now that we have moved up to beta

Submitted by Gabe W on Mon, 10/22/2007 - 2:16pm.

Gabe W

Posts: 71
Joined: 2007-04-18

ALRIGHT! seeing that my parents are being assholes at the moment ill try and stay connected online. I was thinking that the space is open we should put the scedual online, use that calender on the site, etc. I need to know when we start working. I should be working saturday, but if i am that the day i work, i cant also come friday of this week. So if cece cant teach me how to burn the screen someone else has too. Im really excited about working and everything. We really need to get word out about the space so it becomes something we can make money with too.

We should start throwing events at the space, not parties or shows, but conferences or we could have "movie night". People pay to come and watch movies, we could even cook, and do dinner and a movie. OTher inventive stuff thats creative and fun. Most events in the city are like, cunstructive fun learning thing during the day and then its followed by an after party. I think we should try and set something like that up. Im excited lets do some sweet shit!

GAbe

Gabe W

Mon, 10/22/2007 - 7:38pm

mynweb

Posts: 490
Joined: 2006-10-31

space, website and new ideas

hey gabe!

sorry i didn't reply to yr other post -- i've been sort of scattered btwn things -- but i love all yr ideas an want to talk about them!
You're right about the calander, i'll start putting stuff up on our online calander tonight. The studio will definalety be open every friday from 5-8 since we already publicized that, and we can add other days and times and take turns volunteering.

I like the idea of doing more educational kinds of things at 123. If people can make it, i'd like to bring back the self-education discussions we talked about doing at the beginnign of the summer. Personally i'm doing and thinking about a lot of art stuff at the moment and would love to have ppl to share with. Also, the poetry/spoken work workshop is kicking off with a poetry and movie night at the space saturday november 10th, and the eight weekly workshop will start sunday nov 11th at 3pm. I'm working on the flyer/poster, should be done by the end of the week!

The dinner and a movie thing sounds cool too. If we all had bikes we could dumpster the food and bring it to 123 to cook. that would be really fun. Or we can also talk about what we want to make ahead of time, and everybody brings some ingredients to contribute.

also, now that we have our very own screen printing studio, i think we should talk about posters and other things we can create together.

xo
sarah

Mon, 10/22/2007 - 11:40pm

ti-bak

Posts: 39
Joined: 2007-01-30

Active Activities

Hey folks,
I really like gabe's idea of a movie night with dinner. Maybe we should do a potluck thing? I think it would be good for misled youth members too. I know we have a lot on our plates with the grant, making rent, sustaining the print shop and on top of that all the other workshops that we plan to do. However, I really feel strongly about just hanging out with Misled Folks and everyone involved once in a while. Also, it might bring in new folks? Why do we do all this work if we can't enjoy each other's company at our space right? Also, I think it would be a great way to discuss different issues. Because although I feel like I know everyone in the Misled Family pretty well (at least the ones in NYC), I think we should still engage in conversations that allow us to grow in other ways... like our ideologies?

About the scheduling. School has been such a pain about this and I'm sorry for that. I did clear up my wednesday afternoons though, Im really happy with how that turned out. It was hard for me last week and its gonna be difficult this week as well because of midterms and other shit I have to take care of. No worries I'll get it done and we will start sweet shit up!

XO
-L

Sat, 11/03/2007 - 11:34am

nick

Posts: 13
Joined: 2007-01-28

is misled youth dying?

the meetings haven't been happening and the website's been dead since i fixed it up. it's a shame, i'm finally happy with the design.

the 123 printshop seems like it's more of an aspect of 123 than an aspect of misled youth at this point. I'm also focusing way less on this website and way more on 123's new website - http://123communityspace.org/. (not nearly as pretty as this, but fully-functional) I'm in many ways more inclined to post on this now than here, which is what made me think about writing this. we're so far away from talking about institutionalization and youth rights that I'm starting to forget that that was what i was doing, and now that me and sarah don't even have any kind of age restrictions it just doesn't make sense for us to be leading this project anymore. we hope that what we've put into place will be useful and live on, but i think we're shifting our gears now into a community arts project.

so, if this project doesn't get taken over it'll die very very soon.

i hope that wasn't too depressing. and i definitely don't want it to be a lecture or a guilt trip or any of that. when i was in high school i was the most nihilistic, apathetic twat in the world, i would've never even joined a project like this let alone led it. so don't feel morally obliged to fix misled youth, especially by me or sarah. only do something if you're inspired to do it.

on a lighter note, i think it would be awesome to do workshops and communal dinners at the space. you guys just missed a really cool event last night - the freegan bike shop's 2nd anniversary party. there was a pile of dumpstered bread like four feet high and kids were throwing it and making sculptures out of it.

