When my father, Odysseus, and his men sailed off to the Trojan War, they were confident their gods favored a quick victory. Instead, the siege of Troy lasted ten years. After Troy fell, the survivors made their way home to Sparta, Mycenae, Pylos, and elsewhere in the ancient Peloponnese. Neither my father nor any of his troops arrived home with the rest. We waited for years as the news grew worse. Odysseus was dead, we were told,or imprisoned, or, worst yet, he had married another woman and abandoned my mother Penelope, my brother Telemachus, and me.


If he is alive somewhere, his thoughts may wander to Penelope and Telemachus, but he won’t be thinking of me. I am the daughter he doesn’t know exists. Odysseus went off to the Trojan War when his son, Telemachus, was barely old enough to walk. His wife, Penelope, was a teenage bride, and is now a young wife, mother, and queen who has to try to rule Ithaca without him.


I was born seven months after he left. I am a hero’s daughter and a princess of his realm, but I have lived my entire life without a father. I’m nineteen now, and still waiting.


All over the world, and throughout history children grow up as I have. This website will focus on the children of those men and women who have gone off to fight America's wars, and provide information and resources for all who care about military families and want to help.

Saturday, October 30, 2010

Finding Their Voices

It is a joyous morning indeed.  In my e-mail this morning was a link to a fabulous program for military children.  It’s called A Backpack Journalist, and its goal is to help military youth find their voice as writers in all media--journalism, songwriting, fiction, even coloring for the younger ones.  
A Backpack Journalist is an educational services and event support company that provides curriculum, workshops and special events for military children ages 6-11 and 12-18, to help them through the deployment and reintegration cycle. Here’s a link to a short video about the program, featuring some young children participating in group activities and talking about their parents’ deployment.
According to its founder, Linda Dennis, A Backpack Journalist “is a combination of processes that help military youth find their voice and learn to express themselves through journalistic writing, song writing and photojournalism using the latest, greatest technology tools around.
“Our team consists of journalism teachers from high school and college, yearbook advisers and photographers in the business,  military family volunteers and facilitators, song writers and performing artists and creative people who have come together with a love of working with youth and a wish to help youth ‘find their voice in their chosen creative way!’”
  
The group sponsors events directly but perhaps more importantly, it creates units of curriculum that others can use in their communities.Curriculum is offered in an open classroom with a mobile lab-based learning environment.
The curriculum combines:
  • basics of  journalistic writing, photography, song writing,  film making, broadcasting, cartooning, poetry and journaling 
  • experienced teachers and professionals focusing on hands-on and one-on-one activities with participants.
  • use of point-and-shoot cameras, flip video and pocket recorders, multimedia software, and PC’s and MAC’s 
A Backpack Journalist  Curriculum Guide  is available for license.  It contains each subject track and operational how-to’s for those interested in setting up such a program in their communities. The guide includes a syllabus for each of the following:
  • Journalistic Writing
  • Photojournalism
  • Song Writing
  • Poetry
  • Editorial Cartooning
  • Film making – Script writing to Broadcast
  • Shoebox Journaling
  • Digital publishing
Linda Dennis, you are a hero!   For more information, go to either of these links.
         
Posted by About AART at 8:07 AM

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