[nfb-talk] Youth Empowerment

[Josh]

But also keep in mind that not all the youth listen to rap and tekno--music. 
As an example. When i was in high school I was lucky to have maybe one or 
two sighted friends. My real friends were two teachers my Spanish teacher 
and her friend who was in charge of the math department and now they are 
both married. But anyway, when I was in high school and was a teenager I for 
the most part did not have any interst at all in rap music. In fact, I spent 
most of my time on the computer, and my favorite radio station was npr which 
played classical jazz, and celtic music. None of the other kids in my school 
were into that. I also spent a large amount of my time teaching myself or 
trying my best to learn what I could about languages such as Norwegian, 
Finnish Icelandic and German. I also studdies Spanish in high school. I also 
tried dating in high school and failed because nobody else had my strange 
interests. Until when i was fifteen or so. I went to an olympics program for 
blind and other disabled people. While I was there I met LuAnn, I knew about 
her here and there growing up but when I was there that year I really got to 
know her. She was and is blind like myself and excellent in Spanish and 
German and liked nearly everything I liked. She like myself, hardly had 
friends in high school. So we talked and got to know each other. Then for a 
few years we didn't talk or see each other for maybe five or so years. And 
now, we're married and our first child is on the way. And hopefully our 
child will have similar interests as we do, and have had. I was in band and 
wrestling in high school, my parents hoping I'd make more friends. But it 
didn't work. I mean...there was nobody in my high school who wanted to 
discuss the fifteen case endings of the finnish language and their propper 
useage. Or, nobody wanted or cared to talk about the latest celtic show on 
npr radio. So yes for some people being popular may suit them, but for my 
wife and I we pride ourselves in being as different as we can be! My wife 
doesn't wear make-up and all that fashion stuff like other girls do. In 
fact, she even doesn't like dressing up at all. She only dresses up when she 
has to or when her mom makes her or on Sundays when again, she is forced to 
and has no choice. But she said when we have a place of our own she won't 
dress up except for maybe on holidays. Eventually we want to move either to 
Austria, a german-speaking country or Costa rica or some place like that. I 
also want to spend some time in Scandinavia maybe Finland or Norway or 
Iceland. And our kid/child will come with us. And then there was college. We 
both went to the same college but we avoided each other for some reason 
until 2 years into college. I hardly had any friends at college either. I 
usually took long walks around campus by myself at night or spent my time in 
my room on the computer reading some classic science fiction book written in 
anywhere from 1800 to 1950 or so. Those were my favorite types of books to 
read in high school and also in college when I was bored.

Josh

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Judy Jones" <nfbwatac at earthlink.net>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, October 20, 2006 8:36 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Youth Empowerment


