Miriam: Can you talk to me about the word youth? What does it mean to you?

Marlo: The word youth, oh…

Miriam: Yeah, what does it mean to you?

Marlo:

Oh, well thank you for asking because I actually have a minor in applied linguistics. That’s an exciting question. Hmm, actually, it’s been a while. I have to look up the etymology, to be honest with you. I’m probably the only geek who said that, but that’s okay. For me, I guess, okay, aside from the origin of the word and all that, it’s everything that I have kind of been working around for the last well, I don’t know, since I was really young. I’ve been working with youth and for youth for a long time. So for me, it’s life. It’s part of who I am.

I guess it runs in the family because I remember my grandmother. We were talking to her about would she like to go into a home because she was starting to lose certain functions, and it was getting more challenging for her and the family, and she said, “Why would I want to go in those places? They’re full of old people.” So she had an incredibly active inner-youth right up until the last minute. And I think that’s something that’s really encouraged my family, whatever that is. Some kind of intangible spark, ethos, I don’t know.

But yeah, for me, it’s life right now because it’s so much of what I think about and what I work around it and it’s so inspiring. I mean it’s also a little disconcerting that I’m 32, and it’s like, “Okay, what does it mean to be 32 and to be a youth activist?” That’s something I’m starting to like try to reconcile , but I also want to have a family. So maybe that’s the way that will happen.

Miriam:

So what do you make of that? Tell me more with the awkward transition. Tell me more about waking up in the morning and if I have gray hair, how can I possibly be doing youth work?

Marlo:

Right, right, yeah. I don’t know. I mean, I think it’s a bit of an uncomfortable reconciliation, but for me, I guess maybe it becomes about moving into more of an allies space. It kind of reminds me of discourse around allies because no, we're not necessarily youth anymore per say, but man, we sure like working with them, and we sure want to fight the good fight with them.

So yeah, it reminds me of like how there's gay/straight alliances in high schools, and there are straight kids who are like super supportive and vocal, and like movers and shakers in helping to make things happen, but they’re not queer themselves, and that’s okay.

So, being a youth worker from our understanding is about well, as you said, giving up control, and it’s also about being aware of those power dynamics. So like, for example, in my previous answer where I talked about, “Oh yeah, I’m moving into an ally space. “ But there are some spaces where youth won’t want me there, and won’t want me and what I represent anywhere near what they’re doing. And so it’s to be aware of the complexity of the spaces that we operate in, and I guess just to be respectful of that, and ultimately, it comes back to this harm-reduction approach where we go to the youth where they act, and we say, “Well, what do you want? What are your needs? Who do you want in this space, and should I be here? Should I leave the room?” Like and being comfortable with that. Yeah, I think it is about…it all goes back to like letting go and knowing that great things can happen when adults just butt out.