Odyssey Warner Bros. Year End Picnic 2009

Free Film Fridays

Looking for something to do with your mentee on a Friday night? How about a free movie under the stars right here in Los Angeles? The Los Angeles and Pasadena Audubon have just begun their Friday film series and they have two movie nights left before the summer is over.

On July 24th they will be screening three short films on water and watersheds: “Stream Spirit Rising", "On the Arroyo Seco", and the internationally acclaimed "FLOW". On August 28th the Audubon will be screening “The Education of Little Tree”, which is a heartbreaking and proud story of a young Cherokee boy navigating his way through his traditional Cherokee culture and the culture imposed on him through an American Indian Boarding school. I have read the book ‘‘The Education of Little Tree’’ and it brought me to tears. I have yet to see the film but I have been told it does the book justice.

So mentors, come take advantage of this wonderful opportunity to bond with your mentee. Seating is limited so you may want to arrive early. All screenings are in English with Spanish subtitles. Click here to find out the exact location and time of the film screenings.

Thursday's Thoughts

To fight graffiti, LA Council may restrict spraypaint sales

Many people see graffiti as a nuisance, but don't take the time to acknowledge young people's creative talent. If the City Council wants to deter people from utilizing public spaces for their canvass, why don't they begin by increasing funding for more art programs in schools. If students had the opportunity to channel their creativity through art projects, we might be surprised to find the next big hits in the art world.

Out of the Darkness comes the Light

One of the things I am most proud of at Youth Mentoring is our approach. We call it a gift centered approach in which we “see” our young people’s gifts, and understand that sometimes, actually most times, these gifts lie right next to their wounds. And these wounds run deep… so deep at times that they are afraid to look at them much less talk about them. So I have to be patient, not a quality I am known for I will admit. But I do not walk away, no matter what, and eventually, the door opens ever so slowly and cautiously – and I stick my toe in! And I wait.

I have been having a similar conversation with two of my “babies”. One is a young woman I have known for about 6 years, and the other is a now a man who I have known for about 15 years, and they have both held me at arms length while holding on to me fiercely. They always tell me they are “fine” or “okay”, or how “they can handle it” as their eyes punch me in the heart with their pain. And I wait.

Then, she writes me a letter on her graduation, telling me how I always talked to her about letting me in, but I was the only one who she let in – I was the only one she let in…. she explains. How she will miss me when she goes to college. And she loves me.

We are talking about basketball, and how he can’t give it up because it helps him escape, and what he is escaping from, and I listen. He slept that night “real good”.

The light always comes…

Juliana

Follow me on twitter @hoolieboo

Tuesday with Mentor and Mentee

"I really enjoyed being your mentee and I enjoy having you as my mentor. I really had fun. I loved the places you have taken me. Places I had never been. I really want you to be my mentor like forever, but it is time to say goodbye. You helped me out with school and my grades. You taught me things I never learned. It really seems like you are my best friend, which you are! Thank you for your time. And I appreciate all of the good things you have done for me. This speech is dedicated to my mentor, the best mentor ever".

Dior

Adams 1 End of Year Picnic

Why you all up in my business?

Recently I was told about an invitation that one of our young people had posted on AIM for her 18^th birthday party, and I was thrown into one of my famous tirades about how it never fails to astonish me how incredibly smart kids can do such incredibly stupid things…. I am paraphrasing, but it was quite specific about “ there will be plenty of alcohol, but BYOW – Bring your own weed or drug of choice.” ARE YOU KIDDING ME? Now, I am no expert on AIM, by choice, but I do know that it is a form of social networking a la texting, so whatever you post everyone who is in your buddy list will see everything you post… So you really want to put your business out there like that? Why not just call 911 and tell them that you are going to be having a party where there will be a bunch of underage kids engaging in all kinds of criminal activities? How about telling the world about what you are going to do to your boo that night? I DO NOT NEED TO KNOW THIS LITTLE GIRL!

Listen kids, I made a conscious decision to not go on to MySpace, or AIM, so that I would not be all up in your business, but can you please think before you put all of your business out there? Because I may not be the one trying to find out about you! Remember , if I can find out about all of this, so can your future employers! So, before you post anything else, think – would I want Hoolie or my employer to know this about me? If the answer is no…. keep it to yourself, please!

@hoolieboo (follow me on twitter)

Children's Hospital Scavenger Hunt of the Self