more offended by her other biggest hit, “Ur So Gay (and you don’t even like boys)”.

When asked in an interview whether she thought the song might be offensive to her gay listeners, Kate Perry responded “I think when everyone hears it, they’ll laugh. It’s very funny and positive and kitsch…”

Offensive or not, the song has spurred a lot of great dialogue among young people. If you skim comments about the video or lyrics there’s responses such as:

“I’m sick of this bisexuality crap, it’s all along the same lines as that Tila Tequila show…it’s just for guys to beat off to, it is horrible representation for gays and lesbians…”

and even:

“I love this song. Not the best, lyrically. But hey – its different. Its not too often you hear songs about homosexuality/bisexuality on the radio. Our generation is more open and accepting that previous ones, and now the music is starting to reflect that.”

Its true, the fact that major recording studios are accepting lyrics about girls kissing girls is progressive, now we just have to wait to see how long it takes them to promote a song featuring two guys getting it on.

Orbitz is the New Marlboro

By Lauren Silverman

Young people may not be addicted to cigarettes any more, but they are buying packs of something else daily. Back when I was in high school, it was all about Winterfresh. Today, it’s all about Orbitz and Stride.

Stand near a teenager and smell their breath – don’t be afraid – I guarantee that you’ll get a strong whiff of cinnamint or forever fruit. It’s pretty unlikely you’ll smell nicotine. Today, instead of yellow teeth and tobacco it’s about pearly whites and spearmint. It’s “can I get a stick” instead of “can I get a light”.

Chewing gum consumption, just like tobacco consumption, varies by geography. In the U.S., people chew an average of 182 stick equivalents per person per year. In the U.K., the figure is 125 – it’s 103 in Germany, 84 in Russia, 20 in China, and 4 in India. But studies show that sugar free gum sales are on the rise.

Chewing gum, just like cigarettes, has been extremely popular among young females. The typical gum chewer is female, aged 15-24, lower middle-class, employed, and has a large family. Among the young, more females than males are smokers.

And just as some young females turned to cigarettes to shed pounds back in the day, young girls today may be turning to sugar free chewing gum to lose weight.

While what teenagers are putting in their mouths has changed, what they are taking out of their wallet hasn’t. Gum isn’t all that cheap when you are chewing it nonstop. A pack costs anywhere from $1.00 to $2.00, no doubt cheaper than cigarettes, but still a dent in your paycheck.

There are plenty of good reasons to make the switch from tobacco to sugar free gum. But I have to wonder why so many young boys and girls refuse to just leave their mouths empty and their wallets full.

Killing is the New Fighting – Bonus Video

Ayesha Walker breaks down the broader picture behind her story about Richmond. Read on for more.

I’ve lived in Richmond, California for almost 21 years. My mom has lived here for 52 years. She and my grandmother would always tell me stories of “ancient” downtown Richmond. Both my grandma and my mom told me stories of when young people actually walked the streets late at night – without caution! They told me that youngsters actually resolved their conflicts with some old school quality fighting, and were still friends the next day.

My generation, on the other hand, is equipped with lots and lots of guns, lots and lots of drugs, and way too much leisure time. Richmond has an average of about 4 murders a month. Last year, 47 people were murdered in my city, and in 2006 it was 42. But now, who’s really responsible for all of this mayhem? Someone growing up in Richmond is going to have a greater chance of losing their life than someone growing up in upper class Piedmont, California. I just wonder why some people can go home and be safe while others cannot.

Anyi Howell, the producer of this piece, said something that really struck home with me. He told me that authentic news can only come from inside the community, and that news reporters distort the truth by looking in from the outside. Often you’ll hear a story on the local news painting a picture of how dangerous a city is without explaining the root of the problem. Young people face these root issues in almost every inner city in America: high schools without windows or enough books but full of underpaid and under-qualified teachers; a lack of confidence that stems from institutional neglect, as far back as elementary school; and the white collar employment that would be easier to access with these resources in place. As long as we have to focus on everyday survival, in place of education, we as young people will continue the legacy of becoming working class individuals, just like our parents. Instead of facing these problems, we take our frustration and depression out on each other, and that sometimes results in violence. But, I guess the news isn’t designed to paint that broad a picture.

Flickr is the New Photo Album

By Lauren Silverman

Do you remember photo albums? I do. On a shelf in my living room there are 20 photo albums. Each one represents a year of family history. The first red leather album is from 1983, the year my brother was born. As you scan from left to right the albums get progressively thinner, entirely disappearing by the year 2002. No, my family didn’t stop taking pictures. In fact, if anything, we take more pictures now than ever before. The difference is that we, like pretty much everyone else, don’t print them.

Today, printing pictures is an anomaly. It’s not just teenagers who are uploading photos of crazy parties and drunken adventures. Your 10 year-old son, grandma and grandpa, and even new moms and dads have put aside the old fashioned photo album and decided to pick up their laptops.

