Why Teenagers Like Winehouse

Posted on: 01/28/08 1:39 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Many of you saw my last post about Amy Winehouse’s recent troubles and how we can respond. The more interesting phenomenon is why teenagers aren’t critical of her, when they ARE critical of celebs like Lindsey Lohan, Paris Hilton, etc.

17 year old writer Jemina Owen chimes in with her theory in this article:

Perhaps part of her appeal is her honesty regarding her very obvious problems. So many celebrities appear to spend their lives trying to glaze over the rough patches in their lives to present a ‘clean’ image to the media – whether it be Victoria Beckham staunchly defending her ‘healthy attitude towards food and weight’ (though we’ve yet to see a photo of her tucking away a burger to put our minds at ease) or Lindsay Lohan rolling her Bambi eyes and moaning at how the press portray her as some kind of ‘wild girl’ when in fact she likes nothing more than a cup of tea and a good book.

Winehouse, on the other hand, makes no attempt to cover up the mess her life is in, and you only have to read the pitiful interviews with her father to gain an uncomfortable amount of insight into the heartache that drug addiction, an eating disorder and a husband locked away in prison bring to her loving parents who wonder where on earth they went wrong.

Honestly, I don’t think any of us would want to swap our lives for Winehouse’s. But maybe at times teenagers feel they can relate to some aspect of Winehouse’s plight – whether they be going out with a guy Dad can’t stand, or desperate to persuade Mum that a tattoo doesn’t screw up your chances of getting a decent job. However big a mess Winehouse makes of things, hundreds of messages of support from her fans reinforce that there are still people rooting for her. For teens, it’s a comforting message in a world that can often seem unforgiving – no matter how much you screw up, there will still be people who want you to shine.

Two observations:

  1. Authenticity is huge with this generation.
  2. Forgiveness is still something that people seek today. Jesus seemed to “reek” forgiveness and people sought Him out. What do we reek of?

… something to consider as we try to reach out to this generation.

(thanks to Anastasia for the link)

Amy Winehouse Goes to Rehab

Posted on: 01/25/08 10:01 AM | by Jonathan McKee

You’ve heard the words to the song:

He’s tried to make me go to rehab
I wont go, go, go.

… and now they’re true.

Amy Winehouse is no longer saying “no, no, no.” She’s going to rehab. An article on billboard.com announced that Amy is cancelling her appearance at a Saturday awards show and checking into rehab.

“Amy decided to enter the facility today after talks with her record label, management, family and doctors,” reads a statement from the Universal Music Group. “She has come to understand that she requires specialist treatment to continue her ongoing recovery from drug addiction and prepare for her planned appearance at the Grammy Awards.”

Just yesterday there were reports of Amy being caught on video smoking crack.

The British tabloid the Sun released grainy footage showing Grammy-nominated Winehouse, 24, inhaling fumes from a pipe. The video was reportedly shot hours before she attended a court hearing for her jailed husband.

Amy’s “Rehab” song is in the iPods of Hundreds of thousands of teenagers across the world. The message that most kids hear from the song is one of “I don’t care.” But if you listen a little closer to the talented yet troubled singer’s lyrics… you see pain, something today’s generation can relate to.

I don’t ever wanna drink again
I just, ooo, I just need a friend
Im not gonna spend 10 weeks
Have everyone think im on the mend

It’s not just my pride
It’s just til these tears have dried

They’re tryin to make me go to rehab
I said no, no, no

Amy has confessed to her troubles in interviews before. In Spin Magazine last summer she said, “I write songs because I’m f—ed in the head and need to get something good out of something bad.” (Amy Winehouse, Spin, July 2007, p. 60.)

As a youth worker I have two thoughts:

  1. Pray for Amy. Don’t mock her in this (sometimes the ‘righteous’ have the tendency to kick people when they’re down). Just pray for her.
  2. Use this as an opportunity to talk with our kids about these feelings. “Have you ever felt like her lyrics: ‘I just need a friend?'” “Have you ever turned toward something that you know down deep isn’t the answer… but you do it anyway?” “What could be the answer to this emptiness we feel?”

