DP Tool Club 24/CD_ASCQ_24_0995.iso/vrac/cat50804.zip/CAT50804.TXT

Text File | 1995-08-06 | 18KB | 373 lines

┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────╖
│ ─╥─ ╖ ╓ ╥─╖   ╓─╖ ╓─╖ ─╥─   ╓─╖ ╖ ╓ ╥─╖ ╓─╖ ╥─╖ ╥ ╓─╖ ╖   ╥─╖ ║
│  ║  ╟─╢ ╟─    ║   ╟─╢  ║    ║   ╟─╢ ╟┬╜ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║ ║   ║   ╟─  ║
│  ╨  ╜ ╙ ╨─╜   ╙─╜ ╜ ╙  ╨    ╙─╜ ╜ ╙ ╨ └ ╙─╜ ╨ ╨ ╨ ╙─╜ ╙─╜ ╨─╜ ║
╘═══════════════════════════════════════════════════════════════╝

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: [e-mail]

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:  [phone]
Dr Furball's BBS: 617-455-8415  node 1  617-433-0026 node 2
Internet:         [e-mail]
Claude DiDomenica
President of CAT and Sysop of Dr Furball's BBS
Internet:         [e-mail]
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 [phone] *
* 2400/9600/14.4/28.8 USR V.Everything Public Access [phone] *
* 2400/9600/14.4 USR HST/Dual Standard Member Access [phone] *
* 9600/14.4/16.8/28.8 USR V.Everything Member Access [phone] *
*                           <<*-*-*-*->>                            *
*    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.
                #  #  #