From, Youth

 

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2                         For YOUTH taking the world by the storm, one day at a time.     In hopes to continue to amplify youth perspectives  and voices in our society. Celebrating the creators, activists, and leaders of  tomorrow.                                    Website: ​papillonyouth.com   Instagram/Facebook:​ @​ papillonyouth  Podcast:​ O​ ut of the Cocoon​ (available on all major podcast platforms)   

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4 Let’s take the risk.     Throughout our childhood, we’ve come to notice the number of times children are often  neglected when it comes to their opinions, talents, and potential. When we first started  our organization, ​Papillon Youth Outreach​, we went in with nothing more than our passion  for youth representation and goal to provide a platform to showcase the works and  perspectives of youth. We wanted to link creators through unique opportunities.     We know. These are some lofty goals for two high school students.     However, after long nights filled with planning, designing our own website and logo, and  revising, we couldn’t be more grateful when fellow teens began to rally with us on this  journey. To date, we have members from six different countries and twenty different  cities around the globe. Our growing community makes the experience of collaborating  and learning from youth alike so much more magical.      With that being said, we are proud to announce ​Papillon Youth Outreach​’s first volume,  From, Youth.    This volume features some of our own member writers/artists and competition winners  who expressed the central theme of youth through the use of words, rhymes, brush  strokes and technology. Every submission is unique and expresses the diverse range of  what youth represents. From innocence to freedom all the way to struggles and finding  one’s own voice, we hope you will kick back and enjoy this volume as much as we do.     But… this is just the beginning. We are so excited for all the new projects and initiatives  we have in store for the future.    For now, we’ll sign off with our signature closing statement as we say in our podcast,​ Out  of the Cocoon ​(go check it out!).     Until next time,   See where your wings take you.     Kind regards,    Claire Song & Evan Woo   Founders and Presidents of Papillon Youth Outreach  

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6 Table of Contents    To the Graduating Class of 2020 b​ y Tobi Lee …....…………………………………………………………….….. 7    Poetry     Lost and Found ​by Claire Song ……………...………………………………………………………………………..….. 9  It Happens ​by​ E​ lizabeth Morin ……………...………………………………………………………………………….. 10  Bleak Reality ​by Ivy Shi ……………………………………………………………………………..…………..………….11  Of Broken Wings b​ y Adriana Uribe-Rodriguez ……………………………………………………..……...……..12    Art    To, Youth, b​ y Eden Chen …………………………………………………………………..…………..…………...…….. 14  Reaching out to Life, b​ y Kennedy Ferguson ……………………………………………………………………….. 15  Connected Through Butterflies,​ by Sheffield Wong ………………………………………………..…………. 16  Colors​ ​by Shina Kang ……………………....……………………………………………………………………………… 17    Short Essays    Tired of YOUR bullshit ​by ​Jahdice Dawkins ………………………………………………………………………. 19  The Power of Youth b​ y​ ​Mia Beinert ……………………………………………………………………………..…... 21  Your Youth is Yours b​ y Chloe ……………………………………………………………………………………..….… 24    Photography    The Power of Youth b​ y Emily Xia …………………………………………………………………………………..…. 27  Entropy by Noon ​by​ ​Justin Lu …………………………………………………………………………………………... 27  Gleam ​by A​ lina He …………………………………………………………………………………………………..………. 28  Just the Start ​by Tasmiya Khondoker ……………………………………………………………………..….…….. 28  Our Vision b​ y ​Alina Phan …………………………………………………………………………………………………. 29  Your False Emotions ​by​ ​Alhamdulillah Durojaiye ​ …………………………………………………………..…. 29  To Reach You ​by Faith Domingo ………………………………………………………………………………..…….. 30   Horizon b​ y ​Shafiya Khan …………………………………………………………………………………………...…….. 30   Featured Global Submissions    Generation’s Youth ​by Olive Paternoster ​………………………………………………………………..………... 32  Girl in the Mirror b​ y Diva Sony ​…………………………………………………………………………………………. 33  Nayla Pariamachi …​ ………………………………………………………………………………………………..……….. 34  Tobi Lee …​ ……………………………………………………………………...………………………..………………..……. 34  Jefree Chen …​ ………………………………………………………………………………………………..………………… 34 

