ÚÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄÄ· ³ ÄÒÄ · Ö ÒÄ· ÖÄ· ÖÄ· ÄÒÄ ÖÄ· · Ö ÒÄ· ÖÄ· ÒÄ· Ò ÖÄ· · ÒÄ· º ³ º ÇĶ ÇÄ º ÇĶ º º ÇĶ ǽ º º º º º º º ÇÄ º ³ Ð ½ Ó ÐĽ ÓĽ ½ Ó Ð ÓĽ ½ Ó Ð À ÓĽ Ð Ð Ð ÓĽ ÓĽ ÐĽ º ÔÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍÍͼ THE CAT CHRONICLE ----------------- * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE * * August 4, 1995 * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Children's Animated Television (CAT) is a 501-C-3 non-profit organization that produces educational videos for children and teens on contemporary social issues such as AIDS, diversity, violence and GLB teen self esteem. CAT also provides as a public service a BBS, a weekly full color newsletter and a Web site for the family of the future: http://www1.usa1.com/~furball/ * Please note a full color printed version of this newsletter is available upon request, as well as on the Web. -------------------------------------------------------------------- CAT CURRENTS: ~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have scheduled some meetings for the rest of the year: WHEN: August 16, 1995 Wednesday TIME: 6:30pm-8:30pm WHERE: Needham Public Library Community Room, Needham, MA WHAT: General meeting for volunteers, and anyone interested in CAT FUTURE DATES: September 20, 1995 Wednesday October 26, 1995 Thursday November 15, 1995 Wednesday December 20, 1995 Wednesday The time and location for these meeting are the same as above... PLEASE CALL 617-449-9699 IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO ATTEND ANY THESE MEETINGS!!! CAT People: ~~~~~~~~~~ The CAT person of the week is Jeff Sam. As many of you already know, Jeff is our Volunteer Child Safety & Parents Coordinator. He also is Co-Sysop (Co-System Operator) of our "Dr Furball's BBS", and helps out with CAT's new Web homepage. In his spare time, Jeff is a Security Policeman in the U.S. Air Force, and father of three. :) HATS OFF TO JEFF!!! He has been, and continues to be an inspiration to all of us here at CAT... As a parent, good citizen and volunteer, Jeff exemplifies what we call "The Family of the Future." We envision the total acceptance of families which include heterosexual _AND_ same-sex couples that provide a loving home for their children. Extra special additional thanks to Jeff's wife Karen, for tolerating his many hours at the computer on our behalf. Karen also has written a few articles for "Jeff Sam's Parenting and Child Safety Page" on the Web. Child Safety Corner... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Child safety tip of the week: IN-LINE SKATING SAFETY "The nation's fastest growing sport is becoming one of the bloodiest" says the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. The commission predicts more than 105,000 injuries from in-line skating this year, (up from 76,000 in 1994), including 25 fatalities from collisions with cars. According to American Sports Data, more than 12 million Americans in-line skate. Two culprits for most of the injuries are lack of safety gear and traffic congestion. Just like cyclists and pedestrians, rollerbladers must also follow the rules of the road and use common sense. It is the people who think they know what they are doing who are the most dangerous. Everyone falls sooner or later. Protective gear such as knee and elbow pads, wrist guards and helmets are essential. According to emergency room doctors, broken wrists sprains, torn ligaments, road rash and head injuries are the most common injuries among rollerbladers. Traffic congestion also contributes to many rollerblading accidents. Rollerbladers should follow the same rules of the road as cyclists to avoid colliding with oncoming and passing cars. Make sure your children: * Use all appropriate safety gear * Wear rollerblades which fit snugly around their ankles to reduce the risk of sprained or broken ankles * Secure any extra laces * Have and know how to use the braking pads * Know and abide by all rules of the road Teach your child how to properly use their rollerblades. Don't just buy your kids rollerblades, "and off they go..." Many communities also have in-line skating safety courses. Jeff Sam Volunteer Child Safety & Parents Coordinator, Co-Sysop of Dr Furball's BBS and CAT's Co-Webmeister Please visit Jeff's Sam's Parenting and Child Safety Web page: http://www1.usa1.com/~furball/jeffsam/jeffsam.html/ GLB Youth Advisor: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CAT's current video project is on GLB teen self esteem. Our goal is to help put a stop to the unacceptably high rate of GLB teen depression and suicide. We also believe there is a direct correlation between low self esteem and unsafe sex practices. To this aim, as a public service we present to you the GLB Youth Advisor... Dealing with Depression Living with feelings of despair and loneliness present challenges to anyone. However, as GLB youth and young adults, we tend to confront these emotions more frequently. Considering the challenges we face growing up and living within the confines of an all too often narrow-minded society, depression becomes a frequent companion. Perhaps the future will bring complete acceptance and support of GLB people in our world. Meanwhile, understanding the reasons for these feelings is the first step towards overcoming them. Once we have identified ourselves as either gay, lesbian or bisexual, we begin to realize the differences between ourselves and our heterosexual peers. Concerns over these differences tend to lead to preoccupation about how others perceive us. For instance, I still occasionally worry whether people will view me as feminine. This fear is unfounded. It's