Club 06/07 Week 5

This week was:

• Kick it out of Sport
• Make a Difference Day 29th
• Black History Month
• Wear it Pink Day 27th
• Feed the Birds Day 28th
• British Summertime Ends
• Fairtrade Month

And this week we...

• made Jon a Birthday card designed again by Georgie...she is making a habit of this...this time its a cool guitar motif
• made weird artybird feeders from cheap multicoloured cereal & string...which was eaten by some birds and one family dog.
• had an Autumn Fete planned in a week by the young people...not advertised in case it had to be cancelled because of rain but which was great fun for us all....with Tombola, henna painting, badgemaking, penalty shoot outs, fish-the-fish, jumble stall, pick-a-lolly-win-a-lolly, guess the weight, balloon modelling, cake stall and children's play area & chalk-art on the ground....oh and made 152.85...and all done by Craig (The Terror of the tombola), Thomas (the Tank Engine), Keeley (the person one refers to when aliens say to u 'take me to ur leader'), Sarah (split personality ...poster-person & lolly-lady), Josh S (Golden Goalie) with help from Thomas' cousin (who's name I have forgotten but others may remember his part in the club mural), Kelly, Georgie, Kirsty, Josh L (the walking human placard), Emma (the badger), Alan (of the 'Lunch is for Wimps' fame), Sue (the seller of snow to the Inuit) and Diane who made great cookies and junior club & Jim who made rice crispy cakes and scrambled eggs and junior club aided by Christine & Sarah made bunting...bunting is that triangular flag stuff u see at village fetes...bunting...u know u can't stop saying the word- its addictive - u want to have a fete just to make some so u can say 'Oh what lovely bunting'....how true
• Did some Wear it Pink Puzzles
• heard Jermaine say he had 6 acts for the Talent Show - to be continued...we hope
• continued Pool & Table Tennis Tournaments...with Ricky crowned The Table-Tennis Tournee Tycoon and John crowned Platinum Pool Player of the People ...and all the winners win pie & mash in the local diners!
• 
  
saw Akiba & Draughts make a comeback...it is amazing how the placing of a game on a table...sometimes the most unlikely of games...is like a flower to a honey bee...there are grudge matches next club and promises to take on the winner...in draughts...the wonder of it all...what will be next...tiddlywinks?
• had to put the lights on more but at the same time found some bulbs are starting to emerge from recent planting
• did Olympic Flags, which in record time were planned, designed and made over two evenings with artists Cara & Anne to be part of, Bridging The Lea on Tuesday 14th November 06.....A visual spectacular of virtual bridges created by local people and world-renowned artists. Come and see the Lea as you have never seen it before! Three Mills, E3 Tues 14th Nov 7pm.

Good, Bad or Deficent?

Are young people born or brought up to be good or bad? Is it NATURE or NURTURE? Why do two people, even twins, who can be brought up similarly, turn out so differently? Why does Japan have the lowest murder and suicide rates? Can it be, as stated in the Guardian, in some cases attributed to diet? We know that it can affect behaviour - my brother gets hyper when he has artificial colours, people are intolerant to different foods for different reasons...can Omega 3 be a key element in our behaviour, is it the natural version of Ritolin & Prozac combined to trigger the more positive emotions?

Club 06/07 Week 4

This week was:

• Black History Month
• Breast Cancer Awareness Month
• History Matters Day 17th
• The Big Draw
• Make Poverty History Day 17th
• Fairtrade Month
• Kick it out of Sport
• Apple Day 21st

And this week we...