To the Graduating Class of 2020  7 by Tobi Lee      Sometimes you'll get scared    That if no one ever cared  Senior year will be a daze  What does it mean to be alive  This quarantine is just a phase  Times like these you have to try  No worries at this age  And find the strength that lies behind  College will be the next stage      If you believe you'll find the strength  I'm moving on  You'll find it and you'll cross great lengths  I'm ready to go  You'll see the true beauty  I'll take the road that leads me  That lays, hidden from the lens  To the place where I wanna be  Of man's naked eye      I'll lose a lot along the way  You shall see that time flies by  But I know that in the end   And the only thing that's left  It'll be worth the wait  Is not money but the sky  It'll be worth the pain  And the ones who never left    Who were always in your mind  Life is an endless maze  At times, in your heart  Death is a haze    No one knows what tomorrow brings  That's the beauty of life  Today is all you have and yesterday is  You can't see it but it's there  what you are  The pain is worth it at the end  Nothing happens without a reason  When you see the true beauty of life             

8         POETRY                                        

9 Lost and Found (​ a three-part haiku)      by Claire Song             Lost            Voices roam in space    Screams vibrate against my lungs    Lost in direction            and            A free pendulum    Oscillates at its nadir    With great potential            Found            The raw energy     Pouring out from the voice once    Clogged with hate and void.                                                          

10       It Happens    by Elizabeth Morin         The older generations say it’s normal  When my heart stops in it’s own train tracks      Like it’s frozen in a time machine       My superiors say I’m overreacting  When my tongue falls loose of my mouth      And my lungs cry for air.     My educators say it happens to everyone      When I have to count my fingers   To remind myself that the numbness isn’t      real.       My guides tell me I’m overreacting  When my vision goes black and is replaced      with tears    To avoid the judgement of glaring eyes.       You’re just a kid, everyone said    Wait until you’re an adult, they all said    Everyone gets anxious, the adults said    It happens, they said.                                              

11   Bleak Reality  by Ivy Shi    See there, the darkness of the old  History changing the future to gray  Innocence once held has fallen from hold    Our younger selves cry out in the cold  Shivering and lonely, trying to pray  See there, the darkness of the old    Carefree meadows were not controlled  Singing loudly like a happy blue jay  Innocence once held has fallen from hold    Our peers are out, partying tenfold  Giving a new definition to play  See there, the darkness of the old    Our idols with no faith in their billfold  Facing the world with nothing to pay  Innocence once held has fallen from hold    Lights come up in our theatre of gold  The heroes we worshipped, no longer slay  See there, the darkness of the old  Innocence once held has fallen from hold                     

12       Of broken wings  by Adriana Uribe-Rodriguez    of broken wings and untamed winds;  send me a sign of life  for i don't see myself living long  how does one fly when the wind wishes for you to drown  drown in the noise of it’s ruckus, it’s blunders, and ignorance  to fly, oh to fly, how i dream to fly  yet at this rate i’ve not even a chance to touch the sky  tame your unruly winds   so that i may spread my broken wings   tarnished, they already are  my beautiful new wings  tarnished as your wild winds strip the time, the innocent, the curious out of their youthful  to leave us full  full of longing  to break free  to break out  full of a longing for my words to grace somebody's willing ears  from my youth i'll have to bloom  if flying is what i dream  no need to tame your unruly winds  for over them will be where my broken wings will sing                       

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14     To, Youth  Eden Chen    A short comic that visualizes youth's impact on our world. As the task of caring for the earth is  passed down from generation to generation, we are given the ability to nurture and continuously  improve what we call home. By showcasing artwork from young creators, we acknowledge our  generation's ideas, thoughts, and feelings that will soon shape our future.         

15           Reaching Out To Life  Kennedy Ferguson    This four by five-foot acrylic painting is called “Reaching Out To Life”. I think it best suits the  “From Youth” issue because we, as youth, are at a constant state of growth and are always  striving to accomplish our goals and reaching out for our dreams, even if they seem too out of  touch.       

