#YouthUnmuted

[isolationship-journal]

Q2, YouthUnmuted: What is "choice" and how would we be living our lives now if we had changed anything in the past?

A2, Luis: I believe choice is a part of this beautiful gift that we have as humans called free will. It has to do with agency and our expectations of outcomes. For our future to materialize requires from us the ability to discern and have a forward-thinking way of approaching things. In retrospect, when I consider the path I have taken to get where I am, I find that it has been a result of learning from mentors, planning along the way and at times just sheer foolish luck. At times I look back and think about the irrational choices that I made like back in the 80’s when I was a junior in college and dropped out to go on the road playing bass with a rock band. I have been lucky to have found mentors along the way that have guided me and taught me best practices and wisdoms that they discovered. If I had to change one thing about the past it would be the way that I paid attention to and documented things that I was involved in. Photo 1: The rock band that I gigged in playing bass on the road for 5 years in Texas. Photo 1 of the Rockoons courtesy of Rolando Bocanegera Jr. Photos 2 & 3:  I was part of the crew that erected the tallest version of the Virgen de Guadalupe sculpture in North America (50 ft. tall) located in Windsor, Ohio commissioned by The Servants of Mary Center for Peace and designed by my sculpture professor and mentor Richard Hyslin from the University of Texas Pan American in the Rio Grande Valley. Photo 2 of the sculpture courtesy of Brian Wedgeworth; Photo 3 of Richard Hylsin courtesy of Eloy Rodriguez.

Photo 4: Me with my printmaking mentor, professor Wil Martin of the University of Texas Pan American in the Rio Grande Valley. Photo 4 of Luis Valderas & Wil Martin courtesy of Luis Valderas.

Photo 5: Me with my mentor Jose Esquivel , co-founder of Con Safo in San Antonio. Founded in the 60’s, “Con Safo defined possibilities for Chicano art at a time when Chicano culture was largely invisible.” Photo 5 of Luis Valderas & Joe Esquivel courtesy of Luis Valderas.

Submission by Luis V., 53, of San Antonio, TX, USA  for We Have Questions on Isolationship-Journal in answer to Question 2: "What is "choice" and how would we be living our lives now if we had changed anything in the past?" asked by young adult artists from YouthUnmuted. Q2 is inspired by their accessible, audiovisual podcast, Now You Hear Us, which examines life in refugee camps and host communities from the perspective of young people. Learn more about the We Have Questions creative project, YouthUnmuted, and this question's topic at isolationship-journal.tumblr.com

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Interview with Daphne Morgen and Hannah Brumbaum of Youth UnMuted

As I reflected upon in my last post, it’s been one year since I began volunteering in Ritsona refugee camp with Lighthouse Relief. As I struggle to reconcile my desire to still be in Greece doing the work on the ground, with my reality of needing to stay in the U.S. right now, I am finding new ways to stay involved and further the amazing work of my peers, even from afar. This is the first in a series of interviews with such peers, catching up with them a year after we met to discuss how they are continuing to work with and on behalf of refugees around the world. For this first installment, I chatted with my supervisors in Lighthouse’s Youth Engagement Space (YES), Daphne Morgen and Hannah Brumbaum, about their path from YES to their newest initiative, Youth UnMuted.

Megan Heise: I want to start with where we all were a year ago and bring things up to the present. Could you talk a little about what this time last year looked like for you, particularly in terms of the work you were doing in Ritsona?

Hannah Brumbaum: Almost one year ago to date, Megan you had just joined us in the YES and we were preparing to launch the 3rd edition of the Ritsona Kingdom Journal.

Daphne Morgen: We had also been in our new space for a couple of months, so we were settling in and decorating and creating the space.

MH: I think I knew at the time how relatively new everything was, but as a (nervous) outsider coming in, it felt so warm and established already to me.

DM: That was definitely our goal -- we had just had a landscape architect volunteer assist us in designing the garden which we felt really helped to make the space feel more welcoming. Even the small act of caring for the plants and bringing them in and out every day was a part of our programming.

MH: I know you've talked in other outlets before about this, but I’m wondering if you can give a brief review of what inspired you to start YES in Ritsona?

HB: Truly, it was the lack of programming in Ritsona for young people. and as we began to engage with small numbers of that population, we realized how much the youth needed and wanted a space that was just for them.

The YES began with Daphne, and the tree of hope project, but quickly evolved into a drop-in space that was open daily, and we began to increase the programming in response to whatever the youth expressed an interest in.

