Empowerment. When I first heard that word, it meant nothing to me. I was participating in a program called Summer of Solutions, or SoS, with some friends of mine. At first the idea was pretty vague -- a program for youth that simultaneously empowers them and creates on-the-ground solutions for the community. Again, that word: empower. For the first semester of planning our summer program, I had no idea what I was getting myself into. I had all these questions hovering in the back of my mind -- what is community organizing? What are the “grassroots”? And what the hell does empowerment mean, anyway?
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I was on a conference call, late one Wednesday night. Someone had asked me a question -- what was it again? What was I talking about? It'd been a bad week and my head kept spinning.
No, that’s cool. That’s great! Some overenthusiastic fellow named Matt on the other end was encouraging me to talk more, to keep going, to move on.
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It was August, about a week after my father left. The summer was already over and our programs were coming to a close. That week happened to be the week of August Gathering, a chance for representatives from each of the twelve Summer of Solutions programs around the nation to get together and share their successes of the summer. The guy I heard on the conference call a few days before was named Matt -- one of the leaders from the Twin Cities, and he turned out to be the kindest and most genuine guy I’d ever met. Only, he wasn’t the only one.
There were about twenty youth reps in all:
There was Gustavo from Austin with his thick facial hair dark against his summer skin, with a red bandanna tied around his neck and black western shirts and baggy jeans. Gustavo who spoke about foxes and music like he were the most eloquent speaker in the world, gesturing without thinking the whole while. On our way back towards the square from Cheap Thrills, he stopped the whole group to point out a black widow making a web in an abandoned window. What did he tell us?
There was Joe, who shares my passion for food and music and creativity. Between every session he would quietly come talk to me, grinning goofily every time. We talked about carmalizing onions in white wine and sugar and about all the recipes he made for his summer program. We wrote a song together late one night accompanied by his old guitar covered in bumper stickers that were beginning to wear away, and I harmonized with him as he sang about graduating high school and Love in the Time of Cholera.
There were others, too, and I hold them all in my heart as though I still spoke with them every day. Ruby who unveiled her pits unshaved and spoke with such authority, such grace. Timothy who must be a prophet, whose body ignited when he spoke and burned his passion into us all. Jared who sat with his eyes closed, arms crossed, doing more than listening -- he was feeling us as we spoke, knowing not thinking, rising beyond himself to a greater divinity. These people changed me.
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We were graciously hosted by St. Pauls church, which lent us their youth programs space. I remember it being hot and stuffy with the August heat. But more than that, and despite that, there was a certain quietness to the room we met in. It was a quaint room with two pianos crammed into the corner and a hurried medleys of couches and chairs forming a circle in the center. I remember it bathed in natural light slanting in from the stained glass windows. See, and I know we had lights on, but I remember it only in that natural, transient light than illuminated us from within.
I spoke in that group as though I never had before, as if it were the first time in my life I’d told my whole truth. Every word I spoke came from some reverberant bone in my chest, and it resonated as I spoke, purring at me with satisfaction and belonging. I spoke as if I’d known these people my whole life. But then again, no. I think not knowing them is what enabled me to speak so honestly about myself and my inhibitions and my joys. Not knowing them and yet knowing them -- I didn’t know where they grew up or where they went to college or what their favorite subject was, but I knew them on the deepest and most intuitive level possible. I knew that they would listen to whatever I had to say, drink it in and let it sit within them. They would hold space and resonate and feel what I had to say. They would listen because they talk that way too -- in a passionate slurring of words that leaves you shaking, shivering with resonance and passion and glory. It really was glorious, speaking in that half-lit room; it was glorious to be in the presence of my true peers. Their love and devotion and freshness was real to me then, and I was in a dizzying swirl of passion for about a week.
It faded, though, and so I’ve naturally sought that feeling every day sense. School started and my friends drove back to their pockets of the country. And then it was hard, because I knew that such learning was possible. I knew that I could create change and be a social entrepreneur. I could be anything in that room and with those people. School became monotonous and dry and uninteresting. I would daydream about urban agriculture and in-kind donations and our farmers’ market. I realized my full potential, and I realized that my education was more than just my schooling at FHS. I became frustrated with my peers who couldn’t relate to my summer stories and didn’t want to get involved.
Anytime I’m dissatisfied with school, which seems to be happening increasingly often, I think back to a moment at August Gathering when Joe hugged me, when he put his hand behind my neck in the most infinite support, and I could breathe in for one more instant. He loved me then and I him. Not even each other but the movement; we loved supporting each other and being supported and feeling cushioned. They keep me from giving up, and they hold me. They cradle me from a distance without even knowing they do because they did that one week in one faraway August when I was scared and lonely and opened to them.
With those thoughts in mind, I feel like there was so much more out there, and it’s worth my while to hunt it down. And in reality, I have. I taught a cooking class to kids and I went to a conference for youth activists in Minnesota. I created a pseudo business called Green Food Solutions, and I drove down to Little Rock to give cooking demonstrations to an inner-city school. The thing is, I really am proud of myself. I am satisfied with who I’ve become and who I’m becoming. I feel worthwhile, and I feel strong. Somehow even with my family falling apart and hating school and missing my friends from all around the country, I was still happy. I was content, and I still am. The memories of August Gathering, the voices of my friends from SoS on biweekly conference calls, and my passion for the work we are doing -- they all keep me going.
That’s the thing about the movement -- it’s not just a hobby, and it’s not quite a job. It’s a passion, full and verbose and all-consuming. It’s made up people and trainings and gatherings and solutions, and you can’t just limit it to one of those. The movement represents the voice of youth today, but it is also very personal. It is my own. And with that ownership, I am empowered. With that ownership, I want to work with these people to find solutions -- within a failing economy, amidst corruption and disconnection, for communities and people, by youth and for youth -- for the rest of my life.
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Summer of Solutions has changed my life -- are you ready for it to change yours?
Want to learn more?
Learn more about Fayetteville's program: http://grandaspirations.org/fayetteville
Check out the new SoS page on OMNI's site: http://www.omnicenter.org/sos-home/
Read about our principles, values, and the Solutionary Method: http://grandaspirations.org/summer-of-solutions/philosophy
Take a look at this be-a-udiful flier by Andrea Love: http://myemail.constantcontact.com/Update-from-Summer-of-Solutions-Fayetteville.html?soid=1102918551993&aid=8sx4z9e7_EQ
Really excited? We have a new position in desperate need of filling!
Apply to be a program leader in Fayetteville: https://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&pid=explorer&chrome=true&srcid=0B3hV6INSrQDTMmEwOTA1MTMtZTIzYy00M2I1LWJlOTgtNmEzYjhkMjFmMTI1&hl=en
Don't live in Fayetteville? No problem!
Check out our programs all around the nation: http://grandaspirations.org/programs
Wondering what's happening now?
Follow us on Solutionaries: http://solutionaries.net/
If you're still not interested, that's okay! Please feel free to spread the word to anyone else who might be. Thank you so much for your time, interest, and support. Best of luck to you all!
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