Youand (tm) teenSpace - the art of mutual understanding - José Angel Santana, Ph.D.

"ARES' WAR" -- BY WYNTON COOLEY

2008-06-26T18:11:00.003-04:00

Dedication

My hero story is dedicated to my grandfather, who I called Papa. When I was a very young boy he taught me many rights from wrongs and many other lessons. I spent a lot of time with him and my grandmother, while my parents were at work.

He allowed me to do various jobs around his house like gardening and using the lawnmower. He would allow me to go on the roof when he would be cleaning the leaves off. He would advise me to always be a hard worker; I gained his trust and respect by trying my best at everything. This is characteristic of a true hero!

He was a Pacific 10 Conference football official. He would officiate many USC and UCLA football games and their daily practices. I got to see a lot of those practices, meet the coaches and players like Reggie Bush and Matt Leinart. He would take me on road trips to various universities; I went to Seattle, Las Vegas, and Hawaii.

When Papa passed away in December 2005, my family was filled with emptiness and sorrow. He will always be with me. I will remember the times we had and he will always be my hero!

Ares’ War
It was a very joyous day in Olympus in the Garden of Love. All of the Olympians were there to see their brother and sister, Ares’ and Aphrodite, getting married. This was the joining of Ares’ destructive and Aphrodite’s blissful forces. Hera was the minister who was attempting to marry them. Zeus was very happy for his second strongest son and his most beautiful daughter. Then a rumbling happened, resembling an earthquake, and it wasn’t Poseidon.
It was Matalos, the robot, which Ares’ defeated once. With one single blast from his omega laser eye, he blasted the wedding rings and flew away to his island called Matala. Zeus shot a thunder bolt at him, but it didn’t help; it was like a feather to a stone. Ares’ signaled his flying vulture, Difia to assist him. Ares’ then grabbed his sword and shield to swing at Matalos. It didn’t even make a scratch, because of his armor. Matalos shot a rocket at Ares’ and it exploded. Ares’ then fell to Earth, but Difia caught him just before he smashed into Areopagus, a hill named after Ares’ by the Greeks.

Ares’ had Difia fly to Hephaestos, the god of craftsmanship, and asked him to make armor worthy of his stature, so he could defeat Matalos. When his armor was finished, he went back to the wedding and saw Matalos stealing Aphrodite. With all his might, he swung his sword at Matalos hand which was holding Aphrodite. Matalos let go of Aphrodite and punched Ares’ so hard that he was airborne for four whole minutes. Ares’ fell to the ground like a meteorite. Matalos wanted to kill Ares’ with his strongest weapon so he shot Ares’ with his omega laser eye.
Ares’ picked up his sword and reflected Matalos laser back at him. Matalos started malfunctioning. Ares’ picked up his sword with all of his might and anger, he cut Matalos core out and stuck it on his sword. By throwing his core to the sun, this made the first solar eclipse. Ares’ brought Aphrodite back to Olympus in the Garden of Love. The gods lit Ares’ symbol, a torch, to honor him. Ares’ kissed Aphrodite in the darkness and they spent eternity together.

-- Wynton Cooley

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

SI SE PUEDE : BARAK OBAMA MUSIC VIDEO YES WE CAN : SI SE PUEDE : YES WE CAN

2008-02-10T00:18:00.000-05:00

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

TEXAS YOUTH WORD COLLECTIVE

2007-04-23T15:26:00.000-04:00

-- - click to go there --

This just in:

"Jose,

I judged an Under 21 Slam for young people who will go to San Jose for the Nationals.

A young woman whose father is African-American and whose mother is Japanese did a piece of the Cho incident that was considered controversial. I gave her a 9.9 out of 10 and a high five after the performance. It was brave.

Here is the e-mail I received form the sponsors of the event:

Greg, Pam, Ric, and Roy

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! What a fantastic show! Last night's Slam Off was, by far, the most competitive, most exciting, most moving we have ever had. Every one of you were wonderful.

We can't tell you how much we appreciate your participation last night. The importance beyond the establishment of the team came when Ric gave Pravda a high five for her Va.Tech poem. She had emailed me earlier in the day, afraid to perform the poem because of the backlash she feared from the audience based on how it was received by family members. You guys judging the Slam Off validated the courage the youth exercised in speaking on the controversial issues of the day.

We hope that you will share your experience with others, especially those in position to help us raise the money to get the kids out to San Jose this summer. We really appreciate your support.

Below is the message I sent to the youth:

Wow!!! What a great show last night. The performances were the best this year. The hard work and creativity by each of you was demonstrated in your performances. We are honored to have witnessed your work, your passion, and your improvement throughout the season. It has been a pleasure to have seen so many fabulous performances.

It has been important to us to create a community of young writers and performers here in Austin. It was good to see all of you not only route for each other but to actually spend some time conversing with each other. Some of you participated in our group piece writing workshops. I encourage you to keep in touch with each other; write together, collaborate. Now that you have seen, heard, and know each others writing style, this summer might be a good time to expand your writing by working together.

Thank you again for sharing your voices with us. We greatly appreciate it. Obviously, we want to congratulate this year's Austin Under 21 Slam Champion, Shay, as well as her new teammates, Brent, Korim, and Ruby. We hope that the rest of you will keep this community alive during the summer and continue to participate in the City Wide Under 21 Poetry Slam when the new season starts.

