I believe in kindness. Also in mischief.

I am unable to bear children, but I imagine the hardest task of parenthood is to admonish a child for doing something hilarious, of which you are secretly proud, and which society damns.

That I am no disciplinarian comes as no surprise to anyone who has seen me with my young people; my darlings, wee doves, pumpkins, little rays of sunshine, birds, sweethearts, wee dotes, tiny humans, little legends. I invest time creating terms of endearments rather than rules of engagement. 

I produce the paint and the glitter and the PVA glue and pristine white pages 10 minutes before home time in the youth centre, because I am an adult in their space. This is their centre; their time; their choice. Submitting to their demands brings an equality between workers and young people. And nowhere is this equality better realised than in the exercise of mischief.

Tiny gestures of nonconformism, to a youth worker, assures us our young people are alive and well. Original, wilful reinterpretations of instructions, evoke envy, humour, despair, and resignation. In that order. We envy the creative thought; laugh at the inspired action; despair to know it’s going to be easier to do it ourselves; and resign ourselves to knowing we’ve taught them that anyone who retreats into a cave which has only one opening deserves to die (Frank Herbert, Dune). #ourbad

Mischief has a reputation for causing destruction. The word itself derives from the French “meschief,” which refers to misfortune, harm, injury. The Cat in the Hat turns up and makes a mess just when the mother is due home. But then, the Cat also balances a fishbowl on a rake while holding a full birthday cake atop his head. The best mischief makers know what they’re doing. The destruction they visit upon their targets is always in service of some grander aesthetic purpose. 

Mischief can help avoid absurdity and injustice, and promote flexibility. Letter writing campaigns on the inconvenience of potholes to motorists kill trees and patience, while achieving little else.  When social justice campaigns begin to look like artistic expressions, society becomes alarmed, and the performative consciousness creates a sense of urgency, albeit set against a backdrop of public rejection, scepticism, and a scoffing disregard. But I’ll write about hypocrisy another time. This pothole was repaired within a week of the public art installation seen here. #shame

For me, as a youth worker, mischief is a creative, anarchic weapon of defence; a way to engender freer thought among marginalised youth who can weaponise the very processes used to subjugate them. This starts in the youth centre. Here, mischief breaks routine and disrupts conformity. It is a way to push at boundaries in a safe space, to understand consent, to manage consequences. It is the first step in dialogical learning. It becomes onto-epistemological. While creatively annoying, it soothes me to bear witness to their inherent idealism of spirit. Usually.

Careful planning and creativity are key for awesome pranks, while the ability to think quickly on your feet can open up all manner of opportunities for disruption. These are essential life skills but the current framework to capture youth work outcomes fails to consider ‘prank ability’ as marketable target. #epicfailIMO

Young people are difficult to control when agitating for a fairer community from elected representatives who are long past oppressed and now oppressing. They outwit policy makers using the few means available to them; their cunning, intelligence and linguistic wit. They are masters of if-then-else statements (if you’re in to computer coding: if not, hold on – I’ve other examples) and provide a secondary path of execution when an "if" clause evaluates to false, e.g., criminalising truancy in teenage school boys while middle aged men take tax payers money and refuse to go to work. 

Self-satisfactory mischief is also the name of Loki’s game, whether in Norse mythology or Marvel comics. Loki is a god of mischief and often causes trouble for the Æsir. He cuts off Sif’s hair for seemingly no reason other than it amuses him. However, he always fixes his mistakes, often at an added benefit to the Æsir. To replace Sif’s hair, Loki has the Dwarves make her new hair out of pure gold – as well as a spear and a ring for Odin, a hammer for Thor, and a boar and ship for Freyr. Thus far, in rejecting mainstream education where they are targeted for humiliation and denigrated as unintelligent, some of the young men with whom we have the privilege to work have secured OCN accreditations, vocational qualifications and paid opportunities for growth. All while investing in their local community – one of the most socio-economically deprived areas in the region.

I’m no phenomenologist but merely fact-minded sciences make merely fact-minded people, and I like how my young people colour my consciousness. There is a nebulous, infectious energy to them – as if all their nerves are sizzling at once, just below the surface, and waiting to explode, sparkling into being. Every last one of us has that spark, but it is smothered to obliteration by process, procedure, and the promised reckoning of failed expectations. We launch strategies for youth work pledging investment to make young people active citizens in a secure and peaceful society. If adults fail to deliver the latter, then who am I to challenge my young people’s definition of ‘active’? 

And to my young people who made me such a delicious coffee on Thursday night / Friday morning….“One mischief always introduces another.” (Daniel Defoe, A Journal of the Plague Year)