Youth, Art, & Social Change

As I may have mentioned I'm a Social Justice & Community Organizing major. My biggest interest is using the creativity that young people today possess and "helping" them to focus and use their gifts for social change.

I did an internship at my old stomping ground - St. Paul Central High school last semester (and plan to continue when I get back from Miami). At Central I worked with CTT - Central Touring Theater. A fantastic group of high schoolers in Advanced Acting, taught by the amazing Jan Mandell.

Jan's class she really guides her students to focus on using their acting, and other artistic abilities to bring forth "real" issues. This group of high school students are indescribably amazing. They are actors, poets, singers, dancers, visual artists, etc. and they use all of their talents in their original plays.

The group that I worked with toured 2 original plays, "Katrina" which was the BEST play I've seen professional or otherwise...and "More Than A Party" which was about the lives of high school seniors.

Being an intern there at Central was a wake up call for me. I stood back an watched in awe as Jan cultivated these students into better performers, better artists, and better social change agents. I still haven't quite figured out how she does it, but hopefully when I go back next spring I will continue my learning process so that I can do the same. To keep myself fresh I'm reading a book that Jan co-wrote called Acting, Learning, and Change.

I'll keep you posted on the things that I pick up and I most definately welcome any ideas...

AND...I can't close this post without giving a shout-out to the CTT group of 2006 - the young people that rekindled my love of the arts, and made me realize that the arts has the possibility to be the agent that changes the world...

"CTT RESPECT...CTT RESPECT...RESPECT CTT...AAANNNNDDD ME. MEOW!!!"

Flobatim the HipHop Nerd: Over & Out