(New idea - to help the reader get where I’m at: If you have spotify, listen to Fink's, 'Sort of Revolution' now, whilst you read. I'll list song only from this point onward)
BUT FIRST…
This week was a strange beast. I had geared myself up for a mammoth work week, with a new programme, which I was supposed to be deliver called ‘I’m Alright: You’re Alright’. However, the school I was working with, now wanted to push it the other side of the summer holidays. I’d been working like billy-oh to get it ready. As a result, I’ve found myself in a strange space this week – a little disjointed, listless.
IAYA is a very exciting programme for me; in some ways matches my core experiences – drama/performance/myth and story telling. I like the narrative of the programme, it flows well already. The three days move from ‘You’ to ‘Them’ to the final day where they get to the ‘Us’ experience.
It uses performance to help young adults not only discover themselves and find a way to communicate that internal dialogue (landscape the unknown), but also helps them make sense of the vastness of adulthood. Nothing, it seems can possibly prepare you for what being an adult truly means. The opportunities and the responsibilities!
The weight load?
I was so keen to grow up so fast. I was desperate to be a man; a man that people could respect – and want – particularly women! My dream came true, with a rather ugly divorce, in essence, my childhood was over at 16, I dropped out of school and I left home. Confused, immeasurably sad and ashamed, I walked out one day, never to really return; you can’t, something is irreplaceably broken, changed forever. I guess I gritted my teeth, and still have them clenched to some degree, half a life time later.
I just wanted to be a man, and was desperate to get out of the teen experience and school, which on the whole, I found difficult to contain/understand/voice. No one explained or showed me a pathway into adulthood, and as far as I can tell all rites-of-passage experiences have passed into history/myth.
Young people are so hungry to understand and frame what it is to be a successful adult (man/women) they just don’t know what it is, and as sure as hell media/purchase isn’t the answer.
I took the myth of The Bacchae (Apollonian (structure, order) vs. Dionysus (chaos, boundary issues)) and the TA frame work of ‘I’m OK, You’re OK’ to create a leadership and behavioural change programme.
GREEN FINGERS…crossed
The most important part of the Green Talent Fellowship summer programme is now been crossed; which was to bring 20 some of our brightest foundation graduates together at the RSA and for Lucy Parker (hd of the Talent Taskforce) to meet and evaluate.
I know the quality of the work we do and I know the depth of growth of those students, however, you never know how things can turn out. Without overstretching the mark, I think they were magnificent in their ability to find words to define/express themselves and reflect on their development to date. This programme, for some, will be utterly life changing.
Next week, we meet those chosen and their parents at the DCSF, for the briefing ahead of the trip down to the Eden Project. I hope I don’t curse myself here, but things seem to be going well so far. Famous last words?
BUT FIRST…
This week was a strange beast. I had geared myself up for a mammoth work week, with a new programme, which I was supposed to be deliver called ‘I’m Alright: You’re Alright’. However, the school I was working with, now wanted to push it the other side of the summer holidays. I’d been working like billy-oh to get it ready. As a result, I’ve found myself in a strange space this week – a little disjointed, listless.
IAYA is a very exciting programme for me; in some ways matches my core experiences – drama/performance/myth and story telling. I like the narrative of the programme, it flows well already. The three days move from ‘You’ to ‘Them’ to the final day where they get to the ‘Us’ experience.
It uses performance to help young adults not only discover themselves and find a way to communicate that internal dialogue (landscape the unknown), but also helps them make sense of the vastness of adulthood. Nothing, it seems can possibly prepare you for what being an adult truly means. The opportunities and the responsibilities!
The weight load?
I was so keen to grow up so fast. I was desperate to be a man; a man that people could respect – and want – particularly women! My dream came true, with a rather ugly divorce, in essence, my childhood was over at 16, I dropped out of school and I left home. Confused, immeasurably sad and ashamed, I walked out one day, never to really return; you can’t, something is irreplaceably broken, changed forever. I guess I gritted my teeth, and still have them clenched to some degree, half a life time later.
I just wanted to be a man, and was desperate to get out of the teen experience and school, which on the whole, I found difficult to contain/understand/voice. No one explained or showed me a pathway into adulthood, and as far as I can tell all rites-of-passage experiences have passed into history/myth.
Young people are so hungry to understand and frame what it is to be a successful adult (man/women) they just don’t know what it is, and as sure as hell media/purchase isn’t the answer.
I took the myth of The Bacchae (Apollonian (structure, order) vs. Dionysus (chaos, boundary issues)) and the TA frame work of ‘I’m OK, You’re OK’ to create a leadership and behavioural change programme.
GREEN FINGERS…crossed
The most important part of the Green Talent Fellowship summer programme is now been crossed; which was to bring 20 some of our brightest foundation graduates together at the RSA and for Lucy Parker (hd of the Talent Taskforce) to meet and evaluate.
I know the quality of the work we do and I know the depth of growth of those students, however, you never know how things can turn out. Without overstretching the mark, I think they were magnificent in their ability to find words to define/express themselves and reflect on their development to date. This programme, for some, will be utterly life changing.
Next week, we meet those chosen and their parents at the DCSF, for the briefing ahead of the trip down to the Eden Project. I hope I don’t curse myself here, but things seem to be going well so far. Famous last words?
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