Youth Radio - Topic: Hope

Seagulls Are Still There

rgee — Wed, 08 Dec 2010 10:40:21 -0600

The following was broadcast on 12/11/10 WABE-FM, Atlanta.

By Max Bartlett

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I've never been much of an environmentalist, but a trip to the gulf coast this summer got me thinking about manmade disasters, and ironically made me hopeful. My family was driving across Louisiana under that hot July sun. Tommy Tutone pumped loudly out of the stereo of my father’s car. I rolled down the window and felt the heat blast my face. The seafood restaurants along the deserted coastal towns were still open, hoping other tourists like myself would be arriving.

Unlike most families this summer who canceled their trips to the Gulf, we planned ours to see the extent of this tremendous natural disaster. I was prepared to see a slick of black when we arrived at the beach. However, we were greeted by the old seagulls in the air, seemingly welcoming us, unabated by the crisis in the gulf. As I leaned back in the seat of the car, I wondered if the media had blown the story of the oil disaster out of proportion. As soon as I got out of the car, that notion went out of my head faster than the oil pumping out of that pipe at the bottom of the sea. The stench of sludge flooded my nostrils and had me bent over coughing.

Yet, as I walked towards the water and saw the scores of BP workers sifting through the sand, I started to think of the seagulls. As bad as the situation was, they were still there. And so was I. I knew that one day, the oil would be cleaned up and life would go on. That’s reassuring.

Previously from WABE:

• Road Wars

• Natural Hair

• Community Service or Disservice?

Support for this content is provided in part by the National Science Foundation.

Youth Political Energy Is High As Elections Approach

rgee — Fri, 22 Oct 2010 09:17:15 -0500

The November elections are just around the corner. According to Bakari Kitwana of the Huffington Post, the 18 - 29 age demographic will be extremely important once again. However, he makes the argument, “Over the last two years President Barack Obama did not fulfill his campaign commitments to the 14 million plus young voters so crucial to his 2008 victory.”

He explains that the youth sent Obama to the White House to make change happen, and now they have to decide if he’s done enough. Are the changes to health care, student loans, the economy, and the war in Iraq big enough signs of change?

While we can’t predict which way the elections will go, we can see the political energy still surging through young people around the country.

The College Republicans National Committee (CRNC) has been actively recruiting new Republican voters. “We’ve put field representatives in Florida, Michigan, Nevada, Pennsylvania, and Ohio to work with the local college representatives to recruit, train, and engage college students for statewide victory purposes,” said Rob Lockwood, Communications Director for the CRNC.

Lockwood said they focused their recruiting efforts in these battleground states and have succeeded in recruiting 25,200 new college Republicans in these states alone. He said young voters are especially important to this election. “It’s been proven that the college years are the most formative in shaping a political opinion. Because young people voted in record numbers in 2008, it’s important to get them to the polls again. We believe young people voted for the power of personality in 2008. They were energized. They voted for hope and change. However, neither of those has been implemented. The only change they got is massive debt on their tab, in exchange for short term political gain,” said Lockwood.

Likewise, the College Democrats of America (CDA) are busy recruiting young people to vote. Alejandra Salinas, President of the CDA said they have targeted certain states. “In Texas, we only had eight chapters last year. This year we have 45,” she said. She also cited the numbers of young voters in 2008 as a powerful sign. “We all learned in 2008 that the power is with the people who show up to vote. We elected democratic people who stood up for student rights issues such as credit card reform, health care reform, and student loan reform. These changes have improved the lives of young people across the country,” she said.

Salinas said the CDA is focusing on conveying the message that the Democrats have fulfilled their promises. “The Democrats have delivered on hope and change and we have to make sure that message has been communicated. If we get the message out, young people will be convinced that they need to get back out there and vote.”

In order to convey their message, the CRNC created a website called ourtab.org, with the slogan, "Don't Put It On Our Tab," which is a visualization of the national debt growing. “It has been extremely effective and gotten lots of positive response. It’s an initiative to inform young voters,” said Lockwood. He explained that the Republicans are running on a platform of financial efficiency, conservancy, and transparency.

“In 2008, the administration added 5 trillion dollars to the national debt. Young people are realizing that they are in danger of picking up the debt. If they cannot find work, they can’t pay off their debt. We need financial reform,” said Lockwood.

Meanwhile, organizations like The League of Young Voters and Rock the Vote are busy making sure that young people stay involved in politics.