not my nature and allowing myself to worry about it allows those who are intolerant of the GLB community to control my emotions. Another concern of mine is maintaining the respect and friendship of people I work with everyday. Yet, if their respect diminishes because of my homosexuality, I must assume their respect and friendship was not sincere. Why should I allow myself to sink into a depression over an apparent false friendship? If they cannot accept me and lose sight of the dedication and love I demonstrate, then they do not deserve my friendship. Taking the important step of self-acceptance of my sexual identity proves challenging for me, because I crave people's respect. In the past, this need for respect forced me to become someone I was not. Acting out a role for the benefit of your friends to maintain their respect leads to an excessive amount of pain and anger. When this pain is held in for long periods of time, it can lead to depression and thoughts of suicide. We subject ourselves to many fears over the course of our adolescence. Fortunately, much of this anxiety is untrue. If you spend your life worrying about what others think of you, you open the door to a life of pain. Some kids become obsessed with the concept of 'being yourself' and carry it too far. Obviously, if you live at home with parents who do not understand your GLB feelings, then it's unwise to 'be yourself' if that involves acting noticeably different. A number of years after coming out to myself, I am still unsure of who I really am. Some people try to 'act gay' under the belief that the GLB community expects that of them. The key to happiness here is to be yourself. Avoid conforming to anyone's perceived standards. I wish people to view me as a kind, dedicated individual with common sense and a love of my professions. As long as I act myself and maintain these virtues, I will not subject myself to the hurt of the past. I still make mistakes, but like many others, I am still learning. Surrounding yourself with understanding friends who are comfortable with your GLB identity can help this learning process. If you experience feelings of depression or even suicide, you need to speak with someone sympathetic and understanding of your situation. Now is certainly not the time to hide your emotions and play out the roles set forth to you by your parents or friends. Finding help NOW prevents larger problems in the immediate future such as drug and alcohol abuse. The allure of covering up your problems by hiding them in drugs does nothing to solve them. I realize this sounds like a sermon, but I speak from experience. My own mother used cocaine and valium to ease the pain of her own bisexuality. She attempted suicide on several occasions, then acted homophobic towards me. Her internal conflicts nearly caused her to self-destruct. Abusing drugs caused the situation to grow worse for both her and myself. Instead of learning self acceptance and finding support, internalizing the fear and self hatred caused her to become bitter and dangerously depressed. Unfortunately, I learned these feelings from her. Now I struggle to undue these emotional scars by growing out of them. The last time I saw her, she still suffered from alcoholism and depression. Whether she learned to accept herself and find help is unknown. Life is too short and precious to inflict this type of pain on yourself. There are people out there ready to support you and help you learn to overcome your negative feelings. Finding a GLB support group in your local community can provide a wealth of resources for you. In the next few weeks I will compile a list of some regional and national organizations. These groups can help GLB people overcome their confusion and fear. They can help you begin to heal the scars of depression and self hatred. Mike Reddin Volunteer GLB Youth Advisor for Children's Animated Television Internet Address: wxman@pcix.com Mike has an area on our Web site dedicated to GLB youth: http://www1.usa1.com/~furball/glb/glb.html/ Note from our President, Claude DiDomenica... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Hello!!! I wanted to make a personal appeal for your support of our latest video project to help GLB teens. I desperately need your help... I grew up during the '60's in a racially mixed family. My father's family was Italian-Catholic and my mom's was Polish-Jewish. At the time they got married(in the early 50's), society frowned upon such a relationship. They were lucky that most of their families were supportive. During the first couple of years we lived in New York City. Then my family moved to Long Island, about an hour from the city. My parents, being professional musicians, and because we lived so close to the city, had diverse friends and colleagues. I was never "taught" about diversity. It was just a normal part of my family life. I am grateful for that. As early as I can remember I realized that the differences in people make each one of us unique and special. I also learned, first hand, the dark side of diversity: intolerance. My parents named me after Claude Debussy, the famous French composer. From about first through sixth grade, I was the victim of having a "different" name. You know how cruel kids can be: "Claudius", "Claude Hopper", just to name a few... Fortunately, by the time junior high rolled around, that ridicule stopped. Like most kids, I also learned about the Nazi Holocaust and remembered when Martin Luther King, Jr. was killed. To this day, I can not comprehend how a species that produced Charlie Parker and Mozart, could be so cruel to its fellow beings: human, plant and animal. This is exactly why