Category Archives: Urban Adolescents

Marketing mental health is as important as knowing mental health

Urban Adolescents

“Thankfully, in the current push to increase high school graduation rates and equip students
with the twenty-first-century skills, education leaders have come to realize that the workforce
demands for today’s students include not only high-level cognitive skills but also noncognitive
or “soft” skills, which cross over into the social-emotional skills domain”
——————————————Weston, Ott, & Rodger, S

In the past October, I was lucky enough to attend an academic conference with the topic of character development. I can tell how scholars are dedicating themselves to promote social-emotional wellness in schools and classroom settings. However, what I see in the classroom is still we are putting academic success and classroom management as our priority. I had a conversation with one of the scholars about this issue and asked him how do they think about this issue. He stated that besides we did not promote social-emotional wellness that well, the authorities does not put this topic as their priority.

I am grateful to see in this article that there is more and more advocacy in this field. I am thinking that besides educators, we might also need to be “business person”, who knows how to market our belief—that mental health is so essential of a person’s overall wellbeings.

Vesely, A., Vangelis, E., Saklofske, D. H., & Leschied, A. W. (2018). Qualities of teacher effectiveness in delivering school-based mental health programs: The relevance of emotional intelligence. In A. W. Leschied, D. H. Saklofske, & G. L. Flett (Eds.), Handbook of school-based mental health promotion: An evidence-informed framework for implementation, (pp. 167-184). Cham: Switzerland: Springer

MHL

Reaching Adolescents and How to Respond, Urban Adolescents

“We also agree that school MHL must be expanded to include the development of teacher resiliency in the profession. Burnt-out teachers lack the resources to care for themselves and others” (Chang, 2009; Maslach, Schaufeli, & Leiter, 2001 as cited in Weston, 2018)

Self care is a term we hear all the time, but most of us probably do not take it as seriously as we should. In general, many of us may think we just have to keep “going going going, because ‘X’ person was able to achieve ‘X’ thing, so why shouldn’t I be able to do the same if not more?” Continue reading MHL →

We Need A New Ship, We Need a New System

Reaching Adolescents and How to Respond, Urban Adolescents

“And in the face of demands for perpetual growth in achievement indidcators, addressing the connection of learning to well-being can seem like ‘one more thing’ added to an already overflowing plate” (Weston, K. et al, 2018, pg. 106).

Sometimes it feels as though teachers are the fingers plugging all the holes in the ship before the water takes it down. The problem being we only have so many fingers, and maybe we just need a better ship? As an educator I want to be everything to my students. I understand that our job will sometimes entail being a sensitive listener, a community activist, a safe space, a punching bag, an ally or a resource for social services, justice and more. As a person who believes in young people, I do not have a problem making myself available, learning what I need to learn and doing what I need to do. Yet… I am angry about it, I am frustrated about it, I am resentful. Why must educators be the gatekeepers to all adolescent well-being? Why are we sometimes the last hope for young people? Why if we hold so much value in shaping a young person’s life are we still so undervalued, and underpaid? Why aren’t there more social workers or counselors in school? Why aren’t these professionals available to they entirety of our communities including parents and teachers? Why doesn’t the school day allow for more space to be, to sit with an idea, to sit with each other?

Time and time again we ask the people to do more, the people who are already doing the most, when we should be asking the system to do more, to be better to be there for us. Educators should absolutely commit to growth just as we expect our students too, but we are human, we are one part of the whole that touch a young person’s life. The world expects teachers to be everything, and in return I ask the world to provide us with everything. We need a new ship, we need a new system.

“Marica” in Colombia: A feeler, NOT a Filler

Urban Adolescents

“Almost all of LGBTQ students (98.1%)
heard “gay” used in a negative way
(e.g., “that’s so gay”) at school; 67.4%
heard these remarks frequently or
often, and 93.4% reported that they felt
distressed because of this language.
• 95.8% of LGBTQ students heard other
types of homophobic remarks (e.g.,
“dyke” or “faggot”); 58.8% heard this
type of language frequently or often.” (GLSEN, 2015 page 5)

In an atmosphere of questioning it all, from guilt to shoe taste, from desire to excess, it is only fair to question language as well. Colombians use the word “marica” as a conversation filler, almost in the same frequency as Americans use “like”. The difference is the literal meaning of the word. It can be translated as an adjective used negatively, into the words “gay” or “fag”, and it can also be used with this intention. It can be the replacement of “dude” to refer to anyone (someone you know, someone you barely know, someone you don’t know, someone you like, someone you do not like) or it can be used as “fool” or “gullible”. There are rules to use it pragmatically so that they can fit a particular register or situation. A native Colombian would know perfectly when, how, where and who to use it with. It is such part of the “evolution” or “involution” of language, such a result of the innovation of words, that even if it bothers some older generations, most of us are used to it. We’ve normalized it.
Shouldn’t we question this too? The normalization of a word that refers to men that perform in feminine manners, says something deeper about our language. Language is a changing entity, a live creature that collides, merges, pullulates. The structure of language is an opportunity to reflect upon our reality. We cannot speak without thinking because we may reject those questions and reflections we have asked ourselves through out existence. When we use the word “marica” in a particular context, it is not just a normalized use of a former unpleasant word, but it is rather informing me of something that has happened to my language. Carolina Sanín, a brilliant Colombian writer, described it as a “problem that she has posed (SHE refers to the tongue which is feminine in Spanish). She is informing of an idea about the being in my language who has become sayable, audible and ordinary”. Sanín continues: “Grammatical warning does not limit me, it reminds me that I am within language and it gives me mobility inside it… it is mine but not only mine… it is the bond between speakers… in a shared vehicle.” So what’s the reason behind the use of this word? Is it offensive to the LGBTQ community back home as in the survey? What is it telling about Colombian social structures? How did it permeate so many conversations without people noticing? Do we notice?

MVP – Struggles of Gay Romance

Friendship, Love, & Sexuality, Urban Adolescents

“Many students observed a difference between how heterosexual and homosexual students meet their dating partners. Alex stated: ‘It’s a lot different because heterosexual guys or girls could just, like, go outside of the door and they will see a lot of people and, it’s like, for a homosexual guy or girl, it is like a treasure hunt; you have to go around and look.’”
(Castro and Sujak, 464)

This quote in particular stood out to me because I go through this constantly and my straight friends and family don’t quite understand. When I was in high school, I tried going to two different LGBTQ+ groups in my county, another in college, another when I transferred to NYU, and another now that I’m old enough to go to gay girl bars. For years, I’ve felt that I have to actively seek out other gay women whereas my friends can meet someone in school or in any public place casually and discover a romantic and/or physical connection. On top of that, most gay women I meet are already in longterm relationships. Most gay women I find on Tinder have boyfriends and just want a three-way with another woman. I have to really go out of my way just to meet other gay women and I’ve grown tired of LGBTQ+ group meetings because throwing together a group of gay people is like throwing together a group of people with green eyes. Sure, we have one thing in common which we cannot control, but it does not mean we automatically have any real connection. It takes enough effort to even find other gay women, and even more to find single women who I could have a romantic connection with, and I would love for more straight people to understand this specific struggle.