loving art, science and creative kids
10/28/2017 7:57:51 PM
THREE SUNS
40” by 30” / Acrylic on Canvas / $ 499
Scorching Sun allows fires to burn so that Earth appears dry and lifeless. Life waits patiently underground for Mother Nature to help it reemerge to make Land beautiful once more.
Over the Sticker Bush Fence is a book in progress about homeless and runaway youth. In it I discuss the difficulties caused by childhood neglect and abuse. Over the past three years I interviewed many people who were motivated to work with this population because of experiences they had in childhood. Today I would like to introduce you to Sean Suib, the executive director of New Avenues for Youth. Sean has a special interest in the plight of foster children. Following is an excerpt from the manuscript.
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Dynamo for Change - Sean Suib - New Avenues for Youth
“Our foster system is broken,” Sean Suib said forcefully. “The only way we are going to fix it is to get it out of the hands of the government. There are smart people in the system but they can’t change anything. The system, like the children they serve, is traumatized. There is not enough money to operate successfully, but that is only part of the problem. Because the system operates out of a place of crisis, it cannot think strategically or even beyond its most basic function, survival. Evidence of this can be seen in the many recent highly publicized examples of the system failing to act to keep children safe, despite clear information about danger. I don’t want you to think the people running the system are bad, to the contrary, many are caring, hard working, and well-intentioned. They just can not get beyond their systemic crisis to prevent its perpetuation.
To understand the intersection between foster care and homelessness, it is helpful to think about the Department of Human Services (DHS) as an impoverished single parent responsible for rearing 10 children at the same time. With too little money to meet every child’s specialized needs, DHS can only focus on keeping the most vulnerable children as safe as possible. Older children are less vulnerable when compared to those who are younger with higher needs. By the time they get to be an adolescent, a system like DHS is not designed for, resourced for, or able to focus on or meet a teen’s needs. As a result, a large percent of the kids who leave the foster care system at the age of 18 find themselves homeless within three years. The private sector needs to take over.”
I was sitting across the table speaking to this tall, handsome man whose every pore seemed energized as a change agent. As director of New Avenues for Youth, he moves purposefully among the many challenges he has to confront each day. Though busy overseeing the center’s diverse programs, he had invited me into his small office and graced me with his rapt attention as though I was the only thing in the world that mattered. In my effort to understand the basis of youth homelessness, I had not considered the foster care system and wondered what should be done. Sean shared his thoughts.
“There are critical intervention points that have to be addressed before transitioning a child out of state supervision. Children need social capital, people not paid to be in their lives, who can be called at 2 in the morning if needed. They need to learn life skills, accountability, given leadership opportunities and ways to connect with their community to practice the skills of being an adult. Programs like ours try to sprinkle as many of these proactive experiences into the young person’s life as possible.”
I quickly discovered that New Avenues was quite innovative in their approaches and that their work with youth had come a long way from the juvenile detention policies practiced in the past by social service agencies in conjunction with the judicial system.
“We are beginning to understand the unique circumstances that face foster children,” he continued with intensity, making sure that I followed his words. “Many of them have spent years being shuffled from one home to another, often falling through the cracks educationally and emotionally. We already are making a difference with an array of programs and targeted interventions. One of the interventions we are most excited about is a partnership with a non-profit called Bridge Meadows.”
With a bit of digging I discovered that Bridge Meadows is a multi-generation housing community in which low-income seniors live in community with families that have adopted young foster children. In this model, the entire community works together to help heal and raise these kids. The impact the community is having on the lives ob both children and seniors is impressive. 100 percent of youth attend school regularly with 85% doing better academically. 97 percent of residents have maintained stable housing and 90 percent of the adoptive parents have accessed the available supportive services. 85 percent of the elders report that they have found greater purpose through interaction with children, parents and other elders. It appears to be a win-win situation.
Building on the strength of Bridge Meadow’s model, our organizations recently combined resources to build a second housing facility (15 unit apartment complex) dedicated to youth aging out of foster care. Named New Meadows, when complete, the facility will sit on land adjacent to the Bridge Meadows campus and leverage relationships and social capital to foster youth as they move into adulthood. New Avenues will wrap a comprehensive program around housing residents by providing mental health counseling, case management, life skills classes, education and college support, and job training.”