16     Connected Through Butterflies  Sheffield Wong    Representing the mission of Papillon Youth Outreach; showing the world and societies being  connected through butterflies or by Papillon (in French). The butterflies reach out to others, like  how this organization links people on opposite sides of the earth through an online platform. This  piece symbolizes what the organization does— connecting and supporting youth, and growing as  a community!        

17     Colors  Shina Kang    This piece depicts that adding youth perspectives to the world is like adding colours to an  artwork. When youths break out of their “black square” (comfort zones) to share their thoughts,  opinions, and experiences to the world together, the different perspectives allow the world to  become fuller and better for the next generation of youths, just like how adding colours to an  artwork brightens and adds diversity to it.         

18         SHORT ESSAYS                                        

19 Tired of YOUR bullshit  Jahdice Dawkins    We are tired. We are stressed. We should not have to clean up the mess that our  grandparents made. We should not have to fear walking outside when trying to enjoy our  lives. Gen Z is tired. We are outraged by the fact that people cannot live in harmony  because of the prejudice put in place in society by the older generations. Generation Z is  going headfirst into the fight against racism, sexism, homophobia, islamophobia, and more.  Everyone should have equal rights and it is unfair that the only “free” people in the world  are heterosexual white men.   The President of the United States (whose name I do not like to associate with  leadership in America) has shown the public that he is not afraid to speak his mind no  matter how much his words and actions offend and hurt the people in America. During the  beginning of his presidency, he placed a travel ban on countries with large Muslim  populations​ e​ xpect the Islamic countries that have had beneficial financial ties to the US  (Politico) (nilc)​. When the Coronavirus pandemic started growing in America, he referred  to the virus as “the Chinese virus” despite scientists proving that the strand found in the  US came from travelers from Europe (​ NYU Langone Health).​ After George Floyd’s death  and the riots started throughout the country, the president tweeted “If they loot, then we  shoot” implying that he is more than willing to go to war against his citizens, rather try to  bring the country together as injustice is being brought to light ​(The Washington Post)​.  Since his candidacy, he has been accused of sexual misconduct and degrading women. In  an interview, the president said he “grabs [women] by the p***y”. The President and  Jefferey Epstein, a famous financer that was arrested on sex trafficking charges but later  committed suicide while in jail, have had a long history together. The two have been  known to be good friends for years and have been spotted at many famous parties  together. Epstein is also known to be friends with former President Bill Clinton and Prince  Andrew, Duke of York. Now that Jeffrey Epstein’s sex crimes are being investigated, he  has also been accused of sexual misconduct against more women and even children  (FilmDaily)​. When talking about minorities, he often adds an article: ​the​, to blur them into  small groups rather than the tens of thousands of people included in these groups and  constantly marginalizes and stereotypes them ​(Vox)​. This man has signed legislation that  would prevent transgender patients from getting the healthcare that they desperately  need. He is rolling back a section in the Affordable Care Act placed by former President  Barack Obama that would prohibit medical workers from discriminating against patients  based on their gender identity and termination of pregnancy ​(The Washington Post)​.   Most of Generation Z were not voting age during the 2016 election and the  generation before we took their voting rights for granted and believed that no matter who  they voted for, their voices would not be heard. A lot of people in 2016 thought that 

20 neither of the Presidential candidates were fit enough to be president and decided that  voting that year did not matter. However, now that we have all seen the things that occur  when we do not participate in voting, hopefully, more and more people will be more  conscious about who they vote for in November. We should all weigh the pros and cons of  all candidates before making our final decisions rather than voting for one party because  you despise the other. If we don’t, we are going to have to keep protesting for basic human  rights. We will have to keep rioting just to get out points across. We may seem like  children to the rest of the world but we will be the ones to start the movement of being  compassionate and thoughtful towards our companions. We create protest signs based on  memes. We spray painted acronyms over major buildings. We demonstrated our  frustration with the President of the United States all over social media, causing him to  “throw a fit” for goodness sake. We are making sure that we WILL be heard because we  are coming to take over the government.                                                   