Sat, 11/03/2007 - 12:31pm

kid_prototype

Posts: 126
Joined: 2006-12-17

the future?

nick and i have been talking about these issues and i was planning on sending out an email about this today, maybe posting on the website is better. For several weeks now i've been trying to organize a meeting so we can work on the youth venture grant and discuss a bunch of other important things too. Some how it seems like I can't pull everyone together, and i don't feel like trying anymore. I feel strongly that Misled youth should be youth-led or not exist at all. At this point, the teens arent even really participating, let alone leading. So at this point i'm not gonna try and organize any meetings or make any plans. If others take the initiative to do this things, however, i will offer full support. I want my role in misled youth to be a mentor and supporter, not an organizer.

So the future of misled youth is in your hands, you guys have the choice of whether or not you want to continue what we've been doing. It's a lot easier than starting a project from scratch, because over nearly three years we've built up a lot of things, we have tons of contacts and a good reputation, a cool website and now a space with our own screenprinting shop, plus a body of writing and art and beliefs we have developed over time. So for anyone who'd like to move forward with this stuff, i think calling a meeting would be the first order of business. I think everyone has everyone else's contact info, but i will email it out just in case.

One big upcoming opportunity we have is doing a PIY workshop and a trip to the 123 printshop with Renaissance School students as part of "Rensizzle Week" starting Nov 12th. This could be really cool but we need to get organized now to make it happen. I've been in touch with Dorian aka Nicholas about this, the idea would be to come into the school at the beginning of the week to help the students design a poster, and then they'd visit us at 123 several days later to screenprint the design.

So that's all i have to say for now, i hope others in misled youth will add their voices to this conversation and hopefully take charge of the future. Even if the younger ppl in misled youth don't feel able to carry on this work, I will accept that, and still consider these past three years to be a great learning experience and opportunity to make new friends. I suppose that if misled youth does end, nick and i and anyone else who's interested will continue running the printshop at 123 and just not use the name "misled youth". but we need to make a decision one way or another.

xo
sarah

Sat, 11/03/2007 - 4:05pm

ti-bak

Posts: 39
Joined: 2007-01-30

Oiling up the gears

Sarah and Nick, it saddens me to hear this, it seems like you guys are ready to take a backstage role with misled youth and unfortunately none of us are stepping up to take the responsibilities. I have to apologize for my inactivity lately. I'm not saying this because you made me feel guilty rather I feel disappointed with myself, I should've kept Misled meetings in mind when signing up for classes, I didnt know college was going to be a deterrent from being active with misled youth. I have been dealing with a lot of upsetting things at home and, as some of you know, issues that necessitates working with a lawyer. But, excuses excuses, I would really want to talk about making things happen.

I don't really know what's going on in everybody else's lives right now but I feel it would be easier to talk about the future of Misled Youth after we all get together and just hang out. I hate going to meetings and after doing this for over 3 years, I've learned to ignore the negatives and enjoy the best parts of it. Though I know we have a lot of things that are in dire need of attention (grant, the print shop) I think a good way to revitalize Misled Youth is to have a gathering (with food) and just talk about things that are going on in our lives, our inspiration to keep the organization, our goals, what pisses us off, etc. If people can't come together for a meeting with an agenda, at least come for dinner with friends. Sometime next week?

I don't know how much work is done for the grant. I admit I haven't done my question. Maybe it was a bad idea to make this a group effort. Some of us are great at outreach, organizing parties or constructing a workshop. Maybe the grant should be written by those who know best about it and, going back to our ideals of self education, those who want to learn.

I really do not want to give up on misled youth. We have done too much to just leave it alone, especially nick and sarah. I suggest we get the grant out of the way and move on to other activities that would enhance the growth of the misled family; things that are exciting and would inspire us. I can devote my friday morning and afternoon to work on the grant if anyone is interested. Let's just bust it out and get it over with. Also, if it works for everyone, let's all have dinner that night too?

Love you all

Sat, 11/03/2007 - 7:16pm

Gabe W

Posts: 71
Joined: 2007-04-18

oh my

this makes me sad also, i hate to think that something that i hold so dear to my heart might be dying. I understand that both of you want to step back and i think that is sad, but its what you believe and i think that youth led groups do indeed need to be youth led. I really have not been around that much, which really has not been cool, and really wasn't completely my choice, if i had it my way misled youth would certainly be on the top of my list of things to do. I wish that i could spend more time at the studio, but the location is a little hard to get to if it is not friday or on a saturday im not working. But i think the new print times our great and i will 100% be there to work as i said.

I really agree with what leanne said about getting together. We should just get together and talk as friends about what is going on in our lives and find away to bring us all back together.