As I listened to Sean talk I couldn’t help but imagine that he could have been a successful businessman, spending his working hours amassing a small fortune for his family. He is engaging, has people and organizational skills, and is a strong spokesman for his cause. Sean knows how to work with teams of people in the community from low income to wealthy donors who make up his board. He is also a practiced tradesman with years of construction experience. It would have been logical for him to run his own company, yet he chose to work with the disenfranchised. I wondered why Sean selected a non-profit route. Why was he so ferociously passionate about what he was doing? With little prodding he shared his story. . . . .
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Sean’s path to the directorship of New Avenues was inspired by a rocky family life that made him fend for himself at an early age. His journey took him through traumas caused by drugs, divorce and neglect. Sean’s early employment at Janus Youth Services and Outside In provided experience and insight that enabled him to identify holes in the welfare system. Once Over the Sticker Bush Fence is released you will have and opportunity to see how he was influenced as young and why this entrepreneurial dynamo would choose to help those less fortunate.
Sean is particularly interested in the foster care system and, after our discussion, I could understand why. Today there are over 400,000 children and youth spend an average of 20.4 months in foster care. 51% do reunify with their family and 22% (11,820 children and youth) are waiting to be adopted. They come from varying backgrounds that are similar to those taking to the streets. Some have been through trauma, abuse and/or neglect. All are in need of a safe, loving home.
Though there are many problems with the foster care system I mention six here.
1) Thousands of children are placed in group homes or institutions with meager support rather than with caring families.
2) Teens who age out of the system have inadequate support and approximately 30 percent contribute to the homeless population.
3) Foster parents need more support to achieve success. For example, many families can not deal with kids who identify as LGBTQ.
4) There is not enough focus on reunification. Children from the same family are often separated, wondering if they will ever see their siblings again.
5) The child’s needs often go unheard. Many foster parents are not good listeners, others are abusive, and without adequate communication back to the court, the foster care solution may be as bad as the home they were originally taken from.
6) The system has too many rules which slows down adoptions, reunification with parents, and placements with family members rather than through the courts.
References:
Foster Care Basics. (2017) . Foster Club/ National Network for Youth in Foster Care.. retrieved from https://www.fosterclub.com
Six Problems with the Foster Care System. (2017). Mashable. retrieved from http://mashable.com/2016/06/04/foster-care-problems/#boSJxnIxCqqJ.
Building place, Permanence and Purpose for Foster youth, adoptive parents, and Alders. (2017) Bridge Meadows. retrieved from https://www.bridgemeadows.org.
I would love to hear your comments or experiences with New Avenues for Youth and the Foster Care system.
Art is always for sale. Contact me at [email protected]. the above picture was painted after seeing the devastation caused by the fire at Oregon’s the Santiam Pass.
10/21/2017 7:03:23 PM
Articulated Whales By Ray Losey
Traveling in Community
To see Ray’s totems and masks go to RayLosey.com
Community Matters
Over the Sticker Bush Fence is a book in progress about homeless and runaway youth. In it I discuss the difficulties that arise due to childhood neglect and abuse. Over the past three years I interviewed many people who are motivated to work with this population because of experiences they had in their own childhood. I would like to introduce you to Kanoe Egleston, a woman employed by Native American Youth and Family Services (NAYA} who while a child, learned to recognize the importance of community. Following is an excerpt from the manuscdript.
Born on the outskirts of Oahu, Hawaii, Kanoe grew up surrounded by the love and attention that all children deserve. “My father was employed by the Bishop Estate, a non-profit land trust donated by Bernice Pauahi Bishop, the great-granddaughter of King Kamehameha the great, who united the Hawaiian Islands during the 18th century. Mom worked her way up as a customer service representative at the local telephone company,” Kanoe mused. “Dad loved his job, since it was a culturally responsible agency that gave him an opportunity to bring his values into their service delivery system.”
His ethical beliefs played an important role in developing the young woman who sat across from me in NAYA’s offices. Dark hair and flashing brown eyes sparkled when discussing the work she was doing. She leaned forward as she spoke, peering directly at me to capture my complete attention. The island Kanoe grew up on was replete with relatives who entertained and shared their heritage with the youngsters born into their extended family. There was always and auth or uncle nearby to babysit or provide a different perspective than the one given by her parents. Kanoe’s multiracial background—she says she is part Scottish, Puerto Rican, Chinese, German, Portuguese, Japanese, Hawaiian—helped her grasp the nuances of being a member of a population that deviated from the majority.
“My grandmother taught me a lot,” Kanoe continued. “Grandma met my grandfather during the second world war when he was stationed in Japan. They married and had two children who they brought to the island to raise. At the time Pearl Harbor was still on the minds of most people, ‘ya know, and a Japanese wife was not welcome. Grandma Americanized her name, stopped speaking her native language and buried her background. As a result, her children grew up ignorant of part of their heritage.
