I'm baaa-aaack!
Its amazing how a short trip to Key West with my kids could throw me off my game so much. It was a much needed trip, in the wake of a big round of layoffs at my now former job- including lots of very public drama about the rehab where I worked in the Hollywood Reporter.
Basically, I am in the middle of one of those life transitions. For about 30 seconds, I thought I might panic- "Holy shit, I have been laid off, and I am the sole supporter and of two teenage daughters, our insurance was through work, what the hell am I going to do?!?!" That passed very quickly, because I know what I want to do. And I don't want to do anything else. I don't want to go work for someone, or run someone else's company, or even start my own, as such. I want to do my non profit, and that is what I mean to do, no matter what. This blog has been instrumental in coming to this realization.
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| Me and my teenage muses on the plane to Key West |
So here is what its gonna look like-
The first year, I will take 6-8 teenage girls, who I will find by talking to local high school counselors. I will focus on girls for now, and girls from homes where the dads are absent. Why this demographic? Because I understand it. And I understand how disconnected these girls are, from themselves and therefore anyone else, and their desperation to forge connections, without having the tools to know how, create a lot of havoc in their lives. And the moms (and I know this all too well) are spread thin trying to raise these kids, and often, in spite of all their best efforts, the girls spin out of control and the mothers don't know what to do, lacking resources such as time, money, and support. These girls fall through the cracks- there are no real programs for them. They often aren't the lowest rung of the economy, although its a struggle for the mom, the kids look fine, dress fine, have an iphone- no one would know they are suffering from looking at them.
Each girl, I will spend some time with individually at first. I will sit with them and start seedlings with them, planting the seeds in the little cups and just talking. I have found that simple interactions like this, conversations shared over an activity, are very connective. I will also be showing them what they will be doing with the next generation of girls, as they will mentor the next group.
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| A familiar sight to most parents- this is our youth, and our future. (this is not one of my kids) |
This will hopefully take place on a piece of small land, perhaps the backyard of a small house. This will depend on funding, but some land is necessary. The set up will include some land for planting on, which will be supplemented by garden towers as well, hopefully an area for beehives (if the laws change by then- if not, we will keep our beehives where it is allowed, maybe at the bee sanctuary that Honeylove has in Moorpark), an area for an outdoor fire pit, and then the house. The house will be where the office is, where classes will take place, and act as a sort of clubhouse and refuge for the girls. If there is a pool- even better. I want this place to be a refuge for the girls, a place they naturally gravitate to, that is safe and loving and always welcomes them with open arms.
So the gist of it is this- The girls will grow their own food, and in so doing, learn a lot about personal development through the metaphor of growing things, through the pride of accomplishment and the self esteem that comes from this kind of work. We will work with the bees, and they will learn about the community that a beehive is, the sisterhood that a colony is, and the simple devotion to a cause greater than oneself. All thw work done with gardening and bees will be to help stimulate awareness, compassion, and connection in the girls, and help build a value system that our youth so desperately needs in order to be good stewards of this planet. And last but not least, they will learn about the importance of these activities as a part of the solution to the world's problems. they will learn to make food with the vegetables and greens and fruit they grow, with a nutritionist on hand to help uncover the magic of food. they will learn that they have been branded to their whole lives, told what they should like, and that it is vital, and revolutionary, to question everything that they have been sold, and to investigate everything for its inherent value, not just food products, but we will start with that discussion and let the rest unfold. They will learn that the bees need our help, and that they can maintain their own beehives, grow their own food- ongoingly- and that it is not only feasible to do (even in urban environments) but mandatory for the future of their world. If the harvests are substantial, if the bees produce honey, if we have enough land, we may get a booth at a local farmer's market. That part remains to be seen, but I picture it as sort of an organic Homeboy Industries for teenage girls.
Some of the classes that will be taught is the art of social media marketing. Kids are already all over this stuff, but for all the wrong reasons. They will be taught SEO, and blog writing, so they can maintain blogs about their experiences, twitter about it, instagram, pinterest, get their friends interested, and thus learn to create a buzz about something empowering, instead of who hooked up with who over the weekend. They will blog weekly on the website, which will, with SEO, create more visibility for the non profit itself. They will add their blogs to their own facebook page, the non profit facebook page, and create their own social consciousness facebook page. They will be tasked with coming up with their own logos, and learning to design logos, create memes with a social message suitable to their peer group. They will CONNECT, which is what they so desperately needed to do in the first place. They will build self esteem, which connects one to oneself. They will be empowered to have a voice in their community of peers.
