Focus Media

By Elizabeth Haggarty

When Adonis Huggins asks a question people look at him waiting for the answer. The director of Focus Media at Regent Park exudes energy, so much so that, by the evening as his drowsy eyes stare at the yellow note pad and he tries to remember what he was going to write, you feel he has spilt too much and is running on reserves.

In the stone basement of a typical three-storey Regent Park block Huggins is addressing the Catch Da Flava editorial board, as they decide the theme of their January/February issue. With one hand propping up a paper flip chart on the chair next to him while the other desperately squiggles to see if the green marker will write where the orange Crayola has failed, Huggins’ shoulder length dread locked hair dangles infront of his face.

He wants the group of youth sitting in a circle around him to decide the theme for the magazine. The magazine is for them, it is their voice, but before they proceed he needs to hear what that voice is. “What are your ideas guys?” he asks, waving the marker towards the board with enthusiasm. Three seconds of silence follow. Luipa puts on some lip-gloss while looking at the floor. Liz, legs planted solidly apart on the ground, hasn’t moved since she arrived. Lenny concerned with fashion moves to playing with the tip of his cap. As eight pairs of set stares and motionless lips face him Adonis quickly puts the offending flip chart on the ground and pushes up the sleeves of his light blue sweater.

A three year old who started the night rushing onto everyone’s lap to convince them that her bratz doll in a mini skirt with roller skates and blonde hair she proceeded to rip out was an exact replica of me, was now emitting loud snores from the sofa where she lay, her head on her mum’s lap. Huggins turned towards the noise, a face of partial distraction and confusion. All the attention he held focused on the girl’s mother.

Seconds plod by, his head unmoving. ‘The Olympics,’ says the girl’s mum quietly and then a little louder as the silence continues, ‘We could do an issue on the Olympics.’ From there the ideas of the circle begin to flow, ‘affordable housing’ said one person ‘success stories of Regent Park said another. ‘Yeah, I’ve never heard about any success stories from here,’ another interjects. ‘The good news issue!’ someone adds. The flip chart is now in Huggins lap and he scribbles ideas onto the page, arrows and brackets linking random thoughts. His body looks slightly more stooped, relaxed like a silent sigh has escaped from it. This group does have a voice and with a little bit of pushing he will make sure they use it.