The Journey to Manhood: Tools for Transforming Boys into Men
– © 2002 Earl Hipp

I am currently writing a book with the above title; I will briefly explain why. Ojulu Agote is a Sudanese refugee whose family my wife and I mentor. When I first asked him how I might help him in his new country, Ojulu immediately responded, "I want you to teach my son how to be a man in your country." This man was without any real material resources and faced a mountain of practical needs that come with settling in a new country. Yet at the top of his list was to get help guiding his son toward manhood.

I don't remember my exact reply, but I do remember being embarrassed, and feeling immediately inadequate and unsure about how to help him with his request. Not only was I at a complete loss about what to do, but when I went looking for help among my forty to fifty-something friends, they all had similar responses. Most couldn't identify the moment when they achieved "manhood." They weren't sure how to help me with Ojulu's request and, in fact, were still personally hungry for some clear and definitive action that would give them a proud and functional adult male status.

It appears that as a culture not only have we forgotten how to guide our boys into manhood, but that many of the adult men feel a little lost too. Today the boys, the men, and our communities are paying dearly for our forgetting. In the absence of a clear path to manhood and guidance from older men, gangs, overburdened schools, computer-generated images, and destructive messages in the media are shaping and influencing our young boys. With increasing frequency, we are witnessing the misguided, testosterone-fueled, sometimes violent and often tragic attempts of boys to initiate themselves into what they perceive as manhood.

To knowledgeably and consistently transform all of our boys into positive and successful young men, we will have to reorganize our communities. This will require the formation of action groups and the education and training of many people. Political priorities will have to be rearranged, funding acquired, and institutions changed. Changing the system in all these ways will take time, maybe a very long time. That's why I'm writing a book that calls the adult men in the global village to take action today. The boys need them now.

I have been soliciting input from a global community Minnesota to Tasmania in the process of writing the book through my website at: <http://www.hrd-inc.com/journey>. There are pockets of activity where men are doing this work all over the globe including the Minnesota Mankind Project with its Boys to Men Weekend (see attached article by Charlie Borden).

Earl Hipp is a well-published Twin Cities author with several other books to his credit. These four are directly for teenagers: Fighting Invisible Tigers: A Student Guide to Life in the Jungle; Feed Your Head: Some Excellent Stuff on Being Yourself; Help for the Hard Times: Getting Through Loss, 1995; and Understanding the Human Volcano: What Teens Can Do About Violence, 2000.

Minnesota Boys to Men (BTM) Weekend this August
– © 2002 Charlie Borden

The Mankind Project Minnesota's next Boys to Men weekend is August 16-18 at a camp in western Wisconsin near the St. Croix river. There are still 5 slots open for boys who should only be encouraged to attend this weekend if they are ready for it.

Fourteen boys became journeymen (the BTM term for boys who have gone through the initiation rites) at the first Minnesota Boys to Men Weekend was last September. 14 mentors and 14 have been walking together on the path to manhood for the last year. Every other week they meet as a community, and during the off weeks meet 1-on-1.

The community is looking for interested men and boys who would like to get involved in mentoring a young man. For Mentors: this is not just a gift of service for the boys, it's a gift of transformation for yourself. You have to do your own adolescent-wound work before you do this work, otherwise you will be a critical parent unable to supply the uncle energy of Listening, Accepting, and Admiring. Mentor training weekends are held just for this purpose prior to the BTM weekend. Your year of service as a mentor can spark a change that cannot happen anywhere else.

I am the contact for any interested man. Call me at 651/230-8002 or 651/222-2551.