Especially in the beginning days, our constant question is "How are you, do you want to chai, what do you feel like doing today?"

MH: I'm thinking of a conversation we all had at one of our meetings, about how people in our lives would sort of be like, "Oh, wow I could never do what you're doing," as a way to appreciate the work but also as a way to sort of absolve themselves from responsibility of doing the same.

HB: Yes, I remember that meeting. we were talking about power dynamics, and our power and ability to leave and go back home, and the response that our families and friends had to our experiences here.

MH: Yeah. And when you talk about YES, and the simplicity of “How are you, do you want tea, what do you want to do,” it makes me think about that. Because obviously you two especially put a lot of really special work and energy into making YES a reality, and also I think there are people out there who might want to get involved but think they, I don't know, can't for some reason. So I'm wondering what thoughts you have, or what you would say, to someone who might want to get involved some way but has that initial attitude of “Wow, I couldn't do that.”

HB: In all of our time working in Greece, a common theme is that youth engagement really is so simple when you break it down.

DM: We approach it in what we feel is a very "common sense" type of approach -- it's basic humanity to ask ppl how they're doing and what they need. And asking them what they need (knowing that this might continually evolve), is how we approached every aspect of creating the programme.

HB: While yes, this is a very vulnerable population, and everyone needs to take care about protection issues and appropriate interactions, I think that many people are just intimidated by the labels attached to the youth that we work with.

This is also really what inspired the youth magazines we have created

MH: Yes! Tell me more about those!

HB: This idea that if everyone could see what we see on a daily basis, they would have their perspectives on these youth completely change.

DM: We know that "refugee" is a highly stigmatized label...as are young Arab men. Many people make an assumption that they are A. Muslim, B. Religious, C. Radicalized. When we know that the truth is -- they're just youth who need to be nurtured and engaged with.

HB: So the Ritsona Kingdom Journal came from this place of youth wanting to share their voices, and have a place to express themselves and show their work with more people than just us and their peers. And also as a way of reframing the conversation and perceptions around these young people.

And this is really an aspect that we chose to dive deeper into with Youth UnMuted

MH: I'd love to know when the idea for Youth UnMuted began, and the journey to manifesting that idea, making it a reality.

DM: Well we began to roll out Storytelling without Borders (StWB) in January 2018, where we used stop motion film making to engage with young people all over Greece.

We were given the overall goal, but left to design the actual workshops and mode of engagement.

So Youth UnMuted really stemmed from wanting to delve deeper into this  style of pop-up workshopping, and storytelling by melding our experience in creating a physical space in the YES and all the best practices we learned there, with continuing to engage with young people in a variety of settings, and aid in giving them a place to create their own narratives.

MH: One thing I'd like to talk more about is something you and I know, but maybe others who aren't steeped in this work perhaps don't, which is how vastly under-resourced (and that feels like a gross understatement) the majority of refugee camps are. You two created the YES space in Ritsona from the ground up, and that lives on and exists still, but maybe other refugee camps do not have an NGO there or someone there to make a YES space, so my understanding is that Youth UnMuted is this, as you describe it, “pop-up” workshop model, and I'm wondering if you can contextualize a little bit the need for that in Greece and globally.

DM: Yes -- when I first was finally given a physical space to begin programming, it was an empty isobox. So we upcycled and built everything from recycled materials, my family and friends made personal donation of art supplies and basic necessities.

The framework of Youth UnMuted, while pop-up, can definitely be replicated and expanded upon by existing programmes and we are happy to aid in this in any way we can.

We've developed a document of best practices that we believe can be utilized by people who want to set up a similar space, or are doing similar pop up workshops.

Because again -- we think that it's very common sense, and you do not need a lot of money or resources to create a simple space for young people to feel safe and engaged.

MH: It's hard to wrap up, because I feel there are so many other things I want to talk with y'all about! But I guess where to end for today would be: if someone is reading this and is really interested and wants to learn more and get involved with Youth UnMuted or this work in general, what are some avenues they could take?

DM: Cough Cough...$$

Haha. Ok but seriously...Promoting and helping us to get a larger readership for the magazine. To further get the voices of these youth shared. Ultimately, that is how people can help -- to think of networks and people within their own lives who may be interested (ie, universities, school curriculum, libraries, etc.)

HB: I will absolutely just second Daphne in what people can do specifically for us. Share the magazine. Read the magazine. Send it to your family and friends. There are thousands of people still arriving in Greece every year and mainstream media has stopped covering the crisis that is still occurring there. People can do so much by simply not forgetting that these youth are even there.

