LyriK

Our Dog Freckle - by Nikeasha Larsen - Gray

Our next fictional short story from the Senior Media Group that we have uploaded was written by Nikeasha. This is a sad tale of loss, but again highlights the talent of these young people that were a part of this Media Group. Enjoy the story!

'Our Dog Freckle...'

By Nikeasha Larsen-Gray

We bought Freckle when she was just a pup. 'Part Labrador', the salesman said 'and several part something else'. It was the part Labrador that decided us. Mother said she never known a Labrador that had bitten anyone-they were the gentle dogs alive. Within five minutes Freckle was ours.

We never found out what the parts something else were but they certainly made up for the part Labrador part. From the first moment Freckles bit people. We didn't take much notice in the beginning. 'Just getting used to her teeth'. Dad would say and besides, a bite from that tiny thing wouldn't hurt anybody.

But it did...

One day my cousin came over for a sleepover and she went to pat Freckles. But Freckles didn't like Brodie and growled. Brodie got scared and started to scream and cry. Freckles didn't like loud noises very much and started growling again until Freckle ran up to Brodie and bit her on the arm, face and leg. Mother thought that the bite marks weren't that bad.

But they were, Brodie looked like she had been mauled by a huge dog but instead it was a tiny puppy. So mum decided to try and calm her down but that didn't work instead she started screaming uncontrollably, so I had to put Freckle outside so she wouldn't bite anyone else. Mum decided to take Brodie to the doctors to get the bite marks checked out. But when we got to the doctors, Brodie started going pale and fainted a couple of times. The doctor said the dog bit one of her veins in her arm. Also she said that Freckle bit her so hard that one of her veins popped, so she was losing a lot of blood.

So we had Brodie rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. Mum and I were so scared that she wouldn't make it. Finally we got to the emergency department and the doctors rushed Brodie into her ward. Mum kept saying she'll be ok, she'll be ok. I was thinking to myself what will happen to Freckle, will Brodie survive. I could see into the ward all the doctors and nurses around Brodie and all the blood on the sheets. Mum took me outside and said this is too much for a 10 year old to see.

Mum and I stayed there at the hospital that night. Dad came up to visit and told me I had to come home with him. On the way back from the hospital, we saw my uncle and aunty speeding down the road. When we got home, the house was a mess and Freckle wasn't there, I searched every room in the house for her but she wasn't there. I started to cry and throw things at the door. Dad said that we will look for her in the morning.

I went to bed, just thinking about Freckle and Brodie. Then all of a sudden the phone rang. I said to myself please not be the hospital ringing. Then dad answered and I heard the phone drop out of his hands and then he ran into my room and told me to get shoes on because we have to leave. What was going on and then I realised who dad was on the phone to. It was Mum and the doctor at the hospital.

So dad and I rushed down to the hospital to find Brodie's bed cleaned and no one in there. I wondered where Brodie had got to and then I saw my aunty on the floor crying and my uncle with his arms around her for support. At that moment I realised that Brodie wasn't with us anymore and she had passed away. I asked mum what happened and she said the exact same thing that I was thinking. Mum said that Brodie went into surgery and all was going well until one of the clumsy surgeons cut Brodie's heart open instead of stitching her arm back up so she died on the operating table and they couldn't bring her back to life. Then the last thing mum said was that she died 10 minutes ago.

When I got told the horrifying news I fell to the floor and started to bawl my eyes out and shake uncontrollably. Mum and dad were so scared that I was going to have a fit that dad had to take me home again. But I didn't want to go home I wanted to be with Freckle wherever she was. On the last drive home from the hospital dad said that we will look for Freckle when we get home. As soon as dad said those words my happy smile appeared again. I couldn't wait to get home and find freckle and hold her in my arms. I hope we find her

Sadly we did but not the way we wanted to find her. At first I thought that she was just playing dead like we do after school but then dad checked to see if she was breathing. She wasn't, my heart just stopped and felt like it had been torn in two. I thought to myself I can't go on like this anymore. That night dad and I laid Freckle to rest in our backyard and I made a gravestone saying RIP OUR DOG FRECKLE I LOVE YOU SO MUCH WE WILL MISS YOU GIRL!

Win a $50 JB HiFi Voucher!

We want to hear your ideas about what should be in the next edition of Konnect. It could be an idea for an article or a spot that you want to see regularly in the magazine, what ever your idea let us know and if your idea is picked to be in the magazine you could win a $50 JB HiFi voucher! Send in any of your ideas to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it for your chance to win....good luck!

The Rule Book - by Sharron Foo

Here is the second uploaded story from the Senior Media Group at Gilmore College. This story is by Sharron Foo and just like the last story, if you are enjoying what you are reading just hit the 'read more' link at the end of the post to get the full story. Enjoy! and keep an eye out for more short stories to be uploaded from the Senior Media Group.

The Rule Book
By Sharron Foo

Hello, my name is Summer Park; I am diagnosed with Hepatocellular Carcinoma, also known as liver cancer. I don’t have long left to ago. It's already been a year? I was nineteen when I discovered the horrifying news. I kept it to myself for a year and now that the doctor told me that I only have three months left, I’m seriously scared. I’m scared of dying and being found out, my abdominal pains had been coming more frequently and I’m starting to cough up blood. As days goes by I feel less and less motivated to go on. I started to live my life with the rules I made. The rules were plotted in my mind, like my very own personal rule book. I didn’t want people to miss me, that much. It is beyond my abilities to make myself completely disappear from their life, the only thing I could do is to slowly fall apart from them, so I would turn into a complete stranger. But it was harder than I thought; when you’re family you’ll always be family, when you know someone you’ll always care about them, even just a little, not caring about what they have done.

