It’s time for another youth-adult dialogue — Vashon’s 19th since they started in January 2004 following the death of an Island girl at the hands of her father.
This may be the last.
The reason: Vashon youth, who created the dialogues, have not come in any significant numbers to the last two dialogues.
Maybe it was the topics that failed to draw. The last two were: “What If … I ran Vashon” and “What If … Vashon had its own bill of rights?” Maybe it was the fact that we scheduled one on Super Bowl Sunday.
In any case, those of us adults who have co-facilitated the dialogues with youth know that we can’t lead successful dialogues by ourselves.
Our goal is 50 percent adults, 50 percent youth. The Super Sunday dialogue attracted 35 people, 10 of them youth and young adults.
That said, the two “What If…” dialogues yielded some interesting conversations:
What if Vashon didn’t have a ferry system?
What creative ways can Vashon find to “initiate” youth into adulthood?
How can we get (and stay) high without drugs and alcohol?
Could we develop a lifelong learning system on the Island (like Vashon College is attempting to do)?
Should nature have rights on Vashon?
How can we take better care of our homeless?
Some of those conversations may even lead to new projects and experiments, seeded by the Vashon Youth Council and Development of Island Teens (DOIT).
The next dialogue, Sunday, April 18, is a repeat of a topic we looked at in 2006 — gender. That dialogue attracted more youth than adults and proved rich in looking beyond gender stereotypes and fostering compassion for the diverse spectrum of maleness and femaleness in us all.
This time we’ll go even deeper. Posters around town trumpet the title: “Gender Roles: What’s Your Flavor?” The artwork is by Vashon High School student Emily Gripp.
Great food will be prepared by volunteers led by Felicia Saathoff and Maryam Steffen. Live music and dinner will start at 5:30 p.m., and the dialogue ends at 8:30.
As always, it’ll be great fun, full of surprises and great conversations.
If enough youth come and they want to continue the dialogues, maybe we’ll have more next school year.
Otherwise, this could be the end of a great Vashon tradition.
— Stephen Silha is a freelance writer and film producer who’s called Vashon home for 30 years.
Take part in the dialogue
The next Youth-Adult Dialogue will be held Sunday, April 18, at the VYFS PlaySpace on the corner of Vashon Highway and Gorsuch Road S.W. Dinner begins at 5:30 p.m. The dialogue ends at 8:30 p.m.
The dialogues are co-sponsored by the Vashon Youth Council, DOIT, Vashon Island Prevention and Intervention Team, Vashon Healthy Community Network, King County Community Organizing Program, Vashon Park District and Vashon Youth & Family Services.
