Hey everyone, this is Gabrielle, YWDEP’s 2010 intern. I’ll be guiding you through this summer, giving you the updates on our workshops, events and field trips.

We had an open house on the 8th and if that Saturday is any indication of the weeks to come, I think we’re going to have an amazing summer. A number of interested women, young and old, came out to hear about the mission of YWDEP, our goals for the summer and go over our schedule. Put like that, it sounds as though the event was kind of boring, but trust me when I say it wasn’t! We also did total body ice breakers (haha I know that sounds outrageous) quick intros to the djembe and my personal favourite, a jam session to wrap everything up.

The summer program officially starts this Saturday. We’re meeting at 12:30pm at BloomBars (3222 11th St NW) for lunch and drumming and then we’re going to the Flashpoint Gallery to see Paige in Full. The show is about a woman (Paige) and her relationship with hip hop. It seems like its going to be pretty cool, and afterwards we get a Q&A session with Paige.

The title of this post comes from the song “Ay Yo” by Canadian singer Melanie Fiona. The music is ok, what I really like are the lyrics because they describe something of what I feel like when I’m drumming. She says things like “every woman has a purpose, nothing happens by chance, this is your life here in your hands, you gotta fight to take the stand” and “I’m gon rock it to the fullest in this life, so I’mma give it all I got before I die”. There is something worth thinking about in every stanza; I think the message of the song is representative of the mission of YWDEP and the feeling of self-confidence and hopefullness we want each young woman to leave with at the end of the program. WOOP! WOOP! for the weeks ahead =)