 

Religious Wackos Talking Trash About Heath Ledger

Posted on: 01/23/08 9:29 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Wow… just when you thought you saw it all.

Let me back up just a bit.

Most of you have probably read the very sad story of the death of Heath Ledger, the young actor who starred in The Patriot, A Knights Tale, The Four Feathers, Brokeback Mountain and many other films. Heath died yesterday in his New York apartment of a possible drug overdose.

He had a 2-year-old child.

My heart goes out to his family and friends. So sad.

Unfortunately, some weirdos have already emerged casting judgement on Heath for his role in Brokeback Mountain. This website (I don’t even want to type the address) from Westboro Baptist Church has posted a “flyer” how they will picket his funeral because he was a “pervert” and he is “now serving in Hell.” It’s so hateful, it is difficult to even read.

NOTE: that weblink is getting a lot of traffic today… so here is the image they have posted on their site:

Other sites have already began posting pictures of what are believed to be amongst the last images of Heath Ledger alive. Tragic.

I guess I just wonder what Bible this church is reading? If they call themselves Christians… what Christ do they belong to? Because the Christ I know was loving, forgiving and gracious to prostitutes, tax collectors and sinners. The worse the sinner, the more they were drawn to Jesus. And Jesus always showed love and grace, balanced with the truth– I just talked about this balance in my blog last week (I can’t help but think how he responded to the woman caught in adultery in John 8).

Pray for Heath’s family… his little girl.

And Jesus told us to pray for our enemies too. So I guess I better start praying for Westboro Baptist Church.

 

 

Young Life Skit Causes Stir

Posted on: 01/23/08 8:47 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Ah… this article from brings back memories:

Police in Mount Lebanon, Pa., said in December that no illegal acts were involved, but some parents still want to know why the nondenominational Christian Mount Lebanon Young Life club had staged a teenagers’ social event during which boys wore adult diapers, bibs and bonnets and sat in girls’ laps while being spoon-fed. Said youth minister O.J. Wandrisco, the skits were not “dirty,” but “to break down the walls and let (the kids) have fun.” A previous skit involved, according to a parent, kids eating chocolate pudding out of diapers. [Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, 12-8-07]

Wow… and I found this in News of the Weird . That’s quite an acheivement- I’ve never made it into that publication. I’m so jealous!  🙂  (My gross games page only made it into WORLD Magazine a few years ago… but that’s a whole ‘nother story!)

NFL Cracking Down on Churches Showing the Super Bowl on the Big Screen

Posted on: 01/19/08 9:35 AM | by Jonathan McKee

Every year our ministry provides fun resources for for all the churches and youth groups that have Super Bowl parties. Last year, a wrench was thrown in the works… the NFL cracked down on churches showing the game on the big screen.

Seriously?

Yep… no joke. This actually doesn’t surprise me. Any Monday Night Football fan remembers that little disclaimer they make about the game not being for public showing, yada, yada, yada. Well, some churches have these giant Super Bowl parties and charge admission.

Well, the NFL is cracking down on these large gatherings watching the game on the big screen.

Here are the two issues: collecting money, and screen size.

The Daily Progress out of Charlottesville, VA has an article talking about this situation. This article talks about the Indianapolis church that was told they couldn’t show the game on the big screen. A Charlottesville lawyer, John W. Whitehead, wants to fight this, saying that “he’d sue if he could only find a church willing to sign on as a client.”  (Really? A lawyer wants to sue?)

The article goes into detail:

At issue is a law and corresponding league rule that says the Super Bowl can’t be shown to gatherings on a screen larger than 55 inches.

Whitehead, who has made a career in part by defending religious groups on free speech issues, says that rule keeps most churches from being able to host Super Bowl parties and show the game.

“It’s absurd to say that anyone in a larger crowd can watch it on a 55-inch screen,” he said. “They can’t.”

The league’s policy is modeled after the federal Copyright Act, and does not unfairly target churches, according to an NFL spokesman.

