Shaping Youth BETA BLOG

May 28, 2010 It’s almost Memorial Day and as I write this post I realize I have a timelessly relevant post in my very own archives that should be resurrected and freshened anew, called Teach Your Children Well.

“But, but…I still have ‘more to say” my inner voice squeals in that digital deluge of ‘new is the only current’ altered state of our data intake these days.

When I have to Google my own archives in ‘where did I put that?’ mode, it’s clearly time to resurrect an ‘older can be wiser’ mentality and make use of labor hours and research ‘in the can’ that floats off the radar like a blip unless brought back onto the screen front and center.

I realize Shaping Youth needs to be truncated in order for anyone to READ any of the deep dives into links and content because even infovores like me have eyes glaze over in overwhelm with too much at once. But as Tracee Sioux of The Girl Revolution reminded me last year in our ‘summer of link love’ experiment, “Friends don’t let friends waste good content,” and I guess that also applies when the content is my own. (more…)

May 26, 2010 When I mention social media being part of kids’ identity, parents often cringe and squinch up their faces like I’ve force fed them BeanBoozled Jelly Bellies in pickle and ‘rotten egg’ flavor.

Some parents perceive social media to be one behemoth danger zone of Facebook/Formspring/Game Chat/Text-fest “words that wound”—injuring kids like drive-by hit-n-run color commentary.

Can’t blame ‘em, as the constant stream of disturbing new stories on kids’ digital abuses far outweigh the ‘long lost brothers reunited on Twitter’ conversations, kids as heroes mobilizing for change, mobile apps for social good, children for peace linking friendships across global borders to create better understanding, or youth service learning with rapid responses in Haiti shipping tents and donating their own time on their own dime to deliver lightening fast aid.

As one of the contributing authors to The Age of Conversation 3, my goal is to use the social media conversation to DO something…(besides chat, sell stuff and engage in a ‘colossal time sink’ as we adults carp about from time to time) So what are the best practices to  ‘get busy,’ learn the ropes of digital citizenship and apply them to our causes…Enter the social media sages of Age of Conversation 3… (more…)

May 20, 2010 Riddle me this…

What dynamo 6th grade boy from Edmond, Oklahoma performed LadyGaga’s Paparazzi managing to segue the local audience from ‘ho-hum, just another piano number’ talent show inattentiveness to jaw-dropping admiration in ‘omg, this boy has some SERIOUS pipes’ style? (video after the jump) AND…

How did digital media turn Greyson Chance into this week’s Susan Boyle vaulting from a YouTube video to land on the Ellen show May 15th with 18,650,416 hits and climbing, as I write this? Not to mention the wonder of his amazing composure and seasoned style, having just been pulled out of math class via text from his mom with news of his TV debut the day prior to board his very first flight to L.A.?

Greyson now has a Twitter account open (a mere 5 days old with close to 43,000 followers/fans already) and has already cut a record deal with LadyGaga’s label Interscope. Add to that, his skilled aplomb handling media moments is a tribute to the entire ‘M-generation’ of so-called ‘digital natives’ who are much more comfy and charismatic on the virtual stage than camera shy media dodgers like me…Truly inspiring. Wait! There’s more… (more…)

May 17, 2010 As irony would have it, on Thurs, May 13, in New York City, a small tribe of thought leaders convened on how to best address rampant sexualization of youth in media and marketing.

Each invitee of this diverse group was hand-selected for the purpose of “bringing their entire communities” into the conversation and sharing next steps, best practices, and public health data to turn up the static and turn down the media volume of toxic cues blasting kids.

Who was at the table for this intimate planning session? Academic rockstars like Jean Kilbourne author of So Sexy So Soon, filmmaker of just released Killing Us Softly4 and one of the earliest pioneers in this conversation long ago…Then there was Shaping Youth advisory board member Lyn Mikel Brown, Ed.D, co-author of Packaging Girlhood (and one of the  core crew initiating this important dialog, along with True Child, Women’s Media Center, Hardy Girls Healthy Women, etc.) and yes, yours truly, who was honored to be amidst such luminaries

All told, about two dozen heavy hitters dedicated to changing the channel of media influence to a healthier frequency convened, discussing how fast our culture is frying brain cells into full tilt desensitization (as evidenced by my own Miley Cyrus/L.A. Times yawn awhile back). Meanwhile…(simultaneously, ahem…) (more…)

May 11, 2010 I tried to warn her, “This isn’t some wham- bam fast-paced action thriller or rom-com dramedy, but Babies IS my movie choice for Mother’s Day, ok?”