Theoretically, online photo albums mean more opportunities to share those “special” moments with friends and relatives. In reality, it has meant subjecting friends and relatives to pretty much EVERY moment of everyone’s lives. You see, photo albums have a limited number of pages. Flicker, Snapfish, Shutterfly, and Photobucket, on the other hand, allow you to upload as many pictures as you want. Now that’s a lot of baby photos, or kitties, or sunsets.

The problem with storing photos online, instead of printing them, is that photographers no longer have any incentive to be selective about what they share and what they don’t. Rather than sifting through a collection of that year’s photos and showcasing the top 25, they share all 1,300. Oh, and I do mean 1,300. Sitting on a couch and looking through a photo album with two pictures per page was painful enough – sitting on desk chairs and scrolling through flickr albums with 300 shots per page actually makes my eyes bleed.

It’s not that I miss glossy photo paper or dropping rolls of film off at the grocery store to be developed. What I miss is sitting down with a friend and seeing a few breathtaking views from her most recent trip, instead of being sent a link to a webpage with 500 pictures documenting her every step.

Is The Fist Bump The New High Five? [Video Bonus]

This week, the WTNW video squad provides you with a handy dandy guide to international hand gestures. Think of it as a primer on sign language for the hip.

Mccain is the NFlip Flopper, and “McCainisms” will soon be the New “Bushisms”

By Lauren Silverman

Type in the words “flip-flop” and “McCain” into google and you’ll probably forget that Kerry was the original “flip-flopper”. Headlines say McCain has flip-flopped on gay marriage, on his “100 years in Iraq” comment, on immigration, on ethanol, and now on offshore drilling. Krugman of the New York Times explains how McCain used to be fairly independent on energy policy, voting in the past against the special-interest-driven 2005 energy bill, but is now nothing more than a big flip-flopper. Last Monday, McCain made the call for more offshore drilling – illiciting a slew of criticism – criticism he rightly deserves.

Like the media, I stopped making fun of Bush a long time ago. Yes, I still think he’s an ignorant human being, but I, like others, am also aware that the Republican who wants to take his place, Senator McCain, is a flip-flopper, ridicuoulsy superstitious, and on the verge of needing a respirator – which provides me and political pundits plenty of fresh joke material. I mean, how hard is to make fun of a guy who at all times keeps on him a lucky compass, a lucky feather, a lucky penny and even assigns his assistant to carry his lucky pen – a Zebra Jimnie Gel Rollerball.

I have a feeling magazines such as Slate will replace their “Bushism of the day” section with “McCainisms” before we know it. Some of my favorite quotes from the flip-flopper are:

“I’m older than dirt, I’ve got more scars than Frankenstein, but I’ve learned a few things along the way.”

and,

“You know that old Beach Boys song, Bomb Iran? Bomb bomb bomb, bomb bomb Iran.”

For more entertaining McCainisms, check out http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/johnmccain/a/mccainisms.htm.

Youth Radio Contest: What’s YOUR New What?!

Times are changing faster than you can say fassst, and Youth Radio wants to share your story with the world. We want you to tell us, what’s next? Submit the hottest new trend coming out of your community, and enter our monthly contest for the best What’s The New What?! suggestion as selected by Youth Radio’s young curators. Winner gets a $50 iTunes gift certificate. Send your ideas to wtnw@youthradio.org, along with your name, age and contact information. Don’t forget to holler at us on MySpace and facebook. What’s YOUR New What?!

*By entering this contest you give Youth Radio permission to use your idea in the production of a story. *Youth Radio payroll cannot enter

Spanglish is the New Ad Lingo

–Luis Sierra, Youth Radio LA

What’s the new What? Spanglish is the new ad lingo.

Spanglish, code-switching between English and Spanish, is what marketers are using to sell everything from the war in Iraq to Burger King’s fusion food, “Chicken Fries”.

But don’t get it twisted. Spanglish has been around for a long time. And you can hear it everywhere Spanish speakers live and communicate with one another. But, according to Catarino Lopez, Creative Director for Bromley Communications, and maker of the BK Chicken Fries Commercial, the Latino market is always growing, as immigrants come to the U.S. for jobs and better opportunities. And as immigrant populations gain economic mobility, advertisers are trying to sell them more and more expensive products. They’re not just selling products; they’re selling a sense of belonging.

The Association of Hispanic Advertising Agencies estimates that Latino purchasing power will grow to over a trillion dollars by 2010. But Ilan Stavans, the editor of the Spanglish Dictionary, and Professor at Amherst College, believes the financial impact of Spanglish will be minor when compared to the way it will rewrite culture. He says Spanish will become much more prevalent in media, and ultimately shape the way we use English. “So in other words, even if you don’t speak Spanglish, at some point in the very near future not able to understand even a little bit of Spanglish will become a handicap for you, ” Stavans says.