“Our position on this is that we have absolutely no objection to churches and others hosting Super Bowl viewing parties as long as they don’t charge admission and they show the game on a television of the type that is commonly used at home,” said NFL spokesman Greg Aiello.

Is a lawsuit the answer?

Here’s my two cents: Fair or not, it’s a law. We need to obey it.

But don’t worry… we CAN still have superbowl parties, IN HOMES. That’s right. Personally, that’s more fun anyway. It’s more intimate. For large churches or youth groups, what a great way to connect people with others in their area. Have “area Super Bowl parties.”

And as for the money? Don’t charge admission, just make it a “bring your own snack” party. Admission is a bag of Doritos or a 2 Liter of Pepsi.

A few examples of what this can look like:

I was one of the leaders of a young couple’s ministry at my church a few years ago. We used to have a Super Bowl party at one of the leader’s house and invite the whole young couple’s class. We had about 30 people show up. It was a big house with a big TV and a big freaking couch!!! It was a lot of fun.

When I was in high school (WAAAAAAAAAY back in the day), my youth group used to always have a Super Bowl party at one of the youth leaders’ houses. This was always great fun. Our youth group was a decent size, about 70 kids weekly. This youth leader built bleachers in his house… (it was awesome) in two different rooms. All the fans for one team went in one room, all the fans of the other went in the other room (he wasn’t trying to cause divisions, the rooms were only so big… we needed multiple rooms to fit all the kids). I’ll always remember that Super Bowl.

Oh… and screen size? Do you remember what TV’s used to be in the 80’s? (okay… I just dated myself. I was in high school in the 80’s. Yes… pegged pants, an Izod with the collar up, a white Miami Vice jacket… the whole bit!) A BIG TV in the 80’s was 27 inches, unless you were one of the few people who had those funky projection BIG SCREENS with the three lights shining on it (and you couldn’t even see the picture unless you weren’t dead center). Yes… that memorable Super Bowl I saw on the bleachers in a living room in high school was on a 25″ TV.

So I have no problem with 55 inches.

So… this year our ministry will be providing its annual Super Bowl activity ideas, including a fun little Super Bowl quiz- a competition predicting the results of the game. (here’s last year’s quiz) People take the quiz before the game starts answering who they think will catch the most passes, which team will score first, who will get the most field goals, etc. After the game, you tally up the results and see who did the best on the “quiz.”

Great fun.

So throw your Super Bowl parties this year. Just 1. don’t charge  2. and “keep it on a on a television of the type that is commonly used at home,” to quote that NFL spokesman word for word.

So who’s gonna win?

MySpace Caves

Posted on: 01/16/08 9:10 AM | by Jonathan McKee

It’s all over the news… top stories on many newspapers. MySpace is finally caving and saying, “All right, All right… we do need to make some changes!”

I saw this article in my paper yesterday. CNN has one too. Still left a lot of questions. Like how will they really be able to “strenghen software to find underage users?” I would love that… but I’m skeptical.

Anastasia at YPULSE went into much greater detail about it… answered a few of the questions. She is updating some of the feedback from her questions already. For example, she notes that even though MySpace is going to default that 16 and 17 year olds profiles will be set to private, they can go in and change them back to public.

Another interesting fact is that adults can never add people under 16 unless they know their email or last name. I think that is a VERY GOOD thing. No complaints from me on that one.

NEW INFO: YPULSE’s Anastasia just linked another article on her recent post that talks about a hole in MySpace’s architecture that allows anyone who’s interested to see the photographs of some users with private profiles — including those under 16 — despite assurances from MySpace that those pictures can only be seen by people on a user’s friends list. WOW. And now that is fixed.

But MySpace is trying to make changes.

Marko, in his blog raised the question, “I wonder how this will effect youth ministry?” Good question. I don’t think this particular change (adults not being able to add kids under 16 without knowing their email) won’t effect it at all. As a youth worker, I only would be contacting the kids I know anyway. So the only kids I would add would be kids who I already know thier email, last name, dog’s name, address, girlfriend’s name, etc.

