Monsters, Gods, and Youth Empowerment

I've loved teen fiction for a long time (also labeled as fiction for Young Adult or Young People, depending on the library, bookstore, or publisher in question).  I've been reading books written for teens before I was one, and will most likely continue reading them long after I've left my teenage years behind...

And a couple of days ago, I realized something interesting: in the specific sub-genre of teenage fantasy, the main characters are usually resourceful, very independently capable, yet also able to function well as a part of a group, brave, and just generally a person to respect.

This finally clicked with me after reading a wonderful book this past week, entitled Runemarks, by Joanne Harris.

Our heroine, Maddy, makes no effort to obey the arbitrary rules of her elders, or to follow the norms of the very controlling culture she's born into.  When at age 7, she finds someone she considers to be an appropriate mentor, she demands to be taught how to use her magic, and years later, at age 14, she goes behind the back of that same mentor to go on a dangerous journey in an attempt to save his life.

This book told a great story, but more than that, it was a perfect example of the respect for young people often showed in young adult fantasy fiction.  Not by any means always, but certainly often.  In how many young adult fantasy books do you find the (young) main characters being constantly shadowed and guided by their parents, teachers, or other guardians?  How an Adult Used a Teen As Their Puppet to Save The World wouldn't make a very engaging plot now, would it?

So this leads me to something else: if so many people can happily write about teens as such responsible, strong, and interesting people, and if so many adults can cheerfully buy these books for their teens, and if so many teachers can reccomend them, they must, on some level, realize that real life teens can be just as responsible, and strong, and interesting people as those in books.

Because even when set in the most fantastically unbelievable worlds, all good fiction has a feeling of authenticity to it.  Good fiction has to feel *real*.  If the idea of teens doing such amazing things seemed entirely unathentic, wouldn't people comment on it more?  Wouldn't the sheer impossibility of it turn people off?

I feel like the knowledge, the knowing, is out there, and adults just need to get past that block in their heads that causes them to think that, although *some* teens out there might be capable people,  the real life teens in *their* life certainly aren't!  At least there's lots of great teen fantasy novels out there getting the message out...

Peace,
Idzie

Guest Post, Anyone?

I love writing on this blog, but sometimes, I just don't have much to say.  And there are so, so many wonderful people out there with terrific stories, opinions, and ideas to share.  So why not have my very first guest post?  I find that idea pretty exciting!

So are you interested?  Here are a few things you should know:

• What to write about?  Something that you think will be relevant and interesting to the readers of this blog, and very importantly, something that's relevant and interesting to YOU!
• Anyone, regardless of age, political opinions, educational choices, etc. is free to submit something, I just ask that you keep the subjects things that will fit with this blog (unschooling, sustainable living, spirituality, lots of different things, just as long as it's not something that would seem out-of-place on this blog!  Email me with questions: open.eyed.slave@gmail.com)
• This is open to you whether or not you have your own blog.
• If I get more than one entry, I'll choose the one I think would work best for this blog.  I also reserve the right to turn down any posts that I just don't think would work well.  I may do basic editing on the chosen post, but if I change anything more major than fixing spelling mistakes or adding a comma or two, I'll send it to you first for approval before posting.
• It must be a post that has not previously been published anywhere online.
• Send all inquiries and posts to open.eyed.slave@gmail.com!

EDIT: Keep in mind that if there are multiple people interested in writing guest posts, any post/idea for a post that doesn't end up as the guest post, can be included in the next issue of the DIY Life Zine instead (I'm looking for lots of stuff for that. :-))!!  Or, it can be saved as a future guest post, if you'd prefer...

Wow, that seems like a lot of guidelines for a simple guest post, but I'm just trying to answer as many questions as I can before they come up!

This most likely won't be a regular thing, because I feel that if it was, it would be cutting into the submissions I get for the DIY Life zine, and I don't want to do that.  But I definitely like the idea of having the occasional guest post, as long as it works out this time...

So, what do you have to say? :-)

Peace,
Idzie

Unschooling and Skipping "Higher Ed"

Beatrice from Radio Free School is doing a series on unschoolers who decide to pass on "higher education", and asked me to answer a few questions.  It reads in part:

"Going against the middle class/mainstream entrenched belief that to have a successful life you have to get higher ed can you define your idea of what success means?"

To me it's quite simple: success to me means nothing more or less than being happy. I find it pretty hard to comprehend how EVERYONE can not see this! Nothing really matters if you're not happy, or working toward finding a place in your life that brings you happiness.

The entire interview can be found here!  Beatrice is looking for other stories of grown unschoolers who are choosing/chose not to go to college or university, so if you want to share your story, drop her a line at radiofreeschool@gmail.com.

Peace,
Idzie

Community

I talk a lot about finding community.  I think community is so very important, both to each individual, and to the overall well being of the world (keeping people separated, if only in their minds, is a good way of making sure they never get together to change things, in my opinion.).

But I think when I say I need community, what I picture is "community" suddenly appearing, fully formed, out of nowhere.

And now that I've realized this is the image in my mind, I also realize that's a bit unrealistic (just a bit.).  I'm bemoaning the fact that something pretty much impossible isn't happening, and letting that negatively affect my life, and my happiness.  And now that I can see that, I find that I'm already finding community.