21 The Power of Youth  Mia Beinert     “You’re too young”  “You wouldn’t understand”  “The adults are talking”  “This isn’t a conversation for kids”     These are common messages that are being told to youth, even in today’s society. Youth  are so often put down for their hopes and ideas. Instead of preaching about why this  shouldn’t be so, a few young participants asked about what they are passionate about, and  why they feel the voice of youth is so significant.        Name: Anonymous  Age: 12     Q: What is one global issue that is important to you? Why are you passionate about this?     A: I​ think that race, religion, and gender or sexuality are the most important issues right  now. People are just people and it’s important that we see them as such. Especially with  what is happening now, we see just how much this has an impact in our world.     Q: What do you feel is something you could do, or something you want to do, to help this issue?     A: I think that it’s important to spread awareness, and social media is a very good tool for  that. If you can’t attend a peaceful protest, or some type of parade and/or demonstration,  then you can send emails to government officials and sign protests online. Also, if you are  able to donate to some charities or organizations, do it!     Q: Amazing ideas! Finally, why do you think it’s important for youth to be given a voice?     A: Sometimes youth have the most important views, since they will soon be adults. It’s  important to empower youth so they can achieve the tools and expertise to be successful  in the future.             

22 Name: Serene  Age: 14     Q: As a youth, have you ever felt not heard, or neglected in conversations, discussions, etc?     A: Yes, by all kinds of people, but especially adults, even when you’re ​[MKS4] ​providing a  valid opinion.     Q: Why do you want your voice to be heard? How does it make you feel when you aren’t being  listened to for your opinions or ideas?     A: I think that as kids, there are times where what we say is probably dumb or  inconsequential in the big picture, but we still do say and think a lot of things that are not  only important, but can also affect the future that we will be living in. When people ignore  that, it's played off as us being the irresponsible ones, yet what we are exactly trying to do  is take responsibility for ourselves and our futures. When people disregard us because  we're young, it demotivates us from trying to make changes, and it hurts our feelings.     Q: Is there anything that you’re passionate about that you want to get out into the world?      A: I want to become a better person. My biggest goal in life is to be able to say 'I did it', and  it's actually really hard. I think that applies to most kids- we want to be the best people we  can, but it's so difficult for us. While every little thing feels like a big accomplishment, to  others it's meaningless. I hope that I can be proud of myself, but also acknowledge and  make others feel proud of themselves. I think all people should strive for that.       Name: Pearl  Age: 14     Q: What is something you are passionate about? Why are you passionate about this?     A: Something I am passionate about is leadership and representing others with my voice.  Leadership has a special place in my heart because I feel that many students, children, and  even adults, have the fear of not being able to voice their opinions to the world. I have and  still am struggling with this. I know how it feels to be scared of judgement, be ridiculed,  and to feel unheard. It makes me happy to see that I have helped in some way.     Q: As a youth, have you ever felt voiceless or overlooked? 

23    A: Definitely. Adults tend to underestimate our young minds and believe that our  thoughts and ideas are not fully developed because we are not \"mature\". For me, reaching  out to people through any social media platform as a youth has especially been difficult.     Q: Why do you feel that youth voices are so significant? What do you feel we and society can do  to encourage young voices?     A: In some ways, adults are correct: kids' minds are very different from adults' minds. This  is why youth voices are important. They offer new perspectives on long-standing issues,  or new problems people may have not even considered​[MKS5] .​ The youth's imagination  can also offer more creative ways to deal with existing problems. I feel that society can  encourage youth voices by normalizing it. This can be having the government highlight  more youth voices or creating more buzz about existing youth organizations.               Hearing from these youth voices was incredibly empowering. To see how each took such a  unique and meaningful approach to the questions further fueled by belief in our  generation. In a technical sense, youth are the future, and this message has been enforced  constantly, but this goes to show how powerful youth are, and how bright our future is  with all of these young and strong voices. It is the young, the supposed ignorant, that are  ever more aware.                              

