A Boy Scout troop in Missouri, a horse racing pageant in Tibet, a Sichuan restaurant in Queens, a candlelit protest in South Korea: Within the photograph essays beneath, the runners-up in our “The place We Are” contest introduce you to 9 fascinating, vibrant communities, and present you the locations the place they collect with others.
As at all times, we invite you to depart feedback for these younger photojournalists to inform them what you thought. And in the event you haven’t already, please additionally benefit from the work of our winner, and discover a checklist of all of the finalists right here.
Word: With their permission, we have now condensed the work of the runners-up to 4 images and an edited model of their authentic introduction and captions.
Alley 41: A Hidden Sichuan Haven in Flushing
By Tony-JunLin Pan, 15, Jericho, N.Y.
The solar started to clip the horizon simply exterior forty first Avenue in Flushing, Queens, a neighborhood with a historical past of Chinese language family-owned eating places. Teams of hungry clients started trickling into Alley 41 by an not noticeable entrance tucked between non-public residences.
Greater than a restaurant, Alley 41 — also called 蜀巷, or “Sichuan Alley” in Chinese language — was began by Yao Hua, and stands as a cultural sanctuary for Chinese language People craving the timeless consolation and flavors of house.
Mr. Yao remembers his seek for belonging in New York when he first immigrated. “Sichuan flavors weren’t the identical. Eating places didn’t really feel the identical. I believed I might by no means discover that childhood reminiscence once more. I grew up in a small alley in Chengdu with numerous eating places, so I wished to search out an setting in America much like house,” he mentioned.
Contained in the restaurant throughout rush hour, teams of individuals huddle across the conventional, family-style tables which might be usually utilized in Chinese language properties. Using conventional teapots and utensils additionally serves to remind clients of reminiscences of house. For many who grew up in China, it looks like an area paying homage to street-side eating in Chengdu.
For immigrants like Yao, when he isn’t serving the Chinese language neighborhood, introducing Sichuan delicacies to these unfamiliar with it’s “like opening a door to a brand new world.”
Behind the chatter and the clinking of chopsticks within the eating space lies the nucleus of Alley 41 — the kitchen. Staff with kitchen nicknames like Uncle Jacky, Uncle Luo, Uncle Huang and Auntie Tao work tirelessly behind the scenes to craft unmistakably daring Sichuan flavors by dishes like Chengdu candy and spicy noodles. They navigate the jam-packed kitchen to retrieve and put together substances and condiments which might be the spine of a various menu.
For Auntie Tao, recreating Sichuan delicacies is “not solely assembly the way forward for the second, but in addition sharing your individual tradition and household reminiscences.”
Hearth flared up as Uncle Jacky stir-fried substances in a wok, attaining the smoky taste generally known as “wok hei,” by cooking at excessive temperatures above open stoves.
Such difficult abilities carried out by cooks require a lot of persistence and exhausting work, however, in line with Uncle Luo, “Once you convey Chinese language meals to native folks and different cultural backgrounds in the USA, this problem is extra significant.”
Alley 41 serves as a testomony to historic Flushing, a spot formed by the generational dedication of lower-class immigrants looking for new alternatives overseas. Regardless of modernization within the space, Alley 41 has remained a continuing in offering consolation meals at inexpensive costs, incomes itself the Michelin Bib Gourmand certificates.
Mr. Yao and his workforce are creating cultural bridges by meals, serving to folks not solely to style Chinese language tradition, but in addition to search out shared happiness and emotional connection within the course of.
The Magic of Life
By Martina Sirvent Suarez, 15, Barcelona, Spain
Kids like eight-year-old Ruben usually really feel a way of loneliness and sorrow whereas they’re on the oncology ward at Sant Joan de Déu Hospital in Barcelona. Their associates and households may see them as totally different, and really feel pity for them.
