Tag Archives: youth

Are You READY for Adelaide’s newest LGBT+ safe space?

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For this post, our latest work experience student Miriam (Mim), who identifies as non-binary, interviewed friend and fellow work experience student Carissa. Both are passionate about creating a safe community space for sexually diverse and gender diverse teens.

Read the interview below:

Hiya, I’m Mim (they/them*) and for my addition to the blog, I wanted to share with you a new independently run safe space called READY. As a non-binary person, I am really excited about this. I do have a small bias as a contributor to the project and as a close friend to the founder, Carissa Fischer. As I write, Carissa is still working hard to finalise the safe space, and will be setting up a dedicated READY Facebook page. where she will post announcements about the official launch.

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Carissa and me!

During my work experience week at Tea Tree Gully Library, I interviewed Carissa about the motives behind the safe space and she had this to say.

Why did you want this safe space?

I wanted to create a safe space for LGBT+ people to meet other LGBT+ people and to create a support network to strengthen our alliance as diverse people. During late last year it dawned on me that the only sexually diverse and gender diverse youth I know personally is you.

So I did research into the other safe spaces in Adelaide, and found an entire community that I wanted to meet. I learnt that there is no safe space locally (North-east Adelaide) for the broad spectrum of LGBT+ youths. This concerned me because this is a recurring theme in LGBT+ teens – often they will only know one other LGBT+ teen personally or more commonly, they won’t know anyone.

I knew I had to start this space because, to my knowledge, no one else had.


What does the name READY mean?

READY stands for Rainbow Education and Alliance of Diverse Youths. It is also a metaphor in being ready for the world ahead and growing up. This program aims to help prepare sexually diverse and gender diverse adolescents to figure out how they fit into the world with their diverse lives.

Adolescence is a really hard time for anyone, but mental health statistics show that it’s especially tough for sexually diverse and gender diverse teens. It’s hoped the READY space will help these teens develop self-love and self-worth. The program also aims to encourage (but not enforce) self-discovery.
What do you hope to see happen in READY?

My main hope is that READY become a well-known program with a thriving sexually diverse and gender diverse community, which can engage with other safe spaces in Adelaide.

Just before our official launch we are planning to screen the movie Love, Simon which will hopefully kick off monthly movie nights.

I want to be able to watch some movies with representation of the LGBT+ community and reflect on portrayals and stereotypes which will allow critical thinking and self-reflection. I honestly just hope this program works.

READY is going to be open to sexually diverse and gender diverse youths aged 15-22. Of course allies** (and people wanting to become allies) and questioning** are always welcomed.

All I ask is, are you READY?
Glossary:

*Non-binary: Not identifying within the feminine and masculine binary. I prefer that people use the pronouns they or them, when I am mentioned in written or spoken form, instead of he or she.

**Ally: is a heterosexual person who supports equal civil rights, gender equality, LGBT social movements, and challenges homophobia, biphobia and transphobia.

***Questioning: A person who is questioning their sexuality or gender

Way back when, Wednesdays

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Funky fashion arrives in the North East

The days are getting shorter and the Autumn/Winter fashions are now in the stores. Let’s have a look at what people were wearing in 1971. The North East Leader, a Messenger Newspaper covered the coolest threads on offer for men, women and boys, from pages 36 – 37 of the edition dated 14 July 1971.

Knitted suits for men

Yes, these photographs are real. Perhaps these brands of menswear should have been labelled with a hazard warning “Wearing this garment may compel doe-eyed women to hang themselves precariously off your person at any given opportunity.”

Mens fashions knit shirt

These articles focused on how it was essential for a man to be stylish if he wanted to be admired and attract a lady companion. The photographs are over the top by modern standards but we all know that the advertising industry still uses sex appeal and prestige to sell products! John Brown’s smart knitted suits for casual and weekend wear were styled following overseas trends. Note the focus on Australian manufacture, no doubt using fine Australian wool. Maybe these women are not really gazing adoringly up at the male models – they are really just feeling the texture of these garments. For as the article states, women might be coveting the clothing for themselves!

A married man would make his wife’s life at home a lot easier if he chose to wear modern, easy care drip dry fabrics. Synthetic fabrics had been popular during the 1960s. These colourful and distinctive knit shirts in the ‘Summerknits’ range by John Brown were made from high tech fabrics such as Tricel and Teteron.

 

hotpants in crimplene

Conversely, the ladies modelling a new range of women’s clothing don’t need men as accessories in these photoshoots. Wearing funky hotpants, this girl is confident, in style and ready to have fun.