Bessie, my partner and I started this non-profit. For over four years we have struggled to keep our dream alive for a more compassionate world and future. To me, the plight of GLB youth in our society is a symptom of a cancerous and unhealthy world. Yes, there are greater problems. But how can we hope to tackle concerns about the environment, war and mass starvation if we can not even accept a person's sexual identity??? As you know, hate crimes are on the rise here in the U.S. I recently received an E-Mail comment praising CAT on our effort to end intolerance. The person also mentioned that someone on one of the chat areas of the Internet was bragging about how they killed a homosexual and "got away with it". ARGH, Charlie Brown!!! When I hear of evil like this, I pray that there is a Creator to answer to... I have often said that the racist and sexist "jokes" people tell are the first steps towards the extreme, like the Nazi genocide of the Jews and many other groups in Europe. Have you ever seen the anti-Semitic political cartoons from the Nazi's during the 1930's??? As long as we humans don't fight back at every intolerant and ignorant statement and act, we live under the threat of a return to barbarism. Yes, this is a powerful indictment of humanity. But don't we really deserve it??? I believe the problems GLB youth face is a good place to start to tackle the "monolith of hate" we have created... We have received some help towards achieving our dream, mostly from family and friends. However, we can not continue any longer without your support. I have given up everything, both time and money to try to make a difference. We have received little outside support to date. You can help build a constructive future for the next generation of young people. I am hoping to find fellow visionaries who value prevention as much as we do. We need your help!!! Can you please send us a check today??? Any amount will be a big help. YOU too can make a difference... The cost of this project is $200,000.00. To produce the video, we urgently need your help: * The philanthropic gesture of $25,000 will purchase a basic video editing system... * The generous gift of $10,000 will purchase a badly needed video camera for the project... * A donation of $5,000 will pay for programs to develop regional videos for teens located in the Western, Central, and Southern parts of America... * $2,500 will supply the fees for the rental of other video equipment... * $1,000 will pay for travel for volunteers to the Northeast for on-camera interviews... * $500 will help fund a GLB Hotline to be staffed by volunteers... * $250 will allow us to create free Web sites for other non-profit groups involved in GLB teen suicide prevention programs... * $100 will provide postage for future mailings of our newsletters, press releases and for copying costs... Please remember that your gift, large of small, truly matters. Together we can help GLB teens emerge as future leaders. Please help us develop this innovative video about self-esteem for GLB teens. Please join us in our quest for a kind and gentle future for all beings on our planet... The CAT Credo... ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Children's Animated Television (CAT) believes in a positive future for all children... CAT's philosophy is to help solve today's complex social problems through honest and open dialogue, education, information and compromise... CAT will produce video programs for pre-teens and teens to stimulate their minds, harness their creativity and imaginations to cultivate long-lasting answers to problems in their world... As a public service, CAT will also provide educational information using all available technology including a computer bulletin board, World Wide Web site and other electronic media. CAT will supply this knowledge for children, parents and educators to enable our society to develop ideas and solutions for a better tomorrow... Claude DiDomenica & Bessie Hadley Founders of Children's Animated Television July 15, 1995 -------------------------------------------------------------------- CAT is a 501-C-3 non-profit organization and all donations are tax-deductible as allowed by law. Contact Information: Bessie Hadley Executive Director Children's Animated Television, Inc. 1492 Highland Ave, Suite 3 Needham, MA 02192 USA Voice: 617-449-9699 FAX: 617-449-2238 Dr Furball's BBS: 617-455-8415 node 1 617-433-0026 node 2 Internet: hadley@usa1.com Claude DiDomenica President of CAT and Sysop of Dr Furball's BBS Internet: didom@usa1.com CAT's WEB Home Page!!! http://www1.usa1.com/~furball/ * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * Get CAT's latest info releases from Software Creations BBS * * "Home of the Authors" * * <<*-*-*-*->> * * Internet Access: Telnet BBS.SWCBBS.COM * * <<*-*-*-*->> * * WEB Access: http://www.swcbbs.com * * <<*-*-*-*->> * * 2400/9600/14.4 USR HST/Dual Standard Public Access (508) 368-7036 * * 2400/9600/14.4/28.8 USR V.Everything Public Access (508) 368-6604 * * 2400/9600/14.4 USR HST/Dual Standard Member Access (508) 368-7139 * * 9600/14.4/16.8/28.8 USR V.Everything Member Access (508) 368-3424 * * <<*-*-*-*->> * * At Main Menu, type: J 178 * * for "Dr Furball's Educational & Philanthropical Conference" * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * --------------------------------------------------------------------- Copyright 1995 Children's Animated Television, Inc. All Rights Reserved This newsletter may be freely distributed as long as it remains intact and this notice is not removed. Please do not post on USENET, FIDONET, WILDNET etc. without permission of the conference moderator. # # #