It wasn’t until we grandchildren came along that she decided we were missing a great deal by not knowing where we came from. Grandma set her mind to teaching us to speak Japanese, learn some of the traditions and do crafts such as flower arranging. In college, I continued to study Japanese.”
At the age of eighteen Kanoe decided to expand her horizons by attending college in on the mainland. “Leaving home was traumatic, for until that time I lived a pretty charmed life attending private Montessori and Waldorf schools. Mornings were filled with academic subjects and afternoons were for the arts, music, and crafts. There were no grades but the staff gave total attention to developing each child’s strengths. There were only 17 kids in my graduating class.”
Kanoe mentioned with nostalgia, “It wasn’t until I went to the University of Oregon that I realized how different my upbringing was. It was not only that I had gone to a small private school, but my Hawaiian skin was darker than that of most students and it isolated me. Even the way I spoke English was different. Common words I used in conversation were not understood by my classmates and vice versa. If it wasn’t for the university’s peer mentorship and diversity program I don’t think I would have lasted.”
“What made you decide to work with disadvantaged youth?” I asked wondering how anyone with such lovely bronzed skin would have difficulty being accepted. She looked every bit like a poster beauty welcoming visitors to the island with a hula.
“Being thrust as I had been, into a racial and cultural divide, made me interested in working with homeless teens. I decided to get my undergraduate degree in psychology and sociology. Part of the program included working with disadvantaged youth. It made me realize what happens when children do not grow up in a loving circle. I realized that my community was how I stayed alive and had hope. These kids felt hopeless. ”
A few years later Kanoe continued her education at Portland State University in order to get a Master’s degree in Social Work. “When I graduated, I decided to work for NAYA in part because I could help children get reconnected to the community.”
Kanoe’s story reinforces the importance family and friends play in molding a young person’s life. In community, a child learns to trust others, develops socialization skills, and imbibes an ethical consciousness. Those bereft of a caring community may feel an emptiness and longing that leads them to join a gang for support. (This option is discussed more fully later in the book.) Others escape to the streets where there is a transient community of youth to call “friends.” It is a mistake to think that homeless adolescents don’t have values, for they do and quickly adapt to a complex system of street rules. Extremely loyal to their new companions, many will even go to jail rather than “rat” or leave them stranded. Drugs and alcohol are often shared. When they find housing they may invite their friends over to sleep on the couch or floor, sometimes impacting the willingness of the landlord to let them stay. Though street values may appear to be directed against the broader society, they are a strong base for change. Mores that include sharing, loyalty, and a willingness to give emotional and physical support are building blocks needed to create a just society.
NAYA understands that Native American youth raised without knowledge of their heritage need an extended hand to pull them into community. Craft nights focusing on traditional arts, drumming circles, pot lucks, camping trips and story telling draw them into a supportive multi-age group. They operate a GED program that is tuned to the special needs of each school drop out. Young mothers are helped to locate housing and childcare in order to complete their education and find employment.
I look forward to your comments below. Were you privileged to grow up in a caring community or did you have to seek this type of companionship elsewhere?
10/14/2017 8:08:51 PM
Surf’s Up
Is that a problem for nearby residents or a boon to surfers?
Acrylic on Canvas/ 48” by 36” / $ 600
Preparing Body and Mind for Emergencies
Over the past six months, one disaster after another was the featured news story. These tragedies brought to light how important it is to be prepared for emergencies. Agencies like FEMA advise us to have certain supplies on hand, where to go for shelter, and how to get in touch with love ones. They suggest shuttering windows and moving to safe quarters in case of a hurricane, to move to a storm shelter to avoid being hurt by a tornado, and to crawl on the ground and not reenter a flaming house to retrieve a cherished item. In my earthquake prone part of the country, we are instructed to keep 14 gallons of water on hand per person which is difficult to accommodate. And so the list goes on for we know that life is not always fair and unexpected events can come tumbling our way.
There is however, one subject not mentioned in emergency response documents, and that is how to prepare body and mind to face tragedy. We are told of supplies to have on hand and places to go for shelter but don’t advise us as to what physical abilities are minimally needed to live through a catastrophe.
I was proud of my granddaughter who survived a volley of fire that recently rained down in a Las Vegas concert. Though stationed up front, her excellent instincts and well tuned body saved her life. She ducked with the first shots she ducked and as soon as there was a lull, with one boot on and another off, she ran over the bloody floor towards an exit. Her reflexes were swift and thinking clear as her limbic system (fight and flight) provided her the necessary energy to find safety.