Rock the Vote posted on its blog, “With the passage of voter registration deadlines in over 26 states across the nation, Rock the Vote surpassed its goal for registering young voters this fall. As of Oct. 4, Rock the Vote more than 225,000 individuals have used Rock the Vote’s tool to register to vote in the Nov. 2 midterm elections. This figure exceeded our 2010 goal of 200,000 registrations, more than quadrupled the number of registrations processed in 2006, and represents the largest midterm registration effort in our organization’s history.”

The League of Young Voters Education Fund kicked off the BET Hip-Hop Awards with an event called, “IGNITE 2010: From the Blogs to the Blocks.” This event was to discuss the role of new media and hip hop has to play in the important youth issues.

Home Makeover For Girl Teens

rgee — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 15:46:42 -0500

ABC’s show, Extreme Makeover: Home Edition is all the rage. Even if you have no interest in home-building yourself, the elaborate interior decorations and the emotional endings never fail to touch viewers. In July, this show did something special for the youth population in Baltimore, MA.

During one intense week of construction, July 10 - 16th, the Extreme Home Makeover crew will be building a girls’ home for the organization Boys Hope Girls Hope (BHGH), in Baltimore.

This organization is one of a kind. According to the BHGH website, the goal of the organization is to offer at-risk teens a supportive home environment where they can continue their education and reach their full potential. These young people might otherwise have been held back by destructive factors at home, such as drug abuse, poverty, or neglect. Jiarra Jackson, who worked for BHGH in Baltimore a few years ago, said, “No BHGH scholars are any angels but we help kids who want to succeed and they just want a helping hand. We help them accomplish their dreams.”

A boys home was built back in 2002, while Girls Hope was still just a day program. Jackson said, “I remember the boys giving a tour of their home excited to point out their favorite toys and place in the home. They were showing me their home. It brought joy to my heart.”

Now, thanks to donations, and Extreme Home Makeover, the girls have a residence as well. The show will be aired in September, even though the house was revealed to the girls on July 16th. Jackson thinks the show will have a huge impact on the organization. “I think that whoever watches the show will see the moment that the girls' lives change. The majority of the people will just feel that it is a heartfelt story, but others will feel inspired - inspired to change their lives or even inspired to help improve the lives of others.”

The youth in BHGH work to change the lives of people in their community as well. According to BHGH website, “Each scholar completes about 100 hours of community service annually, spending time helping such entities as the Maryland Food Bank, Johns Hopkins’ Children’s House, Food for Thought, Student Sharing Coalition and East Rosemont Neighborhood Association.” The youth can do more good in society, and more good for themselves, if they are living in a good place. “I think their lives will be forever changed. Having a bed, three meals a day, and safe and comfortable environment,” said Jackson.

Working with BHGH meant a lot to Jackson. She recalled, “I was there to give a speech/ testimony about how BHGH impacted my life. The speech went well, but the part that was most memorable was when the scholars can up to meet thanking me for being there. I personally felt like I should have thanked them for having the courage to join BHGH.”

On July 13, 2010, a press release announced that Extreme Makeover: Home Edition in conjunction with the College of Notre Dame in Maryland will offer scholarships to the seven young women in Girls Hope to go to college. The scholarship will cover 100 percent of their education for for years, including room and board, fees, and tuition. These girls have everyone rooting for them. "I think their lives will be forever changed," said Jackson.

Hope

nmexico — Mon, 05 Apr 2010 14:29:57 -0500

By Wykera J. Skidmore

Today I saw three kids playing in the park, they seemed happy,
until someone picked them up. In the car were a mother and father. The
father was drunk, the mother abused, and their children were scared to death of being picked up. On the other hand another family drove up, just the same but yet different, a lot different, a mother who cared, a father who was protective, and children that were happy as ever.

The three children looked at this family only dreaming to have a better life with a caring mother, a protective father, and their happiness. To them that reality is only a dream.
From Shandon Endito: " I was one of those kids, I was abused
by my mother and father. They would always drink everyday. When they would come back they would call me names that were awful, treated me like I was nothing, and hit me a lot. I would always dream of having a family that cared, protected me, and a family that was happy. I was lucky because my mother and father stopped drinking. They started going to church. Now we are a happy and wonderful family that I always dreamt of.”
What I want to say to the kids that are getting abused by their family members is that don't give up hope, keep having hope, and do something about it. Tell a family member you trust or an adult, or the police. Here are some numbers to call and remember don't be afraid to call or say something about it.