However these difficulties vanish once they placed on a prime hat. Magic methods present escapism and a way of normalcy. Turning into one of many Magician Youngsters helps them see themselves as protagonists, not due to what they’re going by, however due to what they’re attaining.
The Magician Youngsters are a neighborhood of youngsters that has fashioned round Vidas Mágicas, a corporation {of professional} magicians who come onto the wards to carry out magic methods and train them to the sufferers. The group took its identify, which interprets to “Magical Lives,” after a affected person remarked, “Magic provides me life.”
Each week, one or two magicians from Vidas Mágicas go to and do a efficiency. As soon as they’ve carried out, family and friends depart the room and the magicians train the children do every trick. Then their family members come again, and it’s the sufferers’ present!
As soon as a magic session has ended, the scholars obtain a diploma as apprentice magicians, which incorporates taking the inventive identify of their selection.
“With this diploma, they not solely achieve a particular title, but in addition a way of feat and belonging to a particular neighborhood,” mentioned Josep Coch, the founding father of the group. Each time doable the magic reveals are carried out in small teams. That manner, the youngsters can study from each other, observe their methods, and enhance collectively.
Berta, 6, pictured above, is a large fan of “Frozen.” Her inventive nickname is “Magician Elsa.”
“What I miss essentially the most is my house bed room,” she mentioned. Although she has just lately been moved to a spacious room with a big window by which she will be able to watch squirrels play within the backyard, nothing is sort of like house.
Victoria Bedmar, pictured right here, is Ruben’s grandmother. She had at all times sworn that she would by no means get a tattoo. However right here she is with “Vida,” which suggests “life,” on her shoulder. She obtained it in honor of Ruben and his bravery.
“Who’s my life?” she asks him.
He solutions: “I’m.”
Magician Valentino, 5, delights in performing the identical trick again and again, and continues to be amazed as the identical card seems with every try. Even supposing he has restricted imaginative and prescient, magic nonetheless provides him pleasure, shock and amazement.
Magic will not be solely enjoyable to study, but in addition a beneficial alternative to socialize and make new associates. By magic, these youngsters share one thing about themselves aside from their sicknesses, that are now not within the highlight.
Karate Extravaganza: Exploring an Okinawan Dojo Group
By Miu Nakano, 16, Yomitan, Japan
An island nicknamed the “Birthplace of Karate” sits on the Pacific Ocean only a two-and-a-half-hour aircraft trip from the bustling coronary heart of Tokyo. In distinction to the busy metropolitan cities of mainland Japan, the prefecture of Okinawa is made up of over 150 islands with sandy seashores and plush forests. The biggest and most populated of those islands, additionally known as Okinawa, is the place karate was born.
Karate Youngsters Dojo, situated on the island in Ginowan Metropolis, boasts a vibrant neighborhood that welcomes everybody. A melting pot of cultures, the dojo college students hail from all types of various backgrounds. They observe a selected karate model, Shorin-Ryu, which focuses on studying kicks and punches versus another types that use weapons.
Karate Youngsters has an annual custom of beginning Hatsugeiko — the primary coaching of the 12 months — with a novel twist: They observe on the seashore.
Karate Youngsters began its annual seashore Hatsugeiko in January of 2013 and has continued it ever since. The observe is claimed to purify the thoughts and the spirit.
It begins with operating laps across the seashore as a heat up, then doing the Kata efficiency. Kata is a sequence of actions that assist college students observe appropriate kind in karate. Regardless of variations in ages and abilities, college students all uniformly carry out their Kata in sync.
Although the climate was chilly and wintry, the dojo college students persevered by the coaching. Waves crashed onto the shore only a few ft from the place they stood.
After the Kata efficiency ends, the scholars take part in an impediment race utilizing ropes supplied by the dojo. Youngsters of all ages partake within the leap rope problem, the place they crawl and leap to keep away from a rope swung by mother and father. The scholars compete to achieve the objective first, however just a few handle to clear the rope.
Many come to the Hatsugeiko not simply to coach, however to mingle with one another and strengthen bonds inside the neighborhood.
