The teenage years: sexual awakening, self-consciousness, existential questions, intense emotions. What boundaries did you (want to) push? Were you a rebel, poet, victim, conformer, all or none of these? Did you have a place to truly be yourself without the pervasive teenage code-of-coolness?
After a year researching the concept of ‘coming-of-age’ and what it takes to become socially, emotionally, and spiritually mature adults, I found that a crucial element missing for youth is a regular space with mentors to be real, honest, and sensitive. Teens usually only have their peers and the media for direction.
Funds from the Awesome Shit Club will start a weekly talking circle for youth to express how they really feel about gender, sex, family, or whatever matters to them. A talking circle isn’t ‘educational’ in the regular sense with right and wrong, success and failure. Teens and mentors explore real life collectively – sharing experiences, asking personal questions, and listening for resonance. The master plan is to run two circles for young women and men separately to ultimately come together in meaningful conversation. To start, we’ll pilot the women’s circle with a team of young professional women: a counselor, a yogi, and a teacher (myself).
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