Haven House Inc Dv Shelter - (505) 896-4869
New Mexico Coalition Against Domestic Violence - (505) 246-9240
Coalition To Stop Violence - (505) 243-9199
S.A.F.E. House - (505) 247-4219
Or go to http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=domestic+violence+in+albuquerque&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq= for more information and remember don't be afraid to call.

Hope

nmexico — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 15:26:46 -0500

By Philip Riley

Hope, by definition means: a desire or wish accompanied by confidence or expectation. Most of us live for hope; a lot of us pray for it; while others, we give up on hope entirely. Not because we are pessimists, but because we understand why the Greeks considered it to be as dangerous as one of the world’s evils. When we are young society teaches us to believe in hope, but what they don’t teach us is the reality that hides behind it. You see, hope can take an individual to their wildest dreams. Or, drag them to a hell of their own insanity.

Yes my view on hope can be deemed as quite cynical, but I now see what hope can create: a false sense of security in a human. I hoped to get into my dream school; I hoped not to worry about my education financially; I hoped for my mother’s health. Now, I only live for today and wake up everyday to learn from hope. Each and every one of us has been blinded with hope and has succumbed to its spell. But it is time that we, as individuals, wake up and understand hope. But what I don’t get is why they say hope is the only thing people have left in this world? What we, as people, need to realize is that hope was put here to open our eyes and see what lies in front of us: a harsh reality.

If I had the chance to meet the individual who gave birth to this belief, I would…I wouldn’t know what I would do. But, I will ask them to create another belief or idea; maybe even combining hope and reality to give faith to those who have lost it. For it is said that hope is a pleasant acquaintance, but an unsafe friend.

Fatalistic Teens Increase Risk of HIV Infection

cfoster — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 14:53:23 -0500

John was the kind of teenager who’d drive 100 miles per hour without a seatbelt and jump into a pool from the second story of a building. What his parents said no to, he’d do ten times harder.

“I didn’t think I’d live past 21,” says John, who asked us not to use his real name. “I had alcohol poisoning at 15, I was in a coma one stage away from death.”

Adults always say people my age think we’re immortal, and that’s why we take crazy risks. But for John, who’s now 25, it was the opposite.

“People here are so used to seeing people their own age die, that life isn’t as valuable a thing as it should be, especially here in Oakland,” John says. “They’re numb, there’s no emotion there anymore because it’s so common.”

There’s some new research that backs up John’s point. A study this summer from the University of Minnesota reports 1 in 7 teenagers in the US thinks he or she only has a 50-50 shot of making it past 35. That alone may not be so surprising. But what stands out in the research are the consequences of low life-expectancy.

“We also found that those who predicted in the first interview that they would die earlier, were more likely in the later years to begin engaging in these risky behaviors,” says Dr. Iris Borowsky, the study’s lead author.

Youth who thought they’d die young were seven times more likely than their more hopeful counterparts to contract HIV/AIDS. Dr. Borowsky says pediatricians like her should screen their patients about how they view their futures.

“If I find that I have a patient who does not see a long road of opportunity ahead of them, this may be an indicator of multiple issues that deserve attention and also an opportunity to intervene to prevent risky behaviors including behaviors that are associated with HIV AIDS enough to improve health outcomes,” Borowsky says.

Kevin Bynes runs youth services at the aids project of the east bay, and he sees risky behavior first hand—and its effects.

“We talk about violence, substance abuse, a variety of poverty issues, but we rarely talk about HIV as one of those things,” says Bynes. “And it's a growing problem in this area and in the Bay Area.”

The rate of new HIV infections among teens is a problem nation-wide, according to a study released this summer by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The number of AIDS diagnoses for males age 15 to19 has doubled in the past ten years, and as of 2006 about 22,000 youth are living with AIDS.

Last December, after 10 years of reckless behavior, John became part of the statistic.

“I had been with somebody who had contracted an STD,” John recalls. “And as a precaution I went into a clinic to get tested just to make sure I was OK. When I was there I was offered an HIV test separately from all the STD tests I had taken. It seems like all the STD things came back negative, but the HIV test came back as positive.”

John says he’s still in shock from the diagnosis. The timing of it all made it extra painful, since he says he’d just stopped running wild when he got the bad news. Researchers are hoping their findings will lead to earlier intervention with young people like John whose fatalistic views put them at risk. So that next trip to the doctor’s office results in a discussion about future goals rather than an HIV diagnosis.

