Creative Leaps

Last Friday, 26th, June 2009, I was invited to facilitate a career guidance workshop at a SERVOL LIfe Centre in Chaguanas in Trinidad. SERVOL provides alternative education for our teens, teaching them a trade (welding etc) and helping with finding on the job training, apprenticeships etc. Island Fiction was a hit as before and Time Swimmer is so culturally relevant RIGHT NOW (see Ch. 1 Time Swimmer) since results for the new SEA exam (once the Common Entrance) were published on Thursday, the day before the workshop, and was/ still is on the tip of every tongue and in the media. Two students in the audience of 45 teenagers (14 to 19) were named Luke and Govinda - just like in the book! It was a stroke of serendipity that I wanted to share - as life, with such moments, authors our delight. It is easy to think that reading aloud for 'children' old enough to grow beards and bear children themselves would be a waste of time - NOT SO! The students were awakened it seemed during t...

How to read aloud for and give advice to kids old enough to grow beards and bear children themselves? MY TOP THREE TIPS: 1. BE REAL OR GO HOME: The teen mission is to sus out when the adult world is duping them out of their natural "innersense" of Justice and Truth. If you are unwilling to reveal yourself first, to risk rejection it's unlikely you'll get more from a teen audience than patience and tolerance at best. 2. TAKE RISKS: Speak about what you know yes, and show them how confident you are in your field yes, BUT show them an area in which you took a flying leap and fell flat. Share what you learned through personal death and resurrection! Adolescents spend more time feeling the uncertainty of life than not. Show them this is not a unique or shameful condition and that there is life, and in fact a better life is possible, even after failure. 3. SHOW YOUR CREDENTIALS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF LIFE : Give ample evidence that you have lived what you know; offer va...