My two cents as a parent. Myspace has to make some serious strides before I’m confortable letting my kids on it. Not necessarily because of safety… but simply because of the smutty pictures. My 14 year old boy doesn’t need to be dodging pictures of girls in thongs as he browses the web.

A parent walked up to me after a parent seminar I did in PA last Sunday and asked me, “I finally gave in and just let my 13 year old son on MySpace last week. Was that a mistake?” I told her this:

“That’s a decision only you can make. But two things: 1. You have to be 14 to even be on MySpace. So your son had to lie to get a membership. You have to ask yourself if that’s okay. (I didn’t tell her, “Is that okay when you’re going to the movies too? How about on our taxes… is it okay to lie there too?”)

2. I give you this challenge. Go onto Myspace and start clicking around on people’s pictures. Click from one kid to another at your kid’s school. Click several degrees of seperation… because maybe your son’s inner circle of friends are really cool kids. But click a couple degrees of separation from there. Then, be savy like a 13 year old boy would be. Go to the browse section. That button alone will probably be as far as you need to click to find smut. But… if you want to be like many boys, from browse, do an advanced search. Note that you can search for a certain ‘orientation,’ like a bi-sexual. Try searching for bi-sexuals in your area that are on MySpace looking for a relationship. See what you find.”

Then I left her this challange. “If you can click around for 1 minute without seeing a picture of a girl in a thong, then I’ll give you $5!”

That’s $5 I’ll never have to pay. (and yes, my kids aren’t on MySpace)

Is Facebook Too Popular?

Posted on: 12/3/07 4:46 PM | by Jonathan McKee

Sorry, my crystal ball isn’t working. But this is an interesting theory. This guys is basically saying that he thinks Facebook’s growth in popularity could be their downfall. Check it out yourself. WIRED reports this:
 
Boing Boing editor Cory Doctorow has (a) theory. The crux is simple — the more people get involved in social networking, the more users are likely to encounter people they’d rather avoid. Doctorow goes on to theorize that the more often this happens, the more likely people are bound to abandon a site.
 
His argument may be simple, but it’s genuinely tapped in to how people communicate. “That’s why I don’t worry about Facebook taking over the net,” he explains. “As more users flock to it, the chances that the person who precipitates your exodus will find you increases. Once that happens, poof, away you go — and Facebook joins SixDegrees, Friendster and their pals on the scrapheap of net.history.”
 
I’m not convinced. But it’s interesting to hear people’s speculations.
 
Here’s what I do know. Fact: Facebook is growing by leaps and bounds in popularity. MySpace… it’s holding it’s own for now.
 
It will be interesting to see what the future holds. Right now it seems as though many of the teenagers that are tired of the “anonymity” and “pick up” atmosphere of MySpace are fleeing to Facebook. But some teenagers are enjoying the lack of responsibility that MySpace offers.
 
Plus… who’s going to switch their account when they have 867 “MySpace friends?” Starting over would be pretty depressing!
 
Time will tell…

What? We Almost Had ‘Sausage Biscuit with Eggs’ All Day Long!!!

Posted on: 12/2/07 8:40 PM | by Jonathan McKee

I’ve got to talk to you about something very important that will effect youth ministers everywhere: McDonalds has been in talks about providing breakfast all day long. Yes… it’s true!
 
I’m not surprised. Everyone knows that their breakfasts rock! (and their lunches… well…) So why not offer the good stuff all day?
 
Well, someone up high in Mickey D’s isn’t buying it. United Press International reports here:
 
McDonald’s has no plans to offer breakfast all day long, even though it is the most profitable meal of the fast-food chain’s U.S. division, an executive said.  Here:

“Breakfast all day is certainly something we’ll always take under consideration, but I can fairly tell you it’s not something that is going to happen for a long time,” McDonald’s USA Chief Operating Officer Jan Fields said in a webcast news conference.

Breakfast accounts for 24 percent of McDonald’s Corp.’s U.S. sales and 28 percent of transactions, she said.
 
Wow. Talk about a bad decision.
 
Sigh. So close…

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