• had a reflection session run by Thomas in the form of a game of Black History Catchphrase...giving workers pictures to put together to form a well known phrase, person or event in Black History & and evaluation session asking people how they 'Made History' that night...whether in terms of relationship building or learning
• had a drumming session where Callum & Keith showed their talents and were impressed by the electronic drum sets ability to produce incongrous sounds...instead of biff-boom-bam...they had shriek-howl-woof...
• had Pool, Table Tennis & Cathedral Tournaments...one winner this week....Jim the King of Cathedral beating Laura the Queen of Cathedral...
• made Christine a Birthday card (designed by Georgie) and signed by all Monday Club
• saw the new Fairtrade juices going well...& tasting 'fruity' & 'guilt-free'.
• made rice crispy cakes - cos Conor & Danny fancied making them...and remembered making them when they were little (not the ripe old age of 11)
• made choco-apples on sticks in honour of Apple Day...with a secret recipe - white chocolate
• finally got the fish and shark painted...Emma valiantly stayed the course...now all they need are the fine detail and to be attached to the net with shells etc and be placed on hanging over the hatch in the mural...perhaps in time for a Hawaiin Christmas Holiday?
• dressed like Umpa Lumpas in Trafalgar Square & protested outside Downing St with a Make Poverty History sign called Geoffrey and Fairtrade Banana called Timmy.
• sang Christmas Carols with Jon, Vicky, Katie & Georgie...Yes I do know it's October...but if u want to make a Christmas CD...starting at Christmas is going to be too late to start learning the words...Jingle what?
• made entries into the History Matters One Day in History recording what we did on the 17th of October 2006 as a kind of blog-time-capsule, a snapshot of the nation on that day to look back on in the future...my entry....u can still record what u did that day if u wanna be part of it...u no u do...go on be part of history.
• heard Jermaine suggest having a Talent Show - and when is told 'ok - if he puts it together' ... after recovering from the shock of having his 'brilliant' idea validated watch as he sets about this endeavour.
• began the 'Magician's Hat' & rainbow & wishes which included the following:

a sweet machine that good people could fly and bad people couldn't an ice-cream world a chocolate house & chocolate fence a sister to live in Wickford a cat World Peace to be a fairy to be happy Love a lift that could take u anywhere in the world lots of friends No Wars Nan to be well a Fairtrade, sugar-free, everlasting lolipop to live forever chocolate snot...

...what would you wish for?

23.5 MILLION...

...people around the world

including a few from Poplar

were involved in the

Stand Up Against Poverty

& got into the

Guinness Book of World Records

Spot the Poplar Umpa Lumpas!

Introducing Geoffrey & Timmy

(thats the sign & banana in case u didn't know)

Pretend Not to Notice...go on try!

A spot of protesting outside Downing Street

...as u do!

...and all the way home on the No. 15 Bus.

WHY?

As Michael Albert says: To Raise the Social Cost

• The answer is that we protest and organize to raise the social cost to elites of maintaining the policies we want changed and to thereby force immediate gains benefiting those now suffering most. And the answer is that we organize to empower and enlighten diverse constituencies and to create lasting beachheads of organization and commitment in an on-going process of movement building aiming at fundamental – and yes, revolutionary -- change.

Michael Alberts full article

Past Successful Protests/Demonstrations:

The Civil Rights Movement

Martin Luther King, at the 250,000 strong march on Washington, in August 1963, said:

• I am happy to join with you today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom in the history of our nation.

Why? [T]o promote Civil Rights and economic equality for African Americans.

African Online tells more about why demonstrations/protests work

The Women's Suffrage Movement

In 19o3 the American women got the right to vote and 15 years later, according to the Guardian: British women had the suffrage for which they had shouted and sung and starved and marched.

The Syntax of Protest by Geoffrey Nunberg gives a short but interesting take on the protest

Some recent successful campaigns/protests/demonstrations:

• One man protest against Tescoes : One person can instigate change, small or big (Rosa Parks did)
• People and Planet students got Pepsi to disinvest in Burma, increased the number of universities using green electricity from 1 to 52, got Oxford Brookes recognised as the first accreditated Fairtrade University in the Uk and got Esso to cancel its milkround recruitment.
• Make Poverty History: Changes in UK & International Policy, Millenium Goals, Debt Cancellation, Trade Justice, More & better Aid, HIV & AIDS & TB & Malaria Treatment & other changes...but still a long way to go.

What the above will be called in the future, we don't know, they could be part of the Environmental Movement or the Anti-Corporation Movement...they are all incremental steps in movements like the recent years Anti-Poverty Movement...which is broken into single actions from giving money to demonstrating to writing a letter or email to working in a disadvantaged area or educating people or providing equipment or skills or even just a conversation which opens another person's eyes...it all starts with individual single actions...and they come together to form a movement, a larger mass of still individaul actions, to create change...and when 23.5 Million people want a change...and do something about it...other's notice...and thats the point...the turning point, I hope.

Club 06/07 Week 3

This week was:

• Breast Cancer Awareness Month
• The Big Draw
• Fleming's Discovery of Penicillan
• Fairtrade Month
• Youth Council
• Stand Up Against Poverty
• Black History Month

And this week we...did all things bug-like (in honour of Fleming)

• butterfly suncatchers/stainglass with card cutouts and tissue paper
• worms in mud...jelly worms in angel delight and icing sugar/goldensyrp worms in chocolate
• bugs for mural out of model magic
• cut out our names to make 'Vision On' bug names
• made a catterpillar out of individual worker coloured circles...just add legs!