MH: So, for the record, where can people go to donate, and to read and share the magazine?

HB: We currently are able to accept donations in the form of checks made out to St John’s Episcopal in Oakland, and cite Youth UnMuted in the memo line. Checks can be mailed to St John’s Episcopal in Oakland 1707 Gouldin Rd Oakland, CA 94611

DM: And we see youth unmuted expanding beyond Greece, perhaps to those who are resettled in Europe and beyond...and then beyond just displaced populations...but for now...

HB: We want to put together a Youth UnMuted advocates group, if people are interested in joining, that encourages people to hold fundraisers, raise awareness, and stay involved in their communities. This is what we see as so beautiful about Youth UnMuted - we work with the youth on the ground, but our mission of 'elevating youth voices' is only accomplished when people are hearing them. So we see Youth UnMuted and the magazine as a bridge, connecting communities of our peers and larger audiences with the youth.

MH: Y’all are such rockstars! I respect and appreciate so much your relentless commitment to the work and always evolving and nurturing youth (and volunteers like me!) and connecting folks through these pathways.

To learn more about Youth UnMuted, read the magazine, and/or donate, visit https://www.youthunmuted.org/

[isolationship-journal]

Q2, YouthUnmuted: What is "choice" and how would we be living our lives now if we had changed anything in the past?

A2, Maddie: To me, choice is power. The power to write your own story. It’s taking a chance sometimes, too. I’m a firm believer in the idea that everything happens for reason, so I think that changing one thing could completely alter where you are today. Little decisions can be connected to big ones; in the moment, you have no idea how they are connected. I use college as an example because when I made the choice to come here, I unknowingly made the choice to meet all my now best friends and have all these amazing experiences. If I chose a different school, then I never would have met these people or fallen in love with this town.

Submission by Maddie R, 20, of San Luis Obispo, California, USA for We Have Questions on Isolationship-Journal in answer to Question 2: "What is "choice" and how would we be living our lives now if we had changed anything in the past?" asked by young adult artists from YouthUnmuted. Q2 is inspired by their accessible, audiovisual podcast, Now You Hear Us, which examines life in refugee camps and host communities from the perspective of young people. Learn more about the We Have Questions creative project, YouthUnmuted, and this question's topic at isolationship-journal.tumblr.com

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Orange County Public Library (NC) is excited to partner with Breaktide Productions, YouthUnmuted, Outside the Lens, and the Alliance Youth Media Network on WE HAVE QUESTIONS!

From July 21 to August 18, 2020, we’ll share two questions per week posed by youth media artists from around the globe. Youth, young adults, and new adults aged 10-26 are invited to share poems, memes, videos, illustrations, doodles, voice memos, songs, whatever-you-can-imagine via text, email, or voicemail. We’ll publish submissions the following week here on Isolationship-Journal. We look forward to seeing what you create! Share, reblog, and tell a friend.

For more information, click the Submit tab in the menu. To sign-up for announcements: email accessibleymn@gmail.com OR text us at (415) 942-2429. 

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Question 2 of the We Have Questions project comes to us from young adult artists from YouthUnmuted, an organization which amplifies the voices of displaced and refugee youth. Question 2 -- What is choice & how would we be living our lives if we had changed one thing in the past? -- was inspired by the creators of YouthUnmuted’s accessible, audiovisual podcast, Now You Hear Us, which examines life in refugee camps and host communities from the perspective of young people. Create your answer to this question in the form of art, writing, music, memes, voicemail, texts, whatever you want, and submit them by email (accessibleymn@gmail.com) or text ‪(415) 942-2429‬. Answers are due on Saturdays and post on Tuesdays. Visit www.isolationship-journal.tumblr.com/partners to learn more about YouthUnmuted, Now You Hear Us, and more. 

Many Thanks to everyone who submitted responses to our questions from Kapulei Flores & Jalena Keane-Lee last week -- What is sacred & how do you protect it? All of our answers from 10-26 year olds are up on Isolationship-Journal, a quarantine chronicle blog of Orange County Public Library (NC). Answers from adults & elders will be added soon. 

[isolationship-journal]

Q2, YouthUnmuted: What is "choice" and how would we be living our lives now if we had changed anything in the past?