In preparation, I showed her the Babies trailer (after the jump) and the short little ‘featurette’ so she’d know there wouldn’t be ‘much of a plot line’ but more of an editorial commentary as seen through the eyes of French director Thomas Balmes (GMA interview here).

As a writer/producer by trade, my daughter is used to me trotting out indie docs, Heartland award-winners (Truly Moving Pictures) and exposing her to cultural anthropology in the form of Sundance art house films and Media Education Foundation favorites (with Jean Kilbourne’s new Killing Us Softly4 film just out, she can practically recite the media literacy messages, even if she doesn’t actually heed them)

Whether it’s getting her take on coming of age films like Going on 13, Darryl Roberts’ America the Beautiful Dare, American Teen or allied ventures with sister orgs like Tapestries of Hope and the Girls Rock movie, she’s used to grabbing some popcorn and weighing in on her verdict for what worked, what didn’t and what what she’d adapt to get the point across to youth. This time, with Babies it was different…As the final screen went dark and the credits began to roll, it was ME who blurted: (more…)

May 9, 2010 Answer? Plenty. Particularly if his mom happens to be Elin Stebbins Waldal, author of this summer’s soon to be released “Tornado Warning” a memoir about Teen Dating Violence and its effect on a woman’s life.

Kodiak Waldal is Elin’s 13-year old son, and in a speech given to his middle school English class, and posted on Elin’s blog, I found myself so moved and awe-struck by the maturity of this young gent that I asked Elin if Kodiak would allow me to share his poignant words as both a Mother’s Day tribute and as a pre-emptive outreach to young boys coming of age in an all too often brash pop culture of misogynistic cues.

Mind you, any 8th grader that’s already this well-versed in the ‘too cool for school’ bravado and numbing antipathy of ‘packaging boyhood’ as we know it today is already a hero in my book of media literacy for men…but 13? Wow. I know men at 31 (and double that) who have yet to come close to this level of enlightenment.

So in the hope that Kodiak’s words will reach and teach pathways to non-violence from boys to men, while shining the spotlight on all too frequent media, marketing, and music messages that debase, devalue and objectify, I give you this well-researched English essay earning an A+ for humanity ascending. Take it a way, Kodiak… (more…)

May 7, 2010 As the last vestiges of prom wind down along with Girls Rights Week, I wanted to land one last post in the queue exploring media and marketing’s impact on kids’ expectations, reality show distortions, and ‘over the top’ depictions of celebratory fetes.

From ‘proma-a drama,’ lavish limos and  fantasy night fairytales (e.g. akin to the amped up MTV My Super Sweet 16 bday social norming) to the “blind-date- meets-rent-a-kid” digital mashup of internet social networking offerings like “PromDateDepo” and Facebook prom groups to dodge duplications of dancing divas (yep, you can post your dress in ‘I had it first’ mode) I want to take a quick peek at what’s changed in ‘then & now’ snapshots of growing up today, from a teen’s perspective.

Senior in high school, Lilly wrote this piece (after the jump) way back during homecoming season, with a peek at how ‘prom culture’ can devalue girls (her premise played out similarly in my home albeit with a happy ending;  a pack of girls went together, but not before much hemming and hawing of ‘not wanting to go without a date’)…

I was actually ‘saving it’ to offer perspective for winter formal season (which was axed due to extracurricular high school budget cuts) and then thought I’d run it this spring for prom, since so many stories had surfaced about moving beyond ‘mean girl’ stereotypes and how to conquer  ‘proma.’ Now, as  As we wrap up “girls rights week” AND prom season, it seems Lilly’s post is a solid reminder “the more things change, the more they remain the same.” (more…)