Previously:

Ankitha Bharadwaj's story was produced by Youth Radio and BeyondTheOdds.org. It comes to you from Public Radio Makers Quest 2.0, an initiative of AIR, the Association of Independents in Radio, Incorporated. This project is made possible with funding from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.

Skeptics versus Believers

caitlin — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 17:56:00 -0600

After the hype and excitement of Obama's victory November 4 has died down, people are beginning to look more closely at what Obama will bring to the future. President-elect Obama was voted in on the basis of his groundbreaking campaign. He used the ideals of hope and change to promise Americans of the country that they want to see. But now that he is officially in there, even Obama supporters and fellow Democrats are becoming skeptical that he can deliver on all his promises and the hope he gave to the American people. Meanwhile, the believers are getting hyped up for January 20, and that's when the skeptics will find out if the promises were empty or not as well.

Here's a few links I've been tracking of both the "believers" and the "skeptics":

Believers
Obama brings hope to SF State students
The Oregonian
Obama brings hope to Kenya
Obama brings hope to Global Warming
Obama inspires hope in India and Pakistan

Skeptics
The Newstatesman
Mysinchew.com
Mideast Youth
Instablogs
UK Bishop questions Obama
Obama Skeptics in Asia
Confessions of an Obama Skeptic

"Hope" Out of the Box

brett — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 03:29:53 -0600

(aired on NPR's Morning Edition November 10, 2008)

Ancient Greece gave us the myth of Pandora’s Box. Forbidden to be opened, but opened anyway, the box spewed out a torrent of plagues to torture people forever. Pandora slammed the lid back down trying to trap the worst of it, but only one thing remained there at the bottom - hope.

Montage: I think it’s hope just to live because I mean it’s hope just to think that the next second is even going to happen… You believe something can happen and you have to have a positive attitude about what you believe… Hope is kind of exactly like faith to me. I think human beings need it to just be able to keep going.

That’s Caitlin Grey, Raven-Simone Atkins, and Quincy Mosby adding their voices to a 1000 year debate about whether hope was the best thing Pandora's box had to offer … or the worst. Now Barack Obama promises hope and we’re wondering the same thing.

It’s young people like me who are promised hope the most. Our teachers, they tell us we can go to the best schools, and our parents tell us that we can be whatever we want. Most of my peers say yeh, it’s their mom’s who fill them with the most hope. For 18 year-old Rynesha Snowden, it was her great-grandmother…

Rynesha Snowden: She was kind-of my hope. She had rules and she was strict and but you know she showed that love and she showed how much she cared about people. and I always was like, ooh I’m going to start crying…(crying)…but she was strong and I want to be like her.

Strong hopeful leaders can be huge inspirations and help us improve our lives. But the hope that adults push onto us isn’t always realistic. Like when people have told me and my friends that getting a job would keep us out of trouble, we believed in the hope that someone somewhere would hire us. When some of us got turned down time after time, application after application, we lost hope in the possibility of getting a legal job and in the people who preached to us it was possible. Quincy Mosby is 22 years-old and his mom used to fill him with hope.

Quincy Mosby: I remember when, when I was very young you know. We just were in a bad spot you know, barely could keep the lights on, my dad wasn’t around anymore, and ahh, I think she gave me hope, but it was strange cause I think she believed in me more in me than she believed in herself. Like she would tell me to go put my hand on the refrigerator and pray for food to come But the older I got, the harder it became to believe in that type of stuff.

Dr. Spiegel: If hope get’s too far off the mark then it becomes fantasy and it’s more likely to hurt you than help you.

That’s Dr. David Spiegel, a Stanford psychiatrist who researches cancer patients and the role of the mind when it comes to healing the body.

Dr. Spiegel: If you have too much concrete believe that your hope is going to change everything, then when things don’t go the way you hope, who do you have to blame, you blame yourself. One of my cancer patients started to cry and her husband said don’t cry you’ll make the cancer spread. It’s not that you have bad cancer, it’s that you didn’t hope enough or you didn’t hope right. I think what makes hope work is when it’s realistic. Or when the person who’s promising you something is genuine about trying to deliver it.

Barack Obama inspired me, and for the first time ever I voted, with a belief that our country and my life could change. His promise sits like a weight on his shoulders, but the most challenging thing for all voters and young people like me to remember, is that it sits just as heavy on our own.