Initially from India, Danusiyaa Saravanan began karate along with her complete household only a few months in the past. After her first time collaborating in Hatsugeiko, she mentioned, “It was a splendid expertise and I obtained to hang around with my household.”
Her youthful brother, who doesn’t know a phrase of Japanese and had a tough time making associates of their neighborhood, has shortly adjusted and has made connections together with his fellow college students within the dojo.
As Akemi Sensei, the instructor, defined, “Our dojo strives to lift youngsters to develop into people who will ‘conquer themselves, not others.’”
Horse-Racing Tibetans at Gannan, Blessed by Nature
By Buyu Lyu, 17, Somerset, N.J.
Settled on the prairie between the Qinghai-Tibet Plateau and the Loess Plateau, Gannan, Tibet, is remoted from the surface, however the folks there kind distinctive bonds by communal prayers and collective participation in actions.
Horse racing is a type of actions. It isn’t solely leisure but in addition part of the neighborhood’s faith, since Tibetan Buddhism values nature and animals. Invited by an area resident, La-Zhang, to the horse race pageant, I had an opportunity to take a close-up view.
As we arrived on the venue, my mobile connection was reduce off. The altitude hinders cellphone indicators, but on the similar time protects the neighborhood from the colonization of social media. The normalized isolation on this place felt unsettling as I used to be separated from the cellphone I used to be so accustomed to. However for the general public right here, leisure isn’t TikTok however using horses.
“Kids don’t develop up with telephones,” mentioned La-Zhang. “They play with nature, horses and such issues. You don’t see this in central China.”
La-Zhang, initially from Beijing, mentioned he has embraced this sacred land, discovering solace and shelter.
“I escaped to this place to depart my previous worries behind. I received’t return to Beijing; the identical goes for my son. I need my son to develop up taking part in together with his horse, not learning all day lengthy like youngsters in Beijing,” he mentioned.
It’s a lifelong honor for a Tibetan to win a horse race. If he wins, his fame will unfold and convey honor to his household and village. Therefore, each baby practices with their horse from a really younger age.
On this photograph, La-Zhang is bringing his boy to the horse race. Although the 2 engaged in prep-talk, the boy appeared to be born prepared.
Sure, each household in Tibet has a horse. Tibetans bond with horses, feeding and caring for them from an early age. Kids develop up with their horses. The horses are properly cared for and even have custom-made, stunning garments that hold them heat and trendy.
“You guys have cats and canine; we have now our horses,” La-Zhang mentioned. “Horses are good, you realize — smarter than you assume.”
Earlier than the race, a ritual takes place to ask for Buddha’s witness. Throughout the ceremony, Tibetans toss paper talismans within the air and produce smoke with a campfire. That is once they pray. Every individual has their very own needs. Some pray for well being, whereas some thank Buddha for a profitable 12 months, and pray for the upcoming one.
A sacred sense of unity reigns when the Tibetans pray. It’s a highly effective, silent second.
Within the Chair
By Serene Hameed, 17, Shaker Heights, Ohio
From a really younger age, sitting within the salon or barbershop chair turns into greater than only a routine. For Black folks, it’s a common cultural expertise that has formed identities and instilled in lots of a profound sense of self-love.
“Within the Chair” is a tribute to the sacred areas of Black hair salons and barbershops, the place the great thing about Blackness is widely known and the essence of neighborhood is felt. These areas have at all times been a house for me, a spot the place I might present up as my genuine self and be embraced. Whereas sitting within the chair, I’ve discovered numerous classes.
I obtained the chance to doc one such neighborhood that looks like a house — the Home of Stunning Locs Pure Hair Salon and Fade Away Barber Store in Bedford Heights, Ohio.
On this picture, shoppers and hairstylists at Stunning Locs watch and touch upon the Lifetime present “Carry It: The Dancing Dolls.”