Every single time I talk to the nice woman selling vegetables at the farmers market, or arrange to meet a new person (or randomly meet a new person), or attend a talk at the local health food coop, I'm building community.  Community isn't something you find ready made, straight off the rack.  It's something that you find, bit by bit, in smiles and tentative first conversations and in being brave enough to just GET OUT!  Out of the house, out in new places, out of your comfort zone (it doesn't have to be far.  Just sticking my toe out of my comfort zone feels good.  Edging past the invisible lines I've drawn.  Not enough to terrify me, but enough to feel pride in overcoming the small rush of fear.).

I've been feeling so optimistic lately, taking such joy in the Spring.  I feel like I'm moving in the right direction, if slowly, and that things will work out.  They'll be okay.  I hope those feelings are right!

Peace,
Idzie

P.S. There's a new poll on the sidebar, open for a bit over a week only, so vote now!

The Hidden Curriculum

I've read plenty of anti-school stuff, plenty of essays by John Taylor Gatto, and I've always believed what he said to be true.  But it's an entirely different thing to see (read) it for myself! 

We pick up a LOT of books from a variety of places.  Often free or very cheap.  So we have a lot of different books, on a huge amount of subjects, scattered around our house.  One that I picked up recently, just out of curiousity, is called the Sociology of Education: An Introductory View From Canada.  It's a university text.  Something future teachers might read in one of their classes.  And this is what it says under the section The Hidden Curriculum, in the chapter entitled School as an Informal System of Socialization:

"The fundamental patterns in any society are held together by tacit ideological assumptions.  In schools, some rules are not overt, but they serve to organize and legitimate the activities of teachers and students.  Much of what the school teaches and the students learn does not appear in the formal curriculum.  Successful school performance requires that the student learn what are considered important and useful skills and knowledge.  But students must also have the skills to uncover the hidden rules and expectations that affect their dispositions, identities, and personalities.  For example, schools emphasize conformity, deferred gratification, achievement, competitiveness, and obedience to authority.  Students must understand the social and other dimensions of this hidden curriculum.  The hidden curriculum refers to the tacit teaching of norms, values, and dispositions that occurs through students social experiences in routine school activities."

Isn't that interesting?  I certainly think so.  Often, when I make a comment about schools teaching conformity, or obedience to authority, I'm told it's not *really* like that.  That I've gotten it wrong.  But really, if even teachers in training are taught that this is so, I think it's probably pretty damn accurate!

Peace,
Idzie

Musings on Poetry

I forget how much I love writing poetry when I don't do it for too long.  Forget how satisfying, frustrating, joy-bringing, and difficult it is to simply get a few lines out of my head and on to a sheet of paper, or a computer screen.  I find poetry far more difficult than prose, and I find I'm far more insecure with what I come up with.  Probably because I consider myself much better at prose than poetry!  But either way, I love writing poetry.  It satisfies something in me, that no other art form does.  So, I wanted to share a few poems I've written in the last few months...  

As Spring is now here, I think this poem, written on February 1st, is seasonally appropriate..

Do you remember when we used to catch tadpoles?
Their bodies slimy smooth and soft
Tails strong.
Remember when we'd let them go,
After a little while?
They'd dart away quickly
Into the murky shadows
And we'd go home
Spattered in mud
Smelling of pond scum and fresh air and
Happiness
Do you remember, now?

On  March 11th, angry and frustrated with the state of the world as I often am, I wrote this poem, entitled Broken Pavement. 

To find the secret way

Beside the voices-

Whispering of heretics

Traitors.

Mother Culture holds us close.

We must

Walk the winding paths

Away from the highways,

Sidewalks,

Sticky-hot asphalt.

Where:

Blueberries grow

And you can eat the cattails

Waving in the passing breezes.

Avoid the-

Institutions,

Corporate

Long grey hallways.

I’ll find the old buildings

Reclaimed by-

Love

Life

Life

And camp,

By a stream that fish still follow.

While I watch beauty escape in-

Ruins.

Finally,

Truly free

The stars will find me.

And finally, I've been having trouble writing any poetry whatsoever lately, so though I don't even like the finished product much at all, I was very proud of myself for managing to get over that block and write this poem yesterday!

why?  I ask

watching from behind the blinds

as someone rides by

blocking out the world with two small earbuds.

 

I know the certainty of holding back

like the boy on the bicycle

staying hidden

content in containment of Self

risk gets forgotten.

pushed carefully to the back of the closet

where I don't have to look at it

and can almost

almost-

forget it's existence.

 

dancing in confinement

starts to feel like freedom

after a while.

 

but risk is always there

even when I close my eyes tightly

thinking of warm places

and sweet darkness.

I feel the pull

longing

for something spicy

dangerous.

sparkling eyes and bitten lips

strange streets and breathless laughter.

distant

dreamlike.

reality seems so mundane, sometimes.

Life something that happens

on the other side of the glass:

not for me.

