Entry d8: A Poster Child

   Well today, I at last got a few of my stand up cartoon characters made. Even though on Monday I was sick I spent that night at my dinning room table table, wrapped in blankets, wearing a scarf and coat painting on these huge sheets of cardboard that took up a majority of my table.  It was great fun and really helped to keep my mind off the mind crushing headache I had all that afternoon.

    I painted a small street urchin looking person with a blue vest over a tan tunic. He carries a parcel bag with scrolls spewing from under the lip. In one of his little stick arms he is holding up one of my fliers as if to say "Read all about it!." I also painted another one last night which is a goblin wearing furs, and a necklace made with the bones of some unknown creature. He also holds one of my fliers in his left hand and in the other a large spear. Both of these cut outs stand about three feet high and are painted in bright colors to make them catch the eyes of an interested passerby all the more.

    The goblin raider (named Grimmick Longtail) is currently raiding the small language arts classroom of Mr. Haskey. I hear that hes already pulled the attention of a couple travelers. While the street urchin (Travis the minstrel Magillacuty) will in just a few hours from when I post this, be peddling his wares in the lobby of the Saint Joseph Downtown Public Library (thanks to Kathy) and hopefully be attracting some visitors for the event. I'll place him there at the beginning of my Undead Poet's Society meeting this afternoon.

   To those that read this blog, I encourage you to spread the news of my project to others in the Saint Joseph community, and if you have any questions feel free to ask them via comment.

Entry d5: A Confirmation

Well today I got back from school and checked my inbox on Yahoo to find this message from my TAG instructor:

   "Please don't let the due date stop you! I will allow you the weekend after the 8th for you to follow through with this great idea!"
                                               Mr. Haskey

This means I will be able to hold my event on a Saturday. I am super excited for this, and now that I have confirmation on the date; I can really start on the finer details and the hard work that will allow this project to be the best that it can be. Yet I'm a little afraid of the next couple steps that I have to follow after I relay this information to Kathy the woman at the public library. 

First I have to find volunteers to help me run games as well as people who are familiar with the game to sit among the ones that are new to the game. Many of these volunteers will probably be the guys who play with me every Wednesday. I also have to start putting together an agenda for the event. I do look forward to making the fliers for it, as I really like doing things like that. Theres a bit more to do as well, but for now I'll just keep my mind focused on what I can do within the next couple days. Well I'm off to get started!

I need to figure out a name for this whole event. If you have any ideas feel free to recommend them by commenting.

Entry d3: A Mission Statement

My service project will consist of sharing the beauty of Dungeons and Dragons by exposing others to the experience of the game. I hope to share that same chance I got my freshmen year with others. I do not have a venue as of yet, nor a true plan, but I want to not only educate people about the game and its history but also allow people to participate in the game itself. So here is a quick mission statement for my project:

"The aim of this project is to encourage creativity, imagination, social skills, and basic math skills in the community via the history of the Dungeons and Dragons role playing game, and by the playing of the Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 role playing game system."

All in all this will be accomplished by running an event (to be named later) at a local saint Joseph venue that will be open to the public. This event will include: A short description of the game in general, an adventure ran by me and other local players with experience in running dungeons and dragons sessions, and then a conclusion that will end with a short feedback session. This event will take around five and a half hours, and by the end of it I hope those participating will have learned more of the game. By doing this I hope to spread my passion and love for the game to the community at large.

The first goal of mine to make this project become reality is to secure a venue in which to hold the games, and mini-museum. My first stop is the Saint Joseph down town library where I will be giving my pitch to the woman in charge of the youth events and rooms.

If I able to get this venue here are just a few ideas that I hope to institute into my plan

   -Have a display of books from my and others collection, which will be open for the public to look at

   -Have all that participate go home with a starters guide written by my self.

   -Each table will have a bowl of dice which those playing may use. 

Entry d1: A Call to Arms

      Hello, my name is Dakoda McAlister. I am a senior in high school at Central High School here in Saint Joseph, MO. I have lived here for about three years now. I'm your average kid, I have a straight B- grade average and I enjoy hanging out with my mates the few times a week I can. I enjoy music and watching television with my mother, as well as a host of other things considered to be the average interests of a teenage male.

    Currently I am enrolled in the T.A.G. program (Talented and Gifted), and as a TAG student I haven been given an assignment for the next month or so...

1. Develop an idea for a service project

2. Go out into the world and make it happen!

   Pretty simple the only rules of this project are that A. it must have a tangible goal, and B. whatever this project may be, it must exist in the higher spectrum of intelligence, and C. it had to wrap the meanings of art and intelligence and service into it as these were our central themes for the unit. Making this project as open as a Tupperware bowl with no bottom. When I got the assignment I was afraid and confused as to how I was going to manage to do this, but I knew that somehow I would wrap my own interests into it in order to make it unique. I was lost for some time, until I finally came to a conclusion on what my service project would be! I was going to work hard, put in a 110%, so that I could not only help the community but change the views of people. I was going to do this by using the only thing I could.

    As average as I may be, my interests are anything but that. I am a self-proclaimed nerd. I love reading Fantasy books, watching Sci-Fi, and "worst" of all I love playing Dungeons and Dragons. I participate in LARPs (Live Action Role Playing). I sew renaissance fair costumes, and I'm quite fond of drinking Mountain Dew while having lengthy conversations about the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, or 11th century warfare. I'm a hopeless nerd, and I'll admit it in a heart beat! 

    The question though was how could I turn that passion for all things geeky into a project that existed in the higher spectrum of intelligence and benefited man kind in some way? I had no idea.

   I soon came to an idea though. Dungeons and Dragons is a game that is very dear to me. It defines me, and at one point it made me who I am today. D&D is known for a lot of negative false hoods, but what they never tell people is all the therapeutic good it does for people with a wide range of problems.

"Over the years D&D has received some very bad press. Some right-wing nut jobs think its linked to satanic worship and black magic. Others have linked it to suicide and violence. All this is rubbish. Dungeons & Dragons gave me a safe environment to learn vital life skills that because of my dyslexia, the education system had singularly failed to provide me. For tens of thousands of bright teenagers with dyslexia, asperges, ADHD and other educational problems, this fantasy game has provided a safe haven in which to learn, explore and to grow."

Leon Lewis Jr.

    I really think the above quote really sums my message up. D&D is a great way for those that sometimes fall between the cracks to be able to grow creatively, socially, and it helps one to build basic math skills. D&D has helped me, one such teenager who suffers from ADD, to grow into myself so very much. I used to be very anti-social and generally afraid of people. My comfort level was null and I was miserable, but in my freshmen year I was presented with an object that would forever improve my life. The 3.5 Dungeons and Dragons, Player's Handbook.With this book I jumped head first into the hobby of D&D. I met new people and began to share my creative imaginative mind with the world.

    D&D gave me a place to be myself, and when I began dungeon mastering (running) a small group each week I felt like I was comfortable, and not only that but I was providing that same friendly environment to others like me.

So I have decided that for my TAG service project I will expand that invitation to all the people in my community that have ever felt that theres no one else like them in the world. I want to share the happiness that I get from D&D, and role playing in general with the community. I want to spread the wonderful game of D&D in order to encourage creativity. To be able to give others the same push I got freshmen year.