When preparing our homes for emergencies it makes sense to also train our bodies. With a bit of advice from Anita Stark, my exercise trainer, I offer a few basic suggestions.
a) Learn to calm your mind. When a tree landed on my house and shook the foundation, shattering glass and sending objects flying, I felt my heart pounding while my adrenaline went sky high. I had to speak to myself saying, “Marilynne you are a meditator, use your training,” and immediately started doing well practiced breathing exercises. Within one minute I became calm and able to proceed with damage control. This skill takes practice. When trauma strikes, blood pressure tends to rise along with adrenaline bursts which have a way of producing a frantic go-go reaction that may not be helpful. Your mind needs to be sharp enough to navigate through the event. Mediation, mindfulness, and yoga teach you to breathe in from the nose to clear the mind and out through the mouth for action.
b) Be sure you can get up quickly from the ground. Become comfortable with sitting in different positions and then rising in a spiral motion using all four corners of your body. Lie flat on the floor and roll on all four sides before getting up. Emergencies often involve the ability to be mobile on three planes—high, middle, and low. If the ground is shaking and objects are flying, you may need to protect your head by turning it face down under a chair or table before exiting the building.
c) A smoke filled house requires you to stay low to the ground to avoid lung damage. Practice moving on your stomach in a creeping army type crawl and then on you knees like a baby. The ability to propel yourself forward in this manner might save your life.
d) Challenge your balance. When visiting Ecuador the sidewalks had indentations, uplifted sections, uncovered holes, and driveway protrusions. I fell flat on my face the first day I was there because I looked up at falling telephone wires instead of down. I assure you I did not make the same mistake twice.
To train yourself, walk outside on uneven ground, on a trail or over land scattered with rubble. Step over branches and get used to uneven concrete. When inside, try
cooking or brushing your teeth while standing on one leg and then the other. Once you can do that with ease, swing the elevated leg in different directions until you can maintain balance. This skill will be a help if you need to climb over fallen objects.
e) Move around your home without wearing shoes. In an emergency there is no time to find them. Let you feet become sensitized, for they are like hands that touch the earth.
f) Learn to sink and then pivot your body quickly (keeps your joints mobile). Try sprinting a few steps forward first before pivoting. Look around and be prepared to move in the direction of your stare. A friend of mine was in an explosion in an accelerator at Harvard. He immediately moved away from the sound and ran to the exit. And though he suffered some burns on his back, the damage was not as severe as it was for those who froze and looked to see what happened before moving.
g) Practice walking quickly from the furthest room in your house to exit your doorway. Try it again in the dark. In a smoke filled building or in a nighttime event it may be difficult to see before you. Sensitize yourself to move without light in a small space first before tackling the stairs or a large room.
h) Add strength to your hands and arms so you can carry, push, and lift the weight of a small child. When thrown from a raft while in the Amazon, I was caught in a whirlpool under the surface. Though I did not panic for I knew I had the strength to push myself up, I struggled to aid my rescuer. Instructed to grab cleats on the back of his kayak, my arms were weak and I wondered if I could hold on long enough to be taken to safety. I survived unscathed but started lifting weights as soon as I returned home.
i). If you want to help others, learn CPR. I unexpectedly had to help a man who’s heart stopped beating at a trade show in New York. His booth had fallen on him the previous day leaving him a bit shaky. We were talking when his eyes turned up and he slumped to the floor. A crowd formed around him and I shouted, “Does anyone know CPR?” I was very uncomfortable when no one stepped forward but felt compelled to get down and use limited skills to compress his chest slowly and rhythmically. After about four minutes, with sudden energy that burst explosively in the middle of my hands, his heart started to beat again. It is an amazing feeling to save a life.
No one can afford to be a couch potato and ignore preparations for emergencies. Fortunately, an added benefit of these exercises is that they are good for your health. So—if you have not been inclined to do so in the past or have just became lazy as you aged, stop procrastinating, get on board so you will be able to confront events that life has a way of throwing when least expected.
Share your stories below. How well did you responded in an emergency?
Art is always for sale. I can be contacted at [email protected].
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If you are a museum goer and have not read Lives of Museum Junkies you are in for a treat. It is funny and inciteful to hear of the mishaps and back office politics that goes into developing a museum. Purchase through Barnes and Noble, Amazon, Kindle, or Powells Books.
10/7/2017 8:44:08 PM
TV Diva
A television sex-pot selling to a crazed audience.