During the 1970s fashions changed greatly from the beginning of the decade to its end. In 1971 the fashions were very much like those of 1969. Garments made from polyester were popular as they were inexpensive and did not need ironing. Bright colours and bold prints were still in demand. Checks and tweeds were in vogue too.

 

Lady with silver buckle

Distinctive fashions by young Prue Acton, the first Australian designer to break into the American market.  Prue embraced both new synthetic and natural fibres, to create her bold and colourful designs (https://collections.museumvictoria.com.au/articles/2377).

 

Young women still liked mini-skirts but long, flowing skirts were also worn. Fashion continued to be influenced by the hippie era and ethnic influence of the late 1960s. Women wore long bohemian print dresses with billowing sleeves. Men’s loose shirts in floral patterns had ties around the neck or an open neckline. Not forgetting the leather sandals and scarves tied around your head. And hippie men wore beards and long hair.
Turtleneck jumpers were popular with both sexes and every woman owned at least one cowl neck jumper, to wear with pants or under a pinafore dress. Ladies still liked trendy short hair styles. But long hair might be worn down loose, plaited or dressed in a soft, bohemian up-style for a natural look. Or you could set it in waves.

Another trend emerged – the 1970s was the first decade where women wore pants and pantsuits for work and leisure. Women could wear jeans at home and elegant or trendy pants to a nightclub or restaurant. Some dress codes allowed women to wear business suits with pants to the office. By the end of the decade, women could basically wear what they wanted, which was revolutionary (https://www.retrowaste.com/1970s/fashion-in-the-1970s/1970s-fashion-for-women-girls/).  Trousers for both men and women were low rise, firm on the hips and with a wider leg which was sometimes cuffed. Corduroy clothing or men and women such as jeans, and sports coats with wide lapels, were seen everywhere (http://www.thepeoplehistory.com/1971fashions.html).

 

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Knitwear and shirts by John Brown for little men, made from machine washable wool.

#waybackwhenwednesdays

 

3 minutes of poetic fame

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The Writes of Spring

Open mic poetry readings at the Library

11800067 - microphone and swirling text

Wednesday 28 September 2016

6.30 – 7.30pm (spectators) 6.00 – 7.30pm (performers)

North Eastern Writers Inc. will be presenting a free evening of poetry at the Library ‘The Writes of Spring’ on Wednesday 28 September 2016.

Come along to the Relaxed Reading Area of the Library and hear a range of emotive poetry and prose readings from members of the North Eastern Writers and the general public.

Or if you are a budding poet why not perform your piece? It costs $5 to participate and there is a three minute limit for each performer.  Registration is from 6pm.  Bare your soul, make a social comment, make us laugh or rap.  Whatever your style of poetry, you will be welcome.

A wine and cheese supper will be served.  Book online or telephone the Library on      8397 7333.

 

 

 

 

One Library, One Community – A work experience recap

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Hello dear Reader, my name is Danielle, and I am from Our Lady of the Sacred Heart College. For one week, I used my time to gain knowledge on how a professional and working environment functions and to learn and assist around the Tea Tree Gully Library.

As part of my Work Experience, I have been given the task of writing a blog post for the Library website (which is what you are reading now), and after considering many topics and ideas I have decided to write about the wonderful community here at TTG Library and how much the staff value those who come to visit. I hope you enjoy reading!

So on my first day, I began the week by helping “behind the scenes” of the library, such as in the Chute Room (where books are returned on a daily basis) as well as the Customer Service Desk, however, my first interaction with the public was when I helped Jessica and Natalie during “Toddler Time”. I enjoyed being around the younger audience and I loved how comfortable the kids were around Jess and Natalie. Even just joining in with singing the nursery rhymes was a fun and relaxing way to spend the hour, with two wonderful ladies. Later, I spent time in the Toy Library, which was filled with dozens of toys ready for the children before the holidays.

Natalie reading to the children at Story Time!
Jess & Natalie
Working at the Toy Library

Next up, we have ‘Cover 2 Cover’, a book club run by Kim where young adults (like those who are teens) can come and be a part of the Library activities once every month. This week in ‘Cover 2 Cover’, the group discussed a recent book that they had been reading named “The Enchanted”. Written from the perspective of a man on death row, the novel followed many complex themes and metaphorical twists. I found it very interesting, seeing the discussion between those who were there and joining in with answering questions that related the topic of the book and to events in the real world. Being in Year 10, I definitely liked being able to spend my time with others close to my age and who also enjoyed my passion of reading. ‘Cover 2 Cover’ is now preparing for the Inky Awards, and so, I would definitely recommend the club to anyone who loves discussion and books and I will definitely try to attend another meeting!