Read more...

My Dog Is A Hero - by Jared Del Carmen

Edition # 7 of Konnect was officially launched today at Gilmore College so make sure you keep an eye for the rest of the week and you should see copies popping up all over Town!

As a new feature in the Konnect mag there are short stories that were written by the Senior Media Group at Gilmore College last year. There were so many top quality stories submitted that we weren't able to fit them all in the magazine! So over the next couple of weeks we will begin adding these extra stories right here on the website so that you all can enjoy what these talented young people have written.

The first story we are uploading is by Jared Del Caremen. If you are enjoying the story then just click 'read more' to get the rest!

My Dog Is A Hero - by Jared Del Carmen

"It was quite extraordinary really, whoever thought a single man could take all the pets in the neighbourhood.

One day, I had decided to keep Molly outside, to show her the real world, if you know what I mean. She was the indoor type, never ate food from the floor, and was always pouting about, insisting in being carried everywhere, but tonight, I had enough of it, and out of pure rage, left her outside for the night.  I had done everything right. I fed her, took her out on walks, gave her a place to stay, yet, she insisted on being how she was.

I felt quite bad at first, listening to her scratch on the door and bark, along with the rest of the neighbourhood's dog. One by one, the howls disappeared, including Molly's. I should've checked on her then, but I was just too tired. 

Read more...

Konnect Edition #7

Edition #7 of Konnect is being launched tomorrow! So for all of you out there who are going to school at Gilmore College keep an eye out for us walking around with copies or come up to the cafe area and grab a sausage and a free Konnect at the same time. The magazine is packed full of stories, articles and games all done by young people in Kwinana, and it is also offering you a chance to win a $50 JB HiFi voucher. So for your chance to win make sure you grab yourself a copy!

Also, watch this space for a PDF version of Konnect to be uploaded... 

Round 12 Winners

What a fantastic night! For the first time the LyriK awards ceremony was combined with the Koorliny Arts Centre 'Live & LOUD' event and as a result the night was jam packed with awesome entertainment and was a wonderful celebration of all the positive contributions that the young people of Kwinana are making to our community. For those of you who couldn't make the event here's a list of all the winners and highly commended nominees from the night...

INSPIRATION Winner
Brodi Walley

FRIENDSHIP Winner
Georgia Briggs

FRIENDSHIP Highley Commended            
Kieren Milton

TEAMWORK Winner
Kwinana Children's Choir

ACHIEVEMENT Winner(tied result)
Ruby Cotterill & Chloe Doomen
Bertram Kids in the Kitchen

RESPECT Winner
Mark Kickett

LEADERSHIP Winner
Liberty Brown

LEADERSHIP Highley Commended
Angela McEachan

PROGRESS Winner (tied result)
Jasmyn Hillier
Daniel Philip

PROGRESS Highly Commended
Toni Northall

GROUP OF THE YEAR Winner
Gilmore Cares About Cancer

YOUNG PERSON OF THE YEAR
Zee Marincowits

We also awarded 2 Projects on the night, one to the Orelia Primary School Garden Shade House and the other to the Bertram Primary School Lego Sustainability Program.

Congratulations to all our winners and Highly Commended nominees! You all certainly deserve it and we will look forward to hearing more about the awesome things you are doing in our community!

Another Record Breaking Round

Nominations for Round 12 of the LyriK Awards has now officially closed. This is the last round of nominations for 2010 and we are very pleased to say that LyriK has finished it's record breaking year with yet another record amount of nominations! All up we recieved 43 individual and group nominations and 4 project applications, making this the highest amount of nominations ever recieved in a round for LyriK. Whilst it's great that we are getting all these nominations and breaking records, what it actually means is that more and more young people are being recognised for their positive contribution to the community of Kwinana..something that we are very pleased to see happening!

The awards ceremony for this round will be held on Friday 26th November as a part of the Koorliny Arts Centre 'Live and LOUD' event and as it is the last round for the year we will also be announcing our 3 annual awards, these being the LyriK Progress Award, LyriK Group of the Year and the LyriK Young Person of the Year. If you weren't nominated or weren't able to nominate a young person but you would like to come along an support all the nominees on the night, there are tickets are available from the Koorliny Arts Centre for the following prices: Adults - $8, Conc - $6, Child - $5.

Finally (for this post at least!), a big thankyou goes out to all those who nominated a young person for this round, or any of the previous rounds this year! The LyriK program would not be where it is without your diligence in recognising and nominating those young people in Kwinana who are making a positive difference.

LyriK on Facebook

If you haven't heard, LyriK is now on Facebook! We are constantly updating our Facebook with photo's from our events, upcoming events and other little bits and pieces. to sign up all you need to do is click the 'like' button on the right hand side of this page and then you will see every update we make on your own Facebook page. So to keep up to date with all things LyriK make sure you sign up!

Round 11 Award Winners

Congratulations to our round 11 winners! Our last ceremony was on 18 August 2010 and our very deserving award winners were...

Read more...

Konnect Edition 5

Here's some news for you all hot off the press...literally! We have just received the latest edition of Konnect from the printers and we are getting ready to out of our hands and into yours. This edition is packed full of info and updates about different youth events, recipes, pics and even vouchers! We will be launching the mag Tuesday of next week at Gilmore College for Totally Tuesday and after that you will see the mag popping up all over the place so make sure you grab youself a copy.