Blooking Younger: January 2012

Yes, yes; we know...

You want to know what exactly is this thing you call BLOOK...
Well the idea is simple – it is a collection of donated blogs and writings – a collective sharing of thought and feeling poured onto paper then bound into a book and sold to raise money for organizations who are actively going out into our world and making it a more pleasant and safe place for us all to live...
That’s it – That’s all... there really is nothing more simple than the concept of a Blook, so we have to ask – who are you Blooking for?

About Silid Aralan

"We do not teach how to learn, we teach how to LOVE Learning"
We believe that every child is intelligent. We in Silid Aralan Inc. (SAI) do not just teach them how to learn but we teach them how to love learning. We cater low performing students from public schools to empower them in developing their skills, moral, and talents. At the end of the day, we make sure that there will no longer be low performers but rather school and community achievers and catalysts.
We engage parents, schools, local government, and business sectors to be actively involved in this great mission. Education is not only the responsibility of the school, but it should be OUR responsibility. An empowered child can only create empowered nation and a disempowered child can lead to disempowered nation. What we are building are future heroes of our nation.

About REACH A CHILD...

In 2007, Children's Book Author, Paul Gilbertson, and his wife, Chris, wanted to find a way to help children who are unfortunate victims of crises. When the little town of Gays Mills, Wisconsin was flooded that same year, Paul jumped at the chance to try and improve the situation for all the children who were affected by the disaster. Paul and his daughter packed up the car with boxes of children's' books and started their journey. A few hours later, the two arrived at the scene only to be greeted by yellow police tape, first responders and emergency vehicles. Although this first attempt to "Bring a smile to the face of a child in the time of need" was not successful, it was just the beginning. On the drive home that day, Paul realized in order to REACH a Child at the time of crisis, he needed to team up with the people who arrive at the unfortunate crisis first.
Out of this experience the R.E.A.C.H. a Child "B.A.C.K. Packets" program was born, this initiative centers around providing approximately 10-12 various children's books to officers and first responders in a red backpack for them to give to children that they see at the scene of an accident, fire, domestic disturbance or in other traumatic situations.
Currently these red backpacks are in over 15,000 squad cars and ambulances throughout Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, Michigan, Nebraska and California. Within our first two years we have donated over 175,000 Children's books to children in crisis situations with the help of these First Responders, Police, Sheriff and State Patrol officers! Likewise, we have a waiting list of over 2,000 squad cars and EMS ambulances in over 15 states wanting to get involved in this "B.A.C.K. Packets" program!

IN THE BEGINNING...

When I started this adventure into writing two years ago I thought; I mean I really, really thought I had a handle on what this journey was all about. I knew NOTHING... Along the way I met incredibly gifted and talented peoples of all ages from all types of different backgrounds who were finding ways in their own way to make our world a better place. Many of them started with nothing more than dream, with no idea of how they were going to pull their vision together and make it a reality yet always knowing deep down inside that they would. The first group I stumbled upon became the driving force behind my belief in the power of the hearts and minds of our young. I would again like to take the opportunity to offer up a connection to that amazing group of kids. Every day is another chance to let them know that what they do matters and that their will to survive and flourish has inspired greatness in people they may never get the chance to meet. SHEPHERD OF THE HILLS

Sample text

As part of our desire to act on our belief that the thoughts and feelings of our young are not only valid, but needed, to assist us in the creation of a peaceful united planet that honour’s the very Earth that feeds and nourishes us, we would like to offer the opportunity for our youth to write their cares, concerns and solutions into blogs that we will then combine into a book called Blooking Younger. Backed by Grave Distractions Publications, the book will contain a collection of thoughts and feelings from young people around the world who wish to share their views and solutions on world issues such as the environment, education, poverty, war, etc...

As blogs and writing are sent to us via email, we will post them on this site along with the entrants name, age and nationality. The Blooking Younger team will accept writings up until Jan 01 2012, at which time the collection will be reviewed by the Blooking team. 150 of the writings will then be randomly chosen and sent off to the Grave Distractions team for layout and editing. Once published, half the proceeds will go to help further assist an organization that is dedicated to teaching young people how incredibly valuable they truly are. Silid Aralan was chosen because of their belief in the power of the young to percieve and understand our world on a level not previously accepted by the general public. We truly do feel that as this small organization expands, it will assist to shift the paradigms of modern day education and bring it into a new realm of realization, that the student is and always has been as much the teacher as the person standing at the front of the classroom.

The other charity that will benefit from the remaing proceeds is an organization in the United States that is using literature to redefine the realtionship between young people in trouble and the people who have dedicated their lives to helping them. REACH a Child aims to put smiles on the faces of children in crisis across America through the power of books. Whether the children are in the hospital, victims of domestic disturbance, or automobile accident or temporarily homeless, REACH a Child wants to help the first responders engage these children in a positive way.

For more information about the details on content, submission and publication please see the guidelines below for information. Thank you in advance for supporting Blooking Younger and for being a part of our contribution to giving a voice to today’s youth.

About Us

As an author, I have written often about the need to pay attention to the concerns of our youth. I believe that they have a unique and untarnished view of our world and the people in it and are connected to our world in such a pure and untainted way as to allow them to explore new and adventurous thoughts and ideas. I believe we owe it both to them (the young ones we have borrowed this planet from) and to ourselves (as adults) to assist them in awakening their own inner desire to be an active part of the changes we see happening in our world. Sometimes we forget as adults that our younger generation has an incredible ability to grasp the political and social issues that our world is currently facing; often believing that it is our responsibility to ‘fix’ the problems that we perceive as today’s’ challenges. Yet we have at our disposal a vast, and for the most part, untapped resource for ideas and solutions to our current world troubles. For years now the youth have been actively involved in creating and implementing programs to further our understanding of our world and to care for those in it whom, for the moment, may not be able to care for themselves. Creative solutions often come from the minds of children who are not yet jaded by the belief that we are powerless to be the change we want to see in our world. The movement to recognize the potential of our younger generations is in full swing as organizations around the world focus their energies on empowering the youth and encouraging to them to speak out with regards to their view of a better, safer, cleaner more energetically charged world in which to live. As I dive further into my own development as a responsible, contributing member of our world I am reminded often of the power of the minds and hearts of today’s youth and have been driven to find ways to assist them in finding new avenues to explore their own remarkable capabilities. It is my hope that Blooking Younger will offer the youth a format to combine their voices and spread their own messages of hope and faith for a brilliant future without limits.

Jean Victoria Norloch

Blooking Younger

Pages

Monday, 9 January 2012

Sean, 20

Anthony, USA, 16

Sean, 20, USA

THE BLOOK - Grave Distractions Publications