My True Feelings...

Do you remember the teen talk shows that used to come on BET where teens could ask real questions and dialogue about what is going on in their world and get some real answers? Well, it seems like that has gotten lost among the videos and reality shows.
We have created a place where teens can dialogue about what is going on in their lives and ask questions and get answers amongst their peers on an internet radio show called 404 Live.
My True Feelings is a portal for teens grades 8th through 12th to freely talk about the real deal issues in their lives.  catch us live!!
catch our show on 404Live.com on thursdays @ 8pm and saturdays @ 3pm!

AGU Lock-in

Whew! I survived another lock-in with the wonderful young ladies of AGU. This time they were pretty off the chain. It was over 70 girls and they had so much energy! There was a live DJ and the girls hit the dance floor hard. After doing the stanky leg (yes I joined in!) It was time for the workshops to begin. I am always amazed at what is on the minds of these young girls. They take in everything. It's like they are just now talking about things that were in the media months ago. We started with talking about what artists they like to listen to and who they don't like. Well, they still like Drake (no offense but can we get some new artists!) They hate Chris Brown. They told me they can't stand Chris Brown and they don't want to hear his music because they don't like the way he treats women. We didn't stay on that topic too long because they seemed to have been repeating what they heard. They didn't really know what happened. (The workshop was not on domestic violence) They also talked about Kanye West and how they didn't like what he did to Taylor Swift. They informed me that Taylor Swift has a line in her song now that says she hopes your kid doesn't grow up to be line Kanye. (I haven't heard about that). They were passionate though. We talked about the women in the videos and how they dressed. They thought these women in the videos were disgusting and had low self-esteem. None of the girls had any interest in being in a music video (surprising, but good to know). There was one girl who just said she wanted to be famous. So I asked her, "What does that mean?" She says, "You know, I want people to know who I am." So I asked, "Why?". She says, "Famous people have fun. I want to be on TV. I just want to be known." So I asked, "Known for what?" That stomped her and she got frustrated so I let he off the spot and asked everyone in the room who else wanted to be famous and everyone raised their hands. So I said, "Ok, if everyone was famous, then what? Who will be the fans?" They looked confused and said they didn't think about that. I told them there are a lot of idiots on TV that a lot of people know and don't care anything about. It's ok to want to be known but think about what you want to be known for. (These girls are not alone. There are a lot of adults out there wanting the same thing...

All Grown Up! The Day After...

The workshop was great!! AGU All Grown Up! had 95 girls to show up. I showed the girls pictures from different magazines. They enjoyed telling me what looked appropriate and what didn't. They noticed how provocative the black models were dressed in the magazines compared to the white models. I was impressed that they noticed this on their own and felt like something was wrong with it. They hated the outfits that showed too much of 'their stuff' (as they called it) I had each one look in a mirror and tell themselves something positive about themselves. I think they were shocked at how uncomfortable it felt. I told them they should practice this everyday and they should be able to say it loud to themselves with confidence. If they don't believe it about themselves, how could anyone else? The conversation got really interesting when I asked them to tell me what their 'money maker' was. (They hear that in the songs everyday and jumped to answer) Only two girls yelled out body parts and everyone else said their minds. These were some really smart girls who want to be lawyers, doctors, veterinarians, writers, dancers, etc. They were so impressive!! Hopefully they will make some comments on this blog... I would love to know what they got out of the workshop and all the other things that went on that night in the other workshops!!

All Grown Up!

This evening I'm going to hold a workshop with the high school girls from AGU on self-esteem and dressing appropriately. I'm really excited about it. I cut out pictures from several magazines of different females with different styles of dress. I was amazed at how difficult it was to to find images of black females dressed appropriately. Wow! Maybe that is part of the problem. I'm looking forward to the workshop!!