After a joke was made, everybody laughed, and Tarsha Ivy, the salon proprietor, defined, “Child, we’re all household right here.”
Alice Asimenu, an African braider, expressed her love for doing hair, and for making connections with folks and listening to their tales. Listening to these tales opens a lot house for connection and development, she mentioned.
“There may be significance in self-care, and as a Black younger woman, this represents self-respect,” mentioned Heather Taylor, a hairdresser at one other native spot, Salon Lofts Beachwood in Beachwood, Ohio.
These pictures doc the sweetness, delight, and resilience rooted in Black hair tradition.
It’s not simply concerning the hairstyles; it’s concerning the tales, the enjoyment and the empowerment present in these areas, that are essential cultural hubs.
We have to defend and rejoice the distinctive heritage they signify.
The Candlelight Vigil With out Candles
By Harim Oh, 15, Anseong, South Korea
South Korean nightlife is extra alive than ever, however as an alternative of clubbing at Itaewon or consuming steaming sizzling tteokbokki within the winding alleys of Myeongdong, every Saturday night time for South Koreans is crammed with billowing flags and the decision for President Yoon Suk Yeol’s impeachment, sung alongside to the beat of Okay-pop songs which might be blasted from a number of stereos directly.
First held in 2008, candlelight vigils have grow to be the epitome of what democracy represents inside South Korea. As one of the crucial efficient methods of peaceable protesting, these vigils have grow to be the go-to answer for countering a tyrannical authorities.
On the vigil I just lately attended, there was a sea of thick black puffer jackets as everybody from faculty college students to grandparents fought in opposition to the chilly. Waving flags of defiance, they protested President Yoon’s regime and his try at martial legislation.
However this candlelight vigil was in contrast to some other: There have been virtually no candles.
As a substitute of the quiet, conventional, heat orange-red candlelight, the streets have been shiny with neon pink and blue. Beats of Okay-pop shook the streets and blended with 1000’s of voices chanting for impeachment. To the protesters, this isn’t simply advocating for change, it’s exhibiting how united they’re.
Nothing can cease a neighborhood that’s having fun with itself.
Fashionable issues name for contemporary options. Nearly all of the gang held out lights and cheering sticks, meant for live performance stadiums.
“We fandoms have made a short lived alliance,” one protester laughed. Individuals joined arms, singing alongside to traditional Okay-pop songs, the lyrics altered to name for impeachment.
Distributors lined the streets, promoting candles with LED lights. Candles bought out quicker than piping sizzling hotteok, as increasingly more arms reached out to participate.
Shivering in opposition to the freezing wind, crowds of various ages fought in opposition to the police. College students need to guarantee a greater life for themselves, mother and father want their youngsters a greater world, and grandparents concern that humanity will repeat the previous errors of Korea’s bloody historical past.
Posters of President Yoon lined the partitions of metropolis corridor. The an identical posters not solely listed the crimes of his tyranny, however his face was fastidiously ripped out in every one.
“It may appear petty,” one protester commented, “but it surely’s only a testomony to how what he did is unforgivable.”
South Korea is likely one of the nations on the planet the place army service is obligatory for younger males. By these months away from associates, household and residential, troopers study the real-life struggles of our ancestors, who fought so exhausting and so bravely for the nation we stay in at the moment. These classes are a continuing reminder that South Korea’s freedom and democracy have come at a price.
Individuals on the protest obtained misplaced within the music, with 1000’s collaborating in an impromptu karaoke session in the midst of the road, the -10°C climate was forgotten. Anybody and everybody was welcome to affix.
“Who knew coming to a protest may very well be so exhilarating!” one remarked.
“I really feel like Batman,” mentioned one other. “Work throughout the day, defend your nation at night time.”
Wrestling With Their Our bodies and Minds: Contained in the Fayetteville-Manlius Ladies Group
By Maria Elis Lorga Novack, 18, and Marcus Albuquerque, 18, Manlius, N.Y.
