The Phoenix pod has some decor, but otherwise looks just like this.
Reaching someone is an incredible feeling. My friend Jason Miller, one of our hosts in Eugene, asked me after our first day teaching, “Did you change any lives today?” and I told him I was pretty sure we did. After the second day, I could unequivocally answer yes. Admittedly, this isn’t the same work as finding a foster kid a home, or getting them off the street, but when your day to day life is entirely out of your control and someone offers you a chance to learn how to express yourself? That makes a difference. For some of the kids, it makes a massive one.
Jon McClintock and I were guests of the Phoenix Program, a youth program in Eugene that is based out of the John Serbu Youth Facility, and it’s kind of halfway between “detention”, which is straight up prison for juveniles, and parole. The kids can earn privileges and eventually get to go home on weekends and so forth.
I taught creative writing here last year and had an excellent response, but this year it was even stronger. I don’t know if it was the students or the fact that Jon and I were a team, I suspect it was a perfect storm of chemistry and acceptance and other things out of our control, but they were happy to have us, and when we were finished teaching on the second day, Nicole Miller, our other host and a counselor at the Phoenix Program, gave the kids a chance to give us “props” for what we’d done.
Some thought it was amazing that we came all the way from Seattle! Some called us talented, brilliant, and all sorts of other really flattering compliments. Mostly it was very clear that they had enjoyed having us around as much as we had enjoyed teaching them.
The first day I taught Creative Writing and the students who participated were very active and engaged, which is always exciting. I read the prologue from the book Shooting at Midnight by Greg Rucka, for my traditional opening critical thinking exercise, and I wound up leaving the book for the students to share, they responded to it so much. Then, instead of doing a hands-on exercise, I wound up walking the students through some basic narrative writing skills, and we spent the last half hour talking about developing the skills for writing rap rhymes.
I enjoyed giving them the option to talk about what they were interested in, and it really paid off. The first day is always a bit of a trial, the students are more open the second day, word has got around that you’re acceptable, perhaps kind or respectful, so the second day more kids are interested and the level of engagement is deeper. I hope to return before the end of the year and spend a whole week teaching writing skills and maybe even some basic theater stuff.
The second day, Friday, was Jon’s circus clinic, and the coolest thing was we left the kids with a sampler of basic circus skills, including tumbling, acrobalance, and juggling, leaving a pile of our signature Vita Arts juggling balls behind. As always seems to be the case, a couple of kids always either have some basic juggling skills or take to them instantly. Two guys were consistently juggling three balls by the end of the half-hour lesson, and several more were on their way. One particular guy not only got the hang of juggling, but had excellent form in tumbling as well, clearly a guy who was gifted by being very in touch with his body, with excellent reflexes, responses, etc. You’d like to think that discovering or reinforcing such a thing might have really positive repercussions for him in the long term.
I have more to write about, including my experience working with one particular girl and some of our plans for the future, but I’ll call it good for now and do another update soon. I’ll leave you with this: I’m always struck when we work with youth how much they respond to being treated like adults. I don’t try to dumb down my language, and the kids are brave enough to ask me what I mean if they don’t understand. In case you were wondering, though, if teenagers in Eugene are impressed with what you, say, when you do a nifty acro demonstration, you can expect them to say “That’s what’s up” (which sounds like “thas whassup”), or “that is legit!”