When I was sixteen years old, I met Patrick on his first day of kindergarten. He introduced himself smiling from ear to ear with big brown eyes, a dirty graphic tee, and messy hair. The more time I spent with Patrick volunteering at his after school program, the more I learned about how frustrating his life was. The beam of light that I knew as Patrick lived in a home that was raided by local law enforcement monthly, he shared a bedroom with four of his cousins, and his shoes were always two sizes too small. In the years that followed, Patrick and I spent hours and hours together. We connected and shared stories in a way that Patrick had never had before.
It was the years I spent with children just like Patrick - smiling against all odds - that inspired me to think differently about childhood. Kids like Patrick fall through the cracks at underfunded public schools. Homes like Patrick’s block any interventions for the sake of self-preservation. Frankly, it doesn’t matter how many tutors we send into his classrooms or how many times we send resources to his guardians. However - Patrick knew the colorful characters on his t-shirts. He talked about them as they were his friends. He spent time with them every week. As Joan Ganz Cooney first demonstrated in the 1970s, there are powerful pathways to Patrick that can meaningfully impact his quality of life - now more so than ever. At that moment, I knew that I would dedicate my life to learning the power of childhood and meeting kids where they are most free: their screens.
I started with a degree in Children’s Studies at Eastern Washington University. I could better understand the sociology of Patrick’s family, his relationship with his low income community, his coping strategies, his defense mechanisms, his over-extended fight/flight response, and the adult imposed hurdles that were stacked between him and a thriving future.
I had an even stronger passion to fight alongside Patrick to develop strategies to climb the barriers in front of him. What I needed next was a toolbelt full of ways to help us build the ladders and ramps we needed to get over the barriers. At CampFire Inland Northwest, I cultivated my ability to know what a truly supportive resource for kids looks like and how to measure its impact.
The “Patricks” in our communities are diverse. I worked alongside minority groups of LGBTQ teens and homeless young people to build ladders and ramps in their own circumstances.
At the University of Pennsylvania I became extremely interested in the ways that environments influence kids and the way kids influence their environments. How would Patrick’s life be different if he grew up in a different house in the same town or maybe the same house in a different country? How would Patrick’s town be different if he had access to different resources?
I also worked with educators, psychologists, anthropologists, and sociologists to better understand the ways that communities around the world come together through collaboration and partnership to build the resources children need. The learning communities of countries around the world truly inspire me to collaborate often. I studied the history and impact of children's programming in the United States and around the world. Working with teams of content creators on Gali Gali Sim Sim (locally adapted Sesame Street) in New Delhi and Tibeb Super Girls in Addis Ababa, I learned the ins and outs of writing television for children.
At The Asia Foundation, I lead international teams to build a more child-friendly, local-language literacy program in Southeast Asia while expanding the program’s reach, message, and funding sources - ensuring that the Patricks of Southeast Asia have access to high quality books in a language they know.
When the pandemic shut the world down, I moved back to Montana to purchase the roadside motel that my great grandparents built in the 1970s. I conceptualized and launched a craft barbecue restaurant in the hometown I share with Patrick and contributed an overall investment of nearly $1 million dollars through grant writing, real estate development, and job creation.
As an only child, I was raised by a single mother, a father that lived three hours away, a television set, and the forests of Montana. While climbing trees was teaching me to take risks, linear television literally built my circadian rhythms.
While academics remain hyper-focused on conversations about the perfect number of hours a child should spend on their screens, I believe in my soul that that conversation misses the point. What children need is a quality balance between the natural world and the digital world - not based on number of hours with Bluey a week or how many minutes it takes to climb a tree. They need a meaningful way to blend their online life with their offline life.
After meeting Patrick, coming to understand his circumstances, creating television programming and story books internationally, and learning the power of the private sector; I am in the place that means the most to me. Today, I write nature-focused and child-centered television focused on building a bridge between children's living rooms and the natural spaces of the world. I genuinely believe television is the most powerful tool to break through to kids of the world, ensuring that Patrick's children have a path to wilderness in the 21st century and beyond.
Comments