Communities take work and persistence, and generally adjusting to alter is the one technique to make them work in any respect.
The Ladies Wrestling Group at Fayetteville-Manlius Excessive Faculty, within the suburbs of Syracuse, N.Y., is a real inspiration. Younger girls right here have fought for years to have the identical alternatives as their male classmates.
Lacey Teaken and Ariana Suraci, two ladies initially on the boys’ workforce, led a three-year battle to create the Fayetteville-Manlius (F-M) workforce. Initially advised there weren’t sufficient ladies considering wrestling, the 2 found that one other native faculty, East Syracuse Minoa, was going through the identical drawback. The answer? Combining the groups.
Now ladies like Madison Gallagher, within the headlock above, and Ava Fowl, behind her, are a part of a workforce of robust, good and courageous younger girls who’re blazing a path for future generations.
The primary matter in ladies’ wrestling is the load lessons, and the way unfair they’re, particularly as you get to the heavier aspect.
There are 14 weight lessons for women and 13 for boys in New York state, and the lighter weight lessons for women are all 5 kilos aside — 100, 105, 110, 115, 120, 125, 130, 135, 140, and 145. However athletes who’re over 190 kilos need to wrestle within the 235 pound class, no matter their particular weight, so that they face the selection of doubtless wrestling somebody who’s 45 kilos heavier, or not wrestling in any respect.
Ladies generally battle mightily with physique picture, at all times attempting to achieve not possible requirements set by society. How can these ladies ever be capable to attain their full potential if their psychological well being is affected by attempting to realize on the factor they love essentially the most? The women wresting on this photograph, Laurel Varga, proper, and Norah Kelly, left, say it’s exhausting to remain grounded and keep away from unhealthy diets whereas they need to continuously fear about their weight.
When wrestling, workforce member Elizabeth Banashkevich reminds the others, it’s essential to take heed to your physique in addition to your head and perceive that you’ll have reached your restrict. Admitting defeat is difficult for anyone, however generally understanding and respecting your individual limits is even more durable.
It’s not possible to undergo the stress alone, and though wrestling is taken into account a person sport, the women can solely develop collectively as a workforce. Even in twin meets, when one lady loses, the entire workforce feels the loss.
Figuring out that the F-M Ladies Wrestling workforce is mentally ready to belief themselves and one another, and to take heed to their our bodies in addition to their minds, makes these ladies an inspiration of perseverance and dedication.
In This Dance Group, Youngsters Are No Longer ‘Left Behind’
By Ruihan Li, 17, Guangzhou, China
Deep in rural China, within the distant area of Yulin, Guangxi, peeling posters and pale graffiti inform the story of a tucked-away faculty, all however invisible to the surface world. “It’s information that adjustments our destiny, and diligence creates miracles,” say the now barely legible slogans on the wall, struggling to inform an optimistic story.
This modest establishment accommodates round 120 college students throughout six grades, every with roughly 20 pupils.
Many of those are so-called left-behind youngsters, with mother and father working removed from house for lengthy intervals. The mother and father entrust their youngsters’s upbringing to their grandparents, a actuality that has left generations formed by distance and household separation.
Solely the lucky few can have the prospect to review within the single highschool within the county, situated an hour away. This leaves most with restricted choices: Enter the work pressure straight, usually as early as 12 years of age, or help their grandparents with agricultural chores.
Amid the ocean of pupils right here, some ladies, from grades 4 and 5, throw themselves into a brand new dance class taught by worldwide college students from Guangzhou.
“I’ve by no means had dance lessons earlier than. Now I can’t watch for each. It looks like one thing out of a film,” one mentioned.
The women rush into their first-floor classroom, at all times arriving early to push apart the cumbersome oak desks and chairs and create house for his or her actions. The extra assured amongst them stand prepared on the entrance.
“I used to work in one other village, removed from right here, however I got here again as a result of I wished to maintain my baby,” Mrs. Xu, their teacher, mentioned, pointing to her two-year-old son.