I think some of the problems is the the core members of the group have a lot on their plates. Cece and I with junior year, Leanne and Sarah with Hunter and Ingrid changing schools. It's a shame, and i personally cant bare the thought of loosing my misled family. I think we need to become whole again before we can really think of a new system for Misled Youth. Thursday meetings really did help us keep it together and i would like to keep meeting, and figure out a new plan.

So, where do we go from here? Now that people have expressed their concern i think its time to pick things up. We need some new blood in Misled Youth, i remeber when i first started it was like, i wanted to do everything and anything and the sense of community i felt was so strong, and i feel like if other people could feel that, some really new exciting things could stat happening. Misled Youth has really given me a lot of strength. I love setting up shows and projects, it really is such a wonderful feeling.

I have some suggestions for new management in Misled Youth. Personally i think the core members need to sit down together and discuss things, but it really is our job to get shit back on track. I think if we split things up between us like collectives but we rotate the jobs. Kind of like a job wheel. Each time there is like a "manager" someone to keep track of it all, then each person helps organize or do whatever, then every so often we switch managers and jobs. I think if people could commit to their jobs misled youth would be able to sustain everything. For instance, take a show for example. Someone manages then people split up calling bands etc. NExt show after, there is a new manager.

None of this will work unless we all put our best into it. I am really willing to try harder now that I this has become an issue. I am sorry I havent been to available, and i would really likt to get involved again. Each of us has something we want to do and we are all supposed to help each other with it. We are a big family, and i really do not want to loose it. We CAN DO IT!

Gabe W

Sat, 11/03/2007 - 9:42pm

kid_prototype

Posts: 126
Joined: 2006-12-17

where do we go from here?

Thanks Leanne and Gabe for yr honesty and encouragement. Just today I was pulling up a bunch of spent plants from the garden now that the season is over, and trying to imagine my life without Misled Youth. It was kinda sad and scary and I wasn’t sure what would fill that void. I know that things work in cycles and I want to see misled youth evolve and grow. I think we can make it happen if we come together with some energy and enthusiasm, like Gabe pointed out.

What Leanne’s saying about getting together to talk and share food is really true. I think it will make us feel more connected and like we all have a hand in creating this future. Really it will be about reflecting on what we want as a group and for ourselves. The one thing I think we should discuss asap though is the PIY/Rensizzle cause it’s coming so soon and I don’t wanna flake out on Nicholas, we should figure out if we can commit to it right away. We should find a time to get together soon. It could be any evening at 123 except Tuesday (political prisoner letter writing night). And I’m busy Mon.

I realize that everyone is juggling a lot and I really believe that misled youth is meant to be something that helps us with/is a part of our every day lives and not this kinda “extracurricular” thing that we can’t find the time for. The mutual support part is really vital, even if it means scaling back on more external type projects.

In terms of what Leanne’s saying about the grant, I think we should definitely discuss all the questions it raises as a group, though we could choose 1-2 ppl to write it all up. Who would volunteer? Obviously I can’t, but I can offer help. Discussing the grant would be a good time to talk about Gabe’s idea for a rotating manager/coordinator thing. Generally talking about what roles would best suit us is a good idea too.

I like what gabe is saying about “new blood”, having ppl feel really excited and inspired and supported. It would be great to have new people. At the same time, re-inventing misled youth can make it new to us and we’ll start seeing more possibility too. Let’s keep this conversation going…

xo
sarah

Tue, 11/06/2007 - 4:53pm

CeCeDe

Posts: 49
Joined: 2007-04-18

Misled family

It's horrible to realize these things about misled youth, it's just one more thing in my life that I'm losing. I think we have to have a set day for meetings (like we did last year) in the future, but I agree with leanne in that we should regroup and have some fun to reconnect with eachother before getting back down into the more official aspects.
As far as what sarah said about people volunteering to write the grant I can definitely be there for that, I've written on my question a hundred times or more and I am willing to write more.
I feel like nowadays we're all full of ideas but there's no time to develop them like gabe's movie night idea, we all said yeah cool that's a good idea, but we didn't have time or room in our heads to make it happen. And I really think that's cause we're all disconnected, I'm not going to pretend I know anything about anyone's availability, or schedules, or plans accept for mine and gabe's.
Gabe and I want to go to the space on friday, so maybe we should all try to go on friday, I can bring some dinner, we can do our silkscreening thing, and brainstorm ideas of what we can do to get back misled youth. It'll be good because it could be a time for us to connect and chill.
Also there's no school for me and gabe and probably ingrid next monday cause it's veterans day, I don't know about sarah D or leanne but if so maybe we could all get together earlier in the day monday.