‘The Enchanted’
Teen area in Library
Youth officer Kim!

During my time at TTG Library, I also noticed the enormous effort that the staff and those who work here put in to ensure the Library runs smoothly for the public. From hosting introductions about new technology, for those who wish to learn, attending presentations that provide information on new changes with social media (regarding the younger generation) and even just maintaining the library to make certain that anyone is able to easily access what they want.

 

After seeing the positive attitude here at the Library, small gestures such as being able to help with providing assistance to someone on the computer or aiding with the self-checkout machines for borrowing were tasks that I was happy to help with. Towards the end of my week, I was also given the chance to assist Penny with updating the Library website. During this time, I was given a run through of some of the tasks that Penny was assigned to perform and once again, I was amazed with how meticulously she was able to keep the website up-to-date in order to guarantee that any members of the library can definitely find what they need. We also experimented with different software such as Adobe InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop and the content management software, Seamless.

I would like to thank the staff who have made my week of Work Experience so enjoyable, especially those who acted as my buddy throughout my time here. I am incredibly grateful to those who helped me, especially on my first day as even though I was slightly nervous, you taught me to adapt to the environment here at the Library, which in turn allowed me to have a very successful week! To Kerry, Heidi, Deborah D, Lyn, Taylor, Nicolle, Sonya, Tegan, Stephen, Adrienne, Michele, Linda, Kim, Tricia, Chris G and of course Bronwyn: THANKS ONCE AGAIN!

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 Signing off,

Danielle Cooke

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Playing ‘Somewhere Over the Rainbow’ on the Library piano

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Young and passionate about reading? And writing?

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Read books you love. Or hate. Or have never heard of. With other young people.

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Tea Tree Gully Library’s youth book club Cover 2 Cover encourages passionate debate and discussion on all kinds of books. The group meets on the 1st Wednesday of each month, from 4.30-6pm and is free to join.

Cover 2 Cover members receive extended borrowing time on items, money to spend on new books, opportunities to write book reviews for library customers and delicious snack food at each meeting. The atmosphere is casual and relaxed, with a strong emphasis on reading for pleasure. Guidance on texts and required reading for school and university can also be provided.

For young writers, Raven’s Writing Desk is the library’s youth writing group, who meet on the 2nd Wednesday of each month from 4.30pm.

Raven’s Writing Desk is also held in a relaxed environment. Members are encouraged to share their writing with others in the group to gain honest feedback and their creative written style can be appraised and developed with the help of the group’s facilitator, an English teacher.

Book recommendations, inspiration for writing and tips on getting published are shared at monthly Raven’s Writing Desk meetings. Members also receive extended borrowing time on all items.

One Of The Best Video Games I’ve Experienced Is Undertale.

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Austin was recently here with us for a week’s work experience at the library. He is a passionate gamer, and has written a review about a new release PC game, Undertale.  

Undertale

What is Undertale? You may ask, why do I hold it in such high regard? These are just two of the many questions you may be thinking of right now as you read my blog post about this absolutely fantastic video game.

Undertale is a RPG (Role Playing Game) for the PC which is almost entirely made by one person, a guy by the name of Toby Fox. A major selling point of Undertale is its tagline which is ‘The friendly RPG where nobody has to die’.

This is a major selling point of the game, because in most RPGs you strike down enemies with no care whatsoever, as who you are fighting is evil. Undertale on the other hand, gives all of its enemies such fantastic personalities through their dialogue and even their attacks against you.

Speaking of enemies, I’ll briefly talk about the battle system in Undertale. To start with, there’s an Attack menu, an Act menu, an Item menu, and a Mercy menu. I’ll be talking about the Act menu and the Mercy menu.

The Act menu consists of various actions you can do to try to get the monster to not want to fight you; these are different for every monster in the game. The Mercy menu is for when you basically say you don’t want to fight, and most of the time this won’t work unless you use the Act menu to figure out how to convince the monster to not want to fight you anymore.

Where Undertale really shines the brightest is through its story, writing and humour. Undertale is best experienced without knowing much about its story, so I won’t go into details but I will say this so you know what you’re getting into.

A small child enters a cave in the mountains, trips and falls down an enormous hole. The child wakes up on a bed of flowers in a mysterious place.

A word of advice before thinking of purchasing the game would be that from screenshots of the game it can look quite ‘kiddy’ but don’t judge it on its looks – there are times where the game deals with some dark and sad themes.

To conclude, Undertale is an absolutely fantastic video game and I highly recommend you check it out at the very least, if you do not purchase it.

(Undertale is available for purchase on the Internet-based digital distribution platform Steam and undertale.com for $10).