> Hi,
>
> I feel so impassioned about this myself even though I'm not a "youth".
>
> The NFB clothing and logo are much better now at veering from strictly
> primary colors, but we need to be promoting along with those the bright,
> electric colors as well. Even though we don't see them, we live in a
> colorful world and need to relate.
>
> We need some good NFB rap written and presented, and we older ones need to
> get used to it.  The videos and tapes we put out need to have that techno
> music in the background instead of piano music--as pretty as it is.  We
> should be having Youth Slams twice a year, and not just dedicate them 
> toward
> the sciences, but to reach youth in general--say, career promotion, or 
> "All
> About Me" maybe as a theme.  The girls need a chance to get or give
> make-overs, discuss how to effectively wear make-up as a blind girl, pros
> and cons of certain hairstyles . . . I'm just talking off the top of my
> head, but these are things my girls are interested in. I'm admittedly weak
> on guy topics, but I think our people at national convention do a 
> wonderful
> job with pertinent topics.
>
> The Youth Slam should be promoted just like Meet The Blind month, and it
> should trickle down into local levels.
>
> As important as academics are, and I'm not slamming the current "slam,"
> blind youth need a chance to be teenagers and enjoy being teenagers with
> seminars on dating, party-safety such as Party Patrol organization 
> presents,
> fashion workshops, how important is it to be popular, and as one of our
> young listers so aptly demonstrated, how to deal with blindness and 
> relating
> to peers.
>
> In our area, every Friday night there is Club Adrien, and also Impact, 
> which
> are totally safe and alcohol- drug-free chaperoned places that attract 
> teens
> with activities and food.  The YMCA also has something like this, but 
> don't
> remember the name of that program.
>
> Boys and Girls clubs can give us good ideas too, and maybe so could the
> DARES program.
>
> If we start doing some of these things in a concentrated way, I believe
> youth will start to look and listen and come.
>
> Judy
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Tina Hansen" <thansen at quik.com>
> To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, October 20, 2006 4:44 PM
> Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Youth Empowerment
>
>
>> This is an excellent discussion, and it explains why I'm wanting to see
>> more
>> of our stuff made available as mp3 downloads: young people are so dialed
>> in
>> with their iPods, and if we can give them some meaningful content, they
>> might be able to gain a better understanding as to why we're here. The
>> Kernel Books are a perfect example of this, especially since they're
>> designed to be read as individual stories that state a common theme and
>> are
>> packaged up in these books.
>>
>> All this has had me thinking about the impact of the media on our 
>> culture.
>> Our culture is so used to things coming in 30-second sound bites, thus
>> causing one to ask for immediate results. I must admit that I struggle
>> with
>> this myself, since my digital conversion project is taking longer than I
>> want, partly because I don't have the funds to pay a studio. But I
>> digress.
>>
>> I see two schools of thought on how to package our information and ideas:
>> one relying on what has worked for us in the past, including our
>> literature
>> and speeches. These are valuable, and if some of these young people are
>> able
>> to read or listen to and think about the ideas, they can understand our
>> message. These should not be discarded just because they're too long in
>> the
>> eyes of young people used to sound bites. They need to have a chance to
>> sit
>> and reflect.
>>
>> The other school of thought argues that the only way to attract attention
>> to
>> your issues is through an event with a lot of flash, spectacle and
>> fanfare.
>> Because young people are used to MTV, X-box, video games and the like, 
>> you
>> absolutely have to ppunctuate your remarks with loud music and flashy
>> visuals just to keep them interested. Without the extra spectacle, they
>> won't stay interested.
>>
>> They're used to being entertained, and if you present your message in a
>> Music Video format, this view argues, they'll listen. Otherwise, they'll
>> get
>> bored. They won't sit and read a speech, but they will sit and watch a
>> 5-minute video. Thus, anything belonging to the past should be thrown out
>> the window.
>>
>> The danger, though, is that you have to make certain you don't compromise
>> your message just to draw in numbers. Thus, I believe we need to work 
>> with
>> both schools of thought and try to find a way to meet them in the middle.
>> I,
>> for one, can see both sides and want to draw both on the past and the
>> present. We need to use our literature, but we also need to find creative
>> ways to reach out to our young people in language they can understand.
>>
>> The science academies and the upcoming Youth Slam are steps in the right
>> direction, but I also believe we can find other creative ways to reach 
>> our
>> youth. It may involve a DVD where youth are the focal point, and we might
>> want to find ways to explain our philosophy in language youth can
>> understand. It may involve some of our members writing songs that can
>> communicate to youth, or it may involve ideas I just can't think of right
>> now.
>>
>> There are also those who argue that the only way to draw a crowd is if 
>> you
>> hire a big celebrity to be a part of your event, and I fear that our
>> culture
>> is heading down that path. While I hope we haven't gone past the point of
>> no
>> return, I sometimes fear for the worst.
>>
>> As I think about this, I'd encourage anyone interested to read an article
>> by
>> Dr. Jernigan on The Future of Education Innovation: Panacea or
>> Pandemonium.
>> I have this article as a Word Document, which I can send to anyone
>> interested. I also have it as an mp3 file, but if I sent it, it would 
>> take
>> forever. So, if anyone is interested, they can ask and I can send the 
>> Word
>> file to them. Otherwise, you can find it in our chronicle, Walking Alone
>> and
>> Marching Together. That is not on our new web site as of yet, but I hope
>> it
>> will be. Although this piece was written in 1969, I believe it's still
>> timely in the main, and I believe it should make anyone think. It
>> certainly
>> has made me think, and if anyone wants to read it, I think you'd be
>> stunned.
>>
>> Any thoughts? Thanks.
>>
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