Pink Ribbon collage for Breast Cancer Awareness Month

Also...

• made a Breast Cancer pink ribbon collage
• added white tissue to shark papier mache for 3D part of mural...now more than 15 have been involved in the shark....will it ever end?
• had a group visit from Sweden, Norway & Iceland...as u do!
• YAP listed skills we had as a group for the project...they included whistling, bogey juggling and fire fighting (ie. blowing a match out having lit a camp fire)
• had more fair trade products to sell in tuck shop & sold more...& ordered more....loving guiltfree tuck!
• made eggy bread (probably has some posh name) to use eggs as shells needed for art project...2 for the price of 1.
• did a speed version of evaluation...30 seconds each, say stop and someone else jumps in to evaluate in record time...was the fastest evaluation session ever...considering there were 12 workers (inc. young people) ...so if the maths works out that was 6 mins + 2mins for AOB...wow!
• Saturday - Sarah, Thomas, Josh & Craig showed other young people how to make badges, key rings and magnets, do T Shirt printing and designer socks at the Youth Council...some great designs all round. The young people attending were asked what they wanted the art activity to be next year...most said 'the same'!
• Mikey & Hafima made muffin pizzas for lunch for all George Green classmates who fought over seconds...what are muffin pizzas u ask...no not chocolate muffins...breakfast muffins halved, covered in tomato pizza topping & whatever u want with cheese sprinkled on top and popped in a pre-heated oven til brown...how easy is that?
• Sunday - Thomas, Sarah, Victoria and the inflatable Fairtrade banana were part of attempt to break a world record by Standing up against Poverty...at an event in Brick Lane - one of the many around the world...the green spot on the hand above was evidence of being counted...news of whether we were successful will follow...were there enough of us round the world to get into the Guinness Book of World Records? Time will only tell.

Jeans for Genes

For Jeans for Genes Day

....collage of denim patches designed by all 3 clubs ages from 5 to 18+.

Club 06/07 Week 2

The month of October is:

• Fairtrade Month
• Black History Month
• International Walk to School Month

This week was:

• Learning to Sign Week
• World Space Week
• British Food Fortnight
• Oct 6th Jeans for Genes Day

And this week we...

• did some signing...names & ordering from the tuck shop
• designed a life size pair of jeans from card and all 3 clubs decorated denim patches to make a combined collage (pictures to follow)
• continued to layer the papier mache shark & fish (for the 3D mural)...so far at least a dozen people have been involved in the creation
• made cookies from a recipe discussing the similarities to how genes are part of the recipe for a human & how genetic disorders are when the recipe goes wrong.
• for after session evaluation used a 'What planet were u on tonight?' sheet where people decorated and named their planets, decided on the planet's atmosphere and inhabitants and hilighted any stars of the night.
• planted some wild flowers
• had a great junior club run by Craig and with a great Black History game...where in a circle of chairs a person in the middle calls out a famous black person's name and the first to say what they are famous for goes in the middle and does the same...it was fun
• had a group sign up for Keeley's Drama Workshop and Jon's Chrismas CD.
• turned into Maureen's Pie & Mash shop for one night...all we needed was 27 pies, a basin of mash, two pints of liquor, a half pint of grave...and only forgot the vinegar for Jim and the pepper for Keeley...tho Craig & Vicky rectified that matter.
• had more young people sign up to get more fairtrade products in the tuck shop
• had George Green complex needs group start again with some new faces
• took a bus tour round London on Saturday...saw and learned lots








• had another YAP meeting chaired by Keeley...hearing the research done by the group and making decisions as to the aims of the project.

Puzzle of the Week:

How do u get ur right hand in your front left pocket of your jeans while having your left hand in your right front pocket of your jeans without crossing your arms or putting them behind your back.

Hi-lights of the Week:

• One of the Juniors, a boy who in the past had not been so friendly, sweetly popping his head in the kitchen door to say goodbye to me.
• One young man, in a wheelchair, learning to control his motor skills to be able to flick a Karrom piece in a game for the first time, encouraged by a classmate, to the point where he wins a piece and on my comment that I hadn't won any pieces yet, offered me his.

To Change the Date on your Blog

To change the date on a draft blog to make it current or to back date a new blog just click on the link circled in red.

This gives you the option to change the date and time so that I could if I wished change the time to some more reasonable time than past 2am to give the impression that I have a sensible 8 hours sleep.

