The Rite Way Blog

Change the Story Transform the Future© – Part II

Remembering Our Shared Story 

Puberty is a time of great transition and potential in our personal story making. Children begin to wonder about the mysteries of the Universe and their place in the world. Their internal narrative becomes more robust energizing their creative imagination with thoughts of increased possibilities. External influences fuel our children’s creative imagination and inform their internal narrative, which in turn formulates their personal values and view of the world. We live in an interconnected global community where images and messages from around the world bombard our senses. Public and private education environments convey another kind of message about what is important. Raising test scores is touted above raising children in educational environments generating climates that may unwittingly compromise our children’s sense of safety and belonging.  (more…)

Change the Story Transform the Future© – Part I

Humans are curious creatures. We organize our perceptions of the world through stories to explain mysteries and help us feel safe and secure. Story making comes from our natural inclination to have an internal dialogue with ourselves that narrate our experiences in the world. We creatively imagine our selves in relationships in ways that provide meaning and make distinctions between the sacred and the profane. Just because we create a story to help us understand and explain a mystery doesn’t mean we get it right. When we get the story wrong at the level of public policy for social justice, economics and the environment it can be devastating for us as a species, the rest of our planet and all of our relations. (more…)

An Old Story for Our Time: The Rattlesnake and A Little Boy¹

A little boy was walking down a path and he came across an old rattlesnake. 

The snake asked, "Please little boy, can you take me to the top of the mountain? I hope to see the sunset one last time before I die." 

The little boy answered "No Mr. Rattlesnake. If I pick you up, you'll bite me and I'll die." 

The rattlesnake said, "No, I promise. I won't bite you. Just please take me up to the mountain." 

The little boy thought about it and finally picked up that rattlesnake and took it close to his chest and carried it up to the top of the mountain.  (more…)

The End of Adolescence?

Is this really the end of adolescence as depicted by Paula S. Fass in her new widely acclaimed book: “The End of American Childhood: A History of Parenting From Life on the Frontier to the Managed Child” (Princeton University Press 2016)? And if it is, what are the opportunities and limitations for rites of passage? 

Fass writes, “Adolescence was no longer an adequate description of this long postponement of adulthood. It never had been more than an in-between stage, meant to comprise a moratorium of a few years. Americans floundered to find a term to cover the new postponement of maturity. The best they have come up with is Jeffrey Arnett’s ‘emerging adulthood’.” (more…)

University of Connecticut–School of Social Work Continuing Education presents:
Youth & Community Development through Rites of Passage:
A Whole Systems Approach

Youth & Community Development through Rites of Passage: 
A Whole Systems Approach
Dr. David G. Blumenkrantz
Date: Wednesday, October 5, 2016
Time: 8:30 – 3:00
Location: School of Social Work, West Hartford, Connecticut

A fundamental question facing parents, schools and communities: how do we raise our children to be resilient, self-reliant and capable adults with compassion that is manifested in civic engagement, contributing to a world that works for all? (more…)

We Are World War III^©1

Over the past few months I’ve been trying to put my thoughts and sentiments about the tragedies into words that more and more feel like gut punches. There are really no words that can accurately describe the feeling. The closest I can come is to recall a scene from two different movies. The first is of Howard Beale, played by Peter Finch in the movie Network. He begins the famous academy award-winning scene by saying: “I don’t have to tell you things are bad. Everybody knows things are bad. It’s a depression.” His rant peaks when he tells the TV audience to go to the window and yell, “I’M MAD AS HELL AND I’M NOT GOING TO TAKE THIS ANYMORE.”  (more…)

How Do We Get To The Rite Story?

We explore youth & community development through rites of passage as the rite story in our a post featured on “All Things Healing” – “When We Get Our Story RITE We Get Our Future Right.” 

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