Ron and Dr. Sheila

Ron Horne & Dr. Sheila Siobhan, Co-Directors
Texas Youth Word Collective
u21slam@yahoo.com
www.txywc.org
(512)632-5033"

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

ANCIENT GEEKS

2007-04-22T08:42:00.000-04:00

From The Prague Playhouse:

"Aged just 10-13, the ANCIENT GEEKS are the most inspirational and talented young writers you’re likely ever to come across. These pint-sized poets have been writing together since September 2005 and are already seasoned performers, having given readings of their work at Shakespeare and Sons, the Petrovich Club, and at the 2006 Prague Fringe Theatre Festival. They will be returning to the Fringe this year, by popular demand, with their show CHICKENSOCKS. With poems about loneliness and love, to jellyfish and headless chickens, the ANCIENT GEEKS will make you laugh, they’ll make you cry, but most of all they’ll make you wish you could be a GEEK! With special guest appearances from rising stars the JUNIOR SHAKESPEARES - even younger than the GEEKS, and just as lovable!"

“Astounding!” – Prague Post

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

ON ADOLESCENCE

2007-03-17T12:22:00.000-04:00

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"The conflict between the need to belong to a group and the need to be seen as unique and individual is the dominant struggle of adolescence." -- Jeanne Elium

ALCHEMY, INC.

2007-03-15T22:01:00.000-04:00

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A new picture of the Alchemy Boys, this, one of the finest youth programs that I've seen.

Alchemy, Inc. offers a safe group environment for youth to focus on topics directly related to their stage of development.We emphasize behavior and the character traits necessary for young men to achieve their long-term goals. Our unique and innovative approach uses myth and fairy tales in group discussions of common mythological motifs such as sacrifice, trials, conflict resolution, decision-making, perseverance, humility, confidence and strength to promote an understanding of the developmental processes these young men need to emulate in their academic and social behavior.

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

WORLD YOUTH PEACE SUMMIT - ASIA PACIFIC

2007-02-25T08:01:00.000-05:00

World Youth Peace Summit - Asia Pacific

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

A GIRL LIKE ME

2007-02-17T00:27:00.000-05:00

MEDIA THAT MATTERS FILM FESTIVAL

A GIRL LIKE ME

7:08 min
Youth Documentary
Kiri Davis, Director, Reel Works Teen Filmmaking, Producer

Winner of the Diversity Award
Sponsored by Third Millennium Foundation

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

Profiles in Mentorship, Part 1

2006-10-22T23:56:00.000-04:00

G. Kwame Scruggs and Michael Meade
October 2, 2006
Alchemy Inc., Akron, Ohio
A Youand Documentary (07:56)

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

ALCHEMY, INC. DOIN' ITS THING (cont.)

2006-10-07T11:24:00.000-04:00

THE DRUM , THE BOOK

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

ALCHEMY, INC. DOIN' ITS THING

2006-10-05T21:54:00.000-04:00

-- CLICK IMAGES TO ENLARGE - - -- GOOD TIMES --

-- MR. KWAME SCRUGGS WITH SOME OF HIS BOYS --

-- 7th GRADERS IN FRONT ROW, MICHAEL TELLS A STORY --

-- 8th GRADERS FOCUS TO LISTEN TO A STORY --

-- GETTING READY --

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

CHECK-IN: THE RETURN

2006-10-05T01:31:00.000-04:00

Returned today (Wed. October 4) from Akron, Ohio, and my visit to Alchemy Inc.’s annual program start. This was a profoundly meaningful experience, on many levels. I am still digesting the experience, watching some of the video I was able to shoot. And the work that my friend Kwame Scruggs, with his team, and Michael Meade are doing with these young people is a sobering inspiration. The way these young people express their resonances with each story is on par with any reflections on Myth that I have ever been witness to, including my PhD studies in Myth.

Alchemy Inc., is something very important to recon with. I look forward to sharing further information about my experience of working with them. Check back for some wonderful video footage.

Love,

José Angel Santana

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

CHECK-IN: NEW LINK - ALCHEMY, INC. Michael Meade

2006-10-03T07:44:00.001-04:00

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Wow . . . beautiful day with all of the folks from Alchemy, the elders, the boys, and Michael Meade.

- Drumming - Joy - Inspiration - Story - Song - Dance - Depth - Mentoring -

Wish I was more up on the blogging thing to post some video I shot right, right now. But it will have to wait until I return home and have time to figure it out.

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

CHECK-IN: ALCHEMY INC AND MICHAEL MEADE

2006-10-02T08:02:00.000-04:00

Arrived in Akron, Ohio yesterday afternoon to meet a group of fantastic people associated with my friend Kwame Scruggs’ Alchemy Inc. Michael Meade arrived a few hours later; listening to him tell stories till the stroke of midnight. It was a wonder to behold.

All from the heart, with humor, love and all about helping young people who teach the elders a bit about how to “walk the talk.” This should be a great couple of days.

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

CITY AT PEACE

2006-09-29T16:11:00.000-04:00

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

CHECK-IN: NEW LINK - ALCHEMY, INC

2006-09-19T18:22:00.000-04:00

I take profound pleasure in posting here about the work of my good friend, G. Kwame Scruggs, who holds a Masters of Arts degree in Mythological Studies with degree specialization in Jungian Depth Psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in Santa Barbara, California, (my alma mater as well). The pleasure stems from the echo of so many lunches we had, during which I could always hear Kwame's deep passion to help his community and especially its young people. In 2003 he founded Alchemy Inc.

What a joy to see his work flourish.

Here is a link: Making The Grade: Helping Our Kids Achieve, where about 13 or so minutes into the program, they talk about some of the fruition of Mr. Scruggs' work. The program might be of interest to anyone interested in working with young people.

Alchemy, Inc., a non-profit organization incorporated in the State of Ohio, was established in 2003 with the mission of assisting urban youth and young adults in developing a sense of personal purpose in life while utilizing strategies for successfully navigating the process of personal, familial, academic, social, and community development.

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"The final frontier may be human relationships, one person to another." -- Buzz Aldrin, Astronaut

FIRST POST

2006-08-27T14:53:00.000-04:00

- check-in forthcoming -