Last weekend, a formerly-unknown jazz musician became a worldwide Twitter trend: Esperanza Spalding.

… I know.

I had never heard of her either prior to the Grammys. It was only after I’d caught up with all my celebrity gossip (university life can delay certain priorities) that I realized Justin Bieber, for once, actually got overthrown in the Twitterverse post-red carpet. Of course, there are quite a few ‘Beliebers’ running around saying some nasty things about Esperanza. Which makes me think: do underdogs ever truly win?

Remember the days of “Leo-mania,” when all the girls (myself excluded) lined up at the cinemas to watch Titanic for the fifth time, just to see their idol Leonardo “King of the World” DiCaprio romance Kate Winslet on the silver screen? Remember how females of all ages wanted their very own Lloyd Dobbler after a young John Cusack stole hearts with his infamous boombox scene in Say Anything?

Remember when Alec Baldwin was hailed as a sex symbol rather than the world’s worst father? (Never mind. Let’s not go there.)

Life as You(th) Know It is a blog about various aspects of life from a youth’s point of view, by C.Y. “Yan” Chow. It is a blog about dealing with everything youth today have to deal with—from college and study woes, to relationship issues, family crises, friendship drama and everything in-between. I believe youth often have the greatest need for mental health and psychology information and resources, but also face the greatest challenge in actually accessing such resources (for numerous reasons). Hopefully blogs such as this one help de-mystify the psychology and mental health of youth.

Despite campaigns by both parents to become either an architect or lawyer, Yan is a recent BSc. (Hons.) Psychology graduate from the University of Warwick in England. She aspires to write for the silver screen someday and, besides spending her free time since the age of ten penning imaginary box-office hits, is your average twenty-something who has a longstanding passion for music, holds a black belt in Taekwondo, and enjoys indulging in pop culture such as Twitter and the best television comedy ever, 30 Rock.

Learn more about the blog and Yan here…