Union of Youth

This September The Key is celebrating everything that is France. Are the French really a bunch of rude, arrogant, jobless, wine-guzzling, cheese-eating, socialist, atheist, dirty, cigarette-smoking, surrender monkeys? I don’t know if we will be answering these questions and see no reason why I put up that list of stereotypes except to entertain myself. In any case, we will have 4 French movies shown on a big screen during Movie Nite. There will be no Gerard Depardieu. Instead come enjoy films by Francois Truffaut and Marc Caro and Jean-Pierre Jeunet. Movie Nite is Friday at 7:00pm. Cooking Class will also enter the ring with Croissants on the 14th and Lox on the 28th.

Have fun in Bolivia, you will be missed.

This Monday the 28th at 5:00pm Book Club will be handing out free copies of Joseph Heller’s anti-war classic novel Catch-22. This is one of the most important novels to come along in the past 50 years (and a personal favorite of mine). Here is a snippet of the novel to give you a little taste of what this novel is like.

Who’s ‘they’?” Clevenger wanted to know. “Who, specifically, is trying to murder you?”
“Every one of them,” Yossarian told him.
“Every one of whom?”
“Every one of whom do you think?”
“I haven’t any idea.”
“Then how do you know they aren’t?”
“Then why are they shooting at me?”
“They’re shooting at everyone.”
“And what difference does that make?”
“I’m not going to argue with you,” Clevenger decided, “you don’t know who you hate.”
“Whoever is trying to poison me.”
“Nobody is trying to poison you.”
“They poisoned my food twice, didn’t they? Didn’t they put poison in my food at Ferrara and during the Great Big Siege of Bologna?”
“They put poison in everybody’s food,” Clevenger explained.
“And what difference does that make?”

The Key participated in the annual Community Youth Fair organized by the Northfield Public School System. The Key talked with elementary school kids, middle school kids, and families about the organization. Members handed out candy and bumperstickers and gave youth henna tattoos.

The Union of Youth went on one its biannual Youth Board retreats on Monday the 13th. The group convened at Ruth Amerman’s house for a BBQ (thank you Nancy Amerman) and then camped at Nerstrand Big Woods State Park. Board members cooked smores, stared at the stars, and went exploring at the retreat. Storytelling was especially a favorite time period for the board, though this adult director didn’t want any part of that. During the retreat the board also discussed ways to improve the philosophy and action of The Key. Some of the photos taken are pretty humorous, especially the one of Tom eating an onion. What was Tom thinking?

Luigi Sison, chef extraordinaire, taught (Andi’s) chicken curry and dal on Saturday the 11th of August, his first cooking class since December of 2006. The night was stormy, the sirens were wailing, but the food was amazing. Luigi taught 13 people, many learning from him for the first time. Luigi brought a very personal and ethical philosophy to the teaching was well. He taught the histories of ingredients used, the importance of cooking your own food, the advantages of buying local, the technique of cutting and cooking certain foods, and many other food-related philosophies and tips. Luigi also bought all the food from Just Food Coop, much of it being local. There are more photos here. Also check out Luigi’s site complete with recipes at Luigicooks.

The Key’s Drug Action Meeting at the Armory was a wonderful success and generated many new and creative ideas that will be in action very soon. Over 85 people showed up for the event. The meeting was also a success for new collaborations. A big thanks goes to Skip Zimmerman and Amy Belcher from the YMCA, Zach Pruitt and Kathy Sandberg from the Rice County Chemical Health Coalition, and Pat Allen from the Mayor’s Task Force. The biggest thanks goes to the Northfield Union of Youth’s Youth Board for making this event happen and for causing so much to be achieved from the event. They all received a standing ovation at the event and deserved it. Ruth Amerman and Marie Fischer were wonderful as the facilitator and introductory speaker. Gus DeMann did a mean stopwatch, putting the smackdown on those who went too long. Mackenzie O’Connell and Jena Fredrick were great as the runners (which was a difficult job). Max Jennings, Gerritt Duys, Sam Dunnewold, Ani Lovoll, Kellen Kirchberg, Phoebe Currier, Andi Sison, Tom Launer, Abe Henson, Zane Anway, and others helped with the setup and cleanup. All of them participated in the group discussions helping to give the event some youth focus. Eventually we will get these groups on our website (maybe with the help of HCI) and will notify the community when this happens. Pictures of the event here. Griff was also on site and you can check out his (better than mine) photos of the event on Locally Grown.

The Key will be hosting a “Community Action” meeting on Thursday, August 9th at 7:00pm at the Northfield Armory. This meeting is a “call-to-action” for the Northfield community in response to recent headlines and discussions of heroin and other chemical use in our community. We intend to create a roadmap for working on these complex issues by allowing ANY member of our community to propose an action-oriented solution. Please begin thinking about what you believe is the most important path to prevention and/or treatment in Northfield. For instance, if you believe the most important need is more realistic drug education in the schools, or a parental support group, or specific treatment options, you will be given the opportunity to present that idea (in about a minute) to the larger group. After the presentations conclude, we will break into smaller groups, with each presenter facilitating a discussion of his/her idea. Members of the community can join any group they wish, and can rotate between groups to participate in multiple discussions. Again, as a presenter you do not have to know how to get from point A to point B. The purpose of the meeting is to get people together who want to work on the same solution. Our hope is that out of this meeting will come various enthusiastic committees that are working on some real action to make Northfield a better, safer place. EVERYONE is encouraged to come and participate. Even if you have no idea what the answers are, please come and listen to some options and join in one or more discussions. If you have an idea, but you need a little guidance before presenting it, you can email northfieldunionofyouth@gmail.com, or come to the Armory at 6:30 for some assistance prior to the meeting. In the future, the Key will be available to help put committees in contact with resources in order keep their action moving forward. We will also host regular meetings for committee representatives, allowing the opportunity for members of various groups to share their struggles and their progress, and to find any common solutions.

Please join us on Thursday, August 9th at 7:00pm, and encourage anyone you know to attend. Everyone of all ages are welcome. Call Josh at 507-301-9662, or email northfieldunionofyouth@gmail.com with any questions.

The Key not only participated in National Night Out, but also organized the showmobile for the event. The Key gave away bumperstickers, handed out flyers for the August 9th Community Action Meeting, gave henna tattoos to kids (thanks Marie), skateboarded, and played music on the bandstand. Thanks to Dylan McKinstry and Siobhan Meehl for performing for the event. The “24th Annual National Night Out” (NNO), a unique crime/drug prevention event sponsored by the National Association of Town Watch (NATW) is a campaign involving citizens, law enforcement agencies, civic groups, businesses, neighborhood organizations and local officials from over 10,000 communities from all 50 states. Over 34 million people participated in NNO 2006. Check out the many many wonderful photos here.