Thanks to out friends at the Togetherville Blog for this post:

The No Name Calling Week campaign kicks off today!

Since 2004, No Name Calling Week (launched by the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network and Simon and Schuster Publishing) has been  providing anti-bullying resources to schools and youth-serving organizations.

A hallmark of the No Name Calling Week campaign is the annual Creative Expression Contest for students in grades K-12. Art is an excellent medium for exploring a topic as personal and painful as bullying. Art is also, ironically, one of the ways kids can be vulnerable to teasing and name-calling. One of our favorite creative tools for kids is Scratch, a website designed by the MIT Media Lab, where kids can “create and share interactive stories, games, music and art.”

Alexander, a Togetherville kiddo, spent an afternoon with his grandma creating his very own game on Scratch. Jessica, Alexander’s mom, spent some time on Scratch after seeing his proud creation, checking out the other creations and comments. She found that a lot of kids write disclaimers underneath their artwork. “I did this really quick, while my mom was at the store. Please don’t make fun of it!” or “Please don’t diss my game, it was my first try!!”

Kids are creators, and now they have a global audience of peers to critique their work. So, the kids have to either beg for their work to not be torn apart, the kids feel the need to bring themselves down before someone else does. As if to say, “I know you’re going to tease me, so I’m beating you to it so it doesn’t hurt as much.”

Even a 20-second stop-action Lego video on YouTube takes hours of work but kids feel the need to downplay their creativity, “My camera was bad so it’s not very good” or “This is my first video about a new worker at the zoo, I know it sucks.” When a kid puts him or herself “out there”, they’re open to potentially hurtful critique. But they create anyway. That’s why we want you to challenge your kids this week – and every week – to comment with care. Show them how to use constructive, not cruel, language when responding to someone else’s creative expression.

For the entire post on the Togetherville Blog, including Lego Video, click here.

For more information about the Gay, Lesbian & Straight Education Network, click here

Today I am reflecting on the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and how his work shapes my thinking about Brush Fire as a tool for social justice. Dr. King said, “Almost always, the creative dedicated minority has made the world better.” I feel the truth of this quote in my heart. We all benefit from exposure to a multitude of perspectives, be they political, artistic, or religious. And we all become stronger when our thoughts and feelings are respected in the public sphere.

Unfortunately, many of Brush Fire’s students experience numerous socio-economic barriers that impede success. They experience higher levels of poverty, violence, pregnancy, and high-school dropout rates. Our black and Latino students are three times more likely than white students to attend a “dropout factory”—a school with graduation rates of 60% or less. As dropout rates rise, so does the potential for our students to engage in crime and live in poverty as adults. Being incarcerated at a higher proportion, the voices of people of color are effectively removed from the public sphere and we all are poorer as a result.

These staggering statistics demonstrate the crucial need for our students to engage in activities that develop resilience. Resilience is a compilation of personal strengths, such as self-esteem, a sense of purpose, and a sense of belonging, that help young people combat risk factors and adapt positively to negative environmental influences. They also need activities that engage their interests, boost learning, and support overall healthy youth development.

Brush Fire aims to shore up our students’ resilience by helping them develop social competencies, such as self-esteem, self-control, collaboration, and empathy, that will keep them out of jail and participating in our communities. It is my sincere hope that the more they trust their creativity as they paint, the more they trust their creativity when they are out in the world, giving us all the gift of their unique perspective and the fruits of their action in the world.

click here to watch an artist at work, inspired by Dr. King’s famous speech.