For NPR News, I’m Orlando Campbell

TAPE: (Barack Obama from Iowa Caucus Victory Speech) Hope is that thing inside us that insists, despite all the evidence to the contrary, that something better awaits us if we have the courage to reach for it and to work for it and to fight for it. (fade out on applause)

Web Extra
Christine Carter Ph.D. is a sociologist and executive director of the Greater Good Science Center at UC Berkeley which studies happiness, compassion, and altruism.

Dr. Peter Ubel is a professor of medicine at the University of Michigan who lead a research study following permanent and reversible colostomy patients. The study found that the patients with permanent colostomies have significantly higher life satisfaction than those with reversible colostomies, suggesting that hope might be counterproductive in some circumstances.

Sylvia Boorstein Ph.D is a psychologist, author, and an instructor at Spirit Rock Meditation Center in Marin County, CA.

Links
Resurgence Of Hope
Obama's election brings new hope

Election Reaction

nishat — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:58:42 -0600

Youth Radio's Brandon McFarland and Summer Sewell are still reeling from Obama’s win, and thinking about what it means for their own ambitions as a young African-American man and biracial woman.

The following entry is not a transcript of the audio, but a web extra to the radio story.

By Summer Sewell

One night, my friend Eve and I jumped into a cab for a short ride that would leave a disturbing thought lingering in my head. Our cabby was overly talkative, to the point of annoyance, and I immediately tuned him out and let Eve deal with his mindless rambling. But I was fully alert after he told us a joke that haunts me to this day:

“OK, so what does God ask Obama when he get to the pearly gates?” (“What…?”)
“How was your first 10 minute of being president?”And he laughed, eerily, endlessly, as Eve and I shared a frown and got out of his cab at the next corner.That was months ago. Looking back, it’s bizarre to me that the idea of Obama becoming president, only to get assassinated before officially entering the White House, hadn’t crossed my mind until the night of that cab ride. Since then, I haven’t been able to get an animated image of Obama on January 29th , ending a strong acceptance speech, raising both arms triumphantly, smiling, the crowd rejoicing, then turning dead silent as his body is blown backwards by a sniper’s bullet.

As I sat through Obama’s victory speech, my mind was divided- half jubilant, half overwhelmingly anxious. I was an awkward mix of emotions as happy tears welled up in my eyes, and hostile butterflies made laps in my stomach. I looked around the room at faces expressing pure bliss, uncomplicated by the tinges of fear I was feeling. Why couldn’t I share in this joyful, monumental event without my anxiety eclipsing it? As I watched his older daughter stand tucked beneath his arms, while they both smiled and waved to a sea of supporters, I struggled to pull my mind away from the visual of Obama’s wounded body spread out on the steps of Capitol Hill.Obama’s campaign slogan has been “Change”, and maybe that’s all I’m afraid of.
My fear makes it seem easier to just consent to another four years of disguised tyranny, instead of grasping the positive change I’m sure Obama will bring to the White House with both hands.What would Obama say to me if I was able to tell him how I’m feeling? Probably that I should let him handle not only my anxieties, but the nation’s. That he can take care of himself, and do his best to take care of us. And to rejoice in the fact that his supporters have made history, no matter how long it lasts, from this day forward. Pushing my fear aside, I can say, I hope it lasts for as long as possible.

Catching the Obama Bug

caitlin — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 18:22:42 -0500

As someone who's not a very political person, I have to admit that Obama is getting me excited. My parents are adamantly for Obama, and they can't wait to vote Democratic in the November Elections. My dad has rushed home from work numerous times to catch the debates on time, and my mom rambles on about political issues. And it's not just them -one of my friends has an Obama sticker on her car's steering wheel, along with any other Obama accessory you could think of, and another one debates with her Republican dad every time they're together. But nothing about Obama's policies, or even politics in general, has ever reached out and grabbed me.

That is, until a few days ago.

Ever since I've started watching Obama videos on YouTube, and really listening to what he had to say during the debates, I've gotten really excited about Obama. Perhaps it's because I live in such a liberal area and I'm surrounded by Democrats all day every day, but Obama's speeches and videos and words do something for me. When he quotes documents like the Constitution, that have been around for centuries, and when he talks about his family, I feel happy. What he says makes my heart beat fast and makes me excited for the future. It's a feeling I can't put my finger on, and I think it's hope.

I guess I've caught the bug.

More on Obama and Hope:

MSNBC: Obama seen as "hope of entire world" by Nation of Islam Minister Louis Farrakhan: Click Here
Vimeo: Vote for Hope-Obama '08 Video: Click Here
The Press Association: Obama's last push for the presidency: Click Here