[nfb-talk] Youth Empowerment

[Kenneth Chrane]

Hi Josh, I listen to http://www.hober.com, because they play folk music.
My Name is Kenneth Chrane, and I live in Baltimore, Maryland.
My email address is:
kenneth.chrane at verizon.net.
I am a member of The Baltimore Greater Chapter of The National Federation of 
the Blind.
I live with Carol Siegel.
Where do you live?
I am very slow using a slate and stylus, but I am much faster using a 
Braille Writer.
I am slow at reading Grade 2 Braille.
It is much faster using a talking Book Machine and a Cassette Recorder.
I graduated from the Colorado School For The Deaf and Blind, June 1, 1969.
The school is in Colorado Springs, Colorado.

Ken Chrane
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Josh" <jkenn337 at gmail.com>
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, October 20, 2006 10:32 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Youth Empowerment


> 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.
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> nfb-talk mailing list
>>> nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
>>> http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-talk
>>>
>>
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