* x * . . . A t h e n ii x . . . * x *: 12/08/2007

x...Welcome to Athenix...x

It's been 7 years since I first started to attempt to make my dreams of being a journalist come true. I was 9 years old and was still attending Primary School at the time. It was this year that I started my first magazine, "Black Cat", named after my favourite character in Spiderman - which I was hooked on at that age.

I don't remember where my exactly my inspiration had come from but I know that my inspiration changed throughout the years. One year, it was Chloe Sullivan from "Smallville", (who risked her life to get a story) the next it was Andy from "How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days", being forced to write unimaginative articles, finding the man that she loves and then earning the right to write whatever pleased her - yes, alright, this inspiration was rather unusual, but it kept me going and kept the want to become a journalist alive.

Now that I am 16, I have realised that celebrities have not affected the dreams of becoming a journalist. My sisters are now what inspire me. My eldest sister, Sarawjeet, is as successful in her family life as well as successful in her career. My second sister, Arminder, has worked hard all these years and has an amazing talent for words and writing. My third sister, Ranjit, has a gift for art and design, as has her husband, and has recently published a book of her photographs.

I hope to one day show that I have inherited even a fraction of the talent that my sisters have shown. But until then, I am happy improving my writing, and starting from scratch.

The topic of “underage sex” has been popping up a lot recently after two 12-year-old girls announced that they were pregnant. The 14-year-old boy responsible for these pregnancies claimed to have slept with ten other women before.

In England, Scotland and Wales, you need to be 16 or over to legally have sex. In Northern Island, you need to be 1 years or over. According to the law, this illegal sex includes: penetrative sex, oral sex or masturbating together. If a girl is between the ages of 13-15, the boy with whom she had sex with can go to prison for two years. If the girl is under 13, the boy can be sentenced with life imprisonment. If a 16 year old, or older, has sex with a boy under the age of 16, the girl can be prosecuted for indecent assault.

According to the law, the legal sex age is 16 with extra rules applying to those under the age of 13. When a girl is under 13, she is considered not mature enough to have sex. Anyone having sex with an underage girl is therefore committing statutory rape whether consent is given by the girl or not. If found guilty of statutory rape, the maximum sentence for the offender is life imprisonment, but the average is between five to seven years.

If parents are aware of their children having underage sex, they could be at risk of prosecution for aiding and abetting the unlawful intercourse. Naturally, this is rather difficult to do as children will try and find ways of “doing it” without their parent’s knowledge.

The number of underage pregnancies and underage abortions have risen more than a 5th in the last 10 years. Don’t be one of those children!!!

By Gurpreet Kaur Sihat

x...Wall of Photography...x

My dad used to own his own Photography Studio called "Dev Studios" in Southall. I've been interested in Photography as a hobby for some time but only really experienced it over the past few months. I had forgotten to return the school camera before the Easter Holidays and in those two weeks.

I have taken over 2 thousand photographs of a million and one different things - my cat, Tigerlily, who modelled for me for 20 minutes before getting bored; a Robin who was exploring the snow, who also got bored of me after an hour; the beautiful Terminal 5 at Heathrow Airport; and naturally, my gorgeous friends and family who all modelled for me in a variety of ways.

Hopefully, one day, I will find out that one of the things that I have inherited from my dad was his talent not only the love for photography.