Photo by J. Lazenka
SUMMER NEWSLETTER - YOUTH UPDATE

Dear Lost Borders Friends and Community,

Returning from the Dragonfly Youth Fast in Oregon, I came home to find the CA Month-Long in full swing and Joseph just beginning to teach the next segment with Meredith - we barely had a chance to touch in.

This summer newsletter is dedicated to youth.  So much has come into being since the birth of the Kalliopeia Youth Grant in 2014, and today we simply want to share some of the seeds that have been planted, watered and cultivated in the last 2 years and are now blossoming and beginning to manifest in the world.

Youth is where the work started for Steven and Meredith back in 1973, and it has felt so right to use the gift of our first grant ever to invest it in this area.  We have learned much in the two years of developing new Young Adult Programs (YAP).  The core team, aka Will Scott, Gigi Coyle, Siri Gunnarson and Win Phelps, has pointed and partnered this project impeccably every step of the way.  And the ripples of their efforts naturally spiraled out. Other staff members got involved, some bringing the youth work they were already doing outside of Lost Borders into collaborations with the school and others feeling inspired to take lead on new avenues for youth in different bioregions.

In this Newsletter, read about the first John Burroughs High School Fast, held in St. Louis in May, and check out the Dragonfly Transitions Blogpost about the Oregon Young Adult Fast, a first time inter-program Vision Fast of two residential treatment programs.  Of course we are including a full YAP Year Two Report below, as well as a link to a summary of the Youth Passageway Summit, where Gigi served as a guardian and mentor and a number of our youth team attended.  And we are excited to share a recently released collaborative article on the Washington State University, 4-H Youth Rite of Passage Program founded by Larry Hobbs.  Since its inception in 2003, the 4-H Rite of Passage has mentored and guided an estimated 140 youth through their transitions to adulthood!  You will also find this article on our Resource Page, in the newly added 'YOUTH' category, along with other youth specific resources.  We hope to grow this section over time in support of the important work with youth and young adults.  

However, before you get into any of the articles below, we want to begin with a personal piece on the mass shootings in Orlando, deeply troubled by the message it sends, not only, but specifically to queer youth across the country.

Seeding these youth programs in Missouri, Oregon and Washington has been deeply rewarding and we have said 'Yes' to offer these program collaborations again through Lost Borders in 2017, to help build a firm foundation for the communities involved. We are also committed to partner another pilot project, a Young Girls Fast designed by Silvia Talavera in Oregon next year, in addition to our own Young Adult Fast here in the Owen's Valley.

As I'm writing this, night has fallen over our valley and the bright light of my screen has become an attractive target for sphinx moths and other night flyers.  Time to go inside and join Joseph for a little while, as he's preparing to leave for basecamp with the month-long group in the morning.

With all my love,


Petra Lentz-Snow
School of Lost Borders

Supporting the Queer Community-
by Pedro McMillan
With the mass shooting at an LGBTQ night club in Orlando still fresh in our minds it is important to ask how this tragedy works in the psyche. Fear and doubt about safety are first and foremost reactions. They sink in and cast a dark shadow over any feelings of confidence in the world for those of us in the queer community.  But the impact is even greater for young queer people.  


"If we as initiated adults are unable to show up for our youth in support of their all important passage into adulthood, how can we ever expect them to feel their place in this world as important to the whole of the community?  We must not fail them, or we are failing the health and balance of our entire planet. "

Meredith Little, Founder SOLB 

Dragonfly Transitions Young Adult Fast - 
by Patrick Devlin
Young adults in transition programs share a common experience of reaching a point in which they recognize that they need to change their life. Often asking themselves the bigger questions of their purpose in life, how to connect with others, and making the often tumultuous leap from adolescence into adulthood. 


KALLIOPEIA YOUNG ADULT PROGRAM YEAR TWO GRANT REPORT

We are inspired by the success of the work completed in these past two years and we will seek ongoing funding to keep it growing, both from within the School's networks and beyond. Our current estimate is for another 25K to continue the work of these next two years. We are excited to explore how we will do it, and we are deeply aware that we would not have this momentum behind us were it not for the generosity and faith offered by Kalliopeia. 


THANK YOU EVERYONE AT KALLIOPEIA!!!!


WSU 4-H Rite of Passage Program - 
by Larry Hobbs, Michael Wallace, Scott Vanderwey

Both theory and research suggest that significant rites of passage for youth can provide a respite from engaging in antisocial encoding and negative identity construction. Rites of passage can offer alternatives to the increasingly negative outcomes of differentiating through narcissism, substance abuse, thrill seeking and the destructive disassociation from human empathy. 


YOUTH PASSAGEWAY SUMMIT

In the Temescal Canyon, just outside of Los Angeles, Youth Passageways brought together leaders from around the world in a multicultural, multidisciplinary, and intergenerational community. Approximately 75-100 rite of passage facilitators, changemakers, and youth engaged in ceremony, dialogue, experiential activities, and small-group workshops.   Click here to see the Youth Passageways Gathering Report or  here for a YAP Reflection of the event.  Or simply watch the 3 minute video clip below.



JBS High School Young Adult Fast - 
by Pedro McMillan and Ruth Wharton
  
Seven graduating seniors from John Burroughs School (JBS) in St. Louis, MO signed up for the first ROP offered jointly by JBS and SOLB. The students did a three day fast in the beautiful Ozark mountains about three hours southwest of St. Louis. Ruth and Pedro McMillan, school guides, worked with the JBS staff and students over one year to prepare. Parents joined the group for a story council, a great model for community based ROP.