Youth in Charge

[ Part 1 ]

Story told by Nancy Thor. 

(A Hmong American womxn in the Twin Cities)

Growing up, not knowing what Mental Health was nor knowing how the way I feel means something. I tend to always listen to my parents and think that I’m just “overthinking” or that I am just “crazy.”

At one point in my life, during my depression around the age of 14, I was told that “a ghost has got into me” so I should seek, “shaman help.” When really, I was depressed because my parents got divorced during that time and I wasn’t able to accept that, yet. 

But then, did I mention that to my parents? No. I wasn’t able to. The 14 years old me, was so afraid of being misjudged or let my situation be spread around my families and relatives. So, as simple as it sounds, I end up shutting myself away and ignoring my feelings after that. 

–

(2019)

“Project Tshav Ntuj is focused now on preventing suicide among youth, Xyooj said he wants to see them grow “deep and wide” in promoting mental health as a whole.” – Sanhan Journal

You can check out “Project Tshav Ntuj” on Facebook below on this link: https://m.facebook.com/ProjectTshavNtuj/ 

You can check out a story about Mental Health within Hmong youth on this link: https://www.mprnews.org/amp/story/2020/01/22/new-generation-pushes-hmong-mental-health-concerns-into-the-light

Hi, my name is Lucy.

For a short while, I’ll be posting some things onto this blog!

When news of the COVID-19 first become common knowledge to me, many people were saying that the symptoms were similar of the Flu: fever, sore throat, tiredness and that, “It’s not that serious”. This was mid-February. (Around the time I got sick too).

More information here: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/symptoms-testing/symptoms.html

Then as little as a month that goes by, numbers grew all over the world and well, that “It’s not that serious” turned into, “Stay at home!” “Wash your hands!” “Social Distancing!” that people still don’t take too seriously, because numbers are still growing tremendously in America.

As soon as COVID-19 spread, another type of virus did too. This virus has been around much longer than COVID-19, and just like the current virus, it can be mild, severe, and a bit different for everyone and can affect anyone.

Main symptoms are: irrational fear, hatred, and aggression towards Asian Americans. Calling anyone of Asian decent, Chinese-even calling the virus itself, “the Chinese virus”.

What should you do when you are confronted with racial discrimination?

In January of this year, relating to the current pandemic, coronavirus, or COVID-19, and the will to keep learning music alive for Northside Minneapolis, Hopewell Music School raised $50,000 to stay open. Hopewell Music’s mission is to connect and empower the North Minneapolis community through high-quality music programming that is accessible to all, regardless of age, ability, background, or circumstance. Being one of the only music schools in Northside, dealing with a change in leadership whilst looking at their finances, the school asked for help. Thankfully, and with help from the community the school was able to keep its doors open. With the COVID-19 pandemic, Hopewell has kept engagement on preventing the spread of the virus. They are currently keeping a close eye on any new updates or news about the virus to continue to stay informed and to uphold a safe and supportive environment.

With that, everyone should make sure to keep up healthy habits and an open mind. Staying updated with any news about the virus, keeping themselves clean. When you wash your hands then wash them thoroughly, wearing face masks and gloves as a precaution, and maintaining your health. As COVID-19 takes advantage of weak immune systems. Be wary but do not let a virus define a group of people or race and definitely do not let a virus be a reason to commit crimes or hate towards a certain group of people or race.

https://www.hopewellmusic.com/ https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/01/22/north-minneapolis-music-school-raised-50000-to-stay-open/

A couple weeks ago, firefighters were called on by a bystander that reported smoke coming from a storage dome. The location was at the 3700th block of Washington Ave and just after 4:00 a.m. on that Friday morning. The building was located in the Upper Harbor Terminal and didn’t have electricity or lighting. The absence of electricity and lighting proved to make things difficult for the firefighters and that led to having them stay on the scene for quite some time. Adding on to these problems was all the smoke that streamed out of the dome building. But finally, at 11 a.m., the firefighter crew completed the job and left. The dome was operated by the company called OTI, who accepts frozen or packaged food, then separates the cardboard and plastic to send the food stored inside to composting sites. The property was owned by The City of Minneapolis, but the stored food was not theirs. The site manager for OTI, Max Milinkovich said that the company started using the location as a food transfer station five months ago. But the question still wanders off to how the fire could have started, and fortunately, no one got hurt. As claimed by Milinkovich that, “ … no one was in there or around there when it started,” (WCCO | CBS Minnesota, 2020, Crews Battled Flames For Hours At Industrial Areas In North Minneapolis).

Many thanks to the firefighters and the bystander that aided in ceasing the flames. If not for the bystander then the fire could have gotten worse that morning, and of course the brave firefighters that helped resolve the issue. As a friendly note to everyone, let’s all help to be more aware of the situations happening around us and to help prevent accidents and life threatening events from occurring. So don’t hesitate to make the call for help.

https://minnesota.cbslocal.com/2020/02/21/crews-battle-flames-at-recently-closed-mushroom-farm-in-north-minneapolis/

Today was good, we finished filming! Yay!

Today was kind of stressful. The time limit made it difficult for me and my actors to make mistakes or tweak things/camera angles. I’m glad we get an extra hour tomorrow for editing so we can really clean up all the clips we got today. I hope this turns out good because we put a lot of effort into this final project.

Today was an okay day. We finished production. I hope the film turn out good.

Toad was a long day of production but it’s was fun to see our last project being made

Today was busy. I really doubted I would get chosen for the script/director role. I’m a bit overwhelmed being the director. I really liked the other scripts, Yer’s was the one that stood out to me the most. I feel less stressed for this project because I trust my camera man and the gaffer to really visually represent my story well. This time I will do my best to be a better more straightforward director.