But…

  

yesterday,

I opened the door

just for a moment:

the sunshine smelled like adventure.

~~~~

Thank you for reading! :-)

Peace,

Idzie

Minor Blog Updates

If you've looked recently, you'll notice that there's a new page, Speaking At... This is because I, and/or my family, have been asked to speak at several different places!  Check out the page for more information...

Also, as of today I've posted my comment policy on the right sidebar, which reads:

I love love love comments, love reading what you have to say, your experiences, opinions, stories. However, I also hate debating, and much prefer to share instead of argue, so I'd appreciate it if you refrained from trying to start debates (I don't consider sharing opposing views to be "trying to start debates". I just ask that people please respect my desire to not get involved in arguments!  I love respectful discussions.  I'm not so fond of arguing!). Please keep all comments respectful! Remember that there's a real person behind those words on the screen, be they mine or another commenter, a person that can be hurt by unkind words. I do not delete comments expressing differing or opposing views, but I do delete comments that are overtly sexist, racist, homophobic, or otherwise hateful in nature. Thanks for your understanding, and I'm really looking forward to hearing what you have to say!!

I want to add that this has NOTHING to do with comments I've received recently, so if you're worrying if I posted that because of something you said, don't worry, I didn't. :-) It's just something I've been meaning to add for a while, as I get an ever increasing amount of traffic on my blog, since I figure it's something that's going to prove useful...

If anyone has any other ideas for blog improvements, I'd love to hear them!  Just comment here, or drop me a line at open.eyed.slave@gmail.com.

Peace,
Idzie

Vegetarianism

When I was six years old, at a summer fair with my mother, I came across a table on animal rights, with photos (maybe a video playing too?) of how animals are treated and killed in slaughterhouses.  I don't remember this myself, or at least I don't think I do.  It feels like one of these phantom memories, lodged in your head from hearing a story so many times, you can *almost* remember it yourself...  And apparently, I instantly decided I would stop eating meat.  And I gave almost all meat up instantly.  "Almost all" because, well, I was six, so hotdogs and McDonald's chicken mcnuggets were hard for me to give up.  However, even the allure of those wore off, and by age eight I was completely vegetarian.

As you can tell, it was originally for ethical reasons.  As I got older, I went through various reasons (health, ethical, environment, meat just didn't appeal to me), but whatever the reason I gave when I was asked why I was vegetarian, I have been since age eight.

I got used to all the stupid questions and comments pretty quickly, and just learned to smile vaguely and ignore anything I found insulting.

Recently though, there's been lots of talk I've seen online among more radical people: very anti-vegetarian stuff coming from anti-civ anarchists, that I honestly find slightly hurtful.  I think it stems from Lierre Keith, author of The Vegetarian Myth, doing lots of talks recently, bringing up a lot of very interesting things to think about, but also making a lot of people very angry and defensive (even to the extent of harassing and harming her).  But, here's the thing: I want to read her book!!  I've listened to parts of her talks with interest.  I want to learn more.  Yet, I'm vegetarian.  And I don't plan to stop being vegetarian anytime soon.  The anger directed at ALL vegetarians is completely misplaced, as far as I'm concerned.  Attack the vegetarians and vegans who have actually been assholes, not ALL vegetarians and vegans!

This goes against something I find very important, and try very hard to do myself, and that is to attack the ideas/beliefs/institutions, not the people.  Or if I really do feel a need to condemn individuals, I make sure it's the specific individuals who I feel have done wrong, not others who simply share some of the same beliefs and ideals. 

But getting back to the topic of my vegetarianism.  If I believe as other anti-civers do, that agriculture (the destruction of all life on a piece of land to plant monocrops) is harmful and unsustainable, why do I have the diet I do?  Well, it's been something I've been thinking about a lot lately, and I think I've come up with the basics of it.  Firstly, it's both habit at this point, and something I feel good with.  I don't feel a lack because I'm not eating meat.  When I'm eating healthy vegetarian food I feel healthy!  Secondly, if I was ever to eat meat, it would only be meat from animals I knew had been treated well and killed with respect.  That's both expensive and often hard to find, unless you hunt yourself.  Which brings me to another reason I don't eat meat: I have this feeling that whatever I eat should be something that I myself  would be willing to harvest or kill.  Pulling up a carrot is just as surely killing as shooting a deer, and I recognize that fact where I think too many others don't.  But I can bring myself to kill a carrot where I can't bring myself to kill a deer, so I eat carrots where I don't eat venison.  I wouldn't kill a chicken, so I don't eat chicken.  My feelings may change at some point, but that's where things are right now.

I try to eat as much organic, locally grown produce as possible, both for health and sustainability reasons (really, the two are the same things!  Unsustainable practices means unhealthy or dead humans.), and this year I want to grow more veggies myself.   I'm also experimenting with my diet this summer, seeing how I feel cutting out virtually all grains and processed foods from my diet.  But for now, meat is not going to be a part of my diet, and I'd really appreciate it if I wasn't made to feel bad about that fact!

Peace,
Idzie 

P.S. I want to make sure, because I'm not sure how what I said about others views on eating meat came across, that all the anti-civers I've ever met (online and in real life) are strongly against factory farming and animal abuse.  Most just see eating meat, that's either hunted or raised kindly, as part of a sustainable diet.