A2, Chia: I like to think of choice as the ensemble of possibilities presented on a table by my brain. Making a choice not only considers the present, but everything after that. Okay, I decide I want to study law. By choosing what type of career I want to pursue, I eliminate everything else. My brain also thinks, Is this choice the easiest way? What do I win and lose by choosing this option? What is best for me right now? What is something that will help me in advance? Some choices aren’t really choices, only manipulative strategies to make a person do something. Your parents could say, clean your room or forget about receiving your allowance. It’s your choice. Is it? Some even argue that choice is all an illusion. That we are driven by forces beyond our own conscious mind. Behavioral genetics influence your decisions, and your upbringing and environment do too. You can’t control what genes were passed down to you, or how you were raised, so does choice really cease to exist? As a practical person, the first thing that comes to mind when changing the past would be to have bought more stocks and invested in more companies. I realize that it's a selfish decision, because I would be significantly better-off after this alteration. But just me. Maybe I would choose to make a slightly stronger impact on the past, like making sure Hitler never rose to power. Preventing World War I. There are endless options, and endless ways to ensure it. ----------------------------- Sources I browsed while pondering these questions: https://www.scotthyoung.com/blog/2018/11/22/does-choice-exist/#comment-anchor https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/in-control/201609/you-have-no-choice#:~:text=To%20many%20people%20it%20is,the%20least%20choice%20of%20all. https://www.nytimes.com/2011/03/22/science/22tier.html

Submission by Chia L, 14, of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA for We Have Questions on Isolationship-Journal in answer to Question 2: "What is "choice" and how would we be living our lives now if we had changed anything in the past?" asked by young adult artists from YouthUnmuted. Q2 is inspired by their accessible, audiovisual podcast, Now You Hear Us, which examines life in refugee camps and host communities from the perspective of young people. Learn more about the We Have Questions creative project, YouthUnmuted, and this question's topic at isolationship-journal.tumblr.com

[isolationship-journal]

Q2, YouthUnmuted: What is "choice" and how would we be living our lives now if we had changed anything in the past?

A2, Kate: The first time I read this question I was instantly reminded of Robert Frost's "Road Not Taken." The common interpretation of this poem is a very packaged idea about individualism that translates today into a classic Americana propaganda. But the truer interpretation of Frost's words has as one commentator put it "a wolf in sheep's clothing effect" where the narrator knows that the two paths were equal but comforts himself with the deception that one was less traveled and that walking that path is what led him to where he was. To me this speaks a lot to how we think about choice. Is there really ever one point where you can look back on something and pinpoint it as the moment where everything changed? Or do we look back on those chosen moments as a way to comfort and fortify ourselves when we are facing the idea that we have no control over what happens to us? Choice is about having the freedom to make a decision, but if no such freedom exists, then there can be no choice. So when we lack that freedom, or do not see that we have it, we go back and we construct an idea of how our lives have gone as a source of comfort, whether those ideas are real or not. The paths in Frost's poem were equally worn, but the narrator felt lost and out of control because he had no idea what would happen, so he constructs a false idea of his own reality to soothe himself about his own insecurities. We don't want to stop and ruminate over how our lives could be different if we had chosen something else because it is uncomfortable and often portrays oneself in an unkind light. So we tell ourselves that it's okay, that that one random decision is what led us to who we are today. But in reality, did we ever really have a choice in the matter?

  Submission by Kate B, 15, of North Carolina, USA for We Have Questions on Isolationship-Journal in answer to Question 2: "What is "choice" and how would we be living our lives now if we had changed anything in the past?" asked by young adult artists from YouthUnmuted. Q2 is inspired by their accessible, audiovisual podcast, Now You Hear Us, which examines life in refugee camps and host communities from the perspective of young people. Learn more about the We Have Questions creative project, YouthUnmuted, and this question's topic at isolationship-journal.tumblr.com

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Now You Hear Us is a podcast by YouthUnmuted that shares the voices of young people who have experienced displacement. Click the title above to watch and listen to Episode 1 of the podcast, and visit the Partners page of Isolationship-Journal at www.isolationship-journal.tumblr.com/partners to learn more about  Now You Hear Us and YouthUnmuted.

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Question 3 is brought to us by Young Adult Artists from Outside the Lens, an organization dedicated to empowering youth to use digital media to create change in themselves, their community, and their world. Q3 is inspired by the short film, Homesick, created by teens im San Diego with Outside the Lens and examines their lives under quarantine.

Many Thanks to everyone who submitted responses to our questions from YouthUnmuted last week – What is "choice" & how would we be living our lives differently if we had changed anything in the past? All of our answers from 10-26 year olds are up on Isolationship-Journal, a quarantine chronicle blog of Orange County Public Library (NC). Answers from adults & elders will be added soon.