Wednesday, May 28, 2003
Last night I attended a Q&A session with Ian MacKaye at the Vera Project in Seattle. Ian MacKaye is the vocalist and guitarist for the band Fugazi (trust me, this is coming around to books soon). The Vera Project is a non-profit organization working to provide all-ages music events for teens in Seattle. Having been a teen in the Denver all-ages scene, and now being a twenty-something in Seattle watching the same frustration in today's teens, I'm very interested in how communities can put together places for teens to get together in a safe, creative atmosphere that will encourage their energy rather than stifle it.
We see many teens at the bookstore where I work. On Saturday, one of our restaurant owners called the police because four teens were harrassing him. I hate calling cops on teens. If you're having a problem with a teenager, but you're not going to have him or her arrested, then don't bring the cops into it. It makes the situation something completely different than what it was, and you're turning authority over to the police. Once they have it, the situation is out of your control.
Instead, how can we connect with these teens? Our culture likes to dismiss teens and pretend they're not around. We assume they're in school or they're at home with their parents. But they're not, they're at our businesses, they're driving on the streets with us, they're out and about after three o'clock and all the time in the summer. And they're growing up to be us. Many of them are working like us at jobs, usually the menial jobs or other suburban unskilled jobs. And they deserve similar entertainment outlets. So let's not pretend they're invisible, and start working to incorporate them into our communities. Places like the Vera Project and the Old Fire House in Redmond, WA provide a venue for bands to perform for teens, and for teens to perform themselves for each other. People like Kate Becker, who has been an all-ages advocate for the last eleven years, are the answer we need.
Going to the Q&A last night was a vote in support of events like this, and places like The Vera Project, for all communities. Give the teens a space to work in, outside of school, that can be their own. Give them a darkroom and teach them photography, give them a silk-screening press and let them make their own clothing for themselves, give them a computer and teach them desktop publishing and web design.
What could we do at a bookstore? How about a summer internship contest? I could have an essay contest every spring, when all the teens start coming in asking about summer jobs. We'll take one student each summer, only one. But at the end of the summer, the student presents what they've learned about the book industry at a store event aimed at other high school students. Maybe a teen writing group? Find a local author or teacher willing to moderate, and let the teens get together at the bookstore once a month? Bring in author events that would appeal to a teen audience and contact local high school teachers to advertise it?
ah, thinking out loud. Thanks to Ian MacKaye for talking last night. I hope he inspired a lot of people to do what they love to do.
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We see many teens at the bookstore where I work. On Saturday, one of our restaurant owners called the police because four teens were harrassing him. I hate calling cops on teens. If you're having a problem with a teenager, but you're not going to have him or her arrested, then don't bring the cops into it. It makes the situation something completely different than what it was, and you're turning authority over to the police. Once they have it, the situation is out of your control.
Instead, how can we connect with these teens? Our culture likes to dismiss teens and pretend they're not around. We assume they're in school or they're at home with their parents. But they're not, they're at our businesses, they're driving on the streets with us, they're out and about after three o'clock and all the time in the summer. And they're growing up to be us. Many of them are working like us at jobs, usually the menial jobs or other suburban unskilled jobs. And they deserve similar entertainment outlets. So let's not pretend they're invisible, and start working to incorporate them into our communities. Places like the Vera Project and the Old Fire House in Redmond, WA provide a venue for bands to perform for teens, and for teens to perform themselves for each other. People like Kate Becker, who has been an all-ages advocate for the last eleven years, are the answer we need.
Going to the Q&A last night was a vote in support of events like this, and places like The Vera Project, for all communities. Give the teens a space to work in, outside of school, that can be their own. Give them a darkroom and teach them photography, give them a silk-screening press and let them make their own clothing for themselves, give them a computer and teach them desktop publishing and web design.
What could we do at a bookstore? How about a summer internship contest? I could have an essay contest every spring, when all the teens start coming in asking about summer jobs. We'll take one student each summer, only one. But at the end of the summer, the student presents what they've learned about the book industry at a store event aimed at other high school students. Maybe a teen writing group? Find a local author or teacher willing to moderate, and let the teens get together at the bookstore once a month? Bring in author events that would appeal to a teen audience and contact local high school teachers to advertise it?
ah, thinking out loud. Thanks to Ian MacKaye for talking last night. I hope he inspired a lot of people to do what they love to do.