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| We can't get kids off facebook- but they can use it for social awareness! |
Every weekend, there will be a gathering, and either a class, or a documentary screening, or a trip to various places- Animal Acres, the Wolf Sanctuary, or there will be workshops on sustainability or beekeeping- there are plenty of great things to expose these kids to. They will care for their gardens, harvest their crops, make salads, learn about buying local with trips to the farmer's market- so they can help their busy moms in the kitchen, and perhaps even teach them about eating with a social consciousness rather than for the sake of convenience. The moms, it must be said, will benefit from this too, and they are meant to. They need a hand. I aim to give them one. We will keep an eye on the grades of the girls, and if they need help, like a tutor, we will find it. If they are having any other troubles, we will be supportive in all ways.
One weekend a month there will be a sleepover, and they can each invite one friend. We will make dinner from the gardens, and sit around the outdoor fire, talking. No phones, no facebook. Just old fashioned talking.
There are a couple of other components to the program- the trip to Bali at the end of the program, for one. The girls will acquire passports during the program, and they will, after months of tending to their gardens and bees and social media platforms and their audience, plan a kickstarter campaign to raise money for their trip to Bali. They will learn about fundraising this way. If they are short, the non profit will make up the difference, but they will participate in their own adventure.
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| People in Bali smile from deep within- they radiate good will |
Why Bali? Several reasons. I have never been to a place where the people are so incredibly happy, and they have nothing. One of their blog assignments will be to go to Beverly Hills and observe the people there, and write about the level of happiness or joy they see around them in the city of mass consumption. they will do this same exercise in Bali. I want them to grasp, in an experiential and meaningful way, what truly makes one happy is not the acquiring of things, or being skinny or sought after by boys or having the latest handbag. There is a lot to learn from the people on Bali. Also, Bali has a lot of exotic culture and amazing things to experience, and this will connect the girls to their global community, open their eyes to the world at large. Its also very inexpensive once you get there, and since this is a non-profit, that makes a difference, too.
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| Balinese pre-teen dancers in traditional Legong attire |
When they come back from Bali, they will mentor the next generation of girls, and their Moms will become a support sister to the new Moms. In the second phase, the Center will hold support groups for the Moms as well. The First Generation girls will help the second generation with their gardening, blogging- all of it. The First generation girls will have either a small garden or a garden tower at home, to continue with what they have learned on their own- and maybe even a small bee hive, if the laws change. this is why them Moms are going to need support- the girls are going to take what they have learned and create a lifestyle around it, and they will need support.
The second to last phase for the girls will be placement as an intern at a local non profit of their choosing. They will be guided to understand what they are passionate about, and learn that they can make a difference, they can change the world, that they are important in this process. As such, at the end of the internship, should they want to create their own non-profit, they will be placed in the non profit incubator, where they will get the help and support they need to get started on their own path.
Finally- and this is very important in communicating with kids- there will be the inclusion of a certain dialogue about it all that instigates interest in kids, as it does for me. A certain irreverence is called for, like Thug Kitchen- Eat Like You Give A Fuck, or punk rock homesteading, or the very real idea of approaching this lifestyle as being Revolutionary and Radical. Case in point- two weeks ago, I went out guerilla gardening, right after it got dark. I asked my 16 year old and her friend if they wanted to go, and they said, "Ummm, no." Then I said, "You have to sneak around and plant them, like graffiti, but with plants." They leapt at that. There is a way to speak of these important things that kids will listen to, and the ones who are going to help me figure that out are the kids themselves.
So...that is what I am gonna be up to. This is the first time I have revealed my intentions in public, but the readers of my blog have been SOOOO incredibly supportive, and this blog grew so much faster than I ever could have imagined, that I trusted you guys with this first. This is gonna be off the hook!!! I am really excited. I truly believe that "if you build it, they will come." I don't know how to do a non-profit. I have never done anything like this in my life. But that's not about to stop me. And by stating my intentions publically, I am bound to it in a way I wouldn't be if I didn't.
The long and the short of it- I want to inspire kids to care about themselves, their community, and the planet. I want them to use the platforms of social media for shifting social consciousness. I want to open their eyes to the bigger picture, to the world at large, and their place in it. I want to create pathways between their compassionate urges and their ability to act on them. I want to lay the foundation for a value system that will continue to grow and to give. this will ripple out in ways I can't foresee, but I know it will be good, and I know the world needs people like this.
Occupy yourself!!
Ashley Dane
