Which tablet computer should YOU be buying: They are this year's must have ... and there's a style to suit everyone.

    Kathy Fletcher and David Simpson have a son named Santi. He had a friend who sometimes went to school hungry. So Santi invited him to occasionally eat and sleep at his house.

    That friend had a friend and that friend had a friend, and now when you go to dinner at Kathy and David's house on Thursday night there might be 15 to 20 teenagers gathering around the table, and later there will be groups of them crashing in the basement or in the few small bedrooms upstairs. The kids who show up at Kathy and David's have suffered the pains of modern poverty: homelessness, hunger, abuse.

    And yet by some miracle, hostile soil has produced beautiful flowers. Kids come from around the city. Spicy chicken and black rice are served. Cellphones are banned. The kids who call Kathy and David “Momma” and “Dad,” are polite and clear the dishes. Birthdays and graduations are celebrated. Songs are performed. Each meal we go around the table and everybody has to say something nobody else knows about them. Each meal the kids show their promise to care for one another.

    The adults in this community give the kids the chance to present their gifts. “At my first dinner, Edd read a poem that I first thought was from Langston Hughes, but it turned out to be his own. Kesari has a voice that somehow appeared from New Orleans jazz from the 1920s. Madeline and Thalya practice friendship as if it were the highest art form.”

    “They give us a gift — complete intolerance of social distance. When I first met Edd, I held out my hand to shake his. He looked at it and said, 'We hug here,' and we've been hugging since.”

    Bill Milliken, a veteran youth activist, is often asked which programs turn around kids' lives. “I still haven't seen one program change one kid's life,” he says. “What changes people is relationships. Somebody is willing to walk through the shadow of the valley of adolescence with them.” Souls are not saved in packs. Love is the necessary force.

    Petrol and diesel cars may still dominate our roads, but their days are numbered. A recent university study found that current electric cars could be used for 87 per cent of daily car journeys in the US. That figure could rise to 98 per cent by 2020.

One hurdle to the widespread adoption of electric cars has been ‘range anxiety'— drivers' concerns about running out of juice on a journey. While petrol stations are conveniently located across national road systems, the necessary network of electric charging stations is still being developed. That said, charging points are becoming increasingly common throughout the USA.

    Attitudes towards electric vehicles have changed quite considerably over the last few years. Not that long ago, electric cars were met with distrust, and their large price tags drove customers away. Thanks to improvements in battery capacity, recharging times, performance and price, the current generation of electric cars are starting to persuade critics. Plug-in cars will soon give internal combustion engine models a run for their money.

    As well as advancements on the road, electric vehicles are taking to the seas and skies. Electric boats are among the oldest methods of electric travel, having enjoyed several decades of popularity from the late 19th to the early 20th century before petrol-powered outboard motors took over. Now, the global drive for renewable energy sources is bringing electric boats back. Steps towards electric air travel are also being made, with Airbus and NASA among the organizations developing and testing battery powered planes. The experiments could soon make commercial electric flight a reality.

    Electric vehicles do not produce any emissions. Were the US to act on the study's findings and replace 87 per cent of its cars with electric vehicles, it would reduce the national demand for petrol by 61 per cent. However, because of the production processes and the generation of electricity required to charge these vehicles, they cannot claim to be completely emission-free. That said, as many countries continue to increase their use of renewable energy sources, electric vehicles will become even cleaner.

If you're a teen artist, this is the perfect challenge for you. We've seen just how talented you can be; but this month, we're putting your skills to the test. This contest requires your art to be made out of a wide variety of colors. You should use different colors even for your outlines and shading. Think you're up for the challenge? 

Deadline:June 1

Rules:

You must be a teen (aged 13-19) to enter. 

No inappropriate content. 

Submissions must relate to the topic (only colors, no black-and-white drawings). 

Guidelines and Details:

Your entry must be a character created by yourself. 

There is no limit to the number of characters you can submit. 

How to Submit:

Submit entries through our website. All entries submitted to Teen Ink are automatically considered for the contest. There is no cost to submit or be published. See our submission guidelines for more information. 

Submit your work to the appropriate art category on Teen Ink. Include "only colors" as one of your submission's tags. You can do this by using the "additional tags" field in your submission form. 

Prizes:

Winners and honorable mentions will have their works published in Teen Ink magazine. 

The overall winner will receive a $25 gift card.