It only took me months to find out how to do this, after trawling through help-sites and blog advice-sites where the answer to my problem never seemed to be discussed - probably because it was so glaringly obvious in hindsight...but I hadn't realised it was a link - I thought it was just a title referring to the options to the right of it.

And how did this wondrous epiphany occur? I sat staring at the screen, having decided that if it was not a problem discussed else where on the internet that it must not in fact be a problem and that meant the answer was staring me in the face...I just had to recognise it. I finally did and want to share it with the world...or at least those like me who just sometimes make life more complicated than it needs to be.

I hope you enjoy your new found power...to change history.

Stand Up

@ Brick Lane on Sunday the 15th of October @ 1pm

A global month of action began with Drumming for Trade Justice on the 14th of September and is closing with a global attempt to set an official Guinness World Record for the biggest number of people ever to STAND UP against poverty.

The Battle of Cable Street

October 4th is the 70th anniversary of the Battle of Cable Street.

• On October the 4th 1936 Oswald Mosely led a march through Stepney.

What was wrong with this? I march. Hundreds and thousands march for Peace or to Make Poverty History or for Civil Rights or Equality. So what was wrong with this march? Why would 100,000 people sign a petition to stop the march? What had 310,000 people there? Why were there 6000 police in case of trouble?

• Oswald Mosely was a fascist, in fact head of the BUF (British Union of Fascists) and he wanted to march through Stepney which had mainly Jewish people living there.

The struggle I have is with 'Free Speech' - if we expect to have the right to express our views doesn't that mean we have to expect others to have the right to express their views too however much we might hate those views?

• Goebbels was in favor of free speech for views he liked. So was Stalin. If you're in favor of free speech, then you're in favor of freedom of speech precisely for views you despise. Otherwise, you're not in favor of free speech.Manufacturing consent:Noam Chomsky and the Media(1992).

When I think of the Battle of Cable Street I am torn. I am torn between the delight of the idea of thousands of people standing up against racism as I would with any stand against injustice. And between the question in my mind of whether I can really say then that I am a believer in Freedom of Speech.

Then I think, what would I have done? I certainly would have been there. I would be exercising my rights and wearing anti-fascist slogans and flying anti-fascist banners and shouting anti-fascist messages and songs. I might even have gone as far as pelting the odd person with rotton fruit and felt guilty after but I don't think that I would have thrown bottles or tried to physically hurt anyone.

But then I think of the What-ifs. What if no one had fought the BUF? What if the BUF were successfull in their march and intimididated the people of Stepney? What if people were so fearful of the BUF they let them get away with more and more. What if they BUF got to power. What if they were in power now?

Does the fact that this is not the case justify the way it came about? Do the ends justify the means? If what you want to achieve is good, does it matter if the things you do to achieve it aren't good? Do the ends justify the means? Aldous Huxley, a lifelong pacifist, thinks not in his collection of essays called Ends and Means. He does not agree with fighting violence with violence as happens so often. He believes there are other ways to change without using war or battle.

As he puts it:

• It is enormously difficult to change; but the enormously difficult is not the impossible.
  
  

Club 06/07 Week 1

This week was our first week back at club this acadeamic year.

This week I liked...

• Welcoming young people and workers back and catching up with them after the summer
• Seeing the multicoloured flowers on the wall with the hopes for the coming year at their centres (Flowers of Hope or Flower Hopes or Hope Flowers?)
• Learning 'Hello' in various languages and decorating the Hellos and putting them on the wall forEuropean Language Day
• The continuation from summer of the papier- mache Shark for the 3D part of the mural taking shape while conversation flowed
• Young people cooking Muffin Pizzas and everyone enjoying their efforts
• Table tennis round-the-table still having its draw as a game to have bigger numbers playing
• Watching a new worker find his feet as a past club member who has chosen his old club for his youthwork course placement.
• Hearing about another worker's excitement about the beginning of her youth work course
• Talking about possible options for our Youth Africa Project and making plans
• Playing pool with people who don't normally play pool and watching them improve.
• Planting autumn bulbs
• Singing and dancing with Singstar
• Discovering some club Runescape players and talking about the possibilities of playing the game as a pacifist
• Finding club members when given the choice are keen to have more healthy and fairtrade options added to the tuck shop.
• Swopping ideas with the DYO and making plans for the Youth Council
• Working with young people working with young people - great cycle.

And every week I love...

... working with people who want to be here: its voluntary - for young people and workers - its not like school or a job, nobody has to be here or is paid to be here, they all come because they want to.

And if you want the theory check out Young People, Informal Education & Association