It’s great to see on the Editors Blog that the BBC are trying to redress the balance of negative journalism towards young people by involving 250 schools in a “massive journalism deployment” involving 10,000 young people aged 11-14.
Stories that have already been filed include items on social networking, mobile phones, living with cancer, and campaigning on Darfur. Other school reporters have covered battery farming, what makes them happy and media images of teenagers.
Other students are reporting on News 24, Radio Five Live and 40 local radio stations – as well as at outside broadcasts in Belfast, Aberdeen and Snowdonia. And there are web-based radio and TV “channels” for the day being streamed live on the website.
Look out for the reports across the BBC this Thursday (13th March), and check out the School Report website to see the fruits of their efforts.
- Purpose: what are we here for?
- everything else should be measured up against this
- Values: what is important to us?
- values are often not what you make up, but are what you observe about yourselves and the way you do things…
- Vision: where are we going?
- vision should be imaginable, desirable, feasible, focussed, flexible and communicable
- Strategy: how will we get there?
- plans to make it work – reality is shown up when you think about strategy
- Goals: what will we do and by when?
- goals help you to make a start
Strategy and goals are likely to change as you travel along the journey – they are contextual – and change because they are based on the latest information – as you learn lessons and build up knowledge your strategy and goals are likely to change.
Excerpt from an article in the Christian Science Monitor entitled “A legless artist documents the world in 32,000 stares“:
A 3-foot-1-inch tall man with no legs propelling himself along by his hands on a skateboard tends to warrant a fair share of attention.
People stare.
Sometimes they ask questions. Sometimes they make up stories on their own.
Montana State University film student Kevin Connolly relates a story: In a Bozeman grocery store, a young girl the same height as him asked, “Why are you on a skateboard?” Mr. Connolly replied, “Because I have no legs.”
“She just stared at me and had the best question I’ve ever gotten,” he says. “‘Is it a trick?’”
Connolly assures that it is no trick. He was born without legs.
His online exhibition is interesting in itself, but a great way into a discussion with Young People about appearance & perception, disability, or even the concept of ‘story’:
1 year ago I was asked by a little boy in Christchurch, New Zealand if I had been eaten by a shark.
2 months ago I was asked by an elderly woman in Sighisoara, Romania if I had lost my legs in a car accident.
6 weeks ago I was asked by a bar patron in Helena, Montana if I still wore my dog tags from Iraq.Everyone tries to create a story in their heads to explain the things that baffle them.
I love his counter-cultural approach to getting around too:
Connolly rarely uses his wheelchair, preferring his skateboard. And a pair of jeans-clad prosthetic legs stand in his apartment as a party novelty, unused since age 12.
“People are wanting effectively to put you in stilts,” he says. “Why?”
Connolly feels he’s just as able-bodied as anyone.”
Yesterday I lad the Brigade Service at Church on the theme of “A Different Christmas”. We had a quiz based around the following Christmas statistics (source) and then reflected on them and what they say about how we ‘celebrate’ Christmas:
- £600 million – spent on decorations annually
- 2 million metres – of fairy lights put up each year
- 15 hours – average time spent Christmas shopping (presents only, not food)
- 8000 tonnes – of wrapping paper discarded (enough to wrap island of Guernsey)
- 46 million – toys thrown away each year
- £1.2 billion – value of unwanted gifts each year
- 64% of over 45s said – they felt Christmas had ‘lost its magic’
- 50% of teachers said – their school would be incorporating a non-Christian Christmas celebration
World Vision have produced a video, called “no child should have to endure this”, which highlights the problem with our approach to Christmas.
I mentioned that I’ve had two conversations since Christmas with young people whose excitement about presents was bursting out of them – and they weren’t typical gifts. One was bought an alternative gift by her mum which fed a donkey for a month, and the other had bought a gift for her mum which would provide dinner for 100 school children. We talked about the benefits of different ‘alternative’ gift catalogues such as Living Gifts from Tearfund, Great Gifts from World Vision, Unwrapped from Oxfam and Present Aid from Christian Aid, before moving on to consider the needs of those around us. We then spent about 10-15 minutes in small groups considering the question:
How can we live differently and meet the practical needs of our neighbours next Christmas?
Next we discussed the thoughts of the groups, making notes as we went. The Amicus members will be considering the feedback in September, and we’ll seek to encourage everyone in the Church to put the ideas into practice at the end of the year with the intention of enjoying a different Christmas. We’ll revisit the topic in our October Parade Service and kick things off.
[Welcome to anyone visiting from MK Vineyard Church - please introduce yourself in the comments section below...]
This morning, along with my Minster, I had the pleasure of giving a presentation to the MK Vineyard Church about our new Youth Project for Central Bletchley & Fenny Stratford, and inviting them to become partners in the project. We were made very welcome, and we were delighted with the response. The Leadership Team will be considering the financial contribution they feel able to make, and we’ve had offers from five people to volunteer as Staff members and we’re looking forward to getting to know them.
The project will be run under the supervision of the Crosslinks Centre, in partnership with Spurgeon Baptist Church, MK Youth Service & MK Vineyard Church with anticipated support from Bletchley & Fenny Stratford Town Council. I’m involved in setting up the project as part of my Degree course in Youth & Community Work & Applied Theology at the Centre for Youth Ministry [Oxford], but the plan is to create an ongoing and completely sustainable Youth Project.
Here’s the presentation, which I hope makes some sense without my commentary and you can also listen to and download the audio of the talk courtesy of MK Vineyard:
If you have any questions about the project please let me know.
Or “How to fly like a superhero – the way you dreamt it would be as a kid”
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kt692UuRMyg]
hat tip to Marko