“My coronary heart breaks for them. I can see the children turning into extra closed off the older they get, however each time they dance, a pleasure, a uncooked power, comes by.”
Regardless of the palpable enthusiasm within the room, some college students exhibit a notable timidity, hiding behind friends when known as on to point out off their solo abilities. On this manner, these ladies grow to be literal shields for his or her shyer classmates. A love of dance and novelty doesn’t make one a diva by default.
However the dance class has completed extra than simply give college students newfound confidence. It additionally has given rise to tight-knit bonds.
“Dance class gives one thing totally different from what we normally study at college,” mentioned Zhao Dong, 11. “Actually, these are my happiest reminiscences to date.”
College students communicate of the category as a sanctuary for them. Their boundless power and curiosity are a promise of a future the place no youngsters are omitted or left behind.
Exterior, amid autumn leaves that scatter like golden confetti, they observe what they’ve discovered, their goals for a second stretching greater than the treetops.
A Place for Tomorrow’s Leaders to Develop
By Max Chung, 15, Ballwin, Mo.
Because the founding of the Boy Scouts of America in 1911, round 130 million youths have participated in this system. Of those, solely 2.5 million have reached the B.S.A.’s highest rank, Eagle Scout.
B.S.A. Troop 631, primarily based at St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church in Ballwin, Mo., is likely one of the largest troops within the New Horizons district, a subdivision of the Larger St. Louis Space Council. Since 1966, Troop 631 has fostered virtually 300 nationally acknowledged Eagle Scouts.
The trail to Eagle is to not be underestimated. On common, it takes a scout between 4 and 6 years to finish.
Although the health club of St. Mark’s Presbyterian Church has been the assembly place of this troop since its creation, the trail to Eagle doesn’t happen in a single room or one constructing. It occurs all over the place. Troop 631 goes on outings every month; some are 20 minutes away, some are a whole lot or 1000’s of miles farther. On this picture, for instance, scouts are establishing their sleeping luggage in a cabin on the Beaumont Scout Reservation in Excessive Ridge Missouri.
With this fixed motion, the influence of the Boy Scouts resonates all through the St. Louis space and past.
Originally of every weekly assembly, held at 7 p.m. sharp, scouts like these pictured above line up for a flag ceremony. They rotate by patrols, that are teams who’re assigned to behave as a workforce, cooking, working and tenting collectively.
“Boy Scouts is a brotherhood. It’s sort of one thing whenever you meet folks from all the world over, regardless of the place you’re from, and also you all have that very same brotherhood bond that you simply’re in Boy Scouts,” mentioned Dex Dean, a senior patrol chief and Eagle Scout.
After the weekly assembly, scouts clear up the health club. All through, you received’t see a frown: A core worth of scouting is “cheerful service.”
“We do numerous service initiatives right here at St. Mark’s,” mentioned Joseph Zaegel, who has reached the extent of Life Scout, which comes simply earlier than Eagle. “We simply make the place feel and look higher,” he mentioned.
Affectionately known as “the cage,” this again nook of the St. Mark’s storage room homes all of the troop’s tools. The gear on this room is used for cooking, cleansing and sleeping year-round. Troop 631 is an all-weather troop, and nonetheless camps within the chilly, the warmth, the rain — even the occasional hurricane.
“Within the wilderness, freedom is sensible inside the troop, and it’s simply numerous enjoyable to calm down,” Joseph mentioned.
One of many core classes taught on this journey is management, and a part of management is instructing others. The Scout Legislation and Oath all comprise values that assist prepare even youthful scouts like Nate Bueg, pictured right here, to grow to be glorious lecturers and leaders. Older scouts, usually with years of expertise, cross down their information to newer scouts.
As Joseph defined it, “The Boy Scout neighborhood is a powerful, constructive neighborhood that strives to construct folks up and enhance management abilities in younger people.”