24 Your Youth is Yours   Chloe Lee    Youth is considered by many to be the most vibrant, colorful, vivid period of one’s  life, filled with dangerous risks and spontaneous voyages. Adults recall their reckless  teenage years with a fond smile and twinkling eyes, and some like to point out that they  may be ‘60 but 16 at heart’. This has led me to often wonder what was so special, so  unique about youth that had them clutching the memories close to their hearts and  cherishing them for so long.  If you type in ‘youth’ in the Google search engine, image upon image of smiling,  laughing teenagers decked in lively rainbow colors spill out, reinforcing the definitions of  the word we already hold in our minds: teenagers. Energetic, enthusiastic teenagers.  However, I look at middle-aged men throwing away their ordinary, mundane lives  in pursuit of their wild childhood fantasies and think, y​ outh. ​I look at little children  competing with their friends on playground swings, shrieking as they try to swing as high  as possible, and think, y​ outh.​ I look at elderly women who are mothers, grandmothers and  even great-grandmothers creating all sorts of opportunities for themselves—graduating  from colleges, getting important jobs, achieving amazing goals—and think, ​youth.  So no, I don’t think youth means dressing up in fancy clothes and partying until  dawn, or at least isn’t confined to such tight boundaries. Instead, I believe that youth  simply means feeling young—like you’ve got all the time in the world, and like you can’t  make a single wrong decision. I believe that youth is, essentially, an emotion instead of a  number, a vague sensation rather than a specific length of time—in other words, a state of  mind, not a state of being.  According to that definition, your youth doesn’t begin as you blow out the candles  on your thirteenth birthday and end as your kids start calling you “too old” to be excited  over animation movies; it begins when you want it to. Even as you grow and your  responsibilities pile up, challenge yourself to enjoy the fleeting moments and chase the  dreams you’re truly passionate about—not because they’re never going to return, but  because you deserve the chance at happiness regardless of where you stand in life.  And to all the young people out there: we’re young. It’s okay to be scared and  worried about the approaching future, and it’s more than fine to feel lost. But like Jack  Gilbert says in his poem, F​ ailing and Flying, “​ anything worth doing is worth doing badly.” So  let’s make those mistakes, take those chances, and seek those adventures. Let’s fly  towards the sky and shoot for the moon, while catching the sparkling, shining stars in our 

25 palms—and if we fall, we can always dust ourselves off and soar back up, sailing even  higher than before. Let’s be young, and let’s embrace our youth.                                                                

26         PHOTOGRAPHY                                 

27                   The Power of Youth  Emily Xia                Entropy By Noon  Justin Lu    In a flurry of white followed by shrieks of  laughter, a group of my friends trade  snowballs at each other as we await further  instructions from our counsellors. A boy in red  scoops up a handful of light, freshly-fallen  snow, and flings it towards a girl in a beanie.  Realizing what had just happened, she turns  around as he prepares to flee, taking off  before she can get him back. Further behind,  someone spots the duel, and me snapping  away. Although my friends and I are now  about 16, the sense of chaotic fun shines  through, as the memory of youth carries with  it a sense of camaraderie, happy times, and  friendship.     

  28     Just the Start     Gleam  Tasmiya Khondoker  Alina He  We are a strong, creative generation who  are always looking out for the next big thing    and I wanted to take a picture that  showcased exactly that. Through the use of  This photo integrates adolescence and  bright colours, setting choice, and poses, this  the sun as the main elements to  picture speaks out on the fact that just  showcase youth energy and prospects.  because we aren’t adults doesn’t mean that  Although youth is defined as a period  we can’t change the world. We are fearless,  between childhood and adulthood, it  beautiful, and will stand up for things that  can be a concept of liveliness,  we believe in. So much has happened since  eagerness, and freshness. Despite  the start of 2020 and our generation is the  challenges and barriers, we, as youths,  reason for it. We were the wake up call this  strive to reach our potential and to  world needed and I want you to know, we're  accomplish more.  just getting started.               

29       Our Vision  Alina Phan     As a 14-year-old creator from Toronto,  Canada, being able to creatively  express myself through my works has  opened a world full of opportunity and  color. Photography has been a   passion of mine that has enabled me to  capture the world from a new  perspective— a new view to the rest of  the world. My works are a form of my  own creative self-expression and my  own interpretation of I view my world.  “Our Vision” is a piece that embodies  some of the various and many ways that we as youth use to express ourselves. These wonderful forms of  expression are dispersed throughout this photo and are not limited to those displayed. From the  photographer’s point of view to the insight of the models and chalk illustrations, each has its own unique  component. Other symbols and visuals also hold a deeper, significant meaning to them, which can mean  something different to every viewer— a theme I like to connect with my viewer in each of my works. When  viewing my works, I want my viewer to be able to connect my pieces with their own world as well.     Your False Emotions  Alhamdulillah Durojaiye   In average everyday life pre-corona,  youth experienced a torrent of  emotions that weren't always seen  on the outside by others. During this  pandemic, many people have been  forced to put on even braver faces  and act unaffected to the massive  changes affecting their lives. This  piece is meant to symbolize the  effect that such emotions can have  on us and how they are seen on our  faces by others as smiles that don’t  stretch as wide and as eyes that  don’t shine as bright. 

30             To Reach You  Faith Domingo     This photo is meant to show that we as youth are  the next generation. We have to reach out to  others and broaden our horizons. The girl reaching  out to the sky symbolizes that we must reach for  the sky if we want to make a lasting impact in our  generation.                        Horizon  Shafiya Khan    When I think of the word  \"youth\", my mind  immediately thinks of the  fact that we're the bright  future of tomorrow. The  photo shows two youth  looking outward into the  horizon towards their  future.   

31           FEATURED GLOBAL  SUBMISSIONS              

Generation’s Youth   32 by Olive Paternoster          They were there for it all.      They watched it happen.  Felt the losses.  It was less of a race together  Screamed for the struggles.  And more of a fight against each other.  Cheered for the victories.  They had the same goal.    They wanted it ​so ​bad,  It was as much theirs as it was anyone else’s.   But—  But what was different about them,  They were blind as to what would get them  Was that they saw the reason   there.  They knew inequalities,    And their innocence drove them to keep  They were overthinking it,   dreaming.  Going so fast they didn’t see what was right    in front of them.  It was frustrating!   They couldn’t see that all they needed was—  How could they be so close.    So close they could almost touch it.  To stop.    To breath.  Each time they were t​ here  To be grateful to be able to improve, instead  Each time someone said   of destroy.  “This time, this time they are going to get it”   They needed to see what they already had.  Something went wrong,  And use that to change what was already  Something didn’t work,  there.  Someone said—    “No.”  They had each other.    Not just those who they knew,  They grew up to be divided in a situation  Not just those who were standing besides  where unity was the only answer.  them,  They didn’t need to agree,  But—  But they couldn’t disagree either.    It played back—and forth.  They had ​each other!   Dancing a topped the line of    Far—  They all breathed the same air.  Too far—  Cried the same tears.  Not far enough—  Laughed in the same moments.   Pushing the boundaries.  And they wanted the same victories.  Ruining the moments.       Each generation started out wanting change.  And as more and more of them broke off   Wanting to purify the world.  But that doesn’t happen overnight.    from its overwhelming undertaking 

They gave up.  33 They left it to the next generation.    before those before us gave up.   Each generation started too late,  We see the bigger picture,  And ended too early.   We know what it could be,  They began fighting only when that  We see what it should be,  responsibility was burdened upon them.  And most importantly we will   And stopped when the burden was capable  work to never accept anything less.   of transfer.       We have control in this fight.  But now!   We have the upper hand.    And we see not just what we want to see,  Now we have a shot.   But what we need to see.  We have started fighting long     Change is no longer a possibility,    It’s a N​ ecessity      Because, he was told    His sexuality was a fraud.    Girl in the Mirror  A person slits their wrist  In privacy, alone,  by Diva Sony  Because they were told    Therapy is not condoned.    A girl looks in the mirror  These stories,  And cries inside.  You notice,  She feels she’s not enough  We do not hear.  Next to the photoshopped lies.  The system hides them     From both our eyes  A boy breaks his arm  And our ears.  And stifles his tears.  It feels like a game  He’s been told,  That they’ve trapped us inside,  Emotions,  Where they’ve shaped all the rules  Are never to appear.  To design our demise    A woman downloads apps   In order to find  The love story she was told  Is a requirement of the time.    A man marries a woman   That he has never loved.     

  34               Nayla Pariamachi  Austin, USA              Tobi Lee  Lima, Peru                    Jefree Chen  New York, USA         

35                                                                   Designed & Organized by Claire Song, Evan Woo, Mariana Silva  Cover by Jessica Cheng    Papillon Youth Outreach 2020-21   

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