A C.A.L.L. TO ACTION!
It is my sincerest effort to build, through Jacob Marley Press, a physical structure within local communities that would allow for the fostering of natural creative literary talent and give prospective readers a forum to discuss ideas and an outlet through which to be heard. Reading a new book or article can be inspiring. The feeling can make one wish more people were available to talk to, but book clubs are not "cool" and with regard to a specific topic internet forums can be great places to quickly find others seeking the same conversation; however, this is not always either the most satisfactory or even honest place to have such a discussion. Often members of the anonymous community have hidden or alternate agendas. Some can be present only to proliferate negativity through anonymous bullying or by spreading hate speech in forums regarding novels with themes of race, religion, gender or sexual orientation. The internet is a glorious thing and it will serve humanity in the most spectacular ways, in this writer’s humble opinion anyway; that said, there are obvious and potentially tremendous opportunities to use such a fantastic innovation to devastating effect with even lethal outcomes.
The noted audacity and atrocities committed on the internet are not my focus here. My directive is to create a place where the creative arts of learning and literature are inspired, encouraged, nurtured and cultivated as one does with anything one wants to see grow into a healthy subject. I have entertained the thought of committing myself to this process and while I believe it will require an exorbitant amount of time and energy spurred on by proper motivation, I truly believe the reward will far outweigh the cost. In keeping with a promise I made some time ago, I have decided to give of myself freely for this cause in which I passionately support.
I have begun the process of filing the proper paperwork and licenses with the government to establish a non-profit entity I have dubbed “The C.A.L.L. Foundation”. The Creative Arts of Learning and Literature Foundation, will as such be a ‘call’ to arms, and it will be the mission of the enterprise to place a book or a pen in the arms of every child able to hold one, and go so far as to find ways to accomplish the goal for those that can not. From the ages of 4-14 I believe we can have the most impact on helping a child become more interested in the literary arts. Whether it be writing, reading, journalism, research, translation of language or interpretation of poetry.
The public youth will always need direction. The adult public will always need information. News is inherently bias as based on the reporter’s point of view, though, many of our best journalist seek to remove that instinctual bias from their ultimate product so as to allow the public to come to its own conclusion. Current trends in social media and politically or corporate influenced mass media outlets are subjective in their objective reporting. The information we receive, or rather should I say, are deluged under, is critically influenced by big corporate dollars and the political machine that also feels the conglomerate effect. An intelligent, informed public that can comprehend and criticize the information they are being given is essential to a democracy functioning on a principally fundamental level.
It will be the effort and mission of The CALL Foundation to promote literacy and learning by direct action initiative and volunteer work. Beginning with the youngest demographic (4-8 years of age), the priority will be assisting in their advancement of reading skill and information retention by means of group storytelling, individual attention where applicable, group creative writing sessions, brainstorming sessions and hybridized application of reading comprehension and writing skills such as online literacy, blogging, journal keeping, opinion, research articles, and community participation. The older demographic (9-14 years of age) will be focused on in a more practical matter. A somewhat prosaic approach to utilizing their naturally rebellious spirit and a developing awareness of self can be applied to directing their advancement of reading difficulty and specifically, their writing abilities. The anxiety many preteens to teenagers feel seems to be a result of causative factors (I recall most of mine were), by teaching to embrace that emotion and to translate it into the written word can become therapeutic and work in a positive direction rather than driving these adolescent young men and women toward caustic outlets that will only damage their self-image or perpetuate the feelings of the unresolved and lead to further misunderstanding of one’s self.
It is not an easy thing to do to understand one’s self, but through the process of vicarious experimentation and creative writing and the healthy, imaginative building of worlds and characters, this process can become much more digestible for these young adults and help them to experiment more with less self-destructive habits or experiences. This is an apparent correlation that cannot be ignored. Time and again it has proven true for a multitude of people that these practices along with a solid sense of direction and of familial or communal support can have a major impact on the success and future of the participants.
The ultimate goal of the CALL Foundation will to eventually, yet effectively, prepare children and young adults to become more well versed in the arts of learning and literature and will promote the abilities needed to sift through the mountain of hard facts, debatable science, intangible feeling, strongly reinforced criticism and opinion, and the multitude of raw data sources that are exponentially increasing the struggle to glean out actual truth, or fact from fiction. With the advancement of technology and the 24 hours news media no longer taking the necessary steps to vouchsafe all the reports they run and the inception of “fake news” (which in reality is no real new idea, it has only become more prevalent as the news organizations we have grown to trust have become embroiled in salacious fiascoes and the dangerous labeling of “fake news” agencies by influential people of very high political standing). There should be no misconceptions, fake news or as we used to call it, propaganda, is a very effective tool used to deceive the public at large and influence a portion of the populace by way of inflammatory rhetoric and gossip like ‘dirty laundry’ and outright lies with the goal of swaying public opinion and advancing a person or organization's agenda. This has been happening since the idea of a communal news source was conceived.
With the advent of all these influences and the perpetual bombardment of a constant stream of data and information, with each and every news agency and media outlet under constant pressure to be first to provide the next big expose, it is critical that our upcoming young men and women are prepared to deal with this impact. Even if you don't realize it yourself, you are likely a victim of the constant assault of dialogue, ideology, "raw data" and theology coming from the influence makers from the highest to the lowest; relentlessly bombarding viewers, readers and ambient listeners alike with the subliminal or overtly persuasive advertisements and opinions of those with the power to dictate them.
We must begin to prepare our children to deal with this level of the mental manipulation and daily influencing penetrating into every aspect of their (and our) lives. The only way to do this, I believe, is to begin to develop their literary and comprehensive skills as early as possible and to continue reinforcing that knowledge and practice. As parents, as citizens, as people, we have an obligation to the generation that follows us. If we can live as if that is our primary concern in even a fifth of our daily actions, then we can easily preserve this world for many, many generations to come, in all aspects of life and living. For now, Jacob Marley Press and The (soon to be officially announced) CALL Foundation would like to start somewhere, somewhere close to our hearts; and as ghosts of a perhaps wholly by-gone era, whose hearts may have discontinued their beating some time ago, we still recall the flames that burned with the fury of a living passion and so we shall seek to instill those embers within the chests of the sons and daughters to come after, in the hope that they too will seek to burn as brightly as the stars.
"And those that mocked us shall be tormented by the rattling of our chains as we march them back, back toward the abyss of the forgotten..." ~ H.J. Backer
As Always,
Thank you for reading. ~ Jacob Marley