Acrylic on Canvas/ 40” by 30” /$ 499
In Honor of Hugh Hefner
Surprisingly, Hugh Hefner helped me get my start as director of a science center. Since he died recently I thought I would share the story of how the Playboy Bunnies assisted Impression 5, the museum I founded, over a hurdle and propelled me into a career that eventually brought me to Portland to run the Oregon Museum of Science and Industry (OMSI). At times I am shocked by what I did, but during the early 70’s I was a naive yet ambitious, young housewife interested in providing the best opportunities for my young ones.
The year was 1972 and I had just moved from Boston to reside in Lansing, Michigan where there were few cultural attractions. With four children running around the house when it rained, there were times I thought I would go crazy. One such day, over a cup of coffee, a friend and I brainstormed about starting a hands-on museum. We took the idea a step further and decided to build table top displays to take to shopping malls and schools in order to promote the concept. Friends from the engineering and physics departments at Michigan State University (MSU) enthusiastically assembled clever educational devices for our exhibitions but fundraising for a permanent building was less successful.
Wherever we turned, we received a “not now” answer. It was frustrating to hear the mayor’s assistant tell us to get in line behind a long list of projects. The director of the YMCA reconfirmed the hopelessness of our cause by saying that we would never get the project off the ground because there were only two things that mattered, one was sports and the other was sex. Since the science center did not promote either, we did not have a chance of succeeding.
What happened next, is told in Lives of Museum Junkies: The Story of America’s Hands-on Museums.
“One day, with not much to do, I relaxed in my office reading a magazine article about how the Playboy Bunnies visited communities to engage in sporting events against local celebrities in order to raise money for charity. My brain started churning and I remembered what the director of the YMCA had said: ‘Sports and sex would be the secret of success.’
The Detroit Playboy Club was close enough to Lansing so I immediately called their manager. Much to my amazement, without hesitation or questions, the Bunnies agreed to visit and play basketball against our community businessmen. Days were exciting as I telephoned every well-known chief executive I could think of and asked for his involvement. Not one man declined. The game was on with a who’s who of local participants that included the mayor, president of MSU, superintendent of schools, CEOs of various manufacturing companies, real estate developers, the head of Oldsmobile, and state politicians. When the Lansing State Journal learned of the event we had all the makings of the game to became a feature.
One problem, a big one, reared its ugly head and I was reminded of the first lesson I learned trying to start a museum. Nothing ever occurs as you might imagine. The early 70s heralded in the start of the women’s liberation movement with books by Gloria Steinem and Betty Friedan circulating and being read by a wide audience. The equal rights amendment was headed to the states for ratification and organizations like Planned Parenthood and NOW were growing in prominence.
In East Lansing a group of high school and university women threatened to picket the Bunny Game. What had started as a fun crazy event was turning into a political nightmare and we didn’t know what to do. Now we had the makings not of a feature but of a gossip column. In fact, the gossip columnist did pick up the controversy with gusto and had a great time splashing the story daily. A number of the men who held public office called to inform me that they were reluctantly compelled to back out of their commitment.
My stomach churned with worry and I started looking for ways to work with the women libbers. Thankfully for us (though tragically for a great many) we were rescued by Mother Nature. The night before the game clouds exploded and it started to rain and rain and rain. The Lansing area was deluged with a fifty-year flood and all citizens not concerned with water-filled basements were called on to bag the river banks. Jenison Field House at MSU was swamped with two and a half feet of water flooding the basketball court. The Playboy Bunny Game had to be canceled.
My sigh of relief is still carried on the winds today. But the upside to the controversy was that the science museum became a known entity and was on its way to becoming more than just an office in a public school. The entire community knew what was being planned and though many did not like the Bunny Game they certainly did support our idea for Impression 5.”
Lessons Learned? Bad publicity is sometimes better than no publicity and growth comes from taking risks.
I am now more sympathetic to feminine issues and would not embark on such a sex-based enterprise today. When I see how women are treated on internet pornography sites, in prostitution rings, and domestically abused in their own homes, I am more willing to picket than promote Hefner style enterprises.
Lives of Museum Junkies: The Story of America’s Hands-on Museums by Marilynne Eichinger shares the good, bad, and funny stories of starting the nation’s hands-on science centers. It explores the backgrounds of 12 influential people who developed a passion for helping the public become scientifically literate. The book is available though Amazon, Barnes and Nobel, Powells Books, Broadway Books, MAC Emporium, and Kindle.
Art is always for sale. Contact me at [email protected].
