[Ailist] Has AI been used effectively with teen-agers and drugs

Tue Oct 16 09:05:02 MDT 2007

Jeff,

Your father's words of wisdom is where AI can play a wonderful role-there
are so many possibilities for how to go on!

A shining hope for my daughter-as a 9th grader she recently finished reading
Siddhartha and came away realizing that everything she did matters.  A tiny
light goes on for her.  As a member of a community, however, I struggling
with where-as a new arrival in a community-do I start?  Who do I engage in
conversation?  How do you initiate turning the Titanic?

I would love to hear from others out there who have done this in
communities-especially the highlights of what worked, what supported new
ways of organizing communities and schools.

Cheri

  _____  

From: crightmer116995MI at comcast.net [mailto:crightmer116995MI at comcast.net] 
Sent: Tuesday, October 16, 2007 10:45 AM
To: Cheri; Anna spector; ailist at lists.business.utah.edu
Subject: Re: [Ailist] Has AI been used effectively with teen-agers and drugs

Cheri:

I understand your 14 year olds frustration. While I am 47 years old I can
still remember the disappointment when as a youth I worked on a similar
program with the City Council. At our first meeting the council was excited
and very enthusiastic about the project. Meeting after meeting happened and
at the end nothing happened. What did happen was a group of 8th graders grew
very disillusioned about affecting change through city government. 

While I do not have children I see the frustration on the faces of my nieces
and nephews that are told they are too young. We need to find a way to
involve the youth of our society in to as you say "contribute and
participate". I think it all begins with one person giving someone like your
daughter a chance, be it volunteering at a animal shelter or become involved
in city government in some way. 

I would also tell your daughter something my father used to tell me, do not
give up, if you meet an obstacle find a way around it.

Jeff Rightmer

-------------- Original message -------------- 
From: Cheri <cheri at mobileteamchallenge.com> 

> Anna, 
> 
> I have been thinking about teenagers quite a bit lately as I have a 14
year old 
> and I don't think it is just a matter of shifting their mindset. Several
things 
> have stimulated my thinking--one of the first is that as a middle school
kid, my 
> daughter wanted to volunteer in the community to help with animals. She
was 
> willing to do this anywhere--even clean cages in a pet store for free. No
one 
> would have her--too young, she was a liability. We went to location after 
> location in TN and we were told the same thing. THen we moved to NC and as
a 13 
> year old, she was told the same thing everywhere. As you can imagine, this
was 
> very frustrating--stiffling the desire to serve and find meaning at an
early 
> age. 
> 
> Then her Spanish class did a service project. She came home so excited
because 
> the adults got caught up in a conversation after they told the kids what
had to 
> be done, but before they told them how. She said the kids organized
themselves 
> quickly and had the job done fast. The adults afterwards said their system
was 
> much faster and better than the previous and they were going to use it.
And 
> then her 8th grade class did a community project where kids found out all
about 
> the community and wrote letters giving their suggestions to make the
community 
> better. One proposal they had was for youth to have a representative on
the 
> City Council--they said it didn't need to be a voting member, but at least
a 
> voice and that all kids could channel their input to this one person who
could 
> then be the voice for youth in the city. The whole class was very excited
about 
> it. What they were met with, as you can imagine, was adults council
members 
> telling them all the reasons it would not 
> work. 
> Very few community folks took an interest in their project or showed up
for the 
> final open house. The disappoint and sense of hopelessness the kids then
felt 
> was awful for me to watch. Here were these 8th graders with good ideas,
time on 
> their hands, and interest in making the community better and they weren't
seen, 
> their voices "didn't matter". My daughter said, "It would have been better
not 
> to have learned all this stuff about the community and get our hopes up
that we 
> could make a difference if no one was going to listen." 
> 
> When voices are stiffled, groups do not come together and share ideas that

> matter, and people do not feel their voice can make a difference--the
culture 
> decays. 
> 
> My current thinking around all of thi s is that our communities have GOT
to find 
> a way to bring our youth back into them in meaningful ways. When life has
no 
> meaning, no one values you as a being, why not do drugs? Why not have sex?
Who 
> cares? There is such a valuable resource available in every single
community 
> being not only wasted, but lost--like your cousin. I don't think this is
an "AI 
> talk" thing, I think this is an AI systems design thing. Out of "care" for
our 
> youth, we have taken away their opportunity to contribute and participate
in 
> meaningful ways. 
> 
> What do you think? 
> Cheri 
> 
> 
> -----Original message----- 
> From: Anna spector anna_spector at yahoo.com 
> Date: Mon, 15 Oct 2007 19:04:30 -0500 
> To: ailist at lists.business.utah.edu 
> Subject: [Ailist] Has AI been used effectively with teen-agers and drugs 
> 
> Dear AI Community, 
> Yesterday I attended a memor ial service for my seventeen year old cousin
who 
> passed away due to an accidental drug overdose. He was bright,
handsome,cared 
> about the planet, but unfortunately,had an addiction that claims so many 
> teen-agers each year. The grief therapist in charge did a poor job and
focused 
> mostly on the tragedy, etc. Needless to say she took the laughter out of
any 
> conversation we were sharing about the times we appreciated him. It was
truly a 
> downer. So, I have been reflecting on AI a lot and I was curious if anyone
had 
> worked with teens involved with drugs and was AI a powerful enough
influence to 
> steer them away from drugs and into something more productive? Thank you
again 
> for letting me share this. 
> 
> 
> 
> Warmly, 
> Anna Spector- Seattle 
> MA, Organizational Psychology 
> 
> 
> --------------------------------- 
> Yahoo! oneSearch: Finally, mob ile search that gives answers, not web
links. 
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> *** 
> Cheri B. Torres 
> www.mobileteamchallenge.com 
> 865-681-0146 
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