A group of young teens in New York City’s Queensbridge neighborhood have united together to use music to tell their stories. The Triumph : Our Journey, Our Story, is an album produced at an after school program called Project Excel, that happens at the Jacob A Riis Neighborhood Settlement House located in Long Island City in Queens.

Over the past summer and fall, the teens wrote and recorded an entire album full of music that talks about what it’s really like to be a teen in an inner city neighborhood.

They have also used the power of the internet to get the music out - be sure to check out their myspace page and listen to some of the amazing songs : http://www.myspace.com/projectexcelnyc - my favorite tracks are My Life, My Story and Who I Am. You’ll be really glad you decided to give a listen!

to learn how you can help support programs like Project Excel at the Jacob A. Riis Neighborhood Settlement House and watch the video they made about The Triumph below.

Conservative Virginians are fighting back against their own Governor after he slashed funding for abstinence only education. Timothy Kaine eliminated 275,000 from the state’s budget that was set aside for programs that taught high school students abstinence as a form of sex education and pregnancy prevention. Attorney General Robert F. McDonnell seemed slightly confused about the idea of “separation of church and state” when he expressed his surprise at Kaine’s actions:

“He is a Catholic, and I am a Catholic, and I know our church teaches abstinence,” McDonnell said of Kaine. “I am puzzled by his decision.”

Both parties cite different studies to back-up their claims that teaching kids not to have sex works or doesn’t. On the other end of the sex-education spectrum in New York City, Dr. Michael Carrera has implemented programs across the boroughs that work to empower young women and educate them about their bodies through a community and skill based curriculum. Young people starting at age 12 can participate in programs designed around Carrera’s plan in approximately 20 states throughout the country.In Queens NY, teens at the Jacob Riis Settlement House use Carrera’s ideas in their Project Excel program and just finished their first collaborative CD, “The Triumph - Our Journey, Our Story.” There may not be a study to prove the program’s effectiveness but take a listen to some of the amazing tracks on their myspace page - they’re proof enough that empowerment and creative expression is never the wrong way to go.The debate between how to best prepare America’s teens when it comes to the facts of life is one that will most likely continue for years to come - in the meantime maybe the officials in VA should put their feelings aside and all meet for a date to see Jason Reitman’s latest film Juno when it’s released later this winter, the film has been getting a ton of positive buzz since it played at Toronto earlier this fall: