There was another thread called "materials" that got to the point where we started mapping out a new info packet that will eventually be merged with YELL!'s material to make a split zine (or a 'spleen') that we can distribute at NCOR.

I'm going to reprint my last post here so we can start figuring out the content/structure of the info packet in a place that new-comers should be able to find with ease (also, it'll pop to the top of the active topics list and hopefully revitalize interest).

here it is...

What I'm thinking we need first is an outline. here's what our most recent version of our old one was like:

- mission statement (2 pages)

- explanation/introduction of "Teenage Lobotomy" (3 pages)

- "Lockdown: America Treats its Troubled Youth Like Prisoners" (3 pages)

- personal stories of institutionalization (4 pages)

- "Taking Control and Taking Care of Ourselves: Mental Health and Beyond" (1 page)

- "The Sculpture Shapes the Hands: Creative Expression as a Force for Change" (2 pages, including one page that's just an image)

- "Self-Education [making our own patchworked maps]" (4 pages, one's just an image)

- "Youth Organizing and Activism" (4 pages of solid text)

- "Get Involved" (2 pages)

- "Our Website" (1 page)

This adds up to 28 pages when you add the front and back cover, which comes out to 7 sheets of legal-sized paper folded in half, front and back.

I'm thinking we should do 16 pages this time, a little more than half. My reasoning for this is it needs to be a multiple of four and I don't think 12 is enough. I'm up for suggestions and it's important to discuss this with YELL! since they would have to put together the same amount of pages, since we don't want one organization to overshadow the other.

I also want everything to be entirely new content, flowing from one point to the next.

I don't think we need a mission statement - the whole thing will serve as a mission statement. I think, at best we only need to mention teenage lobotomy, since it's something that's taken such a backseat in the past year or two and it tends to confuse people a little. basically, everything that fits into institutionalization should be one short section. I see it more as a preface to everything else I guess.

then we go into what we think about that approach, and how we think it should really be.

then we move into our three core functions (or what will be our three core functions if we ever get off the ground...) - self-education, collaborative projects and activism (learning things, doing things, changing things). Each gets it's own section.

Then we break the flow (up until this point it's all basically one piece, broken up into sections, with each one not really ending but trailing off into the next), and we go into personal stories. A number of people submitted personal stories on fucked up experiences at institutions, prisons, psych wards and stuff. I'm thinking of using only one, then juxtaposing it with a positive story of someone learning and doing something positive out of being interested rather than coerced.

Then we finish up, just like the last info packet, with get involved/our website.

it's like this:
institutionalization > what we think > self-education > collaborative projects > activism > get involved

or like this:

"A lot of people think abusing and humiliating kids will straighten them out. We think that kids are fully capable of 'straightening out' without being emotionally destroyed, if things like education, creativity and open-mindedness were as attractive as TV, money and drugs. Self-education is really cool because a, b and c. And if you liked self-education, you'll love collaborative projects. And what could be better than makinag a project out of making the world a better place? Here's an example of the fucked up approach. Now here's an example of our wonderful approach. Here's how to start doing all this stuff - blah blah blah, make an account and post on our new drupalized forums (or better yet, help us get outta the alpha project and into beta)".

And Voila! We have our old info packet, shortened, tied together properly, and ready for NCOR. Let me know if you guys think there's stuff I left out, or if my system of going from one point to the next has a kink in it.

Right now I'm questioning whether or not we should even have the personal stories since it breaks the flow and it doesn't really make any new points that we aren't gonna put into the other parts. Then again, sometimes you can explain things a million times but no one gets it until you show them a concrete example. If we do decide to use a personal story, I would want to use a positive one as well as a negative one, and unfortunately all we've got are negative ones... unless someone can contribute one...