Youth Centers as Science Fiction Writing

Everyday in youth centers we are participating in some sort of science fiction writing. Asking that young people be kind to themselves and one another. That they don’t raise their hands to ask for permission for basic needs like going to the bathroom and slurping water out of the luke warm fountain. We build a world where “shut up” is the worst thing you could ever say to someone because it means that their words and voice don’t matter. We make them believe it, and we know they believe it by the way their hands cover their mouths and their eyes dart in the direction of the adults checking if they have been caught once the words escape their lips.

We let the boys paint their nails pink, green, and gold sparkles and say “oooo pretty!” Then we watch them walk up the stairs to the gym where they throw elbows and scrape their knees on the old wooden floors chasing balls.

We let the girls take charge with their hearts, cry their tears in the bathroom stalls and live in the pain of failed friendships. We honor their heartbreak as real, even as it happens over and over and over again. Then we watch them build with power tools without an ounce of fear. We know that their compassionate problem solving is going to change the world.   

In youth development, we are learning how to create spaces for those who cannot check a box to live a full expression of themselves. They get to choose a new name every damn day and we commit to remembering and honoring it.

We are building a world where adults say sorry and stumble over their mistakes in front of young people and don’t hide in shame. We ask young people to help us with our flaws, to help us think of a new ways of living and being, and to forgive us when we fall.

We are building healing spaces where we get to rewrite the rules of engagement and turn ourselves back into our humanity. I can't imagine anything more forward thinking than a universe where people are asked to bring their authentic and complicated selves.