I haven’t been sure how to approach the use of the young offenders’ names in this blog. I got permission from the YOTS leader to use their Christian names, but I don’t feel comfortable with that any more. Now that I know them better, I feel like it would be some kind of betrayal to write about them on my blog, so I have given them all pseudonyms (loosely based on things that I associate them with!) If the young people themselves come to read this, they will know who they are. I have gone through previous posts and renamed them if their names were mentioned. Seems like a better solution than either using ‘one lad’ or ‘one girl.’ To continue…
We started where we left off yesterday, with the addition of Pastel and Loveheart who missed yesterday’s class. They were all shown how to put the lead around their glass pieces to make a complete panel. It was extremely difficult and caused a lot of frustration.
4 of them stuck at it with lots of support and encouragement. They even stayed behind to complete their panels. MC’s musical note design was really tricky and he had had enough when he was just 4 pieces away from finishing, but I told him he wasn’t giving up. I put my camera down and we worked together to finish the whole thing. He stretched out his hand and shook mine when we finished. I could have hugged him I was so proud! I said ‘Well done, mate’ and he then ribbed me for the rest of the day, calling me ‘mate!’
Juliet discovered a real talent for soldering and finished MC’s and Ting’s off for them – real, unprompted teamwork. Romeo did a complicated design which involved mirror inserts between each piece of glass. After witnessing such bad behaviour that resulted in (albeit temporary) exclusion, I was amazed that he could create something beautiful – and see it through to the end.
We talked briefly about the Celebration. On 23rd September, there will be a celebration evening where the kids’ artwork will all be displayed at the Lawrence Batley Theatre, and their film will be screened. It is just for one night, and the young people will be able to invite their families. Juliet asked Murray if he could ‘make it good because we’re really proud of what we’ve done.’ Sue and I were filling up.
Tags: ASBO, photography, social documentary, summer arts college, young offenders, youth crime