Emma’s work experience story at Tea Tree Gully Library

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Work experience student Emma was initially apprehensive about her placement at Tea Tree Gully Library. But she soon discovered she had nothing to fear, as she enjoyed the tasks and working in a team. She shares her account below.

I can’t be dishonest. My initial thoughts about work experience were all unsure, nervous, and overall I was rather afraid to participate.

After walking through the door of Tea Tree Gully Library, I’d completely changed my mind! Those thoughts became excitement after meeting the community – the environment was friendly and welcoming and made me look forward to arriving each day.

I found there was quite a large variety of activities for me to do during my time there. Working at the CSD turned out to be far more enjoyable than I thought it would be. Even though scanning and sorting might sound tedious, I felt good about being able to contribute to this amazing community. The sensor pad also captured my interest – you can place a number of books on it and they will all be scanned at the same time.

Alongside this was work at the Info Desk, as well as dealing with shelving and holds. Placement orders seemed difficult to understand at first, but once it was explained, I got used to it quickly. Working in the chute was very similar to the CSD, the only difference being that it worked as a 24-hour collector (as people can return books and CDs after-hours).

I also helped out during Story Time for toddlers. After reading the story, we allowed them to do a colouring activity.

There was never a point where I sat down and felt bored. There was constant movement in the library, and always something to do. If there was too much work, someone would come in to help. It is a system that relies on teamwork.

By the end of it all, I can proudly say that I am happy I took part.

Dyslexia Friendly Collection

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The more you read, the easier it becomes. But for those who struggle with words, reading is not always fun, and it’s easy to lose heart and stop trying.

Tea Tree Gully Library has recently made it easier to find dyslexia-friendly books and audiobooks by putting them in their own space  in the children’s and teen areas. They now have signage and coloured labels so they are easy to find.

To search for dyslexia friendly books, type in ‘dyslexia’ in the catalogue, just like below, and from there you can select the ‘dyslexia’ boxes on the left-hand side.

dyslexia friendly

Dyslexia primarily affects the ability to learn, read and spell. Sometimes maths is affected as well.  It’s important to remember that having dyslexia is not related to someone’s general intelligence. It comes from a difficulty in dealing with the sounds of words. People with dyslexia often find it hard to remember lists of things they have heard, or to remember names or facts quickly, although they often have strengths in reasoning, visual and creative fields.

Features of Dyslexia Friendly Books:

  • A font style and size that is clear to read.
  • Off-white paper that is kinder to the eyes as it reduces glare from the high contrast of black against white.
  • Spacing between letters, lines and paragraphs
  • Age appropriate content and story lines but with less text to a page and more pictures
  • Shorter chapters to give the eyes natural ‘rest’ breaks

Where are they located?

Children’s Area: Find them in the area near the book series boxes.

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Book stickers on Dyslexia Friendly Collection (DXF-C) in the children’s area of Tea Tree Gully Library

DXFC

You can find dyslexia friendly books and audio books among the Children’s book series boxes in the Children’s Area.

Teens Area: You can find them on the last shelf facing the public computers.

Stickers on the Dyslexia Friendly Books in the Teen Area

Stickers on the Dyslexia Friendly Books in the Teen Area

Find the DXF-T books in the shelf that faces the computers (in the Teen Area).

Find the DXF-T books in the shelf that faces the computers (in the Teen Area).

We hope our new collections appeal to children and young people who have dyslexia or who are reluctant to read. May they inspire a new love of reading!

My Work Experience at the Library

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Work Experince Student, Natasha(top left hand side), enjoying the Alice in Wonderland themed photo shoot.

Work experince student, Natasha (top left), enjoying the library’s Alice in Wonderland themed photo shoot.

One of my favourite hobbies is reading, so when I learned that I would have to do a week of work experience I thought the obvious choice would be the Tea Tree Gully Library. Having gone on their website and filled out the online application, I thought I would be waiting long, but I got a call later that week. An interview was scheduled and I was accepted. I was both excited and nervous. It would be out of my comfort zone, but I would be surrounded by books so the pros pretty much outweighed the cons.

When I walked in on my first day I was nervous, as I said; this was out of my comfort zone. I was scared that I would get in everyone’s way, work too slowly, or mess up. But my fear was not needed, everyone was very welcoming and took their time to explain the tasks to me and I caught on fast enough. The parts I enjoyed the most were probably shelving and working in the chute.

Doing my work experience at the library has helped me with my communication skills and has helped me become more confident when handling a task. If you’re looking for somewhere to do your work experience, I definitely suggest doing it at Tea Tree Gully Library.