Are you a high school student interested in (or planning on) attending college? Please register to attend the FREE Girls Write Now College Informational Seminar on November 3. Details below ~
October is (among a million other things) Anti-Bullying Awareness Month. What started out as a week-long event back in 2006, sponsored by an organization called Pacer, has grown over the years to a month-long recognition and tomorrow is Unity Day.
What’s Unity Day? I’m glad you asked- basically you wear orange (t-shirt, ribbon, bracelet, shoes, whatever) to show that you recognize and support the cause. Oh, and it’s probably a good idea not to bully anyone while doing it. Not only because it’s mean and hurtful, but also because New York has Anti-Bullying laws in place to try to help protect students.
I saw this PSA on youtube that I thought was pretty decent and I thought I’d pass it along. It’s an entire 60 seconds long. Please watch it. Be safe out there and be kind to one another. If you can’t be kind, don’t be cruel.
If you need some help, or know someone who needs help, ask for it. There are people and places and websites out there to try to make this thing called growing up a little easier.
And all that good ish…now, clearly, I am not anywhere tricking nor treating, as per usual. When I was younger, we never really went trick-or-treating, cetainly not around the neighborhood, although I do recall the alternative- collecting candy by going from store to store at a mall once or twice with my mom. I had a few costumes that I remember- big bird (you know, the ones with the mask and the plastic cape), a ghost (a last resort costume I was embarassed to wear b/c I was too old, but had to because I really couldn’t find anything else) and a disasterous attempt to make my own “oreo” costume when I was in elementary school (I thought I could wear all white for the cream filling and stuff two garbage bags w/ newspaper and attach them to myself). The irony of that escaped me then, I chuckle about it now; ah….the innocence of youth. See, back then, I wasn’t dressing for Halloween to go trick-or-treating, but because we had Halloween parades and little parties at school and you had to have a costume- any costume- to participate. That was many moons ago.
I never realized how “big” Halloween was, especially among adults, until I moved to NY. I had only been living in Brooklyn for a month when I got caught up (literally) in the Halloween Day Parade in the Village. I was leaving a late class, headed to the W4 subway station when I met a crowd of costumed fools celebrating. I fought my way against the grain only to find that the subway was closed…so I walked around aimlessly until I found an open station and then had to figure out how to get back to Brooklyn (on the “C,” no less) from where I was…that was a fun night…(I have since learned that value of knowing multiple ways and subway lines to get me home…you should, too, if you don’t already).
I’m not into scary movies and I’m trying to cut back on all the sweets (although I cannot lie, I used to be a sucker for the pumpkin Halloween candy and I, admitedly, ate a whole bag of candy corn earlier this month) but in the New York Halloween spirit, I got to thinking about what I would be for Halloween if I were so inclined to celebrate. And I remembered there were two (or three) people I wanted to be as a youth-
Rainbow Brite
I mean, seriously, how FUN does she look? I loved drawing and coloring in rainbows as a kid, plus I had the book, the sheets, OH! how I wanted to be a member of her multi-hued posse.
Rainbow Brite and Starlite
Rainbow Brite and Crew
THE book
The watch
Penny
Hey, homegirls! What did you do this Sunday? I went to the Bronx Native- American Festival (that ride to Pehlham Bay Park was SO long from Brooklyn, but you know I’ll do anything for you, dolls!)
The festival was very much a family-oriented event- something you can go out to with the whole fam and have a fairly good time. And I was particularly impressed that the activities related back to Native American History specific to the area that is now the Bronx. The majority of the people there were families (with younger children), but there some teenage folk in the place, too.
I went, I saw, I heard, I learned, I recorded and I enjoyed, for the most part. I wish I had a video camera (working on that, next year definitely). But here are some pics from the day.
Activities with very well-informed park staff
Supplies- potatoes, berries, and plastic forks
And voila! Decorated deerskin (SO soft) clothing, in this case.
Traditional (male) Headdress
A TV station was there.
Perhaps a j-school student...
And, of course, the kiddies!
Not to follow up a writing post up with yet another post about writing, but…the Brooklyn Book Festival is tomorrow, Sunday, September 13, 2009 at the Brooklyn Borough Hall and Plaza from 10 am to 6 pm. It’s free and there are some specific events for teens that you might want to check out.
Here is the schedule for what they are calling the “Youth Stoop:”
Youth Stoop (Borough Hall Plaza)
The Youth Stoop provides day-long literary activities for youth ages 10-18
10:00 a.m. Brooklyn Next Lit Match Awards. Come hear some of the most talented students writing in the borough who are the finalists in the “Brooklyn Next” borough-wide writing contest. Hosted by Jamie Hector of The Wire.
11:00 p.m. Fantastical Journeys. Join award-winning middle grade authors and illustratorsKate DiCamillo (The Magician’s Elephant), Christopher Myers (Wings) and Michael Buckley(The Sisters Grimm) and step into a world of whimsical imagination where elephants guide, boys fly and humans and fairy-tale creatures live side by side.
12:00 p.m. Keeping it Honest. Coe Booth (Tyrell), Matt de la Peña (Mexican White Boy) andPaul Griffin (Ten Mile River) write books for teenagers that are smart and honest and never talk down to their audience. Join them as they talk about their work and about how they keep it real.
1:00 p.m. Breaking Through. Critically acclaimed authors Laurie Halse Anderson (Winter Girls), Gayle Forman (If I Stay) and G.Neri (Surf Mules) discuss some of this year’s most talked about novels featuring teens forced to make difficult decisions under extraordinary—and less than favorable—circumstances.
2:00 p.m. Love and Longing. How far will you go for love and how far will love go for you? Ned Vizzini (Be More Chill), Aimee Friedman (Sea Change) and Anna Godbersen (The Luxe) reveal very different approaches to succeeding in love as they read and discuss their books.
3:00 p.m. Love, War and Adventures in Babysitting…Transforming Stories into Comics. How does a comic artist take a favorite story and make it new? Three new stars in the literary comics cosmos shine the light on their process, adapting award-winning fiction, found historical materials and one of the most popular teen series of all time into graphic novels. Raina Telgemeier (The Babysitters Club graphic novel series), Danica Novgorodoff (Refresh, Refresh) and George O’Connor (Journey into Mohawk Country).
4:00 p.m. Adventures in the Past. Critically acclaimed authors M.T. Anderson (The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing), Marilyn Nelson (The Freedom Business) and Margaret Peterson Haddix (Shadow Children and Missing series) take us into a thrilling tour of the past where King Edward V lives, and the eighteenth century comes alive with adventure—giving us a new understanding of race then and now. Moderated by Stacey Barney.
5:00 p.m. High School and the Paranormal. Authors Claudia Gray (Evernight Series) and Carolyn MacCullough (Once a Witch) show us that high schoolers have far more to worry about than acne and who to take to the school dance. Enter an exciting world of witches, vampires and magic. Moderated by Stephanie Anderson.
Directions- Just take the 2, 3, 4, 5 to Borough Hall; R to Court Street; or A, C, F to Jay Street/Borough Hall
Hope to see you there! (Ok, well it’s not like I’ll have a booth or anything- this year- but I hope you go, take some friends, and enjoy yourself)
Homegirl NYC 