This past week has seen a group of young men and women (and the not so young) in Arctic Bay, teaching Hip-hop and (more importantly) life skills, to local youth. Buddah (okay he's my age, and can slide across the floor in a head stand), is the leader of Blueprint for Life, and he and his crew have done an excellent job here, engaging and motivating young people through Hip-hop.
They came to Arctic Bay highly recommended. Leah's sister had just visited from Cape Dorset, and they could not say enough good things about the change that they wrought in the youth there. Steve (Buddah) and some of the crew have stayed here, although I've hardly seen them as they were down at the gym doing their thing. Steve has a twenty-five year career in Social work, in such areas as child welfare, probation and street outreach, and incredibly has been involved in Hip-hop even longer. Trust me, he knows how to kick it old school.
I missed the local kids doing their dance last night, as I had a local kid of my own who was napping it old school, but I did catch Buddah, Ben Jammin', Scratchski and the rest dance. Wow.
Here are a few poor photos from the night. If you want to learn more about their activities here, you should head over to Tales of the Arctic (and again, again, again, again, and again) and Way Way Up as they were actually there for the real work these guys and gals do.
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I wish I had had the chance to get down to the gym but I spent much of non-teaching time chasing Thomas about soccer-related stuff. I am very interested to see what effect this will have on the school environment though.
On an unrelated note, I was curious whether Leah’s sister is married to a certain Northern store manager as I’m pretty sure I know who that is. I know their kids from Broughton and I see them every year at the soccer tournament in Iqaluit.
Small world.
This program is a true success story throughout Nunavut. three years now they have been putting this on, and the reviews are uniform and positive. Glad they made it up your way.
Hey Darcy, hopefully you’ll see a difference in the school. I think part of it will depend on whether there is a core who are going to keep plugging away at it. And yes, Eunice is married to a certain Northern Store manager. I managed to corrupt him when he was here, and turn him on to the CFL, Macs, Wasabi Peas, and blogging. He’s even talking about starting his own blog.
Its very good to see Kent. I had to admit I was pretty skeptical early on, mostly because of perceptions of the whole Gangsta thing in Hip Hop. Buddha is a pretty level headed guy with lots of background, and has tapped into something that seems to inspire and motivate a lot of youth, some of who can be pretty hard to inspire and motivate. Nice to see.
Man, I could seriously hurt myself doing that! 🙂
Seriously, I think programs like this are great. They get people out and about, help with social skills, it’s a great way to meet people and good exercise and fun. I can’t wait to hear a follow up and how this is going.
Yeah I know kat. Buddha is my size and age and if I tried to that stuff. Well it wouldn’t be pretty, on many levels.